Hey all! Vegas was awesome and I have some funny stories and pics to share. The Karaoke story is awesome! I haven't quite decided how I'm going to blog about it. If I should do a day by day recap or if I should just tell complete stories. I'll decide soon. I'll be posting pics tomorrow as long as my hubby stays away from the computer. If he wants to play poker, I may have to postpone my blogging. I'll also be catching up on all of your blogs but that might take a while. Until tomorrow...take care.

Last night my husband and I went to a poker game here in town. It was a .25/.50 cash game. We each started with $50. Mike lost his but I cashed out with $136! I was a good night for me!

I heard a rumor that David Cook was starting to date Lacey Schwimmer from So You Think You Can Dance! I thought she was dating Hok?! Anyone have inside info they would like to share?

Tonight I'm driving my family (except my husband) to Frogs and Friends in The Plains for dinner. I love going there! The food is awesome and expensive. It's a cute little place but they don't have any pictures on their web site.

Apple Blossom is coming soon and I'm working on a post about that. I should have it up by the end of the weekend so check back!!

Anyone have any big weekend plans?

I won...twice!

Mike has been in Rockville taking care of his son since Friday night. His mom went into the hospital again. She's coming home today. I'm not sure but I think her medication needed adjusting again. He should be on his way home soon.

Saturday night is our night for poker. Since Mike was out of town, I went by myself. I was pretty fun. I didn't drink because I was around a bunch of smokers and I was afraid that if I drank, I would smoke. I also ate a lot of chip and salsa. Between those two things, I did NOT smoke!!! Yeah for me! I won that battle. (However, right at this moment, I really WANT to smoke.)

The second battle I won was in poker. Well, Jamie and I decided to split the pot but that was the first time in a long time I won money at poker! Yeah me! Win number two for the night!

Weekend's here, have a can of beer!

It's that time again. No, not Friday! It's time for me to publicly flog myself of not blogging much this summer. I'm such a loser!

Last night was the finale of my summer love, So You Think You Can Dance. It was, like all good-byes, bitter-sweet. My girl Sabra won and now it done! Yeah...boo!

It will be time for my to start cleaning the house again I guess. I have about a month before the fall shows start so I should be able to get our place clean by then. I still have poker a few nights a week and my birthday is coming soon so I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to do but you all know by now not to hold your breath for me!

Speaking of Poker, I've been doing pretty well. There's a local bar that has a free poker tournaments two nights a week and a couple of weeks ago I won one! I beat 40 people (95% men) to win bragging rights and a dinner for two! My husband and I got our dinner last night and for a free meal, it was pretty good. If I had been paying for it, I would have sent a few things back.

I also wanted to update everyone on the logo I blogged about last month. It is finished and the customer LOVED it. Here is the final version.

Poker Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! Brandon (Mike's son) was down for the weekend again which was is fine. He's pretty easy to please. Friday was also First Friday in Downtown. Which is when all the businesses stay open late and do special things. There's usually a few wine tastings, maybe a book signing, and a couple of bands. We went into the juggling store, Incredible Flying Objects, for the first time and loved it! They had these thing called Flying Monkeys. It's a monkey with long arms and legs and the arms are like a sling shot. You fling them across the room and they scream! Everyone is getting one for Christmas this year! They also had magic tricks, funny action figures (a Librarian for example), and bumper stickers. The one I remember the most said "Jesus is Coming. Look busy." We had dinner at one of the pubs then Brandon did his own thing and Mike and I went home and played cards for a while. We went out again and ran into a few friends, drank a few beers, and strolled down the mall. All in all, it was a perfect evening and just steps out our door!

Saturday was just as awesome! Brandon slept in and Mike watched the news while I played Poker online. After a while, we hopped in the shower and went to play poker leaving Brandon to wander on his own (we gave him money for lunch at McDonald's). It was a smaller than normal crowd for poker due to the holiday last week but we had a good time. Angie came and played for the first time. She didn't do too bad. Everyone seemed to like her and she seemed to like everyone (except for one guy). After the tournament, we got a cash game going and I could do very little wrong! I was going to say "no wrong" but that would be lying just a little. I knocked out a few people and, in the end, managed to turn my $20 into $58! Mike did even better! We drank a bit too much during the day and had to walk home. On the way, we called in pizza for dinner. Brandon was glad to see us but not as glad as he was to see the pizza!

I hope your weekend was just as fun!!

Downtown, Where all the Lights are Bright!

I love living downtown. The weather was a little better yesterday for my walk home so there were more people out. As I was walking home, I was looking around and my husband came out of the wine store just as I was walking by! We got to walk home together! It was quite cosmopolitan!

We had a glass (or two) of wine at home before walking to Sweet Caroline's for dinner and a night of poker. I drank WAY too much because I could and staggered home, alone, at about 10:30. I got knocked out of the second game quickly due to the massive amount of beer I drank during the first game. I will NOT be doing that again!

Sanjaya is gone and I'm sad! He made the show worth watching for me. I still think he should have sang "Indian Outlaw" by Tim McGraw! I guess I'll be voting for Jordin from now on. Next week is the big "Idol Gives Back" thing. I'll be glad when that's over! I hope they go back to the 1/2 hour elimination show after that. I can only take so much filler! The theme for next week is, of course, Inspirational Songs. Oh Joy.

11 good singers and Hello Kitty...I mean Sanjaya!

The dust has settled and Sabrina, Antonella, Jared, and Sundance are no more. It’s a sad day over at Vote For The Worst but they have bounced back and picked Sanjaya to carry the torch for them. I was sad/happy and everyone cried...a lot. Too much if you ask me but no one’s asking. I thought that it was going to be Sabrina and Haley going out of the girls and Jared and either Phil or Brandon so I was have right. You could have knocked me over with a feather when Sanjaya beat Sundance. The Hello Kitty vote has power (and unlimited text messaging)! Antonella will be appearing in Playboy very soon, Jared will find work on a cruise ship, Sabrina may find work off-Broadway, and Sundance...well...I’m thinking car wash??

Carrie Underwood performed and she’s great even though I voted for Bo Bice that year. She was perfect and entertained us unlike Pickler.

Tonight was also the night for the big announcement. Something that would “change Idol forever.” What a crock! Everyone on the net was excepting something that would have an impact on the show like bringing someone back from Hollywood week that should have made it though or an “Idol-off” where previous contestants (that aren’t doing anything in the business) come back to compete against each other. None of us expected what we got which was some kind of charity fund thingy being set up between AI, Coke, and Ford. When Ryan starting talking about that I groaned and had my hubby fast forward thought it. It turns out, that took the entire time until the next commercial break. Talk about filler!! Charity is nice and a good thing to do but it didn’t need to take up 25% of the show. During that entire time poor Sundance and Sanjaya were the only ones still on the stage. They knew one of them was going home but they were forced to sit there for 15 minutes in limbo. This show is so cruel!! (I love it!!!)

I have a busy weekend planned filled with working overtime and selling Avon. I REALLY need to sign at least two people up next week. I’m not really sure when I’m going to find the time especially since I’m playing poker tonight after work. I’ll come up with something. One of these days, I’m going to have to skip sleeping and get caught up.

Speaking of poker, I was in two on-line tournaments of 630 people each to try to win a change to win a seat to the World Series of Poker in Vegas. I did really well but not well enough. The first place winner of the tournaments get to move on to a tournament where the top 9 finishers get to move on to a tournament where the top two finishers get seats to the WSOP. In the first one, I was down to about $800 in chips and came back to finish 6th! I was so close!!! But wait, there’s more! In the second tournament, I got...2nd place! Talk about close! I almost cried! I beat out 628 other people but I couldn’t beat that last one! Of course, there was only one prize in each tournament so for doing as well as I did I got nothing. Oh well! I’ll try again...and again...and again until I make it!

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

It's the ladies turn tonight and it was also poker night for me and my husband. I came in 10th and he came in 9th. We seem to do that all the time. Just one of the many reasons we are good together! I just got home after dropping him off to pay more poker. Unfortunately, I have to go back and pick him up. I had to come home and vote for Gina! I'll keep the remarks brief.

Paula was missing for the first minute or two. OMG! Call the cops!

The girls are all really good but they are interchangeable. We've heard their kind before. It's good but nothing special. Gina is the only rocker so she gets my votes. The guys are far below the girls at this point. I would have to say that this season is sub par at best. There's no one the I really love at this point besides Chris and I mainly like him because he's funny and not the norm for Idol. This could be the season that AI jumps the shark. We shall see what the big announcement is tomorrow.

With that said, here are the girl wrap up.

Diva Jordin is up first and killed it! I like her a lot. I think it's because she's so young and always wears clothes I LOVE!

Diva Sabrina was good, as usual. Been there, Heard it, have the CD.

BFF Antonella was off time but still sounded better than she ever has...which isn't saying much. I wish she would go but I don't think she will.

(Paula has Sanjaya hair tonight!!)

I haven't liked anything that Haley has sung and tonight is no exception. At least she not yelling tonight, that's a plus. She sounds like the singers from the WOW CD commercials. WOW is the worship version of the NOW CDs for those of you that don't know.

Diva Stephanie is next. Very good voice but, again, I've heard it before.

Diva LaKisha sounds great as usual. Out of all the divas, she's in the top two. She's singing Whitney and doing an excellent job but we already have a Whitney...well, HAD a Whitney.

Gina rocks it tonight and looks the part! Come on people! Vote Gina!

Diva Melinda gets the pimp spot. She's the other diva in the top two. It's a different song for her but she sounds great. Been there, Heard that, have the CD.

Well, Antonella and Haley need to leave but I think it will be Haley and Sabrina bloody on the Idol stage tomorrow. Vote and vote often!!

Happy AI Day to all!

Not much going on in my real life right now. Avon is keeping me busy along with my normal job. It's really cold out so I haven't been able to get all my books out yet which is a bummer. I'm hitting the streets tomorrow after work before I play poker. I should be able to get most of them out at that time (I say that to myself all the time and it never happens)!

rant/ Poker on Sunday was a bust. Mike had to go to Rockville because his mom went to the emergency room again. She was back home pretty quickly so that's good. At poker, I got sitted at a table with three new people and two assholes! There are two groups in town that do poker tournaments. One that up the blinds every 5-10 minutes depending on how the director feels at the moment. The people their think they are professional card players but they're really assholes. The other one is the one I like. Everyone is really nice and don't go off if someone does something "wrong." One of the places that the first group played at is no longer doing it because they didn't make any money. Now those people are invading our game. Their favorite phrase is "They wouldn't let you do that in Vegas." Let me tell you. I've played in Vegas and Atlantic City and the people are NICE. If I saw any of those people in either place, I'd go to a different casino. You also have a dealer who runs the table and keeps everyone in line (most of the time). I feel like telling those people to go the hell home if they don't like it. No one asked them to join us anyway! Damn Assholes! Anyway, I was NOT having a good time on Sunday. I got two face cards and went all in so I could leave. I like to enjoy myself and not have to worry if some dick-head is going to yell at me because I didn't muck my cards in the "correct" spot. /rant

Back to business at hand! It's Tuesday and it's the guys night up. Two more guys and two more girls will be going home this week. That means next week, the top 12 get stylists!! I can't wait to see what they do with Chris Sligh's hair!

I guess this week we get to find out something we don't know about the contestants. Oh boy. Can you hear the joy in my voice? Yee-Haw. Here's what we don't know about Blake, he like Halloween and Jimmy Walker Blue (???). He's singing a song a haven't heard...again. He sounds really good. I like him. He makes singing look effortless. Pretty good! Randy says it was hawt (as usual). Paula didn't know the song either. Simon didn't understand a word but says Blake will make it to next week.

Sanjaya and Jason are up after the next break. This should be interesting.

What's up with Sanjaya's hair? Oh boy, he can hula. He's singing a John Mayer song that I don't know. I liked his first song but haven't kept up with him. As you can tell, I could can less what Sanjaya's doing. He's boring as usual. I well have to say this was his best effort to date...which is not saying much. Randy is babbling and Paula is stumbling on what to say and Simon says it wasn't as ghastly as last week. Simon thinks it's his hair that's keeping him in. He's going to get the 10-14 year old girl

Jason is up. He says he's thin in real life. Ha-Ha. OH BOY! He's sucking tonight. I don't think Vote for the Worst is going to switch to Sanjaya tonight! Let's check! Their pick isn't up yet. I'll have to check back later. What the judges are saying is a perfect example of how they manipulate America. They are saying he was good! They didn't hear what I heard. Maybe Simon will set them straight. Simon didn't like it! Yeah! Jason gets the "bar singer" comment.

(I've GOT to see Blades of Glory!! Mind-bottling! Will Ferrel is excellent! Tank! Tank! Tank! Tank! You're my Boy Blue!)

Travis Tritt is in the house!!!! I've always liked him but I can't watch his videos. You know the ones. The continuing saga of the guy in the wheel chair. They make me cry every time! Especially the one where he looses his wife!)

Chris "K-Fed" Richardson is next and he played football and was chunky. He's singing a country song that I know but I can't think of the title just yet. He's singing it a little high for my tastes. Well, I don't like him anyway. The run he did was crappy and not called for. YUCK! I guess the judges want him to be here next week. Simon says it was cutesy and safe but sold it. I don't know about all that.

Wedding Bells is on tomorrow! I'll have to Tivo that.

Jared played basketball. Big deal. He's singing Stevie Wonder. He is SOOOO Carlton from Fresh Prince! It kills me! He sings pretty good as long as I don't look at him. Now he's doing a dance-spin thing with the camera. So hated that...but it was funny! Randy says it was solid. Paula says that he should color his singing. Simon knows what Paula's trying to say!! That's amazing! Simon is disappointed. Check out Prof. Chan's Look a Likes!!

Phil and Brandon are next up. Does that mean the my Chris gets the pimp spot???

Brandon plays the piano (side note: I learned how to spell piano by watching Captain Kangaroo! To this day, whenever I hear the word piano, I start singing the song. "P-I-A-N-O I'm looking for a piano, not any old piano but one that makes you gay! I'm looking! I'm looking! I'm la-la-la-la-looking!"). "I just want to Celebrate" is the song he picked. I'm not so sure about that pick. He isn't known for his picks. He's not doing too bad. The run at the end was shaky but over all he was good. He picked an okay one this time. I think he'll make it. Simon just said "Travis, I don't think you've represented yourself well." I guess not since his name is Brandon! Yes, that is what he said! Too funny!

There's not much we don't know about Phil thanks to the powers that be. Guess what! Phil wasn't always bald. Shocker!! HOLY SHIT!!! He can't start a song on key to save his soul! Please! America! Don't vote for him!! I beg of you! I don't want to be in pain for the next 11 weeks!! PLEASE! The judges panned him. Thank goodness!

Just started DialIdol Software and there's another update! Holy changing software Batman!

Chris Sligh had short hair and was bald at one time. He's coming out swinging!! Alright!! He sounds great! I'm so glad he got the pimp spot!!!! IMAO, he was excellent! Randy gives him the vocal prize. Paula didn't like it, bitch! Simon didn't like it but gave him good comments.

Voting has already started. I've already started DialIdol to vote for Blake and Chris. Here are the totals so far 21 calls for each but only 1 vote each. That's great news!!! One of my friends voted for people just to see if they could get through! Please, don't do that! I could have hit her when she told me that!

More AI tomorrow!! (side note: I learned how to spell tomorrow from my third grade teacher, Mrs. Garrett. She said it was spelled "tom or row" and I have spelled it that way ever since.)

Another Day Another...

Days fly by for the most part. It seems like I just got to work when all of the sudden, it's time for lunch. After lunch, time moves again until about 4 or 4:15 then it grinds to a halt! It feels like I spend most of that time watching the clock and waiting until 5. Today is especially bad since I have to make an Avon delivery at 5:15, sign someone up to sell Avon at 5:30, eat, and play poker at 7:30. I know, I don't HAVE to play poker but I love to! It's one of the few things I do during the week that is just for me. Wait, I don't think that's true. Some days I play poker online while avoiding doing those thing that I should do. I am a master at making deals with myself. "I will gladly do 'that' tomorrow if I can do 'this' today." Most of the time it's always today and tomorrow never seems to arrive.

Back to the time/work problem. At about 4pm I feel really tired and bored with my job. I decide that I'm done fo the day only to be bored for a whole 5 minutes before working again. Unfortunately, I'm still bored with work so it doesn't take long (about 2 minutes) before I decide that I am indeed done for the day. This cycle continues about 2 more times, I look at the clock thinking "It must be 5 by now" when only 20 minutes have gone by. How Will I Make It?!?!?! I'm not sure how I make it some days. Even now, I've been typing this blog for awhile but I'm still bored so I've been looking at the clock the whole time and it had barely moved.

I don't know how to fix this. I think I'm just doomed to be bored this time everyday no matter what. I tried looking up some stuff on line but I could think of anything that I wanted to look for. Don't you hate that? The entire world at your finger tips and you can think of word one to type in the search engine!

Oh, I just thought of something! On AI last night there was a guy that was really good and funny. I really like him. His name is Chris Sligh and I think he's going to go far! Take a listen to his band.

I also have an update on CA learning to do email. I set her up last night with her gmail account and she is doing it like a champ! Gmail is so easy! She already check her email once today and plans to check it again tonight. By the way, Bob-kat, you were right. It took CA WAY less then I month to realize the horrors of forwarding emails. She is already complaining about them today!

Take Care all!

Happy Weekend!

I had my hair done today (and Thursday) and it looks great! (Thanks Becky!) It's been a long time since I had a professional do my hair but it's a good thing. I think I'm too old to go through life with bad hair! The rest of my weekend is going to be filled with cleaning and poker. Yeah for the poker, boo for the cleaning.

I went to Target today and spent the gift certificate Mike and I got for Christmas. Who knew there were so many hair dryers out there! Most of them were around $19.99 but there was one that was $59.99. What does it do that makes it cost so much? It would have to have attachments for more than drying hair if you know what I mean (wink,wink). I spent the rest on cleaning products. I love to have the latest in cleaning products but I never use them, just ask my husband. I'm not sure why I do that. Maybe I think that if I have enough of them, they will start to clean on their own. Yes, I would LOVE to live in a Disney movie!

Anyway, I better go clean the bathroom before Mike gets home!

Weekend Update

This weekend was pretty good except for falling off the wagon. I got a few things done on Saturday and the big Poker game was Sunday. I did pretty well. I think there were about 30 people there and I made it to around 10th place. I went out the same time that another person did so we kind of tied for 10th.

I was sitting at an okay table. One person didn't show up for the tournament but kept calling saying he was coming. In the meantime, I had to post his blinds and deal for him. At one point, the person sitting next to the ghost player went out and I had to deal three times in a row. That was a pain in the ass. Other than me and the ghost player, there was Fay who only played one other time but managed to win that time, Tony who was the points leader going into the tournament and Jason, who use to work at the business next to me.

The other two players were not my favorite people. The first guy, who I have never bothered to learn his name by the way, is this big goofy looking guy who I swear was wearing clear nail polish. That might not be a big thing where you're from but in Winchester, it's unheard of. Also, the rest of him is a mess so it's not like he's trying to be neat. I mean, the white undershirt he was wearing as a T-shirt had blue-green stains on the armpits from his deodorant. I guess we should feel lucky that he wore deodorant!

The last guy was Ronnie. He chews tobacco, is missing his two front teeth and lives at the Salvation Army. At least he didn't stink yesterday. He kept on getting mad at Fay for taking too much time or asking questions. One time he yelled at her because she groaned and started playing with her chips when it was his turn to act. First of all, Fay is one of the nicest people in town and almost everyone knows her and everyone likes her. Second, she was in a car accident when she was young that left her with some disabilities. Third, she wasn't doing anything! She didn't act out of turn, she just made a noise and touched her chips. I had to call Ronnie on that one!

Anyway, those were my table mates for most of the day. Fay went out first followed by Jason and the big sloppy guy. Next was Tony which shocked he because he's a great player. At that point, we had to get some more players to fill the table. Three other sat down and two of them were out in the first 5 hands. Then it was my turn (Christine when out with me). Ronnie ended up being one of the final two. It was him and my husband!!!! Mike can play some poker! At the final table, he kept knocking the people out one by one until it was just him and Ronnie. At that point, he asked Ronnie if he wanted to split the prize money down the middle and draw high card for the cool card marker. Ronnie said no and was knocked out the next hand! My husband won!!!! I'm very proud of him!

Mental note - get better at poker so I can beat my husband

I guess that's it. How was your weekend?