In A Quandary

Michael Vick, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (yuck!), is on the cover of the current Sports Illustrated magazine. There is also a feature article about him.

I read the magazine cover to cover except for that article. I try to watch the man (man? really?) play every once in awhile but I still find it very difficult to do so without getting upset or having to look away. What I do let myself see is nothing short of amazing...he's a darn good player, better now than before his 19 months in jail. I get a lump in my throat thinking about those dogs though and I quickly switch to another channel.

But that article in Sports Illustrated kept calling me so I decided, what the heck, what can it hurt if I read it? It's quite an unbiased report. One that held my interest all the way through. As a matter of fact, halfway through I couldn't believe I had actually gotten that far.

The part that really stood out for me is this, and I quote:
People speak of being conflicted about watching Vick, hating his crime and loving his game, as if the two can be separated. They can't. Think about it: Can it be that only hard time earned by vile acts, made Vick the player he is now? For Vick to touch greatness, did dogs have to die?

And that's where I get stuck. All I can think about are those tortured dogs. I can't get beyond that. And I doubt I ever will, no matter what heights Vick reaches.

He's no hero, nor will he ever be.

First Snowfall

It started ever so slowly: tiny flakes almost unnoticeable to the eye. Within five minutes you could tell it was snowing and in half an hour it was starting to stick.

When the snow first started falling, the cats outside didn't know what it was. Especially those that were born this spring and summer. A few of them sat outside, some looking up wondering what it was, others very puzzled - if a cat can look puzzled. They all finally found shelter either under the deck or in the greenhouse. They had just been given fresh water, warm food, and a fresh supply of kibble so they were good to go till the next feeding.

Meanwhile, I went about my morning by prepping the turkey for its vessel where it would stay most of the day (in the crock pot). I had already gotten the remainder of the meal together waiting to be prepared.

It was a quiet, peaceful day. We watched three NFL football games. We had a big discussion on the shakeup involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr., at Hendrick Motor Sports. He will have a new crew chief, a new crew, and new cars next year and will be in the same garage as Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team. What a huge relief for us fans. I am as eager as Dale Jr. is to get next season started.

Today the snow is gone. There's some turkey left and a little of each of the side dishes. Those will be consumed tomorrow. Today it was beef stew for dinner.

Thanks

From my computer to yours, here's hoping you all have a nice Thanksgiving. And remember, it's not just about all the food. This country pretty much sucks these days, but we do have plenty to be thankful for and about. I know I do.

Adventureland

Gee, I only had three visitors to my blog on Saturday. Guess I'd better write more often. But when nothing much is happening, nothing much comes out of my fingers.

So I will tell you all about my day. After I got up this morning and fed the inside cats, I went outside and fed the colony of cats we have on our property.

My husband is looking for a running board for our 2006 King Ranch Ford F-150 pickup truck. So off to the truck junk yard we went. They thought they had one on the premises but couldn't find it. It's a huge yard. So they told us they would look for it and call when they find it. Gee, I hope they don't get lost. They said they have around 30 cats running around in the yard and they keep the mice population down.

When we were done there it didn't seem right to go home. So we drove from one end of the county to the other, or so it seemed. We have a store called Ollie's and it is full of hundreds of items. They get their merchandise from stores going out of business, overstock, and things like that. I love poking around because new merchandise arrives constantly and you never know what you'll find. I found $110.00 worth of stuff today and used the 15% discount card I got through the mail.

When we were done there we were a tad hungry after doing that heavy duty shopping so we went up the street to one of our favorite diners for a bite to eat. We used to buy coffee in that diner along with our meals but it now costs $1.59 a cup, and I am sorry but that is just too much for coffee. So we always have water with a lemon. And I will not pay $1.70 for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts either. That is just pure highway robbery. I don't mind paying $1.29 for coffee, but anything higher than that is ridiculous.

When we were finished at the diner it was time to come home. We took the back roads driving slower than usual looking for deer. We saw four sightings for a total of seven deer. Two of them were big bucks. I had my smaller camera with me so I couldn't pull them in as close as I would have liked. When we finally arrived home we were just in time to feed the cats outside again.

I watched the NASCAR Nationwide race and once again was very disappointed as to who the winner was. That is so depressing when he wins all the time. Whether it's in the truck races, the Nationwide races, or the Sprint Cup races. I'm not going to mention his name because I am sparing myself from that. Ugh.

I watched Johnny Depp in Alice In Wonderland and fell asleep a few times. I didn't get to see Alice fight the jabberwocky. For those of you who have seen that scene, I ask: did I miss anything? Didn't think so. I'm glad the movie was free because I would have wasted money had I paid to see it.

And that, my friends, is a day in the life of...ME!

What Went wrong?

I have been a little under the weather these past few days or so.

I have been battling high blood pressure most of my life. It must be hereditary because I could never pinpoint why I had it or what caused it.

About ten years ago I had a doctor appointment after work. Earlier that day I had been stung by a bee that got in the window by my desk. Needless to say it spiked my BP because of the way I reacted to it. When my BP was tested later, I was told it was far too high. Long story short, I was put on a regimen of pills for hypertension, the fancy work for high blood pressure.

I've been taking those three pills ever since albeit they've been adjusted in their strength off and on.

For the past few years things have been going great. Instead of seeing the doctor every three months, we changed it to every six months. My BP was under control - not the ideal figures since I also suffer from white coat syndrome which causes my BP to be much higher than it actually is at the doctor's office - but the figures were always within a reasonable area and of no huge concern.

When I had this last appointment I somehow felt something was wrong days before I was scheduled to see the doctor. And that was validated when my BP was through the roof. My doctor readjusted the strength of two of my pills.

As I sit here and write this, I still have absolutely no idea what caused this recent spike. And neither does my doctor. I guess my first indication that something was wrong was when I got out of bed one morning and was a little unstable navigating around the bed. But once I was out of the bedroom I seemed fine. I shook that off telling myself I got up too fast. What I didn't know then was it was caused by the high blood pressure.

I haven't had a headache for almost 20 years, but when one showed up a few days ago I knew I was in some kind of trouble. Again, that was caused by the high BP. So for now I am taking stronger pills and in two weeks I will be having blood work done to see if those tests give an indication of some underlying thing that is causing this.

Until then I have taken it upon myself to limit my sodium intake and watch what I eat. I am so tired of watching what I eat. Before it was for dieting purposes and now it is for health purposes.

So I say to myself, here we go again. That wonderful merry-go-round called life.

A Brief Visit To The Body Shop

Our truck finally went to the body shop and got the necessary repairs needed after husband miscalculated while backing up. Anyway, that's the story he told me. I wasn't along when it happened. We've been driving it for well over a year, maybe longer, after it happened. It wasn't really that noticeable, but I guess it bothered him because I was always teasing him about it. I'm good at that.

It involved the other side from the wheel well on back, including the bumper. And there was a dent in the front of the wheel well. I am still trying to figure out how he did it. It's on his side...how does one get such a scrape, dent etc. on the driver's side? Not to mention the man drove huge tractor/trailers most of his life. Hello?

See that 4x4 decal at the back of the truck? The original one had to be taken off and replaced. They cost $48. Really. You want to talk about inflation? That right there is a sin. Children are starving all over the world and Ford charges $48 for a stinking decal. There's nothing to it for cripes' sake. And to make matters worse, they sent the body shop the wrong color and they had to wait till the correct color was sent. Otherwise we would have had the truck back within three days instead of five.

But the truck is back now and my Mustang can rest once more in the garage. We used that almost every day because I had heavy duty shopping to be done plus some errands that had to be done. And I might mention that on one of those shopping trips I was able to get my boneless white meat only turkey breast (a Butterball no less) for Thanksgiving. Now I am all set for the big day. I think.

A Bit of Relief

For the first year in so many years that I cannot remember, I won't be making a whole turkey in the oven...or anywhere else for that matter. I will, however, be making a boneless turkey breast if I can find one in our area. I have only checked one store so far, and will be checking another before the weekend. The good thing about making just the breast is that I only like the white meat anyway. And I won't have to start picking the bird apart immediately after we finish eating. The bad thing is there will be no turkey barbecue, something I always make with the leftovers.

As far as our Thanksgiving meal goes this year, I think I have everything I will be needing to put together a nice meal for the two of us. Except the turkey, of course.

I also have all the items needed for my massive cookie baking project, too. Yup, there are seven packages of different varieties of Betty Crocker Cookies. (Hey, I never said I was a Martha Stewart-type person). I also have a box of mix that came with Hershey Kisses which will be put on each cookie. I am ready as I'll ever be to get that task underway. A few years ago if someone would have asked me if I was making cookies for the holidays I would have told them to go pound sand. But last year I stumbled onto something that makes it so easy to bake them that I am more than happy to do so again this year. I only need to carve out one or two days of my *a-hem* busy schedule.

Ask me about Christmas and I'll tell you no lies. Since my parents are not with us anymore and we are all pretty much grown up and gone our separate ways, Christmas isn't the same, nor will it ever be again. Those days are over and gone and it sometimes makes me sad. Instead, we have a quiet day at home. My daughter and her boyfriend usually stop by either on the day itself or sometime afterward. Either way, it works for me.

I have about 90% of the gifts (unwrapped) and that's only because I look for things all year long. I am not a haphazard kind of gift buyer. I usually like to get something that I think the person will like, or something that has to do with their personal likes.

We lost a lot of Christmas decorations when our basement flooded a couple years ago so I don't decorate all that much either. We stopped having a live Christmas tree because of the cats, but I do have a wall tree complete with a string of lights. I have a lot of small decorations for it and it always turns out really nice. And the cats can't get at it. The last thing I need is to be playing hide and seek with a cat in a live Christmas tree. Especially after it has wreaked havoc on the tree.

I even have all the floral displays for the three cemeteries we always visit. Just writing about all this scares me. I have never been this far ahead of the game...ever. I'm feeling pretty cocky right now, so I had better quit while I'm ahead. I will now go sit in the corner waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Just kidding!

I Need More Sunshine

One day into the time change and already I am hating it. Why can't we have daylight saving time all year round? It makes no sense to change over now. Who is it benefiting?

Enough of that, there's nothing I can do about it anyway. I watched the Cup race today. Well, I semi-watched it. That means the TV was on but I didn't pay 100% attention to it. With Dale Jr. running so poorly my spirit just isn't focused on the races. Thank goodness there are only two races left.

While the race was on, I listened to the Giants-Seahawks game on my headset. The Giants won 41-7. Thank God they are doing well this season. I just checked to see how the Cowboys did against the Green Bay Packers. They lost 45-7. I'm not a Cowboys fan but I do like to see how certain teams are faring, especially those that are bottom dwellers. The 'boys have only won one game this season and with their quarterback, Tony Romo, out for probably the rest of the season, they won't do much better.

Saturday I watched the Penn State football game. I try to watch those when they are televised. When I was in high school, I was a member of the band. Our marching band visited the Penn State campus. We played at half time and also saw the game, but a lot of us got food poisoning, ended up in the infirmary, and missed almost half the game. I was one of those unfortunate souls. I have also taken some law courses at the local extension site. So I am partial to that team. Saturday's game was Joe Pasterno's 400th win with Penn State. That's quite an accomplishment.

Oh yeah...about that picture up there. I am so ready for Spring. I can almost smell those lilacs. It can't come soon enough for me. I hate winter, the snow and sleet and cold and everything else that comes along with it. Sometimes I wish I could just hibernate. Go to sleep around this time of the year and wake up to the rebirth we know as Spring. Five long months of dreary weather depresses me. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Please Go Away Pelosi

Oh, puh-leeze...

Now she wants to lead the Democrats in Congress.

Halloween's over, lady, find a corner and go hide yourself in it.

One arrogant person in the White House is all we can stand for now.

Hey, Pelosi!

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

The Eve Of Destruction

Yes, destruction. I await poll results with much anticipation. There are a lot of politicians out there that need to be put away for life and never to be seen again. I am neither a Democrat nor am I a Republican but I picked my side a long time ago...let's say it was not too long after the president was voted in. I'm sure you can put two and two together and figure that one out because that's all I'm saying. I don't need to get my blood pressure to the boiling point by discussing that.

The cold weather is here and it looks like it is going to stay this way for quite some time. As I write this, it is 37 deg. and is supposed to go into the mid 20's overnight. I hate, hate, hate this weather. I have established that fact on this blog many, many times in the 5-1/2 years I have been writing it. And I don't want to be a Debbie Downer about it, so let's move on to something cheerful, shall we?

Damn...I can't think of anything cheerful to say right now. My NY Giants had a bye week so there's nothing to cheer there since they didn't play. Dale Jr. was having an excellent race until he got fancy and took both himself and Jeff Burton out of the race. He had a strong car and could have been a contender. They did work on the car and he did get back into the race so that keeps his record for the year of finishing all the races so far. Only three races left and then we wait until February.

We still have a passel of cats and kittens outside. The youngest two are now 5 weeks old, and we still don't know who their mother is. But the others are caring for them and they have been eating both dry and wet food for at least two weeks. That's one less thing for me to worry about.

That's about all I have to talk about for now. Let's hope the right people are voted into office by the end of the day.

Freaky Friday (Thursday)

I am so thankful it is Saturday. Why? Because Friday didn't happen for me until around 7:30 pm. Why? Because I spent the entire day thinking it was Thursday but feeling like it was Friday. Crazy, huh?

I actually thought Friday was Thursday but I had a weird feeling that it was actually Friday, knowing full well, in my mind, that it was Thursday. No, I'm not nuts. Although sometimes I wonder about me.

So how did I finally figure out it was Friday and not Thursday? At approximately 7:30 pm my husband mentioned something about it being Friday. I thought he was crazy and told him he was wrong, that it was Thursday although I had a feeling all day that it was Friday which I talked myself out of that silly notion.

I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face. He started laughing at me. At that point I thought he was kidding with me so I grabbed the newspaper and looked at the date. Oh. my. God. He was right and I was wrong. Well, I was half wrong because I thought it was Friday even though I kept telling myself it wasn't.

And then it hit me. Oh crap, I missed qualifying for Sunday's race. I ran to get my TV list for racing activities for the weekend and was so relieved to see that qualifying will occur today (Saturday).

What complicated this day for me was the fact that we were out shopping all day so I really had no reason to worry about what day it was. So in essence, I missed the so-called Black Friday shopping day. Because I thought it was Thursday.

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It is my understanding Black Friday has been moved up a day to this past Friday. That is the one I am referring to in my post, not the Black Friday after Thanksgiving Day. Sorry if I confused anyone. Lord knows, I was confused enough myself.

Just A Few Words About Sports

Much as I hate gloating about my NY Giants football team, I will take this opportunity to do so. Monday night they beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-35. They scored on five straight possessions. Little Eli was on fire. They are now 5-2 and have this weekend off.

In racing news, Dale Jr. led 90 laps in Sunday's race and finished 7th. I am not getting my hopes up but the next race is at Talladega, one of Junior's better tracks. I should say, used to be one of Junior's better tracks. He hasn't been doing too good there either, but I need to stay positive where he is concerned.

The Chase for the Championship is winding down with a handful of races left. As of now, there are three drivers that have the best chance of winning: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick. Kyle Busch is currently in 4th place but is approximately 175 points out of the lead so I highly doubt he has a chance at bettering that position since the top three run good every week. Since Jimmie has won the championship for the past three years, I am not excited to have him win this year again. Besides, that would only drive another nail in NASCAR's coffin. I'm not a Hamlin fan either so that lets him out as far as I am concerned. My hopes are with Kevin Harvick despite the fact that a lot of fans do not care for him. But seriously, of the three, he deserves it the most in my opinion.

Have You Ever Been To A Home Show?

We decided to go to one of our local home shows only because we had tickets to get in free. At $8.00 per person, which would have cost us $16.00 total, it just didn't seem to entice us to want to go. But when we got the free tickets, well...that's another story. Because if it's free, it's for me. Just another one of my many mottoes that I live by.

Seriously, have any of you out there been to one of those shindigs? It consists of vendors hawking their goods. As you walk down the aisles you are inundated with papers shoved in your face and asked if you would like to fill out these little pieces of papers to try and win whatever it is they are giving away. Now, I know better...that's just a ruse so they get your phone number and make follow-up phone calls within a few weeks and end up pestering the hell out of you. But I also learned today that they are allowed to call you once and if you tell them not to call you after that, they can't. Yeah, I heard that before. I stopped answering the phone years ago.

And every last one of them that we did stop and talk to were in a big hurry to come to the house and give us estimates. We were offered a new roof, kitchen cabinet refinishing, a dry basement (sorry, we've already been that route with the flood we had down there two years ago), granite counter tops (yes, that I am interested in and have been for a few years), a freshly paved drive way, and just about anything else you can think of that has to do with a house both inside and outside. And even things not associated with a house. Like the chiropractor offering massages. We have our own right down the street, so we didn't need that either.

Did we ask anyone to come to our house for an estimate? Are you kidding? The answer is a solid No. What we did come away with was a lot of brochures, pens, bags, and most importantly...chocolate candy. That was the best part.

Through The Dark

At the beginning of my last post I wrote that I was sick and was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Trust me, there was no light at that time. That was way off because I was only halfway through what I was experiencing, only I didn't know it then.

I had a bacterial infection that moved through my system with such a vengeance that I was tweaking my will because I feared the worst. And then on the fourth night things got a little better, and by the fifth day it had worked its way through and out of my system leaving me very weak.

I have always been very healthy from childhood on, but I suppose as one gets older one is vulnerable to more sicknesses and crap that is floating around and about.

I truly believe that there is so much cross contamination of foods in almost every eating establishment that no one is immune to food poisoning or infection. I also believe that a place that serves food can be as clean as a whistle, but if just one of their staff isn't? you are definitely at risk.

The solution? PLEASE ~ all food handlers, wash your hands after using the bathroom! That goes just as well in the home as it does in a public restroom. All I ask is that you please save me from having to go through this awful thing again.

Thank you.

Just One Of Our Many Summer Trips

I've been under the weather for the past couple of days but I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are a few photos I took on one of our excursions this year. There have been many of these short trips and I had originally planned to post all the photos at one time, but I have since decided that's not such a good idea. Blogger gets a little uppity when it comes to loading a lot of photos in my blog.

This is a statue of a fireman in a town north of where I live. When I was a kid and my parents told us where we were going I would always get excited because I knew we would be passing by this statue. I don't know how old it is or the story behind it, but I still think it's the neatest thing.


This is part of the Lehigh Gap. I took this photo while crossing the bridge.

When we were kids and my parents drove us through the Gap we always said this house was haunted. It, too, has a story but I am sorry that I am posting this ill-prepared. I should have done my homework first like I usually do. I only know that it was built in 1881 and was called Marshall's Mansion and that it has recently been renovated.

This was our mission that particular day. After my first divorce (yes, there was only one divorce), I used to take my daughter to this fair almost every year. This place used to host rodeos back then and we never missed any of them. My daughter and I went to as many rodeos that we could, and I still like to watch them on TV when I can.

2010: Banner Year For Area Wineries

In 1969 our state legislature allowed Pennsylvania to enter into the winery business, and as a result we now have approximately 125 vineyards statewide. The state has about 14,000 acres of grapes and ranks 4th nationally in the amount grown and 7th in wine production.

The Lehigh Valley area was found to be excellent for growing grapes, and we now have nine family-owned wineries in the Valley.

The hot, dry summer we had was excellent for grapes. As a result, they are honey-sweet and just the right firmness. I cannot wait to taste this year's crop, but I will have to wait till next year.

Besides selling wine right at the wineries, they are allowed to also sell at up to five retail outlets, all festivals, and they can make direct sales to restaurants. I prefer to buy direct from the winery and do so on many occasions during the year.

My favorite is Vynecrest with Clover Hill a close second. Clover Hill recently celebrated their 25th anniversary this past summer and for one weekend they offered a 25% discount off all their wines. No, you don't have to ask...I most certainly did stock up with that deal.

I have more pictures that I took but I can only find one that I was able to post. My recent fiasco with losing photos on my memory card have left my photo library in disarray and I do apologize for that.



As much as I love wine, I allow myself to have 4 ounces with dinner when I cook a meal for us. That amounts to approximately four to five glasses per week. I'd drink the entire bottle at one sitting if I could but those darn calories get in the way.

Disgusting Little Buggers

Repugnant. Loathsome. Abominable. Repulsive. Obnoxious. And those are some of the nicer names. I cannot tell you what I call the stinkbugs that invade our area every year around this time.

I would post a photo, but I'm sorry to say you will have to Goo-gle them to see what they look like because I just don't have the stomach to put one on here. It would make me want to run off to Siberia...where they are not and never will be.

These bugs are not indigenous to this country. Back in 2001 some of them hitchhiked from somewhere in Asia (thank you U.S. government for back and forth trade), and they decided to hop off in Allentown, PA. That is just a few miles away from where I am sitting.

We were told that this season (end of summer into early fall) would be the worst infestation ever - and they weren't wrong.

They want to come into the tiniest of spaces they can find so they can "winter" in warmth. They don't like cold weather. The only decent thing they do is not breed or lay eggs inside; they lay their eggs under leaves outside.

They were coming in where we recently installed two window air conditioners. My husband got the idea to saran wrap the air conditioners along with a lot of masking tape. We tamed those areas; however, the front door is now the spot they love the best. They crawl into the opening between the door frame and the storm door, then again past the other door and voila! there they are...on the inside.

They resist all kinds of pest repellents so spraying them is out of the question, especially since we have three cats living with us. Oh yes, then there is the cats. Our hunters. When one of them is sitting still looking down at the floor near the front door, we know enough to get a tissue for the nasty little intruder(s).

And God forbid, don't ever squash one once it is in that tissue. No, they must be put into the commode and flushed immediately as they are also good swimmers. If one is squashed the smell is horrid. I myself don't mind the odor as it sometimes is a sickeningly sweet smell. There are a lot of people who cannot stand the smell of them once they are squashed.

We have killed so many of them we have lost count. Keeping them out of the house is the biggest problem because they like to crawl away and hide. And then when you least expect it they will kamikaze you with an annoying buzzing sound. That's when I start running...anywhere but where they are. And when we have the overhead fan on, they like to fly around with it like it is the mothership or something.

So here I sit writing about these nasty little buggers and I am itchy all over. Those of you who are not inundated with them now may be dealing with them sooner or later. Just take comfort in the fact that they eventually do stop wanting to come inside, but it has to be really cold outside for that to happen.

10-10-10

Another one of those unique dates we get to experience.

What makes this date particularly outstanding is the fact that it is Dale Earnhardt Jr's 36th birthday. So here's a great big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to you, Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I am hoping the day will bring luck and magic to that #88 car and that his crew chief and team will work together (for a change) and communicate well. He qualified 9th but his three practice sessions were in the 20's. Will he be lucky enough to find himself in the top ten when the day is over? Time will tell.

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Meanwhile let's talk football. Giants football. Currently they are tied for first place (2-2) with two other teams: the Redskins and the Eagles. I try to follow both those teams as well as the last place Cowboys. I just don't understand why they are all in the same division since they are all teams that I like. But it sure makes it interesting each week to see how each team fares and where they fall in place in the standings.

As you know, I follow the Giants but I am also partial to the 49ers. I have been a 49ers follower since the days of Joe Montana (who in my estimation is the greatest quarterback ever). I had hoped they would have a better start since they won all four of their preseason games. It seems I am not the only one disappointed in them after listening to the sportscasters after the games.

But, alas, my heart lies with the Giants these days since it is still in NY and my butt is in PA.

Just Another Day At The Casino

We finally visited the Sands Casino yesterday. It is built on the grounds where the former Bethlehem Steel once stood. It's a shame for the Bethlehem Steel. It no longer exists. It used to be THE place to work. My father worked there and his father before him. And they made darn good money there, too. Now it's gone and instead of giving out good money via payrolls, the new building takes your money.

We had been talking about going ever since it opened and it sure beats having to travel all the way to Atlantic City. But let me tell you...I will take Atlantic City casinos over this one any day.


The only bad thing about going to Atlantic City casinos is the dreaded bus ride. It is long for us. Approximately three hours there and then three hours back, and depending on when you leave in the morning, you get back very late at night.

We have taken the bus ride to AC numerous times over the years, but once these casinos started popping up in our state and near us we decided we had better check them out just to see what they are like. Of course, I miss the ocean...ahhhh, the ocean. The closest I get to the ocean these days is my noise machine that I use to try to get to sleep.

Let's just say today's trip was a day away from the normal humdrum of daily life. My husband informed me that we probably would not be going to that particular casino again. He did say, however, that we will be visiting others within our state but not as close as the one we went to today. That one is only about half an hour away, depending on the traffic, so it's a shame it didn't work out for us. But then again we're not casino junkies, so it doesn't really matter.

And just to let you know...we didn't lose a lot of money. What we put in the slots, I won back at one machine, and then we spent all but $20 of that. So it wasn't too bad.