Don't bug me anymore

I came down with some sort of stomach virus last night. No, it wasn't the Swine Flu. I feel almost 100% better today. It was just not good at all though.

I spilled some water on my modem yesterday and lost my internet until this morning when my dad brought me a new one. He only has about 100 of them.

Nothing exciting going on. It's a beautiful day and I promised Maddie a picnic and a walk before school so I should shower first or the bugs will ignore the food and flock to me.

Random Bits of Peace

Maddie had PE for the first time yesterday and she was so excited. Dylan loves PE and so she has been waiting forever to get her turn. She got hit in the face with a ball and got a bloody nose and had to go to the nurse. The nurse told her she had a "sprained nose". Luckily, she's not the kid who gets falls off the horse and never wants to get back on (metaphorically).

Dylan had a friend over for a few hours. I normally don't let my kids have friends over very often, because I'm not really that kind of mom. Let me explain why....I know that is weird to say, but I'm being perfectly honest. I don't like other people's children much. I have a few exceptions to the rule and Dylan's friend Connor is definitely one of them. He and Dylan are very equally matched as far as their personalities and interests go and they never get bored of things to do. Connor is very polite and quiet and he doesn't make messes. Now, I'm sure his mother would completely disagree with me, but at my house...he's great.

I made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup last night. It was really, really good. In fact, since Dylan had a friend over he ate dinner kind of late so I told him he could just have whatever he wanted and he actually picked the soup. Now THAT is a mommy accomplishment. Maddie gobbled it up too.

Everyone in our house seems to be on the mend from this cold. I never got it (knock on wood). Dylan, Maddie and Joel all did. With Dylan it was hard to tell if it was allergies or a cold because it hit him at the exact same time as the grass pollen skyrocketed, which is what Dylan is highly allergic to. One of the many mysteries of the world.

Glutton for Punishment

I cannot believe it is almost May. This year is going by way too fast and yet at times, way too slow.

I'm looking forward to sunny summer days but not so much the summer vacation. I'll go ahead and get that out of the way now. I'm dreading it. I love spending time with my kids - don't get me wrong - it's the constant whining and sniffling about how bored they are. I would like to find more activities for them to do this summer and I'm hoping to give them incentive by finding something fun for us all to do together on Fridays. We'll see how long that lasts. Not long, I'm sure. I would like to still take them to the Free Movie every week, but since I still have too many jobs I'm not really sure how that will work. I'm planning on trimming down the job situation soon but I can't really bring myself to do it. That is why I was with Dr. Dumbass for so long. I hate quitting jobs. I HATE IT. It's like telling people "no, I don't need your money", when in reality...you do.

Soccer is almost over. Maddie wants to play T-ball now, but it's too late for that. The Rec Center has a T-Ball program over the summer I might sign her up for. At least she'll get more use out of her cleats.

Dylan has gone through an amazing growth spurt. Last week he was standing next to me and I realized he was taller. Like, a lot taller. Not long ago he came up to just above my chest. Now he's to my shoulder. I hate to say it, but it's about damn time.

Product Review

Everyone knows how much I love Red Bull. I drink at least one a day. I love to have extra energy and Red Bull never lets me down. I've never been a fan of other energy drinks. Don't get me wrong, I'll drink them in a pinch, but I don't like it. For example, Wal Mart does not sell Red Bull cold, only warm, which is like drinking warm pee. Sorry for the mental image, but it's the truth. So if I'm at Wal Mart and craving some energy I have to buy an Amp or something similar that is not even the same.

I've heard a lot of great things about 5-Hour Energy Drinks, but I have never tried them. They had them at Wal Mart yesterday so I bought one just to see what it was like. They're only 2 oz as compared to the 16 or 20 oz Amps, which I never finish because they taste like concentrated sugar in a can.

I didn't care for the taste of the little buggers at all, but they're only 2 oz so it's like doing a shot, which we all know I'm pretty good at (lol). So I drank it and made my blech face and went on with my day.

Whoa. Energy is a very mild word for what happens. I was buzzing all around the house all morning getting stuff done. I really wanted to read but my brain kept saying "clean clean clean" in it's best Beavis impersonation. They claim there is no crash. I was shocked that this was actually true. I figured after my buzzing around the house I would eventually crash, but I never did. I did have to work for 8 hours yesterday, which means sitting in one spot for 8 straight hours. I figured that was when it would happen, but it never did. My fingers were blazing across the keyboard. I didn't have any trouble falling asleep either. So I have a new favorite Energy Drink. I still love me some Red Bull, especially because it tastes good...but when I REALLY need the energy, I know who to turn to.

Crash and burn

Dylan's team lost tonight. Dylan finally hit the ball.

Last night was a lot of fun. We went to the casino with Dan and Rachel. We got there a little late for the band, they had already started and it was literally standing room only. We got to listen to it while we put money in slot machines and lost.

So we didn't want to lose anymore money so we went back to our place to play cribbage. Girls versus boys. I would tell you who won, but that would be bragging.

GIRLS RULE BOYS DROOL!!!!!

A big fat shout out to FRIDAY

Today is Friday. I do not have to work today. Yes, you heard that correctly. Karla has the day off. It's a beautiful sunny day, too. The very best part of today is that Joel and I are going out with Dan and Rachel. We're going to the casino to watch a band play. The four of us NEVER get to do anything alone together so I'm so excited and so is Joel.

Dylan is shooting off a rocket on Bangor today. They've spent weeks building it and it has all led up to today. He was really, really excited about it.

Anyway, since I have the day off I really need to clean something fierce. I still have half of Breaking Dawn to read but I'm going going to try to avoid that and actually clean the house. Joel will be relieved, haha. I think I'm going to take a walk today, too. My body will thank me for that.

Chattering Teeth

Last night was Dylan's baseball game. It was the coldest, wettest thing I've ever done. It didn't start raining until just after the game started. I brought towels and a blanket (no umbrella though, moron). By the time Joel and Maddie showed up around 7:00 or so I was soaked clear down to my underwear. When Maddie got there I really wanted to go home, but the rain was fun for her. For awhile anyway. I finally got her talked into wanting to go home. I bribed her with everything possible. Then she finally said yes and we grabbed our stuff and then the game was over. Ugh.

They won 7-5. Dylan is still in a hitting slump. We were a little frustrated last night because he wasn't even swinging the bat. He swung the bat only 3 times total. Once was a foul ball. His coach was the umpire and he was calling perfectly fair balls and strikes, so it wasn't that, although Dylan claims that it was.

I don't know. One day he'll break out of it though. I don't know when. His team is still undefeated at 4-0.

Okay fine...shut up.

I haven't really felt like blogging. There really hasn't been much to blog about anyway and I've been kind of in a "funk" for a lack of a better word. Partially PMS and partially JDGAS (which stands for "just don't give a shit")

Maddie was stung by a bee yesterday and she didn't even know it. Funny thing is that she was TERRIFIED of bees and now she's been stung and didn't know it....now she's just scared of flies. Go figure.

Tomorrow is a busy day with soccer practice from 5:30 to 6:30 and Dylan's game from 6:00 to 8:00. Joel and I had a "discussion" about who was taking who to what. I won. I get to go to Dylan's game. I am the mom after all, shouldn't I get to see my son play baseball? It's not like Maddie is "playing", she just has practice. They'll get to see the game anyway, they'll just be an hour late.

I don't have anything else to day. Just another day in paradise, so where is my pina colada?

All aboard the crazy train

There are just some days where everyone in our house clashes and butts heads over every little thing. Fortunately for Joel, he's missing out on this fun day because he's working a side job. Maddie and Dylan are getting along shockingly well (it's the "united front against mom" thing) so really it's just me fighting with the kids. If they had their way they'd just sit around the house watching movies and playing video games all day. That ain't happening. I sent Maddie to her room to clean it and I came in and she had done the exact opposite. I went to Dylan's room to tell him to clean it and when I came back 10 minutes later he hadn't even moved from his spot. I'm feeling the need to break out the evil mom and make them clean my whole house from top to bottom and bottom to top. It's a nice day so they could even wash they outside windows.......hmm.

I'm not really that evil though. I will make them clean their rooms though if it takes all day and all night.

I finished Eclipse last night (Twilight book number 3). It was even better than 1 and 2. Now I can start number 4. Reluctantly. I am sad it's almost over. I am going to re-read them again though when I'm done.

Blog-worthy moments at the Mariner Game

Last night Joel and I went to the Mariner game and had a lot of fun. There were a lot of blog-worthy moments so I'll get started on that.

You're going to have to picture this moment in your head. At the time I was not amused and really - I'm still not. Joel said I had to put it in the blog. In downtown Seattle there are a lot of birds - seagulls, pigeons and a few crows mixed into the bunch. So it's like my own personal hell. We were walking down the sidewalk chatting and there was a pigeon on Joel's side of the sidewalk. I didn't see it there because I was yapping my jaws but as we got closer it took off into flight right directly in front of me and I won't lie - I screamed. I was shaking for awhile after that.

We had a great dinner at Ivars. I love their happy hour. Drinks are $3 and most of the meals and appetizers run anywhere from $3-8. I had a few drinks (had to calm the nerves after the near-bird attack) and oyster shooters (Joel was disappointed in me. He finds it a huge turn-off to watch me swallow oysters whole out of a shot glass. Good thing I don't care) and a salmon ceaser salad. Joel ordered the same salad and fish and chips. I also ordered a plate of hummus and pita bread. I loved it, but Joel thought it was disgusting.

After dinner we argued about walking versus cabbing up to the field. It's not that far. There is no reason we couldn't walk but he insisted we cab it up. So we're catching a cab and a towncar driver offered to drive us up for cheap. We've taken a towncar in lieu of a taxi a few times and every time it's a little weird. Well this time - weird was an understatement. The guy was apparently new to Seattle and didn't know where he was going because he drove us in a circle around the block a few times. I was starting to not feel so good. All sorts of bad thoughts were running through my head. I was trying to memorize the license plate number in case this guy was going to do something bad to us. Then I really did start to feel sick so I asked him to pull over and we made a run for it. I swear to god, we did. We pretty much ran all the way to Safeco hoping he wasn't following us.

The game was uneventful. The seats were good. No real blog-worthy moments there.

Then we went to the ferry. We were pretty early for the ferry. There was a guy on a pay phone (i know, that in itself is odd) and we could hear his conversation, which was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Most of it was stupid stuff and he says "well, you know, I am exhausted I have been up since 8:00." Seriously? You poor guy. Then he looks around the room and says "You wouldn't believe how many Mariner fans are here, this place is packed with them." I looked around and there were maybe 30 people in the room. It's a pretty big room, so even with 30 people it doesn't look that full. I thought maybe he was seeing dead people or something. Then he says "oh, I gotta go...people are lining up and I don't want to miss the boat." Nobody was lining up and the boat wasn't even going to LOAD for 10 more minutes and it wasn't leaving for 20. The guy was a nutjob but we got a lot of laughs out of him. In fact I laughed so hard I was crying, which screwed up my contact lenses. Now, this conversation is probably not as funny to you...but it was funny to us. Hilariously funny.

Anyway, that was our fun night. The Mariners won, which is always a plus.

Joel's working all weekend so I have to take Maddie to her soccer game, Dylan to opening ceremonies and then Dylan to his game today all by myself. At least the sun is shining. How bad can a day be if the sun is shining?

Blame it on the rain

Maddie's starting to feel better, which is fantastic. She woke up this morning and said "I CAN BREATHE!!!" YAY

Today Joel and I are going to the Mariner game (tonight, actually). It should be fun (and cold).

Dylan's team won their game last night. He made a great play a shortstop and he pitched a little at the end and struck a kid out. He's still not hitting and nobody can figure out why. He goes in the batting cage and hits every single ball, but put him in the game and he strikes out. Argh. One of these days he'll break out of this slump.

There was a square piece of glass (like the kind that comes out of a picture frame. Maddie did this) and I stepped on it with it shattered under my ginormous foot. There was glass embedded in my sock but miraculously I didn't even get a scratch.

Maddie Funny

Maddie had soccer practice today and I was talking to her about practicing being "more aggressive".

She said "I'm going to find the boy that kicked me on Saturday and beat him up...is that aggressive enough for you?"

What am I supposed to say to that?

I digress

I have spent a lot of time arguing with and hating on DISH Network. They screwed up our ABC and now we don't get to see our favorite channel 4 shows. They were supposed to send us a smart card TWICE and we haven't seen it. Then starting last week our DVR started freezing up and resetting itself about every 20-30 minutes or if you decided to try to use it for any reason.

We settled the Channel 4 problem on our own buy purchasing a way too expensive antenna that was a really big pain in the ass to put together and get on the roof just so we could watch a very blurry LOST on live TV.

A DISH Network guy came out today and gave us a completely brand new receiver box. Not only does it work like a charm - we now have 150 MORE hours on the DVR. Then the guy proceeded to hook our antenna up into the DVR box so it's like we never lost ABC. We can even RECORD it.

So I take back all the horrible things I ever said about DISH Network.

Ain't no sunshine

I need some sun. I need some warm air. It rained all.day.long yesterday and since about 12:30 today it's been raining/snowing/hailing all.day.long. In looking at the long range forecast I see some sun in our future. It can't come soon enough.

Maddie's sick. She was a little out of sorts yesterday and came home from Grandma and Grandpa's way out of sorts and was up all night long coughing and congested and had a little fever. She seemed a lot better this morning, although still sick. I wanted to keep her home from school but she refused. Kindergarteners love school. Dylan would have jumped at the chance to stay home.

Tomorrow is our Annual Boys-Go-To-Opening-Day-of-Mariners Girls Day. We invited Mam to come along. We usually just go out to dinner. Hopefully she's feeling better by then.

Rachel RULES

She bought me TWILIGHT the movie and brought it to me.

I thought she was the best friend on the planet, but I was wrong. She is the most awesometastic friend on the planet. That wasn't a real word until 10 minutes ago when she showed up with the movie.

Girl, it's Twilight time. I wish I didn't have to work today, we'd be vegging out and watching it together.

Happy birthday Mom!

Today is Easter, but more importantly...it's my mom's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

The kids woke up wayyyy too early for Easter. Dylan no longer believes in the Easter Bunny, but is more than happy to go along with the farce for Maddie's sake, which is pretty cool. Dylan asked Maddie to come play in his room with him first thing (a very, very unusual thing for him to do, and she was more than happy to comply with that) so that Joel and I could gather Easter Baskets and hide eggs. It was pouring outside so we did it inside, which was a bit of a disapointment for us all. It took all of 45 seconds to find them all. So Easter was over by 6:45 a.m. lol.

Rachel finished book 1 of Twilight and LOVED it; in fact she seems to have the same opinion as I do. I won't share it with you though, lol. She came by to get book 2 because once you start, you seriously can.not.stop. I'm glad to have someone to talk about Twilight with. Knowing Rachel as well as I do, I knew she'd have the same reaction I did and I was not disapointed.

The Future Felix Hernandez

Dylan pitched for the first time this season. He did so great. I was so nervous. Like I'm-going-to-throw-up nervous.

Here's a video of him pitching and a picture. They won the game 23-11. He struck out the last batter to win the game. Obviously they didn't need the strike out to win, considering they were up by 12 points...but you get it. Looks like he'll probably be pitching a little more often. He seemed to really impress the coach.

Maddie's first soccer game

They played 3 games. They don't keep score BUT...she won the first and third game. She still needs to work on her aggression. By the third game she was exhausted and this boy on her team kicked it and it hit her in the thigh and I thought she was going to lose her temper on this boy, but she didn't. She gave him the stink eye the rest of the game. She also took her aggression out on the ball, which was a good thing. She also did this to that kid, which was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my whole life.

Here's some pictures from the game. She was absolutely exhausted by the end of the 3rd game, but she really enjoyed herself. She vowed revenge on her teammate. Nice.

When Twilight takes over your life...

Nothing else matters anymore. I'm not kidding. For example:

• I have to force myself to take a walk and NOT bring the book with me. I can see the headlines now "Woman Killed While Reading Twilight - by a Car, not a Vampire"
• TV sucks. Anything on the television is not as good as my books. (not to mention I'm still upset about Seone going home on Biggest Loser. Don't get me started)
  
• I haven't watched a soap opera all week. In fact, I just deleted them off my DVR because they're taking up space and I really don't have any desire to watch them. That's not necessarily a bad thing, if you ask Joel.
  
• Work suffers. Actually, that's wrong; I suffer while I work. I have to put my book upstairs so that I am not tempted to read while sitting at my computer.
• I seriously contemplated finding an Edward costume for Joel...but will he wear it?
• I started calculating in my head how many times I can read the series before the new movie comes out.
• I will never, ever, ever go back to Forks the same again. I will forever be looking for a silver Volvo.
  
• I planning my day around reading. The kids wanted to play a game with me last night but I was seriously just 5 chapters from the end of New Moon so I negotiated a deal that we could play this morning and they could have ice cream for snack instead. They took the deal and we played Clue this morning. Then I read.
  
• I no longer have anything in common with people who don't read Twilight, which is why I made Rachel read it :P no, she wanted to anyway.
  

Sports Center with Photos

Dylan at 3rd Base
Maddie at soccer practice

My little sports

Last night was Maddie's first soccer practice. She LOVED it. I figured she would, but she loved it more than I thought she would.

Last night was also Dylan's first game of the season. He wasn't nervous before the game but as soon as he stepped into that batters' box he got all nervous for some reason. He struck out twice and walked once. He stole 3rd and made it home. He played 2nd base, center field and 3rd base. He made an out at 3rd base; caught a pop fly. Their team won 11-2. After watching them in practice I didn't think their team was that great, but they looked pretty good last night. Of course the team we played looked really bad so maybe it was the contrast.

Yesterday I decided to take a long walk. I walked almost six miles and now my legs are so sore. I'm not sure if I will walk today or not as it takes all my energy to walk up the stairs. This is always how I feel after our first softball game of the year, so maybe I am getting this out of the way now and won't hurt so bad later....maybe.

Why I am Crazy

I was in the car with Dylan and Maddie. We were having a lovely, calm discussion about the trees and bushes that are blooming and how much we love them.

ME: I like the purple ones best.
DYLAN: They're not purple, mom - they're pink.
MADDIE: Yea, mom...they're pink.
DYLAN: Actually Maddie, they are a little purple.

...and then my head exploded.

Today is crazy day number one. It doesn't get any better after this. Maddie has her very first soccer practice (yes, I will take pictures) and then Dylan has his very first game (yes I will take pictures). Both of my kids are going to be exhausted tonight. I didn't sleep well last night so I know I will be tired. Joel didn't sleep well either so between the two of us we were up most of the night. I really should have just got up and read my book, but that would have meant no sleep whatsoever.

Dennis had his first game last night so we went to watch part of it. He was pitching so I had to see it. I get just as nervous as his mother does. It's a mom thing. I am really excited for this season. I wish Dennis and Dylan were on the same team again this year. For selfish reasons of course - I would get to see Rachel more often and Maddie wouldn't be all up in my butt all game; she would have Marin.

I've been taking walks all week and I'm going to try to get one in today, but I really have to work hard to get my morning work done because I won't have any time tonight to do it. I may need that extra 45 minutes that I'm usually walking to get my work done.

Take a Mental Picture

Maddie got her soccer gear today. She's so flippin adorable in it. As you can imagine, it is all pink, right down to her cute little soccer ball and her cute little cleats. I would take a picture but my camera is out of batteries and I don't have any more. I'll go buy some tomorrow so that when she goes to her first practice on Wednesday I can take some pictures. In the meantime, just imagine how cute she is and she's 10 times cuter than that.

Pros and Cons of today

PROS

1. Today the kids go back to school finally (woo).
2. It's going to be almost 70 and sunny today.
3. Maddie is getting her soccer gear today.
4. Dylan gets his uniform.
5. We're having Lasagna for dinner (this is really more exciting for the kids, they love it)

CONS

1. I am crazy busy today. I have so much work that I may honestly be up late tonight working.
2. Due to Con #1 I will not be able to read any more of New Moon *sniff*.
3. Due to Con #1 I will not be able to take a walk. I was planning to go after Maddie gets on the bus and before I start job #2. This is still not out of the question though. I can still take the walk, I just will have more work to do later.
   
4. It's going to be almost 70 today. Refer to Con #1. If I had a lap top I would not be so angry about this.
5. We're having Lasagna for dinner. I don't hate Lasagna, but the Martha Stewart in me shies away from making this homemade for several reasons a. It's a pain in the ass and b. They have this handy thing called "Stouffers" that makes it for me and c. Lasagna is never as good as Tara's, so everything else is just crap. The only reason I do it is because it's easy and my kids love it. Their taste buds have not been poisoned by "real" Lasagna yet so they can eat the frozen stuff and be cool with it.

Baseball Games start this week and I'm PSYCHED. I had so much fun watching Dylan practice this year. He's improved so much and I'm so glad he's stayed back in AAA. He's going to get way more playing time than ever and he's going to show those kids how it's done. It's really weird for me to look out on the field and see my son not be the smallest kid on the team. He's actually about average-sized. It's going to be more difficult to find him on the field, usually you look for the shortest kid on the field.

Maddie's soccer starts this week too. She's excited about that. She's been practicing out in the yard. I'm a soccer mom now. Where's my minivan?

It's a shame, really it is.

It's a gorgeous day. I brought out the short sleeves and flip flops and sunglasses.

Sadly...I have to work. At least I can look at the beautiful sunny sky outside and be happy that it isn't raining or God forbid snowing.

A friend of ours is having a birthday and invited a bunch of friends out to golf and dinner later. Joel went golfing of course, but I can't join them for dinner later because I work. Another bummer.

What I'd really like to do today is sit outside and read my book. You know what book I'm talking about too...I swore not to mention the T word on the blog for a few days. I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm THAT obsessed. Who me? pfft.

Movie Night

Last night we had family movie night and watched Marley and Me. It's almost 2 hours long and Maddie's attention span is just a fraction of that so I didn't really expect her to watch it all. I also knew how it ended and having seen her cry over ET, I was a little worried about what her reaction was to this.

She actually watched about 80% of the movie. There was about 20 minutes in the middle where she got down and played with some wrestlers, but she was back to watching it by the end. She didn't cry at the end, but Joel and I both did. He claims he didn't but he did.

I know what you're thinking: Karla cried over the death of a dog? Well, I'm not totally heartless...you see once upon a time I had a dog that I loved like my brother and his name was Brutus. I have a picture but I would have to scan it. I was heartbroken when he died and I still think about him often. This movie reminded me of him, especially at the end when he was talking about how he wasn't like a real dog. Brutus wasn't like a real dog either, he was more like a person. He's completely irreplaceable too. There has never been another dog like him since. When he was alive he would steal our socks and sleep with them when we weren't there. When he died we each put a sock in his grave with him. I kept the other sock in my drawer for years. I wish he had lived long enough for my children to know him, because they would have loved him as well.

Anyway, enough sap for the day. I finished Twilight yesterday. That is honestly a record for me if you can believe it. I'm going to go get the movie and the second book today. I'm forcing Joel to watch the movie with me. I'm letting Dylan watch it too, as much as he grumbled about the fact that I was reading the book...he's actually looking forward to the movie. I guess I should just buy book three while I'm there because I may be done with book two by Monday.

Yesterday the kids and I went to Odyssey 1 with Tara and her girls. It was totally crazy. There were a ton of kids there. It was unbelievable. Our kids had a blast anyway. We took them to McDonald's afterwards for lunch and they played in the play area there too. I don't know about Tara's kids, but mine were exhausted last night. They both slept really well.

Sucker

When Twilight first came out I had wanted to read it because it was based on the town of Forks, Washington, which is a town we visit frequently. With all the hype and obsession I've seen over it I became extremely turned off by it. I could not imagine that a book about vampires would interest me at all, yet somehow it not only interests millions of people - they obsess over it to the point of insanity. I never read it.

Last month I read Jodi Picoult's new book Handle with Care in record time and felt a sense of unhappiness afterwards. It was a great book - probably her best if not one of the best - but she's a hard act to follow; anything I read now will be a disappointment. I have two books on my bedside table that I have started but became bored too easily.

That's when I decided to read Twilight. I figured it can't be a bad book, right? At least maybe I'd be entertained for 5 minutes and my BADD can subside for a few minutes (by the way, BADD stands for Book Attention Deficit Disorder).

I bought the book yesterday and I'm now halfway through it. I can't stop reading it. My work is seriously putting a damper on this, by the way.

So unfortunately...I've been sucked in (no pun intended...well...maybe). At least it gives me something to read that interests me, right? Plus I now have a movie to watch. It's all I can do to not go down and rent it before I finish the book.

Winner winner chicken dinner

We went back to the casino last night since the kids are at mom's. I had taken the $90 I won last week and set it aside for the next time I went. I took the $90 and turned it into $250. Cha-CHING. Joel had no luck at all. Not even a little. In fact, he spent everything he brought and was bored so I gave him some of mine TWICE and he lost that too, and I STILL came home with $250. WOOT

Before we left I told Joel that if I won enough I would buy myself a new IPOD. Dylan has been using mine for weeks and I haven't used it at all so it's basically his now. When I told Joel my plans his words were "have high hopes do you?" Well, I did and it paid off. I had the golden touch last night. I just kept winning and winning and it felt really good. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often. I did get my new IPOD though and it's pretty and purple and I love it. It holds way more songs than my old one too. In fact, I have room left over.

This is not an April Fools joke either, I really did win money.

Today is the birthday of my sister-in-law Jennifer. Happy birthday Jen!!!