Vegas Baby! Day Three, Final Post

Originally, in early Vegas, the casinos were built "down town". As the strip expanded, the big casinos got farther and farther away from down town. In an effort to revitalize this area, the big casinos that are still down there (Fitzgeralds, Four Queens, Bennions, Golden Nugget, The Plaza...) and the city created "The Freemont Experience". It is a huge dome of lights over a 3ish block area along Freemont Street, and at night they do a music/light show every 1/2-1 hour...depending the the season. On St. Patrick's Day we only saw one show though our parking ticket told us we had been down there more than 3 hours. They were advertising a show featuring Queen music, but the one we saw was music from the 60's. It was pretty entertaining--not Donny and Marie, but it'll do in a pinch--and if you make it to Vegas, it's worth a trip down town to check it out some evening. In an effort to upload the photos (which were bigger than the other Vegas photos) I had to make them smaller and not download as many. I hope I chose the best ones!

And this concludes our Vegas trip. The next morning Shelley had to leave pretty early (10:00) by Vegas standards, Mom left around 11:00, and Mary Beth and I went over to another hotel--looking for cheap poker--for a couple of hours before we too had to leave our happy place! But there's always next time...Let's start planning now!

Vegas Baby! Day Three, Part two

After a morning of parades, M&M World, star sightings, and hanging out by the pool--in was beautiful and in the mid 70*s--we headed to the Flamingo for our Donny and Marie show. Shelley had her photo taken with Donny as soon as we waked in. She's an Osmond stalker.

But alas, it turned out to be a sad afternoon when we found out Donny and Marie had canceled their show for the evening! Shelley HATES Vegas and really only agreed to go in a moment of weakness when the Osmonds were promised to her. We weren't sure how she would handle the news, but she seemed to be okay. There were no breakdowns in the middle of the casino or anything, so off we went to MARGARITAVILLE to let the healing begin.

And heal we did. Delicious dinner. Some of us sampled the world-famous margaritas. Delicious!

We tossed around several options for shows to replace Donny and Marie, but let's face it....there is NO replacing Donny and Marie. So we decided to go back downtown to play a little more Texas Hold Em and celebrate St. Patrick's day with all the people from Kentucky.

How do we know they were from Kentucky? Well...we don't really. They could have been from Arkansas. All I know is there was a group of them, and they were sporting mullets and missing teeth. Mary Beth was quick to point out that instead of a trip to Vegas, perhaps they should have scheduled a trip to their dentist to get some teeth!!!

We saw this guy too...he would pour alcohol right down your throat for FREE if you walked up to him and bent your head back. No. We didn't. Half of Vegas had already had that thing in their mouths!!! Please. We do have our standards!

While Mary Beth, Shelley, and I all lost a little money playing poker, Mom was over at a keno machine WINNING--she does that a lot, and it sort of gets annoying. But then she'll make it right by buying us slushy drinks so...Notice how tightly we are all holding ours. Don't want the mullet people to try to snatch them!


As you can see, we are enthralled with something. I'm saving the pictures of just what that something is for tomorrow. Come back. It'll be the last Vegas photo installment!

Oops--Forgot This One

Oops, sorry Shelley. I forgot this one in all my Edward-mania. Or maybe I just couldn't take another woman moving in on my man! You do look pretty cute, but the look on Edward's face says, "Hurry up and take the picture so I can be with you instead of your sister."

Vegas Baby! Day Three, Part one

You know the old saying, "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day"? That certainly seemed to be true in Vegas. There were tons of people dressed in green--including everyone in our party. One of the bars at NYNY is called "Nine Fine Irishmen" so this hotel really had the party going on. In the morning, as we headed to M&M World to shop, this Irish parade was going on. Complete with bag pipes and members of the Las Vegas Fire Department, it was pretty fun. Mom was the big "winner" as she's the only one who got a cool shamrock necklace they were handing out as they were walking by. Were they waiting to hand them out to kids? There weren't many kids in Vegas this trip. They were in SCHOOL!!!!

There was much speculation about what they might be wearing under these kilts. Mary Beth said the U.S. Marshall that she works for goes commando when he wears his. YUCK!

We walked over to M&M World so I could pick up some M&Ms in Skyview Falcons colors--I'm cool like that--and who should we run into, but my man, Edward, from Twilight. Now, you'll see Mary Beth trying to hone in on my man, but here's how you'll know he was working his secret vampire powers on me: it would appear from this photo that I am wearing a yellow t-shirt. That is not true. As you'll see in all remaining photos of me taken on this day, my shirt is WHITE. But only in the photos with Edward does it look YELLOW. So you see...Edward liked ME best!!!

And later we ran into the card-board version of him. No yellow shirt. I'm just saying...

A couple more posts and you'll have the highlights of the trip...or at least the ones that have photo representation. Thanks to Shelley for being the trip photographer. You're the best!

A note about M&M World--one of the cool things about it, besides all the fun memorabilia, is the entire wall of M&M dispensers. Each color is represented, and you can fill your bag with whatever colors you choose--in plain or peanut. How cool is that?

Vegas Baby! Day Two

Day Two found us headed downtown to Freemont Street and Bennions to learn Texas Hold 'Em. Actually, Mary Beth wanted to learn. We were along for the ride. She missed the lesson so when we found this virtual game, we all sat down and learned. This is a little easier version of the real thing. Betting is limited, and the pace is slower. We had a great time! Check out our poker faces there!

After lots of fun downtown, we headed to the Venitian/Pallazo for the evening. It's Spring Break in Vegas, and Mary Beth MADE us do Jello-shots--at a food court, no less. Did I mention it's VEGAS BABY!!!

After the shots and some slushy drinks, we headed to the evening's show--Jersey Boys. The king and I saw it last year. It is one of the BEST shows EVER!!! I love it. It's the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, plus the story of their rise and fall. It's sooooooo good. Everyone should see it!

The show was followed by dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe, which is the same menu/chefs as The Cheesecake Factory. Here's what's left of some of our cheesecake once we remembered that we were supposed to take a photo of it for Shelley's friend. YUM-O!

Good times on a Tuesday in Vegas!

Oh, and check out our beads. Aren't they beautiful? They were free down on Freemont Street, but we don't recommend using the bathroom that goes with the casino that hands them out! Yikes!

Vegas Baby! Day One

We arrived in Vegas Sunday night. We stayed at NYNY Hotel/Casino. I love it.

Monday we headed to one of the outlet malls and shopped 'til we dropped. Really. Time flew and before we knew it, it was after 5 PM and we had a trunk full of goodies.


My mom and I, vamping at Claires. You can try them on and not buy. These were probably the only things we didn't buy! Check out the head piece on Mom!

I'm not really sure what the conversation was, but whatever it was, Mary Beth was feeling very strongly about something, and I was listening intently! That's why we're such good friends.

After the shopping we headed to the Mirage to see LOVE. It was really, really good. Loved all the Beatles music. We had dinner at a Rodizio Grill, compliments of my mom. We ate and ate and ate. It's a carnivore's dream!!! Thanks Mom.

207

The princess' cell phone died while I was in Vegas. They sent us a new one, and she and I went in today to have her data transferred to the new phone. It takes a VERY long time to transfer 207 photos from one phone to another. The phone gal suggested we run some errands and come back! So we went to McDonald's for a soda and to the library to return a book. When we got back it STILL wasn't done, but it was close! Phew, now she has a working phone again. It was kind of like a part of her died without her phone! :)

An Irish Blessing this St. Patrick's Day

May you have:

A world of wishes at your command.

God and his angels close at hand.

Friends and family their love impart.

And Irish blessings in you heart.

Compromise

These are my shoes, cluttered in the entry from the garage. Every weekend the king sweeps the floor and puts this pile of shoes back in my closet. He doesn't complain. He doesn't ask me to put them away. He just does it.

The kids put their shoes in their rooms. The king leaves his out in the garage. I leave mine here.

It's all about compromise. I do not agree with taking our shoes off when we come in the house. But I do it because it makes the king happy. He takes care of the floors so I am willing to do this for him even though I think his possessions own him instead of the other way around.

This is why we've been married for 17 years. Compromise. Shoes. Carpets. Compromise.

And now I'm going to Vegas with the girls which is another reason we've been married 17 years. Separate trips on occasion. He's a good man.

The Mask

The prince made this cool mask in art. First of all, they made much better masks in 5th grade, but I guess in high school you're only allowed to use construction paper. Anyway...I asked him to model it, and he said, "No way." So here is the princess.

I told her she looked like an African Princess.

That's when the prince had to correct me,

and model the mask himself.

"MOM! That's not an African mask. It's the drummer from KISS."

SOORRRRYYYYYY!!!

My mistake.

It's been awhile since I left the 1970's!

But now that you mention it...

26 Hours and Counting

In 26 hours I should be at the airport! Can't WAIT!

Survior Update

Don't read if you haven't watched it!







I can't believe they didn't send James home.


I can't believe the Heroes keep losing.


I can't believe they didn't eat the chocolate Jeff offered.


I love chocolate, but looking at all that chocolate on that table made me sick.


I can't WAIT for the Boston Rob/Russel showdown!


And while we're on the subject of reality TV...Jeff and Jordan dodged a bullet on the Amazing Race. We'll see if they can dig out of that mess on Sunday. Oh no, wait. You all will have to watch it and let me know. I'll be headed to LAS VEGAS Sunday night!!!

By the way, no Survivor this Thursday. It's on in two weeks on WEDNESDAY! (Silly college basketball.)

And on a lighter school note:

The king sent me this joke the other day--at least I hope it was a joke!

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. After they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.There are teachers.... and then there are educators.

School Politics

I am so NOT into politics of any kind. I have opinions, but I keep them to myself. I don't get worked up. I don't argue with people who do. If you're talking politics to me and I'm smiling and nodding, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree. It just means I'm listening.


That's politics in general. As far as the politics of funding education and the necessity or not of testing goes, I have voiced an opinion from time to time. I'm more connected and have a vested interest here. Still, I'm more apt to smile and nod on this topic too.


This brings us to the hub-bub surrounding the Rhode Island school that fired all of it's teachers. I won't go into detail on the story itself. It's been all over the news. And if you missed it, here's a link to a CNN article.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode.island.teachers/index.html



This really became a battle between the state of Rhode Island and the teacher's union, and I'm staying out of ANY comments on that!!! In the end, students lose.


The following is a link to an article written in response to the Rhode Island firings. The article is slanted. I admit that. And I don't agree with everything in it. But here it is if you are interested.



http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/05/teacher_firings


What I do agree with is the end of the article, and this is worth reading:


"Yet all the enthusiasm to revamp education has created a frenzy. Real review takes effort and collaboration. Education isn't like an episode of"Extreme Makeover." You can't know anything of the soul of a school by looking at letters and numbers on a chart. And you can't bulldoze a system and call it fixed."



Amen.


Now, one more thing. This week the governors of all 50 states met with the President and agreed to adopt national standards (that the president's committee had come up with ) for students in k-12 in reading and math. I'm not opposed to national standards because it levels the playing field. Right now each state designs it's own tests that are then reported to the federal government.


The national standards don't scare me either because in looking at them, they look to be in line with much of what our state is already doing and when we are doing it. For example, 3rd graders should read and comprehend Charlotte's Web. Our 3rd graders dissect Helen Keller so I'm pretty sure they can take on Charlotte. Fifth graders would need to understand the Pythagorean Theory (a squared plus b squared equals c squared). At our school, depending on how far into the computer math program they get, our 5th graders are exposed to the theory. Teaching it more thoroughly could be easily done. High school freshman would be required to read and comprehend The Iliad and The Great Gatsby. The Iliad is already on the freshman reading list at the prince's school. He's read it and To Kill a Mockingbird and is currently trudging through Romeo and Juliette. So we've got this!!!


What's kind of weird to me is that, in order to get the 4 BILLION dollars the president is promising in education money, schools must adapt these new standards. Which begs the question: does the president not care about the kids in the states that don't adopt the standards? Are those children being left behind? All but 2 states agreed to adopt the standards. One of the states that didn't was Texas, and the governor of Texas said, "Texans know best how to educate their children." There is some irony in this since it was President Bush--from Texas--who started this whole testing/standards ballgame.



Still, I give Texas a hand for not buying into the politics. I don't doubt that money will talk down the road, and they'll join the other 48 states. In the meantime I'm reminiscent of when the government tied highway funding to speed limits. Montana said, "No thanks. Keep your money. We'll keep speeding down the highway." Eventually the money was necessary and we too had ourselves a "reasonable" speed limit on our highways!



Am I rambling? Probably. In my brain this all ties together, and if you're really good at reading between the lines, you know what I'm saying. If you know me well then you know what I meant to say. For the rest of you, thanks for letting me rant a little!

Falcons Update

Skyview got trampled on yesterday but played today in a loser-out game. They won so will play tomorrow. If they win tomorrow during the day, they'll play tomorrow night in the consolation game. Go Falcons!

Go Falcons!

For the first time in many years, all three local boys basketball teams are in the state championship. We're rooting for the Falcons, of course. I'll keep you posted.

Big City

We must be living in the big city now. On the way to work I saw two different taxi cabs and they each had a passenger!

Yummy!

When I borrowed Grandma's camera the other day I took the SD card home and loaded it onto my camera. Her Hawaii photos from October were on her card and ended up on my computer too. I was particularly attracted to this one! ;) I wonder if this is Grandma's new boyfriend. Has she been holding out on us? I might need to cancel my trip to Vegas and head to Hawaii!

The Wailers Concert

These are photos the prince took the other night when he attended The Wailers concert. Skunk Boy is very into Reggae music, so the prince likes it too. The Wailers are the band that backed up Bob Marley before he died. They tour and play Marley music along with other Reggae music. It's kind of like when the Jordanairs (Elvis' band) still tour. The prince and his friends had a good time and even met one of the members though they did admit he was a little "creepy". When I asked what that meant they said he was kind of like the carnies at the fair. YUCK.

The Help Part 2

I just read that Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Company has purchased the movie rights to The Help. They are speculating on casting right now. Can any movie do the book justice?

Volley Ball

The princess added to her already busy schedule by signing up for volleyball a few weeks ago. She really enjoys it, and if it didn't conflict so much with dance, she might really take to it, but in having to choose, she chooses dance. Still she's learned a lot and picked up some new skills. Last night was the first of her two games. (It's hard to find teams to play against when we're one of only a few teams in the area with a middle school concept. Most 6th graders don't get the chance to play this way locally.) But they played against the home school team--and were beat mightily by them too for most of the games. Still it was a great learning experience. But don't tell the princess that. She hates to lose!

Warming up.

Set.



"I've got this."

Serving.

Huddle up.

"Mine!"

Her best skill may be in serving.

Twice she served 5 unanswered points.

Check out her serve face.

Lips pressed firmly together.

And again.

And again!

Love this girl.

A special thanks to Grandma who saved my bacon. I forgot my camera at home yesterday and didn't have time to run back before the game. Grandma showed up with hers so all was good. And the king was even able to stop by for a bit while working. I'll miss next week's game because of my little jaunt to Vegas. Her dad will be there to cheer her on though.

The Help

I don't usually review the books I read, but I'm going to recommend "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It was published in 2009 so is still only available in hard back and might be pricey (I borrowed a copy), but it is really, really good! Set in Mississippi in the early 1960's as integration is just starting to take hold, it is the story of black maids who tell their stories of working for white families to a white woman. That may not sound like much, but it is a GREAT story as it unfolds. Funny, sad, and page-turning good. Even the "terrible awful" in the story is terribly funny. This book is like "Blind Your Ponies" by Stanley Gordon West for me. I'll be giving it out for Christmas to those of you who haven't read it. It's a keeper. Thanks Karen, for lending me your copy. I'll get it back to you as soon as the king finishes it. Let me know if you need it sooner!

Saturday Night

Last night the king and the kids went to watch the Culbertson Cowboys take 3rd place in the state basketball championship. It's the best this team has done since Grandma attended school there, and they had a good time cheering on these small towns.

I can't help thinking it's gotta be pretty cool for these kids to play in this big arena.

Meanwhile, everyone who wasn't at that game was apparently at Texas Roadhouse to help me celebrate my birthday with some friends! It was an hour wait last night, but call ahead seating is the BEST! A good time was had by all.

Paintball Fun

Grandma's brother has been in town this weekend, with his grandson, for a basketball tournament. Yesterday Grandma called to see if the prince would like to do some paintballing with his distant cousin and some friends. The prince was all for that! He rounded up Sir Daniel--who, by the way, had spent the morning at the county spelling bee and made it through the 4 round (you can be smart AND a paintball master)--and away the five boys went, to mix it up a bit!

Getting the gear together.

At this place, for $25, you get all the gear

and enough paintballs to last 2-3 hours.

Good fun!

Ready for action!

The prince came home with 3 nice welts on his arm and plenty muddy, but otherwise unscathed. Sir Daniel did not fare as well. He was ambushed while in a trench and took one to the head, ending up with a nice headache later in the day.

Watch out...

Blogger won't let me put spaces between my paragraphs--this happens sometimes, and I don't know why it does, and it really bugs me--so be careful with the next post if you're a Survivor fan. I couldn't put a big space between my intro paragraph and the rest of the post which does give away some of what happened last night.

Last Night's Survivor

While I'm not going to mention, specifically, who got voted out, I am going to talk in general about the show and might give away which tribe had to vote someone off, so if you haven't watched it, you might not want to read this yet.

While we have 3 villains and 1 hero still left in our pool, I find myself really rooting for Boston Rob, who isn't even one of our people. I really like him a lot (even though he's now gunning for Russel--one of 2 of our people I think has a shot at winning), and just keep being really impressed with how well he does at EVERYTHING.

Last night, I found myself rooting for the villains at the challenge because we have more of them left in our pool! Phew. It worked. And our one hero--JT--was safe last night. They finally got smart and voted out a strategic player. HELLO people!!! Took you long enough.

I've decided it's really hard to be a couch quarterback. It stresses me out, but I really think it's because usually, at this point in the season, I'm still trying to figure out who all the players are, and this season I already know them all. I LOVE that!! I wish every season could be people I know. Maybe they need to do it like Dancing With the Stars. Maybe only famous people should go on the show from now on!

By the way...even though Coach is one of our players, I wouldn't have cared it he went home last night. What a CRYBABY. I loved it when Rob told him to, "Be a man." ;)

Until next week...

You Don't Have to Blog on Your Birthday

I try to blog daily. I thought about taking today off since it's my birthday. In then end, I decided it needed to be said that I had a great birthday.

I'm so glad my mom endured 3 DAYS of labor with forceps for me all those many years ago! She sent me a swell bday gift too! Money for VEGAS, BABY! Not to mention she's meeting me there next week.

Today all the children at school were very good. I didn't even have to kick anyone out of class (and I usually do at least 3 times a week). A group of sixth graders (the princess NOT included) sang happy birthday to me. The king sent me flowers and is taking me to dinner tomorrow night along with the kids and skunk boy. I'm having dinner with the girls on Saturday night. I got nice gifts from some of my friends. My sister-in-law gave me some awesome socks. And I got calls, texts, and video texts from some of my favorite people--including the king who may just win American Idol, should he ever try out.

I was busy driving the mom-taxi tonight but did have time to stop at Albertsons to buy myself a cake. I couldn't choose so I bought myself TWO! Is that wrong? I don't think so! A regular cake with yummy, greasy frosting, and a Snickers ice cream cake for later this weekend. Don't judge me people!

Finally, may I just say that I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. It is the best gift of all--to be loved. And having said that, I'm a bit "afear" of the BIG birthday that's only a few years away. Start saving now, my friends, because I feel an extended trip coming on, and you're all invited! It's the only way I'll be able to deal with the pain of aging!

The Second Before the Pain Hits

Notice two things:

1. No one is really protecting the toddler in the middle who seems to be reaching for the bat. We are all about self-preservation in moments of doom.

2. See the girl in the first row who is totally oblivious to the flying bat? That would be me! I go to games to socialize and people-watch. By the grace of God I have not been hit by some flying object!

??Spring??

Signs that spring may be on the way:

I have driven to work in daylight for the last couple of weeks.

Our streets are mostly dry now though the snow banks still have along way to go to melt away.

For the last 2 nights we have slept with a bedroom window open.

It reached into the low 50*s yesterday.

My geranium (which is currently inside near the sliding glass door) is flowering again.

The prince has a track meeting next Monday.

I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, but...maybe...

And don't forget that we move the clocks forward in a couple of weeks!

Waffle Drama

I was going to title this "Waffle Mania" because I heard the prince's alarm clock go off at 5:50 (he usually gets up about 6:15). He was getting up early to make himself some waffles. He then went into the bathroom and the princess came upstairs--about 10 minutes earlier than usual. Really, all this for waffles??? I guess so. Except that's where the drama comes in. While he was in the shower, she started making the batter. Nice sister. When he got out of the shower he was none-too-happy to see her "helping"! Seriously??? She was making a double batch. So the fight was on. Now he's cooking, she's downstairs, and I might have to eat all the waffles. It's too early for all this drama!