February 18th

First of all,

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY DHARA AND ELORA!!!!!

Happy birthday to yous
Happy Birthday Two Ewes!
Happy Birthday Dear Dhara and Dear Elora,
Happy Birthday TO USE!!

Secondly, 9 days till my birthday.

Thirdly, let me tell you about my evening last night.

It was around 4pm and I was going outside to take out Sage's carseat and to clean out the car so that I could pick up our babysitter Kachina and her friend who's visiting from North Bay. Sage's carseat was still rear-facing because in the booklet it said it was safe to be rear-facing until the child was 30 lbs. Sage has been 29.5 for a couple months now, and it's something I've been meaning to do for some time. This was the perfect kick in the pants I required. So I went to take the carseat out so Kachina's friend would have someplace to sit.

When I got outside (haha that makes it sound like it's a major journey, but really, all I had to do was put on my coat and boots and step through the doorway.) I saw a familiar blue minivan pulling up in our driveway. I know what you're all thinking "But Carol and BJ went to Toronto in their blue minivan!" Ah HA! I fooled you! It was Steve and Noah's blue minivan that I recognized.

Is this too wordy? Am I rambling too much? You know what? I don't care! It's my blog and I'll write how I feel like writing. Plus, what are you going to do, stop reading? heh heh heh heh

-- hey what if you stop reading my blog? ack. I'd better get on with it.

Anyway Steve and Noah got out of their car and brought over a little package of toy cars and some wrapped up flowers in a vase as a thank you present for helping them! I was so touched. If we hadn't been home, they would've had to walk home and leave their car behind bars until Tuesday. Which would have sucked! Hayden and Sage were napping when they stopped by, so they couldn't say thank you themselves, but they loved the little emergency vehicle cars after their nap was over. And the flowers are so pretty!

It was raining while this was happening. The temperature was about -1 or 0, and the layer of ice on the car was REALLY fun to scrape off. It was thick but just warm enough to pop off in big sheets.

I picked up the girls and a pizza for them and the boys to eat for supper, and Jake and I went to play poker. I didn't do well in the tournament, I was the 11th person out, but I was glad that I didn't feel so crushed as I had felt last Wednesday when I had the best hand and would've won if the last card (the River) hadn't given my opponent a third queen to beat my pair of kings. Oh my god, I felt so bad after that, I even woke up at 3am that night unable to sleep for the misery of it all. Which in itself was disturbing, the fact that I was so upset. If all this poker wasn't free, I'd think I had a problem. Luckily, it's free, so you all don't have to go calling Gamblers Anonymous for me or anything. Anyway last night I was out early and was waiting around for Jake, who was doing well. Usually the people who leave the tournament early-ish still want to play cards, so a "loser's lounge" table is usually started. Sometimes it's just a "fun" table, and the winner gets nothing more than the statisfaction of some well-played cards and good luck. Most times tho, people buy a seat for $5 and the winner and runner-up get a cash reward. This is not legal, so the money has to pass hands literally under the table. The restaurant is not licenced for gambling, which is why it's not right. But hey. We're there, the cards are there, the chips and table top are there, so why not? Just as long as it's hush hush. The tournament is free, so the gambling law doesn't apply. So a table of 9 players including me set up and WHOA what a ride. The losers can be quite agressive. But it's usually a fun table with drinking and laughter and the odd serious poker moment or two. We start with 5000 worth of chips. About 20 minutes into the game I was down but not by much, to 4200. After the flop (first three community cards) the first to act raised 5000 chips. He had a few thousand more than than that. He did it so that if I called I would be all-in, and therefore OUT if I lost. I had a hard decision to make. I had Queen and 7 of spades. The flop had two small spades and a Queen. Therefore I had top pair AND a spade flush draw, with two more chances to catch one more spade. His huge raise of 5000 made me think that he had either a pair higher than queens or maybe two pairs, but if my flush came through, it would've beaten him. I thought about it for a few minutes. I counted my chips again. I held them in my hand and almost put them in. Then I said to myself "this is only for fun. let's just see!" so I called. Usually when I chase a flush, I don't get it, so I was thinking "Cosmos, you owe me a flush!!!" Another player called himself all in after me as well, and the pot was huge. We all flipped our cards over and checked out what each other needed to beat our own hands. The first guy had King and Queen (a pair of queens as well but with a bigger second card or 'kicker' than me, and the favorite so far). The other guy had a pair of 8s. He was basically not going to win unless he got a third 8. The Turn came (the fourth card) and it was a small red card. No help to the underdogs. People were shouting. Onlookers were rooting for their favorite players. I heard me and someone else chanting "spade! spade! spade!" People were standing! It was all very exciting. The dealer let the moment draw out for added anticipation and excitement, but the old lady next to him (that no one really likes) peeked and shouted "It's a SPADE!" Glory halelujia! Thank you Cosmos!! I won it all! I raked all my chips in and my oh my that is a great feeling.

An hour or so later it was 8pm-ish and we were down to the final three. Chantal, Andy, and me. First paid $30 and second paid $10, and nothing for third. Andy and I had big stacks, and Chantal had only a few thousand left. But she hung in there, my goodness. We played with three players like that for almost two hours! At around 10pm Chantal finally went out. The final table of the tournament was FINISHED and Andy and I were still playing. I had a much smaller stack than him, but I got lucky with a few good hands and we were more or less even after just a few minutes of play. The guy who runs the tournament was packing up the stuff. Andy and I looked at each other and I said "do you want to just split it $20/$20?" he agreed and that was it.

We got home at 10:30 and it was still raining. Kachina asked me if I could drop them off at Tim Horton's on Lasalle. They are 14 years old, and her mother and stepfather are out of town. If they'd been in town, I would have been playing poker with them all night, and I would've called to see if that was cool with them. Luckily when we got to Timmie's, their friends were not there, so I was able to drive them home. I said I was sorry they missed their friends, but I was not. It didn't seem like an appropriate thing to be doing at 14 years old. I'm not going to rat her out to her mom, but I am going to ask her if it ever comes up again, would she be allowed. The really funny thing is that after I got home, Hayden said to me "just get home". You and I know that he's pretty much a parrot, and I think it's funny to think that the girls were saying that, waiting here anxiously, wanting to meet their friends.. heh heh heh.

Well I hope you didn't get bored reading this really long post. Thank you for staying with me! Take care.