So as you know the flashes begin tomorrow and in the meantime I thought it would be fun to share a picture of this year’s Christmas tree.
Oh my yes that is an Enterprise tree topper. Yes you can all be envious. It is interactive and as awesome as it looks.
In addition, I have all the Mirror ornaments that interact with each other, also quite awesome. I would have posted a video but WordPress won’t let me unless I pay extra so that’s a nope.
I saw some people shitting on the Mirror ornaments on Tumblr but since I have them in person I can tell you that they are incredible and loads of fun. Are they exact replicas of the actors? Nope, but they are close enough and their dialogue and sound effects are from the episode. It is a delight.
A while back I spent an insane amount of money to get a picture of the TOS cast (from the movies) from Galaxy Con with three signatures of the remaining four Trek cast members (Walter, George and Bill).
It arrived today. I tried to get a decent picture without the light shining on it. Not sure I succeeded.
I’ll be getting it framed, of course (and yes that is part of my hand lol, if I didn’t hold it there was a HUGE spot of light in the middle, ah well I tried)
When my father was alive, they both loved Vegas. So much so that they briefly lived there after my mother retired. They had to be brought back from there because they couldn’t stop spending money but that’s another story.
When we would take my mother to Vegas, while we were checking in, she was already sitting at a machine. Up until the pandemic hit, she played bingo every Wednesday at the local Elks Lodge. Over the years, she won many jackpots (about $5,000 or so at a time mind).
So when we take these kinds of trips my mind is often on her. Definitely this time for a trip she would have loved. Back when she still could love anything (before dementia and Leukemia). More on that in a minute
Our view…pretty nice, yes?
So I was playing one of my favorite slot machines and playing the minimum bet of 88 cents per spin. I’d played about 9 or so spins when I got the bonus on it. That’s when this little jar’s lid closes. You get either the mini, the minor, the major or the grand jackpot. The mini was like $15. Almost 100% of the time that’s what I get. Once in a while I get the minor which is about $30-$60 depending on how recently it’s gone off. This time…
I got the grand. Which never happens on an 88 cent bet. Ask anyone. But it did. Yes, I won $17,000. It’s going into my retirement savings, but yes. It was a bit of an excitement. It’ll never happen again but my mother had a hand in it, I am convinced. I had her blessings as total this trip I ended up winning about $19,000 and my sister about $7,000. So yes, my mother blessed us.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to say because I didn’t want anyone to think I was bragging or whatever, but since you did ask, I am sharing here.
Since we are coming to the end of October already I thought I’d post some “Fall” pictures for us.
Tree losing its leaves (yes the sky is that blue)Proof some of our trees leaves change colorMore changing trees and a super blue sky
Fallen leaves and yes that is my foot
A nearby neighbor’s decorations, Too cute right? A little girl lives there
I am beginning to write some of the holiday flashes. I haven’t finished November but right now I want to get a jump on the December flashes. Now is your chance to tell me in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to see.
I’ll probably repeat titles and ideas from the 2019 set. Last year, if you will recall, I did one story instead of the flashes. This year we return to the more popular flashes
I have no clue if I have mentioned this or not but a while back one of my old fillings basically crumbled and came out over several months. I haven’t been to the dentist for 20 plus years. Or I hadn’t been until today, but we will get to that shorty.
Back in my youth I had a bad experience with dentists (several bad) and so I stopped going completely. I planned never to go as I had developed a dental phobia.
When my filling began coming out, I ignored it still. Until my recent trip over Labor Day weekend when was sipping a lovely ice cold cocktail and I nearly died from the pain (warning for exaggeration). That whole weekend I had to avoid that huge hole. Here’s a picture of it courtesy of the X-Ray taken this morning.
That hole there is it.
Anyway, no surprise but I need a root canal. Ugh. But the dental office I am assigned to through my insurance doesn’t have the endo dude so I have to call Monday for an appointment so I can get that done. Ugh.
Plus I need two or three other crowns and blah blah blah. My portion of all the other stuff (not the root canal) is $3000. If I decide to have everything that is. Right now I am concentrating on getting the root canal done as that’s what is causing me pain.
So yeah, there you have my poor poor story.
The moral? I should have gone to the damn dentist LOL
So, got a lot coming up here personally. Lots of plans so…
I’ve written Friday’s flash and scheduled it. I will get Monday’s done to wrap up August soon.
M’s birthday is Friday (yep one day after CP’s but M is quite a bit older ha ha). We are getting a new dishwasher Saturday. Home Depot is delivering and installing. It’s been literally years since we’ve had one so that’s kind of cool. Sunday we are going out for dinner to celebrate M’s birthday.
I hope to get Sept 01, 03 and 06 flashes done in there somewhere.
I’ll be gone over Labor Day weekend. I will be home and have the day off September 07th. Then that weekend after, the 11th I’ll be helping my sister with some of Mom’s things again. She wants to put wood floors in her house so there’s a lot of work to do to get it ready. It’s now been just over 3 months since she passed away. Time sure does fly.
This has been a cool week for August, even some pretty overcast days with heavy drizzle. It’s supposed to be hot next week though, so we will enjoy it this week. Here are some pictures at the resort where I stayed and why I found it so peaceful.
Arrival day it was sunny
Yum….cookies and cream ice cream drink (had Godiva Chocolate liquor in it)Cloudy skiesUnder the umbrella
We had a wonderful time but sad it is over of course. Vacations never last long enough
Now for the news you probably want
I have nothing written and scheduled at this point for the rest of August but I will see what I can do. No promises. That’s tomorrow, Wednesday, Friday, and Monday. I might be able to get three of those done but I am uninspired for tomorrow.
September’s theme: Academy Fics
October’s theme: Spooky
November’s theme: Harvest, Fall, Thankful
December’s theme” Christmas (not sure yet if it will be an every day thing or MWF like normal months)
I had requests for pictures, so I have posted some here. This was from our wine tasting day hosted by sister’s friend
Grounds of first WineryFirst tasting- Chenin BlancLooking Outdoors from our inside table. We were first sitting outside but got too warm, so we moved inside. That’s the edge of our hostess for the day in the pic. Our list of wine tastings from second wineryA glass – Loved the shape of this one
Red red wine
The vineyard Grounds of the second wineryThe third and final wineryMore grounds of third wineryThird winery tasting flights
I have today off from work and am going over to my sister’s later. Try out her new pool and spend time together as a family. I’ll return to work tomorrow.
Ma was Catholic so we are doing a funeral mass for her as well as internment at the cemetery after for her ashes. Years ago when my dad died and was cremated, she bought a plot next to his, so in this way, they will once more be together. Unfortunately, I guess these arrangements take time and with the holiday coming up, the services won’t be until after Memorial Day. We wanted it as soon as possible, for pretty obvious reasons, but that wasn’t going to be granted to us.
I’ll take my three bereavement days I get at work when the service is. Yeah three days to grieve your loved ones doesn’t seem nearly enough does it?
Anyway, some time this week, if I feel like it, I will take a stab at the other chapter that remains on One More Night. No promises, but I am thinking about it.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 