Morning gals! Brother what a nightmare. We seem to always get into trouble when we go away! lol We get to the casino and go to check in, well Kelly just reserved the room with her cc and didn't prepay so we had to pay for the room. I specifically asked about a room deposit as I was going to give it in cash so as not to tie up money on our credit card it takes about 3 weeks to get back. She said we didn't have to if we didn't want to so I passed on giving it to her. We didn't want to use the mini bar and had both our cell phones to call if we needed and didn't want their over inflated movies which is what the deposit is for. Then they only had smoking kings which I couldn't have stood, so they ended up giving us 2 doubles so we slept like Dick Van Dyke's show in separate beds. They put us on the second floor, which come to find out was the last floor of the original hotel. They added rooms onto the floor when they remodeled and we walked about 1/4 mile, honestly, to our room. We got off the elevator and followed the hallway to the end, then turned and followed it to the end, then turned into a long hallway and this is where the ice machine was and it had approx 30 rooms in this hallway and we walked to the end of that then we turned again and they had us at the very end of another 30 room hallway. So I was exhausted just getting to and from the room let alone the hike to the ice machine, which was the only one on the whole floor and the elevators we got out of were the only ones on the floor too. We get into the room and there is this loud humming. Come to find out, our room faced out onto the roof and it was heating or cooling or fans or something. We had to put up with that annoying sound. I then looked in the bathroom and the tub would have maybe fit Thomas in it sitting down. It was narrow, short and it had nothing in the bottom to keep from slipping or any kind of handles or towel bar or anything so I knew I was going to have a problem. I have never been in a hotel or casino hotel room that didn't have something, a soap holder with a hand hold, a towel bar in back, or a regular handle. They couldn't provide us with another room and if the bell hop had not already put our stuff in the room, I would have checked out right then and there but it gets worse. Jack was hungry and he had forgotten our free buffets so he went to the front desk and they told him to just have them put it on the room. Well, they did, but they charged us $30 for the buffet and the $92 for the room, which was supposed to include the buffet. Little did I know until I got home and checked my bank, which is where we have our credit card, that the little snot that checked us in put a $100 hold plus the room cost onto our credit card and charged the authorization for $197!!! We went to eat and the buffet food areas were sparce of food. The desserts were practically non existent, which used to be just the opposite. A lot of the food was not hot and it just wasn't that great but it was supposed to be part of the deal. So, now we finish and trek back to "timbuktu" to our room as we didn't want to gamble right away. We watched tv for awhile (it did have a 40 inch flat screen hd so we got to see what that experience was at least! ) We then went down a bit later, but Jack and I play different things. I am your numbingly boring slot player and Jack likes Baccarat. He went his way and I went mine though we had our phones if we needed each other. I sat down at a video slot machine, put in $40, it did it's first spin then had call attendent sprawled across the screen. I could do nothing but sit and wait until someone showed up. Ten minutes went by and someone came by me so I grabbed her and she said just a minute. She came back by about 5 minutes later and I stopped her and she said someone would be with me in a minute. Half an hour passed and my bowels decided they were going to become a problem so on top of sitting there, I started stressing about needing a bathroom, which of course, makes it worse. Someone else came by and said to me, just a minute let me drop this off and went around the corner. Back she came, but instead of servicing me, she said, "She is on her way," and walked off. I sat there for 45 minutes before someone came and by this time, I wasn't sure I would get to the bathroom without having an accident (one of the side effects of having less colon is the urge is harder to control) She walked up and rudely said, "What's wrong?" Well how the heck do I know what is wrong with the machine, isn't that your job (I thought this silently and only said, that I didn't know but that I just wanted to cash out.) I wasn't comfortable explaining my urgency if you know what I mean. She fooled with the machine about 5 more minutes before finally giving me my ticket with only a mumbled. "sorry, " then off she walked. Well, that did it. I took care of myself then walked to the desk where they issue the rewards cards because those ladies had been so nice to me. I asked how I went about making a complaint regarding a slot issue and she very nicely said I could talk to someone and she would gladly have her come to me. I told her thank you and she called someone and told me someone was on the way to talk to me and I told her I was going to sit at the machines across the aisle, which I did. By this time, I guess I was in full realization what could have happened and how embarrassing it could have become and I started crying so when the slot manager got there I was in full bawl mode. She was so taken back when I spilled everything including the fact I have had 2 colon surgeries and have trouble holding it that she told me she would do anything I wanted. She begged me not to cash out and leave the casino and go next door to the Gold Strike, which is where we usually stay. She gave 4 free buffets. The young woman who had told me that someone was on the way was very upset and put her arms around me and profusely apologized about it and said that next time to tell the person you want to cash out immediately and not wait. Yeah, like that would have made things better having them mad at me and making me wait besides because that's what would have happened I bet on it. They have unreasonable people in there all the time making stupid demands and I know for a fact there is a payback mentality. I told them, 10-15 minutes wouldn't have been so bad, but 45 minutes was ridiculous no matter what the circumstances and of course I got the we are understaffed bologna as an excuse. I went to another part of the casino and sat down at a penny machine and played a little and a slot lady walked up, said hello to me by name (it shows up on the machine when you have your card in it) and said, I am giving you free buffets how many would you like? lol Ok, so when I went back to my room about 3 minutes later, (some old dude smoking an ugly cigar sat down and puffed in my face and by this time it was "that's all brother I have had it."), I was the proud owner of not one, two or three, but 6 free buffets! I kind of forgot about it and Jack came back to the room and I told him what happened but didn't mention the buffets. We went to sleep early then he got up at 2, showered and went down and played and I got up and read a book then went back to bed. He came in around 5:30 said he'd won $300 when he decided to quit and said, "Oh, and they comped me 2 buffets, isn't that nice!" I couldn't quit laughing enough to tell him we were now the proud owners of 8 free buffets. The only problem is his had to be used by Monday next and mine were all only good for 3 weeks. Besides that, they have your name on them and rewards # so only you can use them because they ask for id when you use them. We used his for breakfast this morning, which was much much nicer than last night. Long story is I am going to really let the hotel manager have it in an email or letter. I told Jack they could comp us a week and I wouldn't stay there again. On a nice note, I have lovely nails and toes since my pedi and nail appt!

I will be in here tomorrow and do replies and such. Just wanted to blow off steam and let you know we are back home all safe and sound.
Faye

Good afternoon, ladies.

Faye, You seem to have the worst luck of anyone I know. I'm really sorry you trip was so bad. I'd sure not go back there again. Maybe you can talk them into paying for the room. I just love getting manicures and pedicures - I feel so pampered.

Maggie, So you will among those of us with a TV after all - there might even be something you'll enjoy! I've almost learned to do brain surgery watching Discovery Health.

Jean, Money always seems to be a problem for churches. Our church asks us to tithe 5% of our income if we can or whatever we feel God is leading us to give. We have an extra collection each month for the building fund. Our annual bazaar raises several thousand dollars - we just had it last Saturday. There is always a quilt being raffled for it. Food Lion and Farm Fresh donate a % of sales to the church when we register our shopping cards. That comes to several thousand as well. If you don't have that, you might see if it is offered in your area. Through the Great Lakes Scrip Center - www.glscrip.com, we sell gift cards. There are hundreds of stores and hotels that participate so it's an easy way to raise money. I buy them to use myself so the church gets the money - usually around 5% of price.

Good morning to you all! Hope your Wednesday is starting off well. We went to bed early last night as we were tired, but Jack had one of his "spells" from taking niacin so we were up for quite awhile. I feel for him because you can't do anything but wait it out. It is the only medication that the medical community as a whole helps someone with low HDL. Jack takes 1000 mg a day and then from time to time will have horrible flushing a hot flash rush and tingling that lasts from 20 minutes to over an hour sometimes. He says the worst is the beginning when all three start. Nothing helps, not even cool air on him. He just has to wait it out. So last night I laid in bed and babbled at him about inane stuff just to take his mind off it until the symptoms started going away. He said he has never been able to sleep while it happens until the tingling, which is the last to go, is almost gone.

Susan: Hey, you already have a great head start at brain surgery, you can cut and sew! Now if you can learn the in between stuff, you are all set. I too learn some amazing things watching stuff like the history channel or the discovery channel. Occasionally even ESPN, ugh! That was something last night that I kept watching even after Jack was done and went upstairs. It was this heart touching story about a little 8 year old boy who was born with a very large tumor in his left thigh. The poor little thing has 6 rounds of chemo before his first birthday to no avail and they ended up taking his leg off up to his hip. This adorable little guy started playing soccer, without air of a prosthetic, when he was 3 and he is good, then went on to baseball and football. It is amazing how he plays and he is just an adorable little guy. Like I told Jack, makes me ashamed of complaining of what I have been through with a child like that.

Jean: Shoo, shoo, no nasty weather south. We aren't expecting any, but I can do without it that's for sure. Hope yours doesn't last long. Your school board must be nuts! I sent a very long email to the hotel/casino and it was not nice. I am fed up with service industries who think when they have you captive they can just let their level of service go to pot, you know?

I am going to be playing cleaning catch up today. Oh and guess what? One of the things I bought for my handbags broke and 8 of the bags are now laying on the floor in a mess. I have to get that all squared away before Thanksgiving in case Thomas wants to spend the night when we babysit for he and Jackson. It would cost more to send it back than to just eat the money it cost. Makes me mad when you follow the instructions, don't overload whatever it is and still it breaks.

You gals have a good one today!
Faye

Good morning ladies!

Faye, it seems like they should pay for the return shipping since it broke. Just send me 8 handbags and that will solve the problem! Next week there is a program on DHC about a man who got pregnant and gave birth naturally??? I want to see it, but I will be at quilt guild. I guess I need to get a kid to come in and program the VCR for me - or pay for the cable Tevo. I like the History Chanel, too, and the Biography, Travel and National Geographic. I like to watch the programs on FitTV that deal with weight loss and healthy eating.

Jean, Please do NOT share the snow and freezing rain with us. The leaves haven't come off the trees yet. They close the schools for weather here at the first snowflake. We had no snow last winter but the kids used all their weather days and some had to go on Saturday to make the required 180 days of school. As I said, our church as us to tithe 5% if we are able. Nothing is every posted about how many do that. We do have the amount collected the previous week in our bulletin but that is all. We do have a large church, more than 800 families, 3 Masses are filled. Our priests get paid very little (vow of poverty), but we do have the expenses for their home and a housekeeper.

Have a good day - tonight is quilt bee so I'll have fun.

Good morning to you all! Boy am I steamed! I seem to have the retail booboo demons on my tail at the moment. When we put in the new shower head, I had to take my nice shower caddy off the shower head because it wouldn't fit with the new handheld. So I started looking for something and found one that uses suction cups to attach so bought it online from Bed Bath and Beyond. I was balancing my checkbook and noticed the charge for the caddy I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond was $32 over what it should be. I always keep confirmation orders and shipping orders I get by email until I have the product in my hand so I went back and looked at them both. The initial confirmation was right, but when I got the "your item has shipped" email they charged me $38 in shipping instead of $6! I emailed them this morning and cut and pasted both the confirmation they sent and then the shipping order and told them I wanted my refund pronto! It isn't like they overnighted it. They shipped the thing either Sat or Sunday and it won't get here until today. I will keep you updated. At least the authorization for the hotel bill has been removed and the correct amount is in its place. I doubt I hear anything from ranting at them though. Why should they? They make billions, they sure don't need my piddly little amount of money.

I got a call last night from my sister in Calf. She is having a lot of health issues, one of which is cysts on both ovaries and she is anemic. They are trying to find out why so she has to have a colonoscopy this morning. Last time she had one they had her do enemas, this time she had to do the drink and gag stuff so she called sounding all in asking me how much of the stuff she had to get down that she was so sick she wanted to throw up. (Been there done that twice honey) Anyway, I told her what my cardiac nurse sil said when she was here in April about taking Dulcolax so you wouldn't have to drink so much of it, but she had one of the gallons and had drank only 5 glasses. I told her if she could just get one more glass down and get a box of the laxative and take 6-8 of them and drink lots of water to get them going she should be ok. She was home alone (this was around 4 pm her time) but the store was only 5 blocks from her house. I asked her how close together trips to the bathroom were and she said about 20 minutes so I said she might be able to be ready to run to the store the minute she finished another round in the restroom and get back home without a problem. I felt so bad for her because the experience is so awful. You would think in this day and age they wouldn't use the torture method to get it done, but use the pills. I guess they have pills nowadays that do the trick and you don't have to drink that stuff.

Susan: You can have this ugly one that a friend bought me for my birthday a couple years ago! lol It is very old style with just a short handle and the closure is the old granny style metal that you twist sideways to open. I know she paid a lot for it because she bought it at this pricey boutique where she works part time in their restaurant. It is baby blue nylon with a pink cloth handle and this pink argyle pattern on the front and then pink and purple sequins sewn over the pattern! UGH, it is really ugly! lol I don't know if you would like most of my bags. You can carry your house in the bags I buy most of the time. The last one I bought Jack calls my dr bag because that is what it looks like and is about the size of one! lol I keep telling him I have to carry a big bag so I have all the essentials that my grandsons and husband ask for, aspirin, hand wipes, hand washing stuff, manicure scissors and clippers, tissue, pens, paper, ww calculator and the list goes on and on.

Jean: Hope the ole weather has cleared up. How did you get out of school the rest of the week? No, my handbag domagjig is canvas type straping. I will contact them, but I doubt I get satisfaction. It is one of those places like Lillian Vernon so you get what you pay for Iguess. I can't believe it is getting so close to Thanksgiving. I still have so much to do. I want to clean the downstairs carpets before they come and my kieflies need several hours to make and that doesn't even count making the dough balls the day before. Jay asked me for my chocolate chip cookies and I am making my milk chocolate fudge and all that stuff I need to do close to Thanksgiving so they don't get stale. Ahh, well, we will get it all done. I have a good helper. You know my dang deck is full of leaves already! Problem is, it has rained here so I can't go and sweep them out to the end of the garage for landscaper pick up. Have fun in Omaha. We are having lunch with Kelly, Tom and Thomas on Saturday for Kelly's birthday. She is my anniversary baby. She was born on the 16th and our anniversary is the 18th.

I guess I should go get in the recliner and try and sleep with the puppy dog for a few hours. He jumped off the bed having to go to the bathroom so I just came downstairs and paid my bills and decided to go ahead and post.
Faye

Good morning to y'all! Hope your day is going well. I started coughing in the night and it has kept it up so I didn't get much sleep. I am sort of poop. I don't think I have a cold just some ornery tickle in my throat that won't go away.

My sister came out of her test just fine, but they didn't find what they thought they might find so they will continue to look. She is convinced it is all female related and she may well be right with what is going on with her.

Maggie: Thanksgiving in creeping up on us isn't it? I taste tested the ham and it is pretty darn good, thank goodness. We will be getting the majority of our cleaning and setting up done next weekend I imagine. Kids should be in early Thursday morning. They both have to work on Wednesday.

You all take care and we will talk later.
Faye

Good evening, ladies! More rain.

Faye, I hope your cough has gone away! You don't have time to get sick! I'm glad your sister's test came out okay.

Jean, I hope you had a good time in Omaha.

Maggie, looks like you and Faye are all set for Thanksgiving guests.

I had quilt guild today then went to lunch with my friends. Tomorrow is the wedding. The quilt is done! I hope the rain stops for her.

Have a good evening!

Morning ladies. Just a quick post. I am dog tired as I coughed all night long. Couldn't figure out why since I am never around anyone then I thought about the dang casino and I bet that is where it came from. I imagine since I am home so much I don't build up much immunity when I am out and about.

We are leaving in just a bit to go to lunch for Kel's birthday. Can't say I feel like it, but I will trudge through then come back and dope up and go to bed. Hopefully I can sleep. I went over to Walgreens and got some med and got a Zicam cough spray. It is vile, but I hope it does the trick and helps me not to cough so muc.

Jean: Sounds like you had a nice time. Now you have the whole weekend too. We are doing the commissary run tomorrow and I am not looking forward to that. I don't feel well and on top of that I have a big bill to buy for cookies and such.

Susan: Hope you have a nice time at the wedding and I know your friend will love the quilt!

Have a good one gals!
Faye