Thanksgiving: The Good, The Bad,

The Ugly, The Cute, and the Magnificent

Even though it had a very sad, bad, ugly and disappointing twist, I had a grand Thanksgiving! I'll get to the ugly business. I am proud to say that I refuse to let the bad get me down. Life is too short.

The GOOD: As has become my custom, I (we actually, the Sniffen Sisters and I) invite a slew of folks for a Thanksgiving party. These folks include those who don't have family nearby or who don't have family at all. We gather and become family (the kind you like!) for an afternoon and evening of fun, food and merriment. This year, the count grew to 16. Our 16 people included, Bette the poochie, and Midnight the Cat. (If you keep up with my blog, you know the Midnight story.) There was only one person I did not know personally. This person, let's call her Olivia, was invited by another guest - with my blessing of course. Olivia had no family and was going to be alone, so she was welcomed with open arms. Really - we are huggers. I had forbade anyone to bring any food as that was more than covered on the home front. Therefore the guests brought wine and flowers. The Raes (my rays of sunshine) brought a case of fine wine that would make the make the staunchest of wine connoisseurs smile with delight. Thank you all for all the wonderful and thoughtful gifts.

The BAD: The bottoms of my biscuits were burned. Easy fix: cut the burnt bottoms off!

The UGLY: One of my friends wanted to "buy" some money from me on a poker website. If any government officials happen to read this blog, we have done nothing illegal - she gave me $400 cash money and I transferred $400 from my account to hers - no bank transactions were involved. My guests were arriving so I left the $400 on my desk. When you have a houseful of people, that isn't the smartest thing to do, however, in my defense, when that houseful of people are friends, family and loved ones, I didn't give it a second thought. Only Olivia was a stranger. Within a couple of hours, after dinner, another friend wanted to buy some money from me, so to the office we went. I made the transfer and it was then that I realized that the four one hundred dollar bills were gone. I did not have time to get upset as I had a party going on and the $10 sit-n-gos had begun. Later that night, I put it all together. Olivia went to the guest bath which is a Jack and Jill, one door opens from the hallway for guests, the other opens to my office. The office door was locked from the bathroom side. Several folks noticed that she was gone for a long time. When she left the bathroom, the trash can had been moved from in front of the office door and the door unlocked. Olivia (and you know who you really are) how could you slip into my office and steal that $400? Thank God, that $400 is not going to make me or break me and obviously you desperately needed it, but how sad for you to do such an ugly thing to someone who welcomed you into their home - and to the person who invited you? She was embarrassed and mortified. And on Thanksgiving! Even though I don't know you, you could have come to me and told me that you needed a loan. I wouldn't have given it to you, but I may have tried to help you find work. You have done yourself a great injustice - you became a candidate to be a part of a wonderful group of people when you walked through my front door. There were many who would have been able to help you find work. More significant, you now have to live with yourself. Your karma isn't going to be good. I forgive you, but can you forgive yourself?

The CUTE: Viansa was the only child-person here. She is eleven, going on 23. She is outgoing, cute, funny and adorable. Her mom, Bonnie Leinhos (Domniano before she married Christian Leinhos), gave Viansa permission to play in her first live poker game for real money. Viansa has been playing on line for awhile. She was too cute. When playing on line, one pays no attention to many nuances of the game because the computer does it for you. Nor are they concerned about their tells. She learned how to muck properly, how to look at her hole cards properly, how and where to place her blinds and antes and lots more. Her BIG tell was; when she picked up a big hand, she would rub her hands together and lick her lips. She not only played in her first live sit-n-go, she won it!! I got out of her way and let an adult bust me. I wouldn't want word to get out that an eleven-year-old busted me in a real money competition, even little-real money! If this continues, in ten years this cute little darling will be a poker force to be reckoned with.

The MAGNIFICENT: I went to bed Thanksgiving night with "the robbery" on my mind. I woke up with "the robbery" on my mind. It truly is not the money but the situation in which it was "lost" that was weighing so heavily on me. I decided to go to the Golden Nugget, play in the HORSE tournament and win at the very least, my $400 back. God, the Universe, Yaway, inner self whatever you call the force that makes things happen can fool with you. As my mama used to say, "He answers all your prayers, it just may not be in the way you expect." As I was settling in for my tournament I saw Rowena. Ro is a Jill of all trades. She is in real estate, she does taxes, she deals poker, she plays poker, and she is one hell of a cook. She was to deal but being on extra board, she was given the choice, to deal or not to deal. A thought came to my mind - out of the blue - it came to my mind and out of my mouth. I asked Ro if she would like to be partners with me in this tournament. That made her decision. She signed up, played magnificent poker and 13 hours later, won the trophy and a heaping helping of money. My share was many times more that $400! And now my friend and I have matching trophies! One thing for sure, it was a memorable Thanksgiving!