The $285 T-Shirt

My husband has a favorite T-Shirt.

Wait a minute…

My husband has MANY favorite T-Shirts. He has a bunch of IT (Information Technologies) shirts that he gets through the work he does. He’s got a bunch of Detroit sports T-Shirts. He has two large dresser drawers devoted to nothing but T-Shirts, but I digress.

One of the T-shirts he wears a lot is the $285.00 T-shirt.

A couple of summers ago a group of our friends and family flew out to Las Vegas to vacation together. Although we enjoy staying at the Treasure Island, we often find ourselves down at a little joint called O’Shea’s. It’s this Irish themed casino right in the heart of strip, located somewhere between The Flamingo and Bally’s. They always have drink specials and you can play Black Jack there for $5.00 a hand.

This particular summer, O’Shea’s was running a promotion for Black Jack players. If you got a same suit Black Jack, you got a really cool O’Shea’s T-shirt. The shirt says “I got lucky at O’Shea’s” pictured with this cute rockin leprechaun on it.

Well… don’t you know, I won “my” T-shirt within an hour of playing on the first day we were there. My husband and I stayed to play Black Jack for hours that day, hoping that he could win a T-Shirt too. He didn’t. So we went back the next day. My husband had plenty of Black Jack’s… just no same suited Black Jack hands.

He wanted a T-Shirt in the worst way. You couldn’t buy them. They weren’t for sale. You had to win one. I offered to give him mine. (I don’t really wear T-Shirts anyway) Nope… he wasn’t having that. It’s not the same as winning one. He was becoming obsessed. Would somebody please get this guy a damn shirt already!

Jesus H. Christ… $285.00 later, he won his T-Shirt.

Thank God!

He wears his shirt to death. The other day, he wanted to wear it to a friends house for dinner, but when he went to put it on, I noticed a stain on the front.

“Sorry, honey… you can’t wear that shirt today. I can get the stain out with a bleach stick, but not before we have to leave.”

Oh my Gosh… poor guy. He was bumming.

I let him wear mine ; )

I Couldn't Be Happier

My husband and I had a delightful 4th of July weekend together. The kids were at their Dad's, so we had lots of time to do stuff and "nothing" together.

We swam in the pool on Saturday and played board games out on the back deck well past darkness. It was so fun. We listened to music, slept with the windows open and ate breakfast with fresh raspberries from our garden.

Our little 3 year old granddaughter came over for a visit and of course, we just love spending time with her.

Then when 9:00am on Tuesday FINALLY arrived, thus began a 9 day "uninterrupted" vacation for me and my children. And so far, I have savored every moment of it. You may or may not know what it is like to be without your children for periods of time. It is, sadly, a casualty of divorce in my situation. On one hand, I'm am happy that their Dad chose to remain a part of their lives. He wouldn't settle for being a weekend Dad and I do commend him for that. On the other hand... days go by that I don't see my kids. In the beginning, shortly after our divorce, being apart from them was excruciating for me. I couldn't make it from Wednesday to Sunday without some kind of meltdown from missing them. I always ended up in tears by Sunday at 6:00pm. But as time has gone on, I've been able to adjust to the schedule. It is what it is. I learned to accept it.

And so, since my kids have been here, we've been hanging out together. Eating together on nights that they are usually with their Dad. Watching TV shows that they are sometimes not here for. Playing cards. Swimming in the pool. Watching movies. Playing volleyball. Making brownies.

There is more laundry this week. The dishwasher is running every day. There's grass all over the back stairs and towels strewn over the chairs on the deck. We're running out of food.

There are still 6 more overnights together.

And I couldn't be happier...

What Happens in Vegas

What Happens in Vegas...

Gets Blogged about!

Sorry I've been away for so long. Between a busy business, catching up after vacation and some kind of horrible cold working it's way through my family, I was unable to do get to my Blogsterville home.

I'm feeling better, but my husband and son are sick. Hopefully everyone will be healthy and well for Christmas.

So... On to the Vegas trip!

We left early Thanksgiving morning... like 4:30am EARLY, lol! But this was to our advantage as we found a parking spot in the covered garage close to the shuttle pick up and since I checked in and printed our boarding passes from my home computer, we just breezed through security, grabbed a Starbucks and waited to board the plane.

I usually choose to sit in the middle seat on the way out so that I can enjoy the window seat on the way home. An oversized gentleman took the aisle seat next to me and inevitable "took" part of my "space" as well, lol. Oh well.... small price to pay I suppose.

Upon arrival in Vegas, we were able to check it right away as we were "invited" guests. Woo hoo... I didn't even realize we were "invited" guests, but because we got a postcard 3 days before leaving with a comped winter invitation, we received 3 free nights, some free play and 2 buffet comps.... COOL!!

After unpacking and freshening up, we met my parents and Aunt & Uncle in the Mirage poker room for a fabulous Thanksgiving spread. My (step) Dad has been playing poker there for about 20 years now. They treat my Dad and his family very well. After dinner, I was wiped out and decided to go to be early.

My husband and I spent the next day hanging out with my Aunt and Uncle. We walked up to one end of the strip and down the other. We checked out the conservatory at the Bellagio which was decorated beautifully for the fall season. My husband won a rubber duck at the new Hooter's resort and casino, lol and he won a keychain at the new Planet Hollywood casino in a slot tournament.

So all in all, we ate terrific food, cashed out here and there will enough money to only have to spend 1/2 of our budget that we brought with us for playing.

The weather was decent. In the 60's during the day and sunny. (I haven't seen the sun here in Michigan in days now!)

On the last day that we were all in Vegas together, we had a nice dinner at The Outback. I really love spending time with my family and I miss them already.

Who's The King?

In the summer of 2000, we took our two youngest kids to Mackinac to visit all the "must see" tourist attractions in this historic city.











At Fort Michilmackinac, there was an interactive demonstration where the children got to go up with the soldiers. They were taught briefly how to handle the rifles and march within an army. During this demonstration, our group was also getting a mini lesson in history about the French, Europe... and whatever. (I wasn't really listening well because I was so busy watching how cute my kids were)

At one point in the lesson, one of the soldiers asked "Does anybody know who the king was?"

One little boy shouted ... "ELVIS!!"

The entire group was cracking up. Every parent was videotaping the event including my husband.

Two years later we were all watching "America's Funniest Videos" (It's still a family Sunday night ritual for us) The video was part of the show! My kids faces were blurred out, (legal reasons, I'm sure) but there they were! So cool.