BINGO!

Well, we went to visit my mom up in Syracuse a couple of weekends ago. She had planned a special time out for us (mom & daughter) with a friend of hers on Sunday. We went to play BINGO. Now I have been to BINGO's before, straight BINGO's to win & throw a few "special patterns" (like 2) in for fun...fundraisers for school. Very casual and fun. A few beers, snacks, a 50/50, a basket or two to win and conversation among friends. So I was ok with going...who can't play BINGO right?
Mom gets her BINGO bag, (Mom you have a BINGO BAG?), ready to go. Daubers - yep know what those are for; ink pens - Mom, you've got enough daubers here to last a life time yours & mine- I don't think you'll need to ever "daub" your card with an ink pen...anyway...who am I question MOM (a life lesson most daughters should learn early in life); life savers - yep know what those are for; scotch tape - why on earth do you need this? Well, we are ready and all inventory is accounted for...except the Chocolate...come on Mom...you forgot to get the chocolate?...sheeez.
So we arrive an hour before the first pull. Mom says "Come on we have work to do." What? It's BINGO for Pete's sake!...numbers are called, mark your card and hopefully call "BINGO" win a couple of $$$. Well off we go to purchase our boards. I usually play with 2 or 3 at the fundraisers I have been to..depending on who I am sitting with & if yakky crowd. Well, Mom buys NINE boards and her friend buys 12! Holy Moly...what am I in for? I cant let Mom stand me up...so of course, I purchase 9 boards as well. We also pick up a piece of paper with cute little designs on it. Hearts...clovers...different letters...you get the idea...these are what I referred to ealier as "Specials". Back to our table we go.
The flurry of activity that started as soon as we sat down...still blows my mind. The "ink pen" comes out, the scotch tape comes out, the daubers are on table. And that paper with cute little designs is all of a sudden more precious than gold! What is going on? Well, its easier if you mark your cards now while you have time says Mom. Mark your cards? They haven't even called a number yet...I can marrk the Free Space" as we go. See this pattern - referring to the paper with the cute little designs - it is easier if your mark the design with ink and then you only daub the boxes with ink and dont have to waste time looking for numbers all over the board. OMG...OMG...OMG...It was then I realized every game was a "Special" game...there were no straight BINGO's here. Holy cow...I'd better get busy! So now I join the flurry of marking my NINE boards for each game. Now sometimes it is easier to mark the pattern itself -hence the use of the ink pen & others it is easier to mark the boxes you wont be needing - those you use a dauber for. Ok...I have all the games marked. Whew! I can only pray I have marked the patterns correctly.
Now the scotch tape has it's roll in this whole experience. We start taping all the sheets together for each game. This is not so bad, except I need mine perfectly lined up and exactly 3 three pieces of tape on each sheet...Can someone say MONK?
Ok, it's 5:45...let's get something to drink. Finally. What would you like? Soda, coffee, tea or water? Excuse me? No beer or wine? -insert chuckle from Mom & her friend- Well, I "ordered" a Sprite & a hotdog. Mom & her friend got water & a donut / brownie. We are back at our table. 5:57 PM.

Update

Well..a quick update on the Wrestler in the family...The season is just about over for him. He has gone 12 and 1. He was "seeded" 4th in the qualifying rounds for our District. We were quite surprised he was "seeded" at all! His first match and only match was a tough one. He went 3 rounds...was behind by points from the beginning. He did not get "pinned" , but was not moving at all for the last 30 seconds of the match. Difficult for Mom to watch.
He has had a great Rookie season. He has one more Novice Tournament & will be done for the season. All in all a great first wrestling season for him! Job well done..."Stewie"!

No Longer Welcome

This year my husband finally got his wish. One of the boys joined the local Junior Wrestling team. Stewie has been doing quite well. Has won at every meet he has had competition in. One week no one for him to wrestle in his weight class.

He went to Novice Wrestling Tournament this weekend. We knew he was guaranteed 2 matches at least. Double elimination. They (Stewie & hubby) get there for 8:00 AM. I rolled in a little after 9:00. His first match was at 11:30. During 2nd minute pinned his opponent! Very Good, Stewie! I had to leave at 1:30. I pull into driveway & Stewie called..."Mom guess what?" "What?" I pinned the kid in 26 seconds...gulp...(he'd done that before...the first I ever watched him in). "Let me talk to daddy". Sure enough....now we find out we are in Round Robin, not double elimination so he get 4 matches - something to do with not alot of kids in that weight class. 3rd match once again pin within first minute. Last match another pin in first minute. Nice job Stewie. He medalled Gold and once you medal are no longer welcome to Novice Tournaments the following year. Well done Stewie!