Two Weeks Dark

B. phoned yesterday to say 'goodbye' for two weeks.  They are 'playing war' and all cell phones are collected and locked in a box for the next two weeks.  Can't risk the enemy using GPS to find out where everyone is.  Or something like that.  He's stoked to get it done because he sincerely hopes they will put them on a bus 'bound for home' (Ft. Campbell, KY) as soon as they are done - he's ready to be 'home' and sleep in a bed.

H. & R. continue to be a constant, steady source of drama and frustration...though we have seen H. more this week - there has apparently been a change in the custody agreement where it's one week on and one week off...so they have the entire week 'free'.  R.'s been spending time with her girlfriend(s) and having some nights out - so H. has been home off and on.  On a good note, they paid us what they owed us and seem to be solvent for the next few months, at least.  AND R. may end up buying the Focus - she needs a more reliable car.  We'll see.  The Focus is currently at the body shop getting the last of H.'s accident damages repaired.  If R. doesn't buy it, we will be selling it as soon as we're home from Europe.

EUROPE!  Only 2 weeks and three days away from London and Paris.  And as usual, I am simultaneously ecstatically excited and overwhelmingly nervous.  So many moving parts to being away for two weeks.  Home.  Work.  Home.  Work.  My mind is zapping back and forth all the time and it's exhausting.

I have been going to Jackson on Sundays - great free play offers every Sunday in September and I took advantage of all of them.  Had a blast and sort of fell back in love with Jackson.  It's such a beautiful drive, only an hour and half that goes by quickly.  Cows, vineyards, fields.  It's lovely.  And I've done really well there on the 'win vs. lose' component as well.  I sat next to a young lady who had never played slots before.  Her aunt (or her Mom - I wasn't sure of their relationship) was on my left and she gave the young lady $100.  But she said 'no, please just give me $20'.  She played to my right and won a bonus round right away - and was up $50 pretty quickly.  She was ecstatic.  And THEN, I looked over and she was sitting there and said 'I'm not sure what I should do'.  And I noticed she had just won the MAJOR progressive - $1300!  I said 'you just won the major!' and pointed to the symbol on the game that showed she won , then pointed up to the amount she won.  She was so super excited!!

I had done really well on the machine I was on so I had no jealousy at all - super happy for her because she was so excited to win 'big' - and she'll play again, I'm sure.  A pure case of beginner's luck.

Work is super busy.  We had our first negotiations meeting of this school year today and it went very well.  It's nice to work with a great group of people and we all work very hard to find middle ground to things that we need to resolve.  It was a long but productive day.

I'm heading to Reno this weekend for another free play lollapalooza and a final 'hurrah' before winter sets in and I can't get there.  Santa might bring me airfare for a trip in January but I honestly have very little vacation time 'available' given we have three trips planned in the next 12 months and I need every single day I have for those trips.  (I have moments when I don't want to commit to the 15 night cruise in October, 2018, because I don't really want to have to save that much vacation - we have to get to/from Florida again for that trip and that means it's 15 nights on the ship PLUS a night in Florida before we embark....so I'm not sure I want to save 16 days vacation.  And we got another cruise coupon to use so maybe we'll do a shorter Alaska cruise and book that longer cruise in October, 2019 instead?).  We'll see.  We've got a lot of time to think it through. 

We're back from our Europe trip the last Friday of October and then it will be November and Thanksgiving before we know it - followed quickly after by Christmas.  Crazy.