Amazing Things Happening Every Day

I spent Sunday and Monday nights at Atlantis for a slot tournament.  Had every intention of spending time in my room working on some computer things I need to do - but I did have time for play.  The day started off with me using freeplay - started off aggressively because I had a lot of freeplay.  But left the machines I was playing on when I decided to save for another try at a different machine.

20 minutes later (after finishing freeplay and losing) I walked by the original machines I started with - and someone had hit the major.  Crap!  I hate when I know a true 'drat, that could have been me'.

Sunday afternoon, I was playing and saw my friend D. .  He was chatting with someone so I did a wave and walked by.  Later, I was back at the machines he was on and sat down.  A few minutes later, he called me over.  Asked 'are you here for the night?  Yes.'.  He said 'I'm celebrating my birthday and having a dinner with family and some friends - can you join us?'.  I was shocked.  I said 'are you sure?  It's very nice of you to invite me but I don't want to intrude'.  He said 'I'd love for you to be there'.

He hosted a dinner for 12 people (me included) at Napa Bistro - it was extraordinary.  Nicest people ever.  His casino host from Grand Sierra was also at the dinner and it was fun to meet her and her partner (who is the stage manager at GSR) and their son.  What an evening!  Delicious food, making new friends, lots of amazing wines.  For dessert, we all went up to the suite on the 27th floor (at Atlantis) and had D.'s favorite cake - Costco sheet cake!  The suite was amazing - ridiculously lavish.  A pool table in the living room.  Two 8 people jacuzzis - one in each bedroom.  It was a blast to get to see a suite like that - the 27th floor was 8 suites in total.  Clearly, he is a high roller - which I knew because he plays with rolls of hundred dollar bills that are bigger than Jim's fist.

D. is the nicest, sweetest most kind hearted person.  He is such a great guy.  I had met his partner R. on NYE but it was extra fun to get to spend time with him, too - he works for a telecommunications company and is as sweet as he can be, too.

Had another 'crap, that could have been me' moment on Monday when I was about to move to a new machine and I was cashing out my ticket to move, someone sat down to play the machine I wanted to be on.  Oh well.  About 20 minutes later, I glanced over to see the guy staring at the screen - and the MAJOR ball had dropped - $1,000.  I said 'you just won $1,000!' and the guy said 'no, I couldn't have - I'm only betting $1'.  I said 'when the ball drops, you win'.  He walked away with $1,099 on a $1 wager and was so excited.  I was happy for him - truly - because he'd never played before and what a great way to start on trying a new machine.  But darn it!

Oh well.  Still solvent.  Not going to fret about it.

While I was at Atlantis, I phoned J. for something and he said he was talking to our new neighbors.  A couple from El Dorado Hills are building on Lot 8!  (We are Lot 7).  And....they are already our neighbors 'cuz it turns out they own one of the town homes in the same complex we're living in!  The wife is a nurse and is still working (so she commutes to Sacramento area but stays here on days off) - but her older husband is retired and lives in the townhouse full time.  I haven't met them yet but look forward to it - such a Kismet-y thing to happen!! 

It's now Friday and we've been at the house a couple times this week.  Plumbers there earlier in the week and my very observant husband realized that the faucets for both of our showers were plumbed to be over the bench in each shower.  Um, no.  That's wrong.  He mentioned it and when we visited today, everything was fixed. 

We've had two electrical walk throughs this week and today, the 2nd walk through confirmed the placement of all the can lights and lighting fixtures.  It's amazing how much progress they made on getting all the light cans installed - and the owner of the company (who also did the first electrical walk through this week and invited us to his home to see how he did his outdoor lighting and how many lights he had in his office vs. bedrooms vs. living spaces - nicest guy ever) said 'wait until you go back on Monday'. 

We won't be going back on Monday 'cuz we're leaving on Sunday for three nights in Vegas!  Why, you ask?  No reason.  Just felt like it and can.  The joy of retirement.  We'll be home on Wednesday mid-afternoon.  We're leaving the cats alone - we know they will be fine.  Plenty of food and water will be around and we're setting up an extra cat box to make up for not being able to scoop daily.  They won't be thrilled to be alone but they'll survive. 

We spent some time today looking at the lighting company website.  We need 4 carriage (outdoor) light fixtures, an entry chandelier, a dining area chandelier, 6 pendants for over the island, vanity lighting for 3.5 bathrooms and 6 ceiling fans.  We have some pretty good ideas of what we want - we love most of the fixtures in the model home here at the townhouse and also in the unit we're renting.  Ceiling fans present a challenge - we love the one we had in Tracy and they are available - for $600 each.  We're not usually super 'cost conscious' - this is our once in a lifetime house and we're making it everything we've ever dreamed of and we have the money to spend whatever we need to get whatever fans we like - but there are less expensive options available at the lighting store.  (They don't carry the fan brand we had in Tracy - so if we want those fans, it's fine.  We buy them,ship them to the builder's address and they will be installed).  We're trying to find fans we like.  We actually found one we like and then it's realizing that a 56" fan for the great room will be perfect - but a 56" fan for our small guest room will be way too large.  And of course, the fan we like doesn't come in any smaller widths.  It's a frustrating experience trying to get all this worked out.  We have until the 21st - thank goodness!

In other news - and a major accomplishment (since I've been procrastinating and fretting about this for a while) - I made our estimated tax payments to the US Treasury and the California Franchise Tax Board.  When I went into the bank today to make the transfer from our savings to our checking - an amount so large that it required a second lead teller to approve the transaction - I told the two young ladies 'when all this money leaves our account on Monday, I'm going to have a nice cocktail at The Cosmopolitan Hotel' in Vegas! 

H. has had a good first week - no labor laws in Texas so he has no scheduled meal break or any scheduled breaks.  He is allowed to take a few minutes here and there to eat and use the restroom but he works 8 hours straight.  The plus is that his shift is only 8 hours - so 8-4 vs. 8-5.  He says he gets home exhausted.  But he's doing OK. 

That's the news this week.  Time flies by -