10 Dollar Suckers!!

Today was my grandmother's 87th birthday!! Hip hip hooray. My mom told me several weeks ago (maybe even a month ago) that we would be going to Charlestown, WV to play the slots with Mom-mom. Last year we went to Delaware Park and this year, we head to state number two for gambling. Fun fun. I guess this is a secret favorite activity for my church-going grandmother. Who knew? I lived with her for my last year in college, and my mom suggested taking her and her girlfriends to the slots. I was the designated driver, and we sure did have a fun time. It was hard keeping Mom-mom and her two friends together, but we still had a good time. After two hours or so, my grandmother was reaching in the bottom of her bag for her last crumpled up dollar. My mother specifically told me not to let Mom-mom spend all her money. I figured, I'd let her spend her last dollar, and then just give her 10 bucks on the way home so she still had some cash. It worked out like a charm. :)

The attendees for today's party were my mom, my dad, the lady of the hour (my grandmother), me, my older sister and my younger brother. Ed couldn't attend (see next blog). We had an awesome time. I got there at 10 because my mom said she was leaving at 9. It's one hour away, so they should be there at 10, right? Well, I called at 10 to see where they were and my mom said 'oh, we just left the house.' Well, what is a cheapskate girl supposed to do when the slots are right there ringing and dinging and I didn't plan to spend my 10 or 20 dollars just yet? Lucky for me, they had a bar with Sportscenter on the tv. I sat there as an hour went by. No call from my mom. It's now 11:30 and I'm still sitting there watching the basketball highlights. Good thing for me the bar wasn't open, so I wasn't tempted to spend my money. Finally at 12:00 they call me telling me they are right outside. *sigh* Ok..now I can start gambling. I played the 50cent slots for a while, and one 6 bucks on 1 dollar. Time for a break.

I walk around with Mom-mom, and the fam, and most of us just watched her play. My brother kept winning big on the nickel slots, and my dad was asking for change throughout the day from all of us. Talk about cheap! hee hee. In the end, he kept giving Mom-mom 5 bucks to play whatever slots she wanted. We spent about 4 hours there and figured each of us probably lost 10 bucks. Lee (my brother) probably broke even. The Lizard (Elizabeth) ended up going home with about 4 dollars in quarters, and who knows how much my dad really spent. My mom lost, I lost. Mom-mom hit it big a couple times, so I think she was happy with her earnings. Happy Birthday Mom-Mom. Let's see you make 88. Maybe we can go down to Biloxi, MS and gamble on the waterboats! How much fun would that be?