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Saturday, December 9, 2023

Adjusting again

At supper last night, Rose busted me for missing another bingo game. "Why weren't you at Bingo?" was the second or third thing she asked. I replied it was the same as ever, "No quarters!"

"Why don't you go to the desk and get a ten dollar roll?"

"I've lost every quarter I've invested. I even thought I'd break the cycle when Lisa counted out the quarters in the stamp box and there  only were seven dollars. I told her not to look for any more, I'd take that magic number and compound it. I lost it in one week."

Rose rummaged in her Rollator seat and thumped this tiny purse near my plate.

It was deceptively heavy and rattled suspiciously. "Did you pay in pennies?" I asked, because she did owe me for towels. I opened it.

"No more excuses!" It appears to be two or so weeks of Bingo. I thanked her, and will play. No one makes a living from Bingo here, and no one goes broke. It takes four dollars to play, and all these damn quarters just circulate among us. No where to spend them. No vending machines. Once I bought a stamp!

Bingo is subject to statistics. I had discovered a card with frequently called numbers, and made sure to select that card for every game. It worked, until a newcomer with a long bingo background made sure to learn my card's number and made sure to arrive early enough to select that card thereafter. The first time she had it she won the jackpot. The card was due. Now I need either to find another "good" card, or get to the game early enough to secure that card.

I turned over another new leaf in December. When I finished the last loaf of Heinen's bread I put the toaster away in the cupboard and began going downstairs for breakfast. It means getting up half an hour earlier, to be sure Kitty is properly cared for. Not an onerous undertaking, but my schedule is jumbled. Sleep and shower are in disarray. A first world problem, to be sure. Nevertheless, more adjustment is required.

I prefer a shower in the morning. All the years I was on the road I showered at night, after a long, dusty day in the sun. The shower generally happened even before dinner, giving my hair as much time as possible to dry before bedtime, which was around midnight, with the alarm ringing around seven.

Now I sleep nine or ten hours a night, and generally wake with a start when the alarm rings. Several mornings a week I shower and wash my hair, then dress and dry my hair, prior to all the other morning obligations. Now it's looking as if my only option is to return to showers at night, and drying my hair before I go to bed. As I said, first world problems. However, preferable to getting up another hour earlier 


It is that time of year, again. I took the holiday ribbon from its shelf and put it on my door again. I will find a larger storage bag at the end of this season, so less fluffing will be required next December.


27 comments:

  1. I love your Bingo math! And the towel payment made in Bingo quarters -- it almost amounts to barter!

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  2. hopefully tou will find a new lucky card.

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  3. It sounds like you are learning some bingo secrets. Maybe you'll find a card even luckier than the first one!

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  4. I did know there are lucky bingo cards.

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  5. Hari OM
    Bingo is serious business! Yeah, we're about to crash into 2024. It's all a bit too fast for me... YAM xx

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  6. That is such a cute little coin purse.

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  7. I have the same hair drying problem. However, mine doesn't look good in the morning whether it's clean or dirty, so I suck it up and schedule time for showering.

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  8. Bingo is a fun passtime, even if you win nothing. My hair has to be dried and styled with lots of product or I would look uncare for! I have baby fine hair and was hoping the aging process would change the texture. Didn't happen!

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  9. Rose is a good friend. Bingo sounds like fun and now you are all set for the next game. Early breakfast sounds good with lots of choices as well. One early seating is not ideal but as you say workable with a few adjustments.

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  10. Adjustments are the bane of my life at the moment.
    I do hope your Bingo luck turns around.

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  11. I used to shower at night when I had to be up at 4am to get to work on time, these days morning showers are easier with the hot water warming the bones ready for the day. I like your Christmas Door ribbon and that cute little coin purse.

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  12. I also used to shower at night because I already had to get up early for work. However, my hair was always a mess in the morning no matter how much I dried it the night before. Now I do mornings because I'm retired and don't have to go anywhere! Good luck at Bingo!!

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  13. It sounds as if you and rose are two of a kind. I had no idea BINGO was a game of statistics! I thought it was a game of pure chance. I would be interested in checking into this, but it would require some serious bingo playing and I am not sure I am ready for that.

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  14. What a sweet little purse! Hope it brings you good luck at Bingo. Hope you figure out your shower schedule so you can get to breakfast. Maybe shower after breakfast? Go to breakfast with morning hair or wear a turban?

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  15. how rude of that newcomer to take your card. reminds me of when I first started going to Abby's yoga class. I had a favorite spot and everybody knew it and then one day a new person started getting there before me and taking my spot! so that's what I did, got there earlier than she did and reclaimed it. shifting schedules around is a pain but good that you are getting a better breakfast. and yeah, go get that bingo card.

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  16. Being a senior is all about adjustments! It gets frustrating sometimes.

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  17. Good luck with the Bingo, Joanne. Having fun with friends is definitely worth a few quarters. Happy Holidays!

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  18. I'm too wiped to shower at night. And yes, bingo is like all games of luck and I've known those who played 7 times a week. And often up to 36 cards at once which made me wonder why they weren't brain surgeons or nuclear physicists. I had to study bingo players as part of a job I held.
    XO
    WWW

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  19. Would you like me to send you some quarters for Christmas so you can have quarters that haven't been in Bingo circulation?

    Love,
    Janie

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  20. I love Bingo! The only game I ever won a prize at - a bottle of Baileys Irish Coffee. (Not my cup of liquor, but nice). Have a good time, Joanne! Britta xx

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  21. Goodness, it sounds like bingo is turning quite fiendish with the pressure to secure a "good card" before it even starts! But that's a rather wonderful purse to keep your small change in.

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  22. Your ribbon looks lovely and that purse of coin is very cute. I never realized Bingo could be so cut throat.

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  23. I haven't played Bingo! is some time. I hope your quarter stash keeps you in play for as long as you want. :)

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  24. I feel your angst Joanne, I shower mornings, but don't wash my hair then, but I can see night time hair wash could mean its not dry for bed. I didn't know that some Bingo numbers came up regularly I thought it was just chance.

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  25. I´d not realised that bingo was so professional. Be in the Olympics before we know it.

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  26. Doesn't seem fair that one bingo card always wins! I think the caller should put them face down and distribute them!

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  27. Dang! I thought I commented on this but obviously did not.
    What a great quarter purse. Rose sounds like a hoot.
    I shower at night and if I wash my hair, I just go to bed with it wet. Doesn't bother me.

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