Atlantic City

Yesterday, Jim and I took a charter bus up to Atlantic City. There were a few glitches in the trip, but on the whole, we had a great time.

We were told to that the bus would be leaving promptly at 8:00 a.m. from our favorite Mexican restaurant (who arranged the charter). Well, the bus didn't show up on time and then we had to load it up a ridiculous amount of liquor, so we finally left at about ten to 9:00. Which, if you ask me, is way too early in the morning for an open bar. The drive took about three and a half hours, but really wasn't too bad. I knitted the whole way up.

As soon as we got there, Jim and I headed to the Boardwalk so we could get lunch. Then we just walked up and down for a while. We were going to try to take pictures of all of the Monopoly streets and make our own game board, but they turned out to be hard to find, so we settled for this one. We also bought salt water taffy and fudge.

Then we went to Ripley's Believe It or Not, because I will not miss the chance to see some weird stuff and get a pressed penny for my collection.

We finally went to the casino around 3:00 and started off playing slot machines with the $20 credit that we got as part of the group. About an hour before we were scheduled to leave, we finally got an open seat at the $1 blackjack table which was excellent fun! I wish we had gotten on earlier. I kept a one dollar chip as a souvenir. We didn't win a lot but we didn't lose a lot either, so I was ok with that.

We headed back around 7:00 p.m. and got back to the car at about 10:30 and boy was I ready to be off the bus. About half the bus had been drinking way too long at that point and it was just obnoxious. Still, we had a good time and would love to go again some day.

Home on the Range

Some of you that know me in real life might be surprised to know that we have quite a large collection of firearms in our house - four handguns, three shotguns and a rifle. Jim got the shotguns a long time ago to use when he went hunting with his dad. He got the first of the handguns when someone tried to break into his first apartment, then added the others over time. I'm not sure how he came to have the rifle.

While I personally never wanted to own a gun, I don't care if others do as long as they are responsible with them. Therefore, since they are in my house, it's imperative that I know how to load, unload and shoot them. So off to the firing range we went.

We go to a firing range in Springfield called Sharp Shooters. This was actually my second trip there. We took three of the handguns with us today, the 9mm automatic, the .45 automatic and the .357 revolver.

They may have to revoke my membership card in the Democratic Party, because it turns out that I really enjoy shooting and shockingly I'm not that terrible at it. It's a shame that it's such an expensive hobby. I prefer the smaller caliber guns - the kick on the .45 is pretty hard, plus it has a tendency to shoot casings back onto my collarbone. Not painful, but irritating. The first time we went, Jim rented a .22 for me to shoot and I liked that one best of all. So he bought one. Yeah, that's right, he bought me my own gun.

Home Improvement

What is it about a holiday weekend that makes me want to tackle home improvement projects? And why does every home improvement project require a minimum of three trips to the Home Depot?

This weekend I decided that we (isn't it nice how I committed Jim to help me) would finally do the chair rail in the dining room. This is a project that would have been sooooo much easier with power tools, but you work with what you've got. In our case, a miter box. It's a good thing I had Jim's help because I never would have gotten these cut by myself.

First piece is up!

The walls in this condo are all bowed to some degree. Most of the time, it was fine and some nails in addition to the construction adhesive would do the trick. This is the worst of all and we ended up shimming the crap out of it. It's probably not the best fix, but I think it looks ok.










These little pieces to finish the exposed ends were a total pain in the butt.












All finished!










Lessons learned:

1. Get power tools.

2. The walls in this condo are ridiculously curved. Stupid old building.

3. Coping a chair rail is not as easy as it looks on You-Tube.