Vegas babay

A trip to anywhere at Christmas time is usually not in the cards for anyone among the unemployed. Not true for me. My best friend started a new job her first job in over 15 years, this past summer and invited me to stand in as her 'other person' for the big Christmas bash.

This was not your ordinary office Christmas party. The company has agents all over the United States and my friend works at the corporate office here in Utah. It was a great opportunity for her and her co-workers to put a face to voices they spoke with on the phone many times a week. For me- it was a free trip to Vegas!

We had a great time. We drove down rather than fly, it gave us an opportunity to stop by my parents house on the way. Although it is ten degree's warmer where they live, they were both sick with the flu.

We got to Vegas Friday afternoon, just enough time to get cleaned up. The company scheduled a cocktail party -meet and greet for that night. It was a casual affair. I thought it might be a great chance to meet some handsome young bachelors while she was introduced to coworkers. That was not to be. Most were couples. The only other singles were young nineteen year old girls from her office.

The party was open bar. The company went all out to make it memorable for the employees. And it was. After about two hours we were led upstairs to an improv comedy show. We were not the only patrons at the show but the entire half circle front section of the theater was reserved for the employees and guests.

The comedy was rank and a bit uncomfortable for my friend as she works everyday with these people but funny nonetheless. The evening after the comedy was ours, but after a few drinks and the six hour drive, we were ready to call it a night.

We stayed at the MGM grand and after two nights there, I am convinced it is time to save up for a new mattress here at home. Those beds were like sleeping on a cloud.

Saturday was awesome. We had the morning to ourselves and played a little at the casinos. My friend regretted that we rode a roller coaster as it caused her residual whiplash to flare up. We didn't win big at the tables and we didn't lose either. That night we got to dress up. There was to be a dinner and a dueling piano show.
I have been to one other dueling piano show prior to this and  it is an experience I will always remember and was anxious to watch one again.
We took a taxi to a very swanky upper class country club. It was beautifully lit in the warm Vegas evening. The night began with hor devours to die for. Then a dinner buffet that made the hor devours taste even better as it was not that great.

After a little more socializing and a chance for the overindulge-rs to do just so, the entertainment began.

I was so excited for the show. It started out just as I expected, Billy Joel, Van Morrison, Jimmy Buffet and all the classics. There was a performance by a terrific Rod Stewart impersonator, complete with twirling microphone stand. And then, it turned quickly into a hair band concert of the 80's... one of the artists stood on the pianos belting out a guitar solo from AC/DC so loud I am sure they could hear it in San Francisco.

It was still fun to dance to and it got a little crazy as it was open bar that night also. I still had the time of my life. Let loose and let off some stress.

But am I really getting that old? Am I really turning into one of those old women? It was so loud my ears rang for hours afterward, the nineteen year old girls were driving me crazy, the guitar solos went on a little too long, and I preferred the softer classic rock to dance to.
The highlight of the evening? (insert sarcasm mark here) was getting hit on continuously by a very drunk older man while his fiancée stood two feet away glaring at me. Apparently I was the 'sexiest girl in the whole room' and was 'rocking my dress'.

But those were just the highlights. It was truly a great time and I was grateful for the time away.

Downside to the trip is in the ten minutes I spent with my parents, I managed to catch the flu and have been fighting it for a week. It could have possibly been that my friend was always directly too hot to my too cold and drove with the windows down partially in 20 degree weather.

My son is coming to town tomorrow to spend a couple weeks with us for Christmas I will be drinking up the Vitamin C and resting up to make this the best Christmas yet!


Anyone ever been to a dueling piano show? Do you prefer it up loud and crazy? Am I acting like an old lady?  I can take it - tell me the truth     Maybe it was the flu coming on.

Catching up

WOW has the month gotten away from me!
So much has happened since I posted last but I have had absolutely no time to post.

My baby turned eighteen on the sixth of December and made me feel as though this life is moving along at warp speed. I have now nearly solo raised three children into adulthood. No small feat but also the most amazing and gratifying thing I have ever done. My most prized accomplishment.

Her birthday was both wonderful and bitter. Her father has a way of spitting on any happiness they have. An absent father who is more likely to call them on his own birthday than on any of theirs, makes life hard. I can count on one hand the number of things beyond child support that man has done for his children. Included in that handful of joy are the number of times he has contacted them, either by letter, phone call or physical visits.
You would think that a text message to her for her birthday from this 'father' of hers would be a step in the right direction, but it was rather brought my poor girl to tears.
A little background prior to the message: The father of my children is now on marriage number three. I being his first wife, we have three children. He had two more children with his second wife with whom he also has little to no contact. Wife number three is a widow with four children of her own. Children whom are stop children to him and who have more contact with him than his own blood children. Blending families is tough, step-children require as much love and attention as blood-born children. And he is a wonderful step father.
However, his blood children are nearly non-existent in his life.

He has also recently joined a new church, one in which he is able to repent for the sins in his life. We know this because in the social website Facebook, he has been openly cleansing his conscience. His divorces, his porn addiction, and more.....
Apparently relationships lost are not one of those things he wishes to change. As I wrote recently about his relationship with his mother (also lost to this new church calling) and my kids. Also posted on this social website for the world and his/my children to see is day by day activity on a mission he served for this church.
Good for him right? Not so fast! This wonderful example of a father, is out preaching to the masses of a third world country on the importance of family. Hypocritical way to sling some shit right?
Of course my children take it with a grain of salt.... a grain that stings just a little in the open wounds he has created.
But- let's get back to her happy birthday text. It is an effort on his part right? well, it would have been..... had it come on the correct date, and free of excuses of his schedule being so busy. To busy to send a two minute text message to his daughter?
It takes more than one hand to count the number of times I have consoled the tears of my children caused by this man. I keep hoping it will get easier the older they get.... it does not. They love him dearly, they continue to hope he will be the father they think he should be, but they are coming to realize he may never be.

Christmas will be the tightest ever this year. Many a December I have spoken to my kids about the slimness of Santas pocketbook. Never have they been disappointed. With my continued unemployment, this will be the lightest Christmas yet... and yet, my now grown children are not concerned at all. They have voiced those same words I myself have spoken to them on oh too many occasions in the past.
We have never had a bad Christmas, it is all about being together, not what we get or give each other.

God but I love these kids!~