Black Oak Trip

Yesterday we went to Black Oak Casino on the bus. A group of the "Relay for Life" from Atwater had a bus trip planned. Part of the money from tickets sold went to charity. Pictured on the bus is my sister Carol and her daughter Roxanne. The bus left Atwater about 4:30 p.m. and we returned around 1:00 a.m.
It was a fun trip. I haven't been to a casino in years and Carol and I had never been to Black Oak. We played the slot machines. I liked the nickel machines the best and I kept playing on them for quite a while with the $15.00 they loaded our cards with. Finally I had to use my own money and it went fast on the quarter machines. I'm not much of a gambler. Lost less than $10.00 when the night was over. One person in our group won $500. on the dollar machine and much more on the nickel machines. Came home with about $1400. I think. Guess it wasn't my turn to win. But it was fun. Better than trying to find something to watch on TV on a Saturday night. lol.

New Kitchen

My kitchen is finally done. There were so many problems that came up with working on an old (1982) mobile home. Everything from changing the locks on the doors to the tile on the wall behind the stove, etc. not being even. Something was uneven, maybe it was the wall. Any way, lots of problems to be resolved.
Marty did a great job of coming up with solutions that not only worked, but looked wonderful.
To cover up the uneven space between the new back splash and the tile on the wall, he deicded to remove all the tiles and have the copper tin squares installed.
I had never heard of the tin walls before, so I thought it came in one big sheet!
I depended on Marty to come up with good ideas and I trusted his expertise to make it look good. He came up with the idea to put wood around the window, covering the white wall with a crack in it.
His worker, Mike did an expert job of fitting the tin squares together. You have to start at one end and make it over-lap. Having an uneven wall to work on was an extra challenge.
I'm impressed on how it all turned out.
So, now I have the normal height counter tops in the kitchen AND the bathroom.
I couldn't get a good picture in the bathroom; I don't have a wide-angle lens on my camera. But you can see the nice cabinets Marty and crew made for the bathroom. A tall cabinet with shelves for towels and 3 drawers below. It's all lined with vinyl so I don't have to line it with anything.
The black marble top on the vanity is very pretty. I love the new look this has made to the master bathroom.

Thursday Night Bingo

Last night, Joan was our "money-changer" at Bingo because Lillian wasn't able to be there.
At first I thought my cards were duds, but each time I won, it was better than a straight Bingo, so I came out ahead again.
There are a couple of women who play 15 or 16 cards during Black-out. In the first picture is Jennie, the next one is Robyn.
The pictures were taken during our break; our treat last night was ice cream drumsticks. I haven't had one of those in years. And guess what? The chopped peanuts on top didn't even bother my stomach. Maybe I can tolerate a few peanuts now and then.
This is Jennie with her 16 Bingo cards. She plays 12 cards (I think) during regular games. I can barely keep up with 6 cards. Everyone playing Bingo lives in the mobile home park. Not sure if that's a requirement. It's a good way to get to know the residents. Maybe more will come when summer is over.
Next time I'll take a picture of a table of players.
Everyone seems to enjoy playing Bingo.

New Kitchen Stove

Last Friday night I got my kitchen sink reinstalled and my New Stove!! Just in time to make Macaroni salad for the potluck on Saturday. I was so thrilled to have a kitchen sink again, even enjoyed washing dishes. Really good to have a stove again; eating fast foods gets old in a very short time.
The next time I post a picture of the kitchen, it will look very different!! Marty has some cool ideas. Things I would never have thought of.
The kitchen and bathroom should be finished the first part of next week. Yipee!!!

Tomorrow I get to start putting dishes in the cupboards. No more rummaging around in the boxes on the porch to find something to cook in.
I know, I could have been more organized, but I'm not an organized person. Anyway it will be great when it's all done.

Progress

Progress is being made in the kitchen. This picture shows they took the cabinets down to the bare bones.
At first I was only going to have the counter tops lowered to the normal height.
Then when I decided I really wanted a new stove, that caused major changes to cabinets.

This next pictures shows a hole cut out for the new set-in stove. To the right is the hole where the double oven used to be. Doors have been made for the cupboards that will fill in that space.
I'm hoping to get the kitchen sink back tomorrow and the new stove installed. I've been "camping out" for quite a long time, but I guess there is an end to it soon.
I took a picture of my little Iris garden today. I haven't seen any new green yet except for a few weeds. I'm sure they will all survive. I've seen worse ones than this that made it. You can see the white name tags I stapled to them. This is the 'before' picture. I'll post another picture next spring when they are looking pretty.
Other changes in the yard to come this winter. Out with the old; in with the new.

Kitchen Renovation

The kitchen was tore up today. I really didn't like the high counter tops; they were a good five inches higher than average. So, all that came out today, along with the tall, small island counter. Then I told Marty that I really wanted a new stove. The oven especially looked so old!!! So, I bought a one piece stove at Sears Monday. Marty (my sister's son-in-law) will re-do the cabinets to make it fit; make cabinets to fill the space where the double oven was. He will also build an island type counter for my microwave, etc. I know it will be very nice when it's done.
The vanity in the master bath was removed today also. It was raised to 37 inches; a good 5 inches above normal. Good grief. I will be glad to have average size counters.

A cat door was installed yesterday for Maggie. It didn't take long for her to make use of it. She is settling in now and seems much happier than at first.
I have met several of my neighbors. This was a good move for me.
I do miss picking fresh peaches from the back yard, but I hope to find some fast growing Ultra Dwarf fruit trees this winter.

Bingo Nights

Thursday is Bingo night here at Rancho Grande MH Park. I went last night for the first time. There were 17 of us, which is the average number of people who come to play. Pictured is Lillian, who collects the money, checks the Bingo winners and pays out the money. Her friend, Hop is the caller. They both do a good job of running the Bingo games.
I haven't played Bingo for years and years. It looked like everyone played with 6 Bingo cards, so I thought I would too. My problem was if I was trying to listen to the conversations around me, I would forget the number that was called. hmmm, I wonder if I will get used to that and be able to talk and check my cards at the same time. I missed out a couple of times; didn't notice I had all four corners one time and also missed a diagonal win. You have to hollar Bingo before the next number is called. Oh well, nobody gets rich or goes broke there. It's only a quarter a card to play. I won a few times and only lost one quarter when the night was over.
Guess I'll be a regular, same as my sister. At least now I have a DVR from Dish Network, so when Survivor starts up again on Thursday nights, I can record it and watch it later.