Girl Poker

Every second Friday, a group of Hubby's friends come over for poker. It's low stakes, $5 buy in. Not a huge scary deal or anything. Well, I decided to try it with girls. I invited a group of women over to play poker last Friday night. In case you were wondering, Girl Poker is a completely different game than Boy Poker.
Some of the ladies had never played poker before, so we played a few hands with cards up. (Right now, "true" poker players are falling over dead as they read that statement).
Boys do not give second chances. Girls, on the other hand said things like this: "Don't fold! No! You can say "check" and that means "free" and I'm going to "check", so you will get to see the next up card! Here, take your cards back. Are those the ones you had?"
Boys talk about boobs. A lot. Girls talk about boobs, too, but in the context of breast feeding. Not at all the same.
Boys haul around chairs for their snacks, they belch, and they fart. Girls did not touch the snacks I so lovingly put out until I placed some into bowls and passed it around. Then, they paused the game to discuss with chocolate bits were the best, and which ones were yucky.
Boys show up with extra buy in cash, in case they turn out to be losers. Girls show up with no money, and then borrow cash from other ladies. But they bring gifts and snacks to share.
At one point, Stacey ran out of chips. So Sara did the unthinkable, and scoped up a handful of her OWN chips, passed them to Stacey, and said "Here! Play with these!"
It seemed perfectly normal to the girls to ask questions like "If I have a queen of hearts, and an ace of hearts, should I try for the flush? Or is the straight better?" during a hand.
At the end of the night, there were $3 left in the pot, unaccounted for. Boys would have sat right back down, re-counted their stacks, and figured it out. Girls? Nope. They were all "It's okay! I have enough! You keep it!" Nobody knows if they won or not. I don't think anybody cares. We did however laugh so hard my face hurt, and I'm pretty sure we will do it again. And maybe this time we will learn to bluff. Ha!

New school term, new fun times.

The school year is now underway, and I think I've got a handle on my classes. It looks like it will be a good semester. I gave the first quiz this week, and is pretty clear who studied, and who thought they already knew everything. Silly kids. I warned them, too, that if they failed the birth control/reproductive system quiz, it would be an awkward parent teacher interview!

"So, Mr and Mrs Parent. Here is Johnny's quiz. You'll notice he didn't write anything for questions 5 through 8, and oh! Look! Despite my best efforts, Johnny still cannot identify a vulva. And while I appreciate his creativity and humour, I really don't think we want him believing that the tip of his penis is called "lollipop". Hmmm. Perhaps some at home study time would help?"

I have only had to confiscate two ipods and one cell phone. This group seems to be quick at catching on. Could be the fact that I answered the cell phone while I had it on my desk, and politely told the buddy on the other end that "Susie is in Planning class right now. You might as well come back into the building, since she won't be meeting you for the pre-planned smoke break".

The only down side to the new semester is the lack of condoms. The school council has decided that having a basket of free condoms in my room was sending the wrong message. Never mind that the Health Services people send me 50 condoms every few weeks. Clearly, the students are using them, and that is bad. I guess I better stock up on pregnancy tests.

Boy Terror goes to kindergarten

My baby boy started school this week. My baby. I'm finding this really hard to accept. At times, he seems so grown up, but other times? He says things that make me wonder if the world will ever be ready for him.
He's brilliant (in my opinion, anyway!) at math. He can add up to twenty in his head, and can add in multiples of ten. He can count by 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's. He is an energy conservist like no one I've ever met. Every day, as he wanders through the house, he is on the lookout for lights left burning. After he turns them off, he will come into the room and demand to know "Who here was wasting energy?"
He is still my baby boy, though. He snuggles into my lap. He lets me smooch his totally adorable cheeks, and he tells me he loves me....in public. He believes in the tooth fairy, and ghosts. He is scared of the dark. I'm not at all ready to let him go, but he is more than ready to be off.