Winners and Whiners

So, I was thinking the other day that in the world we have people who win at games and we have others who lose and just get to whine about it. Being married to Doug, I have spent a lot of time being a whiner. It wasn't so bad when we were first married and played regular board games like Life and Monopoly or even Yahtzee. It wasn't even that bad when we played games with our friends and occasionally Doug would lose. But over the last few years I have really wearied of always, always losing, especially at my very own games. Doug's perpetual winning streak started a few years back when he bought me a Backgammon game for Christmas. I used to love to play Backgammon when I was young and have fond memories of it (including winning!). Not anymore. And this has nothing to do with skill. I don't really believe in luck but I have never seen anyone as lucky as Doug. There have been games when I took his dice and switched them for mine because he kept rolling doubles over and over and over. I seriously thought it had to be the dice. It was not. He continued getting doubles with my dice. This happened repeatedly in Backgammon until we finally just gave it up. Not long after that we bought Texas Hold 'Em (we even taught Mom to play). But of course Doug always wins. Because of skill? No! Because of luck, I tell you. Now most wives would not urge their husbands to go to Vegas to gamble but I am packing his bags and saying "Honey, go put this luck to good use. Win us some money, will you." He hasn't yet but I keep encouraging him. There is one consolation in all of this....I still hold the high score in Scrabble. Try as he might, he can not beat my high score. I think it's like 372 or something. Was it a fluke? Maybe... but never-the-less I still have something to gloat about! (that and twice in a row, I beat the pants off of him in pool)

First Crocuses of Spring

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?...

...it is the sun! I was really starting to get confused about what state I live in (physical not mental). You see, almost everyday for the last two weeks I have been waking up to the sun shining in my room. I squint and say "What's going on here?" Then I grab my little doggie, and say, "Billy, I don't think we're in Washington anymore." But seriously, it has been beautiful lately and I'm not complaining. Unfortunately, for the first week or so I didn't get to enjoy it because of finals. But this week, (I'm out of school for ten days) I've raked leaves, pruned all the roses, and pulled weeds. It's been great.