THE CREW

I'm here at IT'S NOT Knottsberry Farm today, but it sure feels like it.  If anyone has been there, you will remember its buildings full of jams and jellies, pies and all things fruit.  It was the first Disneyland, made to look like an old Ghost Town, complete with jail and talking jailbird.  I remember most every minute of being there 65 years ago.  

It was the only place around where you could get boysenberry syrup.  Its restaurants and storefronts were loaded with it.  That's how I feel this morning.  I'm loaded to the gills with boysenberry jam.  Lucky for me, I got rid of SIX jars last night.  Hopefully they like it and will order six MORE.

It was BINGO night once again, thankfully NOT a full moon.  I was at the Magic Castle early to discuss all things payroll and sign checks while the Queen of the Castle (I don't think I've mentioned her before) ... the Bookkeeper ... keeps everyone in line.  Trust me, NO ONE messes with the Queen.  Not even the KING.

Once again, my Fairy Godmother crew member, she who sets up everything and puts out all the paper (bingo cards), helped me set up the calling station again.  But what did we find?  INTERLOPERS!!  Three ladies who were quite pushy and demanding, who wanted to hang a 15 pound American Flag on the drapes which hang on the stage.  

There they stood on chairs, trying to pin a too-tall flag to the too-tall drapery.  That's a NO-NO.  Seems they are having an event Saturday.  Then they proceeded to completely change every dial on the loud speaker system.  That's a WORSE no-no ... and it's not even a full moon!  No one toucheth the microphone system that we use for Bingo.  Won't they be surprised when they come back and find it NOT where they left it.

I should have taken the chance to divest myself of some jam (the penalty for standing on a chair) but I'll bring more, since I will be serving at their fandango on Saturday.  Good thing it's not a FULL MOON.

 

Fairy Godmother also told me about the Back Room's cards.  I truly have tried to stay away from them completely.  There's always something off, and I have never wanted to be the one to see why.  I stick to my little Infernal Machine zone.  

Here's one of their cards ... called a CARD.  You pull off the front and mark either of two numbers per square.  The pictures are free.  It's a blackout card, so you have to get all of them, which brings you $1,199.  For obvious reasons, this one is a favorite.  

Every week, someone wins this game.  Two other games played offer $500 each, along with several $250 instant winners.  In total, they will play eight of these games every week.  THIS is the money maker for the club.

There are 180 per package, and we sell two packages per week.  The other boxes of games have from 250 to 1,000 tickets, all of which go bye-bye EVERY week.  It just amazes me how much folks will spend.  This particular card costs $5.00.  Certainly more than I EVER wanted to know.

It was also more than the replacement gal wanted to know.  The Back Room Boss was out of town, and the new recruit was thrilled to be the BOSS.  That lasted until she didn't balance at the end of the night.  I was done and heading out the door when I heard the ruckus in the back room.  

I stuck my head in the door, in spite of my better judgement.  "How much are you off"?  I think she decided this gig wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  $300.00 she said.  I took a quick look see.  Luckily there were no sharp things laying around she could stab me with.  

There's two things you need to be good at when it comes to being on the Bingo Crew ... and that's adding and subtracting.  It seems we are lacking in those skills.  I counted the money, added it up, subtracted the food tab, and it was only off a couple of dollars.  She raced out the door.  I doubt we will be seeing her again any time soon.

I arrived home in time to snuggle with my baby boy for an hour before going to bed.  That was probably a mistake.  We were up three times during the night wanting to play the ball game.  Oh Mr. Cooper ... I love you, but I also LOVE sleep, of which I got ZERO!

Early this morning, I'll be BACK at the Castle, paying for all that chicken I brought home.  It seems the King went overboard when buying for the Bingo Party.  There were SEVEN bags of chicken breast left over.  We get a crazy good deal from the Chicken Farm, so I agreed to buy the leftovers for $7.00 a bag.  I think there are ten big pieces to a bag.  Not a bad price, eh??

The box was so big I barely made it in the back door, not to mention completely rearranging my freezer at 11:00 at night trying to get it to fit.  SO very sad ... my leftover birthday cake went in the trash.  You just never know what you will find at the Magic Castle of Bingo!!  And this night I SCORED BIG! About $125.00 worth of chicken cost me $49.00.  

So I guess you know WHAT'S FOR DINNER!!