NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO!!

 The only thing worse than Bingo on a full moon, is Bingo on a full moon on the 13th of the month.  Thank the Good Lord above that was not the case THIS time, because I would not have survived.  You know I'm not the luckiest person in the world ... and if it's going to happen to SOMEONE, it's going to be ME.

THIS is the culprit.  Causing all kinds of mayhem before I even LEAVE for Bingo!!  So there I was, just relaxing on the couch with the "KID", when I thought ... gee, I haven't heard Sir Charles roaming around the house vacuuming lately.  I should get him moving!

Big mistake Nancy .... BIG!!  What's the worst thing you can imagine if you have a Roomba ........... and a dog.  Yup ... you probably hit the nail on the head.  I let Mr. Cooper out, but didn't watch carefully enough.  He immediately wanted back in because that means he gets a treat.

There I was, changing the sheets in the bedroom when I heard Sir Charles make a funny noise.  I figured he was caught on the rug.  No such luck.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!  NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO!!  Yessiree ... I could smell it before I even got through the door.  Lucky for me, it only went straight up and straight back 20 feet before I grabbed it.  The entire bottom and every wheel and roller was completely covered in ... well you know!!  

Big ... BIG ...  apologies to Cindy and Ray who gave it to me.  Except for having to empty it manually every time, and getting stuck under all the furniture, it worked well.  YUP ... I threw it in the trash can.  There is NO WAY I was going to be able to dismantle and clean up THAT mess, most of which was INSIDE the machine.  That's the Full Moon effect at MY house.  

This picture is NOT my machine, but just to show you every nook and cranny that was covered and/or stuffed full.  In my defense of that, it also kept telling me I needed all new rollers and brushes.  What better excuse to buy a new one??

It took an hour of cleaning, scrubbing and steam scrubbing, along with every exhaust fan turned on high, before it was finally livable in the house.  Yup ... that's the FULL MOON EFFECT!

The good news is Amazon is having their huge sale on lots of stuff ... including the Roomba GUARANTEED not to EVER do that.  If it does, they will send you a new one.  It was still expensive at 50% off, but half price was worth every penny!

I was afraid to go to Bingo after that fiasco.  Lucky for me, the head of the kitchen crew was convinced to stay home sick, so her husband took on the job of getting the groceries.  I just had to make sure it was all set up.  That meant chopping onions, slicing tomatoes and heating up chili.  The good news ... I didn't cut off any appendages.  

Then it was on to setup, which thankfully went along just fine.  I thanked the moon for giving me a break.  On to setting up the back room ... deciding on which pull tabs to play ... and corralling the Knights upstairs who completely forgot what time it was.  That made everything run late for the rest of the night.

There is something to be said about PLAYING bingo on a full moon however.  If you're the lucky sort, you seem to win BIG.  One of my friends who plays, won not one, not even two, but THREE jackpots on this night, to the tune of $750.00.  The moon was certainly shining down on HER!

Me, not so much.  Here's the latest and greatest printout of our games ... SEVEN pages instead of two.  This is how I keep track of where we are and what's coming up, though now I have to flip through every page to see what's next.  

I complained to the King, but he said tough luck.  They are free and we get what we get.  

Thanks to the full moon, my latest Infernal Machine cashier didn't let me know she wasn't coming this week, so I scrambled to get everything else set up so I could get the line moving.  It tried to GET me in the end, by making me $250.00 off, but I prevailed.  TAKE THAT FULL MOON!!

Other than the usual characters who take ten minutes to pick out their cards, bringing about slings and arrows from the back of the line, it went pretty well.  The King made up his list of stuff to order, asking me to add mine to the bottom.  I couldn't read a single thing he wrote, so lots of questions followed.  

At long last I was done ... balanced and almost out the door.  It's now my job to do a walk-through of the kitchen to be sure they turned everything OFF.  Why?  Because two weeks ago they left the grill on all night long!!  I needn't have bothered ... those two volunteer cook guys are the best!!

Cooper met me at the door barking up a storm.  He's always so happy to see me ... and vice versa!  He makes it all okay, even if the Roomba gets ruined.  Kitters met me at the back door the second I let Cooper outside.  She is probably the biggest trick that's been played on me in quite some time.  

And so ends another day while I patiently wait for the Amazon truck to arrive.