My husband recently got a promotion at work. Good news, right? Yes. But, it requires that he work the 6 pm to 3 am shift for quite a few weeks. Not such good news. We’ve learned to deal with it and have even developed a routine of sorts that seems to be working for us.
Routine, however, can morph into a rut and nobody wants to be in a rut. In an effort to mix things up a bit, we decided to try playing a game instead of our normal watching tv together thing. (Besides all of the shows we normally DVR have ended for the season and there’s not much on we like to watch during the summer.)
“Wow, I haven’t played Monoply is like a bazillion years,” said I. “Let’s see if we even remember how to play.”
We set up the game, distributed our trust fund money to start the game and rolled the dice. My husband was first to round the board and pass go. But instead of forking over the standard issue $200, we realized that with today’s inflation, the rising cost of health care (not to mention Obamacare) and other such nonsense, we really should only receive $100.
Then I was presented with an opportunity to buy Boardwalk. I was practically salivating to hand over my money for the property until my husband suggested that even if I could afford the property now, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford the proptery taxes later and might lose the lot to foreclosure.
“But I’ll build a hotel on the property and collect rent,” I argued.
“How are you going to pay for the hotel?” he asked, “You just paid everything in your bank account to buy the property.”
I decided against the buying the prime piece of real estate, but on the next move I happily snapped up poor little Baltic Avenue and immediately placed a house upon it. When the time came to collect the rent of the little fixer-upper, I realized that the measly sum wouldn’t even pay to fill up my thimble playing piece with gasoline.
“How ’bout we play something else,” I suggested. “I can’t afford to play this game.”
Next we brought down the game of Life from the upper most closet shelf. After blowing off the dust we decided that game would probably be too depressing so we put it back. Next came Sorry. It was quickly determined that we were both, unfortunately, already winners at that game and put it back as well.
My husband suggested Baulderdash because, “we can just make shit up.” Then I reminded him that I am a writer of fiction and making shit up is what I do all the time. He rubbed his chin and put the game back. We decided against Scrabble for the same reason. I could make up words all day long and he’d never know if they were real words or not. Of course he could challenge my “dwerger,” but then he’d lose like a million points when I proved him wrong with my trusty dictionary.
Finally, we put all the boxes back on the shelf, shut the closet door and sat our sorry asses down on the sofa to watch re-runs of NCIS. So much for mixing things up. Seems like the rut we’d created was just fine after all.
And what about you? What do you do to step out of your routine? What are some of your favorite board games? What television show are you patiently awaiting the new season of?
Word of the day: Firkin
Fun fact about me: This one’s actually about my mother – she could yodel.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt. August 2013. Photos courtesy Google Images
Danny and I searched throughout PPV last night for a good movie. It took almost 30 minutes! I found “Stay” on Indie Films. It was excellent. We have seen so many firkins lately.
We haven’t played a game in a while….Maybe we will pull out a deck of cards and play Gin Rummy!
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Hi Susie: So glad to see you back up and around.
My husband and I do the same thing with movies. You’d think with the hundreds of stations out there we could find something good to watch. We recently watched “The Call” with Hallee Berry and “Safe Haven” with Julienne Hough and both were really good. Took us awhile to settle on those movies though.
You’ve see a lot of firkins, huh? Good for you.
So nice to see you over here at the Edge of Eternity. Thanks for stopping by.
Patricia
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I like the Origins (of expressions) game. Players guess the origins of common expressions and bluff by making up a story to explain a word or phrase. You’d be a natural, but that doesn’t mean you’d win. My money’s on the bluffing ability of the guy who talked you out of buying Boardwalk.
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Oh Pat that game sounds like it’s right up my alley. That’s sort of like Baulderdash, except you get this crazy word that everyone makes up a definition for. Then all the players guess which definition is the right one. It’s a hoot.
Yeah, I should not have let my hubby talk me out of buying Boardwalk, but he’s usually right about stuff so I listened.
Thanks for stopping by, Pat. Good to see your smiling face.
Patricia
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Our family plays Phase 10. My daughter and husband team up, which is totally cheating. Come on, there’s no team in Phase 10. Since I usually lose (due to cheating, not ability), lots of cards end up scattered on the floor. I insist they pick it up, since they cheated. I am NOT a sore loser! And hey, there’s a local bar called the Fox and Firkin. Guess they named it well.
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Never heard of Phase 10. And teaming up? Against mom? Bad form. No soup for you!
I’m thinking you’re not a poor loser, you’re more like a graceful last place contestant. Nothing wrong with that.
Fox and Firkin? Cool name.
Thanks for your continued support, CJ.
Patricia
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In an effort to get out more, DH and I have taken to playing trivia with friends at a neighborhood bar. Since I don’t drink much, it’s fun – and relatively cheap!
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Yeah, there’s a place near where I work that does that once a week, too, but it’s not close enough to where I live so I’ve never checked it out. My boss goes once in a while and she always has a good time.
I do get together occasionally with friends for game night and we always have fun.
Thanks for stopping by today, Jennette.
Patricia
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I live in a rut and feel comfortable there. In 44 years of marriage my hubby has gone to bed immediately after supper so I have always had evenings to myself. I rarely get bored because I spend time with my characters until my eyes are too tired and listen to TV as white noise. I have my CP in Louisiana that I IM with in the evenings and that can get interesting, but other than that I am BORING, but hardly every bored. Yes, I am a mess but not a trainwreck yet.
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Well at least you found what works and you’ve stuck with it. Nothing wrong with boring or ruts, as long as you’re happy there. I guess you could say, you’re not in a rut – you’ve found your groove.
Thanks for stopping my my dear. Always good to see you.
Patricia
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When I need a break from routine, I work on painting furniture, bead work or bake something. You are so-o-o right about summer time t.v. It stinks!!! I am waiting for “Good Wife” , I love the writers on the show the dialogue is awesome. Also, waiting for “Once Upon a Time” and “NCIS”. Enjoyed your post!
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Thanks for stopping by Diana. Painting furniture? That’s interesting.
We are also waiting for Once Upon a Time and Castle and Justified and NCIS and Elementary and Blue Bloods and others. (I guess we watch a lot of t.v.) Right now we’re watching Longmire and some new show called Crossing Lines. We’re not sure we like either one but we’re watching just the same.
Good to see you and thanks for your support.
Patricia
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Great post, Patricia. Fun and witty. Couldn’t afford the taxes for the Boardwalk. Now, that’s pretty sad. And not being able to fill your thimble with gas, even more pathetic. Dang! I love Balderdash. Haven’t played in a while but for one of the best times ever, I love having my kids (or at least a couple of them) and their spouses and hubby play Balderdash. Nothing like having one belly laugh over another. I’m the only writer, but they come up with some humdingers. Good thing you put it away since you can’t really play with two people! Heehee! Never have time for TV, it seems. It’s either playing catchup online or reading. I love watching TV, though, but something’s gotta give. Fun post!
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Hi Lynn. I’m surprised you have time to do anything with that passel of grandkids always underfoot.
Yes, Baulderdash is a hoot. I haven’t played in quite a while either.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Patricia
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Bananagrams and Scrabble are the two we play the most. I’m thinking if you open a firkin of your favorite ale, you might not care what game you’re playing!
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You are so right about that. But my husband doesn’t drink so I’m the only once consuming the firkin.
Banagagrams? I’ll have to look that one up. Sounds fun just by the title.
Thanks, as always, for your support.
Patricia
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I play Scrabble with anyone who will agree to a game. I love that game! However, now I mostly play it on my phone.
My hubs loves audio books, so when we have down time, I read to him. I know, it sounds weird, but it’s a fun way of sharing a book. Right now, we’re reading Devil’s Deep by Michael Wallace. We’re in the last 10% of the book, and it’s gotten really good.
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There’s a thought. Except my hubs and I have different definitions of what constitutes a “good book.” I really like that idea though.
Thanks for stopping by today, Suzanne.
Patricia
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NCIS reruns are always good. 🙂 When it’s late, hubby is in bed, and I’m too tired to write, I watch DIY and HGTV makeover shows, plus MasterChef. But for games, my daughter and her husband got us hooked on Ticket to Ride. It’s hard to find a game that’s good for two people, tho. Carcassone is another good one, better for two people than Catan.
And thanks for the laugh about Boardwalk and taxes. I remember looking at the grand $20,000 that a doctor earned in life and laughing – and that was 20 years ago!
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Hi Jennifer and thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment.
I definitely think my really old version of Monopoly needs some updating. I remember playing as a kid and thinking how cool it was to get $200 just for passing “go” because that was ALOT of money.
I’ve not heard of the games you mentioned. Guess I’ve got some Googling in my future.
And yes, re-runs of NCIS are not such a bad thing.
Patricia
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You are too funny! My husband is an avid board gamer, so we don’t really play Monopoly anymore. In fact, it would be blasphemous for me to even suggest it. My favorite of his games is one called Vegas Showdown. I get to buy casinos and food places, which is fun. To mix things up, we usually go harass the teenager. Just kidding. We go hiking or something out of the house since we both work on computers most of the day.
What shows am I patiently (not) waiting for? Castle! Bones, Sherlock (both BBC and American), Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, um, I’m sure there are more, but that’s all I can think of right now. Face Off and Project Runway are back on, so I’m a little tingly that I have something to watch. 😉
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Vegas Showdown! That sounds like it might be right up my alley. I’ll have to check that one out.
And you can never go wrong harassing teen-agers.
I’ve only watched Project Runway a couple of times. I do like America’s Next Top Model and I catch that when I can. I always forget what channel it’s on though so I have to scroll through my menu. I’m sure there’s an easier way to find it but I’m under strict instructions not to mess with the remote so I can only perform certain functions with that device.
Thanks for stopping by Tameri! Have a great day!
Patricia
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