In early July, our whole family was treated to a visit by the wonderful O’Brien family. We first connected after we were on Trading Spouses. They too were on the show (a different episode). They emailed us and we stayed in contact. This was our first time meeting. We connected so well. It is so refreshing to see a family so happy together. It truly warmed my heart. Like us, they home-schooled, have a family band, have a son named Kyle who plays mandolin (I still say they were trying to copy me – Kyle). We had a blast. We rarely vacate, so it was like a vacation right here. We played music together, went out to eat, went to the beach and Boardwalk and just hung out.

We decided to have a Poker Night. The O’Briens sweetened the pot by bringing a grocery bag full chips, candy and pop. We don’t have chairs and our rooms are not very big so I was wondering how we would actually make it happen physically. But it just came together. I rolled our low round kitchen table into the play room. We all sat on the floor and the game was on.

I’ll be honest. I don’t know a royal flush from the sound heard from the loo at Buckingham Palace. And mind you, this is the first time we’ve played for real money. Yours truly did have a little Lady Luck on her side. I didn’t lose the pig but I didn’t win the farm either. That was left to the Five Card Stud-ette, Janette, who knew just what she was doing. She raked in chip after chip as we ate chip after chip. Maybe she had something up her sleeve. Hmm… Dan, her husband, is a gifted story teller. He probably tried to distract us by making us laugh.

There were a few etiquette issues. Our Kyle has a dealing style that can annoy people. When he deals he deals one pile at a time. {Kyle’s Interjection: Well, Because I shuffle the cards 10 times if not more, what’s the point of just dealing one card at a time? It’s much easier and more efficient to deal all the cards to each person in one pass. I don’t see what the fuss was about – Kyle}. Well that wasn’t going to go here. And I sometimes forgot to put my cards above the table. That didn’t fly either.

We played Texas Hold’em, Indian Poker, Five Card Draw and BlackJack, which I do know. I think my favorite game is Indian poker (something is probably politically incorrect here). You hold your card on your forehead so that you can’t see it but everyone else can. Then we played 5 Card Indian poker where you do that with your whole hand.

I’m getting ready for my next game. I’ve got may ace duct taped to my forehead.