Hospitality and Card Playing

             My husband and I play cards sometimes 3 times a day.  We call it Solitaire War.  We become very physical, me especially.  I never cheat but...there's no way around admitting it...I am a sore loser.  I throw cards.  I scrape back my chair, rising furiously.  I wage outrageous accusations of "snaking," sabotaging, and stalling.  I do all of this  even before we finish the game, I guess, because if I'm going to lose, at least my opponent won't win. Lately, I've gotten worse because I've been losing more.  And I can't figure out why.  I've been considering playing faster or more slowly, watching his cards being played while I'm playing mine, concentrating on playing my Kings and forgetting about the rest of my cards, preventing him from playing his Kings, and deliberately blocking future playing when I know I've played more cards.

Until now, I've spent little time considering my bad manners. But I just don't see any way around it.  It's not that I love to win so much as I absolutely must beat my husband--at cards.  Every time. Every day.

Well, at least I don't cheat.

Frustrated with the Mess Public

     I live in a Southern town with a huge military complex.  So don't think Southern hospitality.  Think transient, fast-food, chains, payday frenzy, and fatigues.

For the most part, it's futile to expect hospitality when being served.  After most shopping trips, I slink home disgusted with how I've been treated and determined to fling myself on any on-line website that I can count on.

Lest I continue to just rant away, I'm struggling to be positive.  I was driving to work today in silence because evidently, I can't have a new battery along with 1) windows that raise up electronically, 2) a radio, 3) a cassette player, and 4) I'm afraid to know what else doesn't work.  In order to stop thinking about how dealing with the mess public pisses me off, I began enumerating positive experiences.  I award the folks at these places (listed in no relevant order) my first annual Hospitality Morality Award.

1. Nathan's Auto Repair (OK, this is first on my list because they're The Best.)
2. Aldis on Ramsey Street
3. Big Lots on Ramsey Street
4. Fern Creek Cardiology
5.  Carolina Growers (my CSA)
6. Max and Moritz (German restaurant)
7. Carolina Imaging (Hey, if you can make mammograms and MRIs a pleasant experience, you're golden.)
8. Dr. Nolan and Dr. Parfitt (Find a urologist who's premo, and you're set.)
9. Breathing Space (Ask for Carol Fields.)
10. Starla, my hairstylist, at Jabot (always a great cut and color...and together, we're 2 dynamo women)
11. Ken Lewis, my dentist for many years and personal flossing trainer

Got any nominations?  Send them on.  I'll consider them.