My Loser Cup Runeth Over...

What you are looking at, my friends, is the end of yet another mostly losing year at the annual church penny sale. If you are not familiar with this yearly tradition, let me fill you in. Once a year our church holds a night of raffles in the church basement, which is the church hall. There are various tables set up around the perimeter of the hall showcasing different series of gifts. For example there is one table selling raffle tickets to win all kinds of gift certificates, one table for "turkey baskets" which is basically enough food to feed a large family a nice Thanksgiving meal and then you have the "special" series. I'm not quite sure how they came up with the term "special, but some of the gifts on these tables we could do without. Then there are regular series in between all the table series....I know it's getting confusing, but hang in there. Basically you spend the evening buying raffle tickets for whatever the next table or series is coming up. They have a guy on stage in front calling the winning ticket numbers for each prize. You spend half the time thinking "please call my number, I really want this Yankee candle set" and the other half saying "please don't call my number, I really don't want a large, fake poinsettia plant". Of course I always find the evening amusing. Tonight my brother was there with me and we find humor in many things so we could be anywhere and have fun. I had it in my head that I needed to win some lotion. I know, I know, but my hands were REALLY dry and I thought wouldn't it be great if I could just win one of those cute little gift baskets that had lotion in them. Then the woman in front of me won one and used her lotion, almost as if to taunt me. Stupid woman and her stupid lotion. Later she introduced herself as she knew my mother - they got married on the same day a couple of hours apart, in the same church. I take back one of the "stupid's". I should mention that my mother basically helps put this whole shindig together and my Dad cooks in the kitchen (yes, they sell food there too). Somehow after an hour, Bethany ended up working in the kitchen. My brother felt strongly that this was only part of her plan to get closer to the food. I almost didn't buy any raffle tickets for the children's series because you always run the risk of getting something you don't want your kids to have or something baby-ish...but for some reason there was a portable TV mixed in with the toys and I thought..hmmm...that might sell on Ebay. What do I win? A chair...one of those chairs that you can sit around the campfire in and it folds up and fits into a sleeve? They called it a sports chair....as if that would make it seem like a better fit for the children's series? Anyway, it still wasn't lotion...but suddenly there was hope! A nice big bottle of wine! Yes, I could drown out my sorrows of not winning any lotion! Nope. All in all, I spent about $35 for a folding chair, a cruet dipping set, a cup of coffee, a bottle of water and some brownies (like how I omitted how many?). It might seem like a lot, but I have been coming to this penny sale since I was Bethany's age and I would sit with my grandmother...I get to see people I don't see often and that's what makes it worth it...and of course all the humor I find in it!

Now I have to mention here that Rick, one of my biggest blog fans, was also there. Thanks for your support. Linda, you're going to hell for not being there and supporting your church :)