Tag Archives: Scrabble

Can We Make It to 1000?

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Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile know that my husband and I are avid Scrabble players. We are very competitive and have kept a record of our scores since 2008. I tell my story in:

Confessions of a Scrabble Addict!

We have been known to wake up at 4 am and, not being able to go back to sleep, get up and play a game of Scrabble before heading back to bed. Since we play with a Super Scrabble board which has twice the number of tiles for a normal game and a much larger board, it can take us two to three hours to play a game It doesn’t help that we are so competitive and often take minutes to find the right word.

Currently we are at game number 928. We want to make it to 1000 games by the end of the year. Since there are only 78 days left in the year this means we can only skip six days without a game.

Since we are retired and winter is fast coming to our home in Michigan, I think we can make it.

Right now in our 928 games I have won 464, my husband has won 460 with four ties. Recently a friend said she did not think we could have that many ties or be that close in games won and suggested that one of us was letting the other win. Obviously while she is a friend she is not a close friend. Otherwise she would know how competitive we are and how we would NEVER let the other one win.

Questions:

When we reach that milestone who will be ahead in the total number of games won?

What should the winner of the most games receive as a prize?

What should the loser of the most games have to do for ending up behind?

Any ideas? I would love to have your input on these questions.

I’m Back With a Miracle Man!

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March 22 was a day I will never forget!  My husband had fallen a few days before that, got a lump on his head.  The lump went down after a couple of hours and he felt okay.  Because of the coronavirus and all the conflicting reports we heard, he decided it did not require him to call his doctor or go to the hospital.  However, Sunday morning he got a terrible headache that would not go away and became nauseated.

I drove him to the local emergency room in our small town and they told me to go home while they checked him and they would then call me.  About an hour later the doctor called and told me a CT scan had shown a brain bleed (a subdural hematoma).  They were rushing him by ambulance to the larger hospital in the capital (about 20 miles away) and they had a neurosurgeon standing by to examine him.

What a day that was.  I posted all the details of that day in my post:

‘Til the Storm Passes Over

What a week that was.  By the end of the week it was clear he was going to live but the diagnosis for just how he would live was not clear.  Because of the uncertainty of the future – and all the things they warned me could be, I posted what I thought would be my last post and prepared myself to take care of my husband.

I Am Not Alone

But God had other plans!

It was amazing to me all the people around the country who began to pray for my husband.  I will always be grateful for all the calls, texts and encouragement I received, including many from my family here at WordPress.

Things they warned me to prepare for:

  1. Possible difficulty in speaking or understanding others.
  2. Possible difficulty in being able to read.
  3. Possible loss of memory.
  4. Possible seizures (he was put on seizure medicine as a precaustion).
  5. Weakened right side with need of a walker to get around.
  6. Possible inability to take care of his own personal needs.

On Wednesday after his surgery on Sunday a case manager called me to discuss transferring him to a nursing home or a rehab center.

But God had other plans!

Within 24 hours of that call (on Thursday) they called back and said they were going to transfer him from ICU to a step-down unit for a few days and then would send him to the rehab center in the hospital.  I should anticipate at least seven to ten days of rehab therapy before any consideration could be given to bringing him home.

But God had other plans!

Within 24 hours of that call they informed me they were sending him directly to the in-hospital rehab center that day (Friday).  They still were not sure how long he would have to be there.

On Tuesday the next week I got a wonderful call!  I could bring my husband home on Wednesday – after only four days of rehab.

He came home looking very weak, very tired and clearly needed a walker to get around.  The next week he could not stand bright lights, loud noises and complained of a constant headache.  He was speaking but very slow and often had to stop to search for a word.  It was a good thing for me to be able to give him my complete attention that week.

But God had other plans!

Every day he grew stronger.  We went for followup therapy after a week.  He had meetings with a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist.

Their verdict after 45 minutes to an hour with him.

Speech therapist – he needs no further therapy.

Occupational therapist – he needs no further therapy.

Physical therapist – he needs no further therapy.

They said to go home and just keep doing what he was doing.

Now – six weeks later:

  1. He has absolutely no difficulty in speaking or understanding others.
  2. He is reading the Bible with me each morning again in our devotions with no difficulty in being able to read.
  3. His memory is good – absolutely no loss of memory and no sign of not being able to remember now.
  4. No seizures and he is off the seizure medicine.
  5. He walks without a walker.
  6. He has been able to take care of his own personal needs from the very beginning with me just standing by when he showered for the first week.\
  7. What is really amazing – absolutely no weakness in his right side.  This week he bought plants for our yard and planted them all without any problems even using his right leg to push the shovel into the ground.

I worried that he would never be able to go down to his art studio that he had worked all winter to create.  He had painted a beautiful mural on the wall of the Rainbow Row in Charleston, South Carolina.  We had enjoyed several weeks there a few years ago and we loved the whole area.  He was just putting the finishing touches on it when he fell.  Would he be able to do the stairs?  Would he be able to paint again?

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So thankful he is back in his studio and this was his first painting when he began again.

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Being Scrabble addicts we have kept our scores since 2008 and are very competitive.  Would he be able to still compete?

Confessions of a Scrabble Addict!

Yes!  He is back and we are enjoying our competition.

What can I say?  To God be the glory!  Great things he has done!

Each day is truly a gift from God.  We start each morning saying “Thank you God for another day!”

So – I’m back.  Thank you to all you have followed me in the past and I hope you will continue to enjoy the “ramblings” of this Grandma as I continue!

 

 

 

 

He May Regret the Rule He Made

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Those of you who follow my blog know that my husband and I are Scrabble addicts.  We are very competitive and our final scores are often very close.

Recently I beat my husband by just 15 points.  He decided he wanted to add the scores again to make sure no mistake had been made.  While I was more than glad to do this, I said to be fair if we were going to check the scores of this game, we would need to check those games where I lost by just 15 points.

So I agreed with his new rule.  Going forward any game where there was a difference of 20 points or less, we would add up the scores again.

He may regret making that rule.

This week we played a game and when it ended he was ahead of me by just five points.  I insisted he check the scores again.

To his great disappointment he found that he had made an addiction mistake in his score giving him ten more points than he should have.

By subtracting those ten points, I now won the game by just five points.

So be careful what you want to change – it may turn against you.

(And I’m still laughing at this!)

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I Am the Champion!

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Well I did it!  I won the last Scrabble game of 2019 – making me the champion!

My last post told the tale of my husband’s effort to catch me.

Today is His Last Chance

 

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My husband did his best – but couldn’t catch me.  He tells me he is now depressed.  (A joke only – he’s fine.)

But guess what his New Year’s Resolution is?  You got it!

To beat me in 2020.

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Today is His Last Chance

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Those of you who have followed my posts for awhile know that my husband and I are Scrabble addicts.  We play with a super scrabble board.  It has more spaces for words than a regular Scrabble board and 200 tiles instead of 100.

We have kept a record of our scores since 2008 and are very competitive.

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As we come to the last day of 2019 I am one game ahead of my husband.  He is determined to end this year with a tie between us as we did last year.

So this evening we will play our last game of the year.

If he wins and we end in a tie – all is well.

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I did it!

But if I win – I will end the year two games ahead.

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Champion!!!!

Of course, you know I’m rooting to win and be the champion for 2019.  However, if the last two games are any indication of how it will go – I’m nervous.   Most of the time our scores are very close but the last two games he has not only won but beat me by over 150 points.  NO!

In our game last night he had three seven-letter words.  For those of you who don’t play Scrabble playing all of your letters in one turn adds 50 extra points to your score.  NO!

The game tonight will be our 829th game since we started keeping scores.  This year we played 136 games.  My husband has figured out that if we play 171 games in 2020 we will reach 1000 games.

So – while I am sure I will at some point today or tomorrow be more serious about goals for 2020 – for now that seems like a worthy goal.

Think we can make it to 1000 games in the coming year?

Think I can win the game tonight and be the champion?

We still see.

For all my readers, Happy New Year!  May the coming year bring you God’s peace and joy!

 

 

 

800 Games and Still Counting

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If you follow my blog you know my husband and I are avid Scrabble players.  Very competitive, we started keeping a record of the scores of our games in 2008.  We laugh that we are actually addicted to the game.

My Addiction has Returned

Thankfully we are evenly matched.  It would be no fun if one of us was much better than the other.  We go back and forth on winning the games.  Usually we are never more than one or two games apart.  A few years ago my husband actually pushed way ahead of me with a seven game lead.  I was so discouraged as I did not know how I would ever catch up with him again.  (Do you think losing too many games of Scrabble to your husband would be good grounds for a divorce?)

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Some of our kids bought us a Super Scrabble board a few years ago.  The board has more squares to play on and twice the number of letter tiles as the regular Scrabble game.  We have used it so much that it is falling apart.  We have it taped together but have agreed for our Christmas gift we will purchase a new one next month.  We also need a good Scrabble dictionary as our present one is falling apart.

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This week we played our 800th game.  After eleven years that is roughly 73 games a year or 6 games a month.  Since I did not retire until 2013 we are actually playing more games each month now.  Winter finds us playing more games as we hate going out in the snow and cold.  Summer finds us making road trips so the games take a back seat for a few weeks.

When we played that 800th game I was two games ahead of my husband and he was really hoping to win the game.  I beat him and that put me three games ahead for the eleven years we have kept score.

He threatened to never play again.  But he was only joking as I often whine when I get behind more than two games that I do not want to play any more.

In the 800 games played we have actually tied three games.  When I told one friend of how close our games are she felt one of us was just being nice and letting the other one win to keep our scores close.  However, she clearly does not know us.  We are very competitive and would never willingly let the other one win.

scrabble

I am thankful that my husband and I share this common love.  Along with giving us hours of enjoyment, we figure at our age (71 and 79) it may very well help keep our minds sharp.  When we get to 1000 games we are going to have a party! (If we continue at this pace, that means we will be 74 and 82.  Who wants to bet me we will still be going strong in three years?)

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Do you and your family play board games?

What games do you like?

Are you addicted to any games?

Are you a good loser?  Good winner?

 

 

How Bad Can It Get?

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I have often shared how my husband and I love Scrabble.  For us it is almost an addiction.

For those who follow my blog you have already read about this, but if you are new and interested, here are the links to my stories behind our addiction.

Confessions of a Scrabble Addict!

I Owe My Scrabble Addiction to an Out-of-work Architect

My Addiction has Returned

This past weekend we realized how much we do love Scrabble!

Our power went out this past weekend.  After fifteen hours without any electricity, service finally came on again, only to go out again in three hours.  We had planned to play a game of Scrabble after supper.

When we started the game it was still light out and with the curtains all open we had no problem seeing the board.

Most Scrabble games take anywhere from one to two hours depending on the number of players.

But not for us!

Our games go on forever.

First, we have a “super Scrabble” board.  This board is much larger than the normal game and it has twice as many tiles.

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Second, we are very competitive and not only want to win but want to get as high a score as possible.

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So each play may take minutes as we rearrange our tiles over and over trying to find the right word to get the most points.

We also play defensively so we need to play where our opponent does not have a chance to play on a triple or quadruple spot on the board.

So as the evening proceeded the sun slowly descended in the sky until it was dark both outside and in our house.

Did that stop us?

Not at all!

Out came the candles and the flashlights and we continued on in the dark.  This only slowed our game down more as we could hardly see our tiles.

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Over four hours later we finally finished the game and used our flashlight to find our way to bed.

Oh – by the way – I won!

 

 

Cabin Fever

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cold

Here we go again!  Another winter advisory!  Ice, then snow and strong winds causing drifting snow, and low visibility.  It looks like we are stuck in a time warp where we keep repeating the same scenario over and over.

Moving last fall further north from our home in Illinois we worried that the winter would be more severe.  Fortunately we were wrong.  Folks back home have had colder temperatures and more snow than we have had here in Michigan.

But just as I was feeling kind of smug about that, we also have been hit by cold temps and snow and now ice.

Stuck inside the house for a couple of weeks now I’m getting cabin fever.

At first, being stuck inside seemed kind of nice.  After all I am retired and do not have to go anywhere.  I could sit with the fireplace on, a hot cup of coffee and watch the snow fall on the trees.  Our back yard looked like a winter wonderland.

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There was so much I could do.

  • Read the latest books I had bought and not got around to reading
  • Indulge my Scrabble addiction and play this word game with my husband
  • Binge watch TV shows that I love
  • Write and read other bloggers that I have been wanting to check out

But the magic of sitting and watching the snow fall is losing its appeal.  I have ventured out only to go to church on Sunday mornings and to my daughter’s home to celebrate my granddaughter’s birthday.

After watching all four seasons of Poldark, all six seasons of Downton Abbey and working my way through the first three seasons of Blue Bloods – I want out of here!

My husband suggested taking a flight to Hawaii – but since I have eye surgery scheduled for March that is not going to happen.

Come on spring!

spring

How’s the weather where you are?

How are you coping with all the freezing temps and snow?

What To Do On a Cold Winter Day

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Baby it’s cold outside.  Right now it’s 7 degrees with wind chill at -5 degrees.

cold

But it is going to get worse.  The whole Midwest is getting hit this week by an Arctic blast of snow and cold air.  By Wednesday our high will be -2 degrees with wind chill factors unbelievable.

This is when I am glad to be retired.  No getting out in the freezing temperatures.  No walking on icy parking lots.

But what do I do being stuck inside all week?  Some ideas I’m planning.

  • making Irish coffee

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  • binge watching all six seasons of Downton Abbey

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  • playing scrabble with a super scrabble board

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  • reading, reading, reading

books

That’s my plans for the week.

However, I may not do any of that.

My daughter is going to be out of the country on a mission trip and her husband will be working.  With the weather forecast it appears there may be no school this week.

So – I may have my granddaughter all week.

When she comes to visit, everything else stops.  My only purpose when she is here is to be her playmate.  We color, we play school, we play the piano, we make all kinds of creations with play-doh, we read.

Her mother tells me I should say “no” once in a while and have her play by herself.  I always say I will but when she looks at me and says “please, Grandma” I can’t resist.

Part of the reason I can’t say no is I remember my older grandchildren and how quickly they have grown up, moved on with their adult lives.  I know how quickly this “grandchild of my old age” will also be grown and playing with grandma will not be such a high priority.

So – what I will do on this cold wintry week really depends on whether school is cancelled or not.

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For all my friends and family in the Midwest, stay warm this week.

 

 

 

 

 

My Husband Has a New Love

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addict

My husband and I have been scrabble addicts since 2008.  We have books recording every game we have played for the past ten years.  During the summer we usually play two or three times a week but in the months when Old Man Winter blows his breath around our house, we play every day.

You can check out my original admittance of our addiction in my post:

Confessions of a Scrabble Addict!

We began this year as always playing almost every day in the cold, bitter days in January.  All was fine until April when my husband left me and Scrabble for his new love.

And it’s all my daughter’s fault.

In April my husband had major surgery and was in the hospital for several days.  After coming home he was supposed to remain quiet for six weeks.  In an attempt to give him something to help pass the time my daughter bought him a Sudoku book.

sudoko

To be honest I didn’t think he would use it.  He is not the kind to sit still for long and although he does for Scrabble there is interaction with me.  So I thought he would work one or two and then quit.

Boy, was I wrong!

He started on the ones marked “easy.”   Every time I asked if he would play a game of Scrabble, he would say:

“Let me just finish this one puzzle.”

But one puzzle led to another.  And another.

I thought when he got to the ones marked ” medium” he would quit.  Not that I doubted my husband is smart, but I thought as they got more difficult to solve, he might get frustrated and quit.

Boy, was I wrong!

He began working five to six puzzles a day which left no time to for me or Scrabble.

I still held out hope that he would surely quit when he got to the ones marked “hard.”  I can never figure those out and I thought he would have trouble also.  That would surely lead to frustration and he would come back to me and Scrabble.

Boy, was I wrong!

He is skipping through the “hard” ones and is almost finished with the book my daughter bought him.  So – now maybe there is hope.

Boy, was I wrong!

Last week, in anticipation of finishing this book of puzzles, he went to Barnes and Noble and brought a GIANT Sudoku book.

I’m going to try one more time today to get him to play a game of Scrabble with me.

If not, maybe divorce court will be in our future.  (Just kidding, of course!)

Guess I need to find a new addiction myself.  My daughter gave me a word search book – maybe that will work.

 

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