Nomination Night! #BB19

Brief Recap:
Paul won HOH and Jess revealed she and Cody would be 'safe' the next three weeks.  Whaaaa-aat?

Tempted Again!
Jason, Alex, Mark, and Matt opted to play in the Temptation Competition.  Rules are as follows:
-Anyone except HOH may play.
-If only one plays, s/he is safe for the week.
-If multiples play, the person coming in 1st place is safe.
-Last player goes up as 3rd Nomination.
-As in the case of Week #2, if the 3rd Nom wins POV, noms stay the same.

Bowlarina:
Jason completely loses it, with a time of 3.5 mins.
Alex puts up a time of 1.5 mins.
Mark wins with 1.18 mins.
Matt tries, but scores 2.5 mins.

Therefore, Mark is safe, and Jason is 3rd nominee.

Calling Their Bluff
Paul nominates both Cody and Jess for eviction, fully expecting a protest/pendant/some sign 'Jody' is safe.  Thoroughly confused, Paul sets a Plan B in motion, but since Mark is safe, the only other person he'd like to put up would be Elena. Needing a Plan C, Matt decides to be a pawn.

SO......if Cody wins POV and takes himself off the block, Jess can use the hex to save herself.  Elena and Matt go up; Elena goes home.

If Jess wins POV and takes herself off, she can then use the hex to pull Cody down.  Matt and Elena go up; Elena goes home.

If JASON wins, and Jess can only use the hex to save herself OR Cody, Elena goes up.  Half of 'Jody' goes home.

Will someone talk to Paul about Kevin and his leaky mouth?

Until Wed.....

Power Shifts One Again! #BB19

Brief Recap:
Jess won the POV and after some initial hesitation, decided to keep the nominations the same.

Kevin Is A Rat
Why, oh why hasn't this guy been on anyone's radar?
-Grabs the 1st temptation which unleashed Paul back into the house (good move!)
-Votes with Cody and Jess in the last three evictions (thankfully was on the wrong side!)
-TELLS Jess about the plot to evict Ramses (thankfully, her scrambling didn't work!)

Yeah, I get it; the guy's good about covering his tracks.  But sooner or later, he will be forced to reveal his true alliance.

And The Emmy Goes To....
Josh, for the 1st class acting.  He had Jess's side convinced he knew he was leaving.  Kudos to the kid's blind faith in Paul, but how much longer will it last?  When will he realize he's just a pawn, and unless he changes his game play, he's the low man on the Paul-Alex-Jason-Matt-Raven totem pole?

Sorry Ramses!
Even the late-night scrambling couldn't shake Paul's Posse.  He left with a vote of 7-3.  Kevin, Cody, and Mark (I think??) all voted Josh.

And the New HOH is.....
Final match came down to Paul, Matt, and Raven.  I don't know if 'Maven' deliberately answered wrong, but Paul is now in charge.  There's one hiccup, though.

Jess has the Halting Hex, which means she can stop an eviction in its tracks.  So beware; if P tries to evict either of the 'Jody' pair, she can thwart it.  Good news is, if this happens this week, they are fair game for next week, provided one of the Posse wins.

The other pending thing is, the Temptation Contest.  No one knows what this will be like, and might potentially spoil Paul's game.

Stay tuned til tomorrow.....

I'm currently in Indianapolis at the Indies in Indy Book Signing, manning the Silent Auction table.  Come by and say hi?  The Renaissance Inn at 116th and Pennsylvania.

Also, Happy 51st Birthday to friend BJC!

Flashback Friday: "You Did WHAT?"

July 2007
Back in May, T revealed some shennanigans which led to his community taking sides between he and L.  In June, he revealed he was losing friends left and right due to his actions.  This month, I received a phone call.

"Don't get spooked, but I filed for divorce today."

I was stunned.  What do you say to that?

"I'm sorry??  Or if this is a huge weight lifted, then I'm happy for you??"

He laughed.  "Yeah, I know.  I have mixed emotions myself."

He also explained L was refusing to get help for her prescription pain med dependence or stop drinking.  He'd reached the end of his rope.

Two weeks later, he showed up at my house, then after an hour decided to blast me for my decision to self-publish Book #2 in my AU series.  He'd met someone who had worked for XLibres, who informed him that it was pretty much all a scam.

I didn't care.  I wasn't having any luck with NY, and with the encouragement I'd been receiving online, I'd decided to go with AuthorHouse for Love Finds A Way.  T told me I was throwing money away, and he left with me fuming on the inside.  I then dressed up a little and went to Walmart, where several men smiled at me, and boosted my confidence again.

Next Month:  My Baby Enters School!

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Present Day:
Tomorrow, I'm off to the Indies in Indy conference:)  I'll be manning the Silent Auction table, so come by and see me?

The Plot Thickens! #BB19

Brief Recap:
Cody reenters the game; Jess wins HOH.  She puts up Ramses and Josh.  Josh is her target, due to childish attempts to distract she and Cody during the competition.  Also, there was a yelling match between Josh and Cody previously, as well as a Josh/Mark altercation over pool.

Before the POV competition, Jess is hell-bent on getting Josh out.  She does the eye-roll thing at Paul's 'advice' or, as he calls it, 'coaching'.

POV Comp:
Christmas goes out in the first round.
Ramses, Josh, and Jason blow up in the 2nd round.
Cody takes one for the team, and Jess wins HOH.
She's going to keep the noms the same, so Josh will go bye-bye.

Paul's Plan:
He thinks he can rally everyone to thwart Jess's plans.  Right now, everyone, except Cody and Kevin are on board to vote out Ramses, in order to keep Josh in the house, and on their side, since R is on the Jess/Cody/Kevin team.

Raven nearly blows it by acting dumb; Jess talks to Cody and spells out EXACTLY what Paul 'could possibly do' and how she 'doesn't want to look back and second-guess herself'.  Cody advises her to do nothing.  The armchair HOH's are both cheering and groaning, knowing she's on target with the other side, but undecided and taking advice from her CLUELESS boyfriend.

Thankfully, she follows C's numbskull advice, and keeps the noms the same.

Now, the question remains:  Will Paul and Co pull it off?  Will Ramses and Jess get wind of said-plan?  Will Josh cry (again)?

Stay tuned....

Cody's Back! #BB19

Yes, I missed two episodes due to singing karaoke and another trip to Chicago.  Tried to use a friend's Xfinity account, but wouldn't you know it.....BB is only available 'in house'.  Bleh.  So I watched tonight having NO clue what transpired last week.

Friendly Game Of Pool???
WTH is up with Josh? Is he trying to get himself evicted?  Yeah, Mark didn't act very adult either.

'My Boyfriend's Back...."
Jess is happy she has her man back in the house, and to his credit, Cody seems to have learned his lesson from the Week 1 Fiasco.

Admittedly, I was hoping Cam would return, but hey, then I wouldn't have anything to gripe about, right?  LOL!  Still, I was happy he advanced to the 2nd round.

Wrong Strategy, Kids....
Everyone should have focused their punishments on Jess.  I was thrilled when Jason seemed to understand this concept....but still, she ended up the winner and seems to have anther target in mind.  She ALSO took the Halting Hex temptation, meaning she can stop anyone from getting evicted in the next 4 weeks.  So this should be interesting, and it means both she and Cody are safe.  Paul, however, is not, though a possible alliance has sprung up between P and C.  Jess, however, wants P out.

Josh and Ramses
These two are  up on the block, and I'm hoping noms will stay the same.  Jess realizes they don't have the votes to get P out, and frankly, I'm tired of his whiny attitude.

Flashback Friday: New Venture and A Trip To Canada!

July 1997:
The spouse began attending Quixtar/Amway meetings, and even switched our telephone over to MCI, instead of AT&T.  It supposedly not only lowered our bill, but we'd get paid a small amount for switching.  I wasn't thrilled, but agreed to go with him at times, and even began ordering some of the products.

We broke ground on our new home, and things seemed to be looking up.  The kids and I took a picnic lunch one day and watched our house being brought in to be set up on the foundation.  Met one of our new neighbors, who seemed friendly.

When I went to the apartment complex office to arrange for a month-to-month lease, I made a shocking discovery.

"We weren't going to renew your lease anyway, because of the white dog and the boxes you insist on keeping in the hallway."

Ummmmm.....okaaaay.....the dog wasn't ours, it belonged upstairs.  Our Norweigan Elkhound, Shadow, whom we'd had for nearly a year, wasn't registered, but I wasn't going to volunteer that information!  Also, the boxes were outside my door, behind the wall that supported the staircase.  The only ones who could see them besides us were my very understanding next door neighbors, who did NOT have any issues with them!  So what the hell was management's problem?  It seemed we were leaving at a good time.

When I told Frankie, the head of security about it, he was amazed, since any 'tenant issues' went through him first!  He'd received no complaints of Hercules (the American Eskimo upstairs, whom I took care of occasionally), Shadow, or the box issue.  As far as he was concerned, we were good tenants.

Whirlwind Trip To Vancouver!
As I stated back in Jan, my sister married a Canadian.  They planned their official wedding reception for the last weekend in July, so the kids and I left on Wednesday.  Spent all day on the plane, and K was thrilled he'd gotten a chance to check out the cockpit:)  While flying to Seattle, we sat near a woman who lived in Tacoma, so she pointed out Mt. Hood in Oregan, Mt. Rainier, and the Snake River.  Mom and Dad met us at Sea-Tac, and we drove 3 hours to Twasson.

Thursday, we ate breakfast with Granny M, and went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  Friday, we took the kids to Stanley Park and the Aquarium.  D arrived late that night, and the reception was on Saturday.

A couple of humorous things occurred:
-Little S was potty-training, and refused to use the public toilets.  So she ran around the CSB in a shirt and pull up.  My sister was slightly alarmed, but I assured her it was perfectly all right for a 3 y/o to do so.

-At the park, S wanted Uncle Chris to push her on the swings.  He pushed her a little too high and she fell off....laughing:)

-At the Aquarium, it grew hot during the Beluga whale show, so K and Shunta stripped off their shirts.  Not to be left out, so did S.  Again, my sister was outraged.   I told her to calm down.

-During dinner with my sister's new in-laws on Friday, Chris's mother Nancy came over to where I was sitting with my sister's oldest and dearest friend, and proceeded to tell us what her other children were doing.  One was in Australia, her other son was in Japan, and another was very successful.  We'd already heard this from W, so we politely nodded and tried to encourage more conversation.  She soon moved on, and Kris and I looked at each other.

"Apparently, she failed to impress us."

-While we were riding in the car, the topic of D's new venture came up.  Kris and her hubby were pursuing it also, but W slammed ours.  Then in the next breath, asked K, "So how is yours going?" and seemed supportive.  This ruffled me.  Why was it okay for K but not us?  Made no sense.

-At the wedding reception, there was an incredible ice sculpture of a globe.  At one point, both my children were captured on film licking it.  Again, my sister was outraged.

-When W's friends Susan and Ted arrived, they brought with them the gag gift that W had given them at S's wedding shower, a leather chastity belt my dad had made.  Now, it had been 'gussied up' with a feather whip and handcuffs.  W laughed when she saw it, and tried it on, plus playfully aimed the whip at Chris!

-I was able to 'zing' my sister, something I don't often get the chance to do.  Back in '94, when she expressed concern over my decision to baptize S Catholic, I explained that we'd compromised.  She had stated, "Compromise is not in my vocabulary."

Fast-forward to now:  W was going on and on how stressed out she was, because..."He had his ideas on what was going to happen, and I had my ideas.  So we compromised."

My ears perked up.  "I'm SO happy that word finally entered your vocabulary!"

She looked at me for a moment, then shook her head.  "Oh shut up, Molls!"

Score one for me:)  My parents could barely contain their laughter!  My dad later patted me on the back for zinging her!

Sunday, we returned back to Sea-Tac and flew home.  With the 3 hour time change and the whirlwind trip, my appetite didn't have time to adjust, so I know I lost a few pounds:)

Next Month:  K Begins Kindergarten!

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Present Day:
I'm off to Chicago again today!  Going to meet Mom at O'Hare and help her get settled in the motel, then tomorrow we head home in the afternoon.  I'm also getting together with classmates at Sgt. Preston's downtown.

Have a great weekend!

Dominique Vs Paul #BB19

A very exciting Power of Veto game was played last night.  Contestants had to cross a shaky teeter-totter type bridge fifty times.  Christmas was not allowed to compete; Kevin had balance issues and finally decided to claim the monetary prize ($27!); Dominique had bouts where she kept her balance, but ultimately fell at a crucial moment, sending her score back to zero.  Jess also struggled, but was never in serious contention.  Alex and Jason, however, battled for the lead, with Jason claiming it about ten or so seconds ahead of Alex.  Now he had a MAJOR decision to make.

At first, his mind was made up.  He was going to pull Jess down.  But, who to put up in her place?  Alex wanted to put up Mark, to ensure he wouldn't vote for Dom.  But Mark was adamant about not being put up.  Jason wanted to put up Raven, to really stack the votes against Dom, but Alex was adamant.  Mark, or keep the noms the same.  So with a heavy heart, Jason refused to use his POV.

Paul The Snake?
Paul needs to watch his back; Dom is wise to the game he's playing, only she's calling him a snake instead of 'Puppet Master'.  I love Paul and would love to see him win, but at the same time, Dom is laying the groundwork for all the pieces to fall into place after she's gone.  I like P and Alex's 'secret alliance', but will she wise up to the fact he's actually playing her?  We've seen in past seasons where an early power alliance has fallen apart by the 5th or 6th week.

We'll see how the next HOH competition goes.