I am a sad sack of a person. I am very, very social. I will find any excuse to have people over. I like entertaining…I like people…and I especially like having people in my house.
Except when I am stressed. Like this semester. Actually, I was talking to a co-worker about stress and I said that I am actually too busy to be stressed. I get one thing done and move on to the next. There is no looking up…there is no time to breath, just one step after another. Oh, I still freak out when there are big *ss assignments due, but who doesn’t.
Sadly, when I am stressed, I tend to retreat inward a bit which is not good. I have discovered that I am an extrovert. I like being around people. When I teach, or present, I feel energized; if I start the day in a bad mood or a little sleepy…doing a storytime or two will knock that right out of me.
So, since my schedule has me out of the house from 8am-9pm Mon-Wed and taking ½ hour lunches all week long; when someone calls to have dinner or lunch I explain that I can’t right now….but call me in December.
I ran into a neighbor the other day and she said: “When is POKENO? Halloween is coming…that means Pokeno at Marianne’s house.”
**Side note…I love Halloween. I have a lot of decorations…and I like to show them off, so if I am going to host something, it will be around Halloween, so people can be ooh and ahhh about what a great collection I have. And now I have added our Dia de los Muertos altar, so there is even more STUFF!
So, I thought about it and decided to invite some people over to play Pokeno…and it is tonight.
What?
You don’t know what POKENO is?
You obviously don’t live in the suburbs of
Pokeno is a game that people (ok, women) play. I have never seen a man play POKENO…although I have seen them fight over dice during Couples Bunko. (another blog) Each player picks a card, very similar to a bingo card. On the card are random playing card faces. We all sit around and people take turns being the “caller.” If I was the caller I could say that we are going to make a T or do the second column on the card….then I would shuffle and flip through the deck of playing cards, calling them out. The rest of the players place chips on the card faces that are on their card as they are called. When they make the desired shape or column on their card, they call “POKENO.”
Every person who plays brings $5.00 cash and a wrapped gift that should cost about 10-15 dollars. The person who calls POKENO, gets to open one of the gifts and show everyone what they got. This continues until all the prizes are opened.
Then we take a break and eat and drink. I am making some Halloween themed foods: Bat Wings (Buffalo wings); Cat vomit dip (spinach dip); poached brain with coagulated sauce (cream cheese with Berry/jalapeño jam); Chopped Hansel Sandwiches (mini chicken salad sandwiches); Devil Eyeballs (deviled eggs). I still need to think up a name for a baked brie dish with apricots, pecans and jalapeños. TO DRINK: Witch’s brew (white wine sangria) and Zombies (no really, they are called Zombies) I have a cool Erlenmeyer flask that the Zombies will be served from. DESSERT: Spider web cake and Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater Bread (chocolate bundt cake and pumpkin bread) I will also have KEEL-OVER COFFEE (Keoke coffee…brandy, Kahlua and chocolate liquor with coffee and whipped cream)
After our break, we set the timer for a random period of time and we play again….this time…when you win, you get to steal a gift from someone. This goes on until the buzzer sounds. At that point it is time for BLACKOUT. Whoever is next in line (which really stinks) has to call the cards, and the object is to have a chip on every spot of your card. The first person who does this wins the cash.
Then there is more eating and drinking….
So…if you are in the neighborhood…come on by. The cool think about POKENO is you can play with any number…so there is always room for more!
Oh…and if you can think of a gross name for my baked brie dish with apricots, pecans and jalapeños dish, I would be obliged!
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