Real Life in Las Vegas

Sundance Grille

2011-08-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

Great deal at Sundance Grill today! Located inside Silverton Casino, there's a Buy One Get One Free promotion going on right now. They also sent us a $10 credit in the mail. However, they can't be combined.

So, we ordered the fantastic meal deal. Mom had the fried chicken, which is 3 pieces of fried chicken, fries, coleslaw. It comes with dinner rolls and salad, plus dessert (she had Tiramisu) and a drink (iced tea). I had the chicken piccata, which is 2 breaded breasts with lemon butter sauce and capers, vermicelli, and garlic toast. It comes with soup (chicken noodle), dessert (strawberry tall cake), and drink (Coke). These are $14 each, but with the promotion we got both for $16 after taxes.

To use our $10 credit, we also ordered a carrot cake ($5) plus a chocolate cake ($5) on a separate ticket.

Summary:

Salad
Soup
Dinner Rolls
Fried Chicken (3 pcs)
Fries
Coleslaw
Chicken Piccata
Vemicelli
Garlic bread
Strawberry tall cake
Tiramisu
Chocolate cake
Carrot Cake
Iced Tea
Coke

Pre-Discount Total: $40

Discounted Total: $16

LBS - A Burger Joint

2011-07-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today we tried out LBS at Red Rock, for their Happy Hour special. We had a special guest with us this time, 8 year old Tara, who is visiting us (her grandmother & aunt) from Pahrump. Her family is moving over here to Vegas and are looking forward to joining us for some reviews. In the meantime, you get an extra viewpoint.

We were seated promptly by friendly staff. The decor is up to date and everything was clean. The booth was quite on the soft side, which was nice but left us a little low for our liking. But it was still quite comfy. Lower the table a touch and it would be just right. Tara was given crayons and a picture to work on, which she enjoyed.

Our drink order was taken immediately by our server Chris, and we were given our menus. Happy hour was well explained to us, and it's basically any food item (except kids meals) is 50% off. Suh-weeet!

We browsed the menu, and found lots of good choices. Tara opted for the sliders. Mom & I decided to order the Perfect Burger and the Steakhouse Burger (substituting Gruyere cheese and with the onion marmalade on the side) on wheat and take half of each. We gave Tara our shoestring fries, Mom ordered Sweet potato fries (well, once she remembered they had them); and I ordered Twisters.

The drinks were refilled promptly each time (and correctly), and the staff seemed to work together very well. We saw allot of team work, which we always like to see. Everyone was friendly and courteous. Our server was great, checking in often to see if we needed anything. Others checked on their way by as well. They all made us feel like we were valued guests.

Our meal came correct, and at the right temperature. the fries come with a very tangy, spicy, flavourful fry sauce. It tastes almost like a chipotle to me. Both Mom & Tara liked it, but preffered their fries plain. I love spice, and loved the sauce. The shoestrings are very thin and come out with a nice crispy texture, not too hard or soft. They're nicely salted, but not too much. The sweet potato fries were nicely crisped and a good thickness. The twisters were a nice surprise - not at all what we thought they'd be. We were thinking curly fries... but, they're sliced twists... almost like a home made kettle chip. They have a nice herb seasoning on them. It needed more salt, but in fairness ANY time you order fresh cut kettle chips you just can't get them salty enough until you salt each handful. We all loved the fries, twisters and sweet potatoes... though it took a little urging to get Tara to try the sweet potatoes. Once she gave in and tried it though, she gave it a thumbs up. She loved the shoestrings.

The sliders were great. We loved that they were just the right size for an appetizer or kids meal. I'd say they were about the size of the little Hawaiian rolls you get, but they came on a round Ciabatta-like bun. Tara loved them, and liked them just the way they came. She could only eat one though, because she couldn't stop eating the shoestrings.

Mom & I both love the Steakhouse burger. It's coasted in fabulous fresh cracked peppercorns, and a wonderful horseradish sauce. The onion marmalade was delightful... we tried it both on the burger and on the side. It's almost carmelized onions, but it has a sweet twist. The mushrooms were prefect... nicely sauteed, very thinly sliced and bite sized. The mixed greens and roasted tomatoes were just right. The bun was a nice, fresh wheat bun. Very soft, and flavourful. It held up to the sauces without getting soggy. It comes with Swiss cheese, which I love, but when I saw Gruyere on the menu I had to substitute it. It was fabulous.

The Perfect burger had the same bun, roasted tomatoes and onion marmelade. It also comes with a wonderful peppery smoked bacon. Thick sliced, and cooked nicely. It stayed tender and chewy. The frisee, LBS sauce and herb mayo were all delightful. It comes with Gruyere, which we all loved of course. This burger is a bit sweeter, but smoky too.

Overall, we all agreed we would order everything again. We were all impressed with the staff and the food. Add a basket of bread (what can I say, we're addicted to breads) and they've nailed it. The portions were excellent. There was plenty of everything, making it well worth the price paid. We're always happy when we have to ask for to-go boxes. It gives us a snack later, and a treat for our puppies - who also raved over LBS by the way. They love pepper and horseradish, so they were thrilled.

The total came to $35 for 3 drinks, 2 burgers with fries, Sliders with cheese, Twisters, and Sweet potato fries. Excellent value, outstanding service - we'll definitely be back! =)

Oh and a little side note - when I let them know at the end of the meal we would be doing a review on our blog, the manager provided her email address and asked to be sent a copy. Kudos! Good for you, for wanting to hear feedback from your customers.

New Day Cafe

2011-07-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today we went to New Day Cafe on Rainbow. We used our Restaurant.com $25 certificate. We've been there a few times and always it's been very nice.

Today we had:

Coke & Tea
Ham & Eggs with Home Fries & Toast
Eggs, Bacon & Pancakes
Biscuits & Gravy
Chef Salad, substituting with Bleu Cheese (to go)
Club Sandwich (to go)

Pre-discount total: $45
Total paid: $20.19

The Coke & Tea were refilled promptly until towards the end of the meal when the tea wasn't filled. When Mom asked for a refill, she was told they were out of tea. So she tried the mango tea, which she didn't like. She asked for a hot coffee instead, but was brought an iced coffee.

The ham & eggs were good. Eggs were done properly (over medium). The ham was very good. Nicely sliced, not too thin or thick. The home fries were undercooked though. They would have been tasty had they been done... they were nicely browned, just not cooked inside. The toast was too dark on one side and not hot enough to melt the butter.

The pancakes were very good, fluffy and golden with a very nice syrup. The bacon was a bit too crispy for our taste but still good. The butter comes in very annoying little portion control packs, which is a pain.

The biscuits & gravy was excellent. The biscuits were nice and soft, fluffy, and lightly toasted. The white gravy was thick and plentiful, with bits of sausage. It had a very nice smoky taste.

We got the salad and sandwich to go, for tonight. We'll report back on those.

Overall, enjoyable and a good value. The little annoyances (out of tea, iced coffee, packets of butter) were understandable and likely not a frequent problem. I'd have expected them to brew fresh tea when they saw it was getting low, but minor enough to overlook since they substituted coffee (even though it was the wrong coffee... that was an honest miscommunication).

Update - The sandwich & salad were excellent. The salad was prepared well, with everything layered nicely. Fresh ingredients, and wonderful dressing. The club sandwich was very good. The bread held up, and the sliced deli meats were fresh and plentiful. The cheese was good, but not very strong. I like a good, strong cheese on my clubs. It was a little too mild for my taste. The mayo was excellent though.

Disappointing Rampart

2011-07-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I like Rampart, I really do. It's beautiful, the waterfalls are lovely. I even took photos of the waterfalls for my Photography course my first semester at CSN. But the restaurants today were a terribly disappointing experience.

We like Promenade cafe. When they had the $1.99 breakfast specials we went often. Then they doubled the price and we went elsewhere. So when I noticed that Restaurant.com has gift certificates for Promenade and the Buffet, as well as the Carmel room, I was interested. I had $20 credit at Restaurant.com so I decided to take one for Promenade, since we'd been there several times.

Today was a crazy day, so we decided to swing into Rampart and use the Promenade certificate. We were seated immediately, but I was very disappointed with the seating. We were seated at a table that was squeezed tightly between two other tables. Bench on one side, chairs on the other. Mom sat on the bench, but had to squeeze in because both parties on each side had large bags sitting beside them, well into the space of our table. I was a bit annoyed that only one person moved her bag at all, and it was just a little bit, but that wasn't the restaurants fault. I am a little disappointed that the server didn't politely ask them to move their bags to their own space or at least seat us elsewhere though.

So we scanned the menus, and found a few promising dishes. The $9.99 special with 3 courses looked interesting, and the BBQ combo looked very good. We waited... and waited... and waited. Eventually, after having enough time to read the entire menu and narrow down to a few choices, a blur that I assume was our server went flying by saying she'd be right with us... at least that's what it sounded like. She served the party beside us, and says something to them about getting a salad... I assume she's now going to take our drink order but she hurries away. So we read the menu.... again. Finally, someone else takes our drink order. He returns with my Pepsi and Mom's iced tea... with very little ice, and no extra glass of ice like she asked for. We wait. And wait. And wait. After reading the entire menu AGAIN, we close the menu's and sit there with our chins on our hands, extremely bored and annoyed.

Several servers zip around in a frenzy, and 2 stand directly beside us discussing whether a party had split a check or not. Finally, I decide to flag down a server and ask for the check for our drinks. Only I can't catch one. Not ours, nor any other. One walked right by me as I looked right at him and said "Excuse me". Angry, we get up and go to the register. I tell the cashier to just charge us for the 2 drinks because we've yet to be even GREETED by our server. She apologized and told us the drinks were on the house. The gesture was appreciated, but I'd have preferred they offer to call the manager and seat us with a better server.

So, we left - extremely disappointed. We decide to try the buffet. We've had it before, but it was quite a while ago. After paying, we stand at the register for several minutes waiting to be seated... though there were several empty tables.

We were finally seated and went to the salad area. The salad was quite sparse. We opted for some of the fresh fruit, which was very good. Then we went to the main buffet. Again, a disappointment.

We did get drinks, though I only managed to get one refill, and i had to ask for it as she was walking away. Mom didn't get a refill at all. The waitress was behind us gossiping about Casey Anthony with another customer. While that's fine, I found some of the comments inappropriate from an employee at a workplace.

Fair is fair... the fruit, breads, deli meats, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, and pecan sandies were good.

But, the rest was beyond bad. The pizza tasted like low quality cheese sprinkled on cardboard. The crust really - literally - tasted like cardboard. I'm not kidding. The "pot roast" was mislabeled (I guess it was actually a stew?) was so tough I couldn't cut it to even try a bite. The fried shrimp was rock hard and dried out. It was overcooked and tough. The tortellini was soggy and stuffed with some kind of dry unidentifiable meat. It appeared to be hamburger or ground sausage. No cheese, no butter... just wet, soggy pastas filled with a dry gray meat. I decided not to try it. Mom tried the fish and chips. She reports that both were overcooked and rubbery. She had 2 bites of fish, 1 fry, and moved on to a sandwich. We both tried the Sweet & Sour chicken, and both agreed it was very dry and bland. The macaroni and cheese was outright scary. I love mac & cheese. But after lifting the spoon, I changed my mind. It seemed to be a few sorry little overcooked macaronis floating in a big bowl of neon orange coloured water. Unfortunately, even after being refreshed, it was still a big bowl of soggy macaronis literally floating in a "cheese" that looked like orange water.

As I mentioned, the mashed potatoes were good, but the gravy had some UFOs in it... that would be Unidentified Floating Objects. I'm assuming (and hoping) it was dried onions. The gravy was tasty, but thin and a bit strange with the little random bits in it. There were lots of empty trays that weren't refreshed (and it wasn't changeover time either).

Mom says the pecan sandies were very good, but the bread pudding was burnt. The chocolate fudge cake was good. But the vanilla iced creme had absolutely no flavor at all. It tasted like I was eating a spoon of ice. It reminded me of the Simpsons were Maude asked for Unflavoured... she'd have loved this.

Well, needless to say we won't be going to Rampart for a meal for a while. We'll be sending complaints to management to see what the response is.

UPDATE: Several days later, and no response at all from management.

TGI Fridays

2011-07-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

So earlier this week we went to TGI Fridays in Gold Coast. We had a $5 credit from the Gold Coast mailer, plus a free app from our survey off the receipt. We ordered Sesame chicken, a Jack Daniels Burger with Combo fries and the Soup, Salad, Breadsticks endless lunch (which includes a drink). We set it out Smorgasbord style.

It worked out like this:

Two drinks (one free with endless lunch)
Sesame chicken with Asian slaw (free with survey receipt)
Jack Daniels burger (cut in half) with Combo fries (1/2 regular, 1/2 sweet potato)
Soup (we ordered broccoli cheese and clam chowder)
Salad (we had 2)
Breadsticks

Total: $16

It was very good. We were seated immediately, in a very ample booth. Our drinks were refilled promptly, and the server was very nice. He was fast, and checked on us often.

The sesame chicken is AMAZINGLY good. It has a mild spicy tang to it. If you've never had it, it's chicken breasts tossed in an Asian sauce and sesame seeds, served with Asian slaw and extra dipping sauce. The sauce is wonderful You can control the heat by how much extra sauce you dip into. The Asian slaw has a nice hot kick to it.We order this often and it's always lovely.

The JD burgers were - as always - excellent. Nice soft bun, good burger, fresh cheese. The lettuce and tomato are your typical mid-grade, probably hydrophonic. But in their defense, it's hard to get good produce. Mom says the onion is good. It comes with extra sauce. This is one of the rare burgers I don't need ketchup or mayo on. I'd love a nice big slice of pineapple on it though.

The fries are great, and the ranch is fabulous. nice and thick, creamy, and chilled just right. Outback has the BEST ranch evahhhh.... but TGI gives them a good run for the money. We get combo fries because Mom is addicted to sweet potato fries. She sprinkles them with sugar, and reports that TGIs are very good. The regular fries are straight, homestyle cut, nicely browned.

The broccoli cheese soup was very good. Cheesy, creamy, nice small bits of broccoli. It's not a strong cheese. My favourite is from Quiznos, but I love cheese. TGI has a milder version, so if you don't like overpowering cheese, TGI is the place to be. I had a big bowl of it, and would have another. The clam chowder was good, but Outback has spoiled me. I love Outbacks clam chowder... it's outrageously good. TGI's is good, but nothing spectacular. A little thin, lots of potatoes, some celery and onion, good bits of clams. The clams are good, not too chewy.

The salad was nice. Again Outback upstages them with their salads, but it was a very good salad. Mom chose the Ceasar, which was romaine, cheese, croutons (fabulous croutons), dressing. The breadsticks were soft, warm and good. Dipped in the broccoli cheese soup or ranch dressing they were fab.

At that price, with the excellent service and good food, we'll definitely be back soon! We've also recommended them to friends and family, and if you're looking for a good inexpensive lunch, they have excellent options!

Flava Flav in da houuuuuuuuuse!

2011-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

We ran into Flava Flav at the U-Haul store on the Blvd. He was extremely nice, chatted for a while. He had his little boy with him. He talked about his new show at the Riviera. He was telling people that he's no different than anyone else, just his job description. Otherwise "just like you". He said he wished he had more money but loves what he does.

We chatted with him for a while, just regular chit chat. He bought some boxes, gave us each a big hug and told us to take care of ourselves, then went on his way.

He's there pretty often, been going there for about 3 years. LL Cool J is a regular too.

Just last week we almost ran over Snooki in the Smiths parking lot... got to love LV!

Silverton

2011-06-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

We went to breakfast at Silverton today, and played our $15 freeplay. Well, we went all over the place for a while, then we played 50 Lions. We got in the bonus on 75c, and got a few good hits... then we got 4 columns of lions and wilds stacked. Cashed out $160. Then we played Sun & Moon... not much happened, and we got down to 23 credits... we decided to go to lunch so we just hit the 20c button. Of COURSE we got 5 Sun & Moon!!!!! It was 4, with a space in the 2nd column, but the pyramid turned into a sun, making it 5. So 50 free games. We got about $50 out of that, and played 60c for a few minutes when boom! We got in with 5 Sun & Moon again!!!! Same way, pyramid changed to sun. This time it racked up to $197. We played a while, got in a few more times with 2, 3, and 4 triggers. Eventually cashed at $180. We earned enough points for a pull tab, which turned out to be $50 free play!

Upcoming Fundraisers

2011-06-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

We're doing a series of fundraisers and specials to raise funds for us to do a semester abroad. We're very excited at the idea of doing a Mom & Daughter semester overseas! We've been attending college together for 3 semesters now. We're planning to do our Fall semester overseas.

We have a grant for our classes and books - but we need to raise enough funds to pay for housing and living expenses for the 4 months we'll be abroad. We also need to pay for our tickets, and travel expenses.

We're working overtime, selling household items, holding a garage sale and bake sales, and any other ideas we get.

We wrote an e-book called the Las Vegas Buffet Diet (only $2.99!), and we're putting together cookbooks and other small e-books to raise funds too.

ANY help is appreciated! THANK YOU!!!
Here's ways you can help!

Purchase the Las Vegas Buffet Diet for $2.99

Shop our Amazon Storefront

Crazy prices!

2011-06-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had sticker shock today! We had to take some belongings to the new house, then get to our appointment with our lawyer by noon. So, no time for breakfast or brunch. Well, we got to the lawyers office half an hour early and decided to grab a quick bite and then get something good after the appointment.

There was a Carl's Jr a couple blocks away, so we ducked in there. WOW! $3 for a "value" burger! $3.50 for chili fries?! $2 for a drink! $1.50 for a single chicken strip in a mini tortilla. $7 for nuggets & a drink. Yikes!!! We go to nice restaurants with excellent service for what it would have cost us each to get a burger & fries! We decided to just split a chili cheese fries. The drink machine was broken, so we had to go to Terribles for a fountain drink... only to find they're ice machine was broken! AHHHHH!

So after the appointment we went to Tropical Smoothie. For $21 we each got a huge sandwich on 9 grain wheat with fresh vegetables (so big we only had half for lunch, the other half is in the fridge for later), each a bag of baked chips, and each a 24 oz fresh fruit smoothie.

Yesterday we went to Steiners and had a huge pub style burger with fresh cheddar, beer battered fries and bottomless Pepsi / Tea, waited on by excellent servers... for a total of $17. It was Wimpy Wednesday - $6 burger & fries. The value burger, fries and drink at fast food today would have been over $15!

And on Tuesday, we had a delicious Italian lunch at Bucca de Beppo. Mommy had chicken parmesan, and I had the chicken alfredo. With bread and fresh drinks, it came to $15; and it was HUGE. We brought half of it home.

Let that be a lesson to you... unless you're getting a $1 burger and $1 drink at the fast food places, you can probably do better!

Red Rock

2011-06-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

We went to lunch at Red Rock buffet today. For two of us, after our 2-for-1 discount and players club discounts, it cost us $5.83. That's total, including tax and drinks, for both of us.

We made chicken salad sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, salads, cottage cheese with fruit, scalloped potatoes, beef & broccoli, and chicken. Then we had Italian iced cream. I had Pepsi, mom had iced tea and black coffee.

We played for a while on a few new games, and hit a few good spins. We wound up cashing out around even and went home for the day to enjoy out pool.

Welcome!

2011-06-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the launch of our new Kindle e-Book "The Las Vegas Buffet Diet" on Amazon, we are re-launching our blog with a new name and a new look!

Easter Dinner

2010-04-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

We had a nice dinner at Primarily Prime Rib. They had a prix fixe menu for Easter Sunday... including Cocktails, fresh baked bread and butter.

For appetizers I had shrimp cocktail. Mom had spinach cheese dip with a crisp cracker. Both were delightful.

Then mom had mixed green salad with house made chunky bleu cheese dressing. I had cream of chicken soup.

For entree's I had the beef medallions (2 filets) with wild mushrooms and bernaise sauce and mom had the chicken francais, which is 4 chicken breast slices dipped in egg, pan fried, and then covered in lemon butter sauce. It came with julienne vegetables. We chose the baked potato as the side, smothered in fresh butter and sour cream, sprinkled with fresh chives.

Desert was chocolate cake for me and cheesecake for mom, with coffee and hot tea. They had whipped creme, chocolate sauce and blueberries as garnish.

It was $28 per person, and well worth it!

Hockey game

2010-04-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

The hockey game was awesome! Good fights, lots of fun. The mascot snuck up behind Mom and surprised her, then he jumped over her a few minutes later. It was lots of fun. Ontario Reign vs Las Vegas Wranglers. LV won 5-2. One player took on 2 referees. 3 players got ejected.

We played a while afterwards, came up even.

Today, we went to M and each got a free briefcase. We played a while, went up $30, cashed out even.

Hockey time!

2010-03-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Been a bit busy lately! But the slots have picked up. Buffalo paid $36 in one spin twice in 2 days for us playing 40c per spin. Today it paid $36 in one spin then a few spins later went in the bonus and paid $17.

Orleans surprised us with 2 free tickets to the hockey game this weekend. They're $50 to buy ($17.50 each + fees + taxes etc). We paid nothing, just printed the email and took it to the club, where they handed me 2 tickets. We had choice of Thursday, Friday or Saturday games. Plus we each get a free drink with it.

South Point gave us $60 free play which we get to play tomorrow. We'll see what we can do with it! =)

Silverado Steakhouse

2010-03-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

South Point gave us 2 for 1 vouchers for Silverado Steakhouse, so we went today. The service was exceptional!

We started with drinks and a variety of breads (raisin nut, sourdough, pretzel; with rose shaped butter pats).

Then we had an amazing dinner salad with champagne vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was wonderful, very sweet and fruity.

We chose the filet mignon trio for an entree at $28 each. It's 3 filet mignon medallions on toasted baguettes with 3 different sauces: bernaise, roasted garlic and mushroom. A huge baked potato came with each, which the waiter dressed table-side with butter, sour cream and chives.

The waiters were extremely nice and checked us frequently. The tablecloths, cloth napkins, silver coffeepots, and stemware were all clean.

The total came to only $33!

Day at the Lake

2010-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

We got an invitation to go kayaking last night, so we agreed to meet the group over at Starbucks in Sunset Station. When we got there, we and two guys were the only ones that showed up. So we all got in one guys Porsche and drove over Lake Las Vegas. The kayaks didn't look very stable and the 2 person ones were out so we took a 2 person paddle boat and a canoe. Mom and I rode the paddle boat they took the canoe then when turned around we docked at a private dock in front of a huge house and switched. We got back much faster so we decided to paddle under the bridge. We got caught in the current and just kept going in circles, so we paddled over to a dock where a nice young couple helped us out and tied it up. The guys came and pulled the boat back to the dock for us, then we drove back to Sunset Station. $25/hr for the boats, a great deal! Then mom and I went to Silverton and had our free dinners.

Warming up

2010-03-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's finally warming up, 71F the high today. So I took advantage of the nice weather and trimmed back some of the honeysuckles beside the driveway and front door walkway that the gardeners don't do. The gardeners handle all the community trees and bushes, these are in our front yard. They're out of control so I trimmed them up a little to keep them in the yard and out of the driveway and walkway.

Went off to get a few groceries. Walgreens had lots of clearance items, and I picked up several Sara Lee pies for $1 to bake and give as gifts, and Mom likes them too. I hit 3 Walgreens in the area since they were all in the same parking lot as the stores I went to and stocked up on them and Orbit Gum which was on clearance for 65c and had a 50c off coupon. Fresh & Easy had fresh ground beef for $1.59 /lb and seedless grapes for 77c /lb, so stocked up on those, plus a few cans of soup for 50c and some fresh chopped onions for 96c and a package of fresh sliced red, green and yellow peppers with onions for $1.96. Then Glaziers had lots of produce on sale... radishes 3 bunches for 88c, leaf lettuce for 72c. I bought a package of stew meat steak for $12 (3lbs) and got a packet of gravy, 5lbs potatoes, 1lb carrots, 1lb salad mix and a dozen rolls all free.

OH - Did I mention I won a $25,000 scholarship a couple months ago? They emailed me today to set up the fund. Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!

Outback

2010-03-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

We had $10 at Silverton today, and kept going up and down up and down up and... you get it. We left and went to M Resort where nothing was hitting at all.

So we went off to Outback where we had honey wheat bread, crab stuffed shrimp, steaks, and a drink. I had a side of loaded baked potato (butter, sour cream, bacon, chives, cheese) and shrimp scampi, mom had a side of bleu cheese pecan salad and green beans. All for $25.

Then we hit Target for some basics, laundry soap, cat food, Pepsi, air fresheners, etc. Got back to the house and watched the Tivo.

Awesome

2010-03-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was crazy, busy all day. But today rocked.

Got up at 7am and swung by a clients. Picked up some bunny food and a new doggy water bowl. Then grabbed a croissant and got back to the house at 9am.

Yesterday I picked up $100 of gift certificates for Cheeburger Cheeburger for $25 through a promotion at H.O.L.V. Today we snapped up $200 of GCs for Ritual Spa for $50.

So then I went to class, got out early and swung back by the house for Mom and off to M Resort we went for her mystery freeplay. It was $3. We each put $20 in and played Red Lions, Grand Monarch, Stonehenge and Red Rooster on that $40 and cashed out a total of $75. We got in the bonus on all but Stonehenge. Twice on Red Lions. In Red Rooster I got in the bonus then it retriggered for a double bonus and I hit an almost entire screen wilds which paid $62. We took the $75 and left. Stopped at Taco Bell for a minute, dropped mom off at work and here I am about to write my paper. =)

Red Rock

2010-03-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

Got up at around 9am, and we went off to Red Rock to play our $5 each freeplay. We did pretty good, playing Bombay, Fire Opals, Fire Horses, and a few others. We got up $40 then played a little more and went to lunch. We had 2 for 1 for Feast Buffet. It was $9.99 with our cards so we both had lunch for $10 total. We had Coke, Orange juice, and tea, salad, soup, club sandwiches, sweet and sour, turkey, stromboli, chicken, pasta, I don't remember what else. We played a long time on the casinos money. Bombay did really well.

Then we ad to go for a business appointment which took a few hours and we got back to the house around 6pm. We had Moms cream of chicken mushroom soup and watched Unsolved Mysteries. Moms work called and asked her to come in at 11pm so she's getting a few hours sleep before going off to work.

Tomorrow M is giving us a bottle of wine, so we have to go get that. Tomorrow is also when Players Edge is publised on Neon so I'll know the weekly promotions then.

Red Robin sent us emails for $5.99 gourmet burger & unlimited fries or chicken salad. We got 3 free appetizer cards for Outback in the mail yesterday.

School day

2010-03-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

We got up early today and left the house around 7am. We got to Rampart at around 7:30 for our breakfast at Promenade. About a 10 minute wait but since we have players cards we got seated fast and ordered our breakfast. I had 2 eggs, hash browns, 2 bangers, and toast with a coke (I don't drink coffee so I have to get my caffeine somehow!). Mom had a stack of pancakes, 2 bacon, toast and coffee. The bill came to a whopping $4.30 total.

We finished breakfast and headed off to class. We got to campus at around 9am and began our usual circling of the parking lots looking for a space. It usually takes 20-25 minutes to find one then it's usually a good long walk to class. We lucked out and got a space right between the 2 buildings are classes are in after only 1 circle.

So we parked and went upstairs to our Anthropology class. Fun and interesting as always, our professor swears like a sailor and tries his best to offend as many people as possible, and he's hilarious at it.

Got out of there at 12:20 and had to run to the next class at 12:30. Mom had a big mid-term presentation in her Business class (which is the same class I took last semester) so I went in with her and watched.

Left there and hit WalMart since it was closest. Picked up a few odds and ends for tonight and then just got back to the house a few minutes ago.

Checked the email and Honey Baked on Rainbow sent a coupon for $7 off one of their hams. Cheeburger Cheeburger sent coupons for $5 off $25, a free fries & onion rings basket, and a free shake.

Got the mail of course, and there was a postcard from Stations. Offering $5 freeplay each for us to sign up for the new online features, so I'm off to sign up for that right now! =)

PARTY!!!!!

2010-03-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

We got VIP invites to a business mixer hosted by Vegas4Locals and Cloud Nine on March 30th. We invited friends and business associates so we'll know lots of people there. $1 cocktails, $5 hot air balloon rides, exotic animals, free food from McFaddens, should be fun!

What else... Checked the comps for tonight, we can get free tickets to The Mentalist, Las Vegas Comedy Show, Nathan Burton, Dirk Arthur, Rat Pack Show, Sin City Comedy, Louie Anderson, Divas, Sin City Comedy, or Gordie Brown. Also 35% off of Cirque du Soleil or Criss Angel. Great deals, but we have classes tomorrow so we'll wait.

We each get $5 off anything at Pick Up Stix tomorrow so we'll be going there for dinner. Entrees start at $4.99 and the dragon bowls are FAB.

We're going to attempt to get up at 6am and leave at 7 so we can hit the early riser breakfast at Promenade before class. $1.99 for a full breakfast and unlimited drink/coffee and only 3 miles from school!

The Irish Show

2010-03-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

So I thought I'd backtrack a little since I just started this blog.

About a week ago we got emails from South Point offering us free tickets to The Irish Show (Ragus) with Elaine Canning. We each got 2 free tickets for a total of 4 free tickets and 4 free drinks. We got to pick any seats in the entire showroom. We picked front and center of course. We had Rum & Coke for the drinks.

We took 2 friends from school with us and we all had a blast. Elaine was spectacular and the entire performance was fabulous. The tap dancers were amazing, and they all threw some comedy in and then interacted with the audience. Those of us in front had a bit of a wait to get to the door as everyone was leaving at once so a bunch of us started dancing and formed a conga line, it was hilarious.

The show was fantastic and if you get a chance to go it's well worth it. It went almost 2 hours. Lots of traditional Irish dancing, instrumentals and then Elaine sang traditional Irish songs. The tickets are normally $35 each, and I'd say it's worth that.

South Point & M

2010-03-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

We got up around 8:30 this morning. Got ready and then decided to do our freeplays at South Point & M. We let the dogs out for a few minutes then gathered our stuff and and headed off.

I opened the garage door and backed out only to see SNOW falling. After a few minutes we decided to put the Mercedes back in the garage and drive the Tahoe, because the Mercedes needs new wiper blades, which I forgot to get. So instead of squinting through a smeared window we switched cars and off we went.

Lots of Hwy Patrol out and about today, including our neighbour across the street who got a new HP HEAT ginormous pickup truck. Saw him patroling on Blue Diamond, plus a couple more HP and a few Metro.

We pulled into South Point (2 more Metro cars parked in front of SP, plus another driving through the parking lot). and parked outside because the Tahoe is too huge to try to squeeze into a little space in the garage.

We had $10 freeplay at South Point. We found 2 Rapa Nui available and put $5 in each. Nothing on one, not much on the other until we hit the random progressive for the mini, which was $11. So we played on that, got in the bonus once, which paid $7. After a few more minutes we were even so we left.

On to M, where we had mystery freeplay. We parked in the garage cos we were freezing (40F!). Checked the card and found $5 freeplay. So we put $5 in the wild Tiger Japanese machine, which did pretty well, bounced around between $20 and $30. We cashed at $15 and went to the Red Lions. Paid a few good hits... a $5, $7, $6. Then it sucked it in for about an hour. So we went to lunch.

We have Buy One Get One Free vouchers for Red Cup Cafe, Studio B or the Deli. We thought about Red Cup Cafe but there was a line so we hit the VIP line at Studio B. There was a HUGE line at Studio B but our VIP line only had 2 in front of us so we got in right away. So the 2 of us had lunch for $16, drinks included (wine or beer too). Went in and had a nice lunch... I had Coke, salad, orange chicken, mac & cheese, kielbasa with fried apples, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, fried shrimp, cheese cubes, then chocolate 'lato. Mom had coffee and milk, various salads, Thai cucumber salad, tomato & mozzerella, white bean soup, cold cuts and cheese, kielbasa and fried apples, pears, cheese, fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, and nougat 'lato. Because we get so many free buffets we try a little bit of several things, so we had about 2 or 3 bites of each item. We do buffets in a sort of tapas style, sampling bits of this and that.

Went back out and tried a few spins each in Miss Kitty, Silk Kimono, Jungle Wild, Jewels of Africa, Monkees, Grand Monarch, Red Lions, etc. Nothing! Blah. Sunday we went in and played Red Lions and hit $80 within the first 5 minutes. Today, zippo. Oh well.

So we left. The sunshine was out when we came out and its 49F now. We just got back and are about to clean the bunny cage. Mom worked last night and we both have classes tomorrow.

Nothing good in the mail today except a couple good sales at the grocery store. Glaziers has a good one, we buy 3 lbs of stew meat or cube steaks ($3/lb) and get a free bag of potatoes, bag of carrots, rolls, salad and gravy (all free). Vons has Kelloggs Corn Flakes for $1, which the dogs LOVE. Fresh & Easy has ground beef for $1.59/lb.

Yesterday though we got a flyer from Gold Coast... we earn 200 same day base points and we'll get $10 freeplay, $10 match play and $10 restaurant credit, so we'll go over there Friday probably.

Right now, we're going to watch the Tivo and heat up some pizza hut pizza & wings we had delivered Saturday night.