The winter holidays are a perfect time to slow down a bit and take some “me time” for moms. if you’re like most moms, you’ve been running yourself ragged the last few months since school started up again…so make sure you schedule some time for yourself in the next few weeks too. You might even want to host a game or poker night at your house to kick back with the girls and have some real fun!

Sometimes it feels like I’m racing through my life. As soon as I wake, I’m revved up and ready to hit the fast lane of my day. I don’t have just one rush hour – all of them are!

Everything I do is at hyper speed – whether I’m making breakfast for the family or preparing for a fun night in with friends.

So I’ve decided to make a pit stop and do something different.

What’s new?

I haven’t tried anything new for ages. I don’t want anything massive – just something out of my comfort zone that might give me a bit of a power punch without any danger to life. No jumping out of planes for me!

I’ve always fancied trying my hand at poker, so I’ve invited some girlfriends round for a few cocktails, some nibbles and a chance to become expert in something other than the daily grind of our lives!

cc by Dana Moos

As I researched the rules, I found myself learning more and more about gambling and its history in general.

Bet you never knew:

• Excavated dice made from animal bone suggest that we’ve been gambling since the days of cavemen.
• Loaded dice discovered in the ruins of Pompeii prove gamblers were cheating as far back as 79AD!
• If you’ve got a deck of cards in the house, they’re probably made by the US Playing Card Company of Cincinnati, the largest manufacturer in the world.

CC by ND Strupler

It seems that gambling is as American as apple pie

We’ve been doing it for generations, whether it’s beating the odds in a Las Vegas casino, betting on baseball or playing pinochle for pennies in the park. Even buying raffle tickets at the school fair is a form of gambling – and you can’t get more wholesome than that!

Now there’s online gambling too. It’s a relatively young innovation – the first sites were only launched in the mid nineties – but the industry has become a huge phenomenon in a very short time frame.

The first online casinos were a bit of a novelty, but as technology advanced, so did the whole online experience. Powered by snazzy software, today’s online casinos are pretty close to the real deal.

Bet you never knew:

• You can play all the classic casino games online – blackjack, roulette, slots and poker
• Around 40 per cent of all online players in the USA are women
• Almost all online casino games can be played for free

So, the girls will be in for a treat when they come over. I’m expecting thrills, spills and a lot of laughs!