It's gone already

Busy weekend. That clock change didn't help me.

What with enjoying the amazingly warm weather, celebrating a couple of family birthdays, winning ten thousand dollars, and singing in a choral performance with another church's choir, and then trying to pack away some winter clothing, the weekend pretty much shot by.

Hmmm?

Oh, that.

My children's school runs an annual raffle - tickets cost $100, and only 250 are sold. If you do this right (sell all the tix) the organization keeps $10K and gives away the rest of the cash in various denominations -- the top one being the ten thousand dollar prize.

I bought a ticket for myself and the Mr last fall, and convinced my coworkers to buy pieces of a second. (Note to all.... if you do this, always be V E R Y clear about which is which. The best thing I did was hand that 2nd ticket to someone a couple of weeks ago and say "THIS is the shared ticket." Since they're numbered tickets, no questions later. Well, not many anyway.)

When the announcer called out MY number (178) I was shocked, and pretty much just slapped my hand down on the ticket, thinking "Woah. Mine. Right here. Holy shit." The woman sitting next to me laughed and asked if I thought she was going to try to steal it. I'm not a screamer, it was a stunned silence that lasted a few moments. I was shaking so hard, I could barely walk up to the front of the room.

It was surreal. I just sat there staring at the check, with my name on it, and all of those zeros. (The treasurer is a friend of mine and laughed and did NOT make it out to me and Mr. C -- only me) Then, of course, I bought the next round of drinks.

This is going to pay the tuition for my kids for next year. I've been trying to figure out how to afford a figure that's basically an additional car payment each month (if not two, depending on what kind of car you drive). Because I just don't have that money these days.

It's also going to pay off some credit cards. Oh, I know the evils of credit cards. But when you have kids with no jeans to wear because they just keep growing and growing, you can't always say "well, we'll get that next month when I have the cash to pay for it." (I am the first to admit I don't budget well, and live a bit just beyond my means. Help!!! )

One woman at the table started trying to convince me that my family of four has to take a Disney cruise. "It's about two thousand dollars a person." I smiled and nodded, thinking "you just don't get the fact that we have about as much of a chance of going to Disney with this money as I do of going to the moon on the next shuttle flight." Hey, it's not her fault I can't / don't budget well. Not her fault she's a stay at home mom with more money than me. (Hey, it's my blog and I'll pout if I want to. )

So as I looked at that check, I felt a little sad, thinking "Oh, Mickey, you're so close... and yet so far...."

And then I looked at the check again and laughed the laugh of a person who thinks they've finally gone mad, and sat there waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me from this crazy dream.

Hasn't happened yet.