I Had A Dream...

Yes, that is a million dollar bill. What in the world am I thinking putting it up on my blog? What gives?

Well, a few months ago, I had a dream. I dreamt I was at the official lottery drawing, like you see on TV where they pull the balls out and put them up and for the first time in my whole life, I saw all the numbers be drawn one by one. I thought, "I'll never remember them." But I did, when I woke up from that dream, I remembered every single number, and I wrote them down and I have been playing them ever since. Just those numbers. Not any other. In both lotteries, the Powerball and the MegaMillions. If I'm going to win, I want to win big! I have a lot of family to take care of, and a lot of friends who will need some help. Not to mention, I would love to help the veterans in our country and their families.

I heard about a family recently who won the lottery more than once. It got me to thinking. I would love to be the first one to win both jackpots one after the other. The Mega Millions is drawn tomorrow night and the Powerball is drawn on Saturday.

What would you do if you won the lottery? How much would you spend and how much would you put away? Who would you help? Think about it. In the meantime, remember, money is just colored paper. The only value it holds is the value we place upon it. The things that are worth more are worth having, and most of them are free.

Have a great weekend, and Good Luck! :)

I Can't Believe I Just Did That!

We came home from Duluth on Saturday about noon. I am now going to be canning and juicing and making jelly for the next week. Our storeroom smells like an apple orchard, which is fine by me. Soon I will have all those little jars full of apple butter, pink crab apple jelly, tomatoes, and salsa. Winter is coming and this year I want to have a good stash put away. You never know how good or bad the winters can be up here and if you listen to the Farmer's Almanac, it's supposed to be colder than usual this coming winter.

But I'm sure you're curious about the title of this post, aren't you?

Well, here's the story.

We went up to Schroeder, Minnesota and stayed at Superior Ridge Resort for two nights, Wednesday and Thursday. The weather was pretty good, unusually humid for the North Shore, but most of that was because of the rain that fell in the evening and overnight hours of our stay there. The days were fair to partly cloudy and warm. I spent time with QH driving his Mom, and me up and down the North Shore, sightseeing, and we stopped at Leif Erickson Park to see the rose garden and then ventured up to Enger Tower to see the gardens there and sit up by the gazebo and take pictures. It was up there on Thursday, QH's Mom decided we should stay another night and booked a room for us at Black Bear Casino Hotel in Carleton.

We arrived there in the afternoon on Friday, September 11. I did remember that it was 9/11 but I was not going to sit and remember all the horrible things that happened 8 years ago. Instead, I was thankful and grateful and told God I was very happy and content to be spending this beautiful day with my "hubby" and his Mom, that this was a blessing and that I was grateful for all the blessings I have received and all the blessings I was about to receive.

We checked in and our room was #4011. I mention this because it was 9/11, and I turned 40 on June 11. Ok, kind of strange, but whatever. We hauled all our stuff up to the room and then took some time to relax a bit before going to dinner at the buffet. I was reading an old Reader's Digest and reading the jokes while QH took a nap and his Mom watched NCIS on the USA channel.

We finally decided to go to dinner and made our way to the casino. We got some "free" stuff so we went and signed up for the Players Club (it was free), and we got our little "perks" coupons. Part of it was we got $2 off the buffet, a coupon for $5 free playing money, and if you buy $5 of pulltabs you get another pulltab free.

We went first and got our free money. Then we went to the pulltabs and didn't win anything. Then we went to the slot machines.

I sat down in front of some silly, cartoonish Beaver game. I put my $5 of free money into the feeder. I hit the "Max Bet" button and it rolled a few times. I won $1.50 and I cashed out. I then put another $5 in and won $23. I cashed that out and put the ticket back in. I hit "Max Bet" and won $177. Cool!

I then reached in and took out a $20 bill I won playing scratchers. I fed it into the machine. At this point, QH is looking at me and asking, "What are you doing?" I hit the "Max Bet" button and a few rolls later it starts going berserk! I started to hear that little voice in my head that says, "Cash out! Cash Out!"

I did and when I looked at the ticket, I had to look again. I had QH read it and he looked at me and said, "I can't believe you just did that!"

I said, "I can't believe I just did that either!" I looked at the front of the machine. The serial number ended in...1111.

Total, I won about $1,200.00!

Then we went to dinner, I bought of course, and I bought breakfast the next morning. But the thing of it was this: I had NO EXPECTATION OF WINNING!

I was also not in a desperation position, meaning, I was not in there going, "I shouldn't be spending this money because it's the last money I have and if I don't win, it will be bad." No, not at all.

I went in there in a fabulous mood, with no expectation of winning and when I found that silly looking machine, I didn't see any of the other machines around it. What does that mean? For that split second, I went by my gut instinct and sat at the machine that "felt right" to me, and I saw only that machine, not any of the others around it. Why? They didn't interest me and were not in my awareness at that time.

Is this the secret to winning at the casino? Will I get rich going up and playing $20 or $25 or whatever playing slot machines? Probably not.

Will it work for anyone else? Maybe.

I do have one thing to add to this story that will sound a little "woo-woo" to you all.

I did write down in my journal the night before that we would win money playing the slots at the casino. I was wanting QH and his Mom to win, more than me, but because this has already happened in my existence, it was not something I thought was impossible. It was possible for me to win, just as much as it was possible for them to win.

I don't want all of you running out to play scratchers or lottery tickets or running up to the casino to gamble. Here's the lesson in all of this:

You have to know when to quit and walk away.

Me and QH's Mom went down the next morning after breakfast to that same machine and I put in $10. We played that and got it up to over $40. I should have cashed out.

I let it ride.

I lost it all.

I then put in $10 more but this was more like, "I have to win that money back," and I lost that faster than the first $10. I was getting scared. Fear was in my awareness, I could feel it. The difference between then and the night before was as simple as night and day. My inner voice gave me the guidance I needed: "Leave now."

I quit. We left and came home.

So just as easily as it can manifest, the money can disappear as well. Especially if you are in a desperation mindset, (I have to win. I can't lose that money. I'll be broke if I can't win it back).


Don't go there. You'll be attracting tons of what you don't want. Not only that, you will get yourself into a hole you can't get out of without help.

I saw people going up to the cashier desk cashing their whole paychecks and I didn't get a "this is for us to have a good time" kind of vibe. I got fear and desperation and sadness.

Some people go there to have fun. Some go there thinking they are going to break the house and instead, they are the ones who end up broken. It's very seductive, but when you know and feel it's not a good thing, then get up and leave.

I'm glad I did or I could have lost all I won.

Ok, enough. I'm stepping off my soapbox. :)

Have a great day, and think great thoughts! They have power unlimited!

Some days you just don't want to get out of bed!

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all..." I used to watch Hee Haw! That has been my theme song the last few weeks.

The last couple of weeks have been hell. Nobody has gotten terminally ill, or died, but it has been the little things, one after another after another that have hit me and my family in a series of disasters that it has almost become humorous. Let me share.

First, "Q", my soulmate and partner, went to pick up his son from the train station. His son was visiting from Montana because a high school friend was getting married. When they were on their way home, his truck died, right there in the middle of the street. Fuel pump went out. Thank God it was the company truck, but he still had to call AAA to have them tow him to the mechanics and he was forced to drive the car for a few days. But nobody got hurt, that's the main thing. Speaking of cars...

That same week, the starter went out on my son's car and that needed to be fixed. No big deal. He did his brakes at the same time, and then discovered that he had the wrong brake pads for his car. But the best was yet to come. His "CV" joints are bad. UHH!!! But wait, it gets BETTER!

This past weekend, me and "Q" decide to take his boat out for a spin on the lake. We took it out to Blue Lake, close to home, and the wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't anchor off to fish. I just purchased my fishing license for the year that very day (Saturday), and it was tucked safely in a small plastic ziplock bag in the pocket of my shorts, along with my digital camera and my cell phone. He gets frustrated because it's too windy to do anything and we decide to just pack it in. We reel up our lines, and off we go. He kicks it down and then we hear a strange sound, like a "crack, pop, ...PLOP!". He turns around just in time to see his trolling motor fly up in the air and come back down in about forty (40) feet of water in the middle of the lake. Nice. But wait, there's more...

As we approach the dock, I get ready to jump ship, (Captain Jack Sparrow has nothing on me!) and when I think we are close enough, I make my move. I land between the dock and the boat, right in the lake! I was not dressed for swimming. I didn't have my lifejacket on or my water wings or my floatie with the duck on the front (ala Country Acres). The temperature of the water was... well...frigid to say the least and then to come out and be hit by wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph, it can take your breath away!

When I got up to shore, I pulled the contents out of my pocket. My digital camera, in the case, wet. My cell phone, no case, wet. My keys, wet. My brand new fishing license, nice and dry in the little plastic ziplock bag! We loaded up the boat, and while on the landing, I could hear the people on the shore behind me laughing. 'Fat lady fell in the lake!' then to make my day even more special, a six year old by comes on the dock and looks at me and says, "You should have been wearing your life jacket!" Thanks, kid! I almost started crying right there, but I held it together until I got home and in the shower.

After a few days of drying them out, the camera still works and takes pictures and the phone works, but now I lost my SIM card and had to order a new one, so I still don't have a cell phone, but I hopefully will once I put it in there. (Murphy's Law: Once you order and receive a replacement for the item you lost, it will turn up.) So, it looks like "Q" will be getting a trolling motor for Father's Day. (Shhh! Don't tell him!) But first, I have to have a chat with my bank...

Today, I got a huge overdraft in the mail. Nice again! I almost didn't get out of bed today. But tomorrow will be better after I yell at my bank and ask them why they feel it necessary to bounce my checks when I had more than enough money in there to cover the bills and the checks I wrote. My mistake or theirs? Does it matter? I just hope that this is the end of this series of disasters so I can actually look forward to getting out of bed. At this point, I'm grateful I still can!

I hope the blue moon tomorrow night will bring a shift in my luck, and everyone around me. Now, where did I put my lottery tickets?