Since I had to cut through Tennessee to get to the vet clinic to drop off Terry yesterday morning, I stopped at one of the gas stations I pass to get a couple of Powerball tickets. I buy lottery tickets if I happen to be in Tennessee, but I don’t think I’ve ever made a special trip to get tickets.
(The vet clinic is actually located in Alabama, but I get there faster if I go up the interstate into Tennessee and then up the highway back into Alabama.)
The gas stations I pass on my way through the small section of Tennessee are kind of depressing inside, each with tables for people to sit at and scratch their scratch-off tickets. Some of them have notes warning people not to stand at the counter to scratch their tickets. It makes me sad to think of desperate people crossing the state line to buy their scratch-off tickets and not even wanting to take the time to go over and sit at the tables provided to see if this is the time they got The Big One.
I think sometimes that dreaming of what we’d do if we won the lottery is more entertaining than actually winning the lottery would be.
(Of course, I’d like to be able to test this theory for myself if you don’t mind, lottery gods.)
So what would you do if you won the lottery? We’re going to take for granted that – like me – you’d make sure all your siblings had their own houses (or their houses paid for) and your younger family members – children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren – would all have college funds set up and you’d buy your parents their dream house or a trip around the world or something along those lines.
That stuff’s a given.
What else would you do, though? What FUN things would you do?
I can pretty much guarantee that Fred would quit his job. We’d get him that boat he wants, and a good truck to pull the boat with so he wouldn’t have to worry about his truck breaking down on the way to or from the river.
I’d donate a huge amount of money to Challenger’s House and other area pet shelters.
We’d buy 100 acres somewhere around here, and build our dream house (don’t be too surprised if our dream house looks pretty much exactly like this house and hey, we’re multi-millionaires so it’d probably be bigger, so we could have a few more rooms dedicated to fostering cats!).
I’d totally hire someone to clean the house a couple of times a week. Because god knows it doesn’t get cleaned a couple of times a week NOW.
I’d trade in my car for a Prius.
Vacation home on the coast of Florida – not a huge, fancy one, but a decent one.
I’d start a foundation to spay and neuter cats and dogs. If I came across a sign that said “free kittens”, I’d stop and offer have their mother cat spayed, at my cost. And if the owner didn’t jump at the offer, I’d PAY THEM to allow me to spay the mother cat. If they still refused, I’d hire a ninja team to steal that fucking cat. Because if you’re giving away free kittens and you’re not jumping at the offer of a free spay for the mother cat? Come on.
I’d take a photography class so I could get pictures of my foster kittens half as gorgeous as the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee lady’s pictures.
Wow. I really expect a few million bucks to go pretty far, don’t I?
That’s it, that’s all I can think of at the moment.
And you?
I left Ike at the vet clinic when I dropped Terry off yesterday, and the shelter manager told me that another foster mom had stopped by to drop off her fosters for spaying and neutering, and grabbed Ike up to foster for herself. She lurves the babies (really, who wouldn’t love Ike??), so I know he’s in good hands.
I won’t lie, though – I kinda miss the little guy!
And speaking of Terry – no eyelips for him! They called early afternoon to ask if I minded if they waited on the eyes. Terry’s still a little guy, and the hernia repair along with the neuter was going to take a while, and they don’t like to keep them under for such a long time. I told them that was fine with me – I wasn’t looking forward to having him recover from the neuter AND hernia repair AND eyelips all at the same time. Hopefully he’ll be going back next week for his eyelips. And if that meant he has to stay here a little longer than his brothers and sister to recover, well darn. Wouldn’t that be horrible?
(Fred said last night, after I went on and on (and on) about how much I love Terry, “We are NOT keeping him!” and then after a long pause “But if we had twelve cats, that would make figuring out the pictures for the calendar for next year a lot easier!” and I said “Well really, you can’t have Jake and Elwood in separate pictures on next year’s calendar because they’re always snuggled up together. We’d have to have thirteen cats to make it come out right!” and he said “We are NOT keeping him and we are NOT keeping two!” Heh.)
Terry was one unhappy little guy last night. Between the hernia repair and the neuter, he couldn’t get in a comfortable position, and so he mostly just sat there, hunched over. He’d allow me to pet him for a moment or two before he made a grumpy “That’s enough” noise. His brothers and sister were so kind to him – they’d be racing around like wild things, then come over and sniff at him, lick him on the face, and then go racing off. If they got too vigorous with the licking, he’d make his grumpy noise, and they’d back right off.
This morning, I opened the door to let the kittens out of their room, and Terry came right over to me, sat on my foot, and bit my leg.
In other words, I think he’s back to normal.
Sam, a week and a half after surgery.
Lafayette, five days after surgery (not that you can see anything!)
Bill, a week after surgery (he doesn’t care for the camera flash, thus the squint).
Bill, a week after surgery.
Even The Enforcer needs an occasional nap.
Previously
2008: Torturing the Toms.
2007: Google is THE SHIT.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: “Fuck it!” I said.
2002: “Stinky?” I said.
2001: I stole this survey from Noreen, but I’ve seen it all over the place recently, and god knows how much I love to be one of the cool kids!
2000: Look! It’s nay-chuh!
I would buy the best DSLR camera I could get with all the lenses I could find to go with it. A house on the beach somewhere in the Florida panhandle because the water is just so beautiful there. A new computer with a 24″ monitor so I could better view all my new photographs and be able to make home videos on. Oh, and nice clothes that don’t come from Wal-Mart….
i work in a hair salon, and people always say “if I won the lottery I’d pay you to come and wash my hair every day”. I’d like to know, do the people who win the lottery ACTUALLY follow through with that? Cause I’m totally down with getting paid lotsa money for a 10 minute job. (which would give me more time to spend with ma kittehs.
🙂
Oh, I TOTALLY say that to the lady who cuts my hair, I always thought it was such an original idea! Ha.
Fun things to do with millions of dollars:
A nation wide amusement park tour to all the best roller coasters.
A vacation home in Chicago so I have a place to stay when I go to every Chicago Bears game with my season suite tickets.
I would hire Jason Statham to be my pool boy in my new mansion.
A world tour trip for me and my daughter.
I want to go on the Ghost Hunters halloween special.
New boobs.
A week in Vegas in the Ceasars high roller suite.
A private concert by the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Van Halen all together.
Billy Joel to teach me piano.
I am sure there are many other things, but that’s what I have first thing this morning! Thanks for setting my day off so well Robyn.
Oh, I’ll be coming to visit you to sit by your pool at your new mansion – could he be a NAKED pool boy, please? 😀
My fiance and I have said that if we won the lottery, once all the family members were taken care of, we’d be buying an island somewhere, and we’d live on it – just the two of us and our critters. We’d have a heck of a house on it, and we’d have whatever vehicles and toys we wanted, but mostly we’d just relax and enjoy life without worrying about working and without worrying about paying bills. And of course I would want to donate large amounts to animal shelters and pet rescues.
– Probably keep my job, but only do one class a semester
– Travel around the world.
– Buy four residences (yes, I’m greedy): house for “home base”, apartment in Manhattan, vacation house in Maine, vacation house in Portugal.
– Write a book (which I can do anyway, but I bet I could do it faster if I didn’t have so many papers to grade each semester!)
– Get braces to finally straighten my teeth.
Right now all 3 beds in my house need new pillows and I’ve been buying only one each week to stay within my budget. If I won the lottery I’d go crazy and buy all 6 pillows at once!
Ali, now stop that crazy talk!
Heh.
Hey, you could buy all 6 pillows AND some extras just in case!
I’d move to a Greek island…maybe Patmos…most likely Samos. And yeah, I fantasize about trusts for the nieces/nephew that would handle their educations/cars/homes at different age milestones.
I would immediately arrange for donating funds to our local animal shelter to make it a no-kill shelter. Additionally, I’d pay for a building fund to expand space as needed when capacity increased. Then I’d establish a fund to pay for workers in the shelter, and donate to the two animal welfare groups here who volunteer and take animals that are about to be put down, then find them homes.
Yeah, I guess I expect a lot out of a couple million!
At this point in my life, I don’t have a lot of material desires for myself. I’m financially comfortable, but would love to know any serious medical illness wouldn’t bankrupt me. (Yes, I have med. insurance too.) So I guess the millions would make me rest easier at night regarding that issue – if I didn’t give it all way! Whee!
Boy, not that I have actually thought about (ok only when the jackpot gets really high – so I have plans for winning the BIG ONE):
Buy new condo in downtown where I live, buy big rockin house in Texas by my parents with lots of room for cats – house comes with maid – doesn’t need live in status, but daily visits – someone has to clean all the litterboxes;
Give my ungreatful brothers and two nephews some money – in trust hee;
Go to fat clinic until I lose all the weight and this clinic must have chef to teach me how to cook for one that’s healthy; BBF can come visit for a month or two depending on whether she can get off work.
Oops – Quit my job (that should have been first)
Setup a charity trust with money going to 3 things – education, medical research and animals
Setup trust (can you tell I work for lawyers?)so all my cousins kids have college funds plus two cousins that actually need to be in college now.
I’m forgetting something, but I cannot remember what.
Oh god, yes – someone to clean the litter boxes daily! And there would be a room in my mansion for nothing BUT litter boxes, so they’d only need to be cleaned once a day!
Powerball win? Everyone’s fantasy.
Larger home base here or in Pa. A home in a colder climate for summer-no more sweat my ass off. A home or condo in Key West for winters where family would come play diffrent group each week. Husband retire. Travel-Islands Europe Cruises etc. Take family members. ofcourse trusts for college education for nieces and nephews.Give money to animal rescues and shelters we’ve adopted from-ASPCA included. Give a stipend to the retirement fund of the nuns who taught me. Husband wants cars. I love jewelry but wouldn’t go insane-just some things I could never afford now. Baroque Tahitan Pearls-Maevona Eriskay Rings for me and a couple of my girls. Redo the kitchen and basement best friend’s been wanting and can’t afford. Need to hit the big one!
OH. MY. WORD. theittybittykittycommittee – POOF! There goes an hour of my morning.
You’re welcome! 😉
I’d move to Toronto and shop in the Eaton Centre when I felt like it! 😀
Donate money to the no-kill shelter in my hometown.
Go to Europe.
Follow my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes on the road and fly in for home games.
Try to fix myself up and buy some nice clothes and shoes.
1.I would hire a chauffeur to drive me and my daughter on a cross country road trip so I wouldn’t have to deal with white-knuckle driving through big city traffic.
2. Donate enough money so that the local animal shelter could expand & wouldn’t have to kill any unwanted pets.
3. Buy a vacation home in a warm climate so some of my aches and pains that bother me in the winter would ease up a little.
I was in the middle of reading this entry when the mail came and in it, there was a sweet card from you! Thank you so much! I especially like the return address of “TB6”.
The True Bloods have been lazy and lackadaisical about finishing and sending out their thank you cards, so I really had to crack the whip this week! 🙂
Great question and one that I have thought about a lot!
1. I’d quit my job immediately.
2. I’d build my dream house with an indoor pool and have at least 6 dogs.
3. I’d take an around the world cruise.
4. I’d travel every other place I could not get to by ship on my own private jet.
5. I’d build a new and bigger animal shelter here in town.
6. I’d have a winter home in Key West, a condo in NYC, Las Vegas and LA.
7. I’d give people who really needed it an anonymous donation to their bank account.
8. I’d set up a scholarship in my late-husband’s name.
9. I’d take classes just for the heck of it.
10. I’d hire a maid, a chef and a personal trainer.
And, obviously, pay off all my bills, the bills of my family, set up trusts for college etc.
Robyn–
I am Susan Mitchell’s daughter, and Rebel’s mom! I wanted to thank you so much for posting this, for me. Even if no one donates, just seeing so many people who care and want to help, means the world to me, and Rebel too. I am very appreciative that you did this, as I know many people read your website. And if posting that means, more people pass it around, that helps too. Again, thank you, and God Bless.
Rachel Leverett
Hi Robyn–
You’ve probably already seen this, but it’s funny so I decided to send you the link in case you’re behind on your celebrity news. 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1gqLERzk_w&feature=player_embedded
Robyn,
When I clicked on the More Cats Pictures link on Jake and Elwood’s, page, I got Mister Boogers. While I enjoyed seeing pictures of the Boogie, I thought I’d let you know.
I win a huge Lotto jackpot? No one in my family (or hubby’s) would get a single penny of it. When we die, everything we have will go to animal charities. Same deal if we won the Lotto.
Hubby would retire. We’re debt-free and I’m already retired.
The only thing I want to buy with money is time. No more cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. I want more time to travel and play.
What a fantasy!
buy whatever I want without worrying about it.
new car!
buy a great condo for myself–balcony with view of the water, sunroom….
cleaning lady twice a week
have a chef several times/week
go on a few great vacations! (I haven’t been anywhere in over 3 years 🙁
get regular pedicures
get regular highlights
share w/family and friends
My husband and I were just discussing this last week. We would buy a large amount of land and build a nice house and we’d start a no-kill shelter for kitties. Personally, I’d like to buy a lot of what little land that’s left in my area and keep it the way it is. There is way too much development around here. Of course we’d both quit our jobs, but I think I’d still volunteer at the library I work at now and last, but not least, travel, travel and more travel!
Let’s see…
1. Quit my job.
2. Move to the beach.
3. Take care of my mom.
4. Buy my son a nice place.
5. Buy VIP season tickets to the Capitals.
6. Donate a lot to various charities.
7. Help out my sisters and brother.
8. Buy another lottery ticket.