Want me to buy some lottery tickets for you?

I'm so excited - it's only 32 more days until I leave for my cruise. Can't even believe I WON IT for free! Free....except for plane tickets, and ground transportation, and hotel, and shore excursions, and a passport, and spending money, and an on-board beverage card. (um, that would be for carbonated beverages, not alcoholic beverages) But you know, mostly free. My mom is going with me (it is all girls, ya know), and we leave on October 13. Thank goodness it's a Wednesday and not a Friday. I'm not superstitious or anything, but I'm just sayin'.

On a different but related note, I usually listen to our local Christian radio station as I'm getting ready for work in the mornings. All summer long, a day or two each week, they would give away tickets to Schlitterbahn. You could always tell when the giveaway was coming because they would play a Schlitterbahn commercial first, then do the giveaway. Every time, I would somehow space out on the commercial, and when they would say, "We're giving away 4 tickets to Schlitterbahn. We'll take caller #4," my phone was always in the other room and I would think, "Crud! I missed it again."

One day about a month ago, I actually noticed when the commercial was on and ran to get my phone. When they announced that caller #2 would be the winner, I dialed and got a busy signal. I thought with the winner being #2, that by the time I dialed again I surely would miss it, but what the heck - I tried again anyway. And gues what? I WON! Can you even believe it? Two trips within a month of each other! AND - one of them to my very favorite place in the world (no, I don't get out much). And this time we are SO going to Casa Rio.

When I told my cousin I won Schlitterbahn tickets (he already knew about the cruise), he jokingly asked me if I would buy him some lotterty tickets. He said, "Man, you win everything!" That got me to thinking.....I actually have won more than my fair share of fun prizes recently.

In the past year and a half, I've won:

• a year's subscription to 3 family devotional magazines and a t-shirt from D6 Ministries


• a Memorial Box from Linny at A Place Called Simplicity


• 1/2 off corrective laser eye surgery (Oh, how I would LOVE to do that! Unfortunately, even at half off it's not in our price range.)


• a cruise


• 4 tickets to Schlitterbahn


• and most recently, this fabulous cookbook from Meal Planning Magic

Oh, and for San Antonio? A friend of mine gave us his Marriott Rewards points, so our hotel will be free too! So fun! I'm wondering if maybe I should reconsider my stance against playing the lottery. :)