If I won the lottery....

Earlier Tim and I were speculating about winning the lottery. I am leaving for Seattle the day after tomorrow and while I'm there I am instructed to buy some lotto tickets. Our conversation quickly turned silly while we discussed the many things we'd do if we won.

Today's blog is just that. What would I do if I won the Mega Millions? Read on, loyal followers, your answers await.

First things first. Pay off ALL my debt. And Tim's too. We'd be able to start over completely from scratch. That alone would be completely awesome.

Next I'd go house hunting. Not condo or small house hunting. I mean "house of my dreams and only in my dreams" hunting. I picture at least 5 bedrooms. Enough to house each child, Tim and myself, a den for Tim and a room for myself to be creative. Of course it has to have a huge kitchen with a pantry, a dining room and formal living room. An extra family room for the "family activities," a large laundry facility and a 2 car garage. Oh! and a walk in closet big enough to be the 6th bedroom. Did you ever watch "Newlyweds" on MTV? Jessica Simpson turned the spare room into the most beautiful closet I'd ever seen. That's what I'd want. A couple bathrooms would be swell too. I also picture turning the basement into a mini recording studio for my Timmy. Now, this dream may seem extravagant, but that's because it's a dream so don't scoff.

Next I'd quit my job. Literally, I'd NEVER WORK AGAIN. I loathe working. If I could, I'd spend the day doing all sorts of fun things. I'd go shopping, maybe hit up a spa, go to the gym, see a sporting event, take my kids to the park, see an exhibit in a museum or go for a long drive. The possibilities are endless.

I'd hire a nanny. I'd love a live in part time nanny that could watch the kids for half the day while I do some of the fun things I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Then I could come home and whisk them away to do awesome mommy/kids things. Once they're in school full time I wouldn't need a nanny anymore, but for now it would be ideal.

SHOPPING for everything. Someone has to stimulate this economy, it might as well be me. I'd have to buy furniture and other accessories for my new house. Plus clothes and toys for the fam dam and myself (of course).

Ooh! I'd buy an eco-friendly vehicle for myself to haul around the brood. I'm thinking one of those hybrid SUVs. Personally I love Lexus and Mercedes, so I'd probably have a 2nd car too, and yeah that probably isn't so eco-friendly to have two. But sometimes it is nice to have another option.

This should have been number two on the list, but it doesn't really matter which order they appear. But I'd plan my wedding. This wedding would be the complete opposite of what I'm currently in the midst of planning, mainly due to the budget. With the exception of my dress and chosen color schemes, I'd plan everything different and to the hilt! I may even consider a destination wedding in some tropical location and buy all my guests the airfare and hotel for their trip there. I'll have to plan on writing a future blog about my wedding plans. I've been hesitant on that because it's somewhat a touchy subject right now. More on that later I promise.

I might consider a 2nd house. The reason is, and you'll understand if you've read my blog before, but I really dislike my current choice in residential locale. Mainly because of the weather. So I'd like to have a summer home here in Juneau and spend the winters in Seattle. This way I can visit my family in the most beautiful season Juneau has to offer and spend the rest of my days in my favorite town.

Speaking of this: I'd travel. EVERYWHERE. And I'd make sure my kids come with me. I'd love to show them places all over the world, and to share that with them would be amazing.

My kids. I want them to have everything I never had. Including a paid for college education and a lovely home. Regardless of it's size, I want a house for them to grow up in.

Ok. Okay, I know this is all over the top. But really all I need is a home, some savings and my family and I'll be as happy as a pea in a pod...or a bug in a rug...or what ever it is that is really happy.

Valentine's Day

It's been far too long since I've written anything here. I am sorry my loyal followers, it is no excuse, but I get so preoccupied that I just plain forget. Today marks the first day of a 3 day weekend, so I'll be able to kick out at least one more post while I'm at home being lazy.

Today is Valentine's Day. Tim and I don't normally go overboard with the celebration of this holiday but we do make a point of doing something. The kids both got Valentine's gifts of the obligatory candy and stuffed animals from all of the relatives, including myself. I did manage to give Reagan a Transformer's card and that pretty much trumped all other gifts, even the candy. So I guess I rock.

Around 3:45 this afternoon Tim and I took the kids to one of my willing relative's house. We were supposed to go see a movie before dinner, but we decided at the very last moment to skip the flick. So I turned off the blinker and kept driving. We didn't know where we were going at the time, but ended up downtown at Silverbow Bagels. We both had a cup of coffee and a cookie while we chatted away. It was reminiscent of the old days (before we had kids) when we used to go into Starbucks and we'd talk or read for 4 hours. I miss those days at times, but life is what you make it, right? Today we didn't stay for 4 hours, but we did stay for a bit.

After leaving the coffee shop we decided to take a walk through town. I'd like to point out that by now it's after 5 and dusk... let me also say that it was extremely cold. We weren't prepared for the nippley walk since we had originally intended on just a movie, so we only made it as far as Hearthside Books. For those of you who don't know, that's only about 2-3 blocks. We went inside to warm up and I ended up buying a new bedtime story for the kids. Even when I'm away from them on a pre-scheduled event, I can't stop thinking of them. Tim and I had an unintended conversation with the overly chatty guy behind the counter, who was obviously lonely due to his clientele all out celebrating their love for one another and NOT buying his books. That killed a teeny bit more time. Due to the chill in the air we didn't want to spend too much time outdoors, so we headed over to the Wharf. This destination was in the original plan, however we weren't supposed to be there this early. Since we skipped the movie, we were having dinner earlier than planned.

On a side note (and Tim insisted I put this in my blog, so I apologize for, how do they say? TMI.): Before going into the restaraunt, we both had to use the restroom, the Wharf must have recently done some remodeling because the men's room door had been replaced with saloon style doors. Stranger still, Tim says that the stalls in the men's room were the same way. He said he was half expecting (his words, not mine) a man with a cell phone camera or John Wayne to kick through the stall door with one foot while he was on the john (pun intended). I thought this bit of information odd, but found myself thankful that the ladie's room was intact with normal doors.

Digression over: We went into a very busy Pizzeria Roma (our favorite date place) and went about the normal dinner routine. My waiter was my sister's high school prom date, I'm sure she'll get a kick out of that. He was the only waiter/cashier on hand. I am assuming on a normal day, this works out just fine. Tonight, and I'm not sure if this was poorly planned or maybe someone didn't show up, but he was very busy. Example: Tim and I wanted refills of our soda and we mentioned it to him when he checked in on us, he told us it would be a minute. Several minutes went by and still no soda...we felt bad for the guy ("guy" seems so impersonal, my sister went on a date with him, so for heaven's sake, let's call him Josh!)..we felt bad for Josh so Tim went downstairs with our cups and asked him if it would be ok to do it ourselves (they have a fountain behind the counter). Safe to say Josh was more than willing. Dinner came and went, by the way, they make killer stuffed mushrooms and a not so killer cannelloni. We chatted some more and held hands like an old married couple, which when you subtract the married part... we kind of are (haha...ahem). When dinner was done we just couldn't think of anything else to do, so as we left the Wharf I called my aunt to let her know we were on our way back already. We had only been out just over 4 hours and missed the kids. We were ready to head home.

Now it is roughly 10pm, our kids are snug in their beds after being read their new story, and Tim and I are contentedly doing our thing at home. I have never been much of a Valentine's Day celebrator, tonight's events are pretty exact replicas of years past. But I have to say that I am extremely content. I got to spend an evening out with the man I love, and I was home tucking in my beautiful kids by their usual bedtime.

I wouldn't trade today for a million roses, a cheesy card and a diamond in my cannelloni. Ok, a cheesy card would be the icing on the cake.

Just your daily dose of wierd...

While browsing the web this weekend, I stumbled upon a site called News of the Wierd. I was bored so I decided to check it out. They have a current column which he updates once a week with wierd and wacky news from around the globe.

His leading story for the week of January 25, 2009 was this:

They're either earnestly civic-minded or people with issues, but in several dozen cities across the country, men (and a few women) dress in homemade superhero costumes and patrol marginal neighborhoods, aiming to deter crime. Phoenix's Green Scorpion and New York City's Terrifica and Orlando's Master Legend and Indianapolis' Mr. Silent are just a few of the 200 gunless, knifeless vigilantes listed on the World Superhero Registry, most presumably with day jobs but who fancy cleaning up the mean streets at night. According to two recent reports (in Rolling Stone and The Times of London), unanticipated gripes by the "Reals," as they call themselves, are boredom from lack of crime and (especially in the summer) itchy spandex outfits. [Rolling Stone, 12-25-08; The Times, 12-28-08]

OK. WTF? Am I right? Was anyone else aware that people actually dress as superheroes on days other than Halloween, or that there was even such a thing as the World Superhero Registry? I wasn't until now, so I decided to check it out. It turns out that they have a minimum criteria you must meet in order to qualify as a superhero. Among those criteria? A costume. Proof of heroic deeds, and if you are unable to provide proof, your profile is listed as "inactive" until proof is otherwise obtained. There's more, but those two are the most important. So it turns out that people actually do dress up in costume and patrol their respective cities looking for evil doers in hopes of foiling their evil master plans. Or at least they hope to interfere with a mugging or something. The registry has "superhero" profiles, some with pictures. One thing I noticed in their rules, revealing your true identity, or secret identity if I put it in superhero "talk," will get you kicked out. So better watch yourselves Superheroes!

Just a few examples of the heroes you'll find:

(These pictures are as you would find them on their public profile at the World Superhero Registry)

Tothian


Queen of Hearts

Or MY personal favorite

Polar Man

I know that to some people this is cool. That's totally ok. I just thought it was wierd and wanted to tell someone.