You Probably Won't Want To Hear This...

As Casinopalooza draws near, I am trying to conserve my luck. You know. Like saving up one's calories for the Thanksgiving through Christmas holiday season. Hold back a little before, so you can indulge, or at least feast normally (if not with abandon) when all the goodies are in front of you. And like with a sports season, or a gold medal quest, nobody wants to peak too soon.

Oh, I've still been buying my scratch-off tickets at the usual rate. I just don't want all of my luck to be squandered on tickets when I am going to be in 8-10 casinos soon. I don't want any premature jackpotification. What's that you say? "Why don't you just stop buying your tickets until after Casinopalooza, Mrs. Hillbilly Mom?" The Not-Heaven you say! Sweet Gummi Mary! I said I want to conserve my luck. Not have my luck atrophy. Wither like a grape on the vine. No siree, Bob! I want to come home with barrel full of luck wine, not half a shot-glass of luck vinegar.

I took yesterday's big winner to town with me. If I was planning a casino trip with the #1 Son, I would hang onto it until the week before. Just so I could have a tidy bankroll for him. But this IS the week before Casinopalooza. And Daddy needs a new pair of shoe inserts from The Good Feet Store some squandering money. So I planned to cash it, put half of it away for safekeeping, and put half back into tickets.

At the gas station chicken store, the Man Owner was working the register. We're likethis, you know. I had no qualms about asking him what number his Golden Tickets were on.

"You're not going to like this. It's number 19."

"Oh! Well...I've won twice on 19s, and not to long ago. But I don't feel right about this one. I'll have to pass on that. I hate to get the first or last ticket on a roll. Give me one of those 50x ten-dollar tickets, and a Millionaire Riches ten-dollar ticket."

Yes, I know it's boring to read about Mrs. Hillbilly Mom playing the lottery. But I got nothin', folks! Farmer H is not cooperating. It's been almost two weeks since the police stopped him. So you're stuck with this. I'm writing for two, you know. Two blogs. Seven days a week. I'm blogging 2/7/52!

Anyhoo...I went to get my hair cut, and I went to the main post office hub, and in doing so, I passed by the Casey's General Store where I get T-Hoe's gas. T-Hoe didn't need any gas today. But I'd been thinking about buying my scratchers there. I haven't won from there in a LONG time. But #1 had one or two of his winners (he's on 4 weeks in a row now, won $10 this week) from there. Yes, it had been on my mind when I thought about my tickets. But I kept telling myself NO. They don't win. The people there aren't very friendly. But then again, I'm due for a winner there. Oh, the imp on one shoulder debating the imp on the other shoulder.

I pulled into that Casey's on the way back. To get my Golden Ticket. You might imagine my disappointment as I looked at the ticket number on the way out to T-Hoe (nobody was using the air hose, blocking my ramp!) and saw that it was ticket #000. That's the first one on a roll. Woe was me. It's not like I would have asked them, though, and changed my mind. You don't ask the clerks in that store. You might as well ask the Soup Nazi for your bread. It isn't done.

When I got home and made lunch and settled down to scratch...I won $20 each on those two ten-dollar tickets. And here's how my Golden Ticket went:

Yes. That's another $100 winner. I matched 10 numbers for $10 each. I was plenty excited when I saw that the very first number was a match. That meant I'd at least get my money back for the ticket. Then, when I uncovered the first row, and saw that all five of them were winners, I was pretty excited, because I knew it would mean at least fifty dollars. And THEN I found those other five winners. Oh, yeah. And it was ticket 000.

Yep. I brought home $140 total today, after buying fifty dollars worth out of my yesterday's hundred-dollar winner.

I'm probably going to lose my shirt during Casinopalooza.