The Lottery

By now, probably everyone has heard that someone won that huge MegaMillions jackpot of approximately 1.34 billion.  I didn't buy any tickets for it, did you? 

In the past, we have bought tickets for various lotteries when they have amounted to big payouts, but it's like throwing money out to the wind, lol.  When looking at the numbers on our "winning" numbers purchased against the "winning" numbers on the actual winning tickets, we barely matched one number, let alone the entirety of numbers needed to get the big payout.  I think over time we have learned to save our money and not buy any tickets.

It is fun to dream though of what we would do if we won such a lottery.  This morning I read this article about 10 people who had won the lottery but wished they hadn't in the long run.  The article also stated that the majority of people who win a lottery run through their winnings within 7 years, albeit it their winnings were not quite as big as last night's drawing. 

Every time we dream about what we would do with the money, our dreams have changed.  There are the usual things we would do.  Pay off all our debt (not much we have in the first place), remodel parts of the 2 houses we have, maybe buy a new car or two, take a vacation; that sort of thing.  We have included at times setting up foundations or charities for different causes we both support.  And then of course setting up trust accounts for the grand kids college funds.  This time around when we dreamt about what to do with all that money, I said it might be nice to buy 20 houses and then rent them out to those struggling to make rent here in Phoenix (which has gone up significantly in the last 2 years) and give them an incentive if they kept the place up nice, they would get a refund of their rent quarterly.  It could be a win-win situation.  We would get a steady source of income (not that we would need it if we would millions) but we might be helping others in the process.  

In the long run, though, I'm pretty content with all the blessings God has given me.  We have a nice place to live, plenty of food to eat, cars that drive us around safely, a variety of clothes to wear, and so much more.  It might be nice to have a cabin in the woods here to escape the summer heat.  But other than that, I don't really care to travel much and especially not by air (airplanes are not my friends).  Perhaps maybe a motorhome with a car to tow behind it to travel the states and Canada.  I enjoy a minimalistic lifestyle, so I can't imagine myself going crazy and buying a lot of clothes, household items, etc.  Besides, I couldn't take them with me when I pass and someone else would be left to deal with disposing them.  

I came to the conclusion a few months back that I'm glad I don't have a lot of money.  We have what we need and a little bit more.  And I trust God will provide my every need as His word clearly states He will.  

So, congrats to the person who won the MegaMillions. Congrats to other lottery winners past, present, and future.  

But for me, I'll save my money or go and buy yogurt or some other little treat with the money I would have spent on a ticket and sometimes think and talk about the "impossible dream" with what we would do if we won so much money.  But as they say, talk is cheap.  

(trying to) let go

There was a time when we watched grandson a lot more than we do these days.  When he was a newborn and through to his preschool days we pretty much watched him two or three days/evenings a week or he was over playing during that time.  So naturally we had toys for him to play with, appropriate ones for whatever age he was at the time.  He is now six years old and has outgrown some of the recent toys he used to play with.  The rattles and the baby toys have been donated or passed on a few years back and I need to donate/pass on some of the toys he played with as a preschooler because he has moved on from playing with them but I can't let them go because of the fun times we had with them.

We had a lot of the Little People toys.  Like this airplane.  We did many an adventure with it and a few crashes along the way.  When you put the pilot in the pilot's seat in the front, songs would play.  The Little People danced many a dance.  How can I part with this?

Or this fire truck? We put out so many fires with it and saved so many communities.

Or the circus train where we put all the Little People we had in there to escape from the lava, going back to rescue those we had left behind, making sure all were safe and secure.

And the Mega Block towers we built, trying to build them as high as we could without them falling over.

And the army men who we would set up to do battle against each other, only to have them all knocked down, to reset them again, time after time.

Some of the books we would read before bedtime when he would be picked up late in the night after a shift at the restaurant son worked at.

The puzzles built.

The shopping cart that he would fill up with toys to take from one room to another to play with.  The many miles traveled from room to room when he was just learning to walk.

And my personal all time favorite.  The bath toy penguins.  When he would be picked up late, we would bathe him and have him ready for bed.  He loved his baths.  These toys were the best.  Water squirted out of the hats of the penguins.  The rings floated with the penguins in them.  He would spend a good 45 minutes in the bathtub playing.  With schedule changes and the like, we stopped giving him baths a few years ago and now at age six, he takes showers and prefers his privacy now that he has matured :) 

And so many others on these shelves.  Most he hasn't played with in a little while or will pull them out and play with them for a little bit then put them back.  

Now he is into Legos (we do have a big bin of them) and games on my phone (a whole different post for another day) but so many of these toys are part of yesteryear.  I know it is time to sort through them and pass them on or pack them away for another generation as their family is complete, but I am having trouble parting with them.....

I'll eventually figure out what to do with them.  So many fun days of play.  So many fun days ahead with what interests he will continue to develop as he grows.  Thankful we can be such an integral part of his growing up times, even if it means the hot desert heat  four months of the year.

(Some of my long time readers who have been with me from previous blogs might remember some of these toys as I did a couple of blog posts about them being his favorite back on my "A Bench with a View" blog).  

(Note, we keep the pool toys inside just in case of a monsoon with the high winds we can get.  Before, when we kept them outside, they would blow all over the backyard.)

(Yes, this is the room where the treadmill is.  He had his toys in the den when he was a baby but as he became mobile, he somehow always wanted to play in the "treadmill room" as we call it.  So I eventually moved all his toys there and it is considered also his playroom).  

I had a helper when I was putting this post together.  

Enjoy each day that is given to you.  They truly do pass in the blink of an eye!

games corgis play

Not sure if all corgis play these games, but here are some of Winslow's favorite ones he enjoys playing (over and over and over again).

Most of you know that he enjoys playing fetch and most of you know that he is incredibly spoiled when it comes to things to fetch.  (Squeaky toys and tennis balls come to mind).  Now that it is so beastly hot outside, we play a lot of fetch inside the house.  He'll fetch a few balls or squeaky toys outside once the sun goes down and it cools down a degree or two. 

As part of fetch, he will actually involve both of us in his game.  I may be sitting by my computer and my husband at the kitchen table.  Separate rooms.  Winslow will bring something to fetch to me or my husband.  We will throw it to the next room and then Winslow will retrieve it and bring that toy to the person sitting in the other room.  Back and forth he will bring us the toys; interacting with the two of us.  I think that is clever, but maybe not? 

For breakfast, I usually rotate between oatmeal/hardboiled egg or yogurt/hard boiled egg.  I eat the oatmeal or yogurt first, then the egg.  I will save a few little pieces of the egg for Winslow.  (It is safe for him to eat).  I do not know how he knows when I am finishing up with the oatmeal or yogurt as he will be quietly sitting on the floor, but some inner sense or sound I make alerts him to the fact that I'm about to crack open the egg.  He will start circling around my feet like a shark circling in the water until he gets the few little bits in his food bowl.  One time a week (usually Sundays or perhaps Fridays) he gets his own hard boiled egg.  I will cut it up in his bowl.  He will eat it in 13 seconds or less.  Then he will look at me expecting to get some of my egg (which of course because he is spoiled, I will give him a bite or two).  They say a corgi never forgets a food source.  Winslow is living proof of that.

Now that it is beastly hot outside, my husband has been walking Winslow earlier in the morning, around 6 a.m.  At that time I'm on the treadmill, then I'll take a shower and get ready for work.  When they get home, we have breakfast, then I take off.  Winslow and me play hide and seek when he comes back from his walk.  I see them pulling up in the car (hubby drives to a local park to walk him) and I hide some place in the house.  After Winslow gets off his leash, my husband says "go find mom" and Winslow runs through the house looking for me.  He is good at finding me pretty quickly except when I am hiding in my bathroom.  I close the door just a little bit and hide behind it.  For some reason he won't come into the bathroom but will stand right by the door and bark if he thinks I'm in there.  Then I'll come out and he has found me.  

This may look like a weird picture like he is biting at my shoes.  He is not. 

Between my feet I am holding one of these chew toys that we get for him.  They start out this big but as he chews on them, they obviously get smaller.  He is so spoiled, we will actually hold it between our feet so he can chew on them more.  

Here, he is holding one himself.  You can see how much smaller than the original size.  

And a closer look.  

He has me wrapped around his little paw.  He will hear a noise outside and want to go to the back door to get outside to check it out.  He will run to the back door, bark at whatever he thinks he saw or heard, and if someone doesn't come to let him out, he will come to me (usually) and just stare at me with those adorable eyes he has until I get up and let him out.  Yes, he is spoiled.  You all know that. 

And those are some of the games that this corgi plays.  He definitely keeps us entertained and on our toes a lot.  I wouldn't have it any other way with him.  

June Books

I was surprised to see that I read 7 books in June.  I had some weekends where we didn't do much so I took advantage of reading a lot.  I guess that is why I got through 7 books.  And without further ado, here's June's review (a little rhyme lol)

The Lake of Dead Languages: 

Lori recommended this book.  It is written in the then and now.  The main character Jane is a Latin teacher at a girl's boarding school.  She had gone to that school when she was a teenager and had won a scholarship to it after a Latin competition.  Another student, Lucy, and her brother, Matt, befriend her and help her with Latin.  The story is told of their friendship and the school and the lake around it and then of her returning to the school as a teacher with a young daughter and that experience she has as a former student, now a teacher and her interactions with her students.  Lots of interesting twists with the story line and totally unexpected last few chapters.  Another very good read.  I give it 5 stars.  

The Last House on the Street:  

This was recommended by I think Jeanette.  It is again written in the then and now.  The then is back in about 1965 when a voting bill to get African American people registered was going to be signed.  The main character of the then, Ellie, volunteers to help get the info out to African Americans to register.  The story takes place in North Carolina.  The now's main character is Kayla, who is an architect and she and her husband build their dream house in an area of town that had once had a lot of woods around it.  Her husband had died at a tragic accident in the house but she and her young daughter still move in to to the house though she is reluctant to do so.  There is more of the story of events that happened in the woods back in the 1960s that come to light as the story goes on.  Very good read.  I give it 5 stars.

The Good Son:  

A teenage boy is convicted of killing his girlfriend though he doesn't remember doing it as he was on drugs at the time.  He is sentenced to a few years in prison.  The story begins with him getting out of prison and then trying to rebuild his life.  The story is told by his mom.  He is trying to redeem himself for what he did, at the same time the family is being stalked by someone who seems to imply there is more to the story of who actually killed his girlfriend.  This was a hardcover book I was reading at bed and I really had a hard time getting into it.  I should have put it aside but I kept reading it and finally made myself read so many pages nightly to finish it . I finished the last 70 pages one Saturday afternoon.  It was a strange twist to the story that I had not anticipated.  The story was well written and very thought provoking but hard for me to get into.  I give it 3 stars.  

The Love of My Life:  

The first half of this book was really hard to get into.  It tells the story of Emma who is married and has a 3 year old daughter, but there is some secrecy going on with her and her husband is trying to figure out if he truly does know the woman he has been married to for the past 10 years.  Then the second half of the book starts telling her story before she got married and it was very interesting from that point on.  A couple twists in the plot I didn't see coming.  All in all it was a good book if you get through the first about 45% of it.  I give it 4 stars.  

One True Loves: 

The main character is married to the love of her life who supposedly dies in a helicopter crash.  She recovers from her grief and a few years later falls in love with another man and they are planning to get married.  Then it is discovered that her husband did not die but had been on a deserted island for a few years before he got rescued.  She now has to decide if she will stay with her husband or go with her intended fiancée.  Good story told in the here and now and in the past.  Good ending that was realistic and believable.  I give it 5 stars for a good summer love story read.

Brand New Human Being:

I needed a book to read while I was waiting for some of my holds to be released so I found this book while looking at my e-library site.  It told the story of Logan, a stay at home dad raising his 4 year old son while his wife, a lawyer working on an important case, always seemed to be working and seemed a bit distant to him.  He is grieving his dad who died 4 months ago and has issues dealing with his dad's young wife, his step mom.  It was an interesting read but I'm not sure exactly what the plot was and it was one of those books that just kind of ends.  Not too much gets wrapped up.  It was a quick read (I read it over a weekend).  I'd give it 3 stars if you needed something to read and couldn't find anything else.

My Darling Husband:

This was a thriller.  The story basically took over about a 5 hour time span.  A young mom and her 2 children are involved in a home invasion/hostage type situation with a demand of ransom from the successful chef husband/father who owns 5 steak restaurants in the Atlanta area.  Over the period of time, the husband is desperate to try to collect the ransom money and get there in time to save his wife and children while the wife is desperate to keep her 2 children and herself alive.  As the story progresses we get glimpses of who the intruder is and why he is demanding the ransom, etc.  It was indeed a thriller of a story with the usual few unexpected twists.  It had one of those endings I'm not fond of where things aren't wrapped up.  Maybe a sequel?  I will give it as a summer read 4 stars.

As always, let me know what you are reading or have read that you would recommend.  And stay tune for August's review of July's books.  Doing a few things differently this month with what I'm reading. 

Happy Fourth of July!