Skip to main content

Pick me! Pick me!

In the late part of last century and the early part of this century, I was very lucky when it came to winning things. From bridal shows and contests the Post-Gazette had, to various raffles and events, I have snagged cookware, crystal, candy, tickets to events, CDs, cosmetics, and money. In fact, if you have been reading this blog since the beginning, and you have a better memory than I do, you probably know this already.

My favorite win was at a bridal show in 1998. I really wanted to win a gift certificate to a small bridal shop near where I grew up. So when the MC announced that prize, I slowly started to stand. I recall my mom telling me to sit down, but I kept inching my way up, until I heard my name called. My mom was surprised. Me? Not so much. That was the just the way it rolled for me.

But for whatever reason, once I had a kid, I stopped winning things. In fact, the last thing I won and cashed in on was a VIP pass to Steelers training camp just a few weeks before I had Jordan. Since then, I have won nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. At least that I recall.

Over the past year, I have been a part of probably 50 or more contests and raffles. From college tuition giveaways, to prize packs. From cold, hard cash, to Penguins jerseys. And for most of these, the odds are really good. How is it possible that I am unable to win a single thing from the Pittsburgh Mom website, when for most of the contests only 30 or 40 people sign up? And how is it that I have never won my church raffle? The odds for the big one are something like 1 in less than 2,000.

I feel I have been blessed in this world, so I am not complaining. Well, not so much, anyway. Maybe I no longer win things because I won the best lottery of all, my Jordan.

But in case the two are not related, can I just win something, while I am still not fully employed? The $3,000 church raffle would really come in handy right now...

Comments

chris h. said…
I am the exact opposite. Mike and I know that we never win anything -- other people walk away with 2 or 3 raffle prizes at benefits we've attended or at Mike's golf outings and we come away empty-handed. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to remember ever winning anything in a luck-of-the-draw contest.

Popular posts from this blog

What a year 2021 has been (Day 7)

I have almost no words for what happened yesterday at the Capitol. Protesting is one thing (though I truly think it is and has been time to move on). But to storm the Capitol? A friend on Facebook said, quite simply, " Almost 20 years ago a group of people on an airplane sacrificed themselves to protect the Capitol. How far we have fallen!" Indeed. And, yes, it IS storming the Capitol. I have seen numerous videos of people knocking down barricades/fences, pushing police officers, and breaking windows and climbing through them. That is beyond protesting. And even if a protestor did not do those things, if they followed those seditionists past those barricades and into the building, they are just as guilty. I did not support the violent protests this summer that resulted in damages to businesses and public property (I was in full support of the actual protests). But I also acknowledged as a white person, I cannot truly put myself in the position of a black person who is angry a

Why do they stand up there and say that when they are just lying?

That extra-long title is courtesy of my nine-year-old and was something she uttered during "Say Yes to the Dress" on Friday evening. I watch very little reality TV, but I make an exception for this show because I like to look at the dresses. And sometimes, the stories are heart-warming. Typically at the end of the show, a snippet of a wedding is aired. In this particular show, a woman who was confined to a wheelchair was exchanging vows with her fiance. After the two of them finished, J made her comment. I asked her what she meant as I must have been on the computer while the TV was on, and she explained that because so many people just get divorced, why do they even say "as long as we both shall live"? That is tough one, kid. I tried with what I thought was a sound explanation: Most of the people who get married truly believe they will be together the rest of their lives, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. But if you don't think that you will be

Wearing my heart on my sleeve

Four years and two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post that contained the good-bye email I wrote to my coworkers on the occasion of my last day of work. I was pretty proud of that note, which was quite hard to write as it reflected almost 13 years of being with one company, which is pretty rare in this century. I reread that note this morning to remind myself of what I had said, as that time feels like a lifetime ago. One sentence struck me: I am not sure where I will go from here or what I will do (although I fear cooking will be part of my immediate future), but I like to think onward and upward. I really had no idea what it was I was going to do or how long I would be without steady employment. Never did I suspect I would more or less be a SAHM who subbed and freelanced on occasion (sometimes the subbing and freelancing were often; other times I could go weeks without working). But here I am, just over four years later, getting ready to head back to steady employment.