Weekend 3-way: Eyes on the Prize

As Beth mentioned on Friday, I was a big winner at a recent raffle event. I came away with an interesting haul, and although some of the stuff is quite useful and cool, the prize itself is almost less exciting than that moment of winning! I don't usually win stuff, I've been playing the lottery with my coworkers for weeks now and have nary a mega-million to show for it. But I have come away with a gift basket here or a boogie board there from time to time.

For this weekend's 3-way, tell me my pretties:

Have you ever won a really big prize? Or a really small prize? Or a prize that was juuuust right?

Jacquie:
Well, as we've established, I hit a lucky streak last night. Before that momentous event, I really can not recall at time when I've been "the lucky one." But maybe that's because I'm not much of a betting girl. I usually consider the purchase of raffle tickets to be a donation toward the cause (in this case, it was the Susan B Koman Foundation) rather than an actual opportunity to win something good. I do tend to win stuff that I don't know what to do with, in fact I've won two drawings at my kids' school that I have yet to cash in, both involve having someone come to my home to render their service, and that just seems impossible in this nuthouse. Both would be quite welcome and needed at this juncture, though... one was a math tutor, and the other a massage! I had a tantalizing reminder of the joy that massage brings at last night's event, and although Beth thought the guy was a bit too rough, I loooooooved him. I've been known to love a hard core massage, though.


Ellie:
Yes! I did! I did win a prize!

I used to run the Sailfest 5K every year, and after the race there was -- still is, probably -- a raffle. Everyone who runs is automatically entered.

There were some good prizes, like nights in a hotel and massages, and some clunkers, like pillows from a home decorating store, or an oil change (we change the Westy's oil ourselves, thankyouverymuch). But I had my eye on one prize and one prize only: a $30 gift certificate to Captain Scott's, an outdoor, picnic-bench-style, BYOB, seafood eatery in New London. Love that place.

The emcee called out the prizes one by one but I pretended to be invisible when he called out the duds. Finally he said, "Next is a $30 gift card for Captain Scott's" "Oh, I really want this one," I said out loud. And he called out . . . my number! I leaped into the air, did a jumping twirlsy, collected my loot, and had an automatic highpoint for the entire weekend. And that's saying something, on Sailfest weekend.

A week or two later Mistah and I packed a cooler and headed right to the good Captain's. We ordered steamers, we ordered clam chowder, we ordered lobster rolls, we ordered corn on the cob. It was a veritable summer feast, with the sun shining down on us and cold beers refreshing us. The bill came to $40. "Figures, " I thought, "godforbid we get a $30 gift certificate to a restaurant and actually spend only $30 there."

It was fabulous, though, and worth every extra dollar. Then as we headed back to the Westy, we looked down and found a $10 bill in the parking lot.

Beth:

I love that, Ellie! It's so perfect.

I can't recall very many big wins, although I did win on Thursday night too. And it wasn't too shabby. The prize was essentially a day at Seaport Village, a touristy but fun outdoor shopping and dining area on the waterfront in downtown San Diego. Not only did it include 4 tickets for the very fine antique carousel and five Ben & Jerry's ice cream comes, but also a $100 gift certificate to be used at any Seaport Village establishment. I figure, split 5 ways, that's a $20 splurge for each of us.

I'm quite pleased with my win, but I have to say, doesn't it make you wonder if you've used your luck up for a while? You know, now that I won that package, I'm probably WAY down the list for hitting those lotto numbers??