Nah, me neither.
How about signs and omens? Believe in them?
Ordinarily, I don't pay them much mind, but sometimes they're so blatant, it's impossible to ignore them. Like last Wednesday.
Let me tell you about it.
A propitious start to a lucky day, wouldn't you say?
I have no idea how that horseshoe landed in our front yard. But, woo HOO... another good sign! Especially since I didn't break my toes when I smashed into it with my flip-flop-clad foot.
That has NEVER happened to me before. Never.
Spooky, huh?
Then, holy moley, outta the blue, the palm of my hand started itching. Just like that, for no reason. You know what that means, dontcha?
Okay, so technically, I was in the bank to cash a check, so I got some money because of that... but still, it could've been a sign that I should buy a lottery ticket, right?
My teller thought so.
Now this is just scary. In the grocery store, I didn't get run over by a single blue-haired lady. Nobody blocked the aisles, and I (gasp) found everything I was looking for. But here's the clincher: when I paid for the groceries, guess how much change I got? Eight dollars and eighty-eight cents! Three eights! Three lucky eights. (Ask anyone from China...) And my last car tag? It had three eights on it, too.
What? Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not Chinese. Hush. Whose story is this, anyway?
So, natch, when I was driving home, I was considering the string of good omens that had been pummeling me ever since I left the house. Should I buy a lottery ticket?
Then I heard a train whistle.
Kismet kicked me in the keister again. Buy a ticket! it screeched.
Wait, no. It didn't screech. That was the train. When it stopped. But it didn't sit there all that long. Only about fifteen minutes or so. Lucky, right?
And it wasn't even raining.
So what do you think? Did I buy a ticket and win a kazillion dollars?
Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing. [Sophocles]
Nah. I went home and had a nice cuppa tea. Hey... that's something. Like somebody smart said, (No, I don't remember who said it... I'm not that smart) The only sure way to double your money is to fold it and stick it back in your pocket.
Euripides said, Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgement. And my judgement was to take Brian Koslow's advice. He said, Forget the lottery. Bet on yourself instead.
Yep, works for me! Besides, we already have more than enough bookmarks around here.
Know what? A positive attitude can determine what kind of day you have. The way I see it, any day my hubby and I wake up and we're both still here... that's a doggone lucky day in my book. Life is good.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.
[Thanks to the fine folks at Wikipedia, morguefile, seniorark, and icanhascheezburger for the use of their images.]
I did once win at Roulette! I'd been to a good friend's stag evening (in an extremely chic restaurant) and afterwards we went gambling. I ended up with rather a lot of money in my back pocket, and I hadn't even folded it! Other than that..... Ziltch!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I used to be very lucky poker player, but never tried my luck in a casino. I preferred to win money from people I knew. (HA!)
DeletePut $2 a day in the bank, wait 30 years, then go collect your lottery winnings!
ReplyDeleteHeck, why bother putting it into a bank? You get almost as much interest by stuffing it under your mattress.
DeleteI enjoyed this, Susan. My idea of luck closely approximates yours. I've been lucky quite a few times when my life and happiness depended on it, but good fortune may be finite for all I know. Wouldn't want to use it up on a jackpot. Afraid to.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I've already beaten death a few times; why push my luck on something as insignificant as winning a bazillion dollars?
DeleteI don't think Mark Twain could have woven a more delightful tale.
ReplyDeleteThe power of suggestion is indeed extremely potent. Once the idea of unlucky Friday the 13th takes root in your soul, you will likely experience some sort of bad luck on that day.
My Hungarian gypsy soul is steeped in superstitions - it's inherent - but I've learned to take it all with a grain of salt. And a horseshoe or four-leaf clover, just in case.........
HA! Thanks.
DeleteAbsolutely. Since I happen to know your birthday also falls on the 13th, you've had your share of Friday the 13th birthdays, too, so hopefully, you're like me. I've always thought of it as "lucky 13". (Heck, against all the odds, we were BORN then, right?)
I notice you didn't mention a rabbit's foot. I never got that one, actually. I mean, it obviously didn't prove to be particularly lucky for the rabbit.
Since we share our home with two black cats (and one of them is black-hearted as well) superstition doesn't play a huge part in my world. Except that if I spill salt I throw a pinch of it over my shoulder.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, rainbows are lucky and a double rainbow increases my feeling of fortune exponentially. But not enough to buy a lottery ticket.
And yes, life is mostly good - and rarely dull.
HA! Now, now, your cat isn't black-hearted. Just a little high-spirited is all.
DeleteIt can't hurt to toss a pinch of salt over your shoulder. Heck, I don't believe in astrology either, but that doesn't stop me from reading my horoscope in the daily newspaper.
Sounds like you had quite an eventful day beginning with the four-leaf clover! I think that you were wise to quit while you were ahead. There are always stories about lottery winners who run into trouble. Cute story Susan!
ReplyDeleteJulie
It's entirely possible that I may have exaggerated a teensy bit on some of the stuff. No four-leaf clover or horseshoe, but I did walk into an customer-less bank, experience an itchy palm, and get $8.88 in change. I (ahem) ran with it from there... just for the fun of it.
DeleteI am not superstitious nor into omens but if I were you REALLY had a day of omens... lol
ReplyDeleteI probably would have bought the ticket, just for the fun of it and I DON'T gamble :)
Funny thing is, I don't have a problem with indulging in an occasional game of chance, and I had a strong feeling that I should buy one that day... and ignored it. (Don't tell ME what to do, fate!)
DeleteI'm with you on this one - enjoy the things that work out right, and shrug off the others. It's just Life.
ReplyDeleteAs for the lottery - it makes more sense to buy good coffee, it will give you more pleasure.
Absolutely. It's all about counting your blessings and minimizing the rest. Depending on how you look at 'em, most things turn out to be blessings in the end.
DeleteA wee cup of Irish coffee sounds mighty good. With whipped cream.
I haven't had a day like that in a long time. And the last time I did I didn't play the lottery either. And I think you've got the right attitude...any day I wake up and I feel good, I'm lucky.
ReplyDeleteIt IS fun to have that kinda day, though, isn't it? Like when you sail through green lights all the way home. (Really! It's actually happened to me once or twice.)
DeleteWhat a delightful post. Love your wit! We were in don't-blink-you'll-miss-it place in LA that had a hardware store and a convenience store--that's it, I thought. The winning lottery ticket. HA! The memory of the fried chicken: priceless (sorta).
ReplyDeleteThanks! You've got a point there. Seems like a lot of the big winners got their tickets in some Podunk, Middle-of-Nowhere kinda place. Hmmm, buying a ticket there I could understand, but fried chicken? In a hardware store? (You over the indigestion yet?)
DeleteHa! I never win anything. I'd be happy with a tiny lottery win. You know, just a million or two.
ReplyDeleteHA! A million or two oughta do the trick...
DeleteWhat a wonderful wonderful post. You should win the Wittiest Blogger award :) That is A LOT of omens.
ReplyDeleteHA! Thanks. Hey, omens are all around us every day. You just have to squint a little to see 'em.
DeleteI'm a sucker, I would have bought the lottery ticket.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to be filthy rich.
But now I've moved on. I want to be obscenely wealthy.
Just kidding. I have enough, all I need is right here.
But I still would have bought the ticket. One can never have too many bookmarks.
Who knows? Maybe I'm the sucker for NOT buying one. I never cared about being filthy rich or obscenely wealthy, (and so far, I'm succeeding beautifully with that) but my kids and grandkids could have benefited. (And I DO have an awful lot of books without their own assigned bookmark...)
Deletehaha over 100 cars long
ReplyDeleteI would have cursed rather strong
But luck is all a state of mind
And thinking with your head and not behind
I would have bought a ticket though
Just because at my show
I like trains, so I always try
DeleteTo count the cars as they're crawling by.
Mildly entertaining, until they screech to a stop,
Then even I wanta blow my top.
I tend to believe in omens. Pleasant things make me look for more pleasant things, negative things make me avoid more negativity. However, when things constantly go wrong, I can usually get a good story and a good laugh and that is a good thing. Your post was definitely a pleasant beginning to my day, so I am going to look for rainbows, or at least a chocolate chip cookie.
ReplyDeleteNot that I could not use more money, but I think that the last thing I would want in life would be to win big at the lottery. It would be way too much to deal with and the consequences not always good.
You're kinda like me... only with pretty red hair and a beautiful garden.
DeleteAh Lady Luck.....I read somewhere that good luck is the result of hard work....I think that's true.
ReplyDeleteYep, the harder I work, the luckier I get. (And I've also heard that Lady Luck is a bitch.)
Deleteyou are a winner! No line at the bank - wow. I would have quick gone to a deli - if no line there, you were on a streak. Very funny post, as usual.
ReplyDeleteI know! I'm so used to waiting in line at the bank and post office, I couldn't believe it when I walked in to take my pick of the tellers. Unreal!
DeleteI could use some of that luck sometimes :) I'm usually a happy camper when I can actually find a parking spot without having the battle a horde of freshman for it (Fried Green Tomatoes style). Lotto tickets are reserved for days when the fates align and I feel like losing money :)
ReplyDeleteHA! Love the reference to the Fried Green Tomatoes battle for the parking place.
DeleteThat's it! You nailed it. The fates frequently align for me, but I NEVER feel like losing money. (Must be all that Scottish blood doing the fling through my veins.)
I DVR'd that new show on ABC called Lucky 7s. It's about this group of co-workers who participate in a lottery pool every week and they win. Well, most of them win. One dude quit playing in the pool and started saving his lottery money in a tin can. The day before the lottery his wife needed a new toaster, so he pulls out the can and gives him the money. Sooo thankful. The next day his friends all hit the lottery. His wife thinks he is still playing in the pool and has invited everyone they know to their apartment to celebrate. He has to pull her into the kitchen to tell her that they didn't win 1/7 of 145 milliion dollars like she thought. He explains that providing for his family came first and that he'd put it in the can. Since he stopped playing the lottery he'd saved several hundred dollars, which allowed her to buy her new toaster. She picked up that toaster and smashed it repeatedly into the floor. Then she said he'd have to explain it to her mother who was on her way via first class airfare.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, I'd a bought the ticket. I rarely play the lottery. But then I've never found a four leaf clover on my shoe, a horseshoe in my yard, etc.
Oh wow. That poor dude. Sounds like his wife not only counted her chickens before they were hatched, she'd invited the town over to eat chicken a la king! (queen?) Sounds like a pretty good show, but I wouldn't want to live it.
DeleteYeah, maybe I shoulda bought a ticket. God mighta be sending me all those signs, and there I was, waiting for Him to make a personal appearance and take me hand-in-hand to the store...
I don't believe in luck.
ReplyDeleteBut I do believe in being in the right place at the right time. :-)
Pearl
Hmmm, but being in the right place at the right time isn't a matter of luck? Sure beats the heck out of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then again, it could just be that Somebody up there likes us.
Deletewahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....
ReplyDeleteThe lucky part was not smashing your toe on the horseshoe !
cheers, parsnip
You betcha! (You have no idea how many times this klutz has broken her toes...)
DeleteCheers back atcha.
To start with, your 4 leaf clover had only 3 leaves...
ReplyDeleteHA! I can't believe you're the first one to notice that. But I FELT four-leaf-clover lucky... that's gotta count for something, right? Yeah, I know. It counts one-two-three. You smarty you.
DeleteYou are so right - our attitude determines our day.
ReplyDeleteAnd lucky your frozen vegetables were melting in the trunk and not on the roof of your car.
Abso-doggone-lutely! HA! Noticed that pic, didja? (Nothing gets past the ninja captain...)
Deletefunny, I just have to tell you, this morning on the way to school, I DID hit all the green lights and I thought about the Doobie Brothers and wanted to hear a particular song. So I turned on the radio, and honest to God, that song was playing. How weird is that?
ReplyDeleteSEEEEE? Today is YOUR lucky day!
DeleteMy grandmother used to say that white butterflies presage good news. Now every time I see one I feel hopeful. I've been seeing lots of them lately. They really brighten my day, you know.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll bet every time you see a white butterfly, you think about your grandmother, and that in itself, must brighten your day. I hope you and your daughter see LOTS of butterflies bringing good news and good memories your way.
DeleteThis was a fun post! We buy tickets once in awhile, I'm going to borrow your nickname for them because that's all they're good for here too.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad ya liked it. (And thanks for tweeting about my book, too! Verrrrry sweet of you.)
DeleteWe go through spurts, win a little lose a little. But we never spend what we can't afford to lose.
ReplyDeleteI did win $1100 on a penny slot machine though. I was so stupid, I didn't even know what was happening.... the thing just started talking to me, lighting up and spinning around, until finally it spit out a ticket that said "Cash this and run, you idiot!"
We very rarely buy a ticket, but if we do, it's usually a scratch-off. I usually do okay with them, but have never hit it big.
DeleteWow! That's pretty doggone good on a penny slot. Good for you! We played the slots at Cherokee once, and pretty much broke even at the end of the evening, which suited me just fine.
Ha - with so many lucky signs, I might have bought a lottery ticket. I do buy one occasionally, for the fun of it (I call it the "contribution to the educational fund").
ReplyDeleteWe're not much for gambling...but hear this story: My husband and I used to work together and did not announce when we were getting married (most people didn't even know we were engaged, even though we worked in the same office). We flew to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend and just showed up at work like normal the following Monday. A co-worker asked my husband what he had done over the long weekend, and he replied that he had flown to Vegas. "So," said the co-worker, "you did some gambling?" - "Yup," said my husband, "I got married."
Yesterday, I walked into the post office and didn't have to stand in a line! Our little post office is usually so crowded, the line is half a mile long. (Nope, didn't buy a ticket yesterday, either.)
DeleteLOVE that story! Since you guys are still together, I'd say that gamble paid off for both of you.
Good choice :)
ReplyDeleteYep, I didn't lose a thing.
DeleteWell, you are a tease, leading us on like that. I thought for sure you were going to say you won something, even a few numbers or the power ball is a small piece of chunk change. But what a nice positive attitude you kept with all those lucky signs. It's something to be able to walk in a bank and find no one there, I wish that could happen just once to me at the post office. Ha
ReplyDeleteGee, it's been a whole lot of years since anybody called me a tease...
DeleteBelieve it or not, it DID happen to me yesterday in the post office! Usually our local branch is stuffed to the rafters with people and the line stretches out the door, but yesterday, I walked right in and up to the counter. Unbelievable! (Nope, didn't buy a ticket yesterday, either.)
you know, when I was a teen I found a shamrock with four leaves and put it in my wallet. To this day I always have money in it. I'm not rich, but it was never empty after that :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I have psychic dreams... but that's a whole other story
Good for you. Far better to be appreciative of a wallet that's never empty than to be "rich", and dissatisfied, even with a mountain of money.
DeleteHmmm, sounds interesting...
Hahaaa dressy flip flops…. love it… I have some Dr. Scholl's gel soles I cut out for a pair of my favorite everyday flops…
ReplyDeleteI would have bought a lottery ticket … never have bought one but with all those signs???? Susan? why not. not much of a sign kiddo but with all those you mentioned? straight to the lottery buying place….
loved Judy's video ;)
I really DO have a pair of dressy flip-flops, although that isn't them in the picture. Mine have rhinestones on 'em and everything, and I bought them to wear to our daughter's casual outdoor wedding. (Never thought I'd see the day where I'd wear flip-flops to a wedding instead of high heels!)
DeleteI'm glad you watched the video. That song's been playing in my head for the past few days. (At least it's a song I like!)
Sus, I *really* enjoyed this post. And by the time I got to Koslow's quote, I felt like I'd come full circle. Loved it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suze. Glad ya liked it.
DeleteI was thinking about those words yesterday afternoon. Likened landing a publishing contract in this climate with hitting the lottery. Have been deliberating options all summer. I only sent out five queries after we reworked it. Got back two out of offices on a conference--one of which eventually turned into a form; two on maternity leaves (!) and one immediate, mildly-insulting form. The intern claimed my writing was nuanced. I looked up this agent's responses on query tracker and a bunch of writers said the same thing. Honestly, what a racket.
DeleteGood analogy, and no doubt about it: bet on yourself, kiddo, because you're destined to be a winner. Those agents shouldn't control YOUR future.
DeleteI loved seeing you at your signing table on a former post. There's too much opportunity for the taking right now. We can't be like the powerful, grown elephants who don't even think to try to uproot the decoy stake they've been yoked with since they were babies.
DeleteThat's right. LOTS of opportunities. There's no reason a writer should have to wait for an agent and publisher to give her "a limo ride" into the land of publication. Not any more. We all have our own wheels and a road map; all we have to do is get behind the wheel and start driving.
DeleteAnd I was just going to hit you up for a little loan, LOL! A great attitude is everything!
ReplyDeleteI have dressy flip flops, too :)
HA! Yeah, and a great attitude doesn't cost a cent.
Delete(All chic fashionistas have dressy flip flops, don't they? Dressy sweat shirts, too...)
I got up this morning, looked in the mirror, and saw myself. Lucky day! (and scary).
ReplyDeleteI try to avoid the mirror, especially first thing in the morning. There's a fat old lady living in there.
DeleteWhile I don't believe the sentiment, I have always been amused by the quote, “Make a bet every day; otherwise you might walk around lucky and never know it.”
ReplyDeleteJimmy Jones
I never heard that quote before, but if you think about it, we kinda gamble every day. Especially here in Atlanta. (Have you ever SEEN our traffic???)
DeleteI try not to be superstitious, but I can't always help it. Sometimes, weird things happen and there's gotta be something supernatural going on - or so I believe. Now, if my palms would become unexpectedly itchy, frequently and often, I'd be a full-blown believer.
ReplyDeletexoRobyn
Then again, if your palms become itchy frequently and often, you might just have dry skin... (Boo, hiss on me!)
DeletePS I left out an important factor: money would have to fall from the sky too.
ReplyDeleteThere ya go! That'd make a believe of all of us.
DeleteI have a itchy palm, and I always do receive money after a itchy palm, but this time- it's been tooooo long and no money!
ReplyDeleteNas
Oh dear. Sounds like you might need some hand cream... (HA!)
DeleteLove this post. Just love it. Thanks for the thoughtful inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it, Liza.
DeleteMake Money Online is very easy now, In Internet system we have now best earning system without any work, Just Invest some Money into your Business and Make Perfect Life time Earnings with this Business.
ReplyDeleteJoin Now for Make Perfect Business and Earn Money online from home.
www.hotfxearnings.com
Latest cars and vehicles, Latest Mazda Models, Racing Cars, International Sport Cars, Concept Cars, PS-Pod, Strange Vehicles, Nissan, Royce Corniche, Ford Concept Cars, Strange Vehicles, Mercedes and More Sport Cars and Vehicles with Pictures and Info
ReplyDeleteWorldLatestVehicles.blogspot.com