Who DOESN'T Want to be a Millionaire?

I know I'm a couple days late on the whole mega-millions buzz, and with good reason. Because of my severe (albeit undiagnosed) case of anti-ADD, I usually can't allow myself to think about things like, "What if I won the lottery?" Because if I do, my brain does not get the message, "Stop, Sarah, its just hypothetical," and before you know it, I've gone on a three day Pinterest bender and Libby hasn't eaten anything but Goldfish crackers she's found in the couch cushions because I'm busy looking at flights for a hypothetical vacation and picking out curtains for my hypothetical dream home.

So for my family's well being, I usually stay far away from these kinds of "what ifs." Today, though, I just couldn't help it anymore and allowed myself to venture into dreamland just a little bit. Fellow blogger Carrie posted about her plans for her winnings, and being the creative and original blogger that I am, I wanted to copy her idea.

I haven't discussed any of these plans for my imaginary millions with Tom, so I guess maybe this plan isn't set in stone...But who are we kidding? Tom will agree. "Happy wife, happy life," right?

First thing if we won the mega millions would be pay off those stupid car loans of ours. I can't get rid of those things fast enough. And then I would be so happy to own our cars free and clear that I couldn't fathom spending more money on new cars, so I would drive around in my 2006 model Chevy until that thing refused to go another mile. Then, and only then, would I buy something new and snazzy--a used Mazda 5 minivan perhaps?

Stylish AND practical, no?

Then, as much as we love our roomies Ron and Melis, we would pack up and move to a fantastic dream home. Something old and full of charm with a big yard but lots of fantastic neighbors. Like this:

Seriously, my dream home.

I would decorate it and I would even buy some stuff at the real Pottery Barn store. But only if I couldn't find what I was looking for on Craig's List first. I would probably get that chick Sarah from HGTV to come help me decorate and I imagine she would be agreeable because, after all, who says no the the girl who just won the mega millions?

We would set aside a comfortable amount for college, retirement and other necessary or desired savings for ourselves.

Then, we would send my parents on a great vacation. We would even pay for their dog to be boarded at the finest kennel northeast Ohio has to offer while they were away. After that, we would help out extended family some--contributions to college savings (for the cousins), retirement/health care costs (for the grandparents), and hair extension funds (for my sister).

We would probably take a vacation ourselves--maybe somewhere new and exciting like an African safari or maybe something old and familiar like the Outer Banks.

I'll risk getting eaten by an African lion any day if I can stay here.

We would definitely contribute to a couple choice charities. And we would definitely afford ourselves a few luxuries--dinners out more often (maybe even hiring a babysitter now and then?!), updating our wardrobes (only once I got a 30% coupon to Kohl's though--I'm not trying to spend all my money in one place), getting my hair colored at a real salon, upgrading Tom's phone to something other than a circa-2005 clamshell phone...Ah, a girl can dream, can't she?...

Okay, so maybe I missed the boat on the jackpot this time around, but next time...I'm feeling lucky.