Winning Isn't Everything... Or Is It?

I am one of those people who doesn't win things. In fact, I sort of fall into that category of people who live by the old motto: If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all. I've come to live with it over the years, and I've made peace knowing that raffle tickets or lotto tickets purchased, are really my way of supporting a cause; not an expectation of winnings.

Shannon and I went to Cynthia's house for a Stampin' Up! open house and customer appreciation event. Prior to going, Shannon had been bragging about her "Big Shot" and how much she loved it. I have never been a big fan of die cuts, so I wasn't sold on the whole concept. From what Shannon said, it sounded like it was way more versatile than just simple die cuts, but I really couldn't picture in my mind that it would be something that I'd ever want/need.

We arrived at Cynthia's and got to work on three cute projects that she had for us to do. Two were cards and one was a topper for a candy bag. We had to use the Big Shot for all three projects. Ahhh... she was sly. Use the product so you can see how easy it is and what you can really do with it. Of course, I was hooked. Not by the traditional die cut shapes, but by scallop-edged cards and pillowboxes, envelopes and flowers. For participating in the activities, if we did all three cards, we received some raffle tickets. You could also participate and earn tickets by various other activities. I think I ended up with 14. I had no idea what they were even for, but I kind of figured that I didn't really care and/or wouldn't win anyway.

On Sunday, Cynthia sent out an email and told everyone to check their tickets. She listed the winning ticket for a Big Shot machine. I looked through my tickets cynically, and then I realized that she was missing a digit in her number. I had six out of seven matching numbers, but would I actually win? Being pessimistic, I figured that I wouldn't. I emailed Cynthia to let her know that she'd missed a number and gave her my ticket number. I went about my duties for the day and only really thought about it once. The digit missing was in the 1000s place. I figured that there was no way that she'd given out over 1000 tickets that night, so maybe I had a chance?

Amazingly enough, Cynthia emailed back to let me know that I was right. Her number matched mine. I won the Big Shot! I couldn't believe it. I was so thrilled. It may seem like a silly thing to be excited about, but with the price of the machine and me preparing to go to England for a residency of grad school, I hardly had the money to get one on my own. Whoo-hoo! I am a winner. I probably should have run out and purchased a lottery ticket.