Welp, my non-lottery playing record of 7 months in a row has just grinded to a halt! As soon as I heard Powerball was over the $450 Million mark it was “all in” from there, haha… and three days later it’s now over $500 MILLION!! A new record! (And likely to go up even more throughout the day…)
So instead of picking up just one ticket, I picked up two ;) And that last one almost didn’t make it. I’d been running low on cash ever since I got into the coin collecting hobby (I try to pick up one new coin a week!), so when I handed the 7-Eleven guy my $2 bucks to pick up the tickets he just laughed at me and said something like “Where have you been all year? They’re now $2 a pop!” Well sorrrrrrrry, Mr. lottery man. Someone has been behaving lately and avoiding them! I guess that’s why the pot keeps getting to these enormous numbers, eh?
Anywho, I ran back out of the store to pester my wife for the dollar I was missing, and then sprinted back in to complete the transaction. I knew I could just skip the 2nd one and stay with only the one ticket, considering they’re double the cost now, but I’d be KICKING myself if that 2nd ticket ended up being the winner! It’s way too much to handle for someone who hates “what ifs” ;)
So we’ll see what happens tonight when they roll those little white balls! (Ow ow!) And of course we then had to talk about all the things we’d do if we won, and how it would change our lives for the best AND worst, and that in the end we probably *wouldn’t* want to win anyways, haha… So basically we wasted $4 bucks ;)
If it was in the cards though, here’s what we’d do:
- Never ever EVER tell anyone! Not even you guys here on the blog (sorry! I guess you’ll just never know if we won or not, haha…). I’ve watched too many documentaries on what happens to those people who flaunt it, and there’s no way we’re falling into that trap. I just hope our state doesn’t REQUIRE that they tell everyone our names and then snap a big goofy picture of us holding that check! It is pretty cool, I’ll give it that, but I’d much prefer to stay out of the spotlight if at all possible with that stuff.
- Hire a financial manager ASAP. I’m not even gonna pretend I’ll know exactly what to do with that type of money ;) And I’ll be sure to pick someone internally like a manager one of my friends or family trusts a lot – I just won’t tell them exactly why I need it… (Actually, I’d like to edit #1 up there and say I *would* tell our parents about it cuz you really can’t NOT even if you tried. And since we’d also help the rest of our direct family out (see #7 below) I guess we’d have to tell them too, sigh… Those people better keep a secret! ;))
- Probably take the “all cash” buy out. Currently at $327.4 Million! We’d talk it over with our financial manager we just hired, of course, but my feeling is the “all cash” route is the way to go. Just so you’re in control 100% of it from the get go, and there’s no weird “what if it stops coming one day?” type of thing… I’d much rather have it paid out to me like with a salary or whatever (how cool would THAT be?), but you can always set up your investments to do that for you anyways.
- Buy myself a pimp-ass SUV! Probably a slick Range Rover or G-Class Benze. Nothing *super* expensive, but still on the tad bit obnoxious side ;) Then probably upgrade my wife’s car too and leave it at that for now…
- Pay off our Mortgage completely, and then sell the house. Or maybe sell the house and then pay off what’s left of the mortgage? Either way we’d have no more mortgage anymore and we wouldn’t be living in our house either. It would help us move a TON faster like we’ve really been wanting to do lately, and then we’d buy something super nice but also super un-large. No mansions or anything, but def. something with all the perks on the inside and close distance to wherever our hearts desire.
- Fund Baby $’s college account. Just so it’s good to go no matter what else happens!
- Give a sizeable (and equal!) chunk to all family members! Which they can do as they please with it… Except for maybe my uncle who seems to be allergic to money. I’d just buy him a small house and let him and his girlfriend live happily ever after in it… they’re almost in their 60’s and pretty much live off the government, ugh… but that’s for a whole other day.
- Donate a big chunk to charity and/or start another one :) This time not having to worry as much about my own personal income while I run it! Haha… Always a better position to be in.
- Save/Invest the rest. What’s left of it anyways ;) But I reckon we’d at least have $100 Mil+ after all the above was said and done… if not $200M. And that’s WELL more than the average person will ever need in their lifetime… I’d have to set up a ton of ways to grow it too so our legacy can go on – there’s no way we’d be able to spend it all even if we wanted to. We’re too damn conscious of our money to allow for that. And also frugal :)
- Continue working and living life as normal as possible! I’d take a nice vacation and hire someone to do all the stupid stuff I have to do when being self-employed, but you can bet I’d continue blogging and creating all those random projects and ideas I constantly have in my head! I would be a horrible retiree – I can’t sit still. And with tons of money in the bank I bet I’d come up with some pretty killer ones too! When income is out of the question you magically create things purely for the love of it all, haha… I’d finally then be able to use all my 500 web domains too ;)
So that’s what I’d do if we won. Errr… when we win. If this blog ever goes blank for a few days in a row, you’ll know exactly what happened ;) It would be the first time in 4+ years without any posts! Yikes!
Now as you probably guessed, it’s time to ask you what YOU’D do if you happened accross Lady Luck tonight? Are your lists anywhere as predictable as mine? Or would you do something magnificently different? Let us know below and we can all salivate together :)
Just remember that the only way to win is to play! (And it will now cost you double…)
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Photo credit: byDavvi
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I wouldn’t tell people either, just discreetly help people I really care about.How about enlarging the hoodies collection? :)
Haha good luck J! I haven’t bought a ticket yet and don’t think I will. I hope no one wins and then maybe I’ll buy a ticket next drawing :)
I don’t think Maryland makes you disclose if you won. (at least I hope not!) so I would be with you and not tell anyone! My friends and I were talking last night and we all agreed we would pay off each others debts (ie: school, mortgage, car, credit cards) and maybe kick in a little bit more above and beyond for spending. And we all agreed that we’d take a nice trip together to the bahamas or someplace else nice and warm. After that I’d give a few 100 grand to each of my family members and let them know that is it, you do what you want with it, but don’t come asking for more.(i’ve seen some of those documentaries too, and some of those people give and give to family until there is nothing left!) I’d donate some, take a nice trip, sell my current house and buy a slightly nicer one someplace that i’d prefer to live and live off the dividends for the rest of my life.
So funny, a couple times a year the lottery gets enormous and the daydreams start flowing in! First off, I would try as hard as humanly possible to keep my identity a secret. The stress of everyone knowing would be horrific, I think. Today, I am going in on 200 tickets with 10 friends (we always do this). Last time we won $600 and went out to a decent dinner :).
Best of luck to all of you!
But won’t your relatives start to suspect you’ve got some mysterious source of money when you start buying them houses? Kindof defeats the purpose of not telling anyone, I think!
Step 0. Pay taxes. :-)
As for hiring a financial advisor… The challenge would be finding one who has dealt with anywhere near that sum of money before.
I would try not to tell anyone and also give a lot to those who are close to me. And spend it of course!
In regards to a financial manager I would probably get 3, one from 3 banks in their private banking arm. I’m sure one of the three would know what they were doing and you can “diversify” any risks there. I’ve always wanted to have that kind of networth to enter the world of private banking, it seems pretty elite :)
Well, I can tell you already that I won’t be at my job tomorrow morning after we win tonight. I’m gonna take a long vacation and figure out what we are going to do next.
While you’re at it, you better talk to a CPA. There’s gift taxes involved if you give away too much money.
There’s probably no way you could have in excess of $200M left over since the taxes on the win will likely cut the payout more than in half. But, you don’t have to worry because I’m holding the winning numbers right here!
You guys are so boring. I would spend spend spend… And take care of the friends and family. I’ll have mad friends with Benzes, C-notes by the layers, true friggin’ players…
I’d follow your same steps – 1-3, and maybe even 4. Although I’m not sure if it would be an SUV, but maybe buy a kick-ass car. After that, I would be… lost. Payoff a few things, invest and save the rest? Starting a charity – and doing my own “Secret Millionaire” experiment (on my goal list)… other than that, be really freaked out so I’d probably just let the money grow. LOL – how lame is that?
I’d pay off my parents’ and close friends’ debt, buy a house with cash, give to my church for specific purposes, and support some full-time missionaries. Then I’d just invest/save and keep running my business doing the work I love! I would probably hire a part-time personal assistant to take care of errand running, phone calls to customer service and other time-consuming things.
I pitched in to the office pool, because I don’t want to be the person holding the bag when they all quit their jobs!
I would remain anon if possible, pay my siblings college tuition, pay off my house, buy up a couple of rental properties, make a significant contribution to a couple of my favorite not-for-profits, and continue to work my current job because I enjoy it.
Gah! I need to get on this. I played during the last big jackpot, too, the only time I’d ever played in my life.
I wrote a post about what I’d do last time, but here are the highlights:
1. PAY THE FREAKIN’ TAXES!
2. SETUP A BUDGET!
3. PAY OFF MY DEBT…..EVEN THE HOUSE!
4. BUY OUR DREAM HOUSE!
5. QUIT MY JOB!
6. SETUP A NON-PROFIT!
7. GROW MY EGG!
8. BLOW A MILLION!
I would never tell anyone either. Ah the peace of mind that money could bring!
Hey J – I know this isn’t related to today’s post (which I think is great and I’ve had many conversations with my fiance about what we would do!) but I saw this and thought you might like it: http://store.xkcd.com/products/money-poster.
1. Pay off debt
2. Sell houses
3. Sell cars
4. Buy nice pickup and airstream trailer
5. Make a list of potential places to live and take the pickup and trailer to visit these places until we found the right one
6. Buy new house, nice but not outrageous or huge
7. Adopt a child (something my wife and I have planned on for years, but never could afford)
8. Invest the rest
I would also stay at my job long enough to help my employer find a replacement for me prior to touring the country looking for a new place to live.
I just told Greg to buy a few tickets when he goes out for lunch. Maybe we can both win? I’ll disappear off the face of the earth if I do! Permanent vacation.
I think when you buy the tickets you have to declare if it is cash option or not.
Vacation in Hawaii, sell the house and buy a new one on some land. I love my paid off car and they don’t make that model anymore but I’d probably buy a new car or too.
Pay off all debts, help my family members and feed some hungry charities.
I’ve already got this planned out in the event I were to ever come into a major lottery win. I too wouldn’t tell anyone I had won. I would also hire a Financial Planner to help me map out how to wisely appropriate the money. Now here’s my idea of how to give money to family and friends without them knowing I’m the source. I had actually dreamt this and now it’s only a rough draft but here’s the gist: I would have the Financial planner and a notary convene a meeting where all the gift receipients are required to attend and I will be there too sitting with the others. The FP and notary will inform everyone that they have been gifted a one-time sum (bank draft or wire transfer whatever…) sealed in an envelop in front of them but that they will not be told the source of the gift and they sign a document accepting the funds. Just to play along I’ll get an envelope too so people wouldn’t suspect me of anything. As I said this is just a rough idea from a dream of what I’d do lol!
I agree with #1 so much! I can’t even imagine the people crawling out of the woodwork to leech off of us, especially my in-laws – crazzzy bunch already, add in some cash? Scary. We always dreams about what we’d do with our millions, yet rarely play. I think we will grab a ticket tonight. Neither of us would quit our jobs right away! Otherwise my list is simple.
1. Pay off all debts, including house.
2. Put 1/2 in savings/investing/kids college funds/etc.
3. Buy like 5000 acres, preferably with an old farmhouse to remodel. ;)
4. Donate old house to a needy family.
5. Surprise payoffs for close family members and friends.
6. New cars, gadgets, toys, etc.
7. Hire a full-time chef…hahaha…seriously though…I would.
As a close extended family we have already talked about picking up and moving west to the Dakotas…we just aren’t brave enough to put all the numbers together and see if it were possible as far as $$$ goes right now…..but with money being out of the equation we could go…I have had my eye on this LARGE tract of land ..Fort Igloo, SD….the possibilities are endless!!!
And better yet…nobody knows me so the anonymity would be a great plus.
What if the 3rd ticket had been the winner? I think you need to buy another one. But THEN what if the 4th one would have won…..
Hmm…I have thought about this so many times…probably like once a week. Although I have never ever bough a lottery ticket.
Buy my mom a house, and set up a sizable fund for her to live the rest of her life, and vacation.
Set up a fund for my brother’s college.
Set up a fund for my grandparents and buy them a nice house :)
My husband would decide what to do for his family.
Then, the rest is endless possibilities. Quit my job, establish my own holding company, so I can go invest in companies :) I would travel with my hubby too! I would buy a modest house. I don’t really need a huge mansion. Too much work, and the bills…eeek it would kill me.
I haven’t purchased tickets in at least 4-5 months but I definitely pounced on it when I heard it was over 450M!
I’m not sure of our state rules, but I believe we’d have to make it public. All I know is that I’d move in an instant, change my name, and all of my phone numbers. I’m not certain if I’d really change my name…it would just depend on how bad things got, but I’ve also read the same stories and documentaries and it’s awful what people to do those that win. It ruins a lot of their lives.
Sounds like we’d do exactly the same thing but I’d probably give a much larger portion to charity. There’s no need to keep that much money to myself.
I’d get a lawyer and financial advisor, pay off the house, car, and all CC debt, sell said house, then travel like crazy while waiting for my new house to be built! :)
I blogged about the opposite today. What I would do with my money INSTEAD of purchasing tickets. I always, always transfer the money I want to spend on lottery tickets to my savings account instead. For the past 2 years I have accumulated $185, in my lottery fund. Not a whole lot, but at least it’s money I can use for school or my emergency fund. I get excited for about 30 minutes with all the hype. Then I figure out my chances of getting struck by lightning here in Colorado (#11 on the lightning strike list for states), and the excitement goes away. I hear about at least 2 people every summer getting struck and there has only been one winner of the Powerball lottery here in CO. No thanks. I guess I am just too logical for me to ever play the lottery.
To answer your questions on what I would do with a large windfall of money, well I already have a system in place and actually used it once…
I would get a pile of money and roll in it. hahaha
no seriously, i would probably do the exact same thing you listed
I would probably have a heart attack and die, leaving my daughter a very rich little girl!
We talk about it every time the lottery gets big and then buy a couple of tickets. Yeah we probably wont win but its worth the cost of the dream,
The basic plan is this:
1. Pay off the house and whatever bills we have outstanding.
2. Give both sets of parents a lump sum of cash (equal to both) to pay off their debt and let them do what they want with the rest.
3. Give some cash to some friends that desperately need it for medical bills.
4. Hire a financial planner and a lawyer to protect the assets and us.
5. Rent out the house we live in and move to a big plot of land with a nice farmhouse.
6. No idea on if we would continue to work or not, it all just depends on whether or not we had to release our names. If we did, we would disapear or if we didnt it would be life as usual.
7. Give a good portion of it away to charitable foundations that we support. We never feel like we can give enough so maybe we would be able to give what we would like.
30 MORE MINUTES UNTIL THE NUMBERS ARE ANNOUNCED!!!
And we’re now all the way up to $550 Million too ;) Damn that’s a lot of money…
@Pauline – Now you’re talking!
@Lance @ Money Life and More – That too would be something :) It could even DOUBLE the last record that was set at $450 Mil!
@Mercedes – That’s a great idea actually – taking a vacation with all your friends. I’d like to add that to my list too :)
@Tony – Wow, really? That’s pretty good! You’ll have to let us know if you won anything or not this round :) I suck at winning, haha…
@Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies – I only buy houses/give money to immediate family and that’s it… though I suppose they’d all have to come up with a good excuse for them huh? hmm… well we’ll cross that bridge when we get there ;)
@Michael – Well paying taxes kinda goes under Step #3 cuz the buy out would include that yeah? Or am I reading that wrong? If it’s taxes on TOP of the buy out then man – you lose a LOT up front!
@Michelle – I wonder how much you could spend until you get bored of it though? I bet the number would be low :)
@StackingCash – Oooh that would be fun! And if you did go with 3 different ones your risk would be spread out (and rewards, I guess too?) but you’d learn a ton from it all. And can then cut 2 of them out later and merge with the winning advisor :)
@Greg@ClubThrifty – Would you be so kind as to invite me along? :)
@Norman – Yes! Good point. I’d most def. talk to my accountant and make sure everything’s above board. That would be the worst if you gift ended up screwing your loved ones over!
@slug | sunkcostsareirrelevant.com – Haha, only time will tell us on that ;)
@Tino – I’m coming to your party then :)
@Melissa – Not lame – SMART! I bet those who wait the longest to spend end up doing the best… It wouldn’t be so bad to let it marinate for a while (6 mos? a year?) and *then* run wild with it. I don’t know if I could have that kind of patience though, haha…
@Sarah Fowler – Oh yeah, you could also hire a cook to prep meals for you while you do your beloved job AND a nanny to clean up the house so you can really have *free* time after all that work stuff :) And while you’re at it, maybe a driver too? Haha…
@Walnut – GOOD CALL. That person would have to deal with that for the rest of his/her live, ugh…
@Jacob @ iheartbudgets – Let me help you blow that million! We could throw a crazy good party! Haha…
@Budget & the Beach – It would be cool to blog about it though, huh? Would be your most popular post EVER! :)
@Kelly – YES! I love it! Thank you – totally blowing it up later and poking around it – you rock.
@Paul – I like that you’d adopt :) I’ve heard those costs are MAD expensive :( So sad with so many people out there having kids who don’t even want them! If I win I’ll pay for your expenses to have it – you just can’t tell anyone I won, deal? :)
@Holly@ClubThrifty – Haha… don’t forget about your blog though! :)
@Pam – “Feed some hungry charities” – I like that way of putting it :)
@K.K. @ Living Debt Free Rocks! – YES!!! I like the way this is going!! That may work :) From an “anonymous donor” right? I think you may be onto something there.
@Angella – I don’t blame you! I’d probably end up with a chef AND a personal driver :)
@Kim Satterwhite – HAH! Awesome name – I hope you win :)
@AverageJoe – Haha, doesn’t count ;) Cuz I only intended to get two so any more than that I could care less about… those aren’t the winning ones anyways, haha…
@SavvyFinancialLatina – Never played ever? I wonder what it would take to get you to try it out once :) Watch that one be the winner!!
@Jason – Would that mean I could change mine too permanently then to J. Money? Cuz THAT would be cool ;)
@Kelli – Love it!
@Financial Black Sheep – HAH! Love it. And a much more realistic post too than all us dreamers ;) The don’t stop playing those same numbers only to have them appear the second you do! Dang that would suck.
@K – Haha… Like Scrooge McDuck, right? I could partake in some of that action :)
@debtgirl – Oh jeez, I mean you never really know! Our bodies may only be able to take so much, kinda freaky.
@Jessica – I really like the idea of paying off peoples’ bills too :) It would just be too hard to find that stopping point, you know? Cuz you’d never run out of people who needed help :(
PS: I did *not* win… but I did get TWO numbers right! That will net me a total of $0 monies ;) Hope you guys were luckier!
We did not win either. I was just thinking though, if you had won and were forced to pick up the check in person and be on television, just do something different with your hair (sorry Mohawk…down for a day) and nobody would even know it’s you. ;-)
If we had won:
1. Boring stuff. Get a financial lawyer and a money guy. And we’d claim the money anonymously (allowed in TX). And we would never tell anybody except those we end up sharing our money with.
2. Split the cash with whichever group we won with. So that’s either two of our friends or our uncle and his buddy.
3. Pay off rent house’s last $23,500.
4. Pay off current house’s $207,000.
5. NOT move. I never want to move again.
4. Ask roommates to move out and front them a month’s rent to make it easier (don’t want them to know we won the lottery, but want to be nice enough to have no hard feelings so they go easy.) I do want my house to myself if I am a multimillionaire…
5. Give closest family members equal cuts like you mentioned.
6. Charities. Probably start my own. One for animals and another for people.
7. Sell my Aveo and buy a red VW Beetle – then pimp it out with black spots and doors that open up instead of sideways. I always wanted a Lady Bug.
8. Replace hubby’s Prius with a newer one…he likes his Prius but it has a bunch of miles on it and if we were that rich, we’d probably get a new one and drive less instead of taking care of maintenance stuff on this one.
9. Live off of the interest and take lots of vacations.
10. Still blog.
So I’m late to this post and I clearly didn’t win the PowerBall (to be fair, I didn’t play, either.)
But I *DO* have a subscription to the Mega Millions lottery. Yes, I know it’s like throwing my money away. But it’s only $2 a week. That’s $8 a month. I don’t think I’m going broke by playing the lottery! Besides, I get a ridiculous amount of happiness by playing.
1) In Virginia where I live, you can’t keep your identity secret. They announce your name and they take your picture when you pick up the prize and post it everywhere. But I don’t need to be going and telling my friends and family myself! Let them learn it from the media!
2) Get a financial planner; probably one of Dave Ramsey’s ELP’s.
3) I would prefer to get everything in one lump sum (and yes, pay 1/2 in taxes!) and manage the money myself. I have a low standard of living so even if I double my lifestyle, I can still live off of the interest from my winnings!
4) Hire a lawyer to take my a-hole ex to court over our multiple child custody issues.
5) Get out of debt ($16K left).
6) Buy a house and do it Property Brothers style. I have to finish out my apartment lease anyway.
7) Take care of the houses of my Foul-Weather Friends – the ones who have helped me through the shit times. Screw everyone else!
8) CHARITY CHARITY CHARITY!!! I have a fantasy where I have a dedicated private detective who will help me vet my friends to see if they really are struggling. Then give them what they need anonymously! And at my funeral have it posted somewhere all the money/goods I’ve donated to people and make all the mourners eat crow for saying how stingy I was with my money! Just because I didn’t tell people about giving doesn’t mean I didn’t do it! (I have a sick sense of humor.)
9) Keep working for my company, but on a part-time volunteer basis. :)
For those of you who would want to start a non-profit, I implore you not to do it! I work for a non-profit. When you start your own, although you may have the best of intentions, you split the effectiveness of all work being done already in whatever area you want to support. A better way to go about it is to contact a charity that *is already doing* work in the field you want to affect and start a fund within the organization. You get to name it and set it up so it’s administered any way you want it!
AAAAHHH! I remembered one major thing I would do if I won a gajillion dollars!
BE A SPACE TOURIST!
I really want to go to outer space. Ultimate vacation!
@Crystal @ Prairie Ecothrifter – Great list for sure :) Print it out and hold onto it for the next record breaking jackpot!
@Jerri Lyn – Haha… you win for the most *creative* ideas today! I love ’em :) Space and private detective stuff. Very clever!
I think our state makes the winners public as well, so we’d buy a winter home in the Caribbean and just go there if people or relatives got annoying. :) otherwise, invest for income and live off that. Probably some sort of blind trust for relatives and such. Donate a bunch to charity.
So if I ever hear you bought a house out in the Caribbean I’ll know you hit some jackpot? :) You better invite me over!
Oregon is a state where they identify the winners. I have a list of friends and relatives that I would share some of the prize money. If you give away any of the money before you get it, you don’t pay tax on that amount, the recipients do. So give each one the list 3 million dollars annuity. That’s $100,000 a year (before taxes) for 30 years. You can still provide ‘gifts’ to some on the list….such as a home. Here’s another tax dodge: If you pay for someone’s education, they don’t have to pay tax on it as long as the payment is made to the college or university. If you give a considerable sum to anyone, they would be liable to pay a ‘gift tax.
Of course, it would be great to be totally ‘debt free’ and pay cash for stuff you buy. There are some ‘foolish things’ I might buy. Yet in comparison to the amount of the prize, this would be relatively small. A new Nikon or Canon digital single lens reflex camera would be on my list. (Along with lenses and accessories.)
There are charitable organizations that would be empowered to ‘do good works’ if given a chunk of money. The homeless population is a complex issue. Not so complicated that providing shelters would be a good start.
Setting up a scholarship fund to help kids go to school without getting buried with student debt would be a good place to put some money.
I would avoid making political contributions. Not that there aren’t good candidates and issues worthy of supporting. It just seems like a poor return on investment. Better to deal with social issues directly.
Then the next task would be to make investments with the two fold purpose: to make the fortune grow so it would never run out…and to provide employment for people in the community. In spite of the economic recovery that has been happening after the Wall Street Melt down, there are many people who still need a family-wage job. Certain would need to hire some expertise in what to invest in, yet decisions made can have far reaching effects.
One thing to avoid: buying something like a car or a boat brand new. There are many late model pre-owned units on the market at a fraction of the cost of brand new.
Yes, the odds of winning a big prize are very remote. Yet SOMEBODY will win. If not this week, maybe the next. There is no rhyme or reason behind who gets to win. It is a game of chance, not an investment. Therefore, I’ll buy just one ticket. (And be very careful not to lose it before the winning numbers are drawn!)
Seems like you’ve really thought this out, haha… Love it. Would be interesting to see how different my thoughts are now that it’s been 2+ years since this post went live and I have another little kid in the ranks :) Thanks for helping me go down memory lane!
Buy a soft-serve pooping rainbow unicorn!
Yup – sign me up!