Most of us have "played the game", so to speak... we've imagined, discussed, and even toyed with the idea...

What would you do with a sudden, HUGE cash windfall from a lottery or the like? What would you do if you suddenly had millions to play with?

I'm serious! I'm asking!

Me?

Okay, my Lotto numbers have come up and I'm now $25million richer. (Not that this has happened, but let's pretend...)

In Canada, this would mean it's tax free (woo-hoo!), BUT I cannot claim it anonymously... they make you take a photo for press releases and do an interview.

So, let's go with this... Here's my twelve-step program...

Step One: I'd head to a lawyer... even before picking up the prize money. This would be to ensure that if, God forbid, anything happened to me, that the money in total would go to my wife and kid. Yup, I'd be updating (well, creating,) a will... just in case.

Step Two: Once the money is collected and safe in the bank, I would FIRST book a hotel suite in my home town (Toronto) under an assumed name for a few days... this would allow me to escape from phone calls and silliness at home... Granted, I'd scoot past home to grab SOME stuff and pets, but otherwise, I'd be abandoning ship for a week or so to figure out my next few steps. (I'd pay off our family debts... less than $10,000.00 in total... so add about $10,000.00 for hotel and a tiny bit of "mad money" and $20,000.00 would be burned through.)

Step Three: Allot a specific amount for CLOSE friends and immediate family... not enough for them to "retire and live a life of Paris Hilton" on, but enough to pay off mortgages, debts, and (if one isn't already in their ownership,) buy a (normal) home outright plus just enough for a small amount of niceties... like a vacation or a car. Distribute this money ASAP. (The amounts should not exceed $300,000.00 per family... and with us, that would be about $1.8million in total.)

Step Four: Allot a specific amount of money for charities. List our favourite ones, and divide the money equally between them. No more, no less. (Let's say $1million.)

Step Five: Through a major bank, set-up an RSP (retirement savings plan) with $4million... this way, if God forbid, we blow everything, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of our golden years.

Step Six: Deposit enough for each one of my stepdaughters to do two things... Achieve a good University education and buy a home outright... but "dribble" the money to them through a trust. This doesn't mean I wouldn't spoil them with gifts, but it would secure them for life and allow them to be self-sufficient and independent. Of course, if they CHOSE to not take up the education and blow the money and house, well... yeah, I'm a bit of a hard-ass... I'd let 'em suffer a bit... and the gravy train would not be as "bountiful" as they might assume. I wouldn't let them starve, but I'd let 'em survive and not much beyond that. (This would be about $500,000 per kid... so $1.5million)

Step Seven: Buy three homes for my wife and I... one in Toronto, one in the Niagara region, and one in the Midlands or South of England. (On a rough estimate, I'd say about $7million in TOTAL. - including furnishings...)

Step Eight: Through a large brokerage, deposit $5million into diversified, low-risk investments... try to use the income generated to be our spending money for life... well, until the RSP is ready to be used.

Step Nine: Give $2million to our paranormal studies organization and put an accountant in charge of ensuring it funds projects and whatnot through a "trust fund" in investments and interest-building capital...

Step Ten: Give myself and Sue $300,000 "mad money" for big toys... obviously a bus or two... and cars... and whatever else we can squeeze out of three-hundred really big ones.

Step Eleven: TRAVEL!!!! (Allot $280,000.00 for the travel budget to round the number...)

Step Twelve: Put the last $1,000,000.00 in a high-yield savings account... to be left lone except for extreme emergencies...

So, there went $25,000,000.00...

Okay, that was long winded... what would YOU do with that kind of scratch?

Use the "comments" section below to tell us!

Quick Note: Tomorrow, we will be bidding adieu to our current renter, Drivin' Barefoot... if you can, take a second or two to visit his blog!

This means Sue will probably be doing the next two blog posts!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our pixel ad site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

For a while now, I've posted the "The usual last note on the old blog..." with the standard beg...

Well, I'm still going to add a wee tag like that to the end of the posts here... but I'm modifying it in a way...

You see, I noticed that you readers prefer the whackier or more poignant posts... the paranormal post, the "life in general" posts, and the pop-culture posts and whatnot are what most people prefer having to read... rather than the busly stuff... (okay, with the exception of things like The Magic Bus or The Green Bus...)

So, in a vain effort to make things better for even those only here for 30 seconds in a "BlogMad" or "BlogExplosion" hit-and-run, I'm going to limit my "obsession" with getting the family dream off the ground posts to only if there's legitimate news or something that I think (hope?) might be of interest to all... and simply add the following (which will be between my wonderful dividers... It's wordier, I admit... but it will save me from posting my "pleas" as often as I used to...

So, without further adieu...

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our pixel ad site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...