Can I blame pregnant brain even though I'm not pregnant myself?

Last night I thought I'd pay daycare tuition early so we wouldn't forget later. I made out the check and then stuck it under the flap of the box of diapers we were taking to daycare the next day.

After the usual bumpy, windy stroller journey with the box of diapers hanging from the stroller handle, can you guess what? Yes -- the check had disappeared!

I retraced my steps a few blocks on my way to the bus stop, but rather than go the whole way back and be late to work (with little hope of finding the check), I sucked it up and called in a stop on the check. $30 for a 6-month hold. Sigh. This is the first time in YEARS that I've paid a dime for banking, besides fees to transfer money to AS's mom.

Sitting on the bus after I hung up with the bank, I was grimly amused that I'd paid the "stupid tax." Then I thought, no, the stupid tax is lottery tickets. Then I though, hey! I haven't played Powerball in a while!

So I stopped at a convenience store and bought 5 lottery tickets. LOL. Suggestible much?

At least the store owner saved me $5. I asked for 5 Powerball tickets because that's the game I usually play (when I do play, which isn't very often), and he said I should play MegaMillions instead, because it's only $1 per ticket and the jackpot is really big now. I said OK, but then thought huh? I thought Powerball was $1 per ticket.

I had to Google Powerball price increase online. Apparently in January they doubled the price of a Powerball ticket from $1 to $2. I guess I haven't played in at least 3 months, because I had no idea.

Seems extreme! I usually like to buy a couple different sets of numbers each time, but now, it would cost $6 to play my occasional 3 numbers, $10 to play my very rare splurge of 5 numbers. Doesn't sound like a harmless couple of bucks anymore. Guess I'm switching to MegaMillions.

Even though I always snicker at myself for paying the stupid tax, I like playing the lottery occasionally, because it lets me fantasize about what I'd do with unimaginable wealth.

But, I feel like I need to do something fiscally smart to make up for my silliness and poor planning today. Hmmm...