Curiously, something just like this is happening to me this week.
Mrs Chance’s father died just a year ago. He died intestate (no will). He didn’t die suddenly (it was a LONG drawn out illness) but he never acknowledged that he was sick and never put his affairs in order.
I got stuck putting his finances and final bills in order. With his Army pension (he served in Korea) and 35 years working at a medium high level at FDA he’d accumulated about 1.2 million in cash and investments and a HUGE pension that my mother-in-law is getting.
Well, flash forward to a year later and his stuff has finally finished going through probate. Everything is settled. My mother in law tells us to come on over this weekend so she can give us our share of the estate.
???
Didn’t know we were getting anything. She’s the surviving widow. Our position was that she should take it all and go live it up. It’s not like we need the money. We both do pretty well for ourselves and can pay off the cars and mortgage and bills each month. We live a solid, middle-class life and are happy. But now this gets dropped on us.
So we’ve no idea what we’re all of a sudden getting. Just that when we mentioned a while back that we needed to put a new roof on the house she laughed and told us that we’d have more than enough to put TWO roofs on the place.
So the suspense is killing me. How much is it? Does Mother-in-Law Chance even know how much a roof costs? Does she know what two cost? Is it $250? or is it $250,000? Or is it somewhere in the middle?
Argh.
I know. Everyone should have my problems. But I just keep running through different plans. If it’s X I’ll put the new roof on. If it’s Y I’ll pay for Kate’s college education with that Virginia pre-pay system. If it’s Z I’ll do both and pay off the cars. If it’s AAA I’ll pay off the damn house and get drunk!
Wait, I’m married and I don’t drink. I guess I have to choose something else.
I’d pay off the bill for my wife’s tubal ligation. (That doesn’t count as spending it on someone else, because the surgery’s already taken place, and the debt is mine, not hers)
I’d probably save the rest for an eventual down payment on a house. Yeah, I’m totally boring.
If I weren’t boring, maybe I’d spend a little on a good drafting table, a light table, and a quality paper cutter (these run something like $500!) Also a new set of Schwan Carb Othello pastel pencils.
And I’d love to own some sort of dinosaur fossil.
And I’d build a large, custom crocodilian enclosure with heated pool and plenty of lush plants and get a chinese alligator, the cutest of crocodilians.
jarbabyj, honey . . . I got my round trip ticket to Berlin online for just over $600. I’m sure you won’t need $25,000 just to get that, some ball game tickets, a spa day, and a couch . . .
I’d buy myself a new car, pay somebody to give Kitt a good home, all-weekend tickets to two NASCAR events and their support races with garage passes on race day (Saturday and Sunday for a day race and Friday and Saturday for a night race) (I’d probably go to Richmond and Talladega), a pair of cowboy boots, and gas and food money for a road trip across the United States and part of Canada.
$1,500 Week in Chicago with Angel Girlfriend (we have lots of friends there; so we could save the grand on accomodation, except for two nights treating ourselves at the Drake)
Ten grand would pay for a hit man that I would send after my former manager.
Just kidding, it would go towards rebuilding my mustang into an awesome street racer. crate motor twin turbos, 4 wheel disk brakes, All Wheel Drive, independant suspension front and back, and custom rollcage and a trick street transmission.
Maybe a couple of nice handguns. .45 Acp, 44 mag, 9mm and .40S&W.
