At last!

Wahoo! Hurray! To the tune of: Zippidy-Do- Da...

Zippidy Do Da, Zippidy- Aye!

My oh my, I can finally say...

I'm the winner...oh what a day!

Donny Osmond won, and I hit payday!!

I have been the orchestrator of quite a few 'pools' for a number of years. It keeps friends connected, helps to pass the cold winter months, and regardless of whether or not you watch the shows...shares the joy of winning among many people. Thusfar, I had never won! Lady luck rewarded some people quite often, but not me...not once. Until Donny Osmond won this season's 'Dancing with the Stars' contest. The spell has been broken. The losing streak is over. A new winner has been announced...me!

I have had a brush or two with success. One year, after the names were pulled from a hat[ it's a random draw], I looked at the list and noticed that I had inadvertantly left out a friend who has always been a participating member. Darn! So I whited out my name, doubled up with Flo, and gave Linda my spot. I have lost track of how many times she has won the prize. You guessed it: She won the money! With my spot! I could not believe it. And Flo asked that I not do that again. She viewed me as a jinx! My own mother wanted to be on her own. [She has won American Idol twice.] Do I have the worst luck ever?

'America's Got Talent's winner gets to be a 'Las Vegas Show ' and when the finale got down to the final 5 contestants, I had 'Recycled Percussion'...the best of the five in terms of starring in Las Vegas. I was secretly doing the dance of joy and thinking...'finally!!'

Did they win? No. The chicken catcher off -key singer won. Again, I could not believe it.

So, when this year's 'Dancing with the Stars' was about to begin, I called my brother's office to see if Carol and Co. wanted be a part of this round. And Carol joked,

"Only if we can have Donny Osmond!"

"You know it's the luck of the draw, and that's the way it always works."

Well, out of the 16 contestants, I drew Donny Osmond. For a mere nano-second, I considered trading him with Carol's pick knowing that it would make her day. Wait a minute...Been there...done that...and lost out in the only time I would have won. Since I try to learn from my mistakes, I kept Donny. And, holy mackeral, he won! Which means I won! At last!

Sorry, Carol.