A Powerball ticket had been hanging on Carol Gildehaus and her husband’s fridge since early October. But it wasn’t until Nov. 15 when Gildehaus, of Augusta, used her laptop to check the ticket’s numbers on the Missouri Lottery website.

“I had the day off and needed to get groceries,” she said. “I saw the ticket on the fridge. We don’t play a lot, so we had forgotten to check it. I matched the numbers, and it said we had won $50,000. Then, I yelled down at my husband to come upstairs and look at this. I couldn’t believe it.”

And since she had the day off, they drove straight to Lottery headquarters in Jefferson City to confirm the ticket was really worth $50,000.

“I just thought, ‘I’m not sure of anything until I get up here and you tell me it is a winner,’ ” said Gildehaus. “I can’t believe we won $50,000!”

Gildehaus said this will make the decision of retirement easier for her. They had been discussing when she could retire, but wasn’t sure when would be the right time.

“I have been a nurse for 13 years, and I love it,” she said. “But I would still want to put most of it away and work part time. This will be a helper.”

The couple purchased their Powerball ticket at Fas-Trip, 904 E. Fifth St., in Washington.

Powerball is a $2 per play multistate Draw Game that features jackpots starting at $40 million. Powerball drawings are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:59 p.m. Research all current and past winning numbers at MOLottery.com.