Each year, "Teacher Appreciation Week" is observed during the month of May — and for one preschool teacher in Washington state, her "appreciation" came in the form of some good luck from the universe. 

A resident of Edmonds, Washington identified only as "J.C." stopped at a Safeway grocery store on May 11 to get coffee with her mother before a day of running errands, Washington's Lottery said in a May 31 press release. 

Edmonds is north of Seattle.

While at the store, J.C. bought a scratch-off lottery ticket at a vending machine, using $10 she'd won from another scratch-off ticket. 

J.C. then put the ticket for the "$200,000 Cash Stacks" scratch-off game in her purse, temporarily forgetting about it. 

Later that night, J.C. was watching TV when she remembered she had not yet scratched off the lottery ticket she purchased, said Washington's Lottery. 

"When she saw one of her numbers matched the winning number on the ticket for the $200,000 prize, she was in disbelief," said the lottery in a press release.

Not able to believe her own eyes, J.C. used Washington's Lottery app to check that she had indeed won the game's top prize — and for good measure, asked her mother to look at it as well.

"They both were speechless," said Washington's Lottery.

With her big win, J.C. told Washington's Lottery that she plans on buying herself a new car and traveling to Ireland, a place she's always wanted to visit. 

The $200,000 Cash Stacks game has one remaining $200,000 prize, said Washington's Lottery's website. 

Hundreds of thousands of other prizes, ranging from $10 to $500, are also up for grabs.

The overall odds of winning any sort of prize in the game are 1 in 3.43, said Washington's Lottery.

Washington's Lottery was created in 1982, said its website. 

Since that time, the lottery has generated more than $5 billion for various state programs, including the Washington College Grant and the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account, the website said.