Rainy days and Mondays always get me.....wet! Its about time we had a rainy day, but personally I'd prefer it to come while I am at work. I know, beggars can't be choosers...and there ARE good points to rainy days I suppose:

1. time to blog & read blogs
2. laundry - wash & fold
3. pay bills
4. finish up pending projects (yeah, right!)
5. drink coffee (yum!)
6. hot tea & buttered toast (yum! yum!)
7. umbrellas
8. puddles
9. dry shoes
10. dust rinsed from the car (yahoo!)

Today was an excellent day for testing of patience...at Wal-Mart! I wandered around in the store during a downpour, taking my time, no big hurry to get anywhere at the moment, just picking up a few things for a gift basket I am putting together, but when I was ready to go, I was ready to go. You know the drill: long check lines - even in the "express/self check". I went to one, peeked over just to check my chances at the adjacent aisle and thought "nah, this one will do". Cute little boy to keep me entertained with his mommy and daddy, and I wasn't in a 'rush' so to speak, but when I saw the guy in front of the family checking out, I had to look twice.

The register asked him to deposit cash or choose payment type. He began to deposit his cash - from a plastic zip-lock bag - one penny after another. "Oh my gosh" I thought to myself, then I turned to the couple behind me with a smile and said "He's paying with coins", rolling my eyes in the guy's direction. "You're kidding" she said, and I moved aside so she could see. Her boyfriend said, "Well, I've been there. I've been in college with no money and had to scrape the bottom of the couch". I nodded in agreement, turned back to see the guy finish with the coinage and proceed to a dollar bill, of course needing to straighten it out before the machine would eat it. The couple in front of me were smiling, too, watching the coinage and bills. The guy finished up and left when the family stepped up to the screen and announced: "Four Dollars! His total purchase was just $4!", then he began scanning his items -and again, more than the 'express' line allows for - but what the heck. Bless the coin and dollar guy - I hope he's ok.

When the family guy got ready to pay, he turned and asked if anyone had a few coins to spare. We smiled as if to say, "get on with it already". The girl behind me said, "well, at least I got to get a good read out of a magazine while we waited" and I said, "that's the way to think positively"...and smiled to myself and thought: I should have stepped up and offered to pay for that guy's items! It wasn't so bad to have to wait - at least I was dry and being entertained - and cool...getting ready to head out into the rain again. Guess I can stand a little rain. :-)