The More Val Finds Change, the More She Stays the Same

Not so fast! You antipennyites aren't getting off the hook just yet! Even though I will announce right up front that I did NOT find a penny today. My tally for finding a penny on consecutive days stalls at four.

However...

I didn't really have a lot of faith in finding a penny today. Oh, I had HOPE! But I didn't feel like there was a high percentage chance of that actually happening. My hopes even lowered when I got to my first stop, Orb K, and saw that my favorite parking space in front next to the handicap walkway was taken. There was a space on the other side of the car that was in it, and that space was even big enough. But there was a creeper standing in front of it, up against the metal mesh box that holds the propane tanks.

Val is not one to seek out creepers or weirdos. I did not want to park there, a few feet from that guy. I don't know what he was doing, but there was a shopping cart next to him full of white plastic bags. I went on down the main row, having also noticed that around the corner, where I found a penny one day on the sidewalk, there was a gray SUV parked in my way. Still, I could have squeezed into that first space next to the sidewalk. But the guy was sitting in his SUV, so I didn't. I went past him, skipped a space, and pulled in.

I don't mind a little longer walk. It gives my knees time to loosen up. And I had the front end of T-Hoe up against the curb, to hold onto when I stepped down coming back. Going down a step is harder than going up! I grabbed a $50 winner (yes, I've been lucky lately) and opened up T-Hoe's door. You can bet I'd been scanning the parking lot for pennies as I drove around to that end. And the sidewalk, too, as I parked. Nothing.

What's that sparkle? A dime was waiting for me! Wasn't that curious? I'm a little disappointed that blog buddy Linda, who commented a couple days ago, when I found my third penny in a row, number 24, "I am thinking when you find your 25th penny, your luck will change and you will start finding quarters. Now that's a way to get rich quicker." Alas, Linda! You are only 2/5 the psychic that I imagined you to be! I found my 25th penny yesterday, and today I found A DIME!

Of course I said under my breath, "You've got to be kidding me!" And reached back into T-Hoe for my phone to take a picture. Then I snatched up that dime, a 2003 edition, because a different weirdo was headed my way! It wasn't the one standing in front of the propane tanks, but another one, in a red shirt, pushing that cart along the grass at the end of the building.

As I clicked T-Hoe's locks and started in, that weirdo made a beeline for my car. I looked over my shoulder, just to be sure he wasn't up to no good. I'd left my purse on the seat, as I usually do in Backroads, but never at Walmart. To be fair, there WAS a bunch of trash scattered around. I'd narrowly missed a 32 oz cup blowing around. Normally, I'd pick it up and take it to drop in the trash on the way in. But I was excited by the dime, and nervous about the creeper and the weirdo.

EITHER ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE NABBED MY DIME!

Anyhoo...that's really all there is to that story. Th weirdo picked up the trashy cup, the creeper blocked the sidewalk trying to make a guy sign a petition, and I lost on my tickets. But I found a DIME, by cracky! I don't seem to be getting rich in a hurry, but if I've switched to dimes, at least I can make pennyillionaire in 1/10 the time.
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Now, for the antipennyites and dimescoffers...

My luck at finding pennies and winning scratch-off tickets? It's just a matter of being at the right place and the right dime. Heh, heh! See what I did there? I crack myself up sometimes!

I'm a little put-out by the antics of Waterside Mart. Last month, they sold a $4000 winner, on a Golden Ticket, and NOT to ME! I buy the Golden Ticket regularly. I buy it at Waterside Mart. But no, they had to go and sell it to somebody NOT ME!

It's not like that ticket was halfway across the state, where I don't travel, where I'd never have a chance of buying it. Nope. I was right in my front side yard about seven miles away! At Waterside Mart, where I stop once a week when mailing the boys' letters on Friday mornings. And sometimes twice, if I've got business at the bank or credit union. It's like Even Steven stole Diet Coke right out of my mouth! Allowed that winning ticket to go to someone NOT ME.

AND, today at the gas station chicken store, as I was cashing in a $40 winner (only won $10 back for my trouble), the Man Owner shared a story with me. Seems a man had been there earlier this morning, and bought three tickets. A variety. A Golden Ticket, a Cash Spectacular, and a Taxes Paid, all tickets that I buy, AT the gas station chicken store, right in a line across the front row of their ticket case...and won $100, $50, and $100.

If he found a penny or a dime on his way in, I don't want to know.