Random Snippets with Single Serving Friends

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted anything. I had my sister and ex-roommate, Nina, over for the weekend and they took up a lot of my time; plus I wanted something fun to write about and me, reminiscing about old times with friends, isn't exactly fun for anyone but the people involved. Anyhow, I have to comment on how chatty random people are when you're waiting for something - in a line, for a dryer at the Laundromat, while you're pumping gas, etc. It must be that people are so bored with just standing around and immersed in their own thoughts (which can be frightening) that they seek out others to talk with, shoot the bullshit.

Big Di and I went to Big Lots yesterday so Big Di could check out the lawn furniture. She recently moved into a house with a pool, but there isn't anywhere to sit in the backyard if she decides to throw a party, so we went scouting. Big Lots may seem like a crappier version of Kmart, but they have some great deals and not bad products. I used to think that they only carried generics, but yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that they carried my "Clear and Free All" detergent and the color safe Clorox bleach. I went to Target the other day to buy these products and they were $6 and $10 respectively. At Big Lots they were $3.50 and $6. That's a great saving.

But you guys don't want to read about me promoting a store most of you would never step foot in, onwards to the point of this blog...I walked into the store with only the intention of "window shopping", not even bothering to grab a cart or basket (even though the friendly bum out front offered me one) and ended up with my arms over flowing to the point where I was dropping things in the aisle. After a nice store clerk handed me a dropped soap container, I headed outside to obtain the previously mentioned cart, much to the amusement of the bum and store clerk.

While Di and I lingered in the checkout line, with our filled to the rim shopping cart, we commented on just coming into the store to look at furniture, not exactly buy anything. Our conversation caught the ear of the lady in front of us, arms full of products, who giggled and said, "You can never just come into Big Lots and not get an armful of things." Di and I agreed. Since the lines in Big Lots are always long (they only ever seem to have two cashiers and about 20 people in line), you have a lot of time to waste, to chat with random strangers.

Di and my new found friend went on to talk about how she loves certain products and that she'll always find what she needs here. Once she got bored with promoting Big Lots, clearly we were hooked as we were in the store with a cart full of stuff, she moved on to talk about her new computer dying and the fact that you should never let your computer automatically update; it takes forever and makes your computer run slower. We got an in depth opinion of what she downloaded (like 20 apps) and how her computer now runs at a snail pace now.

Thank god the line moved at 5 mph; learning computer maintenance 101 from a fellow customer was enlightening, but a little too much for the long wait. Luckily our turn was finally up at the register and after saying goodbye to us, the lady left. I think she was happy to just talk to someone about her issues. It didn't matter that she didn't know us, just that we listened.

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I went to the Laundromat with Little Di this morning and there were two older women there doing laundry. After one of them founds Little Di's pillowcase in her dried clothes, we all started to chat. Apparently green - any deviation of it, is a popular color as the lady's friend accidentally started to pulls Di's clothes out of the dryer and place them with her friends. She'd just seen green through the dryer door and assumed that all the greens things were hers and her friends. It turned out that every dryer with the two lady's, Di's, and my clothes contained something notably green. Small world.

We joked about all our stuff looking similar and how I ended up with a random man's sock and a dog t-shirt in my clothes, while they ended up with Di's sheets and Di got someones t-shirt. It's like people go to a public Laundromat, wash their clothes and then leave. They don't check to see if they've left something behind. Can people be in that much of a hurry? It's also sad that I didn't check in the washers before I used them, that might have been where the mysterious new clothes I acquired came from. I also lost 2 socks - I blame the sock monster (who is definitely real and is to blame for everything lost, not just socks). It's an interesting experience when you go to the Laundromat; you never know what you'll lose and what you'll gain.