holiday shopping.....

I mentioned Friday that I had to do some shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I ran into K-Mart to pick up a few things I needed for the outside Christmas lights. Not only were the lines long (10 lines, but only 5 were open - common K-Mart problem), but the three ladies in front of me committed a busy-shopping-day faux paux - they all wrote checks!

Here's my stance on writing checks - I HATE TO WRITE CHECKS! My handwriting has deteriorated drastically over the years. I can make anything look great on a computer, but put a pen in my hand and I'm lost. I can sign my name fairly legibly, but that's about it. I print everything except for my signature. If I can/want to take my time, my printing is very neat and nice, but that rarely happens. Plus, we pay almost everything online, so that cuts down the need to write checks.

So there I was, standing in line with the items in hand. 5 lines, anywhere from 3 to 8 people deep in each one. I got in the shortest line (ALWAYS a bad idea), and thought I'd move right along. BUT NO! All three women used their checkbooks to pay! And not only that, but they all waited until all the items had been scanned, THEN they reached into their Glad-Hefty-bag-sized purses to pull out their checkbooks! If they had started writing their checks while the cashier scanned the items, it would have moved the line along much faster. But I guess that would make too much sense.

I love Christmas, and I even love Christmas shopping, so don't accuse me of being a grinch. Christmas shopping is difficult enough without adding extra time to the shopping process by writing checks. Use a debit card or a credit card. Ever notice how quickly those people get through the lines?

I also did something yesterday that I try to avoid as much as possible - the bride and I visited the evil empire, Wal Mart. Yes, I'm one of those people who can't stand Wal Mart. Not only do I not like their business practices, but I can't stand a place where I feel like I'm being herded rather than waited on. Yesterday, the line we got into wasn't very long (again, ALWAYS a bad idea; why do I keep falling for that?), but the ladies in front of us (and the cashier) were very slow. Then, one of the purchases was tax-exempt. Once I heard this, I loaded things back into the cart and switched lines. Good thing, because the cashier didn't know how to do tax-exempt purchases.

While I was off, I started growing a goatee. Unfortunately, the hair on my face has the same density as the hair on the top of my head. The good thing about that is that small insects can be found if they attempt to hide in my hair. The bad thing is that my goatee starts out strong after a couple of days, then ends up looking like I've fogotten to wash my chin and upper lip after bobbing for apples in chocolate milk. Yeah, pretty picture indeed. I guess the thing that bothers me the most is the "clever" comments people come up with when they notice the new growth. "Are you in a Christmas play, or is this just a new look?" My favorite? "Hey, you growing a goatee?" No, I just bobbed for apples in chocolate milk and forgot to wash my chin and upper lip. Makes me think of Bill Engvall's line - "here's your sign."

Only 26 shopping days left until Christmas.....