Week in Review

I swear that once upon a time I had a good experience at Lowes, but for the life of me I can't imagine when it was, or how it was possible. Even when I know exactly what I want, know the price before entering, and know where it's kept on the shelf, I still end up waiting in line at the single register they have open while the cashier shoots daggers at the customer for even daring to question the price on an item. Finally it was my turn.... I must admit, things had been going well up to that point. Got a price on a formica pattern I plan to buy, browsed the elec aisle to see what might catch my eye, visited the flooring dept to see what VCT they carried as really that's the whole reason I went in (note: they carry none) and picked up a "special order return" coil of formica that, at 20 bucks, seemed like I could put to use on a long workbench. In fact, the color was "stop light red". The woman in the kitchen dept assisted in looking up the contents of the order on her terminal. Two 4x8 sheets of the stuff were ordered by accident, and here they were wrapped up with factory twine (and one chipped).

Of course when I went to check out, that being the lone item in my cart, the cashier said they'd have to charge 20 bucks a sheet. Forty bucks on impulse formica seemed a tad steep and I was still surprised they'd price them individually, if they would only sell them "as ordered", but whatever. So I said I'd take ONE. Another woman in a blue smock, temper a'flarin', exclaimed they would only sell them together! (so why price them individually?) OK, I said, and took the giant coil out of the cart, set it down, and walked out. Good luck trying to move 64 sq.ft of stop-light-red laminate, Lowes. 

Moved on to Home Depot and the experience was pain-free (for once). Still odd how they had 20+registers when the store originally opened but culled them down to 2 self-checks and 2 manned registers....going so far as to rip out ALL THE OTHERS (including the jeffries tubes!)

And like clockwork, Menards was packed. Now everyone knows I'm a Menards whore, but that has little bearing on why half a dozen checkouts are always hoppin' when I visit. Picked up the drop-ceiling mat'ls, a gross of galvanized fittings of all types, seethed in the electrical aisle, and finally bought a box of VCT (that's heavier than a magnavox).

What's all this VCT business? I need to make up my mind on patterns and colors in both the kitchen and washer/rec area. Whole lotta' square feet to consider...and some of the colors I plan on using are discontinued (but I've found sources). Actually, I've been all-around town sleuthing color codes from sample chips to figure it all out. And the ideas for patterns, oye. Anyway....

Just cracked open the first beer of the week, enjoying some pepper jack and club cracker knockoffs, and generally relaxing for the first time in a long while. The box store trifecta and a lack of sleep really kicked my ass. Did I mention Ben and Don assisted in moving 12 washers, dryers and an avocado range this week from "the basement" to the lodge? Or that tech support at work has screwed over my computer deployment repeatedly this week? Course I can't complain about the weather.

Time for another Schlitz!