Cosmos…I love these plants. You drop
some seeds and they grow and grow and grow. And, then a big plus, they reseed
themselves so you don’t have to. This fall I plan to put this mulch mixture on
to the remainder of my flowerbeds…some already have it. I’m going to look for
some Cosmos seed packets and sprinkle them all over the place. We’ll see how
they do come next spring.
I mentioned a couple of posts ago that
I’d completed a HUGE project. Yep, totally done, including the trip to the
bank. I’m sure you’ve heard there’s a coin shortage. Well, if there’s a penny
shortage, I took care of that today. And, I must say, it was a lot of effort
for a small return. I think if I were being paid to do it, I would have made like
a buck an hour, if that.
Eons ago, I brought home a big five-gallon
blue glass water bottle. Once before this it was full of pennies which John
rolled to help pay for the &*&*^)#%# boat he absolutely had to buy. Not
only that, he conned his friends into helping him because he got to choose what
they did for work night at his house. You host, you choose the project. Usually
that meant they hung out in the garage, got high and told lots of lies about a
huge variety of subjects. Well, until those pennies hit the bank, they actually
had to work rolling those coins in those little paper sleeves. If memory
serves, John harvested about $250.00.
Over time, John continued to put
pennies in this now empty jar. When he died, it had been full for quite some
time, and I mean full as in clear up to the very top…another penny would have
fallen on the floor. I don’t know if John’s memory of the previous rolling
project, laziness, lack of need or whatever, but he had no intention of rolling
those pennies…EVER!!!
So, once again a John project became
my project. People did suggest I take them to Coinstar, but do you have any
idea how heavy pennies actually are if you want to take them someplace? I would
have had to make multiple trips and only received maybe $20 or $30 each time,
if that. I wasn’t even sure how I was going to get the pennies out of the jar
without breaking the jar.
Haley and AJ solved the empty the jar
problem. They were able to slowly and carefully tip it on its side. Then Haley
took a table knife and by plunging it into the jar repeatedly got the pennies
to come out. What a tedious process. Haley didn’t do the entire jar. I took out
the huge yellow Tupperware bowl I got in 1966 (haven’t we all had one of those?)
and would get out enough pennies to fill it half way, and then, it was almost
too heavy to pick up and carry. Once I did get the jar more than half empty,
Haley did pick it up and shake out the remainder, or at least I think that’s
what she did, but I wasn’t with her when she did it. And, Haley got a bonus…the
empty glass jar.
I don’t know how many days and
evenings I spent watching TV and rolling those damn pennies. I did have this
little plastic cylinder into which you put the pennies. Some times they’d go in
crooked and then you’d have to shake the cylinder or tap it in the bowl to get
the pennies to fall out. When full, you shake it and any pennies amounting to
more than 50 cents would come out this little slot. Then, empty the holder,
open a paper sleeve and input the 50 pennies and fold over the ends so they don’t
fall out. There are penny sleeves that are already bent on one end so the shape
is round. Those work splendidly because you slide them into the plastic cylinder,
turn it upside down and the pennies slide into the holder. Unfortunately, Office
Max only had one package of those. Another woman told me they were cheaper at
the dollar store. I tried there, but you got all denominations, not just penny
ones.
There must have been at least five trips to the various banks to ask for penny wrappers, as many as you’ll give me is what I said each time. You’d think the folks working in a bank would have some idea of how many pennies a five-gallon jar would hold. I do have to admit on the last trip, I received more than enough and now have a surplus. But guess what, I don’t plan to ever ever ever save another penny the remainder of my life.
Because of the weight, I wasn’t able
to put all the rolled pennies in one box. I had five boxes and a couple of
those were almost too heavy for me to lift…my left bicep is sore. I did manage
to get them into the back of my Rav4, plus the hand truck so I could cart them
into the bank in one trip. Now, I have a credit card with Bank of America, but
I have to have an account into which the pennies can be deposited. I’m with
BECU, and you have to find a BECU branch that has tellers…a little journey to
Everett.
So, I’ve jaunted to Everett and back. Oh my goodness, what a busy place the BECU bank was. They had two entrances. I parked by the first one, not knowing about the other entrance, loaded the hand truck with the boxes and went toward the door. An employee stopped me and asked what I wanted to do. I was told I had to go around the corner of the building and get in the teller line. So, I did. I’m sure I looked a sight pulling/pushing this hand truck with boxes of pennies.
When I finally got to a teller, I
asked her if she was really strong. I was able to slide three of the boxes
through the little window. A young man came to help and he put one of the
larger ones over the top and carried the other one too big for the window
around and to the teller. I had counted and put a post-it in each box with the
number, but she had to count them herself. I should have looked at the clock to
see how long it took.
Only one of the boxes had the rolls
laying down. The other boxes, I stood them upright. Those were easier for her
to count and she used a sharpie to mark each roll so she didn’t get confused
and have to begin again. When she was all done, I had a total of $264.00 to go
into my savings account. Like I said above, I probably worked for $1.00/hour,
or less, rolling those damn pennies.
Given my receipt, I rolled my empty
hand truck back to the car and came home where I had lunch and finished this
post. And, oh my goodness, but I feel so wealthy now…however am I going to
spend that $264.00??? Or, whatever am I going to do when I watch TV now???