Several years ago, TV Stevie bought me a nice tin bank. It's shaped like a British telephone kiosk. I keep it on my desk and toss my loose change into it. This morning, however, I couldn't. It was full! Time to dig out the wrappers for rolling coins. My "secret" writing account is now $37.50 richer. Not bad.
As much as I enjoy the "found money," there are things about rolling coins that irk me.
- The icky metallic smell that won't come off your fingers
- $4.90 in dimes
- $9.75 in quarters
- $1.95 in nickles
- Pennies
Pennies. Not just 49 of them, either. Thanks to my dad, whom I love very much, I am chronically unable to roll pennies without checking the backs of them, looking for this:
The "Wheat Penny." This is what the backs of pennies looked like when I was a child. At some point, the "wheat" was replaced by the Lincoln Memorial, so numismatists everywhere started pulling "wheat pennies" out of their pockets.
I have a slew of them. Don't know what I'll ever do with them, but I have them.
This morning's tally:
- $2.50 rolled pennies
- 1 wheat penny
- 49 unrolled pennies
It's enough to make a woman weep.
So what annoying chronic behaviors did your parents instill in you?
5 comments:
Being a neat freak. My mom's a neat freak. I'm a neat freak. And sometimes it's exhausting. And I have to vacuum before I write. I hate it. I hate vacuuming. But it's something I HAVE to do or I go crazy. Once it's done, I can write. If I don't do it first, major writers block until it's done.
Nancy,
You can come to my house and vacuum any time you want. Really.
My craziness about driving on the highway is from my mom. Highways make her nervous. Highways make me nervous. I swear my mom knows the "back-way" to every place because she refuses to get on the highway if she can avoid it. I refuse to get on the highway if I can avoid it. If I can get there taking the streets, that's the way I go.
Yasmine:
I'm the same way -- from my dad, too! My folks have finally learned to tell us at least half an hour earlier than the true time they want us somewhere -- because TV Stevie hasn't been on time to anything since I've known him. He thinks if we're supposed to be some place at noon, that's what time we leave the house. And it runs in his family. It's really funny to hear him and his sister grouse about how the other can never get going.
Gwyn:
I hear ya. Makes TV Stevie crazy, too. "Why don't you just get on 690?"
I don't know if I get it from my dad or not (my mom didn't drive until I was almost ready to start driving), though. I love taking "the scenic route."
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