The Penny Angels were participating in all kinds of sporting events today - from basic parking lot finds, to sinkronized underwater retrievals and even deep trench diving. Several times I challenged them to deliver - and they did!
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The morning began with a Starbucks coffee meeting with our oldest son and his fiancée. (Yesterday was morning coffee with our youngest son). I don’t drink coffee, but I had ulterior motives. Brian can fix anything.
This past week the exterior handle on my truck broke and I was having to crawl through the passenger side to get in. Very awkward. After coffee, Brian took apart the door panel in the parking lot of Starbucks.
We needed replacement parts so we tossed the door panel behind the seat and headed for the nearest Toyota dealership. I said, “Penny Angels I wish I had some zip close bags for all these little loose parts.”
It is Sunday and the dealership was closed. So we headed to an auto parts place instead. Brian managed to use standard parts to make the door work. He is awesome. He does not like people in his way, so of course I went penny finding while he was working. There were no pennies to be found in the parking lot or in the store. His fiancée was asking about penny finding and I was determined to show her how this worked. I walked across the street to a parking lot and did a Singsong: “Penny Angels, Penny Angels, what do you say? How about a coin for Celeste today?” I spotted one little gold sphere, 4 new zip baggies (see previous paragraph) and then a penny all within a few moments! Talk about manifesting! (Coin #1)
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After all that work, Doc and I were hungry, so we stopped for a romantic Valentine’s brunch -- at Carl’s Jr. While Doc used the bathroom, I searched the drive through. Found a penny deeply embedded in a concrete crack. Lots of dirt; needed to pry it out. (Coin #2). Then as Doc placed our order, there was a penny by his left foot. (Coin #3).
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Next we went to school to work for a few hours. I graded some student exams and then sent Valentine’s emails to them. J Doc and I decided to take a quick drive up to the Kellogg Mansion on campus. Because the Mansion has Spanish style architecture, we took a few pictures for our meeting with the architect tomorrow. That home has been the site of a few special events in our lives: we took our engagement photographs at the Mansion 29?? years ago, it was the site of Doc’s surprise party when he earned his PhD, plus it has been the venue for many other activities. Therefore, we might be OK with that kind of feel for our new home.
Doc insisted upon driving through the upper parking lot at school to look for coins. He said it would be a good omen regarding the Spanish architecture if we found a coin there. He almost immediately found a Sit-N-Find penny! I was impatient to get home and finish some of the projects I was supposed to complete on Friday and Saturday. Doc kept driving around the parking lot! When he drove one row for the SECOND time, I was not happy. I told him to push on the gas pedal and leave NOW! And then I immediately shouted, “STOP! Penny!” I hopped out to collect the coin and then said, “Now go!” and followed quickly by, “STOP! Penny!”. I hopped out to gather a penny and then another one! “OK, Now it’s time to go home.” “Stop! Another one!”
Talk about conflicting instructions! What is a poor husband supposed to do? (Coins #4-8).
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We stopped at Circuit City for a little CD/cassette player. They only had one model and I was disappointed. But Doc found a penny in the aisle where we were shopping and I found a penny as we were leaving. (Coins #9&10).
The drive through lane at the Carl’s Jr. across the parking lot was vacant. Penny Fever! Gotta look. Penny found (Coin #11).
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At the next shopping center I found a nickel as the car in the parking stall next to ours was leaving. Yippee! Finally some silver! Doc asked, “But why not pick up the penny here as well?” (Coins #12&13)
I went left to Michael’s craft supply as Doc went right to the CVS where he collected two pennies (Coins #14&15). We met back at Trader Joe’s to do our shopping. As we paid for our items, there was a penny under Tim, the cashier. So I handed Tim a Penny Card, told him the story, thanked him for being part of Day #422 and then walked around the counter to collect the penny. (Coin #16).
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At the next shopping center Doc hopped out of the van to find his nickel. (Coin #17). It almost seemed like he was trying to beat my fast retrieval time from the previous shopping center. We were both laughing. The score was even at that point. We each had a nickel and 7 pennies. The race was getting intense … we were neck and neck …
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Doc spotted a coin as we entered the grocery store. A dime! As we were checking out, I saw a penny under the coin return chute. I tried to get it, but only managed to push it further under the tray. Tried again and a dime emerged instead! So now we each had a dime and the score was STILL tied! This really was becoming quite an exciting competition! (Coins #18&19)
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As we were driving out of the parking lot I said to Doc, “We need a quarter to hit for the cycle”. Followed by “Quarter, Quarter, Quarter, Quarter….” To the Penny Angels. At the corner of the first major intersection, Doc swung into the 7-11. I searched the parking lot very carefully, but found nothing. Doc was right behind me and said, “Silver!” True. But it was a nickel, not the requested Quarter. No coins at all inside the store tonight. (Coin #20).
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I was disappointed. So close. So Doc pulled into the self-serve car wash which was right next to the 7-11 store. I told Doc I would just be a moment and quickly walked through three of the four bays (the 4th was occupied). I was firm with the Penny Angels. “Look. I don’t plan to leave here until I have today’s quarter. So please deliver it. Even if it is in one of the drain channels, I am determined to leave here with a quarter in hand!” A moment later I spotted a quarter in the far end of a drain channel. It was embedded in the mud. (Hit for the Cycle. Coin #21). I ran over to Doc and grabbed the chopsticks and the camera. He came over to take the photo and asked me why I didn’t pick up the 3 pennies and dime which were just laying there on the concrete? A much easier retrieval. He makes things look so easy sometimes! (Coins #22-25).
The newly found quarter and the chopsticks needed washing so I looked for a sink station at the car wash. Found one, but the sink had 4-5 inches of standing water and algae growing in it. Gross! I said, “Penny Angels, it would be just like you to have a penny in this muck and tease me.” Sure enough there was a penny! And then another one. Doc came over to see what I was doing. Neither one of us wanted to reach into that water, so we used the chopsticks. I scootched the coins up the side of the sink and then he grabbed them. Sinkronized Penny Finding! We collected three pennies and then the 4th one kept slipping away, but it revealed a nickel under the muck! We were working together to conquer these Finds. It was Valentine’s Night and we were being silly both IN SYNC and IN SINK! We fished 5 pennies and a nickel from the depths of that muck. (Coins #26-31).
I was ready to go home when Doc’s phone rang. So, he sat down on the concrete step in order to chit-chat. I was growing impatient. Doc had already searched the vacuum pump area, but I decided to walk it anyhow. I began by saying: “Hello Penny Angels. It is now dark out here and Doc has already searched this area. Therefore I don’t really expect to find a coin. However, it would make for a really good story and validation of all this craziness to my readers if you chose to deliver a penny against these odds.” Instantly something in front of me gleamed in the light of the street lamp. Yes, it was a shiny copper penny! Those Penny Angels love a good story. (Coin #32).
Total: 32 Coins P (24), N (4), D (3), Q (1) = $0.99
The Olympic Games are limited to Vancouver. Heavenly Games can be played anywhere.
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