Never too busy.........

I know I talk about how busy I am with every single (very occasional) post. I'm sorry.  It's the reality of life right now.  However, as I discovered yet again the other night, I'm NEVER too busy to say something stupid.

It happened while I was "speed shopping" at BJs (our local warehouse store) one night last week.  I say "speed shopping" because I have exactly one hour to get to BJs from Sawyer's basketball practice location, shop, unload those gargantuan containers of olives and Lysol onto the belt, pay the lady, wait (not so patiently) for the emotionless high schooler to "check over" my receipt (like he could ever see that three-pack of panties underneath the three cases of bottled water and the ten-pound sack of oranges!), load all of that into the van with the skill of an Olympic Jenga player so nothing moves on the thirty-minute ride home, and get back to Sawyer's basketball practice on time so he's not in tears and standing alone under the street light (You think I'm kidding?  Ask him!)

Anyway.........I was navigating those aisles with my usual speed and precision when I rounded the corner and almost ran smack dab into an older gentleman who was kneeling on the floor loading his "flat bed cart" with 25-pound bags of sugar.  Normally, I wouldn't say a word, but something about his cart struck me as odd, and I'm pretty sure it was the ten, one-gallon bottles of vinegar and the equal number of 25-pound bags of sugar he was buying.  And so, without thinking, I asked.....

"Wow, sir, that's a lot of sugar and vinegar!!  Are you making pickles and jam?"

Yep.  That was my question.

After a slight pause, he looked up at me from under his glasses, more than a little annoyed, and said
"Nope.  I'm using these ingredients to fertilize my corn."

My first thought:  "Well, of COURSE you are!  WHAT. THE. HECK???"  But I smiled and nodded politely while mumbling something like "Good luck!" and started to move along.

And, as I walked away, I heard that same annoyed and now totally deadpan voice say "Really, ma'am, that would be an awful lot of pickles."

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Why, yes, sir.  Yes, it would.