Wow! Look what I got!

I got a late birthday gift last night from my sister. This thing is monstrous. It takes up my whole table. Now I just want to block something and I don't have anything to block! When I'm finished with Vine and Trellis (which should be soon), it's going to have to go on the floor. It's too big even for this board and I bought those blocking wires to do it with. They haven't come yet but I'm expecting them this week. The good news is that I will have that finished for the beach which was the plan.

I went shopping yesterday. Most of you know I hate to shop and I go only out of desperation in times of trouble. Our upcoming beach trip to Sea Island in Georgia requires some new attire so I had to bite the bullet. (try buying summer clothes now... ugh.) Waiting until the last minute always comes back to bite you but that's not what this particular rant is about. (you've been warned)... Our Kaufmanns store is now Macy's. You Pittsburgh people will already know that. I worked at Kaufmanns in between jobs once and for some reason, department store psychology is that they think their sales people need to use people's first names and be overly friendly with them. In theory, this sounds like a good idea. But in reality, when I go shopping, I expect the salesperson to be friendly, but I don't feel the need to have them act like we're long lost cousins. What I don't want, and what drives me crazy, is having a stranger act like she's known me all my life and call me by my first name (or any name for that matter) and then go into a canned routine about how much money I could have saved if I had used my credit card (I said I didn't want to use the card and then she said, well, you could use the card and then make a payment right away to get the savings.) What didn't she understand? And then, after that whole conversation she pointed out a website listed on the receipt that I could go to if I had any questions or if I wanted to comment on the service I received that day. What should have been a one minute transaction turned into a 4 minute transaction. Granted, 4 minutes isn't very long. But I didn't want to have that conversation. I just wanted to pay and smile and say thank you and go. I like people. I like talking to people. What I dont' like is forced conversation that you know is only happening because someone told them they had to do it. I wonder if I'm weird. Or anti-social. Is it wrong not to want to be BFF's with department store salespeople?