10 Items or Less

As we do more frequently than not, we headed to Target this evening.  I have actually been in all day meetings this past 2 days with Blair's team.  Because of this, there was not a speck of food in the house.  We could possibly have made a dinner on a few out of date packages of Babybel cheese with maybe some canned green beans to redeem the meal.  Instead, we went to Cracker Barrel, then on to Target.

Blair had to leave us after dinner to go to an HOA meeting in our neighborhood.  Things were fine at first, I got one of those special carts (not like the cool race car carts at Publix) but that have the 2 bench seats in front of the cart.  The pro is that the kids love it.  The con is that they cannot be contained.  I brought coloring books and crayons to (hopefully) entertain them, but the thrill of those lasted about 18 seconds for Sweet Girl.  I mean why color Hello Kitty when you can stack boxes of Oatmeal Creme Pies in the aisle?

Getting the groceries was definitely chaos control, but nothing out of the ordinary for the most part, until the end.  It was a little crowded (NOTHING like the tax free day, of course) but the check out lines were still about 3 people deep.  Number 11 had only 1 person checking out with not many items, so I raced for that one.  I'm attempting to unload my groceries onto the belt, while trying to keep Sweet Girl from pulling out every single miscellaneous item in the impulse buy section.

I am stressed.  I'm just sure that Sweet Girl is somehow going to smuggle one of those items out and then we'll be "taken in" for petty theft.  At the same time I'm furiously unloading so I won't hold up the line.  When I finally make it over to the sweet little girl checking me out, she says, "I'm not sure if you noticed it or not, but this is a 10 items or less line."  My first response was to feel terrible.  I apologized profusely.  Then the more I thought about it, the more my sinful nature came out.  I was totally in the wrong.  I admit that, but give a gal a break!  So, I asked her, "Do you have kids?"  She laughed and said no.  I said, "When you bring 2 little kids to a place like this, it's really easy to miss the signs."  I wish I could say I was trying to make conversation so that I could tell her about Jesus.  Part of me was just making conversation, but I fear another part of me was being a bit of a "smart mouth."  I'm just being honest here, and screaming kids in the store do not a spirit-filled mommy make!

Now, Sweet Girl is absolutely screaming with my attempts to get her to put things back.  I'm holding her in one arm, trying to swipe my card with the other.  Sometimes I just wonder - how did I get here????  Finally, I pay and get the bags loaded up.  This sweet little check out girl just looks up at me and says, "good luck."  Now, the crayons are spilling out on the floor, Sweet Girl is still screaming, I'm certain people are staring, but I don't have the nerve to look anyone in the eyes.  I sit Sweet Girl on a bin so that I can pick up crayons, but for some reason the bin is vibrating.  A security guard passes by, but I can't make eye contact with him either for fear that he'll think I'm abusing my child.

I don't know how we made it home, but we did.  What redeemed the evening was when we got home, I left both van doors open and quickly grabbed a couple of grocery bags so I could get to the door and turn the alarm off just in case one of the kids set it off.  Little Guy closed his door, went around the van and closed Sweet Girl's door and then proceeded to get a bag of groceries out to carry in.  What a guy!  At least he has a great Daddy!

No energy tonight even for random pics - more to come next time.