My Kids Can't Take Me Anywhere

I was feeling adventurous today after I picked Korban up from school, so I decided to run some errands with the kids. My kids were actually well behaved, but I had a Day. First I decided to go into Goodwill, just for fun.  (I love that place!)  When we pulled in, Korban pointed at their sign and said "The letter O!"  We've been working on letters/words, so I was very proud of him. I told him what a good job he did, and then asked him what the other letters were.  "Don't ask me!" he responded.  Ha!  I'm pretty sure he has no idea how funny he is.  I love it. So we poked around the store for a while, and I found a book I wanted to read and a couple of other small items, so we went on to check out.  The cashier was really friendly and sweet.  She complimented my kids, and asked Selah's name.  I told her, and she said she liked it.  She told me that if she ever has a little girl, she plans on naming her Luna.  "Oh, like in Harry Potter!" I said, immediately thinking of Luna Lovegood.  "Um, no.  As in, like, the moon," she said, looking at me strangely.  Oops.  Sometimes I forget not everybody is as big of nerd as I am!  Books are always in my head, and I tend to spout out weird facts at inopportune times. (Maybe it's those autistic traits that I'm sure I have!)  My husband would testify to this.  I drive him nuts sometimes, but only with certain things.  Harry Potter he liked, Twilight not nearly so much.  When he was driving home from Chattanooga this past weekend, the kids were wild, and I was doing animal flash cards with them to calm them down so they wouldn't distract him as he drove.  I held up a grizzly bear flash card and idly remarked "Grizzly bears are Emmett's favorite."  "Huh?  Emmett who?" Brad asked.  "Emmett Cullen.  Edward's brother," I said, like he should already know.  I seriously thought he was going to put me out and make me walk home.  But I disgress...Back to this afternoon.  Next we headed to Dollar Tree.  Did you know they have their own brand of Swiffer pads?  I didn't either until I saw their sales paper, but they do.  Eight pads compatible with the Swiffer mop for a buck.  I haven't used my Swiffer mop in forever, partly because I like my steam mop better and partly because I didn't want to keep spending all that money on replacement pads.  So I went to get some of those to see if I liked them.  The kids did well in the store, and so did I until we got back to the parking lot.  I am always nervous because both my kids are bolters and I'm so afraid they will get away from me.  I am even more nervous when I'm by myself because they have me outnumbered and I can't turn loose of them for a second.  So I opened the door, tossed my purse and keys into the driver's seat and then strapped my kids into their carseats right away.  Then I went to get in and discovered that my keys were nowhere to be found.  I vaguely remembered hearing a small clunking sound when I tossed the keys in, so I figured they fell into the floor.  So I spend a considerable amount of time with my head between the seats of my van and my rear end stuck up in the air, probably much to the dismay of the elderly couple parked next to me.  The keys were still hiding.  I righted myself and debated on calling my husband to tell him that I couldn't get home because I had lost my keys but were sure they were somewhere in the van.  Decided against that and prayed instead. Looked inside the part that my seat belt comes out of, and sure enough, I could see something shiny.  I had to lift up the driver's seat with one hand while shoving the other hand into that small area to wedge the keys out.  It took some maneuvering but I finally got it.  And right after that, a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a while pulled up next to me, so if I hadn't have spent so much time digging around for my keys, I wouldn't have seen her.  So it all worked out!  I really needed some shredded cheese, and by that point I wasn't willing to go into Wal-Mart, so I drove to a small local grocery store that I thought I could get in and out of quickly.  When we went in, I noticed they had strawberries on sale.  Korban just finished off a pint of strawberries yesterday, so I bought two more. While I was doing that,  Korban noticed that they had watermelon, already cut into wedges and wrapped tightly with clear wrap.  It looked really good.  They even had a spork wrapped in with it!  Very convenient.  "Get you watermelon?"  he asked hopefully.  I went to check them them out.  "Pop brought us watermelon," he told me.  Now how do you say no to that?  Of course I bought him the watermelon.  Then I grabbed a couple bags of cheese and we checked out.  As we were leaving the store, I noticed a young man who worked there was following me.  I didn't think much of it, but he followed me out the door.  As I crossed the parking lot, he stayed several steps behind me.  I wasn't scared at all, but I did find his behavior curious.  I tossed several furtive glances over my shoulder, and he was staying with me.  I was shocked when I got to the van and he stopped behind me.  So I turned around to look at him and he was holding my groceries!  (Duh!)  I really thought they had put them in my buggy, but the only thing my buggy was full of was my children.  I'm not used to that kind of service.  I will definitely shop there again.  If they let me...I may have freaked out that poor bag boy.  ;)