Crises Averted

Today I had planned on getting certain things done. The fact that this is the first day of winter break for my kids conspired against me. Flynn slept in until almost 8:30 (which is good because she was awake at 4 a.m.). Evan played Lego Star Wars on the X-Box 360 for a while, which delayed his getting dressed. This also torpedoed my plans to go to the gym this a.m. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

At 11:00 I'd dillied and dallied enough (doing laundry, adding and subtracting music to my MP3 player, checking e-mail, reading blogs, etc.) , so I herded the kinder into the car and off we went. Really, there were 3 things I needed to accomplish: 1. go to the post office and mail out a few books and a Christmas gift.; 2. go purchase some pint-sized jars & some almonds and 3. buy just a couple of things at the grocery.

Errand #1 went ok. The P.O. was unusually uncrowded so our wait in line was negligible. So on to errand #2. While at a local store, the kids decided they wanted to pick out a present for their Daddy, which turned into a mess. They just started grabbing stuff off the shelves and stuffing it into the cart. While I was emptying the cart, they started fighting over who was going to give what. Just before I started tearing my hair out they compromised. Crisis #1 averted. In the check out lane both of them were getting super squirrelly. It was close to lunch time, so I figured we'd make a detour for food before heading to the supermarket.

In the parking lot Flynn started throwing a huge hissy fit because she did not want to go to Sonic, my proposal, for lunch. She wanted to have a hot dog at Sam's Club. I told her I understood she was hungry but that's no reason to act like a total crab.

Then Evan pipes up, "Or like a pussy."

I waited a beat then asked, "What did you mean by that?"

"Like a cat."

Then Flynn started meowing.

Crisis #2 averted.

They were absolute angels at the grocery. And, yes, that's "angels" not "a-holes."