Behave as though they are watching...

I've been meaning to blog this experience for some time. I'm still pretty affected by it. Let me explain:

My friend KT and I recently made a trip through the Starbucks drive through window for a refreshing coffee beverage. When I pulled up to the ordering speaker, I was greeted by Invisible-But-Overly-Friendly-Barista. She said hello, inquired about our day, and asked what we'd like.

I'm not sure about the details, but the ordering process became funny and KT and I were laughing and Invisible Lady was laughing. Then, I moved the hair out of my eyes and my invisible friend on the other end of the speaker said, "Flip those bangs, girl!"

*stunned silence*
*Dori and KT look at each other with wide eyes*
*inner monologue - "Can she see me?"*
*crickets chirruping*

Finally, I ask her how she knew I had flipped my bangs and she laughs and directs my attention to the teeny, tiny camera above the speaker.

There it is. Capturing me. I have one of those flash-back movie montage moments where every sarcastic eye-roll, every nose-scratch (I swear I wasn't picking!!!), every screaming-at-my-kids moment is brought back from the past and played in my brain with agonizing detail.

The question in my mind wasn't "How many times have I behaved badly without knowing I was being watched?" but rather, "How many other drive through windows have these cameras?"

I wish I could say I lived every day knowing that God's little camera is watching me. I wish I could tell you that I never rolled my eyes at the person taking my order. I wish I could tell you all the hidden camera locations (*smile*). Alas, all I can tell you is that when I'm ordering anything from Starbucks, or Arby's, or McDonald's, I put on my finest Dori and I smile for the camera, whether or not it's there.

If only I would remember to apply that concept to my entire life.

A good day

Today was a good day. Stone and Daddy went fishing by themselves for the first time. Cade and I met them at the lake for a late afternoon dinner. What great weather for something like this! Of course, I took 14,857 pictures.

I learned a few new things today.

Stone can cast and reel for H-O-U-R-S. He is more and more like Chad every day. Maybe that's why he's such a mystery to me. He whined when I told him to come get dinner. So, I tried to sweeten the deal and asked him to come get chips and cookies (a sure bet at my house). He still threw a fit that he had to quit 'fishing'.


Stone has a very, very short temper when it comes to technical difficulties. The line would get would around the end of the pole and...well, all hell broke loose. Crying, screaming, throwing. Again, very much like his Daddy (who will hopefully never stumble across this post).



I learned that Cade is coming into his personality even more and he's going to be a charmer.

He's either going to be a politician:


Or a rock star:


I learned that I have a truly huge mouth. I thought this picture would turn out cute, but I just look like I'm going to eat my child.

I learned that I'm jealous of my children's eyelashes!


Ahh, yes, it was a good day for lessons. A good day to be outside. A good day, indeed.

Trifecta

The other night at Praise Team practice, my old boss (who is also our sound board guy) was telling us about his bad, stressful week. I shuddered inside because I used to share those weeks with him. I thought about my worst, most recent day...

Stone is potty training, and doing a good job, save for the poop - he just doesn't want to go #2 in the potty. So, I hear him yelling at me from his room and I go to investigate. I find him totally naked and the smell of poop assaults me. Where, I ask myself, are his underwear???

They are upside down on our favorite color book.

And they are stuck to the book with poop.

Now, I forgot to tell you that I'm holding the baby during this. As I bend down to get the underwear with my fingertips, the baby throws up on me. I'd use "spit up" if it applied. My baby went Linda Blair on me. And I was wearing a v-neck. So, now I've got a baby in one hand and a poop-filled pair of Diego underwear in the other hand and baby vomit is running down my front - into my bra, onto my stomach...

I make a dash for the kitchen to throw away the soiled book and undies and grab a paper towel to clean myself.

Let me backtrack a moment here - though I'm sure it will give the next part of my story away. We keep a potty seat in the kitchen to make it easy for Stone to go whenever he wants.

As I'm running into the kitchen, I clip the potty chair.

It isn't empty.

So, now I'm standing in the kitchen with a giggling baby in one hand, poop drawers in my other hand, baby vomit on my front (which has reached my waistband), and my right flip-flop (flip flops being important to your mental picture) and foot soaked with toddler pee.

Lessons learned:

1. Don't leave favorite books (or toys or pets or baby siblings) on the floor during the potty training stage.

2. Clean out potty chairs as soon as pee-pee happens.

3. A good sense of humor (and the promise of a good blog post) is imperative to parental sanity.

4. It was still better than a day in a cubicle.