It's not my fault, so why the guilt?

Ran to the store today to pick up a few items. How $85 can go through the 15 items or fewer lane is a little frightening .... managed to dump the entire contents of my coin purse as I was trying to put away my Visa, so as I scrambled to collect my change off the floor, the bagger put my groceries not into my cart, but into another cart. Unfortunately, as I was getting my act together (let's face it, it took a few minutes, as my drivers license and credit card were floating loose, having just been returned to my big purse from my evening bag of last night), the bagger also put the next customer's groceries into my new cart. I told him, and he grabbed them. Or most of them; as I started to leave, I glanced at the bags and noticed one that wasn't mine. So I told him, and he went to the parking lot to try and find her.

He was unsuccessful, and I was feeling bad. But it wasn't my fault, was it? He should have been paying attention. Small thing, really; she'll get him, notice that she's lacking a bag of stuff and come back to get it. But it's inconvenient for her. Still, I didn't will it to happen, so why do I feel badly for her? I guess because I'd be pissed if I had to go to the grocery twice in one day. It's bad enough having to go there once. And I know I'll be back in the morning; I couldn't quite get a handle on everything I need for dinner tomorrow evening.

The work party was lovely. A tad boring, but very chic. Luckily, Gary's boss's wife sat next to me, and her I can talk to. They moved here about six months before we did, with a sophomore daughter who had just made cheerleader at her old school. I don't even want to picture the scenes at their house. I figured if they could make the sacrifice, we could. I opted for the short dress and should have gone long. Oh well; once again, not an issue of real importance. Perhaps had my husband been in a tux it would have made more sense.

There were, naturally, a couple of very bad dress choices. Men almost always look good in a tux, or even a good suit. Women, on the other hand, can go wrong quickly. The red belt added to the black cocktail dress was one such choice; the black pump that looked like a penny loafer on heels, also worn with a cocktail dress, was yet another. Sigh.

One guy joked that his tux cost $55,000; he bought it for his daughter's wedding. He told his daugher and her fiance, when planning the wedding: "Fact is, 50 percent of these end in divorce. I'll buy you a car, I'll put a down payment on a house. Have a small wedding, I'll send you on a big trip. Those things I'm happy to pay for." The daughter didn't go for it; she had the huge wedding. She's still married, but I'm sure he's right; statistics don't lie. With three girls, these numbers are already making me nervous. We likely won't have three weddings, much less three extravagant ones. But I'm sure we'll have at least one. I can guarantee it.

The office did $1 billion in business last year, so all the employees were given small gifts last night: iPods. Not big ones, just the little shuffle (they are cute). We are already a four-iPod family. But the gesture was still very nice. They also got those credit card Victorinox knives, with the company logo. Kinda cool.

Read to Sylvia's class as a parent reader today. I don't really go to read to the entire class; I go to read to her. But it is sort of fun.

Now I must make cookie dough for the kids, so they can decorate cookies tomorrow night. Cheers!