Caught Red-handed

So, this needs a little preface. The suffering simulation was supposed to start this coming Sunday. It has been scheduled for several months. But the groceries were not cooperating. I do my main shopping at Trader Joe's about every 3 weeks and I needed to go about a week and a half ago. Then I needed to go to Costco for a dinner party for my graduated mentees and I thought "Kathy, this is entirely too stupid to waste the full cupboards and a trip to Costco to do this shopping again next week." So I moved up the simulation a week knowing that Jonathon's birthday party would require shopping the day of (this particular family can not "store" ice cream). And on top of that I received news yesterday of a fellow church member's passing and am in charge of the dinner provided for the relatives and close friends. Which means I go to Costco to get spiral cut hams and rolls.

So I'm pulling into the Costco parking lot and think to myself. "I shouldn't have sent out that email with my blog on it yesterday. I'll probably see someone that read it and they'll think I'm a liar." I assure you that lying is not one of my deadly sins. But, as luck would have it, I was not in the door 10 FEET before I ran into a friend who innocently asks "You're not here to get food are you?" So I'm doing the song and dance about the birthday being a known aberration in the experiment and looking like a complete idiot. But, alas, such is the life of a celebrity I guess....my four weeks of fame are here at last.

So the final guideline that now everyone must know, life in a fishbowl requires complete transparency: our children are allowed to get on their bike, with their own money, and ride to the store to buy anything they want. We live a good half an hour ride to the nearest grocery store, so it's no small feat. And remember, our main goals are to teach our children hard work and gratitude. I think they'll be more grateful for milk they buy themselves and haul (uphill!!!) in a backpack (and, who knows?, they might even put it back in the fridge...)