I Am NOT Her Mother....!!!

(Started writing on Friday, July 30th.)


My sister, Brandei, and Me.....

Brandei....

Me..... (Nice feather in my hair.... It came off my mask.... I am a Superhero in disguise.... Didn't you know it???)

As many of you know, my sister and I are in the photo's above. Some may ask, "Who's older?" Or if they were smart, they wouldn't say a thing! Well, my sister is exactly 13 months and 11 days older than I am. Surprised??? Well unfortunately, most people are not surprised!!! I guess since I act more mature, and look more mature...... Anyway, the most important question to ask is ...... "Do I look like her MOTHER????"
Here is the story......

A few days ago, Brandei and I got to leave all our kids behind.... she also has four.... and have a couple days of shopping to ourselves without anyone complaining about being hungry or tired or bored. So we head up to Bismarck, ND.

My mission was to try and get all the stuff we would want/need to take back to Indonesia, and Brandei was along for the ride. And if we happened to find a great shirt on the sales rack for a couple of bucks, then great. We were having a blast! Then we hit the fabric store.......

We are in the fabric store for quite a while contemplating which fabrics our kids would like for new lap blankets. After about an hour, we finally had our choices and went up to the check-out counter.

I go first....

The lady asks me if I have one of those club cards. I tell her yes, but I have no idea where it is. ...It's not like I need one in Tembagapura. It's probably in some box in storage.... So she asks me for my phone number. I think back real hard to what our number would have been in Wyoming, and thought I was pretty good for having remembered it. Well, guess what? The number is not in the computer! So she asks me for my name. I give it to her and she finds my name in the computer. So before she rings me up, she has to change all my information. She starts to enter in the correct info, but she keeps pushing the wrong buttons..... So I pipe up .....because you know, I know so much about computers... ;) and start telling her which buttons to push and where to enter the information. The lady is a little frazzled at this time, because the store just put in a new computer system, and she missed the training for the register. But no problem.... I am a patient person, and figured all of us had been in her shoes before.

So finally she has all the information back in the computer, and rings up my order.

Now there is a brown bag sale going on in the store. Everything you put in the bag is 10% off! Wooh Hoo!! I am going to save Chris sooooo much money!!! He will be soooo happy.... you know like spend $100 and save $10!

Anyway... The lady goes to scan the coupon that is sitting at the register, and guess what?? It doesn't WORK!!! By now the lady is starting to sweat and getting a bit perturbed with the machine! So she starts punching the buttons and says out loud.... "The heck with it, I will do it the OLD way" So she manually punches in -10%. And let me tell you, she is pounding the keys!

Now we have my total.... it's about 10 minutes later.... and I give her my credit card. She goes to swipe my card, and then hands it back. I put it back in my wallet. And as I was stuffing my wallet back in my purse, the lady looks at me with these very frustrated eyes and tells me she needs my card again because the computer didn't read it. So I pull out my card again and hand it to her. The computer reads it, and about 15 minutes later, I am finally checked out!!!

Up next is my sister.....

The lady now asks my sister if she has a club card. My sister says no...... So the lady says... "We can just use your mothers!"

************************************************************************************

*Sorry, This story has just been interrupted for a trip the the hospital and emergency surgery on Gabrielle to have her appendix taken out!*

************************************************************************************

(Monday, August 2nd...)

Continuing..... So the lady says..."We can just use your mothers!"

Now I am standing at the end of the check-out counter, quite tired from all the shopping, thinking of all the things I need to get before I leave town and this thought penetrates my mind after I heard the lady ask that question......

"WOW!! She knows our mother! I know mom shops here a lot, but why would she be showing Brandei's and my picture around to the sales lady??? It's not like she is a new mom, and the string of pictures come out to show any stranger available!"

Let me tell you that thought went through my head in a flash! Then it was dead silent..... I snapped out of it, to hear my sister say, as she is pointing to me..... "That's not my MOTHER, that's my SISTER!!" WHAT????? As Brandei is saying this she is laughing her head off!!! And to make matters worse, I had to pipe in and say...."And the SAD thing is, I am YOUNGER than she is!!!"

So now the lady is totally mortified behind the counter. First she took forever to check me out, and now she had just INSULTED me!! ....She was so ready to quit work that day!.....

Brandei and I are now laughing so hard that we have tears running down our faces! The lady just can't check-out Brandei fast enough! As we leave, busting a gut, the lady then says, in a very sorrowful voice....."I hope you will come back sometime...." Not "thank you, have a good day" but "I hope...."

We just can't stop laughing.... We walk out of the store like a couple of nuts! Oh well, I haven't laughed that hard for a very long time. It was good for the soul!

So that's it. That's my story...."I am NOT her mother!" It may not be that funny on paper, but it was hilarious living it!

My (OLDER) Sister's Mother,

Robin

PS I hope that lady didn't quit her job that day! I told Brandei that we should go buy her a drink certificate to use after work.... She would probably need it!!