Ha Ha! Like Mother Like Son.

I took Jed shopping tonight for a costume. We went to Value Village first. No luck finding anything suitable. He's helping at the church youth program where the theme is the 10 plagues. He wants to dress as an Egyptian.

We headed off to Walmart where I looked at patterns in the pattern book, refused to buy a $15 pattern and got a couple of pieces of fabric cut to fake a head piece and robe. It was gonna be about $18 for fabric.

As we headed to the check-out I said "Let's just go look at the costume section." And there, for $19.97, was a Caesar costume that he was willing to go with. (I know Caesar wasn't in Egypt, but hey, I'm willing to bet that a hundred kids under 10 won't remember that.) Head piece, arm bands, robe, sash and all were included. I did a quick look around for employees. My eyes scanned upward for cameras. And as I set the costume into my cart with my right hand, my left hand quickly tossed the cut pieces of fabric onto the bottom shelf beneath the costumes.

The costume didn't include sandals, so off we headed to the shoe department hoping to find some $2 discounted footwear left over from summer. There were some for $4.97. Into the cart they went and I turned in the direction of the check-outs once again. Just as I was noticing that I still had the piece of poster board in my cart that I had originally intended to use for assembling a head piece, Jed came up behind me with a pair of slippers that looked like bears.

"Very cool." I said. "But we can't afford them today. Please put them back." Meanwhile, I was thinking "As soon as he gets out of eyesight, I'm gonna ditch this piece of cardboard here in the luggage aisle."

He wasn't gone 3 seconds. My hand was just reaching for the cardboard when I realized he was right behind me again. I turned and looked, only to see his slippers sitting on top of a stack of purses.

"Jedediah! You go put those back where you found them! Don't you leave a mess for the employees to have to clean up after you!"

And you guessed it. As soon as he turned out of sight the poster board was standing neatly behind a set of luggage. And I was off to pay for the costume.

What we intended.



What we got.