Smile, You're on Candid Camera!

Note to self (and whoever else may be reading out there): Think twice before getting your children a video camera. I'm only half-serious here of course. I would never dream of stunting my children's intellectual growth by planting obstacles keeping them from their chosen mode of artistic expression. But today, I came >thisclose< to doing just that, right after I heard the unmistakable sound of my own voice coming at me from the living room. I peered over in the direction of my voice, now emanating loudly from the television set, and there were my two youngest children, having a nice laugh over what they had candidly captured. And what did they capture, you may ask? Why, an embarrassingly frequent episode of my freaking out over yet another misplaced item, of course! In the video, I accuse my prankster daughter of hiding the item (this time it was her kung fu shirt that I had only just washed and dried). Don't worry guys, I'm never forceful when making these accusations, even though I'm seldom off-base. If something is awry, you can pretty much assume "prankster daughter" is behind it, but really, that's beside the point.

Anyone who has, ahem, ever had the pleasure of knowing me for more than a nanosecond, will have undoubtedly witnessed many such episodes. I lose everything. I lose my glasses daily. Well, it's not like I can see them when I'm not wearing them! Pencils mysteriously go missing. My keys? Heck, I lose those in my own purse. I'd be hard-pressed to turn up a matching pair of socks, particularly if they're patterned ones. Oh, how I love just plain white socks! Anyway, I know I haven't written much, but surely this post will clue you into the chaos that has currently unpacked and settled into my own head. And now I have digital proof of it all! There's nothing like seeing and hearing of your faults in full color and surround sound. Perhaps I should thank the kids for bringing this to my attention. But that would just encourage them to keep taping. I guess I'll consider my self-improvement in this area an early New Year's resolution.