Or maybe Betty Crocker.

But not that matronly Betty Crocker from my mom's cookbooks, but the new, hip, young Betty Crocker that obviously had several meetings with an image consultant.

I needed to do something with all the leftover chicken from the rotisserie experiment. I'm not a big fan of cold, greasy chicken (dark meat, blech!), so I decided to make the boys a crock pot chicken and dumplings recipe. I thought it turned out well, and Sam seemed to agree, but Ben was not a fan (and actually told me he would rather have mac and cheese available at the hot food bar at the local grocery store)! However, before making this new recipe, the boys and I needed to take a trip to the supermarket to get the supplies. And what a trip it was ...

At the grocery store, Ben asked to sit in one of the carts with the car in the front. I agreed, the boys often sit in those carts, but Sam wanted to sit in the seat part of the cart, facing Mommy. That worked for a few minutes, until Sam decided he wanted to drive the car, too. I put him in the car with Ben, and Ben was not happy with that arrangement, and starting punching his brother in the head. Unacceptable behavior that led to Ben being put in the seat part of the cart. This did not make Ben happy, and he was already in a grumpy, cranky mood as he has a sinus infection and bronchitis (ah, hello winter sick season ...). The "time out" in the seat led to Ben having at total meltdown in the grocery store, complete with loud sobbing. I tried my best to just ignore him and finish the shopping, even if I scrapped the crock pot dinner idea, we needed milk, children's ibuprofen, and medicine for me (yup, I'm sick, too).

As we steered nosily down the bread aisle, a nosy older woman decided she could somehow help the situation. She cornered me against a display of peanut butter, and started talking to Ben. Why anyone random stranger would think she could make a situation with a crying toddler better by getting in his face is beyond me. And besides that, Ben was a coughing, snot-covered, screaming mess. Who would want to be that close to his face?! She apparently felt that I was inadequately dealing with Ben's needs, and kept asking him what was wrong. He loudly told her that he did NOT want to talk to her, but she kept pressing. She condescendingly told me, "He does not want to be in the cart." I had to bite my tongue to keep from replying in a not-so-nice manner. I tried my best to maintain composure, and told her that he was fighting with his brother, and needed to sit in the cart. That was my second mistake (the first was allowing myself to be cornered!).

She then realized that Sam was sitting quietly in the car on the front of the cart. At that point, she decided that it would be an excellent idea to get in his face. Sam does NOT like strangers -- and her presence had him clawing at the car trying to escape. He started screaming, "Mommy, Mommy, NO!" and trying to get away from the woman, who decided that maybe she should just pick him up. Who IS this woman?? At this point, both boys are screaming hysterically, and people are literally crowding around my cart to see what the problem is. I was so embarrassed and beyond angry with this woman, first for stopping me, and then for being so horribly rude and aggressive. Do NOT touch my children. At that point, I told her to please leave us alone, she was making the situation worse. She told me that she has a son, so she can understand. No, lady, you obviously do not understand, or you wouldn't have stopped us. She single-handedly escalated a situation with one upset child to two children, both of whom were screaming hysterically. I told her she was making the situation worse, and turned my back on her to deal with the boys. I decided that switching the boys' seats would help, so put Ben down and took Sam out of the car. As soon as Ben was on the ground, he tried running away from the lady, pulling the cart with him, which smashed into an aisle of peanut butter, sending many, many jars to the floor. At that point, I'd had enough.

Another older woman had witnessed the entire scene, and as I stood in the aisle and tried to maintain my composure, she walked past, put a compassionate hand on my arm, and said, "I'm really sorry, dear," and kept walking. I had to assume she was apologizing for the other woman's behavior! I quickly checked out and left the grocery store.