Yesterday, hours after reading about how friend Allison forgot her purse in Bulgaria, I went shopping at a large craft store. In order to remember what I needed, and to look at a picture for inspiration, I brought my how-to manual, a book called How to Make Books. I then left the book in the shopping cart and proceeded through the next five hours with a suspicion I was no longer in possession of it. But I had volunteering, and Mother's Day/graduation shopping to do, and couldn't confirm this suspicion until night.

I immediately called the store and asked if any books had been found. I answered their questions; yes, I left it in the cart; no, the cart was inside. The lady then informed me they hadn't found any books.

Before I was going to hang up, she asked me, "Well, in case it comes up, what was the name of the book?"

I told her: How to Make Books.

"Oh," she replied. "We have that."

I'm really not sure what that means, because my book definitely looks like a book. When I picked it up, the same lady admitted she almost threw it away when she found it because she didn't know what to do with it.

But what can I say? I often feel that way at the end of the day. Plus, I had barbeque sauce all over my shirt, and I arrived 5 minutes after "Make Your Mother a Corsage" ending. Not the best situation for any of us.