No really officer, it's not crack, it's plaster of paris!

So there I was in the Olive Garden parking lot, suspiciously measuring out white powder into little baggies while my dad stood watch...

LoL that sounds just as sketchy as it probably looked while it was going on!

To start at the beginning... This past Monday I was up in Pennsylvania for a family event and I had decided to take the opportunity to make another delivery of Teddy Bear Tins to St. Luke's Hospital, which is in the area I was visiting. I had received tins from two artists and, already being in the area, thought it smart to hand-deliver the tins and save the cash that shipping would have taken. I hadn't had the time to assemble the kits yet, so I lugged my plastic bins of supplies up to PA with me and planned a stop at my dad's where he would help me put them together.

And truly, the plan was working just fine until shortly after 12:00, one hour before the time I was supposed to drop the tins off, when I discovered that I didn't have enough plaster of paris left to fill the kits. There lay 10 perfect little lids, drying in the sun from their coat of sealer, with their perfectly folded instruction packets and stickers on the back, with only 5 bags of plaster.

Now when I'm at home I know exactly where to buy my plaster of paris. After weeks last year of searching for just the right imprinting medium I finally found the right mix that dries in just the right amount of time and now I hoard it zealously whenever I have the chance. But up in PA? Nope, no idea where to buy it.

So, I spazzed.

Over the next hour my father drove my frantic butt across the better part of the Lehigh Valley until we finally, FINALLY found a craft store that carried the plaster. But then we didn't have enough time to go back home to finish the kits!

Which is how we ended up in an Olive Garden parking lot on the way to the hospital. And is why I was measuring suspicious white powder into little plastic baggies, while my dad stood watch.

Because how exactly would I explain to the police that "no this is not illegal drugs, this is plaster of paris and these are special kits for angel babies!"

As I spastically scooped the last few bags I wondered what the officer's face would look like after I gave that as my excuse. Would he tell his buddies back at the precinct about the "lamest excuse he'd ever heard from a drug dealer"??

But luckily the police did not come. And I did not have to defend my Teddy Bear Tins activity. :-P

Shortly after 1:00 we made it to St. Luke's and I successfully dropped off the tins. The ladies in the NICU even knew what they were when I walked in the door, even though they had never met me personally. And they said they use them, and they love them!

So between that, and the precious visual memory I have of my dad standing watch in the parking lot, I'd say it was a good day. :)