Snips & Bits

Oh, no big topic is coming to mind, but here's a lot of little things from the last couple of days:

- Crystal and I closed down both Old Navy AND Starbucks Monday night. We were in search of 75% toddler clothes, discovered the sale had ended that day, and then the very nice manager agreed to give us 50% off clearance prices anyway. So I guess making a sad face will get you your way, even with ladies. Who knew.

- Also, my favorite non-caffeinated drink at Starbucks is the green tea latte. It's not on the menu anymore, but the barista still made it for me. Man, employees must be in good moods Monday nights. Either that, or I totally RULE.

- Finally bought new pj's for Leah yesterday. She's been surviving on all 3Ts so far - and she's 4 1/2. Granted, she's small for her age, but still. I decided to retire a couple pairs the other day, and discovered they were 2T's. No wonder her wrists and ankles were showing! Poor thing.

- Aaron caved and let me buy candy to hand out for Halloween. The only reason we are doing it is that there has already been some pranking things in the neighborhood, so I'm scared we'll get egged or something. So basically, the mob has won. However, the mob is NOT getting good candy - I'm handing out a "kiddie mix" of SweetTarts, Smarties, JawBreaker, and Double Bubble. Not bad enough to spit onto my sidewalk (hopefully), but not good enough to show any enthusiasm, anyway. But I have to confess, I do look forward to seeing the little kids in costume. If the big kids dress up, that would be nice too.

- Both kids got their hair cut today. Ben especially was starting to look a little like a bear cub. Leah got sparkles AND a double ponytail, so feel free to call her "fancy pants" if you see her today.

Okay, that's it. Hope your pumpkins survive the next couple of days intact. Oh, and I am sooo glad I am not teaching right now- Halloween on a Friday? May as well cancel all the afternoon classes.

What a Couple of Fruits

Entertainment at our house tonight took a decidedly organic turn. It all started with Leah pointing at me and saying, "You're Ben!" and then at Ben and saying, "And you're Liz!" Ben immediately pointed at himself and said, "Ben!" which may be the first time we've heard him say his own name. Of course, Aaron became Leah and Leah became Aaron. This was all fun, but it really got hilarious when we started calling each other vegetable and fruits.

Here's a sample:

Leah (to me, always): You're a tomato!
Me: to her - "Beans!" to Ben - "carrots!"

And then both kids scream and laugh wildly, run around the couch and through the big room a bit, and come back for a new name.

Ben was especially into it - he'd come up and rest his elbows on the couch, and put his chin on his hands and stare expectantly at me, like he was going to get candy or something. A couple of times he turned down the assigned produce, "Uh-uh!", and wouldn't run until I gave him an acceptable one. I finally decided he liked best the ones he could say - corn, peas, peaches, beets, apples. (He also pointed right at a picture of a winter scene in a book and said, clear as a bell, "Hockey!" Not sure this is a good sign.)

Leah tried to take it down a gross path by saying "You're an eyeball & nose cake!" (we did a few desserts, too). I made a yucky face, and Ben just about split a gut laughing. Too easy.

We all had a blast, and I was especially pleased that I was doing a "good mom" job of interacting with my kids, without having to move my butt from the couch. Because I clearly have my priorities straight.

A Life Saved

Mom called to night with a mission: to get me to bring my last remaining house plant in from the freezing outside. It was a pretty hard sell, by the way, since I'd resigned myself to letting it die.

Not sure why, but I've had about zero interest in anything green-and living, that is. Maybe it's because I have sixteen thousand projects to finish in the house, or maybe it's because I have a two year old boy who would just love to dig his hands into that great dirt. Or it could be that my furniture is in total disarray, so I have no idea exactly where plants would go.

You get the idea.

But, to my mom, to deliberately kill a plant is akin to murder.

So I brought the plant in.

From a Highly Insightful Friend

I tried twice to make this photo the right direction. Then I gave up. Sorry.

Anyway, friend CB from book club was making these little "puppy chow" packets with kids Wednesday night at church. (Did you follow all that?) She used me as an example for the little poem part. I was sincerely touched, and on the topic of personalities, I like to think she's pretty accurate!

I Don't Even Watch This Show

It's true, I've never seen "The Hills", but this is one of the best one-liners I've heard in a while.
Here's the link to the whole article - I love lists like this. Thanks, MSN!


TV's Worst Actors: Spencer Pratt, "The Hills" Some people like to think of Spencer Pratt as manipulative, evil and stupid. But I think of him as just the opposite. He's stupid first, then evil, then manipulative.


Ha ha!

Really, Who Are You?

Have you ever had this strange realization that your perspective of yourself is totally different than how others see you?


For example: I tend to think of myself as fairly easy-going and laid back. However, I am quite certain that these are NOT the words my friends would use to describe me. Let's try high-strung, talkative, energetic, organized...and none of those words bring anything close to relaxed to mind.


I was discussing with a friend today another mutual acquaintance, and how I think she's too tightly-wound. And this Friend says, "You know, that's exactly what I thought about you when I first met you!" And then she used the word "spastic", as well. Yikes!


Time for a reality check. Maybe this mutual acquaintance is a lot like me (in other ways, too) so I should just cut her a break. She could be my best friend in 3 years. You just never know.


I will say, I do think I'm laid back with regard to hosting and my parenting. My house does not need to be perfect in order to entertain - good thing, too. Also, I wouldn't be able to list ignoring as a parenting technique if I was overly nervous in general.


Also, in my own defense, Aaron says I have chilled out in the last few years (maybe the 2 kids did it!) and I do tend to be most "spastic" when I first meet people, especially in groups. I am too much of an extrovert, and I get excited. Can't help it. I prefer to call it "animated" or "vivacious". Thankfully, so does my wonderful husband.


So, tell me about your experience - how and maybe when did you realize that others may have a different description of your personality than you yourself do?

Not Buying It.

Have you seen this Walmart advertisement? The one where a mom says, "Walmart has all the costumes my kids want for Halloween!" and she starts pulling outfits out of the sack in front of her.

"Spiderman? Or Cinderella? Snow White? Or Superman?"

So basically, what you're saying Walmart, is if your kid wants to be a superhero or a princess, you've got them covered. Thanks.

I was actually in Walmart this evening while the ad was playing on their in-store TVs, and I literally didn't hear any difference in the costume names. Kind of sad. So narrowing for our children.

I remember when my cousins dressed as a slice of pizza and a carton of milk. Yep, their dad is an artist. If you are going to dress in costume this year, let's think outside of the box a bit, folks.

Pink

There's this singer named Pink, and she and her husband just broke up. So of course she wrote a song about it, and it's got this incredibly catchy "na-na-na na na na na-na-na na na" hook to it. Leah loves it, and I must confess, I find it fun also, even though the lyrics are kind of sad.

Anyway, Aaron gave the kids their baths tonight, and kept singing the "So What/I'm still a rock star" line over and over again, cause he couldn't remember the next line. All of a sudden Leah pipes in, "I got my rock moves..." which really is the next line.

She's getting so helpful. What a girl.

Excuse me, can I get some help over here? Excuse me?

Usually we are not big whiners about customer service. (And by "usually" I mean, when we have good customer service.) However, very recently we have had some stunners.


First, there's this whole deal with our doors from Home Depot. Not making us happy to start with, we ended up paying about 3 times more than expected for the installation. I spent half and hour in the store, 20 minutes with one employee, having every dollar of that amount itemized o I could explain it to Aaron at home. He was NOT pleased.


Yesterday I got FIVE phone calls in reference to said doors.


Call #1 - "Is Mr. ---- there?" said a voice that seemed to be at least 15 years old, and not very happy to be making the call.


"No." When people are rude or unpleasant, I don't feel the need to be helpful.


"Is this his wife or something?" Um.


So she goes on to tell me that our "order" is in, and we can pick it up anytime. I informed her that our order was doors, and that we'd paid for installation. She said she'd check on that and call me back. I'm so glad she had a clue what she was calling about.


Call #2 - Same 15 year old chickie. Yes, she agrees that our order was doors. And the installation payment (half the original bill!) wasn't attached to the purchase of the doors. It was "just floating around somewhere." Grrreat. I got a little exasperated at this comment.


Call #3 - More reputable woman on the phone, explaining that somehow our order had been divided in two, and so now that they were combined, we would be getting a refund of some of the tax. Okay.


Call #4 - Guy in millwork calls to say that really only 2 of the 4 doors were in, but we would go ahead and set up an installation date anyway, because the others would be in by Wed, and the install would most likely happen after that. A separate installation person will call by Monday to make the appointment. I repeated this back to him to make sure I got it all right.


Call #5 - "Yes, this is the Home Depot, and I'm calling to let you know that your two doors are in."


"Okay, now are these the same two doors I got called about earlier today, or are these the two doors they told me aren't in yet?"


"Oh, they are probably the same doors as earlier. Someone just didn't make a note."


We decided to take the kids to IHOP for lunch. These are the events leading up to the less-than-20%-tip:

- Took way too long to take our order. When the server finally came over, she took the menus and then left.
- When she finally showed up again, she seemed to remember that we hadn't ordered yet.
- Seemed to take a long time to make our 2 omelets for the kids and our sandwhiches.
- No refills for Aaron and I - and we really were thirsty!
- We finally got our ticket after Aaron piled all four plates in the middle of the table.
- After we had our card out, another server informed ours that we were ready...you know, since Aaron was packing the kids up.

Also not helping the situation (but not figuring into the tip!) was the fact that Ben was feeling extra whiny and ate nothing but Aaron's fries and chocolate milk. So. Fun.

All of this is why I could never, ever work in food service. I'd get an ulcer the first day worrying about tips.

Wedding Recap

Well, hey, did you miss me at all last week? Turns out I was all MIA for a couple of days, and here's why. My cousin Kelli got married in Park River, my dad's (and hers, too) hometown which is about 2 hours away. And since we were a Highly Involved Family, with Leah being a flowergirl and me being a personal attendant, we headed up Friday afternoon.

Our "hotel" when in PR is known in the Meberg family as the River Bottom Inn - also, Grandma's house. Can't beat the rates. All she charges is hugs and kisses - and a jar of olives doesn't hurt, either.

Leah was awesome at her flower-petal scattering duties. Ben helped her pick them up after the rehearsal. What a good helper!

My artistic shot of the bride and groom at the rehearsal. My camera's little flash was totally useless, so I turned it off and used the pew as a tripod.

Kelli and I joke that we are more than cousins. Our dads are each other's godfathers, roles taken very seriously by these two brothers.

Kelli pretty much made all Leah's dreams come true by giving her a tiara and lipgloss as her thank-you gift. That, a pretty dress and lots of attention? What else could a princess ask for?

The girls were so shy for this photo!

Kelli and Bobby were so happy and excited to be getting married - it was fun to be involved. Isn't Kelli gorgeous?

That's spray cheese on the car. And that's a leg and a ball & chain. Just in case you were wondering.

I guess you shouldn't take people's photos while they are eating. Thanks, Dad.


My Great-Aunt Leona, Grandma Gail, and Great-Aunt Marion. Grandma Gail (or GiGi) had her gall bladder removed about a month ago, and for while she looked pretty rough. Other than missing some weight and tiring out a bit earlier than before, she's pretty much back to normal. We are so relieved.

Before we knew it was her gall bladder causing problems, Mom thought it may be a bug - she said, "These bugs are hard on the elderly, you know." And I said, "What are you talking about! Grandma's not ELDERLY!"

Apparently all the new people were just too much for Ben. His shyness came out in force, as he tried to make himself invisible at meals by covering his face. Not conducive to eating, it turns out.

Dad has 3 brothers and about 20 cousins who all originally started in Park River. All the brothers were present, as well as about 11 of the cousins. Brother Lynn and his wife Shotzie live in Colorado, and brought with them their granddaughter Hailey, age 7. She and Leah became fast friends - and it didn't hurt that Hailey had Leah watch The Princess Diaries 2 with her.

The wedding reception featured a live band, which was remarkably good considering there were only 3 members, and all of them sang. Leah danced like a crazy person, and thoroughly enjoyed herself and all the other little kids going nuts on the dance floor.

At one point, there was an announcement for all the Meberg cousins to go to the back of the room (for the requisite reunion photo). Leah ran up to me, and in all seriousness asked, "Mommy, am I a Meberg cousin?" No, honey, you are not. But just wait until Dave & Jess have their baby!

She eventually sat down for a couple songs to drink some water, and then looked at me and said she was tired. And wanted to go home. There wasn't much discussion about it, and since it WAS 10pm...Mom took her home and put her to bed, and then rejoined us. Ben had gone to bed before the dance even started.

Fun was had by all, and we are just about caught up on our sleep. Congratulations, Bobby & Kelli!

If Kids Wrote Their Mom's Headstones

Morbid, yes. But we laughed our butts off today in Bible study when we somehow came up with this topic. Let's think adolescents here (or in my case, 4-year-olds).

1. She Was an Okay Mom, I Guess.

2. What a Slavedriver. (Leah shares this opinion with a friend's son, who thought he was being treated like a servant when asked to pick up his dirty clothes from the bathroom floor.)

3. If Only She'd Have Let Me Wear Makeup, I'd Be Happy.

4. NOW Can I Drive the Car?

5. I Always Liked Dad Better Anyway.

We even painted a pumpkin.

My MOMS Club had our Fall Party on Friday. Yes, there were all the usual Halloween trappings, and if you attended, you'd have thought you were indeed at a Halloween party, but what was important to me was that, in fact, it WAS a FALL party.

Leah and Ben dressed up. Well, Leah did. She was Sleeping Beauty, because we happened to have this gorgeous dress that my mom made for her birthday. I thought that I could talk Ben into being a train engineer, but the striped bib I borrowed from a friend were way too small. The hat was an adult sized one, and he didn't appreciate me plopping it on his head, but I did manage to get a couple photos.

I also took some of the kids who obviously have more creative mothers:

As Yoda's mom said, you really have to take advantage of having a baby, 'cause that's pretty much the only time you'll get to dress anyone up as the Jedi master.

Twins Tristan & London as a monkey and a banana. How cute is that. Even if they ARE sideways.

I had so much luggage to bring to this party - dip, carrots, celery, multiple boxes of crackers, 2 pumpkins, sandwiches, notebook for the business meeting (which didn't happen, thanks to the 30 some kids in costume)...but really, my biggest logistic issue was how to transport that darn painted pumpkin back home again.

Conversation in a Public Restroom

Tonight at Applebee's (with the other stall occupied):

Leah: (on the toilet) Do you remember that time the toilet flushed and I was still on it?

Me: Yep. I also remember that you squealed and jumped off!

(pause, as we get her finished and she pulls up her pants)

Leah: That's the fun thing about having kids - they help you remember stuff.

Me: Yeah? What kind of stuff do you help me remember?

Leah: Hmm...Like, that I want a My Little Ponies birthday party?

We Don't Know Where She Learned This

Yesterday evening we were outside "helping" Daddy do some yard work. Leah was walking on our neighbor's side of the fence, taking rocks out of the grass and putting them in their place.


Randomly, she says, "You treat me like a servant. You always tell me what to do."


Wow.


I said, "Well, when you live in a family you do things to help each other, just like Daddy and I help each other.'


Her: "But you always make me do stuff."


Me: "No, I ask you to help me. Do you think Daddy and I should do everything?"


Leah looks at me, like she'd like to try that one out.


Me: "'Cause that would make us YOUR servants."


Hmm.


Her: "But you always tell me what to do!"


Now, you and I and Auntie Ruth all know that when your opponent returns to their original arguement, you can basically chalk it up as a win.


By, the way, poor little Miss Servant's duties now include setting the table, cleaning up her toys (and sometimes Ben's) and putting away her laundry. She has it so rough.

We Just Call Them "Fall" Costumes

We don't celebrate Halloween at our house. This is not an easy thing. First of all, I have discovered that it is culturally more acceptable not to celebrate Christmas, because there are many religions who do not. But it seems that all but us Christian extremists (joke! I don't think we are extreme - at least not in the dangerous connotation that word has gotten lately.)

Anyway, I was discussing this last year with Aaron, and he said the reason it's harder to abstain from Halloween is because it's a community holiday. It's not specific to a religion, so no one is afraid of offending anyone by have a Halloween party. And, this is the one time of the year that some see their neighbors! Christmas is celebrated in your own house, with your own family.

My kids know about Halloween, of course, just like they know who Santa Claus is. We just "don't do" them in our house. Leah doesn't really care, 'cause she gets to dress up and go to "Fall" or "Harvest" parties, and she gets candy at said parties. We'll see what happens as she gets older, but maybe then she'll understand our reasons for not partaking: 1) It's associated with things we usually avoid and see as bad: witches, ghosts, vampires, etc., 2) I find decorating with skulls and spider webs rather icky, and 3)Halloween seems to be an excuse for bad behavior - breaking pumpkins, vandalism, etc. To us, that is a sign it is not a good holiday to celebrate.

Plus, have you SEEN the costumes they try to market to girls? Seriously, they are all like versions of the traditional hooker costume. And I'm not just talking about women's getups, either - they go as young as middle schoolers. Feminists, there is some battle ground to be won here.

Of course, my own conscious tells me that celebrating the harvest is even more pagan than Halloween itself. I even had the thought the other day that the scarecrows people use for decorations remind me of effigies- a few pumpkins inside is plenty for us.

We usually spend Halloween evening buried in our house, trying to make it as dark as possible. But last year, we had several people still ring our doorbell. Too bad for them. They got some weird pumpkin gumballs that I'd bought the day before to try. Reaffirming my dislike of the holiday, the next day we found several of those gumballs chewed up and spit out on our driveway and sidewalk. Probably the middle-school age boys that weren't even in costume. Bah, Humbug!

If you're planning on visiting us on the 31st, you'd best call ahead - otherwise you'll just be ignored. Or be given some gross candy. Your choice.

Must Be the Genes

Sunday afternoon the whole family was piled on the couch, watching Aaron flip channels between football games (Vikings, you are sooo lucky). He explored a few more channels, and came the Senior Golf Tour tournament.

His beloved daughter, who has golfed 3 rounds with him now (albeit as spectator only), said, "Oh good, golf!"

She's fully a member of the family - his, at least.

An Odd Kind of Scavenger Hunt

A couple of weeks ago Aaron turned off a bunch a bunch of breakers before removing a light fixture from our great room. The reason it was a "bunch" of breakers is because the sub-panel on the fuse box has about 20 switches, and not one of them is labeled.

He turned them all off, and then we started the fun game of finding out which switch goes to what part of the house. We got the big ones, like lights, right away. However...we have been finding others rather randomly.

Like the garbage disposal on the island in the kitchen. And the fridge in the bar. Oh, and the furnaces. Oops.

We discovered that one this weekend when the weather turned a bit chilly. Aaron worked all week and basically didn't have time to breathe until Saturday afternoon, when I crawled out of hibernation long enough to tell him to tell him he HAD to do something! Anything!

In a matter of minutes the problem was fixed, and we added about 5 new labels to the sub-panel. Ah, heat. It is sooo underrated.

Now there are about 4 or 5 switches still unlabeled - so who knows what we'll find next? FUN!


Note: My sibs and SIL Kate all finished the Chicago Marathon well, with my brother Dave coming in 207th place - out of 33,000 runners. That makes him in the top .006%. Mom & Dad got to see everyone run by, in that crazy horde of athletes and fans. And they agreed that that size of marathon is NOT the place for kids younger than teens. I agree. We'll stick to being spectators of the Fargo Marathon.

Might be a Teensy Bit Type-A

The wood was a decorative piece from the top of the bar cabinets. Thankfully Aaron removed it during the painting process, and Ben commandeered it as a display tool for the Little People. He just looked so darn proud of himself.

A Different Branch of the Family Tree

My plans for the weekend? Eating rice krispie bars, watching tv and doing a little shopping maybe. What are the plans for the rest of my family? Well, all 3 sibs & one in-law will be running the Chicago Marathon. And my parents will be there cheering them on, along with the other 2 spouses.

I always have been the non-athlete in the family, but who would have thought that this status would only become stronger in adulthood? Unless we're going to include childbirth as an athletic activity. I still have those two trophies to show those super-active brothers & sisters of mine. Take that! I don't even have to dust mine.

This Sunday at 8am, while I am getting the kids their cereal, I'll be thinking about Aaron, Kate, Ruth & Dave, all getting ready for this amazing race. And I'll really enjoy being indoors.

Good luck, you guys!

Poehler + Fey= true love

Many of us are aware of the ongoing friendship between Tina Fey & Amy Poehler - if you've watched SNL in the last decade, anyway. I happen to love Tina's (yes, I know her personally!) show 30 Rock, also, probably because I can relate more than a little to her dorky Liz Lemon character.

Anyway. We may have been the last in our demographic, but we finally watched Baby Mama the other night. And yes, we also thought it was hilarious. And more clean than expected?

I am big fan of Poelher's "Rick! Rick!" skits on SNL, and I was thrilled to catch a snippet of that character in one of the Mama scenes...not that I can remember which one, right now.

Favorite scene? Probably when Kate (Miss Tina) is trying to get Angie (Miss Poehler) to take her folic acid and prenatal vitamins. One of them is about the size of an Alka-Seltzer tablet - which is totally fictional, for you future moms out there. Most prenatal vitamins include the folic acid, and are a normal pill size.

Anyway, this scene is all Poehler - only she could be this funny in this particular way. The look on her face, like, "I tried! I just can't," is truly hilarious.

Also, there are several smaller roles filled by awesome actors: Maura Tierney (from ER, people), Steve Martin, Sigourney Weaver - and the mom from Two and a Half Men (not that I watch that show, no sireee!) who pretty much plays the same mom here.

So there. That's my way-too-late-to-be-relevant-movie-commentary-of-the-week.