Meg's Take on "ASS"

Meg: You know the word A-S-S?

Mom: Yeah?

Meg: Well it's not really A-S-S ...

Mom: No?

Meg: No. It's a bad word, well not really. It's a donkey, but it CAN be a bad word, so it should be A-Double Snakes.

Mom: A-Double Snakes?

Meg: You know, for Satan? Because he's bad ... Double Snakes.

Mom: Ah yes. Got it.

Meg the Free Spirit

I may have mentioned a time or two that Megan is a free spirit. And if I haven't mentioned that, it probably isn't necessary, because if you've read this blog for a week or so, you've most likely come to that conclusion yourself.

Let's see ...

Both she and her sister are begging for 2nd ear piercings.

Last night she used an uncooked Ramen noodle to look like a nose ring.

If given the choice between candy and fake tattoos, 9 out of 10 times she'll choose the latter. Unless the ultimate candy tongue tattoo is an option, which I think she's had a couple times.

She has an obsession with ridiculously high heeled shoes.

She'd dye her hair crazy colors if our school allowed it.

I could go on and on, but instead will just say that I believe I will have plenty of blog material in the future thanks to her.

Anyway, I just came across a photo I took several months ago. I had intended to blog about it, but never did.

I remember Meg telling me she'd drawn a tattoo on her arm. I thought, Oh boy. Here we go again with the tattoos.

Then she showed it to me, and I gotta say, I was touched:

For the Lord is with you.

Feel free to take that as a reminder if you need it.

One thing's for sure, life with Meg will NEVER be boring, so pray for me to keep my sense of humor. :) 

Oh, and let me know if you'd like to rent her for entertainment at your next party.

Extreme Couponing

Megan has discovered the show Extreme Couponing. Ever since, she's been on a mission to cut out a gazillion coupons to save our family thousands of dollars at the grocery store, restaurants, etc.

Now I will admit that I'm not crazy about coupons. If I had the time to dedicate myself to such a hobby, I might be able to make them work for us. Instead, my husband hands me coupons that I usually forget to hand over to the cashier. Not always, but yeah, more than not.

I suppose if the coupons were for things we actually used ... okay, that's not fair. Let me try that again. I suppose if the coupons were for BRANDS we actually used, I'd be more inclined to use them. Wow. That really makes me sound like a snob. I should just end this post right now and start clipping coupons to teach my stuck-up self a lesson.

Or not.

So Megan basically validated my opinion of couponing this past weekend.

All last week she clipped coupons, and was super excited to show me ALL of the Carl's Jr. food items we could save on.  I told her that perhaps  we could go to Carl's Jr. that weekend, but not until then.

This past Saturday, after running around from store to store trying to find a white blouse and black flats for Amanda's school choir outfit, we girls were hungry. Since we were close to home, I suggested we zip over there to retrieve our Carl's Jr. coupons and enjoy a discounted lunch! The girls were all for it.

We got home, and Meg started looking over the coupons.

Megan:  Here's one for a breakfast sandwich.

Me:  They've stopped serving breakfast for the day.

Megan:  Well the only other coupons are for hamburgers.

Me:  Well, that IS what they're known for.

Megan:  But I don't LIKE hamburgers.

Me:  Okay, Amanda and I can get burgers, and you can get chicken nuggets.

Megan:  I don't LIKE chicken nuggets.

Me:  How about onion rings?

Megan:  Nope.

Me:  Is there anything you like at Carl's Jr.?

Megan:  No. I HATE Carl's Jr.

Me: Then Taco Bell it is.


So what have we learned today boys and girls? Two things:

1) The purpose of coupons, is to get you all excited about saving money on things you don't even LIKE.

2) You don't need coupons to eat at Taco Bell.

HEALTHY Lunches?

Amanda: We have to do the mile run today.

Me: Oh yeah?

Megan: We do ours tomorrow. We're supposed to have a healthy lunch the day we run.

Me: Okaaay.

Megan: But I don't run mine today, so DON'T pack me a healthy lunch TODAY - just tomorrow.

Me: Got it.

Apparently, "healthy" lunches have to be made by special request at our house.

And no, I've never bought this stuff. 

That should count for something, right?

Bruno Mars

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a YouTube video of Bruno Mars performing his song When I Was Your Man. Now I'd heard of this guy before, but hadn't really paid attention to his past musical offerings, and as I watched this video, I was mesmerized. His voice was as pure as ... I don't even know. All I know was that I wanted to hear more of it. So I found the song on iTunes and downloaded it. Then I listened to it over and over and over again, because I just couldn't get enough of this guy's talent.

Then the other day I figured I'd check out the rest of the album. I took a quick listen (emphasis on the word QUICK) to the first few songs and again could NOT believe this guy's gift for creating music that immediately put you in the happy dance zone. I mean every song had a hook that you just wanted to drown yourself in. Amazing.

So I went to download the entire album, and noticed that I had a choice of which version of the album I wanted - the one with a parental advisory warning, or the non-parental advisory notice. This was a no-brainer. I'm a Christian, married mother of two ... obviously we go with the non-bad words version so I can blast it in the car with my daughters, whom I KNEW would LOVE this music as much as I did.

Note to self:  If there's a parental advisory version of an album, the "clean" version probably isn't that clean.

The next morning while I was getting ready, I remembered my newly acquired album!! Woo hoo!! So as I was in the bathroom doing the hair and make-up thing, I popped my earbuds in and started rockin' out to my new favorite singer. Oh yeah.

And that's when it happened. As I was curling my hair, I heard for the first time what the songs with the catchy beats and awesome harmonies were actually talking about ... sex. Like a whole lot of it. Lots and lots and lots. Sex, sex and more sex. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it, I just don't want to ... sing about it. 

So while I was standing there in shock, part of me was irritated with myself for downloading an album before thoroughly checking out its content, and the other part of me was irritated with Bruno Mars for not being a follower of Christ and putting all that obviously God-given talent into enhancing the world of Christian music. I mean, it's not that we don't have amazing artists on the Christian music scene ... we just don't have a Bruno Mars, and I think that's sad.

So apparently this whole post was a big ole prayer request. Bruno Mars needs Jesus, because I need his music to have WAY less sex in it.

The end.

Costco Sean

We made a quick trip to Costco tonight, just in time to shop and grab dinner before they closed. 

This is the Grimmius Costco Dinner Routine:  

1) Get in the checkout lane and give Henry our dinner order.

2) Amanda stays with Henry while Megan and I go try to snag a table.

3) Henry and Amanda park the cart and get in line for our food while Meg and I relax after our stressful table securing.

4) Henry and Amanda deliver the food. We pray. We eat. Yay!!

So tonight Meg and I spotted a vacant table next to a cute little Hispanic boy who was also saving a spot for his family. If you watch Modern Family, he was every bit Manny.


As I started to clean up the trash that the people before us left behind (why do people do that?! Clean up after yourselves, geez!), a conversation began with the cute little boy ...

Boy:  Would you like me to throw that away for you?

Me:  That would be WONDERFUL, THANK YOU!!



Upon his return ...

Boy:  What's your name?

Me:  Tami.

Boy:  What's her name?

Me:  Megan, what's your name?

Boy:  Sean.

Me:  What grade are you in Sean?

Sean:  4th.

Me:  Oh! So is Megan!

Right then his oh so cute little sister came and joined him, sitting across from me in the seat we'd saved for Henry.

Me to Sean:  Are you saving seats for your mom and dad?

Sean:  Just our mom.  We don't have a dad anymore.

Sister:  Our daddy ran away.

Me:  Oh, I'm sorry. 

Sister nodded her head sadly.

Me:  What's your name?

Sister:  Lana.

Me:  Hi Lana.  Would it be alright with you if her daddy sat there?

Sean:  Yeah Lana,  scoot over.

Me:  Thank you, Lana. What grade are you in?

Lana:  Firtht.

Me:  I should have known that by your missing front teeth.

Sean:  How do you pronounce your name again?

Me:  Tami.

Sean:  Tami, are you always that fancy?

Me:  Am I fancy?

Sean:  Mmm hmm.

I didn't think I was dressed up, but I guess my earrings and watch were a little bling-y.

Me:  No, not always.

Then Sean and Lana's mom arrived.

Me: Your kids are darling, and Sean is very helpful. He offered to clear our table for us.

Mom smiled:  Oh, yes well, they're too friendly.

Me:  Maybe so.

When they left, Sean called out, "Bye Tami!"  I said goodbye to Sean and Lana, and their mom, marveling at what a wonderful job she has done raising those sweet kids all on her own.

You see, my daddy ran away when I was young too.

My girls have no idea how blessed they are. 

Subtle Influences

Meg has glasses now. She's wanted glasses for a very long time. So much so that I bought her a pair of accessory glasses from Claire's a couple of birthdays ago.

When she finally had her first official eye exam over Christmas break, I didn't think much of it. I mean, I've had many visits to my eye doctor and so it all seemed rather routine to me. It never dawned on me what kind of impression it was making on Meg.

Now I should back up a little and tell those of you who aren't Facebook friends of mine, that not only has Meg always wanted glasses, but she's always wanted sparkly high heels. And by high heels, I mean CRAZY HIGH heels.

For Christmas, Meg got her heels (which she is ONLY allowed to wear around the house), and she couldn't have been more thrilled!  In fact, in her prayer that night, she thanked Jesus for a "High Heel Christmas!"

THEN, a couple weeks later, she got her first real pair of glasses!! Could life GET any BETTER?!

Okay, so as I was saying before ... the eye exam was as routine as routine can be. Of course it was all NEW to MEGAN.

Later that night she came over to my husband and I while we were sitting on the couch, and while wearing only one of her insanely high heeled shoes she kept alternating her weight from one bare foot to the other high heeled foot and asking ... 

Meg:  Better one? Or better two? Better one? Better two? One? Two?
 
Me:  Someone had their first eye exam today. :)

Henry:  Obviously.

Love her.

Les What?

Last night Meg went with me to the grocery store. While we were there, she heard a song playing overhead ...

Megan:  Mom, listen.

Me:  What?

Megan:  Is that Adele singing?

Me:  Oh yeah, it is.

Megan:  What's the name of that song ... Lez May? Lez Mo? Lame-o?


Me:  You mean Les Mis?

Megan:  Yeah! Les Mis.

Me:  Except the song playing right now is Skyfall.



Megan:  Right. That's what I meant.