Me: Kids, we need to talk.
The Girl: Yes, I have been meaning to tell you that I want to go to Michaels and get stuff to make foam fairy monsters.
Me: Uh, yeah. That's not exactly what I wanted to talk about. Kids, here's what I need to tell you: my company had to lay some people off, and I lost my job.
The Boy: Does this mean we're going to lose our house? Are we going to live in a tent somewhere?
The Girl: No, dummy. It just means we shouldn't be using our allowances to buy a bunch of junky stuff. We should save it for things we NEED, like food and clothes.
The Boy: I have two five buckses, Mommy. You can borrow those!
The Girl: And I have plenty enough of clothes, Mommy, so you can just worry about buying me food. But [The Boy] doesn't like most food so maybe you should buy him a new shirt instead.
Me: Thanks. Now, don't worry, kids, because things are not going to change THAT much. It means that instead of going to your afterschool program, I'll pick you up from the bus. And that we'll cut out some of the things that we do that we don't love, so that we can try to keep doing the things that are really special.
The Girl: Are you going to start cooking more? I hope that we can still get the two-for Tuesday specials at Dominos's.
(Sudden thought causes her to shout) I DON'T WANT TO EAT TONGUE, MOMMY!
Me: What are you talking about?
The Girl: When Beezus and Ramona's dad lost his job their Mom started making them eat tongue with gravy.
Me: I can promise you that I will never, ever, EVER serve you tongue.
The Boy: (horrorstruck) Does this mean we won't get to go to Disneyworld ever again?
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Conversation
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39 comments:
It's amazing what's priority to kids. My girls read Beezus and Ramona. They've been asking me if I remember what happened to Picky Picky and other Ramona/Beezus trivia to test my memory from when I read the books. Another example of cruelty to poor 44 year olds.
I also like the Girl's "clothe him/feed me" approach to funds allocation. Survival of the fittest - or the better dressed?
Thanks for the blog invite - you make me feel special <:-)
Tongue huh? Interesting....
I love the fact that the girl has it all figured out - she'll take care of her clothes, and you just have to buy her food. The boy on the other hand, doesn't lik food, so just get him a shirt.
brilliant.
thanks for the invite. I was going to do a comment about how awesome I was to be the first commenter, but I'm not sure how many have been invited to your blog, so I could be one of two or something.
then again, I'm flattering myself.
then i took too long, and ct mom beat me to first anyway.
Why is it that, ultimately, it all boils down to the Disney Question?
Damn that Insidious Overpriced Rodent!
Awww! Hey, there's quite a bit of good news here.
1. Pancakes are CHEAP.
2. The Boy & Girl LIKE pancakes.
3. MM knows how to MAKE pancakes.
4. Pancakes taste WAY better the tongue, and really shouldn't make much of a dent in the future Disney fund.
: )
"i have two five buckses" -- brazilliant and sweet.
also, i hear that tongue marinated in a fine wine is always a hit. maybe scrap the tongue and just go for the fine wine.
Ahhh, HERE you are!
In an overall angsty day, your invitation was a blessing. I feel better already.
TONGUE!! Of all things. Oh the places their minds go.
Btw, SO GLAD you're still bloggin'. I just felt it was so wrong (WRONG!) when you were going offline and now it feels right (RIGHT!) once again.
All things are as they should be. :)
I think tongue is super expensive, being a delicacy and all that. So, see? Already the children are making cutbacks.
The most horrifying of things to eat tongue! Tell her no tongue but there may be gruel. As far as children's stories go, maybe "Stone Soup" is more palatable. I love that book.
Heh heh. Well, it sounds like the conversation went well.
I like the foam fairy monster idea a lot! I wish I were that creative, and were young enough, to still do stuff like that and not be distracted by what the heck I SHOULD be doing.
I second the pancake idea.
YEAH! So glad you are back. So unfortunate that others were born without a sense of humor.
AND SUPER EWWWWWW on the tongue. Waffles are good too.
Yay! You're still here! Thank you for inviting me to your blog. DO I need to catch up your posts, or is there a connection between your getting laid off and HR corporate hacks that have no sense of humor?
GASP!!! Did you get Dooced?
Well, for what it's worth, I got corporately laid off too. I gave them 16 of the best years of my life and what do they do? "Uh, we're moving your position to the other side of the country. Wanna play fetch?"
Uh, no.
So my last day is in three weeks. I'm thinking of pulling out all of my savings and hitting the casino. I mean, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Glad to see you again!!
Thanks for the special invite. :)
LOL about the tongue and the cash donation!
So are you marketable as a consultant?
OMG, my mom actually did make tongue when we were little. We lived in the country and she bought cow's tongue a couple of times and I still remember seeing it on the counter. Soooo disgusting!
Glad to see u back. (:
Kids look at everything from such a different perspective that sometimes it makes it all a little clearer for us (or a lot more fuzzy . . . not sure which).
So happy to get your invite . . . privileged to tag along for the ride.
Are we living the same life? (My big fella lost his job two months ago.) My top five:
1. Ramen Noodles
2. Pasta with saud (again, mom???)
3. PANCAKES
that's all i got.....
(thanks for the invite...)
I love the five buckses.........
Glad to have you back in BloggerWorld! I believe it's time for you to break out the Crockpot and start cooking the hell out of those cheap cuts of meat, tongue excluded.
I'm with Girl: love the Beezus/Ramona books.
Thank you for the invite. I was beginning to have ManagerMom withdrawl symptoms!
Boy and Girl are absolutely adorable. "Five Buckses" and I was losing coffee out of my nostrils,that and when Girl says "buy him a shirt"! Too cute!
Hi MM -
So glad to see you blogging again! I love conversations with the kiddos!
The BEST.
See you here or on Facebook!
I feel honored that I get to be a reader - thanks for including me!
Hang in there with the job search. Any advice I'd have, I'm sure you've already heard, but here's one more piece:
Take care of yourself. Eat right, try and sleep, and remember you are awesome and that your job does NOT define who you are.
Also? Your virtual friends/fans love you!!!
Tongue is actually delicious. Apparently.
Love your kids. Love you. Sending you thoughts of finding the right job asap.
OMG! Beezus and Ramona! That is hilarious. Next thing you know you'll be packing raw eggs instead of boiled in their lunches.
That was sweet, though, that the boy offered you his five buckses!
Tell him he better hang on to his $$5 buckes.. :-)
At least you will be saving on gas money w/ no where to go!! ;-P
Your kids are hilarious! I guess what did I expect when you're their mom??
xoxoxo to you, lovely lady.
I'm so glad you're here!
You can live on love for a long time, so, while you're doing that, would The Boy be able to loan me $2.50?
I can totally picture the look on your girls face as she works through the tongue scenario!
I hope you find yourself back in a great position before you know it!
Is anyone else having trouble saving ManagerMom in their Google Reader? HELP!
Now you see, if we had this kind of fiscal leadership from the get-go, our nation wouldn't be in such financial shambles!
Yaaaaaaaaay for the invite!! Wooohooo!
I remember reading your post a couple weeks ago about the company down-sizing but I didn't realize it had happened for real. I am so, so sorry to hear of this. I can imagine this is a good time to think about how you want to spend your 'free time' before you land another kickass job.
Enjoy that kiddy time and be sure to give us lots more dialogue - the internets are fiends for kiddie dialogue.
This is also a great time to re-think what the heck we think 'necessities' are. Ya know, toilet paper was $8 the other day at Target. EIGHT FRIGGIN DOLLARS ... but it's certainly something I can't go without.
Thanks so much for letting me join the private party! I have two suggestions:
(1) Coca-cola. Atlanta housing is surprisingly cheap -- especially compared to CT!
(2) You can always make yourself feel comparatively better by visiting here:
http://philosophyjobmarket.blogspot.com/
i miss you
Are you okay??
Nice to be here, even though I have absolutely no business connections. Unless you'd like to write about food allergies for free. Then I could hook you up.
update
update
UPDATE!!!!
You're back - yea!
Still laughing...tongue...hehehe...tongue...
So sorry about the job. Your kids seem to be handling it well. LOL I love the things they will say!
Tongue goes well with pickled pigs feet! You will definitely rebound.
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