True (and False) Declarations.

Ritz Bits with cheese are a hot commodity in our house these days. Jenna got some out for a snack, and I also ate the last few that were left in the box. When Jenna wanted more, I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Jen... there weren't many left and I ate them."
"MOM! You're the MEANEST MOM IN THE WORLD!" she replied with some scorn and vehemence.

"Really?" I replied, and then tossing aside any kind of age and developmentally appropriate response, I continued. (You can start cringing here.) "There are mommies who HIT their kids and aren't even sorry! THAT'S being the meanest mommy in the world. All I did was eat some crackers."

"Oh... sorry," was Jenna's mumbled response.

***

I have been taking a Financial Peace University class at my church and absolutely love it. It is written and presented by Dave Ramsey and gives you a blueprint for writing budgets, getting rid of your credit cards, and taking control of your money and savings and investments. It's part education and part behavior modification. His main idea is to get rid of any debt you have as quickly as possible, with the intensity of a gazelle running away from a lion who's looking to eat it. He uses this phrase "gazelle intensity" pretty often and in our house, we have shortened it so that anything we do that saves us some money is declared "gazelle", like in "Ohhh... that's gazelle!"

Well, we never really explained this idea to Michaela, and the other day, when she was setting the table, she cries out, "Ohhhh! This is SO NOT gazelle! We're out of NAPKINS!"
"What? Why is that not gazelle?" I asked her.
"Because it's something bad, and gazelle is something good."
"No, honey," I explained, "when we say 'gazelle' it means it's saving us money. Which IS good, but a little different."
"Oooooohhhh..."

And it made a great story at my class last night. :)