Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Pilfering produce...



Yesterday, when I went to make lunches for school, I noticed something unusual about the strawberries that Phil had bought the day before at H.E.B. Seems that he purchased a carton of strawberries that had one bite out of every single strawberry…hmmmm…

Okay, not really, but imagine my surprise when I discovered a plastic container full of half-bitten strawberries! Well, actually… imagine my irritation. Imagine the rounding up of the usual suspects. Imagine the inquisition. And so it goes…

The culprits were two children that happen to live in my home. I won’t tell you who they are, but here’s a hint… one is a boy, and one is a girl who’s NOT named Josie. Seems they decided to help themselves to strawberries yesterday for breakfast, took one bite out of each one, and put the ‘stumps’ back in the carton, which they then put back in the fridge (the picture doesn't do it justice... I had already taken out most of the ones that just had small bites out of them)

Where was I during the strawberry sneakiness? Oh, I don’t know… Upstairs? In the shower? In the laundry room? Who can even tell? If you’ve got kids, you know it doesn’t take much time for them to get into mischief, raid the pantry and/ or the fridge, make long distance phone calls to Hong Kong, or accidentally set a closet on fire (that, by the way, was NOT my kids… that was my kid brother when he was about 4… long story… another blog. ;)

So, wasting food is a big no-no in our house (as I’m sure it is in yours)…and we’ve had this discussion before. Like the times when I’ve found an apple with two bites out of it in the trash can. Sorry, but that just doesn’t fly with me. Unless there’s a worm bitten in half in that darn apple…don’t throw it away. YOU got the apple out of the fridge… finish it (well at least finish MOST of it.)

Anyway, I decided there should be a consequence for the strawberry waste. Both of the offenders will be giving me a dollar out of their piggy bank to buy a new carton of strawberries. Yes, I know… call me harsh. Feel free to make the comment on my blog that I’m the meanest mommy ever (trust me…I’ve heard it before from shorter people than you! Hah!) But, seriously, it wasn’t like it was just a few half-bitten strawberries in the carton… it was EVERY SINGLE ONE. Hopefully they will think twice before being wasteful with food.

But if you think making them replace the strawberries is mean, I guess I should NOT tell you that two of my children have ‘strawberry stumps’ in their lunches today. (Hey, at least I washed them!! ;) I don’t expect that they will actually eat them, but it’s a lesson…one of those ‘logical consequences’ things.
What's that you say? I'm a 'mean mommy'? Yes, I know... the 'berry bandits' already mentioned that. ;)

9 comments:

Shanda Boatright said...

Hilarious and I love it! I especially like making them pay for them. It hurts the most from the piggy bank. Clever and by no means are you a mean mommy in my book.

Wendy said...

That is really funny, but I'm sure you weren't laughing when you found the strawberries like that. I will have to remember your berry bites in the lunch when Taylor pulls a stunt like this!

jen said...

FUNNY!! I hope they enjoyed their stumps at lunch today.

Anonymous said...

Not quite the same as "muffin tops"

Kris with a K said...

Joe and I agree that you are a "berry berry" mean mommy.

Sorry, I would have just laughed my butt off at that one. And my kids would have eaten more of the stumps, and left only the green parts...but of course they would have brought them home in the lunchbox and left it CLOSED in their room for a week or 3.

That's why we hot lunch it. Well, one of the reasons.

Unknown said...

LOL...berry stumps! I am surprised my sweet little darlings haven't come up with that one!

Veronica said...

That is so funny! I can't believe you thought to put them in their lunches! I love it! Next time my kids mess up I'm calling you for advice. Better yet, you could write a book! It would be so funny!

Anonymous said...

Ah, yes. When I'm called meanest mom, I usually yell, "YES! I RULE!!!!" and then dance around singing, "I'm the meanest mo-o-om, I'm the meanest mo-o-om".

It goes over especially well out in public.

Stacy said...

I can't stop laughing! I love the stumps in the lunch box.