Marissa-isms

I realize it has been a long time since I have done Marissa Monday. So, while I am aware that today is not Monday, I decided to write a post that is completely centered on the wit and wisdom of my oldest child ~

STRENUOUS

First, for a photographic memory. Ron and I got married in Minnesota. We honeymooned on the North Shore of Lake Superior. However, we were making our first home in Washington. So, when the honeymoon was over, the reality of our new life together started with a road trip. We drove from Minnesota to Washington. On the way, we stopped in the Black Hills. On the first evening there, we were eating dinner and contemplating whether or not we had time to hike one of the trails. Well, the only trail we had time to finish before the sun set was a trail that stated that the beginning of the trail was slightly strenuous. Marissa asked, ”What’s strenuous?”

I could have told her what strenuous was, but I let her experience it instead! She treated me to the appropriate whining and groveling!

TROUBLESHOOTING

My husband had a week of vacation time that he had to take this month. During that time, he moved my old computer to Marissa’s room. It wasn’t long before the hard drive crashed. Ron asked Marissa a series of questions trying to figure out what was wrong so that he could fix it and make sure it didn’t happen again. It turned out that the computer had “frozen” so Marissa turned the computer off without going through the steps to power the computer down safely. Ron had to rebuild her hard drive.

Her encounter with her dad’s troubleshooting obviously has had a long-term, negative effect on Marissa’s understanding of the entire concept of troubleshooting. A few days later, I was talking to Ron about needing a new coffee maker. I was telling him what was wrong with my current one and he began asking me a series of questions trying to troubleshoot the problem. He would way rather fix the coffee maker we have then purchase a new one. Well, Marissa pipes in from the back of the house:

Marissa: Quit blaming me!

Mom: Dad’s not blaming you; he is just trying to see if he can fix our coffee maker. 

Marissa: Well, quit looking for a reason to blame me.

KINKY

Just last week, Ron was getting ready to go to the store; I was in the kitchen. He stopped to kiss me goodbye and Marissa asserted, “STOP! No getting kinky in the kitchen.” This behavior was kind of cute when she was 9. It is a little annoying now that she is fifteen. I am recording this in my blog so that I can remember to use this if I ever catch Marissa and a boyfriend getting kinky!

HOW OLD DOES SHE THINK I AM?

Marissa recently completed reading the Divine Comedy. She is writing an essay now contrasting Dante’s view of the afterlife with what is presented in Scripture. She brought me a draft of her outline and I was explaining to her why she needed to include a little more detail.

Mom: Marissa, who is your audience?

Marissa: I don’t know what you mean?

Mom: If you were writing this for someone who hadn’t read Dante, do you think they would need more information?

Marissa: Maybe.

Mom: Well, if I showed your essay to Aunt Terri or Aunt Sally, do you think they would understand your argument? Do you think that they read Dante in High School?

Marissa: No

Mom: Do you think Grandma read Dante in High School?

Marissa: It probably wasn’t even written yet! Don’t tell Grandma I said that!

I did tell my Mom that Marissa said that. She laughed and laughed and laughed…

FINALLY 

Just today I took a pan out of the cupboard that had been put away dirty. Knowing that I hadn’t done that and assuming Ron hadn’t, I called Marissa into the kitchen. Marissa came out and listened politely to my rant and cleaned the pan. Then said, “Can I go finish getting ready now?” Feeling cantankerous, I blurted out, “No!” Without missing a beat Marissa retorted:

Why, do you want to throttle me now?

Now isn’t she cute? For those who enjoy Marissa Monday just for the photos, here is a picture of Marissa taken in the Black Hills. We were visiting Wall Drug and Marissa wanted me to take her picture because her shirt matched the poster she was standing next to. How’s that for coordinating?