like mother, like yodeling pickle

Last week I came home from Whole Earth Provisions with an awesome Archie McPhee yodeling pickle. I could hardly wait for Steve to come home so I could share the little plastic miracle with him. We both love a good yodel - especially from someone like Don Walser.

Before he even had time to put his bag down, I pushed play. The pickle yodeled. I did a little jig.

The color drained out of Steve's face. He looked at me and said, "Oh my God. You're turning into your mom."

I grabbed my pickle and walked away. I had no idea what he was talking about and I was pissy - he rained on my pickle parade.

This past weekend I took the kids to my mom's house for a quick afternoon visit. I told her the pickle story and we both shrugged our shoulders like, That was a weird thing for him to say. Who knows what that means?

Then, in total excitement, my mom said, "Speaking of cool things! Look at these chickens that I bought the kids. When you squeeze their stomachs their eyes pop out and candy comes out of their bottoms. They even cluck!"

The end.

Do me a favor? Tell me something quirky that you share in common with one of your parents. Make me feel better. One lucky person will win . . . a yodeling pickle. Or maybe squirrel underwear. Swear.

Comments

[Anita]

I shared your post with 16 yo daughter and to answer your question...she said..."We both have annoying laughs." LOL

[Emily]

I have a few dumb jokes that I learned from my dad, and I'm really good at coming up with quick funnies like my dad! Like my favorite to tell when my girl friends get to talking about hormones I ask "how do you make a hormone?" (a classic from my dad) I won't share the rest here because it's probably not polite. But I do get some laughs.

[Aimee Greeblemonkey]

I can't think of one with my mom right now - but all I know is this: I WANT A YODELING PICKLE!!!!

[Mary]

I walked into my parent's house for a visit after driving all night from LA. I looked an my Mom and my expression said it all. We both had on blue jeans, white t-shirt and white tennis shoes. It doesn't get any more "like mother - like daugher" than that! I still laugh when I look at that photo!

[Deb J]

What a hoot. Mom and I are both very neat nick about things and that can drive others nuts.

[alison]

Where did your mom find those chickens! I must have one!!!!! :)

[Dee Dee]

Rob has bugged me for YEARS to toss or recycle far more plastic containers and jars than I would like under the theory that with Rubbermaid and Gladware and everything, we'll always have things that will work for every need we have for storing leftovers. I've tried but never successfully explained (over almost 20 years) why containers that used to hold yogurt and margarine and mayonnaise just make MORE SENSE to me and seem BETTER . So we're in Tulsa for Thanksgiving last year and Rob's trying to help clean up when my mom sends him to the cabinet with the leftover containers. When it EXPLODED all over him and I come in to see what the fuss is and find him and my mom swimming in mismatched tubs and lids and my mom explaining why it's so important to save them all and how great it is that she has such a vast array of shapes and sizes, he just looks up at me with...that face, that look...the one that says: Got it. The end.

[Sarah]

In case any of you want to play with one before you win it:

http://www.yodellingpickle.com/


Also, me and my mom both get really high pitched when we get upset/irritated. It bugs the crap out of everyone else in the family.

[M Jane]

When I was a kid, my parents' mail came through a slot in the front door. When that mail hit the floor, my mother would almost knock us down to get to it first! Sometimes she would see the mailman coming up the front walk and sneak to the door and catch it as it came through. To this day I LOVE the mail. I'll go out in just about any weather at any time of day to see what surprises wait for us from the postman.

[Anne W. Lupton]

This isn't quite as good as sharing a fondness for musical vegetables and candy-popping animals, but according to my mom, I "have to have 13 good reasons for everything. Just like your father." I do not, however, have 13 good reasons for why this is.

[Sonja]

My mom can't keep her hands still- her little thumbs wiggle and when I was young it would go on my nerves. I'd to see her with her hands on the steering wheel, thumbs constantly moving like she was anxious. The other day, waiting at a stoplight, I caught myself doing the exact same thing. So now I'm aware, and realize I do it constantly.

[steve c]

I was at a funeral last year and was visiting with someone I hadn't seen in years. She exclaimed "You sound just like your dad. The phrasing, the tone, the pace is just like him". I took that as high compliment. I don't act like my mom, but everyone says I married a woman just like her. Down to so many little details it's just scary.

[Elwood]

I'm new at blogging. I sent my Mother story to your email instead of your comments section. Duh ..... I suppose my Mom would have done the same thing. My Mother story is that we both avoid trafficky "school zones" both in the morning and in the afternoon - no matter how far out of the way we have to drive. I didn't know she did this but was recently driving my Dad somewhere and I said "we can't go down this street because school is getting out". He looked at me, laughed and told me that my Mom did the same thing.

[mexicanwoman]

I love to iron. I hated ironing from the time I was teen until I was about 30. I didn't care if I was wearing wrinkled clothes and spent quite a bit on dry cleaning for work clothes. And then all of the sudden I found myself ironing every Sunday for hours and putting the clothes away immediately. Just like my mother.

[Kelly]

oh, i so have to have that yodeling pickle. too funny. my dad and i share a love of really really bad puns, like:

There were two peanuts walking down the street. One was assaulted. :-)

my husband finds no humor in this, but i laugh every time.

[Lorie]

I love this yodeling pickle, but then I also love squirrel underwear.

I am not quirky, my mother was not quirky, however, we both loved those great big sour dill pickles that you could get out of the barrel at certain amusement parks. We are the only two people I know who could eat two whole ones and not get sick!

somehow, this yodeling pickle seems even more desirable now...

[Heather]

Um... getting a little too hyper about stuff. Just a little.

[Stacey]

Thanks for that smile!

My mom and I share so much....but the thing that drives me crazy is when I nervously twirl my hair, only to look across the room and see her doing the same thing. Same strand placement and all!!

[Ann Tucker]

My mom (who has passed) and I were so similar in many ways. Even at her funeral, people who I had never met before (that she knew when she was very young) said to me that I was just like her - in looks and mannerisms. I said "good thing she was so darn good looking!". :-)

Ann
www.thelavendartree.etsy.com
www.thelavendartree.blogspot.com

[Karin B]

Dad used to be marvelous at making up songs and creating words...He called it "Word Salad". He used to tease me that I often created "Word Salad", and just the other day I exclaimed to a dear friend, "Perzactly!"...then had a 'Dad Moment', pausing to remember our shared quirk....it was a blessing. It was perfectly, exactly what I wanted to say!

[Paula]

how have I made it to 40 without knowing of the yodeling pickle? I NEED ONE!

I share a particular trait with my mom, who shared it with her mom, so it's clearly genetic: we always, always, always make WAY too much food for every gathering. While I've cut back a lot in recent years, there's still always too much food when we have people over.

[Molly]

My mother and I are so similar, people regularly confuse us. That doesn't sound so bad, so let me illustrate: not only do people assume we are one another on the phone, or remark that I'm "the spitting image of" her as if they're the first to ever make such an observation, but at my mother's FIFTIETH birthday party, people actually came up to ME to wish me a happy birthday. I was 21. I had to thank them, but explain that I am her 29-years-younger daughter.

Illustrative photographs:
(me) http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewsim/4453255532/
(mum) http://flickr.com/gp/molly_merrick/6MA5G3

[Nancy]

Oh my word...I so want this pickle!!! For as long as I can remember "pickle" was my silly word to throw out there in a wide variety of situations. I have always just loved the sound of it! It makes me laugh. I work with young children so I get to use it a lot!!! I even created storytelling materials based on a super-hero Pickle Woman (a stuffed pickle doll, cape and all!). And then there is my dad who shared silly jokes with me like Emily's did. He also shared his love of 'new' pickles with me. YUM! My niece has devoured pickles at the deli ever since she was a baby. I have never seen a child eat so many pickles! I will stop here, although the pickle connections are endless!
As far as my mom (passed away in 2008) and I...a shared quirk is that when we are sitting quietly, we tuck our thumb in between our first and second fingers, hands curled into a quiet, loose fist. My sister does this too. And when my daughter was born, one of the first things we noticed was that she too did the thumb thing!

[Anne Fraley]

Thank you for this. What a wonderful laugh you gave me! I'm still chuckling.

I don't know if it's quirky but my mother and I both wrap presents without using tape.

[marianne]

Coffee cans..yep..Mom used to save them to make her holiday Date Nut Bread in it. Swore it was better than using a loaf pan..fast foward I'm in my twenties and storing up coffee cans in the kitchen cabinets like a squirrel saving acorns for the winter. Didn't even realize I was doing it until a party one evening and a guest was looking for a glass and came across the cabinet of cans..the really weird thing is I NEVER cooked or baked..but I saved the cans!

[Liz Ness]

I break out in song while in the kitchen (why there, I'll never know) -- just like Mom (but it's a strange-sort-of-singing-to-make-others-laugh song). My son is starting to do it, too. Cracks me up!

[Susan McCamey]

my mother and I both take our jewelry off first thing we get home. We just discovered this similarity a year ago! She's 65 and I'm 46 and we have been doing this for years!

[Dani T]

My mom and I share quite a bit in common but I would have to say... our volume. We are both SUPER loud. We laugh loud, talk loud, everything loud. We both ask questions during tv shows and movies... constantly. And we both clap our hands or slap our knees when we find something particularly hilarious. The first time my husband was around when we were watching a movie together, he said on the drive home--- "Now I get it."

[janie]

The thing I notice that I am most like my mom is that.... I have piles of stuff in the basement that I want to "re-do" but haven't gotten to yet. This spring I did make a list of what I really want to do and what I am going to get rid of. Needless to say...most of it is going to Goodwill, junk, or back to my moms house.
Just another little funny: My niece is giong to school for nursing and sent me a text about how she loves it and what an awesome nurse she is going to be. I sent her a message back that said..."Great... then it is settled, you can be the one that has to wipe grammas fanny when she is older!" My mom took care of her mother for almost 10 years in her home. I would often go to help out, it was so sad at the end. My mom would joke with each of the grandkids asking them who loved her most... the joking turned into the "big question" of who was going to wipe her fanny when she was older.

[Liz]

A couple of years ago I was visiting my parents and they took me out to eat in a local restaurant. There happened to be another couple at the restaurant who were friends with my parents - I didn't know them - so we all got one big table. When we were about halfway finished eating, the woman in the other couple realized that she never got the salad that was supposed to be included with her entree. I leaned in close and said "you should tell the waitress, maybe she'll knock a couple of bucks off the bill for you." Everyone got strangely quiet and the other couple had funny looks on their faces - it was my mother who finally said, "well, now you know for sure that she's her father's daughter." I realized that I had said exactly what my father was probably about to say, what everyone was expecting him to say, I just beat him to it!

[Rebecca]

About ten years ago I began to cringe when people said my mother and I were just alike. Four years ago breast cancer came calling and she kicked it's butt right back out the door. Then I thought, it's not so bad to be like this tough, caring, loving, did I say tough lady. So, now I smile and shake my head when people say we sound just alike over the phone. I hold my giggles when we eat at the same table and we hold our hands over our plates in the same way. Or, when we are walking and we both put our hands behind our backs just like her mother did. Or, when we take out that $20 we had hidden in our bra for the kids when the ice cream man comes singing by. But a yodeling pickle? You have us beat with that one!

[Brené Brown]

I love these responses! I can feel the tenderness (and see the head-shaking). Ain't life grand?

[m]

Hmmm...I am more like my grandma.
(she isn't here anymore) But I can't resist tacky things! Sparkly brooches, shoes with shells glued on them, horrid retro decorations and knick-knacks....irressitable!
ANd in that everything is cause for celebration! Not a day goes by that doesn't offer a reason to celebrate!
And I pretend I yodel all the time (to the annoyance of generally ALL others) especially while skiing, so the yodelling pickle would be a great companion and I could blame the yodeling on it!

[Trece]

You knocked it out of the park with this one. I was laughing so hard - and then I went to the archie mcphee website. OMG!! I couldn't believe that stuff!! Thanks for making my day!

[Sherry Ball Schoenfeldt]

I really liked this post when I read it a couple days ago so I posted a link to FB and asked my mom & daughter for their responses. It cracked me up when I came over here and read what my daughter had written (Dani T, above). The funniest part is that I have never realized I clap or slap my knees when I think something is hilarious - gonna have to be on the look-out for that one. I did, however, know I was loud and talk a lot - been told that all my life. That one comes from my dad.
I loved reading all these comments. I may have to come back again to see if there are more.
OH!! I just realized I should be asking my husband this question.
but maybe I really don't want to know?!?

[June]

When I was little, I was always unnerved when my mom would fall asleep during movies. Sometimes I caught her snoring quietly. Well, imagine my surprise (and mortification?) when I fell asleep at the movies with my kids. Yes, like mother, like daughter.

[Shell]

First of all, what a wonderful site! Krys Kirkpatrick guided me you way, so glad she did!

Lost my mom 18months ago and she and I couldn't have been more different, except I'd like to think that I got my sense of humor, love of animals and love of reading from her.

Like "M" above said, I too am more like my grandmother was and getting more so with each passing year. Lots of adversities in my life, but have learned to find the Good in things and living in the present instead of dwelling on the past.

She loved Bright colors and saved EVERTYTHING! I still have buttons in my Studio that she saved in an old coffee tin. This week caught myself cutting buttons off an Old Anne Klein Blazer and cutting out the silk lining to make flowers......

Humor and glass half full attitude.oh yeah, and GOOD Chocolate and a good glass of wine...yep! From the both of them. Thanks for making me remember and smile!

(Love the No Phone Button on your sidebar,,,I work pt in a small shop and if it were MINE I'd ban 'em from the store! Live in the moment and interact with those in your presence!)


Shell

[Skye]

Unfortunately my mother and I have too many things in common......
She has a habit of sticking out her tongue when she is doing the dishes, unfortunately I found myself doing just the same thing the other day.
She also has a habit of yelling your name across the entire shop, holding up a rather hideous looking garment and encouraging me to try it on.
Another bad one is opening up the change room curtains while you are still trying on that hideous garment for all the world to see!!!
And a very very bad habit of not listening properly.....half way through a sentence I can start talking of pink elephants with no response from her at all!!!!
I have started the sticking the tongue thing out....hopefully I don't transgress into doing the following activities to my now 3 year old daughter!!!!
I can only hope that water is, maybe not thicker but stronger than blood!!
Skye:)

[Erin S]

When I was a child my mom would listen to Prairie Home Companion every Saturday...still does. She washes her dishes or cleans up the kitchen while Garrison Keilor talks and sings. When younger I hated it! "Mom! Can't we listen to something else? This is weird. This is dumb. ARGH". You see where this is going I know. I now love listening to Prairie Home while doing chores in the house. I love the stories and folk music. Everytime I turn it on it takes me back to the days of my youth. Plus I can listen to the archives online and enjoy shows from years ago too!

oh yeah, my mom and I say "Hello?" on the phone almost exactly the same too. I hear her voice every time I answer it.

...and we have the same cough in the shower
...and I hear her yelling at my kids through me all the time!

...oh no it has happened. I.AM.MY. MOTHER! :)

[Michele]

My father, sister and I all get a tickle in the bridge of our nose when we are going to cry...good cries and sad cries. We always ask the other family members, "Don't you get the tickle?" We love being Daddy's little girls...even though we are 35 and 38!

[Megan (Best of Fates)]

ACK! Sadly my mom is terribly normal, so I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I know that I now need a yodeling pickle in my life.

Yodeling pickle, you and I are destined.

[Sarah @ Celiac in the City]

Ha! Thanks for the laugh. I dig the pickle.

My mom and I are infamous for lists. Of all kinds. Groceries, To-Do, little notes to remember. And then we try to cross things off. But keep making more lists. And post-its. We're big fans.

[Jessica@Team Rasler]

This was hilarious! My mom and I are both shopaholics. We will find something on sale and HAVE to buy it, even if we're not sure who needs or wants it. I'm trying to get us both to curb this tendency now that we're running out of space, but the urge is definitely there. When she comes to visit, a trip to Target for two things usually results in our coming home with a trunk full! We have yet to buy a pickle that makes any sort of noise, though... : )

[Alex(andra)]

Some people say my mom and I look alike.
I was walking my little brother to his school (mine was let out a week before his) a month ago or so and I decided to keep him company for a little while, standing outside the front door with him. A teacher walked past and said, "Hello, [insert my mom's name here], nice to see you!" to me. I'm fifteen (though the people at restaurants only recently stopped giving me the 12 & under kids menu) and my mother is in her forties. I told her later what happened and she laughed at me. I laughed with her. All is good. ;)

[Susan]

Oh, this is easy-I am so like my dad! He had a quirky and strange sense of humor and kept me laughing. He would do things like dangle ramen noodles out of his mouth and turn to say-straight as an ace- I love you (which came out like mywolvmoo). My mother did not approve-which made us laugh that much more! I don't do the ramen thing but you could substitute orange rinds or doing things like show up to pick my kids up at school (when they were younger) wearing a clown nose. Quirkiness and a flair for a bit of melodrama has kept things light at our house many a time!

[Tamara]

My mum and I apparently share an eyebrow thing .... as in, we do this thing with our eyebrows. I used to pay out on my mum about her eyebrow, which she uses to communicate more than her mouth sometimes. I was struck dumb one day in class (I'm a teacher) when one of my students said "hey shut up everyone, she's doing the eyebrow thing!!!" I didn't even know I did it, and now they keep trying to capture it on camera for me to prove it. Sigh .... I thought I'd escaped the curse of becoming my mother!

[beco baby carrier]

She also has a habit of yelling your name across the entire shop, holding up a rather hideous looking garment and encouraging me to try it on. Another bad one is opening up the change room curtains while you are still trying on that hideous garment for all the world to see!!!

[JennaKate]

I love all these great moments and commonalities, thanks everyone for sharing!

My mom and I are extremely similar in many ways, but the shared traits I really love are the way we emphatically declare things to be JUST AMAAAZING or PHE-NOM-EN-AL, and the perception that things will take far less time that they really do - leading to all sorts of tardiness. My mom and I are both MSWs and I love how I was brought up with a passion for social justice and a belief that individuals can truly make a difference. I love ya, mom!

[Laurie A. Sanderson]

I can't think of anything I share with my mom or shared with her as she died this year. But I confess I have a propensity to buy things like yodeling pickels, a duck that sings "Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath.. Many of these things I would give to my son, my favorie being a stuffed lion and mouse that moved and sang, The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Being a Daniel, we have surrounded him with lions. After this one he said, "Ah , Mom the next time you have an urge to do something like this, why don't you just give me the cash?!

[Maggie Blue]

That was beautiful. So often when you hear "that's just like your mom," it's meant in a bad way. What a neat way to think about being compared...and for the record...my mom and I both tend to do ridiculous things, like put the empty glass in the fridge and the carton of milk in the cabinet. It's like our minds just drift away in the middle of doing some regular task.