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Reprinted from The North Scott Press, Eldridge, Iowa
Chris and Doris Rembold were interviewed by Barbs Geerts of The North Scott Press.
Tastefully Decorated
New home addition houses M&M collection for Long Grove couple. Yes, it's hard to stifle a grin, when this is the room you're in. The call it the "M&M Room," a repository of candy-related relics collected by Long Grove's Chris Rembold. Everywhere you look in this office/display room, brightly colored M&M figurines in all manner of response stare from shelve after shelve. From giant cutouts to cameras to cars, if it's part of the candy-coated keepsake craze, you'll probably find it here. "It's plastic, it's colorful, and it's not expensive," Chris says of his unique confectionary collection. "People come into the room, and they're happy. They smile. Some of them can't believe it. Does this brighten your spirits in here?" The "MMonstrous" collection might still be in storage, if it weren't for the couple's decision to put an addition on their house. The expansion allowed Chris to indulge his appetite for more of the cocoa-lectibles. - although that wasn't the driving force behind the project. "What do you do after you retire and your kids are out of the house? You add on. So that's what we did," he joked, adding that there will be plenty of room for future grandkids to visit (their son, Eric, and his wife have one on the way) "That's another benefit of the M&M room. It will be a colorful place for (entertaining) the grandchildren." An M&M invasion is probably not what Chris' wife, Doris, envisioned when she encouraged her retired husband to take up a hobby. "About six years ago, Doris said, 'You know you should collect something.' Now she's wondering whether she should have said that," laughs Chris. Still, Doris hasn't found her hubby's obsession so hard to swallow. You might say she's even acquired a taste for it. "It's kind of enjoyable," admits Doris, who added her own touch to the room by whipping up curtains featuring the Mars Company's famous green, yellow, and red "spokescandies." It's a hobby they can enjoy together, they say. The couple goes to flea markets and stores, looking for the latest offerings and, if they're lucky, some rare find. "(Doris) is, what do they call it, an M&M enabler," Chris says with a smile, then adds, "There are worse kinds of enablers." Chris sees his M&M addiction as mild, by collector's standards. "There's a fine line between collecting and 'insanity.' I'm not there - yet," he insists. He said he and his wife have "an understanding" when it comes to his hobby. "I can collect all this M&M stuff, but I have to dust it and it has to stay in that room. It's not supposed to creep out into the rest of the house," he said. "It's not the decor of the house." Doris chimes in. Keeping the collection of crazy characters corralled could create a challenge: The former educator doesn't have an exact count of items on display, but there are already hundreds. "I will catalog it (at some point). I know pretty much what I've got, up here," he says, pointing to his noggin, "but I don't have it in the computer yet." "I don't think (people) have any idea of how much M&M stuff there is out there (to collect)," Doris observes. In Las Vegas, there's a store they hope to visit called M&M World, a Mecca for chocolate lovers and one of many outlets devoted to sales of M&M memorabilia. Endearing and delicious Items sought after by collectors include dispensers, tins, candy-filled holiday tubes and toppers, toys, party favors, jewelry, clothing, posters, plush, lights, and advertising-related pieces. Chris isn't partial to one type or another; he collects them all. Some of the more interesting items in his M&M menagerie include a prototype set of Christmas ornaments from Germany; a school lunch box from Scandinavia (with it's own beverage bottle); and his favorite - a "hippie-fied" Volkswagen Beetle tin with bumper stickers that say things like, "I 'M' what I eat," and "I think, therefore I 'M.'" He also has the ultimate amenity for any couch potato with a sweet tooth; a remote-control car whose trunk can be loaded with your choice on any M&M variety. When you've had your "coupe de'fill," you can send the treats on to the next snacker. Now if only there was a milk dispenser to go with it. The couple says their trips to other countries have yielded some great M&M finds. Their collection includes items from China, Denmark, Germany, to name a few. Lest you think the Rembolds are, well, a bit nutty, considering their penchant for all things plain or peanut, you should know they aren't the only ones so afflicted: There's actually an M&M collectors club, as well as illustrated handbooks and price guides for M&M aficionados. Chris has always been a fan of the delicious candy, so much so, that he began using bags of them in his role as a labor representative with the Iowa State Education Association. "I actually started using M&Ms in my training for interest-based bargaining. I'd have a display and hand out M&M's during the training. People found out and just started giving me M&M things." So what do M&M's have to do with contract negotiations - besides placating palates of the participants? "It was kind of a play on letters," explained Chris. The two "m's," he would tell his audience, stood for "managing differences and making a difference." You've got to work at both of them at the same time in an employee-employer relationship," he said, adding that the exercise served as a great icebreaker. "It was ... an excuse to hand out M&M." Chris is still keeping his hand in the mediation business. He's currently serving as project coordinator for a state-level labor management committee, teaching high school board officials, administrators, and educators the art of collaborative problem solving. "We have discovered there's interest in interest-based bargaining," he noted "It's something I wanted to see happen years ago, and finally things have come together." Along with the M&M collection. [Remainder of article omitted]
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