A Tale of Two Babies

They really are still babies, both of them. On the left, we have Miss Fluffy, 2 years of age.  On the right, Mr. Chunk, closing rapidly in on 7 months of age.

Both are adorable. 

Miss Fluffy (a.k.a. Sarah) is a grumpy mess much of the time. She is "2" in spades, with all the whining and tantrums and frustration that is typical of that age.  She is of course a delight and we enjoy her blossoming verbal skills even as the antagonistic demeanor gets wearying.

Mr. Chunk (a.k.a. Daniel) is very sweet and easygoing right now. Yes, he cries, but only when he wants something to eat or is tired.  He smiles a lot. He coos.  He gurgles. He sits peacefully.  He screams for the sheer joy of making noise.

Only 18 months separate our little ones.  But they are at very different stages of life right now.  The contrast is amazing.

I was just thinking that I love them both passionately and equally, though Sarah is a much more difficult child right now.  And God loves us all equally and passionately, even though some of us have difficult personalities and are going through difficult "phases".

His response to us has some parallels too.  Those He loves He disciplines.  Sarah does endure discipline as she learns the world does not revolve around her.  Daniel pretty much gets what he wants all the time because his wants are simple, reasonable, and attainable.

I'm thankful God loves me when I'm doing well and when I'm doing poorly, when I have good days and bad days.   He WILL bring discipline if I need it, and I'm grateful for that.  He will allow consequences for my sins and mistakes.  But through it all is His neverending love, just like nothing can ever take away the love I have for my children. I am glad I am His child.

Silly and Cute

 

Who Can Afford a $200 Pair of Boots?

  So I was flipping through a magazine this week, one that my mother-in-law gave me.  It wasn't a "trend - setting" magazine.  It was supposed to be for normal people.  Like me.

There was a section on "must have" clothing accessories this fall.  Topping the list were $200 boots.

  Now we're not talking boots for mucking out the chicken coop or protecting one's feet in a coal mine. We are, of course, talking about fancy, stylish, trendy boots.

 For $200.

  Now really now, who among us can afford a $200 pair of boots?

  Or a clutch handbag for $100?

  Or a cute bracelet for $75?

  Or a pair of pants for $125?

 I find it ... annoying...that a magazine for normal people would come right out and say that to be a class act, you need to have expensive clothing and footwear.

  There are, of course, people who have enough money to buy such items.  There probably is someone out there with a strong desire for a $200 pair of boots and that someone saves up and gets them.  There is no problem with that.

 But the overall IDEA that we can't look good without spending a boatload of money is upsetting to me.  I think it tempts people to spend more than they have, and to feel unhappy and discontent with what they DO have.

  I'm going to be real here and say that we make six figures.  Which is a lot.

  And there is no way we can afford expensive clothing for everyone.  We can't even afford expensive for me or Kevin.  Kevin spends the most on clothing, probably, because he needs to look decent at work. But I assure you he's not spending $200 for a pair of boots, or $100 for a pair of pants.  He is a sales shopper and frugal where clothing is concerned.  As I said in a previous post, the children's clothing largely comes from thrift stores and hand me downs, and I just don't buy much clothing for me.

  We live in such a materialistic culture and it scares me how many people are spending money they haven't got to buy expensive clothes, furniture, food, etc.  It gives SUCH peace of mind to live within ones means.

  Now admittedly, it is easier for us than for many since we do make a lot.  On the other hand, we have 8 kids :-).  We do need to say no to our wants all the time.  Admittedly, saying no to a $200 pair of boots isn't a hardship for me as I don't long for such an item.

 What is hard?  Well, I love to buy homeschooling supplies, that's an area of temptation for me.  I want nicer furniture sometimes.  And yes, we do occasionally buy furniture, but it is rare. Our big girls are using a dresser I had as a child.  It is not in great shape, but it holds their clothing.  All the furniture in my room was purchased second hand or was acquired from relatives.

  Yes, I have temptations to spend when I shouldn't. I am sure we all do.  I sometimes DO buy things I shouldn't.  I'm guessing most of us do.

  The key, I guess, is to figure out the areas of weakness and think and pray when the desire for something arises in that area.
 
 

 

A Night on the Town

Last night, Kevin and I attended a fancy party put on by the company for which I work. I work just one day a week at the local Air Force base for a contracting company.

  We rarely dress to the nines.  It was fun!  That suit Kevin is wearing is the same one he wore to our wedding, 15 years ago!  But my dress is different :-).

   We had a lovely time after a rocky start.  We got lost on the way there.

  There is some irony there.  Earlier on Saturday, Kevin was looking at ads and came across a GPS system for...I don't know, not a WHOLE lot of money.  He asked me if we should get one.  And I scoffed.  NO, we don't need no silly GPS system!  I am QUITE capable of looking up maps on the internet.  We don't need another gadget, and we don't need to spend the money.  We never get lost.

   And yes, I did get a map to our party.  I looked it up, found the right spot, printed it out, and brought it with us.  But, I confused Patterson Rd. with Patterson Blvd.  We wanted the latter, and the map took us to the former.  So there we were, driving the streets, without a map at all as we discovered the car we were in had no local map.

  Kevin called his mother (who was watching the children) and she was able to direct us towards the right place.  We found it and weren't even late.  I was thinking it was going to be a short and disappointing evening, but we overcame with Kevin's mother's help and Kevin's flare for direction. 

  So maybe a GPS is a good idea, hmmmm....

  We sat at a table with my boss and his wife and had an interesting discussion.  My boss grew up in New York with a father who was a surgeon and therefore quite well off.  BUT, their family had friends who were seriously rich.  I mean like billionaires. 

  This was interesting to me because Kevin and I had been talking about that giant lottery this week.  I don't know how much it was for, like $500 million or so.  We're good enough statisticians to know we'd never win if we did play, but we also know that we'd probably destroy our lives if we were unfortunate enough to win.  As Kevin says, playing the lottery is the classic lose-lose situation.

 Why would we destroy our lives?  Well, that much money just has to be hard to manage, or at least I think it is for most people.  There are plenty of studies showing most lottery winners really do struggle and most are unhappy.  They lose their motivation to be blessings to those around them, and start spending wildly and using money foolishly.  A surprising number manage to spend it all in a short amount of time.

  One thing that strongly occurs to us is that our kids would probably have a really hard time with life.  Why?  Because they'd have very little motivation to work hard.  Why work hard and be thrifty and all those wise, sensible things when your parents are super wealthy?  And a lazy, entitled, adult is just not a pretty sight.   A lazy, entitled adult is not a blessing and is usually unhappy.

  So I mentioned those thoughts to my boss, and asked him what those very wealthy families did to raise productive adults.  There are wealthy families (like the Kennedys) who produce people who are ambitious, hard workers.  I disagree with the Kennedy's political views, but they are at least motivated to do something with their lives.

  My boss said that question was a hot button topic, because most of the families he knew did NOT do well with passing any kind of work ethic on to the next generation. The children of those families were 3rd or 4th generation wealthy and they were lazy, selfish, and spoiled. 

  That was not a surprise to me and it confirmed my belief that riches are truly a challenge.  Jesus said so, therefore it is true :-). 

  So we can be happy that we're not wealthy. We have plenty of money to meet our needs and some of our wants, and that is a good place to be.

 

Happy Birthday to Kevin's Mom

Here is my beautiful mother-in-law, celebrating her birthday with our family.

The Prince and the Marble

  I recently borrowed a modern version of the classic fairy tale, the Princess and the Pea.  It's a silly fairy tale, about a princess who proves she IS a princess by being unable to sleep when one pea is inserted way down in her pile of mattresses.  She is so sensitive to that teeny tiny bump that she is awake all night.

  A few days ago, I took Daniel and a couple kids to Save-A-Lot, and then (since we were in the neighborhood) to Kevin's aunt's house.  He was his usual, happy, smiley little self all the way, sometimes cooing, sometimes quiet, sometimes asleep. 

When we got into Aunt P's house, I pulled Daniel out of his car seat.  20 minutes later, I went over to put him in his seat and discovered...a marble.  Nestled in his car seat.  No idea how it got there, but OUR little guy wasn't distressed at all about a marble poking him in the bottom.  He was happy as a clam.   He was tough.  He was strong.  That's OUR little prince.

One bathroom closet

It is truly scary how MUCH can be in one bathroom closet!  This is the stuff that was residing in our main floor bathroom closet.

I have a teen friend who comes over occasionally to help me with housecleaning, child care, and organization.  She was here on the 16th, and helped me sort through meds for expired items, organized, and put it all back in the closet.

Voila.

Medications are on the top shelf now, and other sundry items (sunblock, hair stuff, vaseline, bandaids) are on the lower shelf.

I am so happy to be able to FIND things now.

Kevin says he can't find anything, though :-).  The old way of doing things was illogical, but he knew where things were and now he doesn't.  But he's figuring it out; he is very smart :-).