Money Monday: Things I am Cheap About

 When we built our house one million years ago, we both clammed up during our meeting with the electrician. He told us that we had a few places in the house that needed more recessed lighting, and he thought we could have more outdoor outlets. In 2011, we both made about half of what we make right now, and we had just GUTTED our savings account to build a house, were expecting our third baby, and could not sell our condo that we purchased at the height of the housing bubble, so we were preparing to pay a new mortgage, plus most of an old mortgage offset by a renter. We absolutely WOULD NOT spend one more cent on the house, WHICH IS WHY WE HAVE DIMMER SWITCHES THAT TURN NOTHING ON, GIANT HOLIDAY LIGHT EXTENSION CORDS, and TWO REALLY REALLY DARK CORNERS that are not actually conducive to lamps, it turn out.

But this a common spending habit with us-- we will be extravagant about some things and then completely cheap about other things-- usually things that are inexpensive to begin AND ALSO would be great additions to our lives. What a terrible combo! Like, all those lights and outlets would have cost less than a thousand dollars and are WAY MORE EXPENSIVE NOW.

I was thinking about this today when I got an ad for a really cool magnetic bobby pin holder that would solve SO MANY dance bag problems and thought immediately I will not spend eleven more dollars on dance. Even though I will spend MORE THAN THAT replacing lost hair pins every week of the season, probably. And dance is so pricey, WHO EVEN CARE about $11? It makes no sense.

I asked Ben if he could think of an example of this habit, and he said OUTLETS, but we do it all the time with vacation planning (that one more stop that breaks the camel's back),  grocery shopping ($600 for the cart but ABSOLUTELY NOT on that $7 bottle of salad dressing). 

Am I alone on this? Do you ever cheap out on the silly details?

SPEAKING OF HAIRPINS!

Dorothy has to have a mid ballet bun (mid like height, not mid like result because as you can see, this bun is AWESOME) for her lyrical dance this year, and we are not supposed to use a donut, which is the only way I have ever done a ballet bun. But I watched a video and NAILED IT (with the use of 10000 hairpins now scattered everywhere with no magnet dish to contain them).

5 on a Friday: boy am I a sucker for kids

 Man, I am lucky that I didn't end up with more than 5 kids (lucky only because I don't think I could afford more than 5 kids-- CAN I REALLY EVEN AFFORD FIVE?) because I LOVE KIDS SO MUCH, Perhaps I should quit my job and become a preschool teacher. Anyway, here are 5 ways I know I am a sucker for kids.

1. No matter how stressful the morning was, as soon as I drop them all off and am settling down to do some work, I spend at least 5 minutes looking at pictures I took of them during that stressful morning and thinking how cute they are.

this outfit tho YOU GUYS

2. Ditto NIGHT TIME. Like I can be SO OVER EVERYONE and the entire world and think I might explode if I have to listen to one more voice tell me one more thing and then! As soon as I tuck them in bed, I am nostalgic for the day that I am still living and as soon as they are asleep, I start basically stalking them and thinking how darling they are. Last night, during this time, Annabel snuck into Dorothy's room and then woke her up, and neither one wanted to be parted overnight, but they were parted because one of them pees in the other one's room. I will let you figure out who is who in this scenario.

3. They are my style inspos

4. And, conversely, I  shamelessly project my own style on them 

literally my sweatshirt, also my fave hair style. and I have that same purse.

5. I don't really have a number five except for you know, like, sacrificing all of my potential and ambition to wait on them hand and foot for the last 18 years, but that's not a snappy little bullet point, and plus also, every mom does that, so it's not special, and anyway they pay me back by letting me link their library cards to my Libby account and place dozens of hlds at once, so there's that.

In closing-- this is what Jack wore to take out the trash in negative 5 degree weather:

it's the mittens for me.

F.I.G.s 2/11-2/18

 Tuesday, 2/11: A second double-batch of cookie dough in 5 days. How long will this one last? And also, how lucky am I to have such a simple, joyful way to take care of everyone?

Wednesday, 2/12: Our own snow day

Thursday, 2/13: Minnie's 4.5 birthday

Friday 2/14: Valentines from grandma

Saturday 2/15: Again with the cute tableaux. The dollhouse as a chair is my VERY FAVORITE.

Sunday 2/16: I like these so much I ate them AS I WAS UNPACKING the rest of my delivery. Perfect with coffee.

Monday 2/17: THESE POST IT NOTES that I must have snagged from my dad's desk a million years ago. They turned up in my desk drawer at work-- because that's how long I have been in my office. (Since 2009, a full decade before my dad would die and where my parents visited me at work, even. They spent a whole week with baby Dorothy is an empty classroom in 2013 so I could train my TAs when she was 5 months old.)

Tuesday 2/18: This book is a funny little gem-- I like it even better than the Thursday Murder books, and I loved those.

Lemons that I will NOT be using for lemonade

 OK. Like for real. I know that my hair looks terrible UNLESS I blow dry my bangs before I go to bed. AND YET. I keep NOT DOING THAT and looking DUMB. Like the other day when I had to film a video for social media for my class that I direct. AND HAD TERRIBLE HAIR and also was wearing beige and had 14 chins. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. (I do not love it. Opposite, in fact).

Dorothy needs white Air Force 1's for her trio and a group dance and black Air Force 1's for her other hip hop group dance. NEAT-O. I love buying $90 shoes, so why not need 2 of the same ones in different colors? Love that for me. I was talking to a colleague about dance team (they also have a kid at the same studio) and we were trying to figure out why this very expensive and kind of nit-picky activity is so compelling for us (BECAUSE IT IS! IT'S SO FUN!). (We had to order SPECIFIC lipsticks as well-- different colors for different dances and maybe it's these details that I love the most?)

IT IS SO COLD THAT SCHOOL WAS ALMOST CANCELLED TODAY. 

I am Team Winter, but YIKES. Negative 13 for Annabel's dog walk. (Naturally Dorothy and Coop got cold drinks when I drove them to school so they wouldn't have to wait for the bus)

AIRPLANES KEEP FALLING OUT OF THE SKY. Is anyone else freaked out about this?

Money Monday: It's all just complaining at this point.

Look! I am so strong I can hold $200 worth of groceries IN ONE HAND

 

Dinners last week:

Sunday 2/9:  Tacos and brownies for the super bowl. Only I rushed to get the brownies out of the oven so I could have time to finish my book AND take a nap while Ben had the kids at The Wonders of Physics on campus, and the brownies were not actually cooked. I ate one for a sundae base anyway, but Coop had a friend over, and I did not want to poison someone else's kid, so the children had ice cream cookie sandwiches with THESE cookies (I made a double batch on Saturday when I was forecasting our day to Minnie, and she said "DO WE HAVE TIME TO ALSO BAKE A YUMMY TREAT?" and we always do. 

Leftovers: Salad greens and cut up taco veggies, beef taco meat, shredded chicken. I ate some for lunch on Monday, and so did Ben.

Monday 2/10: Pasta casserole with WF store-brand kale caesar salad and crusty bread.

Leftovers: ALL OF IT especially since Ben forgot to serve the slad or bread. We had tons of lunches, plus leftover bread for Sunday morning french toast

Tuesday 2/11: Instead of going out, I made sandwiches for me and Dorothy and Minnie in an afternoon lull and made sure we had cut up veggies and fresh fruit ready to go on the side. We ate fast (and pretty neatly!) before dance.

Wednesday 2/12: We had our very own snow day because I was shocked at how terrible the roads were at preschool pick up time, so I picked everyone up early because yikes. I also swung by Target and spent $80 on... I don't really know. Candy, ice cream, birthday cake stuff. We had frozen pizza and garbage-- it was pretty great. (I also spent $70 on annabel's food at Pet Smart).

Thursday 2/13: Chicken, baked potatoes, and kale caesar salad (that we forgot to eat on Monday -- winner!)

Friday 2/14: Snow again. Papa Murphy's pizza and cookie (in a heart, natch) for the kids for $30 and sushi and champs for us for $175. I also took Dorothy and Coop out for a SIXTY FIVE DOLLAR breakfast. $20/head for breakfast seems high to me?

Saturday 2/15: Enchiladas, chips and salsa. Jack was at the closing night of his show, and the little kids don't like enchiladas (eye roll), so they had breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs, pancakes, turkey sausage, fruit), and Ben and I ate ours after they went to bed, with Veuve. 

Soooooo, that's $550 for Sunday groceries, plus $50 at Target (a bit of the total was for Vday presents for Min because the dance stuff I ordered said it wouldn't be here in time but then it WAS, so that became a 1/2 bday gift LOL), plus $270 for vday. UM YOU GUYS. THAT IS EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY FOOD DOLLARS. Um. (plus the Veuve).

We have a lot of spinach and bananas to eat in the next like 36 hours before they liquify as well. **yikes face**

Also I ordered groceries for this coming week in bed trying to stay up to make sure Jack got home OK, so I have NO IDEA WHAT I GOT. Should be fine. LOL LOL LOL.

5 on a Friday: Dumb things I bought this week

 1. This water bottle for Dorothy for vday. WHERE WILL SHE LOSE IT? I wish I already knew.

2. Ugg Tasmans for Coop who will wear them for a month or two, put them away for warm weather, and never be able to wear them again.

3. THIS BOOK!! The exact same version I read and loved as a kid. Only dumb because Dorothy basically hates every book I ever suggest on principle. I guess I will read it myself?

4-5. This tutu and matching bear for Minnie because she has a drawer full of dance clothes and a bin bursting with stuffies and she says she doesn't even want to do dance next year BUT IAM ONLY HUMAN YOU GUYSSSSS (I bought a leo that Dorothy kind of hates and a really expensive for what it is ballet sweater for Dorothy in the same order. SO THE WHOLE ORDER WAS DUMB, and I KNOW IT).

Passive aggression-- I guess it IS kind of cute.

 Minnie has picked up this terribly annoying habit of asking for things in the world's most passive aggressive manner. She'll clasp her fat little hands together under her chin so she looks just like a Hummel figurine and say something like, "Oh I wish I could have a piece of toast," or "Oh I wish someone could change the TV channel for me," or "Oh I wish I had someone to play Candyland with." I think a kid at school talk like this? Or she watches so much TV she thinks it would be cute? Upon seeing me dressed for work, she said, "Oh I wish I could wear that beautiful necklace." I was all well you can't because I am wearing it, but maybe you could ask to borrow it tomorrow.  JUST BE A PROBLEM SOLVER, MAN! Is what I want to say.

She waited a whole day to wear this:

She was eating a chocolate chip cookie on the way to school because she took her antibiotic with no complaints (let's not unpack all the parenting fails in that one little sentence ok??), and not only did she say as she helped herself to the cookie, "Oh no. There's only one cookie left in here. I wonder who will eat it tomorrow," but she dropped the cookie as I was backing out of the garage and said, "Maybe when we get to school, you will be able to pick up my cookie, and I can eat it some other time."

SO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE MY GOD. I stopped the car, hopped out, and got the cookie. BUT SERIOUSLY. JUST ASK ME NEXT TIME.