 | 60 As a 1930s wife, I am |
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Trash to treasure
I have a confession to make. I am a terrible cheapskate. I clip coupons, buy nearly every article of kids clothes second-hand, and (gasp!) have been known to regift things a time or two. I love the back clearance rack and the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since becoming a mom, I've switched from the Clinique counter to CVS, and from the Limited and Ann Taylor to TJ Maxx and Target. In high school & college I used to get really expensive haircuts & coloring. Now, I can't remember when I last got my hair cut, but I am fairly sure it was at Supercuts.
Part of this is due to the fact that I was an elementary school teacher. During student teaching, I started collecting ANYthing I could use in my classroom. It was pretty much a requirement for getting a certificate: "gathers junk and turns it into a teachable moment? check." The (wonderful) teacher with whom I student taught moved up to a higher grade the year I was hired, so she gave me a lot of her primary resources. Lite brites, cookie cutters for play-do, dry erase boards, and any number of other teaching treasures were all mine, all free. It was teacher heaven!
Another reason I think I'm like this is because I am a stay at home mom. The church actually takes very good care of us, but owning your first home and having kids can be expensive! We weren't like a lot of our (smart) friends who waited and worked for a while before starting a family. No, instead we went from both being students to me being a teacher while my hubby finished seminary to parenthood. Even then, my cheapskate side showed through- I paid $15 to buy a high chair, crib, and changing table from a teaching friend of mine- and that was about all they were worth. Fortunately for Big Sister, my parents saw the absurdity of the labor and materials it would have taken to make those suitable for our little princess and went straight to Babies R Us. Most of my secondhand home purchases actually do work out. A majority of the furniture in our house came from someone else- I have sanded and painted tables, recovered chairs, made creative uses of slip covers, and more. If you don't want it anymore, call me (my husband will be so happy with me for saying that and volunteering to take more junk). Yes, it is an effort to save money, but it is more. Old stuff has character. It has its own story, real or imagined. And actually, I enjoy the project- seeing the potential in something someone else discarded as hopeless. Kind of reminds me of the gospel. Here is one of my favorite projects, my dining room set. In the background you can see some bamboo blinds we picked up from a freecycle post, and under the table is the puppy we "picked up" as a stray!
Honestly, though, I think I am the way that I am because God knows what He is doing. For one, He knows I'll never be uber-wealthy with a masters in education and a minister husband. Even the other career options I've considered (and there are many) are not the kind of professions you choose if you want to be rich: social work, counseling, law... trust me, if I were a lawyer I'd be the poor kind. Not only this, but God has given me a great passion for social justice issues, especially relating to poverty. Because of this, I have a very hard time being upset that I don't have an iphone when a child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger-related causes. I actually feel guilty for having the resources that I do and not sharing more. Hubby and I both decided in the beginning of our relationship that we wanted to be the kind of couple, now family, that helps others and gives freely when there is a need and that trusts God to provide. Lately, in my deepening understanding of living out the love of Christ, that has also translated into making wiser decisions about what to do with my money. I do believe money talks, and I don't want mine to say I support materialism or exploiting people in sweatshops or destroying God's creation or creatures. Of course, I am still a suburban mom, not a member of The Simple Way, so my money unfortunately still says a lot of those things. I'm just trying to keep turning down the volume. (Speaking of The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne will be at Lee this week. Any of you locals want to go with me?!)
So where did this random confession and ensuing guilt trip come from? We've spent the weekend with my wonderful parents, who came down to help us around the house. Besides patching, sanding & priming the former wallpaper-nightmare that is our hall bath, we fixed up some yard toys for Big Sister. The sandbox and playhouse have been around for a little while now, but they were well-loved by their previous owners. The swingset was one of my recent freecycle.org aquisitions. All of them are now cute & very usable, with the cost of some paint & elbow grease. Plus, we kept them from ending up in the dump. I know someday she will look around and notice that some of her "new" toys are actually older than she is (and don't go feeling sorry for her either, she gets PLENTY of new stuff from those same wonderful parents of mine, along with many other people who spoil her to pieces). I'm hoping that this realization will only help to further shape her into a passionate, caring person who refuses to fit any mold and leaves everything, and everyone, better than when she found it. That is my prayer for both of my girls.
So there you have it. Trash to treasure, the theme of my home. And hopefully a little picture of grace. Time to wrap this up. I've got to eat dinner, and then I have to sit down and go through three bags of clothes & shoes my mom brought me from my very fashionable cousin. I hope some fit- I've been worrying about what I'll wear this fall until I work off more of my pregnancy weight. I should know better than to worry. God dresses the lilies of the fields. He keeps giving & giving. I am so blessed.
Part of this is due to the fact that I was an elementary school teacher. During student teaching, I started collecting ANYthing I could use in my classroom. It was pretty much a requirement for getting a certificate: "gathers junk and turns it into a teachable moment? check." The (wonderful) teacher with whom I student taught moved up to a higher grade the year I was hired, so she gave me a lot of her primary resources. Lite brites, cookie cutters for play-do, dry erase boards, and any number of other teaching treasures were all mine, all free. It was teacher heaven!
Another reason I think I'm like this is because I am a stay at home mom. The church actually takes very good care of us, but owning your first home and having kids can be expensive! We weren't like a lot of our (smart) friends who waited and worked for a while before starting a family. No, instead we went from both being students to me being a teacher while my hubby finished seminary to parenthood. Even then, my cheapskate side showed through- I paid $15 to buy a high chair, crib, and changing table from a teaching friend of mine- and that was about all they were worth. Fortunately for Big Sister, my parents saw the absurdity of the labor and materials it would have taken to make those suitable for our little princess and went straight to Babies R Us. Most of my secondhand home purchases actually do work out. A majority of the furniture in our house came from someone else- I have sanded and painted tables, recovered chairs, made creative uses of slip covers, and more. If you don't want it anymore, call me (my husband will be so happy with me for saying that and volunteering to take more junk). Yes, it is an effort to save money, but it is more. Old stuff has character. It has its own story, real or imagined. And actually, I enjoy the project- seeing the potential in something someone else discarded as hopeless. Kind of reminds me of the gospel. Here is one of my favorite projects, my dining room set. In the background you can see some bamboo blinds we picked up from a freecycle post, and under the table is the puppy we "picked up" as a stray!
Honestly, though, I think I am the way that I am because God knows what He is doing. For one, He knows I'll never be uber-wealthy with a masters in education and a minister husband. Even the other career options I've considered (and there are many) are not the kind of professions you choose if you want to be rich: social work, counseling, law... trust me, if I were a lawyer I'd be the poor kind. Not only this, but God has given me a great passion for social justice issues, especially relating to poverty. Because of this, I have a very hard time being upset that I don't have an iphone when a child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger-related causes. I actually feel guilty for having the resources that I do and not sharing more. Hubby and I both decided in the beginning of our relationship that we wanted to be the kind of couple, now family, that helps others and gives freely when there is a need and that trusts God to provide. Lately, in my deepening understanding of living out the love of Christ, that has also translated into making wiser decisions about what to do with my money. I do believe money talks, and I don't want mine to say I support materialism or exploiting people in sweatshops or destroying God's creation or creatures. Of course, I am still a suburban mom, not a member of The Simple Way, so my money unfortunately still says a lot of those things. I'm just trying to keep turning down the volume. (Speaking of The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne will be at Lee this week. Any of you locals want to go with me?!)
So where did this random confession and ensuing guilt trip come from? We've spent the weekend with my wonderful parents, who came down to help us around the house. Besides patching, sanding & priming the former wallpaper-nightmare that is our hall bath, we fixed up some yard toys for Big Sister. The sandbox and playhouse have been around for a little while now, but they were well-loved by their previous owners. The swingset was one of my recent freecycle.org aquisitions. All of them are now cute & very usable, with the cost of some paint & elbow grease. Plus, we kept them from ending up in the dump. I know someday she will look around and notice that some of her "new" toys are actually older than she is (and don't go feeling sorry for her either, she gets PLENTY of new stuff from those same wonderful parents of mine, along with many other people who spoil her to pieces). I'm hoping that this realization will only help to further shape her into a passionate, caring person who refuses to fit any mold and leaves everything, and everyone, better than when she found it. That is my prayer for both of my girls.
So there you have it. Trash to treasure, the theme of my home. And hopefully a little picture of grace. Time to wrap this up. I've got to eat dinner, and then I have to sit down and go through three bags of clothes & shoes my mom brought me from my very fashionable cousin. I hope some fit- I've been worrying about what I'll wear this fall until I work off more of my pregnancy weight. I should know better than to worry. God dresses the lilies of the fields. He keeps giving & giving. I am so blessed.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What kind of mom does this make me?
I'm thinking either really good for encouraging her creativity and not asking her to conform to other people's standards for fashion... OR really bad for setting her up to be disappointed when she realizes her days of wearing "interesting" outfits to the mailbox will someday no longer be cute. In fact, some day they could earn her the label of the town Boo Radley.
Just in case you're wondering about the ensemble: Ariel dress (or nightgown, to be truthful) and Belle shoes by Disney. Hat by Firehouse Subs. "Scarf" by- well, I don't know but she it used to hang on my oven. You have to love the resourcefulness.
One more thing- my husband will kill me for including the grass in this picture. He does mow it...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"Chagganooga"
Like a lot of people, before I visited I only knew this town from the old Glen Miller song. Before Hubby and I were married, I drove down to meet him in Chattanooga before heading to Carson Newman's homecoming together. Although he insisted it was a great little city, I kept hearing "Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin'... woo woo Chattanooga there you are." What could be so special about it besides big, dirty trains?
Plenty. That first visit was 7 (!?) years ago. We officially moved up here after Hubs finished seminary, right before Big Sister arrived. Trying to move while 9 months pregnant was insane. We still haven't taken down all the wallpaper or hung many of our pictures. For a well disguised introvert like myself, I was so exhausted from being a mommy that I didn't really WANT to go out and make new friends or see the city. Only in the last year or so have I finally begun to realize what a great town this is. We're finally starting to take advantage of all that Chattanooga has to offer- museums, outdoor activities, progressive culture, family friendly parks, and more.
Like Friday evening., when we ventured downtown with the whole family. Hubby didn't have any Upward stuff to do, Big Sis had a coupon to ride the carousel for free, and it would soon be too cold to play in the Coolidge park fountain. Plus, I've been feeling guilty about the lack of fresh air Big Sister gets on non-school days. Our yard is infested with mosquitoes that don't seem to have any kind of curfew as they bite 24 hours a day, which results in giant welts on her tiny arms & legs. We tried going to the park, just us girls, but I try to limit time in public with both girls after the infamous Barnes & Noble incident last month. So, now that Daddy was free to go with us, it seemed like the perfect family outing.
And it was, with the sun setting over the river and the families gathering to dot the landscape of the park. Big Sister approached the water much more gingerly than she had the last time, she wanted to hold Daddy's hand the whole time. He didn't mind. Little Sister stared at the carousel as if it were magical, and it kind of was. We explored the walking bridge, the fair trade shop, the sculptures, and the entrance to the aquarium through the eyes of a three-year-old. It really was perfect.
And then came dinner: with the loooong wait and the awkward "what do we do with our strollers?" question and the tired kids and the tipping booster seat and the lack of crayons for Big Sister's entertainment (I made up a straw wrapper game instead that bought us a few sane minutes) and the fussy baby and the giant glass of coke we knocked over on the way out and the man who "had too much medicine", who fell down in front of us as we crossed back over the walking bridge, leaving an exhausted Big Sister very concerned. (She thought we had knocked him down with our strollers!) But you know what? At some point in all of that madness, Hubby looked at me and started to laugh. It was so awful, so TOTALLY imperfect, that it was still perfect. I can't wait to do it all again.
Monday, September 22, 2008
My first blog
Well, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and blog. I know that I am kind of late to the party, but oh well. These days, trying to get two little girls dressed, fed and loaded up and a puppy "pottied" and into her crate, I'm pretty much late wherever I go.
I'm not even really sure what I'll end up posting from day to day. I expect (and kind of hope) my blog is as multi-faceted (nice word for random, huh?) as my life. So, stay tuned for thoughts on being a mommy and the wonders of cloth-diapers one day, and maybe some reflections on Christian mysticism the next! As far as today goes, I've wasted my "me time" trying to set this darn thing up. I still don't have the images and things I'd like, but this blog is like me: a work in progress.
I'm not even really sure what I'll end up posting from day to day. I expect (and kind of hope) my blog is as multi-faceted (nice word for random, huh?) as my life. So, stay tuned for thoughts on being a mommy and the wonders of cloth-diapers one day, and maybe some reflections on Christian mysticism the next! As far as today goes, I've wasted my "me time" trying to set this darn thing up. I still don't have the images and things I'd like, but this blog is like me: a work in progress.
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