Random Things, Part V: Waste Not, Still Want A Lot ...

I don't have too much to add to this title, which is why it has not made it as a free-standing blog post.  I considered trying to connect it with another problem I have, which is that there are days that my house is so messy and disorganized that I just wish I could crawl into a Pottery Barn catalog and live there for a few days.  Or I could go live in the sets of movies that are supposed to be about "normal" families, but we have to suspend our disbelief as we watch a teacher and his social worker wife relaxing on their $7000 Crate and Barrel couch.

I think back to our pre-kid days, when we just spent our money on things we wanted, like going out to eat, clothes, whatever.  And I know I'm stating the obvious when I observe that life with three kids is crazily more expensive than it was before we had them.  I remember before I got pregnant with Finn, Matt questioning whether we were financially ready to start a family.  How casually I dismissed that idea - I think I said something like "babies aren't that expensive - it's just diapers and clothes.  I'll breast feed, so we don't even have to worry about formula.  What else could there be?"

What else indeed?  Let's just say that once the must-have bases are covered, there's not a whole lot left over for those things that I used to buy without even thinking twice.  And I know, hello, I just went to Africa and saw people happily living with next to nothing, so I really should count my blessings instead of the number of new barstools I want, or the years before we will be able to go on some luxurious vacation without rationing how many orders of milk the children have (but seriously, how annoying is it that some restaurants charge like $2.50 for milk and my kids drink so damn much of it!?).  And believe me, I do count my blessings, and they are many, but somehow reflecting on everything wonderful in my life doesn't have the effect I would like it to, which would be making me not even notice that there is a big dent in the side of my perfectly functional car every time I get into it until I decide that I really deserve a new one.  And there's that funny word, "deserve."  It's a good thing for me that you don't get things based on how much you "deserve" them, because I think I'd be way at the back of the line, behind people who never gossip, or people who actually keep their houses clean, not just for company, or people who have never thrown spoons across the kitchen in a fit of anger.  Deserving is a concept that is way too big for me to unravel, so I won't even try, but I'll just say that there are many things in this world that I want, but only a very few that I need, and I'm working on remembering the difference.  I'll let you know if I got there in 2060.

Update #2:  Pics from Finn's party!

Amazing cake made by our neighbor Cindi - it was so tasty too!

Birthday boy.

The light saber battle begins.

Thankfully, the Jedis won!