I've just been sitting here, reflecting about the holidays and have realized one or two things. These things probably will give the lay person a good deal of insight into me (this is me, after all).
1. I have never and will never, get stressed out about cleaning. I don't know how this came to me, since my mother is an absolute lunatic when it comes to cleaning for company. I seriously do not give a shit. This is not a lazy-because-I-have-so-many-kids thing. If anything, I've gotten a lot better in terms of bathroom, kitchen, and vacuum duty. I have a house that I open up to anyone (within reason) who wants to hang out here. I love having people over. The kids love having people over. The place gets trashed? Crumbs are on the carpet? The laundry piles up? WHO GIVES A FUCK? Sometimes I am just busy, enjoying my life, my kids, my reading, my cross stitching, etc. The house will not fall down if I don't clean/organize things. In fact, I had to live halfway between a house that almost did fall down because of a roofer (KRIS SCOTT) and a teeny hotel room, and I have to say, now, that most people would have killed either themselves, their husbands, the insurance people and the roofer after something like this. Thank god I wasn't freaking out about crumbs or cobwebs. The missing walls and my sanity (7 months pregnant) ranked just a bit higher.
2. I have never and will never, get stressed out about silly ceremonial OBLIGATIONS. I'm not talking about religion here. I'm talking about RSVPs, kids' birthday parties, holiday cards, Christmas/Birthday presents, etc. This also came to a head last year with my mother over certain RICOCK things that I won't even list they are so dumb and petty. It's your birthday? Eventually I'll get you something.
3. The parenting culture today sometimes really floors me, not in a good way. I'm talking about our generation, GenX, for the most part. What a bunch of insecure, judgemental freaks we can be! I am dealing with this for the second year now at Bubby's school, where most of the Coach and Prada Edina moms about DIE when they see Matt for the first time, wearing something like a Snakes on a Plane shirt or just having all his piercings, etc, but now that the school year is half over, they are suddenly warming to me/us. I'm sure this has something to do with everyone actually seeing each other with their children, regularly, and being able to witness the fact that we are decent people/parents. Great. Maybe now they don't think we're meth-addled porn distributors anymore. HAHAHAHA WE FOOLED THEM!!!!!!!
4. I have never and will never understood "party culture." I can go on a drinking bender about once a year, almost always during Corn Capital Days. I guess I just got my dad's drinking aversion.
5. I honestly don't feel tied down having this many kids. Getting everyone ready and dealing with all kinds of chaos is seriously not that bad, and most days, it doesn't even phase me. This is due very much to the fact that Matt helps/shares with everything. If I had an unhelpful spouse I would totally be singing a different tune. This is really the Cancer (zodiac, not disease) in me just glowing and flourishing with my cute (large) family. I am so thankful to have all I have; we are so blessed to have these wonderful beings and each other.
Showing posts with label kris scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kris scott. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
also
here is my "position" on money, by anna purrington adams:
i am done worrying about it, i have stopped being stressed about it starting last year after KRIS SCOTT aka THE DUKE OF ASH ruined our house and i had to pretty much charge MY LIFE AWAY for about 4months and then periodically here and there in the months following because i birthed another child and wasn't working much. having your house ripped apart and then being told that 1000300200202 more things are wrong with it that need to get fixed, whether you want to or not (whether you can afford them or not) has a way of creating a severely indifferent attitude when it comes to money or debt.
which brings me to the topic of debt. i am of course, still paying for my student loans. i put myself through school, took out my own loans, and chose my own path with no help from anyone but visa, mastercard, and discover (nelnet and firstmark too, i guess). we jumped right into parenthood and home ownership once i was finished, despite the fact that i did not have a money-making job. in fact, i quit my semi-lucrative part time job at northwest because it was more stress than i was willing to put up with and went to starbucks, with way less stress, well, none really, but for WAY less money. as in hardly any whatsoever. free coffee though, that's pretty great. because i have these "conditions" which i chose with my eyes wide open, i have a shit load of debt. i don't really get upset about this, because that's how it had to be.
now, the reason i write this today is because i made a realization. i am very short on patience (especially after duke of ash situation) when it comes to money. is there a way that i could be totally playing it straight, not accumulating any more debt and actually establishing a paydown situation that will get us up and out? absolutely. however, it occurred to me today, that the rest of the world (read: people who HAVE the money and CONTROL the money) are miserly Matt-Rolen-ey GOBLINS who make it difficult for the rest of us to just live the way we want, and i'm not into letting other people decide when or where i spend my money. if you ask me, it's suspicious and abnormal to not have debt. of all the people i know of who are financially in a good position right now, i can think of ONE GUY who went out and did it on his own, no help from parents, scholarships, trust funds, or anything else. if i waited around for "legitimacy" i would have been 91 years old, childless, and still not done with college.
sorry, i had to get that out in the open.
i am done worrying about it, i have stopped being stressed about it starting last year after KRIS SCOTT aka THE DUKE OF ASH ruined our house and i had to pretty much charge MY LIFE AWAY for about 4months and then periodically here and there in the months following because i birthed another child and wasn't working much. having your house ripped apart and then being told that 1000300200202 more things are wrong with it that need to get fixed, whether you want to or not (whether you can afford them or not) has a way of creating a severely indifferent attitude when it comes to money or debt.
which brings me to the topic of debt. i am of course, still paying for my student loans. i put myself through school, took out my own loans, and chose my own path with no help from anyone but visa, mastercard, and discover (nelnet and firstmark too, i guess). we jumped right into parenthood and home ownership once i was finished, despite the fact that i did not have a money-making job. in fact, i quit my semi-lucrative part time job at northwest because it was more stress than i was willing to put up with and went to starbucks, with way less stress, well, none really, but for WAY less money. as in hardly any whatsoever. free coffee though, that's pretty great. because i have these "conditions" which i chose with my eyes wide open, i have a shit load of debt. i don't really get upset about this, because that's how it had to be.
now, the reason i write this today is because i made a realization. i am very short on patience (especially after duke of ash situation) when it comes to money. is there a way that i could be totally playing it straight, not accumulating any more debt and actually establishing a paydown situation that will get us up and out? absolutely. however, it occurred to me today, that the rest of the world (read: people who HAVE the money and CONTROL the money) are miserly Matt-Rolen-ey GOBLINS who make it difficult for the rest of us to just live the way we want, and i'm not into letting other people decide when or where i spend my money. if you ask me, it's suspicious and abnormal to not have debt. of all the people i know of who are financially in a good position right now, i can think of ONE GUY who went out and did it on his own, no help from parents, scholarships, trust funds, or anything else. if i waited around for "legitimacy" i would have been 91 years old, childless, and still not done with college.
sorry, i had to get that out in the open.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
The Rain.
It has me thinking of a million things all at once. My memory is a deep and complex trap that has so many nostalgic items tied up in the rain going through it right now. We just got back from a little walk up to get coffee where it rained a bit off and on most of the way. The minute I smelled it I was in the middle of: the orange circus peanuts in a kemp's ice cream bucket on the last day of Mrs. Desotell's Kindergarten field trip to nester park.
The day it poured for hours and my brother and I had to move the garbage bins (which were hacked off bright aqua colored containers that once held fertillizer from northside) again and again as the rain kept wooshing them off the curb.
The night my mother had a million of her hutchinson friends over, we ate green chili burritos (lorene hanson's recipe), sang and played folk tunes on the piano, and chased our first bat in the new house.
The day we went to the twin's game for a 6th grade field trip and i wore my cousin heidi's aqua green esprit spring jacket and lost the $10 my mother gave me (over which I cried the entire game).
The smell of dirt in the Tersteeg's/Terry's parking lot when they put up the greenhouse and had lilies for mother's day.
The 8th grade field trip to the eden prairie mall and then some outdoor excursion/picnic where the biggest issue was my hair getting flat because of the weather. (other noteworthy items were purple eyeliner and a whitesnake cd).
The smell of the cornfields at 6am after it had rained the night before.
In 11th grade there was a night over at julie's where denise and chad fischer took my camaro and put a LOG into it. Later that night I hooked up with the Chris Wittenberg. Also, there was a huge tornado that ripped through highway 71 going north on the night of our prom (almost paradise). I had no idea of this of course, as I had been busy at the time, hooking up with Chris Wittenberg.
The second night we had Bubby home from the hospital it rained. It was April, and the day had been hot so the rain was refreshing. He slept in the bouncy chair while we all ate Leah's wisconsin cheddar soup, watched The Sopranos, and then Deadwood. I learned how to use the breast pump that night. We had Lund's cherry cranberry "juice drink" in the refridgerator, as Lois had determined that I was dehydrated and needed to drink many more fluids.
When Bub was about a year old it would rain often too. I remember having the windows open and the nice breeze blowing in through them carrying the rainy smell. I would get paranoid that he would knock out the window-prop and cause the heavy window to slam down on his fingers, so I didn't ever let him lean out on to the window sill although he wanted to very much. We watched a lot of baby neptune back then, and the Sesame Street 25th anniversary video that had En Vogue doing one of the segments.
After Zizzy was born we took walks to walgreens and kowalski's almost every day. One time we left when the sun was shining and when we came out of the store it was pouring rain. I had to distract bubby from the unpleasantness of getting wet so the whole way back i kept telling him we were getting SOPPED! he found the word hilarious and kept repeating it too. I made a scrapbook page of a picture i took of us when we got back. Zizz in the bjorn and bub leaning in, all of us totally soaked.
Then, last year, on July 18, KRIS SCOTT left our roof exposed with no tarp over it during a downpour that lasted about 2 hours. I was here with the kids when water started pouring in, first through all the light fixtures and then through every seam in every ceiling in the back half of the house. We left the house the next day and did not live in it again until October 28.
On our way back from Starbucks tonight, Beebins was kicking and laughing and having a great time watching the other two kids run around collecting leaves. I think part of the wonder of having kids, especially when they are babies, is the complete innocence and optimism with which they see the world. I thought of all my rain memories and hoped that by the time Beatrix is my age she will have fond rain memories too. I hope my kids never have to know war or poverty or desperation. I feel like I have been lucky so far not having to deal with these things firsthand myself although many many other people have. I want days where everyone in the world has nothing on their minds but the ridiculous kinds of things that fill mine.
The day it poured for hours and my brother and I had to move the garbage bins (which were hacked off bright aqua colored containers that once held fertillizer from northside) again and again as the rain kept wooshing them off the curb.
The night my mother had a million of her hutchinson friends over, we ate green chili burritos (lorene hanson's recipe), sang and played folk tunes on the piano, and chased our first bat in the new house.
The day we went to the twin's game for a 6th grade field trip and i wore my cousin heidi's aqua green esprit spring jacket and lost the $10 my mother gave me (over which I cried the entire game).
The smell of dirt in the Tersteeg's/Terry's parking lot when they put up the greenhouse and had lilies for mother's day.
The 8th grade field trip to the eden prairie mall and then some outdoor excursion/picnic where the biggest issue was my hair getting flat because of the weather. (other noteworthy items were purple eyeliner and a whitesnake cd).
The smell of the cornfields at 6am after it had rained the night before.
In 11th grade there was a night over at julie's where denise and chad fischer took my camaro and put a LOG into it. Later that night I hooked up with the Chris Wittenberg. Also, there was a huge tornado that ripped through highway 71 going north on the night of our prom (almost paradise). I had no idea of this of course, as I had been busy at the time, hooking up with Chris Wittenberg.
The second night we had Bubby home from the hospital it rained. It was April, and the day had been hot so the rain was refreshing. He slept in the bouncy chair while we all ate Leah's wisconsin cheddar soup, watched The Sopranos, and then Deadwood. I learned how to use the breast pump that night. We had Lund's cherry cranberry "juice drink" in the refridgerator, as Lois had determined that I was dehydrated and needed to drink many more fluids.
When Bub was about a year old it would rain often too. I remember having the windows open and the nice breeze blowing in through them carrying the rainy smell. I would get paranoid that he would knock out the window-prop and cause the heavy window to slam down on his fingers, so I didn't ever let him lean out on to the window sill although he wanted to very much. We watched a lot of baby neptune back then, and the Sesame Street 25th anniversary video that had En Vogue doing one of the segments.
After Zizzy was born we took walks to walgreens and kowalski's almost every day. One time we left when the sun was shining and when we came out of the store it was pouring rain. I had to distract bubby from the unpleasantness of getting wet so the whole way back i kept telling him we were getting SOPPED! he found the word hilarious and kept repeating it too. I made a scrapbook page of a picture i took of us when we got back. Zizz in the bjorn and bub leaning in, all of us totally soaked.
Then, last year, on July 18, KRIS SCOTT left our roof exposed with no tarp over it during a downpour that lasted about 2 hours. I was here with the kids when water started pouring in, first through all the light fixtures and then through every seam in every ceiling in the back half of the house. We left the house the next day and did not live in it again until October 28.
On our way back from Starbucks tonight, Beebins was kicking and laughing and having a great time watching the other two kids run around collecting leaves. I think part of the wonder of having kids, especially when they are babies, is the complete innocence and optimism with which they see the world. I thought of all my rain memories and hoped that by the time Beatrix is my age she will have fond rain memories too. I hope my kids never have to know war or poverty or desperation. I feel like I have been lucky so far not having to deal with these things firsthand myself although many many other people have. I want days where everyone in the world has nothing on their minds but the ridiculous kinds of things that fill mine.
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