I usually don't use this forum for whining. I mean who really wants to read someone else's whininess. I'm mean the kind of whining when you are clawed on the leg while simultaneously getting dinner ready, breaking up fights, answering a ringing phone, and straining a hot pot of pasta. Sorry but mine is going to be that kind of whining tonight so you are forewarned.
Whine #1 ~ My kids have been sick for . . . forever. Almost the entire month of February and we are still battling something. First hand, foot, and mouth for the littlest two and then what the doctor suspects is RSV which was contracted only days after the first illness. This horrible, ugly chest cold is just down right nasty. Emma is better except for her horrible cough that returned after she went to preschool (did she catch something new and now that separate cold is plaguing us?). But little Jacob is still struggling. He has the runniest nose ever (which at times is still green), a grievous cough, and just spends his time being whiny. If you ask him if he has any owies he will point to one specific ear. So I have been seconds from taking him to the doctor, for the third time during the cold thing mind you, and then he perks up, runs around the house, and just acts genuinely happy. Such a strange phenomenon. I am telling myself that tomorrow is the day. If he is unhappy and whiny for a portion of the day we are going in . . . again. All the sickness/whininess just leaves me drained. I haven't left the house hardly at all, and I am getting stir crazy. Won't you just go away big bag cold . . . pretty please. . . pretty, pretty please . . . pretty, pretty, pretty, please (said in a very high grating tone)?
Whine #2 ~ My next whine is childish and petty. I can totally own up to that. Little Emma wants to go to Disneyland really bad. She asks me every time she seems anything Disney related, which is multiple times daily. We had a trip planned last year, but we ended up not feeling like we should go, so we postponed it. We thought that maybe we would put it off for this year. Then we have trips planned this summer for family reunions with both of our families that is going to eat up the vacation fund for this year. Can you believe that plane tickets are $450 a ticket for one place? That is a huge chuck of change for just transportation alone. I haven't been able to pull the plug yet and actually make the purchase. I am praying that we can find some sort of deal but with soaring gas prices, I am very doubtful.
Really I want to take her there. Really I do; I mean I really, really want to go myself and have an awesome family vacation. But I just don't know how to swing it without dipping into the real savings account which isn't going to happen because we are very committed to having money in the bank for financial food storage. We made a goal to save a certain percentage of the income each year. We have budgeted our vacation fund quite carefully, and we will probably need to add more to it to swing all that we plan to do this summer. So how do you tell a three year old that it won't happen this year again? I keep trying not think about the fact that you are only three once and can still believe in pixie dust and fairytales for so long.
Here is the real whine, get ready for it . . . it just seems like all over blogland everyone can afford these awesome vacations several times a year. Not only awesome vacations, but expensive children's clothes, designer clothes for themselves, and money to redecorate their homes every six months. Really how is that possible? No savings? No tithing? Credit cards? Crazy Couponing? I think that we are middle class, but we can't afford to do a quarter of what it seems like others can. I just don't get it.
Those are my whines, and I'm sure you are all thinking how narrow-minded, shallow, trivial, childish, frivolous, inconsequential, pointless, pitiful, etc. can she be? All of the above is true. I can recognize that. But sometimes I just feel the need to whine -so don't stop by tonight unless you want to hear nails on the chalkboard kind of griping. Hopefully a good night's sleep will turn over a new day and new attitude!
2 comments:
Just remember that keeping up with the Jones' is not all it is cracked up to be. You're way better off doing what you're supposed to be doing right now and reaping the blessings. Yes, most people that have all those things usually don't save and spend money wisely. Some things people think will make them happy then they get it and it doesn't so they seek out for more. I know you know this since you're a wise woman but it's a natural feeling we women mostly have. I just know comparing myself to my sister that I'm much happier not having every gadget and the debt that goes along with it. She and her husband both work and she complains about her job all the time. We save, save, save and probably seem pretty boring to most (even myself at time) but it's what we need to do.
Just look forward to the future and what it will bring (hopefully Disneyland!). When you need to be prepared you will. There's no greater feeling than that or helping someone else that isn't prepared. You guys are smart! I hear ya on the family vacation area...
So, I really can relate. Just yesterday Preston was whining at me about Disneyworld. Sorry, friend. Not going to happen. We had a tentative plan to go this fall but we're in the same boat you are - it's not right. We just can't do it, not with also seeing my Grandpa for his 90th birthday and visiting my inlaws for a week this summer. And if you have to choose between Harry Potter World and Great Grandpa's 90th birthday? Sorry, friend. That's not really a choice. Saving and being smart with our money is something we will not regret. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I shop at the thrift store, right?
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