The effort of wanting

Lots of friends have been asking about the Compact lately, how it's going "not buying anything"--and so far, really, it's going pretty well. Surprisingly well, actually. most of the time I don't miss shopping. Of course, I've had my moments, like that trip to Target I wrote about, or the burning desire for a new washing machine. But overall, this is actually really fun.

D and I were just reflecting on it just the other day. Rather than make us feel deprived or bringing to light all the things we "just can't live without," doing the Compact has mostly made us aware of what we have already. And what we have is enough. There is yet to be a moment where we feel anything is really lacking in our lives. Honestly, there just isn't much we need. We're so fortunate to have a great house we love, a wonderful car that works well, insurance, and pretty much all the possessions a normal family could want or need.

So, is there stuff we want? Sure, of course there's stuff we want, but since we know we aren't going to buy that stuff, we're finding, it's just not worth the effort of wanting. Last week we took the kids to the Midtown Global Market (which is, oh, the coolest place ever) and as we were going in, I stopped to have a look at these gorgeous hand-panted tiles and bowls. They were beautiful. For a fleeting moment, I thought, "oh, I wish I could buy one of these!" but then, very quickly I felt something like relief. Nope- no tiles, no bowls, no need to decide which one to buy, no need to take one home, no need to figure out where to put it or clean it or worry about breaking it. I just had this moment where I stood there, feeling this freedom from attachment to it, I'm not sure how else to describe it. It felt good.

I spent another few seconds admiring the stuff and then moved on to catch up with my family, who were already ahead of me, enjoying the music, the people, and the atmosphere.

Alive she cries!

For the most part, sanity and good health have returned to our happy home. We managed to clean or fix everything without going out and buying anything new, tempted though I was. I still hate our washing machine, but that's just a thinly veiled excuse for wanting one of those cool-looking and super-efficient new ones. Maybe next year. Though this old junker will definitely make my upcoming foray into cloth diapering a bit more challenging...

Thank you so much to our friends who helped care for us by bringing food and doing some much needed errands for us when the going got tough.

third time's a charm

Introducing Crud 3.0, which features new, improved projectile vomiting! And butter-colored diarrhea!

This house is a cesspool of vomit and other unpleasant bodily spewage. As if a third round of this bug weren't enough, you aren't going to believe this, but our washing machine broke. Yes, on day one of this latest bug, just after I stuffed it full of barf-soaked bedding, the washer just simply...stopped. Our friendly Home Service Plus Appliance technician can't be here until Tuesday.

If it weren't for my mother, I would have lost my mind this past week. Seriously. She hauled the laundry (5 sets of bedding, countless pairs of jammies, onesies, pants) to her house, washed and dried it, and brought it back to us- sorry, flu-stricken things that we were. My mother is truly the most amazing woman alive.

And today, quite frankly, I am hating the Compact. I want to rid this house of anything even remotely connected to this bug. I just want to replace everything. Instead, I spent the day cleaning things.

I want to go buy a new washing machine. I don't want to clean or fix the old stupid grungy washer that was here when we bought the house and has disgusting congealements all over the inside of the lid. I want to just go out and buy new garbage cans, rather than wash out the current ones with disinfectant. I want to burn all of the kids' sippy cups and pacifiers and bottles, bacteria collectors all...and replace them with new, clean, shiny happy ones. I want to get rid of the stained laundry and buy new jammies and new bedding and just get every trace of this stupid virus out of our house and out of our lives.

it's been a while

OK, so I realize it's been a loooong time since I've posted anything to this blog. (but is anyone actually reading it, anyway? no one ever comments, so I truly don't know.....) For the past month we've been battling The Crud, which has made its rounds through our house twice, causing fevers, massive quantities of snot and some very unhappy kids and parents. Only the dog has managed to escape this one.

Apart from that, which has kept us pretty busy, we've been continuing our quest to cull our stuff. Just this morning we were in what used to be known as our basement, and which lately has been "the place where we put stuff we don't know what to do with but we can't throw away". A massive, massive pile of stuff has expanded to fill not one but two rooms. A pile of kids toys/clothes/gear that is taller than me has taken up residence in Dominic's shop. How does this happen?

We regularly make donations of old clothes and household items, we post stuff on Craigslist or the Twin Cities Freemarket and during the spring and summer, there is rarely a month that passes without me putting an assortment of stuff out on Lyndale with a "free" sign on it... but still, the mountain is there. Looming. Creating anxiety. So, rather than spend this sunny, almost-springlike morning outside with the now-healthy kids, we spent our time in the basement, sorting and culling. Oh yeah, and sniping at each other. We have grown so stressed out and overwhelmed by all this stuff that we can barely even work together to sort through it. We disagree on what to do with stuff, which storage bin to put it in, and even-I kid you not, when to move it upstairs/to the garage/to the shop. Now, or in an hour?

I'm re-reading a great book, "The Power of Play" by David Elkind, and it's making me really think about the toys in this house. He makes a strong argument for developmentally-appropriate playthings, in limited quantities. (Do we really need 10 puzzles?) He says kids should be allowed time to just be, and make their own fun, their own toys. Kids can be overwhelmed by too many toys, that 'abundance breeds contempt' and reduces the number of toys that are truly special to kids: with so many to choose from, why choose a favorite? There are too many toys that just do things for them...Push a button and one thing happens. Put the card here and this is the result. There are so many toys with "just one way to play' and kids need more open-ended toys, toys that encourage freedom of thought, freedom of movement, and freedom of imagination. I couldn't agree more. I want to keep the toys that bring my children joy, that are fun for more than just a day or two. I want to keep the toys that engage their senses, encourage their imagination. And, of course, eco-geek that I am, I want to phase the plastic toys out of this house (more on that in another post, for now check out this link.)

I'll let you know how it goes. And I'll be sure and tell you when the garage sale is.