Stuff

My Canadian photography friend posted this on her blog--and I have heard it before, but loved to see it as a reminder.

“We invest a great deal in the acquisition of stuff. Companies bombard us with slick, relentless propaganda as to why we must have their stuff and judge an individual’s success by their stuff’s sheer quantity and supposed quality. I like stuff. I especially like the word stuff. But consumption never was creativity; it brings few lasting satisfactions and can bring burdensome debts. Stuff beyond our basic needs does not liberate. Consider the overall investment of your time. You have to shop for stuff. You have to clean, maintain and organize stuff. You lose stuff. You look for stuff. You polish stuff. Secure it against theft, trip over it, recharge it, upgrade it, accessorize it, pack it, move it, unpack it, insure it, fix it, and eventually sell, trash or bequeath it. Stuff has no use beyond this life and it takes a lot from us. Very much unlike stuff, knowledge has few such liabilities. Knowledge does not depreciate but grows deeper, stronger and more valuable with each use.”
                        - Shawn W. Miller, BYU Devotional, August 3, 2010 (punctuation altered)

I am blessed to have many friends who subscribe to this way of life.

I am not a stuff person.  In fact, my poor kids have often asked where their toys went--because they just up and disappeared on them.

I hate paying for bullcrap. Toys, clothes that kids will outgrow, Pajamas--does anyone else hate paying money for pajamas??

But what I will spend a bazillion dollars for is memories.  Road trips, camping, outings.  Now that to me is where I have to watch myself with money.

We are still in the middle of trying to buy a car. I just can't bring myself to spend that much money on a vehicle.  It seems ridiculous.

The only thing that I have realized that is going to make me do it----road trips. Having a car with no mileage on it, a good engine and a warranty.  So in short--memories.

That major deciding factor on which vehicle we choose--cargo room. How many coolers and suitcases can we fit back there??

I am already planning our east cost trip for next summer, and the West coast to Canada trip for the summer after that.

I love the reminder this quote gives me. 

Now I am going to go throw away some STUFF.

Fuse

My girls are performing and it's AWESOME. You should go.

Bahhahaaa

I didn't hear the conversation leading up to this--I just heard this:

 3 year old cousin: "My buttocks"

 Kizzy:   "You're butt talks????"

Ford Flex

Does anyone know someone who owns one of these? And do they like it? I'm considering this instead of the minivan. Let me know.

Ballet shoes?

Does anyone have a pair of these lying around? About size 12 or 11?  Josie lost one of  hers and her dance performance is Saturday and I am NOT going to buy her a new pair.

Mothers Day Video

I had a great mothers day, minus when I was napping and was awakened with a wet washcloth tossed on my face and a giggling 3 year old. 

Watch this sweet video.

Sup with me?

hey Jill--what's up with you?

Well, thanks for asking

We went camping with friends and that was beyond loads of fun. We went swimming in freezing cold water and laughed our butts off, and sent the kids to bed early and sat around having fun adult time until the wee hours.  See marlo's laughing it's so cold face. We had a created the 1 minute club and you had to stay in up to your shoulders for  one minute.  That is one long minute.


Then we came home and Hyrum got a migraine so severe that he had to go the ER (this was his first trip for a migraine), so we spent all sunday night until 3:30 a.m. there.  The doc was talking to him about it and then she asked what he did for a living, and when he replied nurse she said, "well why didn't you say so? Here I am talking to you like a baby."  And then gave him the low down. She was great.  And then the nurse that was taking care of him said that he should have mentioned that he worked for one of their hospitals and we could have been hooked up with a room faster---isn't that random?  It's like getting a good table at a restaurant.  The only thing good about Osborne hospital is they have a cool hot chocolate machine--why did I know this?

OH-because one week prior I was in the same Emergency room with Beck and his head that was split open. Not clean split--big chunk missing split.  ceiling fan. Luckily he slept through the whole stitches thing.

OH, so anyway, on the way back from best camping trip ever, the ol' '94 Suburban starting making rattling noises.  But not at high speeds--so when we got home I took it to the mechanic, and it is something to do with the air conditioner. Which was fully replaced two years ago.  Lame.  So now we have to spend more money to fix the same thing.  And it needs new tires.  So that is over a grand, so we thought maybe we should buy a new car. So we looked into how much our suburban would be for trade in.  $216.  BAAHHHHAHHHAA  Isn't that crazy?

So we decided just to keep the burb for life because it doesn't cost that much to register or insure.  But then we need to buy a new car, because that thing is almost 20 years old and the other car isn't going to last forever either--so we need to stagger them.

Yeee--ikes!! Cars are so flipping expensive. Well, if you need to have 6 passengers. And minivans--if you want a good reliable one, like Toyota or Honda--those puppies hold on to their value. So a used one is only a few thousand less than a new and it has tons of miles on it. And there aren't very many for sale. UGH.   I looked for a used one and I would have to pay $13,000 for a car that has almost 100,000 miles on it. Ridiculous!  And we haven't had a car payment since 2004. And it makes me want to vomit having one.  So we may get a new car, like brand new. And I think that is bratty and weird and I don't like the idea of it. Because then I will care where I park and what the kids eat etc. etc.

I called my friend who is a Dave Ramsey follower as well, and talked to her about it. And she tried to go used too, but it ended up being  a better deal to get a new one.  I told her I thought it was bratty to have a brand new car and asked her if I was old enough to own a brand new car. And she said, "Newflash. You're old."  So apparently I am old enough.  It still seems weird though.  I blame this weird feeling on my father--damned penny pincher.  I inherited that which is mostly a blessing, but sometime a curse because I don't like to spend money much.

Hyrum asked what I wanted for mothers day and I said I'd rather have money in the bank than a present.  Pretty lame of me eh?

There is more, but I"ve talked enough already

Wishing for super powers

Dear Punk teenage kid,

 You are so lucky that I don't have super powers. I was at the stop light and saw you in the passenger seat, flipping all of us traffic the bird while your friend blatantly drove through a red arrow. And yes, you would have had so much crap running down the back of your leg--onto your friends seat, that he would have dumped you off on the sidewalk--and fast. You are exactly the reason I invented my super powers.

 xoxo Me