buying secondhand

i noticed recently that all of the knees in alexander's jeans have holes in them. in fact, i sent him to school one day in jeans that were perfectly fine, and when he came home there was a huge hole in 1 knee and a small one in the other. craptastic! now, i shop pretty much exclusively at children's place. not becuz i love their clothes, which i do, but becuz i have a credit card for them & the bill goes to my mom (thanks, nana!). but i'd already gone shopping there this month cuz isabelle's on a dress & skirt kick. all of a sudden, she's a totally girly-girl. headbands & skirts with tights every day. and even though my mom would be cool, i didn't want to do that again. especially since spring is coming (someday!) and i need to go through the totes of stuff i packed up from last year to see what still fits & what needs to be replaced.

so we decided to go to goodwill. i could have gone to kmart, but their quality isn't the best. and i couldn't find the once upon a child in the north hills. i really wanted to go to old navy, but their prices are outrageous unless you catch them on sale. and at goodwill i found a great selection of jeans in his size that are heavier than what i would have found at either old navy or children's place for a fraction of the price. and honestly, in this economy you've got to watch your pennies. i spent as much for 5 pairs of jeans at goodwill as i would have for 2 at old navy or children's place. plus, they had an organ (unplugged, thankfully) that the kids sat and played on while i shopped. i definitely wouldn't have found that elsewhere :)

for some reason, shopping at once upon a child doesn't seem like secondhand. i think it's becuz they're so picky about what they'll accept, while at goodwill you still hafta check. but if i'm looking for special occasion clothes, once upon a child is my first thought. 2 years ago i found this beautiful deep plum velvet dress for isabelle that still had the tags on. originally it was $50 and i got it for $10! of course, they wouldn't take it back once isabelle'd outgrown it when i included it in the piles of stuff i was trying to sell back. oh well. we got awesome Christmas photos that year :)

for myself, my favorite place to shop is my church's rummage sale. i always help with the sorting so i get to shop early. and there's a couple of older ladies with impeccable taste that are tall, so their trousers fit me well :) a couple of years ago i got a black pin striped pants suit for $3! talk about a bargain! :) but i can't always count on the rummage sale for the kids.

when i was a kid, i hated shopping at goodwill. hopefully, my kids won't be as snobby as i was & will just take it in stride. :)

you can't unlearn the knowledge

this week at my son's school they've been celebrating dr. seuss and they've invited parents to come into the class as guest readers to read their favorite dr. seuss story. well, i couldn't pass up a performance opportunity, so i went in to read "green eggs and ham" which happens to be my favorite. but i was talking about it with a client at work and one of the other clients chimes in that i don't really know who dr. seuss is and once i find out the truth about the man i won't be celebrating him anymore. now, this piques my curiosity, and thus my downfall.

i'm one that MUST KNOW. i question everything. it drives my husband mad! but my brain is unsettled if i don't know why everything. but in this case, that's really unfortunate. several years ago i was watching an episode of oprah and she was talking about Megan's Law which requires the police to make available to the public a list of sex offenders and where they live. so, of course, i HAD TO KNOW, so i promptly went to the site and found out that we do indeed have a sex offender living on my street. now what? i haven't been back to check, but i'm pretty sure he was an adult rapist, and not a pedophile or child molester, so from a mom standpoint i'm relieved. but it's still unsettling to know that there's a registered sex offender living within walking distance of my house. i know he's done his time, but there's a reason they make them get registered. and now i'm stuck with this knowledge that i cannot erase from my brain. if only i had one of those flashy-thingies from men in black!

so do i want to do the research to find out if dr. seuss is a racist prick? not really, becuz then every time i read one of my kids favorite stories i'd be thinking about it. but it brings up another question: does it matter? according to the other client, his character the cat in the hat is based on a lazy, shiftless black man. ok. does that mean he thought all black people are lazy & shiftless? i don't know. do i know some lazy, shiftless people of all races? sure! but is that how i label all people of a particular race? no. but do i really want to open this pandora's box and ruin the simple enjoyment of good stories? some of his stories are incredibly political, at least the cartoon versions. so i definitely think he had more to say than simple entertainment. but is it wrong of me to want to just enjoy his stories without delving too deeply into the how's and why's of his creative process? part of me REALLY wants to know. but once you know, it's there forever. that sucks.

welcome to Lent :)

so today's the first day of Lent -- traditionally a time of deprivation. but a thought came to me today. does it hafta be? i mean, i usually struggle with what i'm going to give up for the 40 days of Lent. it really shouldn't be something you shouldn't be doing anyway, like drugs or watching porn. but what's the point of giving up something like chocolate or coffee that you're just going to pick up again on Easter? can't we give up something that will make our lives better?

this year i really want to give up unhappiness. why not? i'm tired of being depressed. i'd really like to figure out what it is my brain needs for lasting happiness. i'd really like to spend the rest of my life doing what i enjoy and being happy doing it, instead of suffering and slogging through my days. wouldn't that be awesome? i don't think God would have a problem with it :)