Elizilla has a great post about *stuff* this week. (And I think she said it was okay for me to use this picture. It’s from the tar pits somewhere near LA and I definitely did not take it since I was not there and have only been in Cali once in my life, and never in LA. Yes, I am lame. And this is my beautiful older daughter. Don’t try to figure out what she’s doing in the pic. I dunno either. Or care, really. ;-))

Anyway. You know, I am not out here to apologize or go on a guilt trip or anything, but I know that part of my kids’ issues about having too much stuff originates with me. Because I bought them *tons* of crap when they were growing up. Birthdays, Christmas. Just because it seemed like a neat toy/gewgaw/knickknack/whatever. Books? Yeah, bring ’em on! Boooooks are goooood for you! Where did I get the money? I dunno. I did work at a real *paying* job until they were in 1st and 4th grade but, boy, have I ever wished many times that I could get all that money back and make the *stuff* magically disappear. Even some of the booooks.

Lemme think. Barbie dolls, just to name one. Barbie dolls are 3-year-old toys. I know, there’s all that crap about body image and the message Barbie sends to our precious little martinets, etc., etc., ad nauseam. But at the age of three, it’s all about ownership. So-and-so has a Barbie, I *need* one too. So you buy your kid a blasted Barbie or two or three. It isn’t the best thing to do but you just do it. If you don’t (and I did, don’t get me wrong), sometimes somebody else (Grandma or whoever) buys one for your kid anyway. One time, my kids hit the absolute jackpot with Barbie, and My Little Pony stuff too. We had been to a family party where the older cousins et al had off-loaded all their Barbie/MLP stuff onto the beach urchins. Did I care? No! Because I had some sort of ridiculous virus that day and when we got home with all that stuff, I was ecstatic that there was something new for them to play with while I hit the rack early! Sometimes, you do whatever it takes to get you through the night.

It was great fun until they were about, oh, I dunno, seven and 10 years old? And then the GG had a garage sale one Saturday and all of those Barbie/MLP toys were among the first to go, with my beach urchins sitting out there foisting them off on any cute little pink-clad female munchkin to come along. For free or very low cost.

I have been working really hard on de-cluttering over the last year. It isn’t easy. I/we have obtained a whole lot of crap over the years. I too can remember when I could basically fit my life into a small vee-hickle. In my case, it wasn’t a Honda Civic, it was one of those crappy old Ford Pinto Wagons. Sam remembers it! 🙂 Rust City! Yikes!

I am MUCH impressed with the younger generation(s) because they seem to be thinking about this stuff up front. At least more than I ever did. Until now. Sigh. Let’s all try to reduce our “footprints.” Love you, Elizilla! You y’all.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.