February 10, 2023 - Friday

Finally Friday!!! I have to start celebrating the weekend early, since Sundays are not weekend days for me anymore. We went to visit Jenny this morning. They're about to go to FL for a week! So amazing. I'm desperate for a getaway too. It feels like we're not doing anything until the summer. Which is totally fun, but still kind of a bummer to have to wait so long. I feel like half of the people I talk to are getting ready for a trip right now. 😭 Maybe I could convince Ben that we should book a last-minute getaway to France or New Zealand or Scotland OR HAWAII??? St. Thomas maybe?? Oh, Lord. I need to let it go. 

I did manage to convince him that we should take Ollie out to lunch. :) That was a very small win, but a win nonetheless! Ollie had this whole thing she was doing about being "fancy". 😀 It was honestly the cutest thing ever. The whole way over to get Ben, she kept talking about how we're going to a fancy restaurant for lunch and how glad she is that she wore her fancy dress and shoes today. Then she kept trying to push me to wear my wedding dress out to lunch and just couldn't understand why I don't wear it everywhere, since it's SO beautiful. When we got to the house, Ben ran out to the car to be with Ollie and she said, "You look so fancy, daddy." I ran in to change into a nicer sweatshirt 😂 and when I came back out she said you are much fancier now. It was a lot of fun. She was doing this fancy walk and when we got to our table, she spread out the napkins and sat in a fancy way. We had such a great lunch with her! 

I worked for a few hours in the afternoon, since I barely worked all week and then we had leftovers for dinner. I felt SO satisfied that we actually ate a bunch of the leftovers! Honestly, we usually just throw them away. It's very sad and makes me angry every week. My kids say they "don't like leftovers", which is such bs. I just hate it. So I've been planning leftover weeknight meals. It works great for Fridays, because I'm usually pretty burnt out from cooking by this point. 

We ran to Target after dinner for a few things and I ended up getting super pissed off at the things the kids got. So, here's the thing. The kids earn/get an allowance. Our whole thing is that the kids can spend their money how they want, within reason. We want to teach them, by their own experience, how to manage their money. Today was a big fail for Clemi and Ruby. They saw this baby doll that they just HAD to have. It was $60. So, like, half of the money that each of them have, total. When I looked it up on my phone, there was a deal that made the dolls $35. I allowed them to get it, but I was not happy. I've been thinking a lot about materialism and how stuck in it my kids are (and me, obvs) and then tonight just solidified it. It's my own fault. I'm the mom. I'm in charge of them and I've allowed it to get this far. I need to do something about it. 

I got past my frustration and tried to chill out and have a good evening. My dad sent me some heart earrings for Valentine's Day, which was very thoughtful and sweet. The last time he picked out a gift for me (that I know of), I was 24 and he bought me a bouquet of flowers for V-day. I'm sitting with a drink, about to watch Willow with Ben and the big kids. Ben is mad about it. He wants to play a game, but I just want to relax!