January 10, 2024 - Wednesday

Well, school went well today, but I think we're all feeling kind of antsy and lonely. I wanted to go out to the play group this morning, but we really needed to get school going and it was all the way out in Westerville, so I decided not to do it. Plus, Jonas and Clem would have been bored out of their minds. 

So, after school I took everyone to the mall. Ruby finally got her old piercings out, after much, much, much drama. The piercer was extremely impatient and frustrated with her, but we did it! We wandered around for a while, went to the play area, went into a couple of stores, and grabbed some pretzels. I was definitely ready to get out of there, but it wasn't a bad time. It just feels like every time we go somewhere, the kids want to spend as much money as possible. It makes me really sad how materialistic they are and how wasteful they are with their allowance. Like, I know the point was that they'd learn from their own mistakes, but it's hard to watch my money just get flushed down the drain on their 500th stuffed animal or 250th Barbie. I'm just sick of all of the stuff. 

In the evening, I got to meet Anne and Brit at La Casita for dinner! So nice to have a kid-free visit with them both. I think we're all dealing with very different hard things right now and I think we all just needed some time and space to air some thoughts and worries out. It's always cathartic to get to have deep conversations with people that you know love you. I am really grateful we pulled this off.