Monday, November 5, 2012

Saving my Money - Why we won't go the House of Mouse

I get the Disney World is the Mecca of amusement park destinations.  I understand the allure of taking your little children to see princesses and Mickey while they still believe that they are really seeing Mickey and Cinderella.  What I don't understand is the need to spend THOUSANDS of dollars for something your children will not remember without the help of snapshots and videos and tales oft repeated by mom and dad.

My parents & grandparents were of this breed.  I was bundled onto an airplane at the ripe old age of three to go see Mickey Mouse.  I guess I did, I have pictures of it happening but I have no real memories of it happening.

This weekend proved to me that not spending tons of money on stuff while the kids are still really young and will not remember, is money better saved.  Sunday was Sonny Boy's football team party, one of the team parents/coaches generously paid for the team to go a small local waterpark.  I tagged along and paid for myself and Igor as I figured it would get us out the house and stop a bunch of jealousy and be fun for the little guy.  What proves my Disney theory correct is that at about the age of three I had taken Sonny Boy to this exact water park and he had no memory of it all.  To further prove my theory I compared the place to the big family trip to The Dells we took a couple of years ago.  Igor did not remember it all, and Sonny Boy only had the foggiest memory of the place and thought the small waterpark we went to to was bigger when in fact the place at The Dells was at least 2/3 larger and contained more slides by far. 

Today I declared "Me" day.  On Saturday I had a minor meltdown when I couldn't get the leaf blower to restart and threw myself a cussing fit and honestly kicked the leaf blower a couple of times before I literally tossed it back into the garage.  I called Hubby who was on his way north and ranted and raved for a bit, not just about the leaf blower; that was simply the straw that broke the camel's back.  Hubby in order to keep me from running after that gallon of milk and never returning again called the local day spa as soon as he got off the phone with me and tried to book an appointment for me to get a massage that afternoon.   Alas, they were booked for the day, however he did make me an appointment for today.  I decided to take the opportunity to make a me day of it.  I got the kids off to school and came back and drank a little more coffee and got my gym bag together.  I went to the gym and literally worked my rear off.  The gym is pretty nice and has a sauna so I sat in that and let the heat sink into my tired muscles then took an extremely long shower (especially by gym standards).  By now it was about time to go to the spa and I realized as I was blow drying my hair my eyebrows looked similar to a caterpillar and there was the shadow of a girl mustache blooming so I called spa to see if I could get those taken care of and they wiggled me in.  I came out of the spa an hour before kid pick up, plucked and greased up like a Thanksgiving turkey that had rolled in a flower bed.  I'd thought I might grab groceries before kid pick-up, however with only an hour and a ton of groceries to buy I knew better than to attempt that so I wasted some time on Facebook and then picked up the kids and literally dropped them in the driveway with Mom and went to Wal-Mart for groceries. 

This evening has been a little calmer, or maybe I've been a little calmer.  I don't know which.  I cooked a spaghetti for supper - easy and the kids never complain about it.  I put away the leftovers and let the dishes sit on the counter.  I just sent Sonny Boy off to bed and I have a movie I'm going to snuggle up in bed and watch.

Maybe I'll fight the leaf blower tomorrow, or hell maybe I'll let the leaves stay there till they rot.

1 comment:

Lin said...

Glad you had a little time to re-group! Sometimes just getting away from the madness is all that you need.

sorry about the leaf blower. :(

We went to Disney when the kids were old enough to walk the entire day themselves AND to carry a water bottle of their own. Em was in first or second grade--Colin in 4th. It was a good age because they could handle the long days, but they were still young enough to be excited. Yep, it's expensive, but it is worth every single dime. It really is a lovely, peaceful, and happy place to visit.