What's in your wallet?

I like to talk about money.

YES, I know it's one of those things "THEY" tell you NOT to talk about.

-Money
-Politics
-Religion

My God! I love all three of those topics...if there was a way I could have one conversation involving all three....JACKPOT!

I've never understood why Money is Taboo.

I make it. I spend it. I need it. And I'm pretty much willing to tell any listening audience how much of each of those I do. I don't think they are going to see me any different. Maybe they do, but why? We are all guilty of it right?


And what I've found in all of my open conversations with friends who also enjoy talking about money is that we are all "for the most part"- in the same boat. We all make and spend around the same amount of money.


That could be for a number of reasons; main one being that we are all approximately in the same place in our careers, homes and ages of our children. I guess if I were to have a comparable conversation with a 50 year old man with no children and a Ph. D. ...hmmm..maybe we wouldn't have as many financial similarities. But again, I wouldn't see him much different other than I would know how much his house cost and how much he spent on his car and I would also realize the reason he had so much more money than me was because of his lifestyle, education, age and status.

A few months ago, I was having an intimate conversation with an acquaintance and she let it slip that she & her husband were starting to get stressed about money. I asked why and she vaguely gave short answers. I kept pressing and could tell it made her uncomfortable. So I stopped and felt bad about myself the rest of the day. I thought, "Why don't you just shut up Randi?"...but it's me, so we all know the answer to that! :) But I thought, why can't she tell me? Maybe I can help or maybe it might be nice to just purge all of your emotions. I honestly am not going to judge you for your financial issues...Lord knows we all have them! But, on the other hand, I guess some things are best kept private between a husband and a wife and I respect that. But don't throw your fishing line out if you don't want to catch any!

Nobody is perfect with their money or budget and I will never be the golden example of saving! I just find it nice to have a common bond with my peers and I guess if that comes through a financial bond of debt or expensive dance lessons then so be it!

My momma always said, "Money; you can't take it with you when you die!"

KinderCRAP

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I posted last. I guess it was a pretty busy 2nd half of summer. We drove to Washington (not as bad as you think- about 9 hrs. 45 mins...okay so 10 hr drive) to visit family and hit both Cort's family reunion and mine. Oddly enough, the reunions were 1 weekend apart, so I ended up taking about 12 days off from work!
After we came home, it felt like a whirlwind holy-crap-quinn-starts-kindergarten-soon-are-we-ready? I guess because the day after we returned was Quinn's registration and then from there I can't remember much...and here we are Sept. 4th...labor day weekend.

This whole Kindergarten experience has been quite a ride for me. I'm not quite sure where I fit into the public school scheme of things...and boy oh boy do I like to fit in.
Like when can I start to become real 'friendsy' with her teacher so I can keep an eye on all classroom stuff? When can I volunteer everyday? When's the next PTA meeting?

I want to know everything about everything and I feel like right now they are trying to keep all of us over-protective and/or overwhelming parents at arm's length. If I could pull a chair up to quinn's name-tagged desk and hang out the entire 3 hours, I would be there...fixing her backward 9s and Js. I'd let her know not to talk to that girl with the perfectly coiffed hair because I've already sized up her mom and she thinks she is somethin she's definitely not. And I'd tell her that I think she is amazing and I love all of the artwork she brings home and it would be great if she could just stay this age for like 10 more years.

She was in pre-school just 3 1/2 months ago. Where there were 70 kids in the entire school and everyone knew her name. And they would let her get up toward the end of class and perform a Hannah Montana song and dance and the director of the school would come eat snack with her and tell her how wonderful she is. I had her preschool teacher's cell number. We met at Wheeler Farm and played. Her preschool had a thumbprint access code system in order to enter the building. There were surveillance cameras everywhere. Parents were not allowed to volunteer because they didn't want the liability.
Cut to now: Everyday at 12:35p, I drop her outside at the playground with the playground attendant. Who I've never met, never seen before in my life and I'm supposed to drop my little 5 year old off at this new school with this complete stranger and get in my car and drive away. Everyday, I'm left wondering- will she be there when I return?
Wednesday she came home with a worksheet she had done. There was some cutting and pasting involved and I noticed an entire row of dried glue circles with nothing attached. I pointed and asked, "What was here?" and she said "Oh I did it silly and had to redo it". I could feel my face heat up imagining she was told she did it wrong and had to redo her little assignment....at 5 years old....in Kindergarten. I wanted to cry. Quinn didn't care so I didn't say a word but I wanted so badly to send her flying right back to preschool where every assignment is a wonderful expression of who you are! Gold Stars and A + for everyone!
I know I can't keep her sheltered forever. The real world will come knocking sooner or later... but if I could find a way to board up the door, I just may start hammering in nails :)

(art by Quinn: 1st Kindergarten assignment "I"- create a collage of all the things I can do by myself)