Hand Me Downs

I was thinking a lot about this yesterday- hand me downs.  When I was a kid, my cousins would give me garbage bags full of clothes every Christmas or Thanksgiving (depending on when they had time to go through their closets) and I was so excited to go through the clothes and see what I got!  It was like shopping, only free!
Growing up, we were super poor- we're talking my grandma would get government cheese for us (which, btw, is still my favorite cheese in the world! That stuff is yummy!)  We didn't get a lot of new clothes, it was the hand me downs from our cousins.  And I was completely cool with that.  I knew we were poor, but we had food on the table, and my mom and dad both had jobs.  So they were doing the best they could.  And that's the only thing you can do.  I'm not upset with them about it.  It made me who I am.
Now, we're 'poor' today.  We don't have a lot of money- but, we're like my parents, food on the table, 2 jobs, roof over our head.  And I'm completely cool with that.  My parents, on the other hand, are not cool with that for some reason.  They feel that Luke shouldn't have to have hand me down clothes.  They feel he should have the newest and the best of everything.  Which, I agree with, to a certain point, but he's 7- he's still growing.  I'm NOT going to spend $100 on a coat for him that he'll use a year.  Sorry.  I'm cheap.  I'd say frugal, but no, I'm cheap.  :)  When he's older, and can wear a coat for longer than a season, I'll do that.  Not right now.  And I sell/donate/pass his stuff along when he's done with it.
The way I look at it right now, I'm being pulled in two directions- the new is better camp vs. the recycle camp.  I fall pretty firmly into the recycle camp.  Not because I'm poor, but because it just makes sense to me.  I would rather spend $95 dollars on a camping trip with our family, and $5 on a winter coat for the year (that's just as good as new!) than $100 on a coat, and $0 on camping with the family.  And, it helps the environment, the recycling of the coat.  In this case, I'm totally just giving the environment lip service, that's not my point at all about the coat.  :)
We shouldn't have a problem with hand me downs.  There's nothing wrong with them.  You have to decide where your priorities lay, and go from there.  For me, and my family, the experiences and other things are more important than having new clothes all the time.

Religious Education

We are Catholic, and I signed up to teach Luke's PRE class.  Of course I've been freaking out, because what my idea of respectful Catholicism is not what most people think of as respectful.  So I've been looking up a lot of ideas for first grade and religious education, and I've found a few really good sites.  I'm pretty excited, and it's awesome to have stuff spelled out for me, in terms of what I need to teach, and how I need to teach it!

Yeah, I've come to a conclusion

I have absolutely no maternal instinct for anyone other than Luke. And I'm fine with that. I've got 2 older nieces and I have no clue what to talk to them about. The two younger girls I don't even care enough about them to talk to them or play/ interact with them. And I'm fine with that. Even with Luke's friends, I don't have a lot to say to them, and don't really know how to interact or talk to them. I always fell like I'm asking them baby questions or something. And again, I'm fine with that.
It's strange though- when I was pregnant with Luke I wanted a ton of kids. Now? And over the course of the last few years, I've come to the conclusion that I'm happiest with just one child. Luke is old enough now where I don't have to entertain him constantly. He's more independent. I can't imagine going back to diapers or bottles or waking up every few hours to feed/ change a baby.

Less than a week!

I love Luke, do not even get me wrong, however, school starts for them again next Tuesday, and I could NOT be more ready!  I think he's excited too, we went Monday to register him, and walked around the school, saw his classroom, and then met his science teacher.  He is ready, and has expressed interest and excitement.  So I think my fear has been for nothing, even though this school isn't as wealthy as the one he came from.  I keep on coming back to the fact that it's still better than half the schools where Charlie and I grew up, so we're doing better than we did growing up.  Which is all that we can want these days.  Secretly, all I want is to be able to sleep all day without worrying about what he's doing, but that's another story!  :)

Randomness that is whirling around my head currently!

And maybe, by typing it out, it'll coalesce into something manageable!  :)  But it's not really huge, or scary or anything, it's just a lot!  And I don't have a huge blog post about any of them!
*I'll be teaching religious education for our church this year.  If you know me, I'm not one of those people that seem like it's their type of thing, but I'm really looking forward to it.  And, since we're broke as a joke, the free RE doesn't exactly hurt! And I know it'll be good, for both Luke and I.
*I really need to find a recipe for yellow cherry tomatoes.  I think we have 3 pounds of them that we either have to eat or preserve.  :)  They're really cool- they're actually pear shaped.  Heirlooms, and are super sweet.  :)

Congratulations J&J!!

I just have to share, because I'm so excited for them!!  My friend Jackie, and her husband are in the process of adopting a gorgeous daughter from China.  And they got their travel approval the other day, and they get to go pick her up in just 2 weeks!!  I'm just so thrilled for them, but that also means that I have to get my butt cracking on a baby blanket for her!