Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Artfully responsible?

I attended the Madison Chautauqua of the Arts Festival last weekend. I walked miles and saw a lot of wonderful art. The walking was great! It has me ready to get back in the habit. Exercise really does lift one's spirit. It's amazing. I can see why people get addicted to it. Hopefully I can keep the workout sessions at a healthy level. I am well aware that I may replace one form of unhealthy therapy with another. Let's see.....facebook, coffee, but I really don't think I will ever exercise too much.

Back to the temptation - There was a lot to see. A lot to love. Many things I would love to own, but nothing I needed. I found myself trying to rationalize how spending here was more like charity. Helping a starving artist.... IT WAS STILL SPENDING! Spending on things that were definitely NOT NEEDED. I stayed strong and did not buy a single thing. I even resisted a lemon shake-up which I wanted badly.

Instead of my financial support, the artists received my compliments for their work.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Slipped into old habits

I had the pleasure of a rare lunch with out children. It was great. When I was ready to pick them up after my lunch, they weren't back from theirs. I needed a way to kill some time. I didn't have a book to read (which I should begin keeping with me at all times). So....I went to my old stomping (shopping) grounds. I headed for my favorite thrift shop. I thought, I'll just look around and kill some time.

Well, I started to fill up a cart. I had shirts for Zoe (which she doesn't need), tights for Bryn (which she doesn't need), kid size gardening gloves (don't need), books (can get at the library), and my favorite, two wood puzzles (great classic toy that would last forever, but we don't need).

While I was tooling around in the store rationalizing this, putting that back, etc. It again, was all stuff I don't need. The phone rang. Thankfully it was my mom telling me she was back with the kids. She asked where I was. I thought about making up something else. I decided to tell her the truth. I immediately felt like a failure. I wasn't going to ruin almost 9 months of control on all this stuff. I also want to be an inspiration to my mother. I couldn't let her know I had failed.

I put it all back and headed for the door. I proudly reported to her that I didn't buy anything, but was greatly tempted. It was quite therapeutic really!

I experienced the thrill of the hunt and the high of finding things the girls would love. I spent no money and brought nothing else into my already bulging home! What a happy experience.