Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mom's Priorities

I love my Therapist! She encourages me in my favorite (Twilight) addiction, and has been helping me get over the others. Don’t know how healthy that is but I still love it! So I saw my Young and Gorgeous Counselor yesterday and told her I had pulled out of my Giddy-Girly Mom weekend Get-Away with other Insanely Fun Mommies, to celebrate the release of the fourth Twilight series book ‘Breaking Dawn’ in Port Angeles and Forks, WA of all places.

‘Why?’ she asked.

Mainly because of finances, what with Spooky’s vet bill and our recent gas-sucking trip to the Rocky Mountains – the bank account is a bit tight.

‘Not a good enough reason.’ She replied. She knew how big this trip was supposed to be for me because we’ve been talking about my guilty obsession for a few months now. So we spent the rest of the hour brainstorming my dreams and challenges and seeing if there was a way to overcome the hurdles while still making the dreams come true.

Now don’t get me wrong Ms. Young and Gorgeous isn’t encouraging me to go into debt by any means BUT she is saying that I need to make things that are really important to me a priority. Too often in the past I’ve given up on things I really want as a way to punish myself for my lack of financial budgeting skills or something or another. Until a year and a half ago I really never did anything for me. I was a Yes Lady who never said No to anyway and never took the time to take care of myself physically or emotionally – no time to exercise, attend concerts or retreats, give myself a pedicures, develop talents etc. I thought by putting my family and friends first I was teaching my kids about Christ like service. But what I realized was, that I was also teaching them was I didn’t value myself enough to take care of myself.

I’m a new person now and much happier. I’ve made taking of my physical, emotional and spiritual self Priority #1 and discovered that I’m now above and beyond better able to take care of my family and give service to others. I can give so much more now than I was ever able to give before.

The solution to my Twilight weekend dilemma that we came up with was … Garage Sale. That way I’m getting rid of a lot of the clutter, so I’m moving towards my conquering the Clutter Monster dream as well. And I’m putting a little change into my pocket so that I can afford to go to Port Angeles without my Prince seeing red in the checkbook.

Meanwhile I’m excitedly running around like a mad dervish through the house collecting clutter here and there with hopes that it could be worth a few pennies to others. I’ve even got some great friends who are bringing some of their clutter treasures over so that my sale looks big and will hopefully draw in more people.

So I’m getting excited again because the trip is officially back on if I can bring in around $150 or so. Cross your fingers for me. Less Clutter and More Fun!

5 comments:

Brandi said...

WTG Fawn! You'll be clutter free, and have the money for your trip! Hoping the Garage sale (or Yard Sale as we southerns call it) goes great!

Trena Doll said...

I don't even need to wish you good luck with the garage sale. $150 is easy-peasy, cash in the bank! But I will anyway. (wish you luck). I'm glad you're making room for yourself on your priority list.

Anonymous said...

Well done, you! Taking time for ourselves seems like such a luxury when there are kids to take care of, meals to cook and laundry to do; recognizing that it is a need and not a luxury can be hard to do. Good for you! Kudos also to the Y&G counselor for recognizing that the "Twilight" excursion was the right place for you to invest that time, and helping you not only to recognize it also, but helping you figure out how to make it happen as well. And, lastly, and most importantly, the biggest round of applause to you for being willing to do the work to make it happen, rather than go into debt--$150 is a no-brainer, you will do it, and then you'll be on your way to the big event!!!
Congrats,
~Susan:)

Deanna said...

Good luck with the rest of your clutter journey!!

I hope you make and AWESOME amount of $$!!!

Deanna

Jennifer said...

Great plan!! If I was anywhere close I would totally come to your garage sale to support your get away!!