How to Survive Life in the Suburbs

I Have The Gimmes

in Everyday on

I gave up my career more then eight years ago and I rarely regret it.  I know I did the best thing for my family at the time.  When I figured out commute times, daycares, business clothes and lunches, I wasn’t exactly making a ton of money. 
Suddenly today, I’m wondering if I made the right move.  How much further ahead would we be if we had that pay cheque every two weeks for the past 8 years?  Then again, I have always been happy that I am the Mom that could always be counted on for field trips, that I could always be reached if one of my babies needed me, and that I always know where my kids are and what they are doing.  I digress.  This is not about justifying to myself why I quit my career, or to examine the road not taken, it’s about the fact that today, I have the gimmies.

This next year is a big one. I will turn 40.  NEXT May!  Gulp.  Suddenly I have all kinds of things I want.  Need! Kind of like a mini bucket list playing over and over in my head. 

I want hardwood floors.  Yesterday.

Hardwood

I want to re-decorate the girls bedrooms.  Now.

I want to remodel the main floor and master baths.  Today.

I want granite in the kitchen and a gorgeous backsplash to finish it off.

I did not want to replace the air conditioner and furnace.  I did not want to fix the roof.  I sure as heck don’t want to spend money resurfacing the driveway.  This house is a money pit.  Sometimes being a responsible suburbanite sucks. 

I want our annual trip to Florida for March Break.

I want that 40th birthday trip to London and Paris with my Hubby in May.  Oh to buy shoes in Paris!  Le Sigh.

parisFod

I want to go to BlogHer’11 in San Diego.  That’s August.  Air fare is outrageous from Ontario!!

I am a greedy girl and have the gimmes. 

Hmmm….. Guess I will just be thankful that the house is still standing, my  kids are healthy, and I still think my Hubby is kinda hot.  I’ll plan that dream vacation to Europe….even if it’s only to dream and never happens, I’ll let the rest go. 

For now!!

Someone pass the cake. I’m having a pity party.

Linky love: Maybe I can give a couple of you a little something.  Canadian Friends, don’t miss the fabulous giveaway I have going on!  Ends Friday. 

*Photo credit to Fodors

    • Comments

    2. You totally made the right choice and we are all allowed to have pity parties every now and then. How else do we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and realize how lucky we have it. Have some cake. In fact have the whole cake to yourself while hiding in the closet from the kids if you want.

    3. oh dear, do i ever know what you mean… so much to wish and pine for, so little money to do it with! grrr!

      still, it’s a pretty good life eh? 🙂

    5. You’ve got your priorities in order and that’s what matters. And truth be told, even if you were working, you’d still have the gimmies – because even when we are both working – there just never seems to be anything extra….

    6. BlogHer 2011 is in San Diego? Good! I didn’t do New York, wanted to do New York, but heard it was the bedbug capital of North America so I made myself feel better for not attending by repeating that to myself.
      Now, for the mini-bucket list: definitely floors, trip to London and Paris, and BlogHer lady!
      Oh, and love the “le Sigh”…very clever!

    7. Drive over the border, then fly out of a US city to another US city. Much cheaper.
      I am still too cheap to do this though. Passports cost money!!

    10. I think that we all have the “gimmes” from time to time… I always have a list going in the back on my mind and sometimes in my cell phone. Most of them don’t happen but sometimes I get to cross one off.

    12. Pity parties are a necessary part of life sometimes. I live in a total money pit too. New roof, new ac, new oven….new every single thing I didn’t want to spend money on. I recommend a heavy dose of grateful, followed by dreaming for the heck of it, maybe a bite of chocolate….and the gimmes will pass 🙂

      Gosh….I would love to knock out the ugly tile from around my fireplace and replace it with travertine….oops…I guess I follow my advice…lol.

    13. How ironic. I went for my walk this morning and stayed in the sub division. As I looked at some of the homes with upgrades. I thought about the same thing. What if I was still working. THen I remembered all the expenses and headaches. You mad a great choice. If, you were working you wouldn’t be home enough to enjoy all of your gimmes