Gwen's Sententia

: Name: Gwen Nicodemus; Location: Broomfield, Colorado, United States

I'm a stay-at-home, homeschooling ex-engineer mother with a bunch of ferrets. My kids and I raise Guide Dog Puppies.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Lessons on money and life style from the kids

I wasn’t big on cars and other toys when I was in my late teens and early twenties. I read a few articles of Amy Dacyczyn’s The Complete Tightwad Gazette and decided that being frugal was cool. Being frugal was the environmental thing to do to boot. Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robins’ Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence promoted similar ideas. Why should I go out and buy a new plastic gizmo when my current gizmo works just fine?

That was my environmental and political phase. I did lots of things that many people consider crazy. I do believe my father called me a bleeding heart when I went five years without a car. Going without a car in Boulder, Colorado isn’t a big deal. My dad cooperated with my crazy recycling bin scheme when he visited. My sisters just thought I was nuts.

I was happy. The simplified lifestyle was also my choice.

For a few years, the lifestyle was forced on me, and it sucked.

I went crazy; I bought a car and toys I didn’t need as soon as my period of forced simplicity ended. There was a short period during which I even spent more money than I had. Egads, it was like I was a different person, and the rebellion wasn’t hurting anyone but me.

I eventually found a middle ground with money, lifestyle, and spending habits. I slide up and down the spectrum though. Sometimes I buy silly things that I don’t need. Sometimes I make something things last longer than I should; however, overall, I think I’ve reached a middle ground.

I think I need to take some lessons from my children. They are really good at “Mommy, this is broken. Will you fix it for me?” There are a few stuffed toys that have more of my stitches in them than the original manufacturer’s.

The kids are also good at creating something out of “nothing.” For instance, Anna decided to make her brother a stuffed shark toy. She took one of her dad’s old (and holey) socks, stuffed it with stuffing from a dead, giant stuffed dog, sewed up the end with yarn and a yard needle, and drew gills and fins on the sock. That shark is now her brother’s favorite toy.

The kids are even starting to understand when to use gorilla glue instead of super glue.

How long can I make things last with a needle, thread, duct tape, and some gorilla glue?

Even so, I draw the line at darning socks.

Labels: environment, fun things to do with kids, lifestyle, money

Monday, April 23, 2007

Gazingas pings

A long time ago I read Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robins and Joe Dominguez. This is an excellent book that makes you think about what you really need, what’s important, and how to achieve Financial Independence (FI). I liked the book so much that I not only read the book again a few years later, but I incorporated much of it into my life and bought a few copies to give on hand to people who might be receptive to its teachings.

The book discusses the concept of the gazingas pin. Most people have gazingas pins. A gazingas pin is something you buy, collect, have a bunch of, and don’t actually need. (Maybe you need one, but not a collection.) What do you collect? Some people collect figurines, or pins, or socks, or can openers. My husband went through a stage where his gazingas pins were technical books and another stage of VHS tapes.

My gazingas pin is the purse. I have a basement full of purses and I can’t seem to stop myself from buying more. I don’t buy every purse I see. A purse has to meet a set of criteria for me to “need” it. Nevertheless, I have purchased many purses in my quest for the perfect purse, that purse that will be so awesome it will put a stop to my inane purchases.

We went to a birthday party today. On the way home I told my husband I wanted to go buy some shirts. I’m going to a conference in a few days and I didn’t have any appropriate clothes that fit and weren’t in style in the 80’s. We saw a Ross on the side of the road, and he let me go in and he stayed in the car, reading a book, with the sleeping kids.

I was in there a long time. It took me probably about an hour to try on 16 different things and walk out with a giant shopping bag.

My husband saw the purse immediately. (Ross has a lot of purses.)

He said, “That’s cute.”

Did I pick a winner or what?

Labels: financial independence, gazingas pins, Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robins, Your Money or Your Life

Friday, April 20, 2007

Progression of chemicals

Hygiene was pretty easy as a small child. I’d take a bath, wash off the soap and shampoo, dry off, and put on my jammies. Chemicals=2. (Technically, water’s a chemical too, so the count should be 3, but I don’t want to count water.) After a few years of torture having my hair combed, my mother added the second chemical to the mix: hair detangler. She’d spray some hair detangler on my head and I’d cry less as she combed my hair. Chemicals=3.

Two chemicals isn’t that bad, but it wasn’t to last. I developed eczema and dry skin, so good lotion after a bath was a necessity. My hands were especially bad. If I didn’t apply lotion to my hands several times a day, they’d crack and bleed. Chemicals=4.

Adolescence added a few more chemicals to the mix. I started to use antiperspirant. Chemicals=5. I mentioned adolescence. Like most teenagers, I had my fair share of acne and isopropanyl jumped on the list. Chemicals=6. I also figured out about hair conditioner. Chemicals=7. However, my hair was thicker at that point and the conditioner helped, so I didn’t need the hair detangler anymore. Chemicals=7.

My sisters informed me that I had to use a special face lotion when I was in my twenties. Chemicals=8. I didn’t understand that, but my sisters are the experts on that type of thing. Well, needing face lotion coincided with not needing the acne stuff anymore. Chemicals=7.

After my sisters were confident that they had trained me to use face lotion, they decided to break me into the next step, special face soap. Chemicals=8. Why in the world isn’t body soap good enough for your face? I don’t know, but my sisters convinced me. Chemicals=8.

I stayed at a solid nine chemicals for a few years, until my two sisters and I got together and my sisters decided that we’d all go for facials. I decided that I need under eye gel, eye lotion, face serum, and eye serum. Chemicals=12. Now, in defense of this craziness which I started to get “into,” the serum feels really good on my skin and makes it so I need hardly any face lotion. Oh, I guess I can’t forget the Chapstick. Chemicals=13.

And what about those very rare occasions when I wear make-up? Well, I add face spackle, base, eye liner, mascara, and sometimes eye shadow. Chemicals=18.

So, 18 different things to “get ready.”

Maybe it’s time for another shower to clean off the 18 chemicals.

Labels: chemicals, insanity, money, toiletries

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Highlights from homeschooling

I homeschool my kids. I have a ton of reasons for this, but I feel like sharing some of the rewards of homeschooling. Here are some conversations that have been had in my family.

Preface: My daughter, Anna, loves dolphins. She likes them so much I wrote a dolphin unit s tudy on dolphins, and this has bought many lunches for the family. Anna understands that dolphins are mammals and that mammals have four chambers in their hearts. In fact, she’s seen plasticized hearts with four chambers at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Anna asked the following when she was five.
Anna: Mommy, how many chambers do sharks have in their hearts?
Me: I don’t know Anna. Let’s look it up.
(As it turns out, most fish have two-chambered hearts.)

Preface: Quinn did this just after he turned three.
Me: Quinn, why do you have ten glasses lined up on the window sill with sticks and grass in them?
Quinn: I’m doing an experiment mommy.
Me: What’s the experiment?
Quinn: I want to see what grows.

Preface: Anna asked this just before she turned six.
Anna: Mommy, how long do lady bugs live?
Me: I don’t know Anna. Let’s look it up when we get home. How do we look things up Anna?
Anna: Google, Mommy!
Me: How long do you think lady bugs live?
Anna: I think for three days, Mommy.
Me: I’m going to guess three months.
(As it turns out, lady bugs can live for a couple of years, so we were off a bit in our guess.)

Preface: Neither my husband nor I are religious; however, we do enjoy church and take the kids to Sunday school once in a while.
Anna: I think God is in outer space.
Quinn: I think God is in everything.
Me: Anna, why do you think God is in outer space?
Anna: Because teacher said he can see everything.
Me: Quinn, why do you think God is in everything?
Quinn: Because Daddy said so.
Me: Anna, can you see God?
Anna: No mommy.
Me: How do you know there’s a God then?
Anna: Because Aunt Amy and Mr. Nick said there is.
…
Anna: What happens when you die mommy?
Me: Your body gets buried and it disintegrates and turns to bones.
Anna: No, mommy, what happens to you?
Me: Well Anna, some people believe that people have souls.
Anna: What’s a soul?
Me: Well, it’s something you can’t see that has all the important parts of a person in it like their love. Anyway Anna, some people think that when you die your soul goes to heaven. Some people think the soul gets reborn in a different person or critter, and still others think that there isn’t a soul and when you die, that’s it. What do you think Anna?
Anna: I think that half the people’s souls go to heaven and half are reborn.

Labels: education, fun things to do with kids, highlights, home school, home schooling, unit studies, unit study

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