I ran away to the mall a couple days ago. Everything was coming at me from every direction and I was in need of some retail therapy. Problem is, I have neither time nor money at the moment. Then I somehow silenced the nagging “you don’t have time for this…” long enough to find myself at a part of the mall populated by baby stores.
I’ve been trying very hard to avoid spending my money on baby stuff. I know the time will come when I have no choice, but now is not the time. We’re moving and we’re broke. If I’m going to spend any money I need to spend it on things we really need, like a stroller or diapers or one of those blue bulb thingies you shove up the baby’s nose to get the snot out.
This is not the kind of thing I need to be spending my money on:
I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this before, but I collect teapots – but a $79 teapot lamp… It took my breath away. I stopped to take a picture of it in the store and I don’t do that. I just sat there and looked at it for quite a while. It’s so impractical. But I love it.
Finally I tore myself away and poked around a little longer until I found the one thing that there was no way I would be able to leave the store without.
We’re in the middle of packing up our apartment to move. (Yes, we’ll be moving in the middle of my third trimester. I suspect whichever highly paid university administrator that came up with the ‘pregnant students must move from married housing to family housing in the third trimester’ policy has not actually been pregnant.)
Being in the middle of packing to move makes one take close look at all the accumulated stuff. A lot of this stuff was received as gifts. Gifts are a funny thing. We spend a lot of time and money trying to figure out what the perfect gift is for someone else but our ability to hit the mark with a good gift depends largely on how well we know the person, and how well we are able to get over our assumptions about that person to really see what they really want or need. Ever received a gift from someone you’ve known and loved and felt like you needed to go reintroduce yourself?
I’ve also had several holiday seasons where I’ve been able to pin down the perfect gift for several on my list, yet got down to the wire for other people on my list and ended up just giving them whatever I could find. Sucks for me as the giver, and then the receiver is left holding on to something that their not sure if it’s ok if they just throw it away because, ew, not so much something I want, but thanks anyways. This is of course after you paid too much money for it in the first place and then paid to ship it across the country.
Gah! Gift giving can be frustrating at times. It’s even more frustrating when you don’t have any money. Well actually in that case, you can just not give anything to anyone. But half the fun of Christmas is picking out that perfect gift. I love the feeling when you find the perfect gift for someone. But you can’t give a gift to just one family member and then just leave everyone else hanging. Still frustrating.
My husband and I have been giving each other non-tangible gifts for years; one year it was a whale watching trip, another a day on a sailboat…. There is quite a large Waste Free Holiday movement here in the Seattle area, many vendors even offer discounts for their non-tangible gifts. There are a lot of great ideas including: dance lessons, sporting events, cinematography classes, spa days, concerts and dinners out. Unfortunately, these are not cheap gifts; a ride in a hot air balloon can run $200 per person, and while I can give a certificate for an eye brow wax for $18, that’s not exactly an appropriate gift for most on my list.
So what about you? Have you come up with any ideas for inexpensive gifts that will be actually useful and valued rather than just an accumulation of stuff?
First of all a note about the weather: This is Seattle people, it rains here. There is no reason whatsover to be driving 20 MPH on I-5 just because it rains. It rains all the time. That’s what we’re famous for. Get over it or get off the road.
Once I arrived at my appointment, 20 minutes late and completely frazzled, I was more than ready for a massage. Meme & Co is a tiny little salon in a new strip mall in Federal Way. The web site needs help and the salon is a bit too small for it’s own good as well. There were three (taken) chairs in the waiting area so after checking in I ended up standing by the door while waiting for the massage therapist to come out. When she arrived she presented me with a couple diagrams of the human body and asked me to draw on there where my pain was. I was standing in the middle of the room and after looking around a minute, I walked over to the reception desk, pushed some things around to make space and used the counter as a surface for illustrating my tension. After a few quick scribbles she walked me back through the salon to the room where the massage would take place.
The salon area reminded me of backstage just before a performance. There was a palpable energy in the air, a rabbit warren of twists and turns marking off stations where people were attending to each other, running around with their hair in curlers and others sunk back in corners with their eyes closed in meditation. The only difference was the melon colored walls and huge windows.
Once we made it back to the room where the massage was to take place, I felt much more calm. The room was sage green with nice lighting and a big easy chair in the corner. She shut the door and turned the music up, a little loud for my taste, and asked me a couple more questions. Most notably she asked if I was allergic to any of the scents, herbs, and essences that they use. This is huge. Past experience at spa’s I had to make a point of stating clearly that I am allergic to grasses and echanacia.
Previous exchanges went like this:
“I’m allergic to echanacia”
“That’s nice. Here, have a cup of tea.”
“Does it have echanacia in it?”
“Yes, this tea will boost your immunity.”
“But I’m allergic to echanacia.”
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s organic and all natural.”
Spa people rarely want to admit that just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s good for everybody. People with allergies are allergic to natural things. Duh!
Ok, moving on. Suffice to say, she made points by acknowledging that not all scents, herbs and essences are good for everybody.
As it turns out, she had turned the music up loud in an attempt to drown out the noise from the salon. The music was not to Yanni so it was ok, and almost loud enough to do the trick. The massage was very good. She’s she had great pressure control and by the time she was done, I was complete jelly. And to top it all off, it was only $65 for a 1 hour massage, which around here is an excellent price.
Good the massage, but find somewhere else if you’re looking for the overall spa experience. Much to chaotic for that.
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