Family showdown: Gosselins VS. Hayes
Twins, twins and sextuplets compared to twins and sextuplets? It’s not a question of numbers, but of how two similar-sized familes can be so different.
I’ve heard a lot of negativity about TLC’s new show, Table for 12, so I felt compelled to blog about it.
Everyone is saying that Jon & Kate Plus 8 is sooo much better, and while I’m a huge Gosselin fan, I think the Hayes family is happier and more well-adjusted.
For example …
- The mom and dad do not fight in front of the kids — a refreshing change from Jon and Kate
- They live in a fairly small house — not like Jon and Kate’s new mansion (yes, mansion)
- One of their daughters has cerebral palsy, and they are so good with her
- They have two more kids than Jon & Kate, and yet seem to handle them much better
- They are constantly saying how they are grateful for the kids, and how wonderful it is to be a big family — whereas Kate likes to remind everyone that her life is a chaotic struggle
I can only hope that the Hayes family does not become as successful as the Gosselins, who seem to be falling apart as they “move up” financially and popularity-wise. The Hayes family is an inspiration just the way they are.
Saying no to stuff
I am that girl. You know, the one who keeps everything.
I find sentimental value in basically anything, so I have a really, really hard time getting rid of stuff. I have found sentimental value in graphic tees from American Eagle. That is probably the definition of crap, but yet, I kept them!
The good news? Every since I boarded the Baby Express, I have found myself willing to travel (through life) with LESS STUFF.
Thinking about fitting an extra human — and a ton of human gear — into our condo has freaked me out. The only solution seems to be getting rid of stuff, to free up space. So I have!
About a month ago, I did a major closet-clean, followed by the main bathroom cupboards, and a cleaning-out of the coat/shoe closet in the hall. I was ruthless, tossing jackets and shoes like I was trying to strip Chace Crawford (mmmm).
My next step is the office/art room, and I’m dreading it. I’ve been creating a pile of junk — mostly Darling Husband’s crap, haha — in the corner that I need to sort and toss. And then I’m going to move on to the dreaded storage room.
I’m grateful that for the first time in my life, I feel able throw stuff away. It must be a good sign that I’m not clinging to junk, and being Miss Pack-Pat anymore.
And, of course, it reduces the chances of Baby being misplaced under my giant stack of old Cosmo issues.
This is too cute!
Thanks for the tip, Newlyb!
A momentary flinch
I saw a friend last night that I haven’t seen in ages, and he asked me how I was liking my job.
Oh.
There was a momentary flinch on my part, but then I recovered and said I’m still really liking it.
He saw the flinch.
I admitted that while I did like it, for the most part, the lack of creativity was really starting to get to me.
He understood, because like me, he used to have a super-creative job where he was known for his writing — much more known than me. Now he has a more management-y job, too, and we both miss what we had before.
I’ve been asked about my job a lot over the last year, and I’ve always been cheerful and told people how much I like it … and I do.
But last night was the first time I couldn’t hide my doubts.
I’m more determined than ever to publish my first novel and return to writing permanently. I want to fill my days with words and turns of phrase, not calculators and budgets. I don’t want to keep feeling like a wolf writer in sheep’s manager’s clothing.
And how will I honestly be able to tell my children to follow their dreams, if I didn’t do the same?
Re-inventing date night
Since Darling Husband works most weekends, our weekly date night has always been Monday. Yeah, Monday — probably the least likeable of all seven days. But we make the best of it.
Our favourite way to spend Monday evenings used to be going to a pub for a medley of bad-for-you goodies — nachos, potato skins, chicken wings, etc. Clearly we do not have sophisticated tastes …
We did this happily for years. But in the last few months, when we’ve been more conscious of getting healthy — and saving cash — we have only been once. We were spending $40ish dollars every time, and it was being spent on food that would eventually kill us — not exactly a win-win situation.
Except for the fact that it was delicious.
So for the past few months, we have been staying home on Monday evenings. Fellow blogger Bryn Alexandra and her husband have been doing the same.
We had just been making a regular dinner — chicken or whatever we had. It wasn’t a special meal, and it was kind of a depressing change from our usual dinner out.
Last night, it was almost summery-feeling, so we decided to barbeque. Darling Husband grilled burgers, I made roasted potatoes and a fancy salad, and we had chips and salsa to start. We put more effort into the meal than we normally would, and it turned out really well …
Much cheaper than dining out, definitely healthier than dining out, and we made it together. In order to keep Date Night feeling like a date, we need to go beyond re-heating something frozen. It needs to take effort.
The meal looked so pretty that I enthusiastically suggested we eat outside on the deck. But Hubby reminded me that it was still Canada in April.
Oh yeah.
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