Monday, February 02, 2009

Ah-ha Moment

There have been far too few instant gratifications in my life lately. Everything for us has become a "wait-and-see" game. When we have money... When we have time... When the economy gets better... We'll enjoy the next house. We'll take a vacation next year. Maybe when we retire in forty years. So instead of enjoying life now, which (face it) is the only guarantee we have, we just keep holding out for some undetermined date in the future. Fuck that.

I've decided to do something gratifying each day, create a reason to get up other than necessity. It doesn't have to be anything that cost money or requires a lot of time. In fact, it'll be better if it doesn't. It can be fun or functional or silly. It can be done alone or with friends and loved ones. The object is to do it, whatever "it" is, and be happy about it.

I practiced this weekend, almost just to see if it could be done. By the end of Sunday, Hoop was marveling at how much fun we'd had. It had been the best weekend we'd had in a LONG time. Friday, we had a "Gift Certificate" day. We only did things that utilized the miscellaneous gift cards and coupons we'd accrued over the holidays. There was one for the movies, and Bed Bath and Beyond, JCPenney and Smoothie King.

Part of the fun was dividing up the cards. "OK, we have $25 on this JCPenney card. That means we both get $12.50 to spend. Now, go!" Hoop bought a green tie and I, a blue robot t-shirt. I'm sure we could have spent the cards in more responsible ways, like on a couple of towels or a cutting board. But there was something magical about doing it this way. I felt like a kid again, with a pocket full of quarters in the dollar store.

Saturday, Hoop and I loaded up the car with snacks and drove an hour to Blue Springs. We spent $5 to get in and $7.50 in gas, and the view of the manatees was PRICELESS. On the way home we stopped at the Daytona Flea Market. That took up the remainder of the day. We left with an arm full of fresh strawberries and green beans and sang to cheesy 80's music all the way home.

Sunday, we played video games in our underwear and watched the Super Bowl. I tried my hand at black bean and sausage pastries. They were a huge hit, once I got the hang of them. By the end I was even decorating them with little dough hearts. With 12 for $6, plus leftover filling, that gives Hoop and I ample lunch material for three days. You can't beat a $1 home cooked meal.

So tell me, what did YOU do this weekend?

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25 Comments:

At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Hilary said...

"Instant gratification takes too long." ~ Carrie Fisher

;)

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Knight said...

Wow. Your weekend kicked my weekends butt! I like your idea though. I recently decided I need to take more time now to get out and enjoy the opportunities surrounding me. I have fun plans for five nights of this week..so far!

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Janet said...

That's it. "fresh strawberries"??? I'm coming to FL!!!

 
At 02 February, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We are eating in during the week and for the husband's lunches he takes leftovers which allows us freedom on the weekends. The best thing we did all weekend was see Mrs. Warren's Profession at The Alley Theater. I always feel like I'm in on some kind of secret when I go to the theater.

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Jay said...

Sometimes it the little things that can be the most fun. Especially if you look for the fun in them.

 
At 02 February, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Take no prisoners!!

You & your ideas rock, Tink!

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Dana said...

My son and I do this type of thing, and we've discovered that the time together is far more important than the money spent!

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Gary's third pottery blog said...

Me, this weekend? Shoveled snow, made pizza, made MORE pizza, made hippos, made more hippos, walked the wee little beagle and read a lot. Thanks for asking!
It was 37 and sunny on Sunday, the prettiest day we have had for months, oh YAY SPRING WILL BE HERE SOMEDAY!
Wonder if the pics I took today can be wangled into whtever the wwc is this week....

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger geenalyn said...

Saturday the twins and Daynah each at playdates at their respective friend's houses, so we only had Lucas. So we loaded him up in the car and headed to the bowling alley for his first bowling experience. Seeing him jump up and down each time he threw the ball made me smile. After that we went for icecream at DQ cause we had a coupon from bowling lol. Sunday we took all four kids to the Royal Ontario Museum...it was free admission for one kid for each paying adult so two kids free YEAH!! I still had sticker shock for paying for us and the other two kids (growing up in MD, going to the smithsonian it was always free) but it was a blast watching the kids faces light up looking at all the dinosaurs and what not.

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger Tawcan said...

I went skiing on Sat. I shouldn't have. Since there hasn't been significant amount of snow the last few weeks, the slopes were icy as hell. I lost my edge a few times, resulting me falling on my side. Thanks to the icy surface couple times I couldn't stop myself at all and ended up sliding for 5 meters or so. Scary stuff.

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger The Queen said...

Hi, I was just running through your part of the blog world and thought I'd drop in and see how my old friend is doing...

Sometimes,, the things that cost the least.. are the things that mean the most..in the end

Have a Great week TInk.. now.. I'm off to my side of the world again..

THE QUEEN!

 
At 02 February, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is good thinking there Tink.

Too many people think money = a good time.

You know what's a not a good time? Bed bath and beyond.

I want that 90 minutes of my life back.

 
At 02 February, 2009, Blogger meno said...

Fuck responsible spending. You will have and love that t-shirt for a long time.

I went skiing this weekend, for the first time in 15 years. It went pretty well. The body doesn't forget.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Reb said...

My most enjoyable times have usually been when I am doing something that doesn't cost a lot or anything. Go to the park with the dogs and throw a Frisbee around. I agree though that waiting for a fictitious date in the questionable future to spend all the money you have saved is not the way to live. Find a happy medium between having security in your old age and having fun now.

Oh, I work weekends, so they are usually pretty boring :(

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger mrspao said...

I bought a three bird roast which was on special offer and we had a nice meal together on Saturday night. Sunday we had a spur of the moment lunch with friends and watched the first Narnia film whilst it was snowing outside.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Karen said...

I love that concept. I really do try to live life now. Though sometimes life gets in the way of that. I am gong to try to join you in this challenge.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Terri said...

you are awesome ~ great ideas! I got my WWC pics; warning - they are lame this week as far as fitting into the categories but still awesome pics! :o) have a great day Tink.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Chris said...

It's so hard to remember to enjoy NOW sometimes - thanks for the reminder. :)

My weekend was much less exciting - I worked (although from my living room, and doing something that I just had to check on every few hours), assembled IKEA furniture, went to IKEA to get more shelves and boxes, and ripped apart most of my condo.

That was surprisingly enjoyable.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger mrspao said...

PS pao and I had the nicest anniversary a couple of years back when we got a takeaway meal and spent the evening picking out photos of our honeymoon and arranging them in a big frame. It was a lovely way to spend time together.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger OneDaisy said...

I love it! I especially want to incorporate that in on my Sundays. They seem to be my "feel lonely" days and it would be nice to have something fun planned. Thank you for the inspiration.

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Aunt Jackie said...

I played "fag-hag" as my gay friends call it Friday night, Sang at my Mom's church for her Saturday night, and cheered the Steeler's Sunday!!! Full weekend it was.

Lovely!

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger moo said...

what a great idea! Sounds like you had a fantastic weekend!!

 
At 03 February, 2009, Blogger Woman in a Window said...

We invited my daughter's friend over this weekend and totally embarassed the shit out of my kids by rocking on in the car. Oh ya, momma does a mean car dance.

She got a heavy dose of us. At one point I told me kids I was a gonna beat them, real good like, and she looked up kinda startled. I asked, "Well, doesn't your mom beat you?" She said, "Um, ya." Now I'm wondering if she was playing along or not. Tell me she was playing along.

I LOVE this attitude of yours. I'm going to try to adopt it at least from time to time.

 
At 04 February, 2009, Blogger HalfAsstic.com said...

Color me impressed. You know you and Hoop's latest adventures sound a lot like some of John and my "date days" lately. You're right, tho. It is something you NEED to do. I know we do.

 
At 12 February, 2009, Blogger fiwa said...

Good for you - you have to make your own happiness, it's not going to come looking for you.

And I can't believe you could hold on to gift cards that long. Mine are spent within the week!

You gonna share the recipe for those pastries? They sound good.

 

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