Thursday, March 13, 2008

Minimalist

I am a minimalist. I prefer not to label myself as anything other than "Christian wife and mother", but if I must put a name to it, "minimalist" would be it. I would rather call it "resourceful, creative, and a good steward of things", but that would be too wordy. I don't belong to any extremist groups (Yet! Although, I am considering starting one. It would be called "Mothers Against Toys" M.A.T for short). Anyone with children knows that being a mother and a minimalist do not go hand-in-hand. We have toys like the Israelites had quail. Coming out of our noses (quite literally, in some cases). The other day I was wading through a sea of megablocks to get to my stove. My two older children had taken the baby's 200 piece set (not 100, 200) and scattered them everywhere and (guess what) left with my husband. I'm cooking dinner and watch as the baby forgoes the blocks and gets out a metal mixing bowl, a can of olives, a can of spinach, and a can of coconut milk, and proceeds to stack them. I started thinking, "Finally, someone gets me!". I'm not sure what that says about me, that an eighteen month old "gets me". Oh well. Let's see if I can get away with that refrigerator box I've been eyeing for his second birthday!

3 comments:

kikipoo said...

Kara, I think your blog is wonderful. You voice your thoughts in such a way that they are both amusing as well as revealing. The refrigerator box is a great birthday gift. When you were little and we bought a new washer and dryer, you and your sisters made homes for yourself out of them and they lasted for weeks until it rained and they became a soggy mess that was almost impossible to get to the curbside for the trash men to pick up. Plastic bowls and wooden spoons are much cheaper than a drum set and have entertained all of my children and grandchildren to my delight. Every time they are here , Silas and Lena dump the toys out of the toy bin and walk around with the bin on their head like helmets. Pushing the small chairs to their table all around Grandma's house has become their favorite racetrack and their laughter overrides the noise of the chairs going over the quarry tiles and wood floors, at least until someone says "the chairs have got to go". Please keep up with your blog, I really enjoy reading it. Love, Mom

Wani said...

I'm on board for the M.A.T. group! I feel like our toys take over the house! I'm about to set a one toy limit for the Grandma (only one has a spending problem) for holidays and birthdays. Its ridiculous! And Nate doesn't really play with half of them, but he likes to have them out. Cheryl F. at church says its so he can feel "rich". Ha! She's funny!

Unknown said...

I'm sitting here looking at a shoebox painted yellow on the outside with a taped-in cardboard divider for the two interior rooms painted blue and yellow, a Lincoln Logs cabin, and a two-story lego house...these are all things that have been sitting in our living room for two weeks because the kids can't bear to break them and put them away...so I guess the toy thing doesn't ever get better...until they move out.