And there's no doubt; our attractions will drive kids our of their minds!

Sep 03, 2023 06:42

A year ago right now we were in the Jeep driving up Lookout Mountain in Colorado in total darkness. We did not take the main road for tourist traffic going up the mountain. Instead I followed the GPS that took us through a winding neighborhood built on the side of the thing. It was crazy and interesting thinking people lived on there. With their houses and yards sort of etched into the mountain face. It was pitch black as we were ascending and we were shocked around one corner to come face to face with several huge elk that were standing in the road.

Great memories. Colorado and the Rockies were breathtaking and we barely even crossed the edge of them.

Yesterday was the annual Fall Fest we've been going to by my parents and sister's house for twenty years. We missed it last year because of the wedding in Colorado. It was hot as hell in the sun yesterday and the amount of people at this thing was just insufferable. Coupled with the fact absolutely no one pays attention to anything other than themselves and their own little bubbles. Something other people pointed out long before I said a word about it.

There were a few booths selling things that clearly all the busybody suburban white women had riled each other up for the preceding 364 days, because two in particular had massive lines. One was a booth selling these door hanger decorations for all the holidays. They were cute enough, and my mom even has a few. But, we'd never seen mobs at the booth like we did yesterday.

The other was this booth of wood decorations, mainly for Christmas but also other holidays. Every year the line to this booth is literally 50 to 100 people long. And you see all these white bitches running from the place with these giant wood Grinches and Draculas and what not. Some of their husbands are loaded down with these things. They're cute, but they're not any different from other wooden yard decorations around the fest. Yes, this is the booth the mob has decided for several years is the "trendy" one and therefore they all descend upon it like locusts.

My great disappointment came with this welder guy whom I had purchased a yard decoration from 4 or 5 years ago. This very cool, steel angler fish on a pole. A small thing, maybe 10" long. He has all kinds of metal wind spinners and Halloween ghosts and things. All welded out of pieces of steel. But, my jaw dropped when I saw, behind his chair at the corner of the booth, this giant, four foot plus long skeleton of a dinosaur. Actually, as I write right now I have the very same skeleton made out of wood sitting on a bookshelf next to me. It's much smaller of course. These things were popular when I was a kid. They are just wooden cutouts of bones you assemble together to make a dinosaur skeleton. And he had this large, metal one of a velociraptor.

I immediately asked the gentleman what he was selling it for, and he said with the amount of time and work he put into it he'd have to ask for "two fifty". ????????

Two hundred fifty dollars?

$250?!!!?

I don't repeat it over and over because I think what he was asking was outrageous. I was shocked and continue to be by how cheap it would have been to purchase this thing. There is no way you could find something like that anywhere, in my opinion, for less than $500 or likely more.

WHY WHY WHY did I not just purchase the thing right then and there??

I didn't. I have since spent hours regretting it.

We just got paid, we have the money. The issue is that we are really starting to feel the pinch of Bidenflation. We aren't struggling. All our bills are paid and extra. The thing is, we want to do more, but we are realizing we can't because the cost of everything is just so high. And I am sure we could finally sit down and make a budget and squeeze more out of our money, but on some level we've felt defeated lately because everything from gasoline to green beans at the store seems to have doubled in price.

As I looked at the cool, gray steel of that dinosaur and thought how awesome it would look next to the pathway to the front door, I just told myself we couldn't do it. I've been wanting to somehow up the extra principal we pay to the mortgage every month to $3000. I've been fuming mad that we can't seem to be able to do so. Mind you, I rarely ever pat us on the back for doing TWO thousand extra to the principal every month. It's not like we aren't going above and beyond. And yet, I want more... I want us to reach our goal faster.

I just felt like dropping $250 on that thing was the wrong decision. Which probably has to do with about $400 on Amazon and Oriental Trading money I just spent. Some on necessities. The rest on more stupid rubber ducks to go ducking in the Jeep. If I hadn't done that the second our paychecks dropped last week I probably could have convinced myself to buy the dinosaur. But, I didn't.

I've spent hours now wishing I could have the thing, which is just so silly. It's not like I can do anything with it other than look at it. It's not like the yard is even ready yet for us to be investing in "yard art". I was telling myself I'd never again see something like it in my lifetime. But, I checked Etsy and there are a couple guys out there who do the same thing. So, I suppose in the future it could happen.

Desire is a funny thing. I suppose my sense of want was no different than those mobs waiting in those huge lines so they could all buy the same Christmas Grinches.

The Sparrow said we could go back and get the thing, but it just doesn't feel right. Even as we are about to go waste MORE money today having some drinks with his brother and Gayle. I guess when money is wasted in smaller amounts it feels like less of a loss than when it's one large amount dropped on something.

I feel like in another twenty years I am still going to be thinking about that damn sculpture.

society, observation, debt

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