Lately, I’ve struggled to come up with things to say on Cribsheet. (What, you think this is easy? Just ask Ann Z…. )
Should I link to that NYT piece on home births in tiny New York apartments? (Reminder: tell your neighbors in advance so they don’t start worrying when they hear muffled moans and screams through the walls) Or that piece about how the older you get, the harder it is to keep off the love handles? (Like Michelle Slatalla, I too have given up the daily glass of wine at dinner for calorific reasons. Like her, I have embarked on a serious exercise regimen, including training for a 25k race. And like her, I have lost the grand total of one pound. Unlike her, I do not wear Spanx.)
What about that new web site my co-worker Tom heard about at an event last night? Called Tumblon, it helps you track your child’s growth and development.
All great topics…so why is nothing grabbing me?
Driving in this morning, listening to job loss numbers on MPR, I finally figured it out: I am just obsessed with the economy.
Each day, I listen in rapt attention as talking heads pontificate on how bad things are. Is it as bad as 2001? Or the early 80’s? Or, gasp, the Great Depression? Whose job is going to be cut next? How’s all this going to affect my family?
We’ve talked about this at home. My husband Chris has done an audit of our spending and decided that with a little discipline and not too much pain, we can slash our food bill way down. He’s planning the week’s meals in advance now and shopping more at Cub, instead of running out to Lund’s at the last minute. I stack less on my lunch tray at the cafeteria these days. We’re not eating out as often; the weekly jaunts with the kids to D’Amico’s are now a distant memory.
Like everyone else, our retirement savings got bashed. Like everyone else, the value of our house plunged. So far, our household income remains the same. But you can’t help but think, what if?
We even went on a Staycation (stayed for a Staycation?). Last weekend, for my birthday, my mother-in-law (aka The Saint), took the girls so my husband and could celebrate. But instead of driving or flying somewhere, we stayed home and just had a nice time in town.
We watched a one-woman show at the Lab Theater in the warehouse district, Rene Foss’ “Around the World in a Bad Mood” (it was fine, but I think you have to be a flight attendant to really identify. Instead of, say, hapless passengers.) We went to the Nagisa Oshima film fest at the Walker (b/w, violent, mystifying, come to think of it, perfectly appropriate recession viewing). We swam and worked out at the Y. And we went shopping at Rosedale Mall for the first time. (It was packed. Don’t these people know there’s a recession going on?)
Okay, now I’ve got that out of my system, I can go back to blogging about babies. What’s that new web site again?
Cribsheeters, are you feeling the effects of the economy? What are you cutting back on?
