Here’s a funny one. We have about 200 matchbox and hotwheels cars from when the girls were little. My husband LOVES those cars (the girls would sort them by color and have them get married and live in little car houses, it was hilarious). They’re all sitting in a plastic bin, doing nothing. I want to turn them into a kinetic sculpture (where you can go up to them and spin their wheels and they’re arranged in a pleasing Fibonacci spiral in rainbow order).
He stubbornly refuses to let me touch those old cars. It’s making me crazy on two levels-one, he hasn’t looked at them in a decade, and two, he doesn’t trust me to make them into something awesome. I still win, though, I’m just going to go out and buy a hundred or so on ebay.
So yes, I regret that he splurged on matchbox cars and won’t let me repurpose them!
With a couple of exceptions, every meal I have ever had at a really expensive restaurant, the type that (today) serves prix fixe meals at >$200@ with matching wine flights. E.g., Alinea (Chicago), Le Bernardin (NYC). It turns out I love fancy food, but not that fancy. I can't really taste the difference in quality vs. slightly less fancy restaurants that cost half as much, and at that price I find the cost interferes with my enjoyment. The exceptions: My first meal at Le Bec Fin (z""l) about 25 years ago, and lunch at The French Laundry on Mother's Day four years ago.
At the time, we had absolutely nothing, and I had no idea my hardcore feminist, ascetic true love was going to develop a major jones for china. The Wedgwood turns out to be exactly not her taste. We have something like 150 fine china dinner plates, none of which was purchased new, we use them all the time, and the 10 Wedgwood Osbornes less than any other. My wife trots them out once in a blue moon to remind me what a mistake it was to talk her into something, and more subtly to remind me that there was a time, long past, when she was willing to let me do that.
The Baccarat turned out to snap if you looked at them too hard. We retired the survivors years ago in favor of some ever-slightly-less-graceful, infinitely more durable knockoffs that cost the same per dozen as the Baccarat per stem. If you set them next to one another you can tell which is which.
We had the same reaction at Le Bernardin–nice, but not really earth-shattering at the price. (Did you see that Per Se in New York just lost two of its four stars from the New York Times?) We did think the expensive meals were worth it at WD-50 in New York (now closed, alas) and at Vetri in Philadelphia.
@dietz199, I have a Whirlpool also, and I think it’s okay, better than most. I still have to use the special Tide cleanser packets from time to time to address the smell. I do like the “Delicates” program, as well as the “Sanitize” one.
Still, I think I’ll go for a nice top loader next time.
MotherofDragons–only 200? If you saw the men who regularly show up in the matchbox/hot wheels aisles at the toy store looking for a particular model you would understand that “kinetic sculpture” is travesty. No way,
@MotherOfDragons Maybe your DH is waiting to play with them again with future grand kids? I have bins and bins of Groovy Girl Dolls and accessories tucked away for my future grand kids (wooden blocks and marble runs too!)
I do not like my front load washer. The biggest issue is that it is on the 2nd floor of our house and shakes the entire house when it spins. I can’t wait for it to break again because I am not repairing it!
My SIL had a wine glass break last week during the spin cycle of her washer. The laundry room is upstairs, and a certain kitchen cabinet is right below it!
Just a reminder that this isn’t the front load washer debate thread–pretty sure we have one of those elsewhere!
And nobody gets to mention a less than valuable “splurge” on the egg thingy either from the new contraption thread.
I am however wondering about the attributes of a 150K pool…must be a beauty.
I’ve successfully headed off new pool installation for 15 years. We had one at our first home and it seems the only benefit was the exercise I got lugging 50 pounds of chlorine from the car to the garage. Although when kids were little it was nice. I Now that kids are gone it isn’t an issue anymore. I would have been living with that maintenance monster forever. Now I say “here’s two bucks–go to the public olympic-sized pool.” Another bullet dodged.
@MotherOfDragons – the girls would sort them by color and have them get married and live in little car houses, it was hilarious – FUNNY!
I love how kids appropriate toys and play with them their own way.
When my son was little the only interest he showed in any of his older sister’s toys was the Barbie Corvette. But he took off all the pink flower stickers she put all over it. And the passengers were all Superheroes and Transformers.
@3scoutsmom, I also saved all of my daughter’s American Dolls, their clothes and beds for future grand daughters. A fortune was spent on it, so we better get another generations’ worth of enjoyment from this particular little “investment.”
Our S played tea party with his stuffed animals. It was adorable and totally his idea.
At preschool, his teacher confided during open house that S would play with dinosaurs in a very unusual way. He’d kill off all the carnivores and omnivores and then play with the herbivores, being very careful about what time frame each lived in. D said it was tough playing dinosaurs with S because he liked things being as historically accurate as possible. No one else in our family could tell you what time frame any of them lived in or eating habits–no idea where S became so detail oriented!
I bought a set of exercise bands to use when away or at second home; I have metal arm and leg weights I normally use. Could not get the hang of the bands; used them maybe once.
We have a Nordictrak clothes hanging system taking up most of the room in our bedroom. I refuse to get rid of it because i used it for years and years. Just have to back into the habit…someday.
Our cat sleeps in the American Girl baby doll wicker bassinet I bought my D about 20 years ago. He just loves it, so I guess it was a good splurge even though my D never played with the doll.
