The Resolution Keeper

by Marinka on January 7, 2011

It’s been almost a week and so far, I’m sticking to my resolution not to buy unnecessary stuff for me and the kids.

There was a rough patch there when I thought I’d have to replace my slippers, but fortunately, the crisis was averted.

I had a talk with the kids about not spending money on stuff we don’t need, and they sort of rolled their eyes, because THEIR LIVES ARE HARD ENOUGH, but agreed, except two days later Young Ladrinka asked for a water bed and a vending machine for his room.  Because, he explained, he gets hungry and the kitchen is too far away.  This would be a good time to remind gentle reader that we live in a NYC apartment and not Versailles, so the kitchen is within walking distance.

So when I explained through a Look of Death to Young Ladrinka that he would be getting neither a water bed nor a vending machine, nor a vending machine that dispenses water beds for that matter, he started negotiating for a special pillow, As Seen on TV!

Apparently, his pillow is “hard as brick,” which incidentally is how non-special pillows are described on TV, and it’s impossible for him to get a good night’s rest because unlike the special Sobakawa Cloud pillow which comes with a promise that it Stays Cool, his pillow becomes Hot as Hell (I’m paraphrasing).

Marinka:  You are not getting that pillow.

Young Ladrinka: So you’re saying that you don’t want me to sleep well.

Marinka:  You sleep fine.

Young Ladrinka:  My pillow is hard as a brick.

Marinka:  We all have the same pillows.

Young Ladrinka: So because you had brick pillows in the old days, it doesn’t mean that everyone else has to suffer.

I don’t understand why he’s not the Sobakawa Cloud pillow national spokesladrinka.

One year ago ...

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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

MommyTime
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

The trick, of course, is defining “unnecessary.” It’s pretty obvious that water beds and vending machines are unnecessary (unless one lives in the desert or on a pirate ship and needs the former also to serve as the latter, vending potable water). My problem would be with stuff like coffee and a bagel on the way to work. Is this “necessary”? Well, not having eaten breakfast at home, my stomach says yes. My wallet might argue that I should have had the foresight to get up 15 minutes earlier and eat at home for half the price, and so I should go hungry to teach myself a lesson. At which point in the existential argument between two non-verbal things, my head might explode.

Conclusion: morning coffee must be purchased to avoid severe head trauma. Hence, it is necessary.

You’re welcome.

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hokgardner
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 12:47 pm

There must be something in the air, because all of my kids have suddenly deemed their pillows “too hard.” Given that I love flat, hard pillows, they aren’t getting much sympathy for me.

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reiven January 7, 2011 at 1:21 pm

I wonder what kind of toxins those air beads release? You’ve probably just saved Ladrinka from permanent brain and lung damage! He should thank you and worship the ground you walk on.

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CSY January 7, 2011 at 1:41 pm

;c)

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MarathonMom January 7, 2011 at 2:01 pm

Tell him that dust mites, which accumulate in all pillows, are highly allergic to Sobakawa and it gives them chronic debilitating diarrhea!

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Nancy Davis Kho
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm

There is some ad on Nik or Disney about a pancake popper pan (I may have the name wrong, but I refuse to Google it) that gets my daughter salivating every time she sees it. “I want one of those! We need one!” I point to the old 1956 Wedgewood stove complete with griddle to say, “I make you delicious pancakes on this every frickin’ weekend. We do not need to buy a special pan just because it has its own ad.” And she just looks at me like I am old and stupid.

Tell him we had to walk uphill for OUR brick pillows, two miles in the snow!

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the mama bird diaries
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 4:26 pm

But that pillow is so hard! Hasn’t he suffered enough after not getting his x box thinga majiggy.

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Kimberly January 7, 2011 at 4:35 pm

In his defense, those pillows are pretty sweet.

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sdl January 7, 2011 at 5:47 pm

Maybe he’s being ingenious and wearing you down–it’ll be 7 outlandish requests and then number 8 will sound incredibly reasonable and you’ll buy it. Later you will realize it was number 8 he wanted all along. That’s my theory!

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annie January 7, 2011 at 6:05 pm

But don’t you want to be able to put eggs until your pillow and sleep soundly with the knowledge that they won’t be broken the morning? Does it come with a poacher?

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Issa
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 6:52 pm

People still make water beds?

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tracey January 7, 2011 at 7:07 pm

Just tell him to be glad he’s even GOT a pillow. Use the “old country” phrase if you have to. OR OR! TAKE AWAY H IS BRICK PILLOW. Do it. And then see how he cries for that brick to return. Ha hahahahahaha. I am evil tonight.

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GrandeMocha
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 8:20 pm

Tell him to spend HIS money to get it. My son thinks hard & long & careful before he spends HIS money.

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Peajaye
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 8:34 pm

Did you know if you put a pillow in the warm dryer for about 10 minutes, it kills the dust mites and fluffs it up? (just don’t take it out of its case.)

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Nadine January 7, 2011 at 9:58 pm

Wouldn’t the vending machine make you money?

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alexandra
Twitter:
January 7, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Oh , the level of suffering in your household. No Xbox, sleeping on bricks, no water bed.

He’d be better off in Juvie Hall.

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dusty earth mother January 8, 2011 at 2:41 pm

“The old days”, huh? That little term ought to be enough to make him sleep on the rock pillow until he leaves for college.

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Kate Lewis
Twitter:
January 8, 2011 at 6:24 pm

I wouldn’t mind a vending machine in MY room, now that you’ve brought it up.

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shafeena
Twitter:
January 9, 2011 at 4:37 am

A whole new meaning to my pillow fights with my son… makes me glad he cant talk yet 😀

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Alexandria
Twitter:
January 10, 2011 at 4:19 pm

a water bed & a vending machine? how fantastically random 🙂

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