It's Never Too Late to Do a Smart Thing

We finally did it!  After five years, we knew we had to do it or there could have been the remote possibility that we would never leave town again.  A one-hour road trip to Farmville, N.C., earlier this month did us in.   We are not sure who is happier: my son or us.  Our daughter is too young to care, but with luck, our new purchase should benefit her, too.  What did we do?  We finally embraced technology and purchased a portable DVD player to take on our road trip to Topsail Beach last week.


Look at him.  Pure Bliss. 


I’m not sure why we were two of the last parents in America in our socio-economic class to take this step that many parents took before us.  We certainly didn’t have a social or political statement to make about not having a DVD player.  We like TV, and we certainly allow TV watching in our house — if not too much.  Our friends have told us through the years that they don’t know how we’ve lasted so long without a DVD player in the car for trips.  Well, we survived, but I can’t say that the car ride was always a pleasant one.  We took many a trip and muttered these very words in the car: “We’ve got to get a DVD player. I can’t stand it.” 

Our son has never been a good car traveler — even around town.  When he was younger, he would never sleep and would just cry.  When he was a toddler, he played with toys for about five minutes, then would fuss and cry.  When he started talking, he would ask us “How much longer?” or “Are we there yet?” every two minutes.  We would tell him “an hour.”  He would yell and scream, and not be pleased with our response. “I can’t stand it.  I don’t like an hour.”  Now, when he’s bored, he just announces that he has go to the bathroom, even if he went at our lunch stop twenty minutes earlier.

Why the holdout? Perhaps we can blame busy schedules and other budget priorities. We are fortunate that most of our immediate family lives right here in the Triangle, so our car trips were infrequent and on the shorter side.  Perhaps the wrath of a bored 5-year-old’s mouth in the car was enough to make us finally search “Best Buy” for a good buy on a DVD player for the road after our last trip.


We didn’t buy a new one, but rather a refurbished one.  It’s certainly new to us! It cost us a little less, too.  We’re trying to teach our child that money does not grow on trees and that we have to work for what we buy.  I’m not sure if he is totally getting the concept yet, but he loves to eat baked potatoes at Bear Rock Café.  We ate lunch there before our beach trip. I told him that the new car DVD player is the equivalent of buying 25 baked potatoes for lunch.  He seemed a little in awe. 

When we left for the beach last week, we happily packed “A Bug's Life", “Cars,” and “Wiggles” in the car with us, and as parents, we hoped for some peace and quiet on the way to the beach and back.  It was a 2 1/2 hour car ride.


We got our quiet and she even napped. 




The funny thing is that now as my husband and I embrace this DVD technology for our car trips, many of our friends who have had played movies in their car for years are now ditching the DVD players for iPads and Smartphones.  We are still behind on our technology purchases.   We admit that we are slow, but as quickly as technology advances and changes, I think we will always be behind.  I’m okay with that!  But, I've learned it's never too late to do a SMART thing.

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I want to thank everyone who entered recipes last week during my blogging vacation.  These are great recipes.  In case you missed them, we showcased:
Debbie's Summer Squash and Zucchini Vegetable Medley.  We actually cooked Debbie's dish while we were at Topsail Beach.  It was fantastic.


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Today is the last day (June 27) to enter the Personalized Large Utility Tote Giveaway.  Thank you to Tricia Edmundsom with Thirty-One Gifts for sponsoring this great giveaway.   If you are selected as the winner, be thinking about your pattern and personalization.  Tricia will need to close out her orders by the end of the month.




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