do you want to look like a scumbag?

dear blog,

i've never been one to really care what other people think about/of me. i'm not a bad person and i try to be helpful to people when i can. but in the same breath, i don't do things that are against "me" or my beliefs just to make someone like me. i'm not always the most popular person in the room because of it but at the end of the day - i can look in the mirror when i'm brushing my teeth and i can sleep at night (if i could sleep, i'd be sleeping).

my hubby makes stuff. he brings wood home and makes things. sometimes it's cool stuff - like our headboard that is made out of a church door or the adirondack chairs he makes out of recycled wood. sometimes, eh..not so much. of course i tell him if i like it or not..he always calls me a pain in the ass but he knows i'll tell him the truth. recently, he made this little corner fence for the corner of our property. like a little 2 ft long picket fence. he enjoyed making it and him and our littlest girl painted it. they had a really good time...especially when little pup made daddy where a frilly, ruffly apron to paint (i had little one wear her apron so she wouldn't get paint on her clothes). if i had to choose between keeping the fence up or taking it down....i'd probably take it down. i'm not a fan of it. but i know he liked making it and seeing him and #4 paint it was priceless. so there that little handmade corner picket fence sits.

i remember being at sears one day looking at clothes. at the time #4 was in between being in the little girl clothes and big-little girl clothes. i'm meandering around and i hear this little girl ask her mom if she can have this dress. mom says "no!! do you want to look like a scum bag?!" i couldn't see the little girl, but i can only assume she put the dress down because i didn't hear either one of them again. i actually have a sister in law who has that same attitude. it's sad to me that she's raising my nieces and nephew to think you're a better person if you wear nice clothes and have expensive toys (like the 4 year old having a $169 nintendo DS).

now, i know clothes and little picket fences aren't the same thing but i'm thinking....whose to say what is scum baggy? am i scum bag because hubby put his homemade picket fence on the corner? apparently in some circles i am. apparently, because i didn't spend $200 for handmade, one of a kind corner picket fence...i am less than_____.

sitting here, on break at school, i can tell you that besides me having a bad attitude and doing things because i want to and not caring what other people think - i am less scum bag than that lady is for not letting her little girl buy the dress she wanted. i made my hubby and my little girl happy because i smiled and told them their fence looked awesome! i am happy because they are happy.