Week 18: The Thrill of the Chase, Library Edition

I impulsively shared the URL for this seldom-updated blog in our Family's thanksgiving letter (maybe thinking that it would encourage accountability...)  For the record, we're still going strong! No "new" purchases to report. This morning Jonathan & I had a discussion about whether new dishcloths would fall under the acceptable "household disposables" category or not--he actually argued in favor of buying new and I suggested that I could make some with my mom's serger and a sanitized thrift-store towel (though I admit, I've never looked at thrift store towels before, so I don't know what the chances are). We'll let you know the outcome of that gripping drama.

I was thinking today about how good it feels to GET stuff.  Last year I noticed that I could spend an hour or two on Amazon comparing products, then feel very excited to order whatever it was, but by the time I got the box, I often couldn't even remember what was in it.  It's all about the getting, not the having (incidentally, I watched a PBS documentary a few years ago about JFK where they claimed that his womanizing followed the same pattern. He wasn't interested in any one affair, just the chase). Without pausing to do internet research, I think it's safe to say that's how most brains are wired.

NNY is helping us be more satisfied with what we already have, but....sometimes it's still nice to get a big pile of frivolous novel items. And it's still possible: at the library! Finding/checking out books activates the reward center in my brain in a very shopping-like way, but without most of the negative consequences (although it's funny how many books that were exciting to me at the library end up not being read at home. Especially cookbooks :-)