I just got waitlisted. By Pinterest. I didn't get waitlisted by Vanderbilt University when I was applying for colleges, but I sure did just get wait-listed by a virtual pinboard that everyone and their mother keeps talking about. The kicker is, a friend of mine sent me an invite at least two months ago. Reasoning that I already had plenty of distractions in my life, I never accepted it. And now I'm on the waitlist.
Whereas most waitlists serve the very practical function of making room for you (at a restaurant table, in the dorm at your coveted college), I suspect this particular waitlist is merely an ingenious marketing tool designed to whip the waitlistee into a clock-watching frenzy as she anxiously awaits her invitation to create her own personal board. Worked like a charm on me.
After recovering from the surprise of being notified by Ben and The Pinterest Team of my status, I went back to the homepage and started surfing through the featured pins. In mere seconds, I was hooked. I culled the selection down to just those pins focused on kids and was immediately transported to a page of pictures featuring everything from a cute DIY glitter headband that my daughter would love (but that I'm confident I couldn't DIMyself since I'm more than a little deficient when it comes to crafting) to gorgeously styled bento boxes featuring sandwiches tricked out like fluffy little sheep. (p.s. Those had to be done by a professional food stylist for some parenting magazine. Any real mom would know that if you have the time it takes to turn turkey and baby carrots into a barnyard tableau it would be much better spent on something with a richer ROI. Like showering.)
From there, it took two clicks for me to land on etsy and spend several minutes debating the purchase of a fabulously clever dress to commemorate my younger daughter's first birthday. Which is in July.
Since a quick tally of our budget board reflected a few, um, overages this month, I knew better than to fetch my AmEx. Stepping away from my laptop, I took a deep breath and assessed what had just happened in those 10 minutes (honestly, it happened that fast.)
First, I was right two months ago. I don't need any more diversions. In the time I wasted from my position on the waitlist, I could have folded the towels that are in the dryer, started a load of brights in the washer and scrubbed the plastic Hello Kitty sandwich box and thermos (oh, how I loathe non-dishwasher friendly items) that are still sitting in the sink from yesterday's lunch.
More importantly, have I already said that the budget board revealed that I hadn't exactly adhered to the budget this month? And have I ever mentioned that our tiny little bungalow is already stuffed to capacity with, well, stuff? Stuff falls into the category with distractions as something I definitely don't need more of. We can neither afford nor accommodate it within the four walls of our home.
We have stuff galore - clothing, toys, kitchen gadgets, DVDs, stuff, stuffity, stuff, stuff, stuff! We don't need one single thing in this world that money can buy. And Pinterest, for me, bears the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's a temptation to spend money we don't have on stuff we don't need.
So thank you Ben and The Pinterest Team for waitlisting me. My husband thanks you too.
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