by Claire
I love documentaries. I don’t watch much television but when I do it’s usually a documentary. Well, that isn’t entirely true. I do love me some Big Bang Theory! Anyway, I watched The Queen of Versailles this week and loved it! It’s on Netflix. What a story! What a way to find motivation to get rid of even more stuff! Have you seen this show? The excess! The black hole of empty these people are trying to fill! The lack of a conscience! Wow. The whole thing blew me away and had me saying aloud (with no one else in the room but the dogs) “Is this real??” I felt profound sadness for these people in spite of the evidence of greed in their world. It wasn’t all greed as the documentary showed some sides of charity and concern for their employees but the excess! Wow!
And as I fell asleep it made me think about how we can all so easily be little versions of this craziness. I’ve been talking a lot about downsizing in recent weeks and just like my food journey–I feel the change really taking root and taking hold. I’m happy about that. It feels great!
To address a couple of questions about my upcoming move: Yes, I will move car load of things that will lower my moving cost a bit, but the real reason is there are just those items that I prefer to move myself. I never got an answer to my garage sale question from the HOA and haven’t had a chance to follow up on it but I imagine I’ll still have some things I can sell. We move on Easter weekend though so I don’t know if that would be a good or bad weekend for a sale. Maybe I can be ready the week before. I have been doing a little each day and the downstairs is completely packed. We have one cabinet of stuff in the kitchen but otherwise all of the boxes are packed! I’ll tackle the upstairs this weekend although that should be light b/c we underwent major clean out upon my ex’s move out.
I’m still excited about the move and all of the upcoming changes! Thanks for hanging in there with me and the kids along the way!
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
I had the same reaction to that show. We actually paid to see it at a repertory movie house many months ago. Seeing it with a large group of “independent thinking” people (these were not typical suburban movie-goers) added to the experience listening to the gasps and groans from the audience.
The whole experience is so far from my personal experience, it was disorienting. But I’ve met people like the nanny on the cruise ships. Quite often the staff leave babies with siblings or parents and go off for a 9+ month contract in order to make money to send home, to pay for good education for their children. So I have had a chance to chat with women like the nanny who have left their kids behind in order to serve the rich. It has introduced me to a completely different cultural ‘norm.’ I just hope they don’t interpret the excess they see among the passengers as cultural norm for westerners.
Just saw this documentary and, like you, I was astounded by the materialism. I also felt very sorry for the children who, aside from occasional support from the nannies, seemed to be raising themselves. I also could not understand how their house got so dirty (dog poop everywhere)–why didn’t the parents and kids do a little cleaning up from time to time? Shocking and depressing film….
That movie reaffirmed how important it is, as a woman, to have your own set of skills and career opportunities if you end up with a very wealthy partner. . . because wealth can disappear in seconds. The film also made me wonder if other super wealthy families have their money tied up in questionable financial packages like this family does.
I can get a little envious of people who are able to have whatever things they want because they are wealthy – but I am always reminded that wealth does not equal happiness and it certainly can’t buy class.
I also love the big bang theory. Sheldon is a trip. As far as waiting for the HOA to get back to you about a garage sale, why do you need them to respond. What can they do to you in that short amount of time?
Yeah, I saw this documentary and was disgusted with the excess and sad for the nannies who couldn’t care for their own children. My fave part was when the “Queen” asked the car rental person, “Do I have a driver?” and the guy just looked her like, “Are you kidding me?”.
I share your reactions and those of your readers, though it does seem to me that a few points were missed. The Queen was, in fact, a well-educated IBM engineer who discovered she could do better as a model. The children seem remarkably well-balanced considering the crazy wealth they had (and continue to have compared to everyone else)–especially the sister’s child that was adopted into the family. These folks lacked any sense of financial reality as experienced by the rest of us, but they did have their strengths, and there was no lack of compassion. I actually came away thinking that if the wife and her kids became truly broke (as opposed to being down to their last hundred million) she would still make it. BTW, according to news reports, building has resumed on the Miami Versailles–they were unable to sell it during the recession and they have now recovered enough of their money to get back to their ‘dream house.’
You make some very good points. I felt like the film was not some hack story to make these people look bad. I thought the Queen was actually witty and smart. And you are right, the children were not little snots like one would maybe expect. However, one scene, after the money begins to dry up during the financial collapse, Mr. Segel says that his kids will now have to go to college and get jobs. I was a little disappointed to see that someone who has done so much for himself and his family have such little expectations for his children.
Good Luck with the move. Not sure about the Easter weekend garage sale but then again there are people who simply live for a good garage sale to get more stuff.
I moved from a 4 bedroom house to a condo last summer. I was pretty sure I didn’t have too too much ‘stuff’ but boy was I wrong. Sold a lot of things, gave to charity and family. Feels a lot better to have less. Good luck with your sale and move!
Here is an update on that house:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2310067/Construction-FINALLY-restarts-vast-Queen-Versailles-mansion-recession-hit-owners-raise-30m-needed-complete-it.html