A day in the life or an ordinary American housewife

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Since I wrote last all hell has broken lose in the world as I am sure that all of you are aware of the Paris tragedy, the downing of the Russian airline, then of course there is the Syrian crisis and European countries are overwhelmed with the influx of refugees and we in America don’t want them. I’m on the fence, on the other hand who knows what lurks under those Burkas, a bearded guy with a big, automatic gun. All I know is that I am happy I live in a small town where that hopefully has not been discovered by the refugees, but who knows how long that will take.

Take Oak Ridge, Tennessee for instance, they had chemical weapons plants, nuclear plants and something else, it was known as the “Hidden City” during WWII and wasn’t listed on any map, perhaps we should send around a petition listing Lake Havasu as the latest hidden city. On the other hand, the world might just be on the verge of going totally nuts. For my opinion all countries need to get together and bomb the hell out of ISIS, of course we’d have to get Obama out from under his desk where he is hiding refusing to acknowledge that ISIS indeed exists and call them by their proper name. I firmly believe that since he started in office racial tensions have escalated cleverly orchestrated by that incompetent excuse of a human being, am I being too harsh? Probably not!

I went to Vegas yesterday to go to the Endocrinologist, I had to look on his card to spell it correctly. 

I went to Dillard’s in Las Vegas and was totally overwhelmed, I realized that I’ve turned into a small town girl (old girl), I was looking for jeans, pants, a top or a skirt and left the store empty handed, it is the season for glitter and gross Santa sweaters, I saw one cute dress but on closer inspection realized it had metallic sparkles in it, I touched it and it felt like a Brillo pad, so not my thing.

The only thing I bought were Sunglasses at the Sunglass Hut, I lost a pair, have a dark pair which on a overcast day is too dark, he showed me some and I asked “how much” and glad I did, he said “$225.00 and I asked him if he was nuts.

“ How much do you want to spend?” I told him no more than 80 bucks, he showed me glasses by Michael Kors, they fit and were 80 bucks on sale. Today I looked in a glass plate on top of the China Cabinet, it belongs on the table and what did I find? The glasses I thought I lost, oh boy, but what do you expect when the day starts out by you opening a window without disarming the security system and all hell breaks lose?

We are getting a new dishwasher, bought a Bosch, it was on sale, the guy from the plumbing company showed up and he looks like a Duck Dynasty guy and is about as friendly as a rock, I told him when he moved out the old one I needed to vacuum and mop under there and his curt reply was “it’s up to you”, it was gross under there, the old one had been in place since 2002 and it’s not like you can pull it out to periodically clean under it.

Did I say the day couldn’t get worse? Of course it could! He didn’t have enough light so I hauled in a ladder, climbed it to open the blind in the kitchen ceiling and broke it, so tomorrow my buddy from Colorado River blinds will come and repair it or we have to get a new one, it is fine in winter, but in summer it turns the small kitchen into an oven.

 I changed beds and am washing like a mad woman. I bought a Fitbit HR and so far today in the house I have logged 1.33 miles, yesterday despite driving 5 hours I managed almost 10,000 steps which is my goal, I figure it’s the only way I will drop pounds. The trainer I hired at the club is working me like a dog and I feel like I want to crawl out of there when he gets through with me but of course it would be too humiliating to crawl out of the club, it’s never been done before.

Well as far as news goes, I am tapped out.

Wow it has been a while since I've had something to say.....

Either that or I've been too lazy to write or didn't think I had anything of interest. I went back to pottery for two classes and then gave it up, can't seem to find the time or the will to clean out my studio. I made the effort once and still have buckets I emptied of glazes outside.

Right now I'm busy watching workers jackhammer the pool down to the dement, then it will get new coating, new lights, pop ups and everything else. After fifteen years it was needed. When I look back I wonder what I was thinking putting in a pool this large. Of course fifteen years ago I swam an hour each day, at 74 years of age and needing therapeutic temperatures of 88 degrees of better yet 89, I don't go in as often as I could or should, cold whether water or air conditioning is painful for my joints and restricts my movement.

Today people need to go out and vote, don't know how many think that "my one vote won't make a difference" I beg to differ. I became a citizen in 1963 or 64 and I have always voted. I may have switched parties once because the one I joined became an embarrassing disappointment

Lake Havasu City's 2015 Balloon Festival

What a wonderful weekend, the flying weather was perfect and we had about sixty Balloonists from all over. Here are just a few special ones. When I think back to the first year of the festival I remember that it was still unknown and quite a few fewer balloons. The curiosity was high and so was the locals hope that it will continue. I would say it was a huge success all around.

Fake Boobs, fake butts and fake lips what will the people look like in the future?

Nothing seems real anymore and I wonder how it will look in the future when a 17 year old gets her lips pumped up so she can look poutier, or a mother brags in pre-surgery that her 16 year old saved her money so she can have boob implants and when have we ever paid so much attention to butts?

I know in some cultures especially women a big butt is the norm, but why have butt implants or buy panties with fake butt in them. I can see the men of the future salivating at a gorgeous woman, big boobs, pouty lips and a bit butt. He finally gets her in the sack and wow, the gorgeous girl he admired is now naked before him and there is nothing real, nothing from her eyelashes and tattooed eyebrows to her butt and let's not forget you can have your knees lifted as well so they look young and fresh.

I was a young girl once and yes, it was a looooong time ago, but I remember never paying attention to my naked body, were my boobs big enough, my butt round enough and my lips pouty enough?

I want and am aging naturally, yes I have wrinkles and things are no longer as firm as when I was thirty, fifty, sixty, but when I get cremated you won't smell plastic burning, ashes to ashes and dust to dust, that will be me. I want to be remembered in stories my children and grandchildren remember, flattering or not. I want to be remembered for the 45 or so years I spent volunteering in the worst areas where I saw things I never want to see again. I do not want to be remembered for the plastic smell rising through the chimney.

This was my beginning.

My Life...Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow!: Christmas how it used to be way back in the olden days.

My Life...Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow!: Christmas how it used to be way back in the olden days.

Christmas how it used to be way back in the olden days.

I don't remember when I posted anything the last time, nor do I remember why I have not. I guess at a certain age life just slips through your fingers without explanation. I guess at Christmas I turn sentimental and remember my childhood in Germany when St. Nickolas came on December 6. and you got a few things like nuts if you were good or you'd get a switch if you were naughty all year long. I don't think that I ever got the switch nor coal in my shoe. It was a time of excitement especially since it was in the middle of World War II and before the Americans came to settle things.

The tree was live, there were candles on it and it was decorated  on the 24th by my parents and later they and my sister who was three years older than I. I had to wait in the parent's bedroom for the Christkind to come. There was never an abundance of presents and we didn't miss anything, it was normal and good. It was a time for celebrating the birth of Christ, it was a time to get cookies and everyone was happy.

 

When my daughters were little we were in the United States where they were born. We also celebrated on the 24th, that's when presents were opened. I would send them for a walk and when they came back Santa Claus had come and when they asked "where were you" I'd answer "I had to go to the bathroom". I don't know how many years that went on before I was busted. By that time I was divorced and often worked more than one job and there weren't that many presents, but they appeared happy. One year my sister brought a big bag of presents, it made me sad because I could not afford such abundance, when it came to  opening the presents my youngest daughter ripped through hers and then said "is that all there is?" It was the year they had gotten the most.

 

When they were even smaller, I gave them each a dollar and told them they could buy something for me. I don't remember, but when it came time to open gifts, the middle daughter gave me a shining glass, it shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow and was so cool. She said in her sweet voice "Mooom, it cost eighty-eight cents", what a sweet moment.

 

I think of the children and parents of today, who have to provide X-boxes and all manner of electronic gadgets, no one talks to each other anymore, they text even if you sit at the same table with them, the cellphone is always in their possession.

 

When and why has the simple celebration of the birth of Christ been replaced with glitz and glamor and an obscene abundance, when will greed take a break?

 

This Christmas we must remember our men and woman in the Armed Forces who put their life on the line every day. We also must remember our police and firemen and women who especially these days face hostility and peril every day. How many were killed for no reason and how many families and children face Christmas without their loved ones? The world must become better and we should all do our part.

Old Pottery Pieces

 

 

 

We have lived in many places in the United States, many of them my favorites like New Mexico and Colorado. However, it was in East Tennessee at the Art and Craft Center in Norris, TN that I found my true calling. When I first observed what most potters made I decided that is not me...bowls, mugs and lots of useful things. I didn't figure they'd need someone else making these items so I switched to animals and Nativity sets. I was very successful there, sold out of three galleries and had some fun.

In the photo above you will see some terracotta-fired figures for the Nativity, some unfired pieces and one that was glazed with color. If you notice, the shepherd is also looking cross-eyed. I took this set to a gallery in Townsend, which is no longer there. I sold out of there with some success.

The gallery was in an old house and I was told to put the figures in the kitchen. Townsend is at the mouth of the Smoky Mountain National Park, separated by a valley from Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg. It was approximately one and a half hours away from where I lived. I received a call the next day to come pick up the set because "Mary looked mean."  I drove back and picked up the set and ranted at the owner about the trials Mary and Joseph had trying to find a place to give birth to Jesus and told her if she had been Mary in those times she would not have looked happy either. I left with my head held high.

That same day I placed it in the gallery at the Norris Co-op and it sold right away. The day after that the Townsend gallery owner called me to ask me to bring the set back, she had a buyer. Too bad I told her, the set was sold and advised her I'd never bring her another one.

I have lots of stories like that to tell, but for the moment this is enough, another time I'll post more pieces if I can find the photos, I've never been a good record keeper and certainly never a fan of making symmetrical pieces, but each artist has to do what he or she fells like doing and most of us don't like anyone telling us how to do it or what to make