Beauty

[just bee]

That reminds me.  What are we calling May?

[just bee]

I certainly hope kabuki is making a comeback.  Just tried out that new BB cream.

I look like I have consumption.

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@KaySD wrote:

@just bee

Yeah, it's something, all right. 

Poverty-consciousness? The feeling that I must grab this bargain (like CC cream when I already have enough for a year) because such a good deal might never, ever come along again and next year it might be a dollar more.

Because I'm not allowed to have it if it's not a bargain? So I can spendsix bucks for 2K Q-tips but I'm not allowed to buy 200 for two bucks once a year? Oy. 

And qvc taps into this feeling very skillfully with their twofers and fourfers and all that. I mena, it's okay to buy one for myself if I'm buying one for somebody else, right? 

The funny joke is that most of the gratification or entertainment value is in the buying, not so much the having or using. So as long as that's true: (1) I'll probably keep doing it, and (2)  in a weird way, I'm getting my money's worth even if I toss out later whatever it was I bought.

My little wheel is whirling around.

---

@KaySD

And this is the weird part.  We know all this but we keep doing it.

But there's something that keeps coming up if you follow all the minimalist writings.  I forget where I saw it first: Maybe it was Marie Kondo who discussed the poverty mentality.

Now there's a backlash: There are articles critical of the "declutter movement," suggesting it's just more "white privilege."  "Certain people" can afford to toss their possessions -- how nice for them.

Tossing a bottle of Wen is now political.  Well, maybe it's political that someone might even buy a bottle of Wen.  We live in interesting times.

But I always imagine the person writing these articles is surrounded by empty designer coffee cups.  You don't have to drink the six-dollar coffee -- you just have to be seen with one of their cups.

Anyway, the backlash stems from the idea that immigrants and refugees don't have the luxury of tossing unwanted items.  If I recall, my Italian grandparents came here because they had nothing in Italy.  Coming to America meant they would have something, including "disposable income" and the freedom to spend it as they pleased.  But I digress.

I found this quote:

“If our life is made from the objects we collect over time, then surely our very sense of who we are is dependent upon the things we carry.”

Now this has always resonated with me because I know I'm attached to my stuff.  Every item has sentimental value, meaning, memories.  I wasn't sure if this stemmed from my mother's Italy immigrant family or not.  I felt that it was more of a generational thing.  My mother, father and stepfather -- and their parents -- lived through the Great Depression.

But there was something else.  And I don't know if it's gender-based.  I've posted about it before: It's the bag lady syndrome.  I used to have drinks with successful women and the conversation always ended up in the same place.  These women were always anxious about losing everything and ending up living in a cardboard box.

I just think it's odd that when we're ready to toss something we freeze and ask ourselves: "Do I need this?"  But clearly we don't ask that question when we're buying it. 

---

My husband insists it goes back even farther than that, to the hunter-gatherer phase of human development.  When the male went out and killed the meal and brought it back to the female in the cave.  Women are hard-wired to "feather the nest", so to speak.  Make the most of the trinkets found and returned to the gathering place.  Hence, we are always on the lookout for new bright and shiny objects with which to brighten our caves.  I'm not sure the younger generations have this so much anymore since the women all work outside the home now alongside the men.  Perhaps they just have it in a different way.  Or it just may be that we are influenced by our immigrant roots of a certain time period which no longer exists.

I know many will pitch a fit at this because they look at it as sexist.  May be. My opinion is that the genders are equal, not the same.

---

@geezerette

Oh, don't get me started.  Women now aren't only feathering the nest, they're paying for the ______ thing.

I grew up during "the movement" and I have opinions about how it has affected the culture.  Let's just say that women claimed they were unhappy, chained to their kitchen appliances in the 1950s, and felt they would be happy out there chained to a career.

All I know is that I'm surrounded by an awful lot of ______ off women.  Talk about turning into your parents.  I think women are turning into their fathers, worried and angry about the responsibility of carrying the load, and men are turning into their mothers, wringing their hands and wondering about personal fulfillment.  Either way, no one's very happy.

I feel sorry for the men who were raised by single mothers.  If we as females feel that there is something wrong with men, why don't we just admit that we created the problem?

I thought I'd state an opinion before it becomes illegal.

---

@just bee

At the risk of getting deleted and banned completely, I'll just say this:

We have observed the same attitudes but have been out of the mainstream for so long we wrote it off to being a couple of old fuddy-duddies.  Personally, I think women blew the best thing they had going.  But "The grass is always greener...", "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it", "You don't miss it until it's gone"...and on and on.

Can of worms closed.  Let the stoning begin...

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

"Appreciative April" is coming to a close.  And what do I appreciate?

Why, all of YOU who come here and share your lives with us!

Thank you...😘🙃

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@geezerette

Backatcha!

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Oh my!  Another couple of cookies and our big lug will rival this one!  Adorable...and then they grow up...😳

[geezerette]

---

@just bee wrote:

That reminds me.  What are we calling May?

---

@just bee

"Meaningful May", was it?

[geezerette]

---

@just bee wrote:

I certainly hope kabuki is making a comeback.  Just tried out that new BB cream.

I look like I have consumption.

@just bee

So, does that mean it's a 'yes' or a 'no'?

[just bee]

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

That reminds me.  What are we calling May?

---

@just bee

"Meaningful May", was it?

---

Ah, now there's an idea.  What do people lack in life these days?

We had suggestions for Minimal May and Motivated/Motivation/Motivational May.

And now Meaningful May.

And just one day to decide!

[just bee]

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@KaySD wrote:

@just bee

Yeah, it's something, all right. 

Poverty-consciousness? The feeling that I must grab this bargain (like CC cream when I already have enough for a year) because such a good deal might never, ever come along again and next year it might be a dollar more.

Because I'm not allowed to have it if it's not a bargain? So I can spendsix bucks for 2K Q-tips but I'm not allowed to buy 200 for two bucks once a year? Oy. 

And qvc taps into this feeling very skillfully with their twofers and fourfers and all that. I mena, it's okay to buy one for myself if I'm buying one for somebody else, right? 

The funny joke is that most of the gratification or entertainment value is in the buying, not so much the having or using. So as long as that's true: (1) I'll probably keep doing it, and (2)  in a weird way, I'm getting my money's worth even if I toss out later whatever it was I bought.

My little wheel is whirling around.

---

@KaySD

And this is the weird part.  We know all this but we keep doing it.

But there's something that keeps coming up if you follow all the minimalist writings.  I forget where I saw it first: Maybe it was Marie Kondo who discussed the poverty mentality.

Now there's a backlash: There are articles critical of the "declutter movement," suggesting it's just more "white privilege."  "Certain people" can afford to toss their possessions -- how nice for them.

Tossing a bottle of Wen is now political.  Well, maybe it's political that someone might even buy a bottle of Wen.  We live in interesting times.

But I always imagine the person writing these articles is surrounded by empty designer coffee cups.  You don't have to drink the six-dollar coffee -- you just have to be seen with one of their cups.

Anyway, the backlash stems from the idea that immigrants and refugees don't have the luxury of tossing unwanted items.  If I recall, my Italian grandparents came here because they had nothing in Italy.  Coming to America meant they would have something, including "disposable income" and the freedom to spend it as they pleased.  But I digress.

I found this quote:

“If our life is made from the objects we collect over time, then surely our very sense of who we are is dependent upon the things we carry.”

Now this has always resonated with me because I know I'm attached to my stuff.  Every item has sentimental value, meaning, memories.  I wasn't sure if this stemmed from my mother's Italy immigrant family or not.  I felt that it was more of a generational thing.  My mother, father and stepfather -- and their parents -- lived through the Great Depression.

But there was something else.  And I don't know if it's gender-based.  I've posted about it before: It's the bag lady syndrome.  I used to have drinks with successful women and the conversation always ended up in the same place.  These women were always anxious about losing everything and ending up living in a cardboard box.

I just think it's odd that when we're ready to toss something we freeze and ask ourselves: "Do I need this?"  But clearly we don't ask that question when we're buying it. 

---

My husband insists it goes back even farther than that, to the hunter-gatherer phase of human development.  When the male went out and killed the meal and brought it back to the female in the cave.  Women are hard-wired to "feather the nest", so to speak.  Make the most of the trinkets found and returned to the gathering place.  Hence, we are always on the lookout for new bright and shiny objects with which to brighten our caves.  I'm not sure the younger generations have this so much anymore since the women all work outside the home now alongside the men.  Perhaps they just have it in a different way.  Or it just may be that we are influenced by our immigrant roots of a certain time period which no longer exists.

I know many will pitch a fit at this because they look at it as sexist.  May be. My opinion is that the genders are equal, not the same.

---

@geezerette

Oh, don't get me started.  Women now aren't only feathering the nest, they're paying for the ______ thing.

I grew up during "the movement" and I have opinions about how it has affected the culture.  Let's just say that women claimed they were unhappy, chained to their kitchen appliances in the 1950s, and felt they would be happy out there chained to a career.

All I know is that I'm surrounded by an awful lot of ______ off women.  Talk about turning into your parents.  I think women are turning into their fathers, worried and angry about the responsibility of carrying the load, and men are turning into their mothers, wringing their hands and wondering about personal fulfillment.  Either way, no one's very happy.

I feel sorry for the men who were raised by single mothers.  If we as females feel that there is something wrong with men, why don't we just admit that we created the problem?

I thought I'd state an opinion before it becomes illegal.

---

@just bee

At the risk of getting deleted and banned completely, I'll just say this:

We have observed the same attitudes but have been out of the mainstream for so long we wrote it off to being a couple of old fuddy-duddies.  Personally, I think women blew the best thing they had going.  But "The grass is always greener...", "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it", "You don't miss it until it's gone"...and on and on.

Can of worms closed.  Let the stoning begin...

---

Clearly, you didn't get the memo.  Haven't you heard?  Women can have it all. 

I tried it and now I want to know where I can return it.

[just bee]

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

I certainly hope kabuki is making a comeback.  Just tried out that new BB cream.

I look like I have consumption.

@just bee

So, does that mean it's a 'yes' or a 'no'?

---

Speaking of returning things...

I was up at 2 AM with a headlamp, walking down the street to the mailbox to get this BB cream out of the cold and into the house.

I'm a patient soul.  I will wait before I decide it's c__p.  It smells good.  My skin is soft as velvet.  But it seems to be sucking every drop of moisture out of my face.  And I look like Casper.

Gotta give it a chance before I kick myself in the pants.

Oh, that rhymes.

[geezerette]

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@KaySD wrote:

@just bee

Yeah, it's something, all right. 

Poverty-consciousness? The feeling that I must grab this bargain (like CC cream when I already have enough for a year) because such a good deal might never, ever come along again and next year it might be a dollar more.

Because I'm not allowed to have it if it's not a bargain? So I can spendsix bucks for 2K Q-tips but I'm not allowed to buy 200 for two bucks once a year? Oy. 

And qvc taps into this feeling very skillfully with their twofers and fourfers and all that. I mena, it's okay to buy one for myself if I'm buying one for somebody else, right? 

The funny joke is that most of the gratification or entertainment value is in the buying, not so much the having or using. So as long as that's true: (1) I'll probably keep doing it, and (2)  in a weird way, I'm getting my money's worth even if I toss out later whatever it was I bought.

My little wheel is whirling around.

---

@KaySD

And this is the weird part.  We know all this but we keep doing it.

But there's something that keeps coming up if you follow all the minimalist writings.  I forget where I saw it first: Maybe it was Marie Kondo who discussed the poverty mentality.

Now there's a backlash: There are articles critical of the "declutter movement," suggesting it's just more "white privilege."  "Certain people" can afford to toss their possessions -- how nice for them.

Tossing a bottle of Wen is now political.  Well, maybe it's political that someone might even buy a bottle of Wen.  We live in interesting times.

But I always imagine the person writing these articles is surrounded by empty designer coffee cups.  You don't have to drink the six-dollar coffee -- you just have to be seen with one of their cups.

Anyway, the backlash stems from the idea that immigrants and refugees don't have the luxury of tossing unwanted items.  If I recall, my Italian grandparents came here because they had nothing in Italy.  Coming to America meant they would have something, including "disposable income" and the freedom to spend it as they pleased.  But I digress.

I found this quote:

“If our life is made from the objects we collect over time, then surely our very sense of who we are is dependent upon the things we carry.”

Now this has always resonated with me because I know I'm attached to my stuff.  Every item has sentimental value, meaning, memories.  I wasn't sure if this stemmed from my mother's Italy immigrant family or not.  I felt that it was more of a generational thing.  My mother, father and stepfather -- and their parents -- lived through the Great Depression.

But there was something else.  And I don't know if it's gender-based.  I've posted about it before: It's the bag lady syndrome.  I used to have drinks with successful women and the conversation always ended up in the same place.  These women were always anxious about losing everything and ending up living in a cardboard box.

I just think it's odd that when we're ready to toss something we freeze and ask ourselves: "Do I need this?"  But clearly we don't ask that question when we're buying it. 

---

My husband insists it goes back even farther than that, to the hunter-gatherer phase of human development.  When the male went out and killed the meal and brought it back to the female in the cave.  Women are hard-wired to "feather the nest", so to speak.  Make the most of the trinkets found and returned to the gathering place.  Hence, we are always on the lookout for new bright and shiny objects with which to brighten our caves.  I'm not sure the younger generations have this so much anymore since the women all work outside the home now alongside the men.  Perhaps they just have it in a different way.  Or it just may be that we are influenced by our immigrant roots of a certain time period which no longer exists.

I know many will pitch a fit at this because they look at it as sexist.  May be. My opinion is that the genders are equal, not the same.

---

@geezerette

Oh, don't get me started.  Women now aren't only feathering the nest, they're paying for the ______ thing.

I grew up during "the movement" and I have opinions about how it has affected the culture.  Let's just say that women claimed they were unhappy, chained to their kitchen appliances in the 1950s, and felt they would be happy out there chained to a career.

All I know is that I'm surrounded by an awful lot of ______ off women.  Talk about turning into your parents.  I think women are turning into their fathers, worried and angry about the responsibility of carrying the load, and men are turning into their mothers, wringing their hands and wondering about personal fulfillment.  Either way, no one's very happy.

I feel sorry for the men who were raised by single mothers.  If we as females feel that there is something wrong with men, why don't we just admit that we created the problem?

I thought I'd state an opinion before it becomes illegal.

---

@just bee

At the risk of getting deleted and banned completely, I'll just say this:

We have observed the same attitudes but have been out of the mainstream for so long we wrote it off to being a couple of old fuddy-duddies.  Personally, I think women blew the best thing they had going.  But "The grass is always greener...", "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it", "You don't miss it until it's gone"...and on and on.

Can of worms closed.  Let the stoning begin...

---

Clearly, you didn't get the memo.  Haven't you heard?  Women can have it all. 

I tried it and now I want to know where I can return it.

---

Oh yes, I've known those women who "have it all".  They just didn't have it for very long.