No big themes emerging as I sit down to wrap up the weekend, so accept this mixed grill:
Lately my social media feeds are showing me ads for undies — all sorts of undies, almost all of which I will never buy, because I think $20 for a pair of plain old panties is highway robbery. I think I mentioned the phenom of Startup Underwear here a while back, but that’s not why I bring it up.
It’s because the short video clips included in these ads frequently include un-models, i.e., normal-looking women with pregnancy stretch marks, fat asses and similar real-women bodies, and please note that I didn’t describe the above as “figure flaws.” Apparently women respond well to advertising that shows clothing on women’s bodies they actually identify with.
As part of my Delete campaign, I’ve been going through closets and looking for crap to pitch. I found a strapless/backless bra with still-firm elastic that doesn’t fit anymore, but might fit Kate, so I offered it to her. “It’s not something you’ll wear every day, but when you need it, you’ll want it,” I said. As I passed it over, I noticed the label: Victoria’s Secret. I remembered I bought it in…Fort Wayne, probably at Glenbrook Mall. Glenbrook was Da Place back then, but it’s a shadow of its former self. Also, malls in general are shadows of their former selves. And Victoria’s Secret, with its “fashion shows” featuring models with nine-foot-long legs, tight abs and gigantic fake breasts, is now a low-quality joke, mainly coveted by middle schoolers who still want PINK emblazoned across their butts. How the wheel, it do turn.
We took the holidays to the curb Sunday. It was Epiphany, a few days later than we usually do the chore. For a person like me, very little feels better than sweeping up that giant pile of pine needles and saying sayonara, tannenbaum. Kate said it makes her sad to not smell the tree in the house anymore, so there goes my scheme for a bare-branch tree next year, but oh well.
If I’m committed to Delete, deleting the holiday decorations feels pretty damn consequential, even if they’re just going back to the basement. A fellow blogger once observed that taking out the tree on New Year’s Day is like getting a room added to your house. Nothing to do now but wait for spring, and in the meantime, read some books and watch Netflix.
On that front: Watched “First Reformed” on Saturday, which I do not recommend to the Rev. Jeff, as it will probably make him want to stick his head in the oven. I liked it, Alan didn’t. Also watching the second season of “Atlanta,” which is spectacular. I’m reading “The Real Lolita” and “Dead Girls,” both of which I received for Christmas, both good so far. I also got the Sister Pie cookbook, a local bakery’s, which looks promising.
Finally, everybody’s talking about Rashida Tlaib’s comments about the president last week. You may want to see what she wrote two years ago, after she disrupted then-candidate Trump’s speech to the Detroit Economic Club. It was a planned protest that involved more than 20 people, who bought tickets, spread out in the room and, one after another, rose to yell at him, and then were frog-marched out of the place. In other words, she’s been after this motherfucker for a while. Good background to know.
With that, I bid you and the holiday season adieu, and look ahead to deleting more stuff.
Dorothy said on January 6, 2019 at 8:53 pm
Yay Patricia Arquette for the win at the Globes!
Deleting feels great. I’m donating our abundance of hand towels that’ve been stored under our guest room sink. A bathroom remodel is the incentive. I think the local animal shelter will make good use of them. And I’m going to start going through old photo albums and mail pics to my numerous nieces and nephews. I’d rather they have them now than after I die. My kids can have what they want or toss the rest in the trash. I might not be dropping weight from my body but discarding ‘things’ feels pretty good.
573 chars
alex said on January 6, 2019 at 8:55 pm
Good heavens, Nance. I find garments that old in my own closet but the holes around the nips aren’t embroidered.
I want to pass forward Deborah’s link from Psychology Today at the end of the last thread. I think it can be condensed, however, by stating that about a third of the people in this country are belligerent assholes or aspire to have the balls to be, and they voted for Trump on that basis. The breakdown of narcissist versus racist versus unspecified other imbecile or crackpot can be found served up deliciously right here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201812/complete-psychological-analysis-trumps-support?fbclid=IwAR3B1YJS2gKFzxAJv1PsMj_DJgC6ghekJDEMpf2JzzBD2xkG6H_njP0Ry0M
723 chars
Suzanne said on January 6, 2019 at 8:56 pm
In response to the last comment on the previous post regarding Trump supporters, I just saw a report on CNN about the shutdown and it’s effect on farmers and guess what? They are hurting badly and the government shutdown is making it worse, but they still are not sure their support because, you know, the alternative could be worse and [mumble grumble] understands business and we will wait & see. Good Lord.
Saw Mary Poppins Returns today. It’s sweet!
464 chars
Sherri said on January 6, 2019 at 8:58 pm
Reading Rashaida Tlaib’s comments from two years ago reminds me of something I was told a couple of months ago. I was talking with a woman who had recently moved to Seattle from Memphis. A major reason they had moved was that after the election, life had become unbearable for their (brown Middle Eastern descent) son in his private boys high school in Memphis.
Motherfucker isn’t profane. Putting children in cages is profane. Cruelty as policy is profane.
465 chars
basset said on January 6, 2019 at 9:50 pm
Not smelling the tree makes Kate sad? Having a tree at all makes me sad… too much past stress and drama to deal with.
The last few years we haven’t decorated for the holiday because we go up to Michigan to visit Mrs. B’s family, fine with me.
Deer season ended today but in our part of the state there’s a restricted extension through Saturday so I’m gonna be back out there tomorrow morning.
403 chars
beb said on January 7, 2019 at 12:22 am
I confess I’ve never bought lingerie for my wife. We’re not that kind of people so the concept of a strapless backless bra seems an impossibility, like jumbo shrimp. I’ll probably google it after posting this just to see how something with (apparently not top or back hangs together.
It may have been a seasonal fragrence but Glade has/had a pine scent room spray, so Ruth could continue smelling Xmas trees well into July.
Basset, I see headlines about deer wasting disease and wondered if that is contagious to human, and whether it has affected your enjoyment of deer hunting?
585 chars
JodiP said on January 7, 2019 at 10:03 am
We stopped decorating when my wife was in nursing school. We’re athiests, so it seemed a bit silly to get into it, although I realize we could reclaim it as a solstice symbol.
I am really enjoying our mellow January. I thought I’d get a lot of reading done this weekend, but we saw our niece and her fiancee Saturday, beginning with a champagne toast at home to celebrate the engagement before heading out for a delightful dinner. Sunday I spent cooking, and *poof* there’s the weekend.
Our 12+ year old dog got diagnosed with neck issues, so she’s not supposed to get on couches, beds, go for walks or do stairs for 4-6 weeks. She got upstairs Saturday and she was still in a lot of pain, so wouldn’t risk going down the narrow, windy, 100-years-old steps. She’s 45 pounds so I can’t carry her down. I ended up coaxing her on my lap and slid down carefully on my butt step by step. She was so good, and I think understood not to wriggle around!
952 chars
FDChief said on January 7, 2019 at 10:46 am
The pearl-clutching on the part of the Trumpkins and their remoras is exquisite. I just want to pat every one of their precious little heads and remind them that anyone remotely associated with President Pussy-grabber can just sit in the corner and enjoy a nice, hot cup of STFU when the question of appropriate speech is raised.
We took down the little tree we had set up just days before Christmas and hauled it outside. This year the whole business seemed more perfunctory than ever. The Boy is utterly indifferent in that particularly early-teen-sullen way and I am perfectly atheist and lazy, so while I enjoy the pretty I don’t want to do the work for a week’s worth of pretty It’s going to be up to my Bride and The Girl to make a tree happen next year; I’ll be good with putting a poinsettia in the bookcase and stowing presents on the floor underneath.
864 chars
Heather said on January 7, 2019 at 11:16 am
I love having a tree. It’s purely for myself as I live alone and often don’t have anyone over (I didn’t this year). I’m taking it down in stages this week–didn’t quite get around to it yesterday, and the lights are so pretty. I feel like we need pretty lights even more in January and February.
Chicago offers tree “recycling”–they mulch them–and now there’s a recycling non-profit that will come pick it up for you for $25. I’m thinking about it. I’ve always taken it myself but it might be worth it not to have to wrassle with it.
538 chars
Julie Robinson said on January 7, 2019 at 11:25 am
We traveled over the holidays too but love the hygge of decorations, so we took a minimalist approach. Three foot artificial tree, small nativity set, table linens and candles took maybe 45 minutes to set up and less to put away. It made us happy, and the big tree will be one of the next items to delete, along with more ornaments. The kids already have their special ornaments and it’s fun to see them on the tree in Orlando.
So far we’ve deleted books, CDs, and all the toys we were saving for grandchildren. Those probably aren’t happening and by the time we paid to ship them we could buy them all over again. We still need to delete DVDs. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of clothing and jewelry but still have too much. Last year we went through about 15 boxes of financial records and shredded 14.5 of them. Yet still the basement is too full. I think the stuff we carried down there propagated!
899 chars
Scout said on January 7, 2019 at 12:20 pm
I love a good purge. We too did the big holiday take down over the weekend. We have selenite or salt lamps in every room so the house still feels well lit and warm even with the Christmas lights put away. I’m pretty good about recycling clothing and household goods we no longer use, but I do need to start thinking about sorting through decades of photographs that stopped accumulating once the digital camera/phone camera took over recording life events.
FDChief said, “I just want to pat every one of their precious little heads and remind them that anyone remotely associated with President Pussy-grabber can just sit in the corner and enjoy a nice, hot cup of STFU when the question of appropriate speech is raised.”
I couldn’t agree more. The pearl clutching is beyond disingenuous at this point. And even the atheists among us can likely appreciate this piece written by John Pavlovitz.
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/01/06/selling-the-souls-of-american-evangelicals/?fbclid=IwAR3yq2VDgirjL57QGwqsML1Jd700xXDzSGSFWRsXOazCc5DQL8-a7xAdwRk
The best graph: “History is recording the Evangelical Right’s abomination of a marriage with this godless President, and though there were what surely felt like short-term wins, the lasting damage to the Church will be irreparable. People outside Christianity suspecting that religious people are all hypocritical frauds, are being given plenty of evidence for it.”
1420 chars
Jakash said on January 7, 2019 at 1:06 pm
I’ll second beb’s first 2 sentences @ 6. As a simple, midwestern burgher, I’m always just left clueless about what’s going on (if anything) with regard to the underpinnings of Mrs. Maisel’s dress (for example) at the Golden Globes last night. I’m not gonna google to find out, though. Any of you nn.cers care to explain in a couple sentences about the mysterious “strapless/backless” item Nancy refers to? If not, I’ll go on remaining clueless, which is fine.
The Globes telecast was largely a dud, as far as I was concerned. By far the highlight for me was Christian Bale thanking Satan for giving him the inspiration for how to play Dick Cheney in “Vice.” Also, “I will be cornering the market in how to play charisma-free assholes, so whaddya think — Mitch McConnell next?” Satan has a Twitter account, BTW, (750,000 followers) and tweeted “You’re welcome.”
By now, I’m used to never having heard of lots of TV shows, given the plethora of “channels” and series. This was the first time ever that I’d not heard of even the majority of movies yet. The tributes to Carol Burnett and Jeff Bridges were very nice, though I bet a casual conversation with The Dude gets pretty far off in the weeds pretty fast…
1225 chars
Sherri said on January 7, 2019 at 1:07 pm
We went the artificial tree route a few years ago, so there’s no rush to get rid of the tree. The Christmas lights go up early and stay up long. It’s part of coping with the dark!
I’ll take the tree down in the next day or so, and the lights on the front of the house will come down some weekend this month when it doesn’t rain. The white lights on our back deck will stay up well into February.
406 chars
Sherri said on January 7, 2019 at 1:09 pm
News I’m really excited about today: one of my best friends is announcing her run for Mayor of Redmond today! I started working on convincing her to run two years ago, so I’m really happy.
192 chars
Julie Robinson said on January 7, 2019 at 1:12 pm
Backless/strapless would be a convertible model, with straps that can be fastened a couple of different ways, depending on the dress. I had a strapless back in high school because of the gowns one of my singing groups wore, and wearing it was pure misery. All of us went around hoiking them up constantly. Of course, it also had underwire, and I don’t care how saggy I look, I’m not wearing those anymore either.
412 chars
Suzanne said on January 7, 2019 at 1:48 pm
Scout @11. Yes. And more yes. One of my kids attends church but tells me that much of what is preached is bothersome. The other kid almost never attends. Most of their friends don’t either for exactly the reasons Mr Pavlovitz states.
And yet, when I talk to members of my church, or friends who frequent church, they almost all claim that membership is declining because the sermons aren’t relevant, the music boring, and the liberals are trying to get rid of religion.
At least most of my Catholic friends will admit that the church sex scandals have dealt a near death blow to the faith.
589 chars
susan said on January 7, 2019 at 2:00 pm
I say huzzah and good riddance to religions, biggest frauds and scams ever created by men. The world will be so much better off.
They are motherƒu¢kerƒ, too.
170 chars
Jeff Borden said on January 7, 2019 at 5:47 pm
Since we have spent exactly one Christmas in our own home in 29 years of marriage, we’ve had to have artificial trees or be forced to ask a poor neighbor to come in and water a live one. I miss the pine smell, but little else. And there are candles for that, I guess.
The Orange King is demanding a prime time news conference Tuesday night so he can lie some more about the border and the pressing need for his fucking dumbass wall. It’s long past time networks and news organization stopped giving into the *president when he demands their attention. Yeah, I know he’s the “leader of the free world,” and everything he says is supposedly “news,” but when 99.9% is easily provable bullshit, what’s the point?
711 chars
alex said on January 7, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Why doesn’t Trumpolini just go on State Television, er, Fox?
60 chars
Bitter Scribe said on January 7, 2019 at 6:01 pm
I’ve always been astounded at how expensive women’s underwear is. I wonder if it’s not part of the same mentality as dry cleaners charging much more to clean a woman’s blouse than a man’s shirt.
194 chars
Kaye said on January 7, 2019 at 9:31 pm
Delete is an ongoing goal for me. Christmas decor still in place, less than usual due to knee replacement in October. Hope to get in boxes this weekend so as not to break the rule by which I judge others: Christmas decor should disappear by MLK day. To enjoy the fresh pine scent with less hassle try a wreath of fresh greens on the inside of the door or displayed on a wall.
375 chars
alex said on January 7, 2019 at 10:00 pm
We’ve been going so minimalist that it has taken us three years to actually throw some decorations back up on the walls after repainting. The delete resolution is lost on us because we’ve been doing it for years and still don’t have enough room in this house for the shit of daily living let alone the precious heirloom shit we’re about to inherit from a house ten times as big as this one. And no heirs to pass it on to. What the fuck was I thinking 15 years ago when I said I’d move back here and deal with this shit?
519 chars
basset said on January 7, 2019 at 11:16 pm
Beb@6, as far as I’ve been able to find out there appears to be little to no risk of chronic wasting disease transmission from deer, elk, etc. to humans – the larger issue is passing it from one animal to another and taking out significant portions of the population, which has not been as much of an issue here in Tennessee as it has elsewhere. Deer are social animals, though, and CWD can spread quickly through a herd.
That said, though, the processor (abattoir and butcher shop) I’ve been going to won’t accept out of state deer unless the meat’s been taken off the bone… which seems like it’d negate the need for the butcher unless you wanted sausage made or something. CWD is not something I worry about at this point but I try to stay aware.
Almost got myself in trouble today, though. Mentioned previously that the extended antlerless season runs through Saturday – I read last year’s wildlife-agency press release, it actually runs just through Friday. Took two this morning, gave one to Hunters for the Hungry and cut the other up myself. Don’t have much in common with Hank Jr. but I can indeed skin a buck and run a trot line, not to mention play ham-handed guitar and drink to excess.
Tree disposal… around here you take them to a local park and they get ground up into mulch for the park paths. Used to see “holiday tree disposal” signs but “holiday” was repeatedly covered with taped-on text reading “Christmas.”
1440 chars
basset said on January 7, 2019 at 11:27 pm
Julie@15, thanks for the explanation. I thought they had no straps at all and were stuck on there somehow, double-sided duct tape or something.
Taking down Christmas decorations… had a fishing buddy years ago who lived down the road from Wynonna the country singer. Overdone house, smaller than you’d expect, with a horse-walking area and sometimes a security guard who would glare at you if you had the temerity to canoe down the public creek behind the property… anyway, she left her Christmas lights up too long on the house and fence one year, so my friend slipped a note into her mailbox saying it looked “common.”
Lights were gone not long after that. She has since moved.
688 chars
Deborah said on January 8, 2019 at 9:05 am
I think the internet memes I’m seeing lately, comparing Trump and his stupid wall to Humpty Dumpty are brilliant. Trumpty Dumpty.
131 chars
diane said on January 8, 2019 at 9:45 am
Basset@24
Trust your instincts. A backless, strapless bra for occasions when you want neither showing does indeed have adhesive rather than straps of any sort. I have heard what Julie is describing called a convertible bra.
226 chars
beb said on January 8, 2019 at 9:52 am
Thanks, Basset for your comments about deer wasting disease. I’ve seen headlines about it but hadn’t bother to read further because I’m not a hunter. Then I read your comments about hunting here and realized that it could affect people I care about.
Kind of amusing about the vandals taping up a “Christmas” placard over the “Holiday Tree” disposal sign. Since Christmas trees are kind of unique to Christmas I can’t get offended by this “War on Christmas” warrior. One of the things Detroit used to do with discarded Christmas Trees was to pile them up around a large pole then hose them down with water. This was done on the then city park, Belle Isle. The water would freeze on the trees making one giant ice tree. Sadly, with temperatures mostly above zero this year there wouldn’t be much ice on the trees.
I’m sure the strapless backless bra that Nancy passed was of the moveable strap kind that Julie mentioned. When I did google the term I got a page full of images of adhesive style bras. There were a couple non-adhesive bras but they never showed a back view so you could see how it worked.
I see that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are asking for equal time after Trump’s speech tonight for rebuttal. Good for them though I hate the whole idea of Trump making a national address to whine about the cookie he’s not getting.
1344 chars
Julie Robinson said on January 8, 2019 at 10:01 am
Which all leads to the question, why would anyone willingly put tape on their boobs? Too painful! If your dress needs it, you need a different dress. Now get off my lawn.
Did we do the dialect quiz from the NYT when it came out in 2013? I just wasted a few minutes taking it, and it told me the most similar cities to me were Lincoln Nebraska, Rockford Illinois, and Fort Wayne. Not sure about Lincoln, but I was born in Iowa, spent most of my childhood about 30 minutes from Rockford, and have lived in the Fort now for almost 40 years. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html
610 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2019 at 10:09 am
“First Reformed” was . . . interesting. Watching “Calvary” was worse. Clergy aren’t Father O’Malley in the movies anymore. Barry Fitzgerald would have died in the fire at St. Dominic’s and Bing hauled off for child molestation with the youth choir members if “Going My Way” was made today.
From Thanksgiving to Epiphany, this has been the most death-haunted holiday season I can recall in nearly forty years of ministry. With two friends getting diagnosis and treatment info for what looks like major cancer today & tomorrow just to cap off a run of funerals under the wreaths and Christmas lights. So no, I’m not watching the speech to the nation tonight; it’s a couple of days late, but we’ll probably watch John Huston’s “The Dead” from the James Joyce short story. Just to brighten the mood.
802 chars
brian stouder said on January 8, 2019 at 10:44 am
Thread win for JTMMO!
21 chars
Deborah said on January 8, 2019 at 11:31 am
Not watching the speech tonight either, although I may watch the response, but probably not that either.
104 chars
Connie said on January 8, 2019 at 12:25 pm
Won’t be watching the speech either. I will be sitting in the town hall waiting for my agenda item to come up on the township board agenda. I am near the end of what looks like a long meeting.
194 chars
Dorothy said on January 8, 2019 at 12:33 pm
By 9 PM I’m a little bit too bleary eyed to work in my sewing room so instead I’ll catch up on reading material (which is different from sewing – no needles to plunge through my finger if I’m reading). I’d only get heartburn and eye twitching if I did watch him.
262 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2019 at 1:02 pm
In truth, “The Dead” has more than a little hope and joy in it. Some sorrow, and of course the closing “snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
And there is love.
259 chars
Jakash said on January 8, 2019 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the replies about the strapless/backless issue, Julie and Diane. With regard to “willingly putting tape” somewhere — perhaps this is TMI, but I’m a guy and I’ve taken to putting small band-aids over my nips to prevent chafing if I’m wearing multiple layers to run outside in the winter. Tearing them off is no fun, but it beats the soreness lasting for hours afterwards…
I forgot to mention that we watched “First Reformed.” I liked about the first 2/3 or 3/4, and thought that Ethan Hawke was outstanding, but can’t really recommend it because of the conclusion.
As for tonight’s “address,” if I wanted to watch a creep lie for half an hour, I’d watch some old Jon Lovitz SNL “that’s the ticket” sketches from SNL. About the only time I hear Hair Furor actually speak is in snippets via folks putting up short clips on Twitter to ridicule.
864 chars
Colleen said on January 8, 2019 at 3:15 pm
No way in hell I am watching the Orange Menace tonight.
My super Jesusy SIL just posted something on Facebook about how Trump and his family are the most scrutinized and attacked presidential family in history. I can’t even. My opinion of her just took a total nosedive. She is so super Lutheran (LCMS, natch) that nearly every book in her home has something to do with God or Jesus. And she supports this barbarian?!?!? I am less than she, for I am a Catholic, but even I know Matthew 25, and know that our country isn’t doing a real good job of living up to that particular verse, especially for a “Christian” nation. And our President is exhibit A.
652 chars
Scout said on January 8, 2019 at 3:21 pm
It is astonishing that so-called Christians can be so unaware or so blatant about their disregard for irony. They are doing more to bring about their own undoing than the lions ever could.
https://www.newsweek.com/2018/12/21/evangelicals-republicans-trump-millenials-1255745.html?fbclid=IwAR0EkSSh3ERiXDDYIscilswzcEFIMXR8xBfJ68pYXpca-8fzEQNKjiplusQ
349 chars
Deborah said on January 8, 2019 at 3:59 pm
Excellent link Scout. Hallelujah, thank you young people!
57 chars
Deborah said on January 8, 2019 at 4:07 pm
As I’ve mentioned here I’ve been reading the last tome in the My Struggle series by Knausgaard, which has a large middle section about Hitler. I thought this was interesting on TPM’s website today about Trump and Hitler https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumphitler
274 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2019 at 4:33 pm
If you’d like to see what’s going on these days in my parish/neck-off-the-woods, this just went onto the website today, published as cover feature for the Jan/Feb issue of “Pacific Standard”:
https://psmag.com/magazine/a-year-in-the-heart-of-the-addiction-crisis-in-rust-belt-america
286 chars
Sherri said on January 8, 2019 at 6:09 pm
If the wall really mattered, Republicans could have voted to fund it anytime in the last two years. If the terrorist watch list is so goddamned important, then why were Republicans so insistent that it not be used to limit gun purchases? If people care so much that immigrants must follow the law to enter the country, why don’t they give a damn about a President who blatantly violates the law?
They just want to hurt people.
431 chars
Icarus said on January 8, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Good bet Nancy starts a new thread for tonight’s sh*tshow but did someone mention Drag Queen Hour on a previous thread?
https://www.scarymommy.com/protestors-drag-queen-story-hour/?utm_source=FB
199 chars