Bathroom Pictures

Let's face it; Americans love their bathrooms.  The bathroom comes second only to the kitchen in the catergory of money most spent on one room.  No longer just a place to wash up and do your business, the bathroom is now a place of tranquil retreat and spa quality feel.  I know when my husband put in our master bathroom, I spent many a waking hour on shower curtains, bath rugs and colors.  Naming my children was a much easier task and hardly took any time at all.

Lately, though, I have pondered upon a few things.  It all started when I went to visit a friend at her newly remodeled farmhouse.  I politely excused myself to use the "facilities" as it had been a lengthy drive.  Upon entering, I was immediately entranced in her Caribbean beach  decor.  The cobalt tiles, seashell shaped vessel sinks, lovely rugs in pink sand shades, and a picture of her family at the beach smiling back at me.

Wait a second.....there is a picture of them in here....the bathroom, where people have their most private moments.

Needless to say, I finished and got out of there fast!(Yes, I did wash my hands.)

I never mentioned anything about the bathroom except "it was very nice".  I had never experienced anyone putting their family photo in the bathroom.  Sure, it was in line with the theme, but really?  A picture of an island getaway or sandy beach  I could see  but this was something new.  With anyone else, they would have let it go and went on with their life but, since it involves me, I have been on a mission to understand bathroom decor.

First, family pictures have no place in bathrooms, period.  Sorry, but I have to draw a line.  No one wants to see you and your loved ones in a room that they are probably going to abuse.  Not to mention, sometimes it smells in there.  That would be the equivalent of hanging your beloved photos above the cat litter box or garbage can.  Besides, it's creepy.  Even though it isn't possible, no one could ever "go" in there without thinking that you are all watching.  There are many other rooms in your home begging to have pictures hung in them, leave it at that.

I also do not get the whole outhouse motiff.  We as an evolving society fought hard to get the privy put into our homes so we would not have to get up late at night and trek outside in the elements to relieve ourselves.  I would like to meet the individual who decided that he or she wished they could make the bathroom feel like a rustic experience, you know, the "good old days".  Furthermore, it is just tacky  and unless your whole house is in that same 19th century feel, kind of out of place.  Do yourself a favor and never consider this as an option.

Huge vases with some kind of twigs sticking out them and live plants in the bathroom are also a cry for help.  Like the outhouse theme, no one wants to have a wilderness experience in the loo.  Oh, I have put a vase of lilacs in my bathroom occasionely, but they are fragrant and do freshen the air.  Also, you have to enjoy them while you can because they have a short grow period.  But huge, green, viney, and bushy plants that take up much needed space, no.  See outhouse paragraph about smell.. do you really want to do that to a living thing?

My last complaint is one that, sadly, I have committed.  Why, oh, why do people hang a picture of a bathroom in their bathroom.  I remember the day I found mine at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  I looked at that and said, "That would look great in my bathroom!"  And it does...color and everything.  But the absurdity is it's a bathroom picture...in the bathroom.  It's as  if someone is saying, "I would have no way of knowing what to do in this room if it weren't for this picture."  Seriously, has anyone ever hung a kitchen picture in the kitchen or living room picture in the appropriate room?  Probably not, but I can guarantee you know someone with a bathroom picture.

As I conclude, I hope when it comes to future bathroom decorating, common sense will prevail and everyone will realize the simpler the better.

Unless, of course, it matches your shower curtain. 



 

Royal Wedding Fever

Unless you are like a geico commercial and have truly been under rock for the last seven months, you are more than aware that a really big wedding is happening this Friday.  Of course, I'm talking about the Wedding of Prince William to his longtime girlfriend, Kate Middleton.  With a tv audience expected to be 2.5 billion, it is definitely going to be a monumental event.

I can't wait for it to be over.

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I  will watch the actual wedding ( like I have a choice, it will be the ONLY thing on tv when I'm getting the kids ready for school) and I will be a little sad that the Prince's mother, Princess Diana, can only attend in spirit.  Also,  I am very curious to see Kate in her wedding dress and who can forget their carriage ride through London as officially man and wife.  After that, I will have lost interest which leaves me with two questions.

Question 1.)  Does it have to be on so many channels?
     Seriously, how much tv representation does this require?  All the network channels will be there as well as cable news(most have been there since yesterday).  That should do it but no.  TLC, E television, MyStyle and a host of others are all going to give us ALL day coverage starting as early as 4 a.m. ( I will, however, give a pass to BBC America because it is occuring in England.) Who is going to get up at 4a.m. unless they have to be or is just a raging insomniac?  I am half tempted to flip over to Sportcenter to see if they will have any highlights of the affair or see if Spongebob Squarepants is doing a special episode on Nickelodeon.  I realize ti is a big event but with a majority of Americans already receiving network and/or cable news, that is more than sufficient coverage.  On to my next question.

Question 2.) Does it really have to be on ALL day?
     Well, let's get more specific.  Most channels are showing all royal specials all this week which I'm here to say, gets pretty old.  Let's face it, these are not real exciting people and some channels have already shown the same specials twice(yawn).   By the time the big day gets here, everyone is going to be royaled out!  As stated before, most channels are starting at 4a.m.(time difference, I realize)  and will go all throughout the day, giving us play by play coverage; where the betrothed couple are, what they are doing, what people invited wore to the wedding and so on.  I am almost afraid that I will be told exactly when Kate has to use the loo!  Sincerely, after the wedding, there really is no point in carrying on because no cameras will be allowed anywhere else.  Regular broadcasting should resume and everyone should go on with lives.  Unfortunately, that would be too simple.

     So here is my advice For April 29.  Get up about 6:00,watch the wedding, and promptly shut off your tv.
     And pray quickly for the arrival of April 30th.

WWSWD(what would Scott Walker Do)

     If you were an employer with a job opening in an environmental position, which of these three candidates would you hire;
      Potential hire #1- possesses a doctoral degree in engineering and spent eight years working to clean up petroleum contaminated sites.
     Potential hire #2- An engineer who has worked since 2003 in the positon with which there is an opening(wonder if they knew about that).
     Potential hire #3- A 27 year old college dropout with no environmental experience, hardly any managerial experience and two drunk driving convictions.
     Since it involves Scott Walker, you probably assumed logic and reason fled the coop a LONG time ago so it is highly unlikely hires 1 and 2 had a chance.  You guessed right.Walker decided to give this position(official title Dept. of Commerce- head of environmental and regulatory affairs) to Brian Deschane, hire #3.  As unreasonable as this seems, his salary was at $81,500(and those pesky teachers with their required licenses, Master degrees and $46,000 a year salary was going to break this state, Wisconsin).  What isn't a surprise, upon further inspection, is that Brian Deschane is the son of Jerry Deschane, a top contributor to Walker's election campaign for governor of Wisconsin.
     What a tangled web we weave....
      Well, you'll be glad to know this disaster of an appointment only lasted a day.  Governor Walker "demoted " Brian Deschane to his original position as bureau director at the state Dept. of Regulations and Licensing, with it's paltry $64,728 a year salary(still more than a public school teacher).  Walker only did this after details of this embarassment were printed in a Milwaukee newspaper.  It's time for this puppet  to cut his ventriloquist's strings if he wants to be taken seriously as the Governor of Wisconsin.
     Fortunately, it may be too late.  And Deschane isn't worth that kind of money.
    

2011 or 1811- It's hard to tell.

     On Thursday, April 7, 2011, NARAL Pro-Choice America is holding a rally in Washington D.C. to protest against the recent backlash against women and the right for them to choose what is best for their reproductive health.  With a slew of new Republican governors and a Republican controlled Congress with Tea Party fever, being a fertile woman has never been more risky.

     The first missile launched in this "war on prenatal citizens"(Thanks Geogia State Rep. Bobby Franklin )  was the vote in the House to defund Planned Parenthood, a vital organization founded by birth control pioneer, Margaret Sanger.  P.P has been providing low income and no income health services including Pap smears, STD and HIV testing, birth control, pregnancy testing , and  (yes) prenatal care to thousands of women.  While they do perform abortions, it only accounts for 3% of  their total business.  They also provide free health services to men as well.  But because abortions are a provided service(which the last time I checked was still LEGAL in the U.S)  close-minded law makers decided to ignore the other 97% of the good they do for communities.

     Which brings me to the new crop of state governors.  Like sharks at a bloody feeding frenzy, this pack of predators is making it their mission to legislate the utereus.  From Bob Mcconnell in Virginia, who wants to treat abortion clinics to the same policies as hospitals(do you think he cares how wide the doorways are).  By doing this, 17 of  Virginia's 21 clinics would have to close(again, abortion is a legal procedure).  To Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, who just signed a new bill requiring women in his state to a three day waitng period and to undergo pregnancy counseling(most likely propaganda) to "make good choices".  More like to make the "choice" he wants.

  All of these actions make me glad I chose to have my tubes tied after the birth of my second child.  But I'm anxiously waiting to be arrested for preventing prenatal citizens.