Say no to Elitist Crap

 Let me start out by saying I hope everyone had a good and safe 4th of July last week.  I would like to say it was memorable but really it was just relaxing.  Due to monetary restrictions(I'm broke) we decided not to be that house that lights up the whole neighborhood with their own fireworks display. That much better since I spend every year worrying that although my son is very closely supervised by my husband they are gonna blows themselves to bits.  And the local reports of people getting hit by random gunfire while they were at public displays with their families only confirmed my feelings I made the right move in us staying home that night.  Do people really not realize when they fire a gun into the air that bullet is going to come down somewhere on someone maybe.  Or they just don't care.  Anyway I have to vent today about something small and stupid but it is really bugging the crap out of me.  Yes the southern in me is gonna come out here.  Let me start by saying I grew up watching Oprah on t.v. I remember watching her first shows back when I would watch Phil Donohue with my mother on days I wasn't in school.  I always loved Oprah and of all the talk shows that came and went hers was the one I looked forward to.  UNTIL I remember distinctly one episode that changed all that.  At the time I was a stay at home mom with three kids at home and a husband working his butt off to provide for us. We were renting a nice home but it was a stretch on one income.  We decided it was better to live frugally in a nice neighborhood where our kids could go to good schools than to live in a neighborhood we had to keep the kids inside and doors locked at all times but we could afford more stuff.  So in those days I watched a lot of HGTV and other such shows learning how to decorate and cook things from scratch.  I still wanted our home to look nice and be something that was visually pleasing.  So this episode of Oprah that really is the one that alienated me they were doing a decorating makeover in someones home and she stated that the "fake flowers" had to go.  No fake flowers no artificial plants REAL flowers were the only ones she had in her homes.  I looked over at the vase of tulips(my favorite flower) sitting by the window and was personally hurt by this.  Who was she to say my flowers werent good enough.  They made me smile everytime I looked at them.  It was at that moment I felt like I had been brainwashed for years and suddenly SNAP someone slapped me and I came to my senses.  I had been listening to people like her for years tell me I needed this or that for my home or myself.  I had to have this jacket in the fall to be stylish or that pair of shoes or this kind of furniture or whatever.  It is Keeping Up With The Jonses magnified by the media.  I eventually made my peace with Oprah; coming to the conclusion that her vast wealth over the years had her living a lifestyle far away from working class reality and that wasn't her fault.  No matter what your roots are living a life of luxury and privilage long enough will eventually twists your point of view on working class life.  But my current beef is not with miss Oprah but it seems the new offender is Gwenyth Paltrow. Again let me say I am a fan of her work.  BUT now there is the hoopla over her declaration that her 90 dollar plain white tee is the t-shirt to have this summer.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?  The cherry on top of this WTF sundae is the shirt only comes in sizes 0-8. LOL  I have an idea if you have 90 to throw away on a t-shirt go to Walmart and buy a 6 dollar tee (sizes 1 to 30) and donate the other 84 dollars to a charity of your choice.  90 dollars will help fill the shelves of a food bank pantry or buy school supplies for a few kids who might not be able to get them this year. What makes me angry about it really is there are those young girls out there that will feel like they are not right unless they have those things that celebrities tell them they need.  We as a nation need to STOP this fascination with STUFF. Newest stuff ,coolest stuff,most pretentious stuff. Use our money to pay off our debts,help our neighbors, do something worthwhile.