Monday, March 5, 2018

TRUST NOT! 3/5/2018

I said I would write about this "TRUST" matter. Here goes!

Many years ago I met my husband to be and did not know all the trouble I would inherit by accepting his proposal for marriage and to change my name to his. I thought it would be a great signature for my paintings - Karen Kelly. Little did I know that marrying a rich man and an attorney (at that) would put me through "hell and back". Now that I am officially a widow for twenty years this April 4th, 2018, I can report to the entire world what can happen if you marry a "man of means" (by no means - thank you Roger Miller).

Legal documents were drawn up from the "very beginning" - an ante-nuptial agreement - all unfair - but he had been "burned" by two other wives and that gave him the excuse. I often thought he didn't "see" me. I often said to him, I'm not "so and so". My attorney looked over the ante-nuptial agreement and told me not to marry or sign it. Circumstances happened. I married him. The document stood.

Then, the TRUST, the KLK TRUST was initiated, formed and solidified into legal perpetuity - a judgement hammer - a historical memorandum to haunt me the rest of my life on this planet!

The TRUST, the TRUST. I must, I must, I must follow the TRUST!

My word to any woman who decides to hang her future upon the "generosity" of a rich man, may be horrified at the power he holds over her through the TRUST.

WOMAN - be sure you get your education, plan for your own financial future and do not TRUST.

At 81 years of age it's time for me to think about getting another job! No, I won't be a greeter and I won't settle for less than what I've earned.

We can speak of love and sweet words, too. That was all part of the marriage.

However and forever, let these words ring clear "TRUST NOT"!




Sunday, March 4, 2018

Widder Lady: STUFF and more STUFF! 3/4/2018

Widder Lady: STUFF and more STUFF! 3/4/2018: Stuff is being sold (gradually) by EBTH (Everything But the House) . It's interesting to see what sells and for how much. With their tak...

STUFF and more STUFF! 3/4/2018

Stuff is being sold (gradually) by EBTH (Everything But the House). It's interesting to see what sells and for how much. With their take of 40% the "winnings" may not meet my expectations. I rationalize and justify the outcome by repeating phrases such as:

1. I'm glad it is out of here.
2. I won't have to dust it again.
3. I have regained some space in my home.
4. I have made someone else happy. (Hoping)
5. It's found a new home and a new adventure.
6. It wasn't ever used or hardly ever used.
7. I don't want to care for it any longer - polishing, dusting, etc.
8. I don't want to have the memory of it any longer.
9. It was never mine in the first place.
10. Better "something" than "nothing" even if it's a few dollars!

I am looking forward to receiving my first check. It will go for the legal fees I'm racking up. (More drama).

Limoges Cow Pitcher
Learning about "attachment to stuff" and "searching for meaning in minimalism" (Zen Zone) has been a major pursuit for me as I reach into and beyond the 4th quarter of existence on this planet. There are others, too, who are on this same journey - some by choice, some by circumstance.

It's the STORY, the MEMORY of the "object", the "thing". What do we know about auctions - VALUE - what makes something have value - it's the STORY - the PROVENANCE! Watching tv programs such as "Antique Roadshow" and "Strange Inheritance" certainly helps a "stuff" person learn if something's worth anything.

With all this "blather" about stuff, I'm still inclined to share the stories of the recent items I've hauled in boxes and on blankets in the back seat and trunk of my car to EBTH. What does it matter that I went to the Indian Hill Antique Auction and bought the beautiful hand-hooked floral rug for $1500.00 and it sold for about $100? What does it matter that those African ladles went for less that $100 bucks? I will go back and reread my list of why I'm auctioning off stuff. The rug was bought on impulse - it was beautiful. I used it awhile and then had it cleaned and wrapped up in brown paper and stuffed under the guest bed. The ladles I enjoyed for many years in my wood paneled "African themed" bathroom. They're gone now, no longer here for viewing I(or dusting). I bought those ladles from Smith, Ltd. on 6th Street downtown Cincinnati. Jerry Smith left town, but some of his stuff is still here in my home.

Monday, February 12, 2018

MORE STUFF! 2/12/2018

Today ends the first 'round of items "Going, Going, Gone" on EBTH (Everything But the House). I'm choosing not to look at the final bidding frenzy, just don't want to know the outcome YET!

Here's a few pictures of the things being sold "next time around":

Majolica Dessert Set - Plates, Cake Stands bought from Jerry Smith, Ltd.

Majolica Cake Stands and Dessert Plates

Majolica Leaf Dish

Majolica Leaf Dish

Sunday, February 11, 2018

AUCTION! Everything but this and that!

It's finally time to blog on about why I've been "side-tracked".

Months have gone by with my main focus being on "stuff" - what to do with it all? Rooms filled with stuff, but organized "out of sight". Cupboards are filled to the brim - no more room for anything else. How did this happen? It happened by buying, by inheriting "other people's stuff" and by having many interests in many things: cooking, art, Meetups, family events and "history".

I think I've mentioned my Meetup group called "The Society of Too Much Stuff" which I created a few years ago to address this matter of "stuff", especially my stuff and how to progress beyond just living with it and constantly spending time and money on upkeep of it all.

Over the years I've donated many, many items to various charitable auctions, thrift stores, Freecycle and to people that come into my studio for classes or an art walk. I have had a FREE table outside my studio in the hall for years. Now the Essex Studios FREE table is near the vending machines.

"Indigo Hippo" is a non-profit art thrift store downtown on Main Street. I have been donating a lot to them, too. This week my donation box was filled with candles, a broken bracelet and a Chinese paper umbrella. I had in mind "at one time" to have a Chinese themed party (again - did it a few years ago and blew the electrical circuits when I had too many appliances - electric wok, etc. connected on the same circuit). I gave the bamboo table runners to "the Hippo". I gave them stacks of black napkins and some sparkly silver threaded ones, too.

I'm ready now for the "big time" game of getting rid of higher valued items and testing myself with the fact that these items might go for "peanuts". The main thing I'm considering is that the SPACE without the items is more valuable than having things I don't really want to care for or care about.

Everything But the House (EBTH) is now auctioning off items. The bids are low and I'm hoping for more people to bid and at least make it worth my time and effort. I'm following my "dashboard" to see what's being bid on. I'll know soon what has sold!

I packed up another "lot" to take to EBTH and am donating one of my own paintings for one of their charitable auctions. There I go again ... giving away my art (been doing it for years).

Next Saturday our "Society of Too Much Stuff" will meet again. I will have met my goal to "SELL, SELL, SELL"!
Crystal & Silver Ink Well

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Widder Lady: Swiming at 80!

Widder Lady: Swiming at 80!: Being 80 (which is only a number for God's sake) now means further fixating on disciplined choosing. Each morning offers another chance ...

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Swiming at 80!

Being 80 (which is only a number for God's sake) now means further fixating on disciplined choosing. Each morning offers another chance to choose a few more hours of doing something that furthers "good health" or doing nothing at all, just nothing. However, choosing to do nothing is actually doing something isn't it?

I've mentioned my daily doings which I list and share each day with my Facebook "Homemakers' Encouragement" group. We start off with someone listing their "things done - item by item" and the next person follows with their completed tasks. In my list I include: swim 10 laps, did water exercises.

I do some morning arguing with myself deciding whether or not that I "feel like it" - feel like slipping into the cool and sometimes very chilly pool water. The water welcomes me. The flowers around the pool say "Hello, It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
The Pool and The Cottage

There's a CD player on the cottage porch which I use to play music of Caribbean steel drums, classical guitar and/or boogie woogie piano. Music helps.

Looking at the huge trees on the horizon helps me count each lap. I like seeing he bright open sky (sometimes without clouds - just a swatch of cerulean blue) which may signal a clear day. Other days there are varied cloud formations which may be an indication of rain "later". Then, there are the times when it's fun to swim as big rain drops splash down and around me. (I choose not to swim when it's lightning, of course).

After I complete my morning swim routine, I am chilly unless I take a hot steamy shower. It takes hours to warm up, but the "whole routine" does wake me up and gives me "a better mind-set".

I label myself as a "swimmer" because it's been the exercise I have been doing for a lifetime. I'm a casual swimmer, not an athletic swimmer. I swim because I like swimming. I like water. Mama started us off by taking us to the local swimming pools in Glendale and Wyoming, Ohio. We had lessons at the YWCA on 9th Street in Cincinnati. I took swimming lessons at 4-H camp and at Ohio State University. I even had my Red Cross Life Guard certificate! So, I definitely am a swimmer!

Later in life I've enjoyed swimming at a local gym, in hotel pools, lakes (not Lake Tahoe, too cold) and the Caribbean waters. The challenge now is to "keep on swimming"!