... I'm apparently too poor to look good

While killing time on Yahoo today, I found a link that said "Hottest hand-bags for under $50!". And it made me (irrationally) upset.

Why is this a news story?? In this economy, I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one who would look at a $50 price tag on a sparkly, "special event" purse and leap for joy. Show me the article that says Hot Handbags for under $20, and then maybe I'll be interested. If it was a bag I would get multi-seasonal, long-term use out of (or one that could double as a diaper bag!) then I would consider spending $50 on it. I saw an article last week that was something like "the perfect LBD for less than $100!!" Uh, it better be way less than $100 or it's certainly not finding a home in my closet!

Maybe it's the shift in my life recently, going from a two-income to a single-income family while also preparing for a new child. Maybe it's because I'm pushing 30 (less than month now...). Who knows why. But, I grow increasingly more frustrated with the conflicting messages in our media. We are constantly reminded how piss-poor our economy has become. Layoffs all over the country. Rising prices for basic essentials. Foreclosure rates on the rise. Families making choices between health insurance and food.
But on those very same news pages, we find stories like the one I came across, touting the everyday accessibility of these sometimes very extravagant items based on their "low" prices. My favorite version of this are the articles Yahoo posts at least weekly "How Much House Will $X00,000 Buy You?". These articles compare the differences in houses for the same price in various markets around the country. And more often than not, the "$X00,000" is typically $500,000 or more. I'm aware that housing markets vary greatly across the country, and that there are many places in the US where $500K is the median home price. But again, in this economy, I doubt that the average American is looking for a $500K home. I doubt many of them see that article and read it with much interest outside of just wanting to see what amenities $500K could buy.
Much in the same way the average American woman is probably not bouncing with delight over spending just $50 on a handbag to match that $100 LBD (insert snark here). Now mind you, to me, the "average American woman" is a mom. And whether she stays at home or works outside the home, I assure you that one of her top priorities is finding ways to stretch every dollar. She likely has methods like couponing, buying things in bulk, buying items used when possible, the list goes on.... But - hold on to your hats, Yahoo! - one of her methods also probably includes NOT spending $50 on a bedazzled purse.
I know it's hard to believe, but it actually is possible to clothe ourselves and our families in something that doesn't look like Hillbilly Holly once wore it AND not spend a fortune. Is it easy? Not always. Is it always convenient? No. It usually requires clearance rack shopping, or perusing consignment stores. Looking for sales and price-matching around town. And God forbid you be a size outside of "normal", that just adds to the complication. But is it possible? Absolutely. And if you are blessed with a seamstress' hand, you can customize your look as much as you want for even less.
So please, please, please, media sites, I beg you. Stop telling us how bad things are, then insinuating we simply must have the hot new $50 handbag. Because trust us, we already know how bad things are and more than likely, that $50 handbag is pretty hideous anyway.

...I might be losing it in here

How is a raven like a writing desk? Well, if Poe couldn't provide an answer, I surely have no idea, but I pose another question to you. How is the ante-partum department like a psych ward? It's like this...

There is a constant rotation of women in PJs, bathrobes, and slippers. There are a few of us long-termers, but mostly the faces are in and out. Very few of us feel "sick", but we still have to stay because there is in fact something wrong with us. Depending on the varying degrees of our "conditions", some of us have privileges to leave our rooms, (some of us even get to leave unsupervised!) To go to the "lounge" filled with long over-worn paperback romance novels or mysteries no one's heard of, out-dated gossip magazines with no "new" news, cooking or lifestyle publications from seasons or years past. If we're really lucky, there's a good TV movie on the one TV with cable in the whole department.
The best part though may be the volunteers with the arts and crafts. These little elderly women who come around in their pastel smocks, and invite you to join them in the lounge for craft time. They have a little plastic box they bring with them to showcase previous crafts made....photo frames with puffy paint, painted ceramic piggy banks, popsicle stick creations, all sorts of hot-glued-sick-people-sad little crafts intended to make us all feel better.  Isn't that adorable, and wouldn't we like to come with them??
Most of the time, being here is just inconvenient and annoying. But there are definitely times when the weight of the situation weighs down on you, and it can be really hard to get through the day. So, I can appreciate the intent behind the arts and crafts. It gives us something to do, something to focus on, a chance to get out of our rooms and possibly get to meet some other people in the department. But being wheeled through the lounge, past the "arts and crafts" table filled with empty-faced women in yoga pants, baggy T's, and bathrobes; pregnant women with various sized bellies blindly following the instructions of a woman who I will name Glenda because she just looks the type. Wheeling past and watching Glenda and her sidekick-in-comfort operate the hot glue gun for everyone as though the patients might be on a suicide watch...seeing all that just made me laugh. It reminded me of something out of Girl, Interrupted or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Come on people, we're pregnant not crazy. .....Or are we?