Just a bit of a rant this morning. Something that bugs the crap out of me. It’s the purchasing and placement of Kitsch around people’s houses. You know the stuff. On the extremely tacky end are painted collectible Elvis plates and velvet paintings, on the supposedly classy end are lladro figurines and object from foreign cultures. All of it staged in one way or another, all of it supposedly identifying a person’s class or lack thereof. I hate the stuff. I hate the clutter it creates. I hate the fact that some people buy so much of this shit that it is everywhere and including their attics and storage areas. I hate that it servers little or no purpose other than a visual aesthetic or as a status symbol. I hate the fact that even the expensive stuff often looks like junk.
Now there are people like my mother or the LTR’s mother that collect certain items and deposit them around their houses. My mother has a small number of figurines, and a handful of ‘art’ pieces she has picked up in her world travels. Not a lot of items. In fact not a lot of clutter at all. I still hate the stuff. It is usually a lot of fun to see her grandchildren romp around and play with this crap. So far they haven’t been able to break any of it, much to my chagrin.
The LTR’s mother has a lot of stuff from the old country. Stuff the family back there has either sent or stuff she’s picked up when she gone back on a visit. This stuff is everywhere, hand painted, and made out of wood. Some of it is even expensive (so they tell me). All of it looks like cheap wood painted in dull flat colors. To top it off, she’s something of a creator of kitsch herself as part of all the philanthropy work she does. Of course she keeps a few items of this kitsch she creates as a remembrance. She’s got a whole basement room filled with this crap and all the materials too. This stuff never get’s pulled out, never get’s used or even viewed. Such a waste of money and space. Bah!
I guess what burns me up about this stuff is that I view it as worthless junk. I know they don’t see it that way, but I do. Honestly, I respect their things as I wouldn’t want someone trashing my stuff because they see no value in it. But seriously, it is so easy to make these ladies go ballistic. All that is necessary is a cavalier attitude and a bit of mischief and they will be traveling the emotional rollercoaster. All over material goods that only they value.
