Martha (was Re: Re: swimming backstroke)

[Guest guest]

Caroline wrote:

>I bought a martha book when i was on holiday

Ugh! Horrible horrible woman, that Martha!

Sorry, as a lifelong slob and devotee of *not* doing

kitschy stuff for every occasion (and *not* thinking that I

should spend my time on it), I am definitely rubbed the

wrong way. What they forget to mention is that she has a

staff of 10 people who come up with ideas and do all her

crafts and she just shows up.

I think my main problem with her is that she *does* make so

many women feel inadequate - they rush out to buy her

books, then their flower arranging doesn’t look as good and

their paper decorations get glued to the table, and they

think ‘What’s wrong with *me*?’ They don’t have time to

practice all day until they get one that looks exactly

right, since they have kids and jobs and so on, instead of

spending all their time on it. And when real people go to

the beach with kids, you’re lucky to remember towels, sun

cream, and water to drink, and a spray bottle with water

and a drop of lavender is pretty far down the list of

necessities.

The only time I watched her TV show, she was gardening and

spent more time talking about the importance of cleaning

your tools than actually gardening. There used to be skits

on Saturday Night Live with ‘The Anal Retentive Chef

(handyman, etc)’ and he was exactly the same way - so busy

cleaning his tools and taking care that no sharp objects

(such as knives or nails) would endanger him, that he never

actually *did* anything. And these skits came before

Martha, which is more surprising.

As Lesley said, a real love/hate figure in the US

Phyllis (I am the anti-Martha!)

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Goodness, that's almost word for word what the friend we stayed with in

America said, including the bit about the tools. Jane hates Martha with a

vengeance - and Jane is an arty crafty person herself, being an arts

teacher!!!

Lesley

-------------

From: " Phyllis >

> Ugh! Horrible horrible woman, that Martha!

>

What they forget to mention is that she has a

> staff of 10 people who come up with ideas and do all her

> crafts and she just shows up.

>

>

> The only time I watched her TV show, she was gardening and

> spent more time talking about the importance of cleaning

> your tools than actually gardening.

[Guest guest]

Goodness, that's almost word for word what the friend we stayed with in

America said, including the bit about the tools. Jane hates Martha with a

vengeance - and Jane is an arty crafty person herself, being an arts

teacher!!!

Lesley

-------------

From: " Phyllis >

> Ugh! Horrible horrible woman, that Martha!

>

What they forget to mention is that she has a

> staff of 10 people who come up with ideas and do all her

> crafts and she just shows up.

>

>

> The only time I watched her TV show, she was gardening and

> spent more time talking about the importance of cleaning

> your tools than actually gardening.