Pit stops along the highway.

Happy Monday from Las Vegas in the Fall!

Leaves are finally falling, my hot weather plants and flowers are giving up the ghost and retreating into their winter mode. When I awoke this morning, I immediately reached for my fuzzy long fleece pants and a sweatshirt, the house temperature was 64 ( a very good age for men but a little chilly for my bare legs). I have been beat all day, two three day art and craft shows back to back will do that to you. We showed at the Steve Powers "Great Craft Festival" weekend before last and at "Show and Tell Craft Market" this past weekend. That means set up on Thursday, show beginning Friday and ending Sunday night and then tear down and packing of all our jewelry and booth. In between the two shows, we put together some new items. Most Wonderful Daughter in Law has designed some terrific cell phone charms from our collection of "Ojimie" which may or may not be misspelled. They are small figures of faces, animals, chinese Zodiac figures or just charming fancies carved by hand in China from boxwood. The majority of them are signed in tiny chinese characters on the bottom. I have a wonderful necklace called "Miss Kitty" which is all cat figures with gold and cinnabar beads. The focal figure is about a two inch tall, sweet cat figure in a kimono whom I dubbed Miss Kitty.We sold a number of the charms at Steve Powers so made some more. We also created some new pieces which we need to photograph and post on our websites. At any rate, today has been a day for R and R. The dogs are so glad to have me home. Every time, I get up from a chair or my bed, they are glued to my side demanding treats, which because I have been feeling guilty about leaving them, I surrender and give to them.

I can tell you that our country is in a world of hurt right now. Las Vegas has such a high rate of unemployment (which includes me) and money is tight. Steve Powers is an excellent promoter and has been in the art and craft business for many years. He advertises in the local papers with stories and discount coupons. Our admission packet contained printable coupons which we sent e-mailed far and wide, one of our most favorite bead stores, The Gem and Bead Mall, allowed us to place flyers with the discount coupon in the store. Even with all of the advertising, attendance at he show was less than previous years and the show was smaller as artists from out of state are not willing to spend their money on travel expenses when they know the economy is so terrible. To make a long story much shorter, we did not make our booth fee back at either show. We both walked the shows and know that our pricing is right for our jewelry, our booth looks wonderful, we both look pretty good when cleaned up and lots of people drop by to say how much they like our art but just can't afford it right now. So we give out lots of cards with a 10% discount coupon on the back and tell people about our two web sites where they can buy closer to the Holidays if they feel able.So goes the Art and Craft story!

Now, many of you have seen me at the shows and asked how my online dating project was working. It really isn't! I must be the most picky woman in the western world! It isn't that I find fault with the profiles that I read, it's just that the vast majority of them are lacking. You know, I can take the richer and poorer, I have certainly experienced both. I just can't take being bored!

Let's lay it on the line. I am a plus sized woman and many men with whom I might have interests in common, simply don't see past my photos. I refuse to lie, I am what I am. In my personal world, I am a very passionate, loving, intelligent, well read, politically active (progressive politics only) and funny woman. I am an artist, creative with my poor hands and make beautiful items. I am a wordsmith and often make many of you laugh or cry with my tales. I love museums, history, new places, traveling, different cultures, good food and wine, single malt whiskey, music, off beat movies and chocolate. I am clean and thanks to Hermes "24 Faubourg", I smell good! Love that warm, sexy, mature, knowing, woman scent!

I can hear some of you saying, why don't you just lose weight? Well my friend, it isn't that easy. I was blessed? if that is the right word, with this superstructure between my shoulders and above my belly. I could lose a ton off my fanny, middle and even my double chins but would still carry around this interesting silhouette. It would take more than nip and tuck to make me look like Meryl or Cher, besides I'm not tall enough.

Another side of the coin, why would I be interested in men who can't see past my photos? Hmmm, because some of them are pretty darn interesting and it's a shame that our culture thinks that Goddesses only come in tiny slim little packages.

I have written about some of the unique men who have sent flirts of passion to me. Is a canned message called a flirt that says "I'm interested" or "You're Hot" really a love letter? I think not. I had one fellow that sent every single canned flirt in the dating program but couldn't send an original message to say why he was interested in me.

I have canceled e-Harmony. They never sent me anyone who matched me and wasn't 500 miles or so from Las Vegas. I could not and do not understand why  - when I clearly said in my profile that I am a progressive Democrat or a liberal with a capital "L", they kept matching me with guys in Scotsdale who were McCain followers or who thought Ronald Regan was the last great political figure. So e-Harmony is gone but they keep sending me offers.

I have also canceled "Plenty of Fish". It looked at first like they had plenty of men but I soon found that many of them were recycled! I also could not understand their website. I want to see who had viewed my profile in chronological order. As time went by, I found that many of the men who were in the "viewed you" listing hadn't been active on the site for a month, three months or more.They also have a lot of "bathroom photographers". These are men who are taking their own photos in the bathroom mirror so the women in their lives don't know what they are doing.

Singlenet is also past tense although they keep sending me notices of matches, which I just delete. I have asked to be removed from the site but they continue! Can't say I ever found anyone of interest there. They were always sending a notice that this fellow or that fellow was a match. The poor guy may have never viewed my profile and didn't know I even existed.

So I am still on SeniorPeopleMatch. Of what I have seen, this site is one of the best. I do get flat out weird flirts and messages from some guys. The situation: My photos are up because I am honest and upfront about myself. This program allows you to monitor and see who is looking at your profile (photos included if they post any). About two months ago, I noticed a small number of men were looking at my photos once or twice a week. The total views keep increasing. Five times, seven times, nine times and so on. We were standing around, drinking coffee before the show opened Sunday morning and I was ruminating on this phenomena when some asked what I thought was going on. I replied that I think they are whack jobs looking at my pictures. After everyone stopped laughing, she asked, well isn't there some way you would charge them? I love creative people! We started giggling about this and I begin to wonder if somewhere out in cyber land there are existing sites where a fee is charged to men to see certain pictures and duh! Of course there are! But my friend, never fear, I prefer to continue to find gainful employment in the regular way! But I deleted the photo which showed me standing beside my dear little car in full bloom.

You know since I begin this quest, I have looked at and read maybe two hundred of more profiles posted by men from all over the world. Yes, some are scams. Some are what I consider marginal men who for one reason or another may never attract someone. They still have the need to reach out even when repeatedly rejected. These are the guys who seem to be viewing my photos multiple times. I could block them from my profile and I've thought about this but really, as long as looking at my picture is the extent of their contact, how are they harming me? We all need dreams to keep us going.

I have found that in this information age with all our high speed, instant communication, there are a lot of lonely people looking for companionship. Men retiring from jobs which were their lives and identities, only to find that the world for them has changed and they are socially and sometimes geographically isolated
in a community without friends or family. I haven't found many of the people who can afford to live in the "Sun City" type retirement developments on any of the dating sites. In fact, I have noticed that the majority of men who state they are retired claim incomes ranging from $18,000 to $25,000 per year and are looking for a woman who has her own retirement income for "long term relationships."


Finally, being somewhat weary of brain today, I received three of the canned "I'm interested in you" flirts today and I e-mailed back a reply with a nicely phrased question which is basically: "Why?" What is there in my profile that strikes your interest? I figure if they can't get past that question, then there isn't much in common. As of this posting, I have two "no responses" and one snarly "if that's the way you are, not interested!!".

And so it goes...I'm still trucking down the highway of life!

Light and Love,

Granny B