Designer Kitchenware

Back in the olden days, at least ONE company made a single slice toaster. I don't understand why nobody does that today, considering how many people living alone want to control their weight. They make 'em so they go in side-by-side, even big bagels, but for only one piece? I found this photo years ago and I think someone had one for sale but the wiring was iffy, so I periodically check to see if it's come back in style.

Look what I found this morning: a designer toaster, Dolce and Gabbana for SMEG, sold through Williams-Sonoma, isn't it pretty? Only $650, free shipping, I should hope. I immediately grabbed my little disk-things to search old photos for Mom's badly burnt le Creuset casserole which I painted for fun, couldn't toss it.

I couldn't give this thing away, I tried; and it's one of the items back in storage (a composite is at the bottom).  Do you think I'm gonna haul this hunk of iron across the country?  It'll wind up in a Goodwill somewhere back east.

Sour grapes? You betcha. I've been painting my tuckus off for the past couple decades, but either the economy's been bad, or people didn't appreciate the time it takes to create original art, or I'm just plain unlucky.  And a bad businesswoman, but that's why I now volunteer.

Whoever designed and painted the original toaster and this kettle, also $650 on their site, sure as hell isn't getting more than a single-digit commission (if that) from each sale, I'd bet my last dime.  It's like those shops that sell crafts imported from third-world countries. People without shoes and electricity are cranking them out for less than a dollar an hour, or day, and all the middlemen are getting rich.

I say that because most artists in this country, not only painters, feel fortunate to average $5 an hour (one friend joked, 'a nickel'); tell me I'm lying. No minimum wage guarantee for us.

But that's our choice. Freedom of Expression, which I demonstrate in different ways. This pitcher was used by Dad while painting and it was a mess; now owned by Sis (it wouldn't sell)

Below is an old Lazy Susan from Goodwill brought back to life; given to a friend (it wouldn't sell) before some previous move.  At least I save stuff from landfills, that should be worth something.

I can't paint like I used to, so if you say, "Oh, I'd buy something like that," it's too late.  I'm intentionally giving my teardrop the unkempt look for that reason.

It's just crazy to me that someone who has $650 to waste on a toaster doesn't put that money towards a more philanthropic purpose. In the Southern Hemisphere it equates to some family's income for a year.  If it wasn't for Social Security it would for me.

It'll be after MY 100 years are up, but I hope that in a future Utopian society people will survive, and thrive, by bartering what they're best at - that could be reading...to blind people who want more than headphones, why not?  Anything lacking could be acquired from a collective warehouse, you get what I mean.  I know it's crazy, but tell me you never thought Trump would be elected and doubt he will be again.