Lady Lydia: Still Living in an Alternate Universe

[LittleOwl]

Oh dear... it seems I have fallen down another rabbit hole with this one.  

 

 

[Hane]

Re “trophy wife at the high school reunion”:  Not long after my mother died, I took my dad to his 60+th high school reunion. Boy howdy—if you’re a dumpy middle-aged woman and want to feel like a cheap, slutty tramp, I highly recommend doing this. I got more side-eye than I ever had before in my entire life! (It helped that my name tag had the same last name as his, as I use my maiden name). When I went to get him one of the little bottle of wine favors that they were giving out, one of the ladies snapped, “Those are just for the class members.” I took great satisfaction in telling her, “I thought MY DAD might like one—he can’t walk very well.” 

We sat at a table with one of Dad’s old buddies, whose date was my exact age. Made for an interesting evening.

[danvillebelle]

1 hour ago, LittleOwl said:

Oh dear... it seems I have fallen down another rabbit hole with this one.  

 

BUT.....are you properly dressed for the rabbit hole?  Because if you aren't, Lydia can probably whip you up a long dress in Peter Rabbit-themed fabric, with a hat to match.  And she might make you some "carrot tea" by soaking carrot slices in hot water (she once did just that with berries, for the unfamiliar).  

[EyesOpen]

This one’s A doozy, eh?

[LittleOwl]

Can I just cut a hole in some Gingham table cloth, @danvillebelle?? I'm sure it'll make a fine dress ?

[formergothardite]

16 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

she once did just that with berries, for the unfamiliar). 

The best tea she made was when she appeared to put tea cups outside to collect rain and called it rain tea. 

[Palimpsest]

1 hour ago, LittleOwl said:

Oh dear... it seems I have fallen down another rabbit hole with this one.  

I will ready the rescue ferrets for you.  Will you require sweet or savory snacks?  Alcohol, tea, coffee or soft drinks?  As we are talking about Lady Lydia I recommend strong spirits.  You will need them.  

2 hours ago, jozina said:

Marvellous point Lydz - I have often realised I misjudged a person's wealth when I saw their fabric stash.  ?

She is properly bonkers.

The fabric stash comment made me laugh too.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.  From Lydia's rant, it sounds as though the rude foreigner(s) not only questioned her about Trump.  They also decided that she was poor and asked probing questions about the Sherman's lack of health insurance and plans for the future - especially if they were going to refuse ebil gubmint funds like Medicaid.  That put Lydia right on the spot.  I wonder if it were an Australian relative visiting Auntie Lydia.

IIRC, the house they live in belongs to the church.  Lydia has never worked outside the home.  They may have made some cash from MLMs, the artwork deal on her (monetised) blog, and Lydia's old glory days when she gave how-to lessons on ladylike tea parties to VF young ladies. 

I may have dreamed this - but didn't Pastor Sherman also have a used car lot at one point to supplement his church pay check?  Or do I just think that because it is such a Fundie pastor thing to do?

 Bottom line though, if Pastor Sherman retires (or the church dumps his aging rear) they could be homeless and up the creek without a paddle financially.  

1 hour ago, Hane said:

I was taken aback when I saw her pics and discovered that she’s at least ten years younger than I am! (I’m 65.)  As someone said upthread, she carries on like a doddering octogenarian. (No offense to the octogenarians I know, none of whom are doddering!)

Yes.  I think it was @anniebgood who set me straight about Lydia only being in her fifties.  Where is Annie when we need her?  She's crossed swords with LL a couple of times, IIRC.

[Botkinetti]

When I woke up this morning to a Lady Lydia thread I was happy. I can find her delusions of grandeur and haughty , prim attitude hilarious because she has very little influence in the world.

For anyone new to her please read her post on Katrina victims fleeing the hurricane. It perfectly encapsulates her inane world view. Rather than being worried about their safety and how she could help them she instead was worried that Europeans might think the clothes they were wearing were unbecoming and unladylike.

[Palimpsest]

11 minutes ago, Botkinetti said:

When I woke up this morning to a Lady Lydia thread I was happy. I can find her delusions of grandeur and haughty , prim attitude hilarious because she has very little influence in the world.

These days.  I think she was more influential in the past, pre the Fall of the Tool, although she's always been delusional.  LaF (and Lydia) seemed to lose impetus when Jennie Chancey left for Kenya.

I'd strongly second looking for the Katrina post, but know that she edited and deleted a lot of the more controversial parts when she got royally reamed by the internet.  She used to edit controversial posts a lot.  She also edited a vicious rant about why slavery was a Very Good Thing. - I'm not even going to look for that one for the sake of my blood pressure.

On a lighter note:  the "Booth at Career Day" post is  rewarding.  https://homeliving.blogspot.com/2016/06/girls-graduating.html

And Lydia on selfishness and why she doesn't help others relieving stress here: https://homeliving.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-without-unnecessary-stress.html

Finally, here's her archive at Free Jinger for people new to "Lady" Lydia.

https://www.freejinger.org/forum/279-lady-lydia/

[danvillebelle]

27 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

when Jennie Chancey left for Kenya.

They're back now, you know.  I like thinking about how desperately they are probably trying to avoid Doug and Be-all and/or scrub the info that they were ever involved with them. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by danvillebelle
riffles

[Lisafer]

@formergothardite is there any way you have a link to the "drawing a picture of somebody" thing you mentioned? I'm going to look for it, but it sounds hard to find!

[Four is Enough]

is this the same woman who decorated her dining room with wedding dresses draped over the chairs? I remember reading about her a while back but have lost track.

[LittleOwl]

Thanks @Palimpsest! I was thinking a red wine... but I'll take your advice of strong spirits. 

I'll pack a little backpack full of snacks for this rabbit hole! 

[Palimpsest]

16 minutes ago, Four is Enough said:

is this the same woman who decorated her dining room with wedding dresses draped over the chairs? I remember reading about her a while back but have lost track.

No, that wasn't Lydia, but I'm kicking myself because I can't remember the blog.  She had the Raptured Bride dining room and a wedding dress Christmas tree on permanent display.  It was probably discussed on a Lydia thread because Holy Dust Catchers Unite.

6 minutes ago, LittleOwl said:

Thanks @Palimpsest! I was thinking a red wine... but I'll take your advice of strong spirits. 

I'll pack a little backpack full of snacks for this rabbit hole! 

Loading Grappa and Cognac with red wine - and sending them off.   

58 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

@formergothardite is there any way you have a link to the "drawing a picture of somebody" thing you mentioned? I'm going to look for it, but it sounds hard to find!

I think @formergothardite may have meant Lydia's short lived obsession for dressing Melania Trump modestly.  Discussed here: 

 

[AmazonGrace]

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

And Lydia on selfishness and why she doesn't help others relieving stress here: https://homeliving.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-without-unnecessary-stress.html

 

Ah yes, that has always been the most powerful passage of the New Testament, in my opinion.  Who can forget that day when the Lord our Saviour divides people to his left and to his right according to whether they helped him.

And people will ask  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

And  He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do it because you were not caught up in your correspondence.

[Miranda]

38 minutes ago, Four is Enough said:

is this the same woman who decorated her dining room with wedding dresses draped over the chairs? I remember reading about her a while back but have lost track.

That’s Penny’s vintage home.    

http://penny-pennystreasures.blogspot.com/    

The weird wedding dress picture is in one of the home tour posts. 

[AmazonGrace]

https://homeliving.blogspot.com/2018/08/maintaining-your-house-when-there-is.html

Quote

It always helps to have a homemaking coach in the form of a friend who will coach you on the phone just to get you going, with questions like, "Are you dressed?" Have you had your morning tea and made a list?  Is your entry or front room, (the one first visible to you when you enter the house), presentable?

There are so many housekeeping books and sites around, your friend could read a chapter from on of these books, to help you get going.

Nothing says "a functioning adult" better than needing a friend to prompt you to get dressed and read the internet aloud to you.

[danvillebelle]

All I can think when I see blogs like Penny's Vintage Home is money.  All that money.  Thousands and thousands of dollars on...eye candy for her.  It's wastefulness at a level that makes me queasy (obviously she and anyone else can spend their money as they see fit...but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - EDIT!).

I love looking at beautiful things too - PINTEREST IS MY BESTIE.  It's my virtual hoard. 

[feministxtian]

I'm not, never have been, never will be a "functioning adult". I'm still an out of control 10 year old. I still need adult supervision most places. 

Now, after coffee, I can fake that whole "grown up" thing, well enough to roll my ass to work and be reasonably productive. 

And a "coach"...that would presume I even know a "functioning adult". I live with an overgrown 12 year old** and 2 useless felines. 

**My overgrown 12 year old is useless for "adult supervision" but he is pretty cute. 

[Palimpsest]

24 minutes ago, Miranda said:

That’s Penny’s vintage home.    

http://penny-pennystreasures.blogspot.com/    

The weird wedding dress picture is in one of the home tour posts. 

Thank you!  Here's the post with the wedding dress Xmas tree.  I haven't found the raptured brides' dining room yet.

http://penny-pennystreasures.blogspot.com/2012/12/pennys-christmas-home-tourpart-1.html

@danvillebelle, agreed.  Money.  And excess.  And impracticality.

TBH, I might like *some* of that stuff in very small doses.  I don't mind shabby chic as a look, although it is not my style.  But with Penny there is so much of it and it is so darn pink.  And the dust potential makes me shudder!

Now please excuse me while I stifle a sneeze and wander away to repurpose my antique coffee grinder into - I don't know - a bird feeder?  I'll be using pink and silver paint, obviously.  Perhaps I should find an old wedding dress to drape tastefully over the dog crate too.  Nah, the dogs would probably pull it off and use it for a bed.

[metheglyn]

1 hour ago, Miranda said:

That’s Penny’s vintage home.    

http://penny-pennystreasures.blogspot.com/    

The weird wedding dress picture is in one of the home tour posts. 

You know, that might be a fun house to do a house tour on, but I can't imagine living in all that. Yikes! SOOO much dusting, so many things to knock over. I'm a terrible housekeeper, so I'm prone to leaving things strewn around and piling up, but when I actually put everything away I'm fairly minimalist, even with my penchant for certain kinds of interesting knick-knacks. Penny's house is just super Victorian in its frilly, cluttered excess, despite being very, very white rather than dark and saturated.

[feministxtian]

Just now, metheglyn said:

'm a terrible housekeeper, so I'm prone to leaving things strewn around and piling up, but when I actually put everything away I'm fairly minimalist, even with my penchant for certain kinds of interesting knick-knacks.

I'm the same way. Most of my knickknacks are living in my garage right now. No room for curios in our current house. So, they stay in the garage b/c I'm not going to clutter up this house with crap. I'm known to just go through things and get rid of them. I hate clutter, I literally can't function with it around me. 

[Black Aliss]

7 hours ago, jozina said:

Why Hephzibah, I did hear that Lydia could only afford to stay in a hotel with two storeys, rather than one of them new fandangled ones with three or four!!

 

Marvellous point Lydz - I have often realised I misjudged a person's wealth when I saw their fabric stash.  ?

She is properly bonkers.

Not to mention her sizable portfolio investments in flower-painted china tea cups, bird cages, and silk flowers! Those alone would be enough to allow her to retire in luxury.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Black Aliss

[metheglyn]

2 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

is this the same woman who decorated her dining room with wedding dresses draped over the chairs? I remember reading about her a while back but have lost track.

I think I may have found the wedding dress chair picture in question.  Although I didn't find anything on the post about raptured brides, @Palimpsest, so maybe you were thinking of a different post? What I found is the last picture on this post. http://penny-pennystreasures.blogspot.com/2012/08/pennys-vintage-home-wedding.html#more  Penny wrote: "What can you do when you have a surplus of vintage wedding dresses???  Cover your dining room chairs with them , of course!!!!"

It's not quite as absurd as it sounds, since apparently they bought a bunch of vintage dresses for her daughter to try on for her wedding and they draped them over the chairs while they had them lying about. They didn't buy them specifically to drape them everywhere. But I'm baffled by buying all these dresses and THEN trying them on, rather than finding one you like at the consignment or antique store and then buying just that one.

Edited October 11, 2018 by metheglyn
added response to previous poster

[starfish]

On 10/10/2018 at 1:07 PM, Leftitinmysnood said:

Perhaps her husband just tells her made-up tales about travelling through  quaint Americana so she doesn't completely lose her shit about 4 level freeways and the lack of stagecoach stops. It would certainly seem easier.

"lack of stagecoach stops" !!!!! I've had a hard day---so thank you for making me laugh!!! This whole thread is hilarious.