I was drawn to Mad Men right from the beginning. I like a lot of things about the show: the characters, the acting, how it takes you back in time and shows you a glimpse of life from a time gone by, and even the ad aspect.

Marketing and advertising have always fascinated me. In fact, I went to college in hopes of becoming an ad woman!

I elected to be a marketing major, but come sophomore year it was pretty obvious changing my major was going to be in order if I wanted to graduate. I couldn’t pass accounting or economics to save my soul, and I needed those to be admitted into U of A’s Business School’s marketing program.

Instead I went with Communications. Similar lines, but no accounting or economics.

But that’s a story for another day. (Or is it? I guess I already told it.)

Back to the appeal of Mad Men…

Last night when I climbed into bed I started flipping channels. That’s when the Joy Behar Show on HLN caught my eye.

There was a caption on the bottom of the screen as the ladies were talking that said something about one of the actresses on Mad Men being a size 12. Then it said how the director prefers the women on the show to look “natural.”

As opposed to the concentration camp thin look most of the other actresses on 99% of the other TV shows go for?

THAT’S why I think Mad Men also appeals to me so much. Because I see those women, many of whom are extremely attractive, but many of whom are also just “regular,” and can actually relate to them.

They look like pictures of family members in photo albums I have from back at that time. They look “real.” They look like people who may have really lived then.

They don’t look like some illusions of beauty they’re trying to live up to based on someone else’s notion of it.

I think there’s a hint of irony in all of this somewhere. Or maybe more than a hint. What’s beauty after all? What we’re sold it being, which anymore means super thin, white teeth, shiny hair, good muscle tone, firm and unblemished skin…See where I’m going with this? I bet you can think of half a dozen products you’ve seen advertised just this morning that promote these things to you with the underlying promise you’ll be more beautiful if you use them.

Don’t get me wrong. Even on Mad Men the women all strive for a beauty ideal being sold to them via movies and TV at that time. Not much has changed in that respect. I feel it’s just gotten more intense these days.

Every Wednesday I get a quote from Women’s Wednesday Weblink. I really liked today’s.

People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. ~Salma Hayek~

When was the last time you beheld yourself? I say go behold yourself today and take a minute to appreciate all the things that make you beautiful!

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Yesterday started off pretty much like every other Sunday. Wayne went on his 14 mile run with the neighbor, I enjoyed my Sleeping in Sunday ritual. Later there’s always the big decision: what are we going to do for breakfast?

Since he had work to do still (he’s been working the last 2 weeks, including weekends, on a big deal) and I was craving link sausages, we decided I’d run to the store and make us breakfast at home.

So I took off, got the stuff, and came home. That’s when disaster struck –or, rather, my klutzy ways did.

I stepped wrong and my foot caught the side of our driveway…the part that’s not flush with the lawn. My ankle twisted under me as I crashed to the ground screaming.

I felt it bend funny, and could’ve swore I felt something snap. Judging by the searing pain shooting through my leg and foot I thought I’d for sure broken my ankle.

Bawling my head off like I haven’t done since I was a kid, I started screaming for help hoping Wayne would hear. Then, still laying sprawled out on the ground because it hurt so bad and I was afraid to move, my mind raced trying to figure out how what to do next.

I grabbed my cell and called home. The second Wayne answered I started screaming, “Help me! Help me! I’m outside!”

Now he says I hung up on him, but I swear he hung up. I thought he heard me and was on his way outside so I clicked off and then waited for the door to open.

And waited. And kept waiting.

“What the heck is taking him so long?” I thought.

Bear in mind, I’m still laying on the ground bawling my head off.

A few more seconds passed and still no Wayne. I called him again, this time on his cell.

“Where the hell are you? Help me! I’m outside. I fell down! I think I broke my ankle!”

“What? Where are you?”

“OUTSIDE! Get the hell out here and help me, dammit! I can’t walk!”

Finally the front door opens and when he sees me he comes racing over to help me get inside.

Later he explained that he couldn’t understand me very well the first time I called. All he knew was I was hysterical and he thought I’d been in a car accident or had somehow run over an animal.

The second he thought of that last one he started racing around the house to make sure all of our animals were inside. (Because Mr. Meow is a good one to sneak out lately without us realizing it right away.) He started panicking I’d killed one of them on accident or something.

“Why didn’t you just look outside?” I asked.

“Because I thought you were still at the store. Or on the on the road.”

I sort of understand what he’s saying, but I’m fairly sure if he called me up howling that he was outside, even if I knew he’d been at the store, I’d at least go look out the window to see what was going on.

What I should’ve done, which I didn’t think of until I was falling asleep last night, was to set off my car’s emergency honking button. Maybe that would’ve gotten him to look out the window?

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My cousin sent me my aunt’s obituary shortly after the funeral. The monsignor had referenced it during the funeral mass, but I hadn’t read it. I asked if someone could make sure I got a copy.

I didn’t realize until I got ready to post it here with the thoughts that follow it that there was also a picture that went with it. My email program doesn’t always automatically open them.

SoI manually opened it and was shocked by the reaction I had to seeing my aunt’s smiling, vibrant face.

That was my Aunt Alice. Not the lady I’d paid my last respects to in her coffin. That version of my dear aunt looked fake and unreal, like a mannequin.

But the lady smiling in the picture was Alice E. Kotso. Known to some as “wife,” to others as “mom,” to their children as “grandma,” to her brother as “sister,” to others of us as “aunt,” to her husband’s side as an “in-law” (though many dropped that and just called her “sister” or “daughter”), to her longtime friend Irene as “BFF,” to many others as “friend.”

And here’s what was written about her:

It is with deep regret that we advise our Membership of the passing of Alice Kotso, dear wife of OFCC Member Joseph Kotso.

Alice E. Kotso (nee Mroch), age 75, of Munster passed away Saturday, July 24, 2010 at Northwest Memorial Prentice Women’s Hospital of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). She is survived by her loving husband, Joseph of 51 years, 5 months and 17 days; loving daughters: Kimberly and Katherine; loving son, Michael (Leticia) Kotso; nine grandchildren: William and Elizabeth Sears, Nicole Mammano, John-Paul, Teresa, Joseph, Mary Alice, Christopher, and Rebecca; one brother, Ralph Mroch of Denver, CO; several nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in -law; and friend of 56 years, Irene Henry of Alexandria, VA, she was a college roommate and sorority sister. Preceded in death be her granddaughter, Claire-Marie Kotso.

She lived for the love of her family and especially her grandchildren taking them on trips to Europe and beyond for life experiences. Alice and her husband travelled to over 40 countries, most recently this past May travelling to Korea, China and Tibet. She was the owner of the former Hoosier Travel Agency.

Alice served as first district Vice-Chairman of the Indiana Republican State Central Committee in 1971-72. In 1984, in Dallas, TX, she was a delegate to the Republican National Convention when President Reagan declared the ‘84 convention “The Year of the Woman”. She was also in attendance at five additional national conventions with her husband.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 10:00 AM at St. Thomas More Church, Munster, IN with MSGR. Joseph Semanchik celebrating the mass.

Friends may call at the Burns-Kish Funeral Home, 8415 Calumet Ave., Munster on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 from 2:00-8:00 PM. Entombment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests any memorial contributions in her name be made to a Cancer Research Fund or Carmellite Fathers in Munster. www.burnskish.com

It’s a wonderful obituary. It covers the bases. Her family was always her first and foremost priority. She loved to travel. I do believe some of her happiest years was when she ran her travel agency.

But then there’s the stuff that’s left out.

For instance, I once remember her telling me a story about how Uncle Joe suggested she join some kind of women’s group. (I forget exactly what it was about.)

She did. She gave it a go. She said she lasted one meeting and never went back.

“I didn’t have time for all that nonsense. I saw right away the politics, back-biting, and other shenanigans. I don’t have time for that. I have a family to take care of.”

That sort of surprised me. After all, Joe was so involved in politics. It seemed there lives were one social occasion after another. I figured she’d want to be out there as much as possible making more connections for him.

Not so. She’d pitch in and help in limited ways, but she wasn’t going to head anything up on a permanent basis.

And as for friends, other than her very dear friend Irene, she didn’t really let people get close. She’d let them in a little, but not all the way.

Then there’s the other stuff. Like how she knew how to drive a truck (the moving truck/semi kind of truck, not just a regular ol’ truck). That was mentioned during her funeral mass.

Or her love of golf and the hole in one she made on a course in Palm Beach. She told me that story on our vacation to St. Lucia. Her eyes absolutely lit up with pride. (As well they should have. She’s the only person I’ve ever known personally to make a hole in one!)

Or how, when I once asked her of all the places she’d been, where was her favorite and the one she couldn’t wait to get back to, she responded by stating her home address.

“I love to see the world, but there truly is no place in it like home.”

And her obit certainly doesn’t convey the grace, sass, warmth, wit, style, and elegance she had. Or the way people just couldn’t help smiling and laughing when they were around her. She had that certain kind of magic to just lift people up.

But that picture finally made it hit home she’s gone. I’ll never get to be in my aunt’s enchanting presence ever again. None of that had hit me quite like it had until today seeing her picture

Aunt Alice, thank you so much for all of the love and memories you’ve tucked in my heart. I am missing you so much.

Me and Aunt Alice when she came for my book launch party. Jacksonville, FL 2004

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I have been neglecting my poor personal blog again. Quite a while ago (we’re talking months), Jessica at Ghost Stories and Haunted Places was kind enough to pass the Beautiful Blogger Award on to my humble little Court’s Corner.

I decided I needed to hurry up and acknowledge it so I can pass along the award. (Even though I’m positive all the blogs I’m passing it to likely have already received it before.)

At any rate, thanks again, Jessica, for honoring Court’s Corner with such a nice nod.

Now on to the award process…

BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD RULES

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

I’m doing them a smidge out of order because I was always taught it’s impolite to talk about yourself first. (Never paid much mind to directions though.)

15 BLOGS COURT’S CORNER PASSES THE BEAUTIFUL BLOG AWARD TO:

1. A Baked Creation
2. A Fanciful Twist
3. Above the Norm
4. Candid Canine
5. Charli and Me
6. Cuisine Kathleen
7. fiberdoodles
8. Frog on the Pumpkin
9. Jade Walker’s Oddities
10. Maggie’s Station Stationery Blog
11. Marbella Jewelry Designs
12. Mommy D’s Kitchen
13. The Random Mind of Miss Julie
14. The Stiletto Gang
15. The Whimsical Cottage

7 THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:

1. I lived with two guys at the same time before I was married. (One was my boyfriend, who later became my husband, a.k.a. Wayne. The other was our gay roommate.)
2. Part of me regrets not studying meteorology in college. I’m fascinated by the weather. The Weather Channel is definitely one of my faves.
3. I have some form of IBS. Or something. Basically I carry all my emotions in my gut. If I get upset, too stressed or too excited, so does my tummy. It’s caused more emergency potty stops than I can count, and has put me in some pretty embarrassing situations. It’s why I’m always apprehensive about doing things with people for worry about how my tummy will behave. (Or not behave.)
4. I’m nuts for games: Wii (any kind of video games really), air hockey, Foosball, word searches, trivia, and especially find the difference between the pictures games.
5. I’ve always wanted to do a triathlon, but so far have never buckled down to give it a go. (And I’m not talking the Ironman kind Wayne does. I just want to do one of the mini kinds where you swim like 400 yards, bike 12 miles and run 2 or 3 miles.) Maybe I’ll shoot for that in 2011.
6. I believe I might’ve lived before and am curious about having a past life regression session.
7. People are always telling me what a great cartoon voice I have. I think it’d be fun to do voice overs for cartoon characters!

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