My View from the Porch

She has the antidote to our political withdrawal: Bubble baths & eating chocolate “wacky cake”

By CARLA OFFENBURGER
January 15, 2008
COOPER, IOWA

Oh, it’s tough following the presidential campaign from afar now, after being so up close and personal with all the candidates for so long here in Iowa.

I think I’ve finally gotten over that they aren’t in Iowa anymore, but I miss all the excitement they brought to our state. I was in such political withdrawal immediately after caucus night that we lugged our little television set downstairs so we could watch ABC-TV’s debates for the Republicans and Democrats in New Hampshire on Saturday, January 5. It’s the first debate we watched on TV – all others we listen to on the radio or the Internet.

I just had to see their faces. I’m hoping that all the states voting in the coming weeks take their role as seriously as we Iowans did. New Hampshire did its part – now let’s keep the record turnouts coming. America needs to get involved in a big way, so that big things can start happening for all of us.

Of course, I’m still pulling for Barack Obama!

WELL, AREN’T WE STUPID! My husband Chuck and I got a lot of pleasure this caucus year in saving all of the political campaign brochures we received, and sending them off to our friend Doug Bates in Centerville, Tennessee. He enjoyed them all. And we have our last batch ready to go to him, now that our political season is done for a while here.

How stupid do you think we felt when we read in the Des Moines Register that Rob Moline, of Ames, sold all of his campaign literature on eBay and got $127.50, plus $13 for shipping! The bidding started at 99 cents.

I’m trying to decide if I should bill my pal Bates or not.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I’ve often said that this country needs a “Board of Common Sense,” and I want to be the director. I always see places where folks in control have lost all common sense as they try to make some big or small decision.

Now I think the presidential candidates need a little “common sense” check. And I’m happy to give it to them.

Stop the bickering! Get back on message with what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. It wouldn’t hurt to lay out exactly how you are going to change the Washington system – and I mean specifically, don’t give us generalities.

It seems like both parties are spending so much time saying “he said/she said” that they’ve forgotten the importance of explaining what their plan is and why they think it’s the best plan.

In sports, it is often said that if you play your game well, the scoreboard will show that. Common sense tells me that might be a pretty good philosophy in politics, too.

BUBBLE BATH WEALTH. I love to take baths – and I do so several times a week. I like to read while under the warm water with bubbles surrounding me. Often, I get out of the tub only because the water gets cold. Sometimes, I re-fill the tub a bit.

For Christmas, I usually get a bottle or two of bubble bath, which during the year, I have to replenish on my own. Maybe not this year, though. As I’ve been relaxing in the tub these past few weeks, I look up at a wonderful array of bubble bath. This year I got a half-dozen bottles of Bath & Body Works bubble baths in a wonderful assortment of aromas – sparkling peach, irresistible apple, coconut lime verbena, mango mandarin, black raspberry vanilla, and sea island cotton.

Every time I look at all the colorful bottles on the bathtub ledge, I feel extremely wealthy.

THE TREE FINALLY HAD TO GO. We had our best Christmas tree ever, we both agreed.

We put our real tree right smack in the middle of the living room, with a floor plug powering the lights. I called it a tree in the round.

It was beautiful. Every ornament was on full display and the lights flickered in the evening and morning light.

The truth is, we just didn’t want to take it down. We always leave our tree up through Epiphany, but this year we held out for another week. And we enjoyed every day of it. Taking it down was as much fun as putting it up, as we shared time talking about ornaments and Christmases past – and still it took less than 15 minutes. Sigh.

I SWEAR I THOUGHT I WAS TURNING 48 ON JANUARY 14. But I leave such things to Chuck, and he swears I just turned 49. Then, my mother confirmed it. She says, “Yes, Carla you are turning 49.”

The good news is that it doesn’t really matter if it’s 48 or 49, I’m feeling happy and healthy. So I look at this birthday as another happy occasion where I can celebrate all week long.

And for me, that means, I’m probably eating chocolate “wacky cake” every morning for breakfast!

You can write the columnist at carla@Offenburger.com.