Carly, Carly, Carly.  Will you never learn?  Is your long term memory failing you?  Is your desire to design so intense that you don't care if you have to jump through fiery hoops to be the queen of fashion? 

Carly Tenney Snyder (Maura West) is like a pyromaniac; she can't stay away from fire.  And Paul Ryan and Craig Montgomery are both going to burn her, sooner or later!  She is right in the middle of these two angry men, and of course she did it to herself. 

Carly has been a mainstay in Oakdale since 1995, and she has been into and out of trouble the entire time.  She has been motivated by her desire for money, fame, and hot loving, and no sooner does she get those three than she loses them again.  She came to town to get closer to her rich half sister, Rosanna Cabot, hoping to get Rosanna to share her wealth.  She ruined her sister's romance with Mike Kasnoff, and finally took off for the Orient to start a fashion design company in Hong Kong, with the backing of Oakdale diva Lisa Grimaldi.

Eventually she returned to Oakdale, hooked up with Hal Munson for all the wrong reasons, and soon gave birth to little Parker. But Carly also met the man who set her heart racing, Jack Snyder.  Their on again, off again romance was always hot, always tempting, and always heartbreaking for Carly.  Every time it seemed like they would be getting together, fate reared its ugly little head, sometimes  in the form of a husband, such as Winston Lowe from her Hong Kong days, and later in the form of his partner, Craig Montgomery.  Carly knew she loved Jack, but Craig was  temptation. In desperation, she finally decided to run off to Paris and continue her designing career.  But instead of sewing along the Seine, Carly was kidnapped by James Stenbeck (doesn't James just have his evil little fingers in everyone's business?).  She finally made it back to Oakdale, recovered from James's evil machinations, and got Jack back in her life.  But of course, on her wedding eve, she ended up sleeping with Mike Kasnoff!  Yes, Mike, the man whose romance with Rosanna she'd ruined, gave her a little comfort when she thought the wedding was not going to happen.  She ended up marrying Jack, but of course then Carly turned up pregnant again, and Jack and Mike were forced to play 'who's your daddy?' until little Sage was born and her DNA matched Jack's.

So Carly had her man, her children, her home, and even her sister, who forgave her and became Sage's godmother.  Was Carly happy?  Was she content?  Was she willing to wait happily  for her 'G-man' to come home every night into her everlovin' arms?  Are you kidding?  This IS Carly we're talking about!  We viewers have been treated to some very romantic Carjack love on their couch in front of their living room fire, and for most women that would be enough.  But Carly's fingers wanted to pick up that pencil and start designing again.  When Rosanna left town last month, she handed Carly a blank check to start a new fashion business, then Paul Ryan invited her to become a part of the company he shares with his mother.  So Carly could either start up her own business, or step into Paul's established company.  The only problem is that Paul hates his mother and is trying to steal the company from her, and he wants to keep Carly's involvement a secret for the moment.  Carly of course chose Paul Ryan's offer, and immediately was embroiled in meetings that required total secrecy in order to keep Babs in the dark.  Keeping that secret would be easy, except for Craig Montgomery.

Craig hates Paul, Paul hates Craig; Craig wants Paul's downfall, and Craig knows that Carly is involved.  So now Carly is caught between these two vengeful men.  She could have stayed at home with her family, or she could have taken Ro's check and started her own company.  But now she is caught between two powerful and dangerous men who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.  Craig has already manipulated her into getting his daughter Lucy away from Paul; Craig threatened to go to Barbara and tell her everything.  And if he threatened once, you know he will threaten again and again. 

What's a poor working girl to do?  Carly wants to create and be an international fashion maven.  Instead she's become a pawn that Craig will use anytime he needs to.  And Paul is using Carly too; he is busy with his payback revenge scheme against his mother, and has Carly ready to drop her fashions into the company the minute Barbara is forced out.   Paul's only difference is that he is using honey to Craig's vinegar.  Paul has sweet talked Carly into working for him.  Yep, Carly is seeing sparks, the place is starting to smoke, and I don't mean in a good way.  Carly had better watch out or she will get burned once again.  Either Craig will eventually spill the beans to Barbara, or Paul's plan will work, and either way, Carly will be caught in the middle.  Carly, I'm begging you, run for cover!  Oh well, knowing Carly as we do, we all know that very soon the fashions will hit the fan, so to speak, and she will suffer once again.  All we can do is watch for the fiery end.

And just a bit of warning, I will not have a column for next week.  I do have a good excuse, however; I will be in New York City attending the ATWT fan club luncheon on March 27.  I'm going early to meet some friends and catch a few Broadway shows, so I'm not going to even try to get a column written before then!  I'm psyched for the luncheon and the chance to see some of the fabulous ATWT actors up close and personal, and hopefully snap some pictures and gather a few autographs.  If you're going to be there, I hope we run into each other, and I PROMISE to tell you everything that happens and share my pics!  Til then, I'm in an Oakdale State of Mind!

Here's a link to Maura West's site, and be sure to check out the photos of Maura and Michael Park!

http://www.geocities.com/ttmaurawest/

Til then,

I'm in an Oakdale State of Mind!

  CAROL


 

Photos courtesy of CBS Daytime