Grudge, Grinch Syndrome

Oh, by the way I made that title up! Any way about a year before my husband and I got married we were hanging out one day in the kitchen. (His favorite place) He said that he needed a haircut. I told him the best place for him to get one would be to go to a barber or a beauty shop. Probably with a hint of sarcasm. Well I got exploded on and was told in no uncertain terms that he would never go to a beauty shop or a barber for that matter. Of course, curious mind that I have I “inquired” …and the reason for that is? I again got an explicit reply, “I went to a barber several years ago and he butchered my hair.” I replied, “Good grief. So one is bad that makes all of them bad?”

Cedar County
Courthouse

“I don’t care I am not going to a barber.” Then and there he wanted me to give him a hair cut. Well, darn the bad luck he liked the way his hair looked and I think he put the amendment in our marriage license. I couldn’t believe that he would carry a grudge that long. I asked him about a year ago why he wouldn’t go to a barber. He said, “why would I pay a barber, when you do it for free?” Hmm I thought I am going to remind him of this conversation when he buys an expensive tool.
Well, this morning as I once again was giving him a haircut, I grinned to myself because I have his full attention. He was not allowed to watch television. I got a little kiss and a big hug. I guess these little perks make up for the long lists of amendments to the license that is filed at the courthouse. Although the amendments are not visible to anyone else but us, they are still there. The picture above is exactly where it is filed.

A Blog

Lu's Place  a simple way to get there is to go to the crossroads of mrsfrenchie1.blogspot.com

Two years ago I had no clue what a blog was. Oh, my daughter was writing one but I didn’t understand what she was talking about. She was forever writing something.
I have written before that a Reader’s Digest article, telling folks to write about their memories prompted my daughter and my brother to convince me that I should write a blog because I love to tell stories. It took some doing. But here I am. I enjoyed telling stories about the beginning of my life and where I lived. I enjoyed telling funny stories about my brother and on and on.

The whole idea was to let my grandchildren and children know what their mother and grandmother was about.
I seriously doubted no one other than my daughter and my brother has read it. My cousin reads it occasionally and so does my niece. One day I decided to get a Stat Counter. It shows me that I have hundreds of readers and readers in many many foreign countries read it as well. I noticed that some of my  high school friends were reading also. I had a lot of fun with that for a long time. I still enjoy it, but like every thing it is not new any more. I have written almost four hundred stories; now many of them are about every day life and how crazy it can be in my little world.
Today I was a little bored so I started reading one of my very good friend’s blog. She has twin grandchildren and two sons. I reread her blog and the tears started running down my cheeks. You know in the old days grandparents had to wait for weeks or months for pictures of their sweet little grandchildren. By the time they got them they had grown so much they hardly recognized them by the time they got to see them in person. The mom of the twins is a photographer and does a fantastic job of preserving time for the rest of the family.
I also do “blog jumping.” It is so much fun. I can travel the world and read what people across the ocean are doing.
Well I have nothing to write about today. The gnats are dead. Their funeral was way way ahead of schedule.
I boiled down ten pounds of chicken for chicken and noodle soup tomorrow. Went to town and bought a few groceries and took a nap. That is as exciting as my day got today. I hope you enjoy visiting Lu’s Place. I love to visit. If you like to visit, make some comments. We can email each other and have a good time. Bye!

Antihistamines, Antibiotics, Shots, And Ice Cream

Once my children decided to make their journey into adulthood and go their own way, I decided that, yes, I was still their mother, but the extreme every day weight of parenthood was gone.
My children have been out of their childhood home for years and years. Two of them have given me beautiful grandchildren and one of them gives me regular hugs and visits and tells me how good I can cook!
Seldom do they ask for my advice, I know if they do, they will do what they want to anyway.
Well, Fran and I developed empty nest syndrome. We needed to be greeted excitedly when we came home. We needed a little cold nose to wake us up in the morning. Most of all we needed a little dog to make us laugh when she plays “soccer.” We needed a dog to buy surprises for and to feed tidbits from our table even though she shouldn’t have them.
I have written several stories about Maggie May and posted lots of pictures of her.

This week Maggie is sick. I have been beside myself. I have been crooning, holding, waiting for her to get better. Instead she got worse. I tried to convince Fran that she sounded like she had kennel cough. She was coughing so hard she could hardly catch her breath. The only time she is around other dogs is at the groomer. It was a long shot, but the other thing was she was sneezing all the time. Actually I am very jealous of her ity, bity sneeze. When I sneeze, it sounds like a shotgun going off!
This morning Maggie made a much needed trip to the Vet. She had a temperature, she had an allergy, and so she got two different kinds of pills and a shot of antibiotic. Poor baby!! We made a trip to the grocery store so that the pills will go down easier AKA ice cream.
I now have a “baby” to take care of again.  I worry now that I see her being lethargic (probably from the shot). Now if you don’t mind, I have to go take care of my little girl. She needs me.

Who Needs Advice?

Some of you that are parents may or may not have asked your mom or dad for advice. I would love to know just how many of you heeded the advice of the “old folks.”
Many many years ago in a little town I lived in there was an old lady that babysat for every kid that was ever born there, I swear that was true. Her back was bent with age and arthritis, she had a very sharp nose, and to complete the picture, she had a large wart on the side of her nose. Oh wait her name was Hazel. I kid you not.
She welcomed young mothers to have coffee and to visit about all the little ones she had to care for over the years. She took in these children because her husband had died and pretty much left her penniless.
One day I decided to visit her because one of my children had diaper rash that was text book. The only thing that didn’t happen was a blister. She off handedly told me to make some oatmeal and let it cool to lukewarm and mash bananas in it. Of course, I questioned her about the rational. Very simply she said, “Well, girlie, if it is good for the inside, it is good for the outside.” I took my baby home and immediately made the “ointment” and within just a few days the fiery red rash was gone.
Now I question the young mothers out there would any of you try that, or would you go to Walmart or any grocery store and buy some salve for it?

I called my mother about it and told her that it worked within a day or two. She was quiet for a minute or so and said, “You know what, that mixture makes a lot of sense. I wish I would have thought of that myself.” Old wives’ tales people laugh at, often have an inner working theory that works wonders.

A Long Time Ago....

The time I am thinking about was such a long time ago. I may have been six because I can barely remember it. It is so interesting because I watch and hear about children including my grandchildren going here and going there. I really don’t think they think a thing about it.
If in fact, I was six years old this outing was sixty years ago. It stuck in my memory all these years.
You have to understand that would have been 1949 or 1950 that my mom and dad and my little brother and I went to Sioux City, Iowa to see the Blackwood Brothers.
The trip was about fifty or sixty miles in our old car that may not always be dependable but I don’t remember ever having a flat tire, however. Our car looked kind of like the Modern P.T. Cruiser made by Chrysler.

The arena seemed huge to me. I smile to myself when I think about it. There were no plush chairs to sit in. The chairs were slat chairs, which I may add very uncomfortable for a wiggly little girl to sit in. I can vaguely remember my mother holding my little brother through the whole performance.
In those days I already enjoyed music. My mom and dad had a Victrola and a radio. Mother played the piano and played hymns and some modern music. She also hummed a lot. She hummed when she was happy and she hummed when she was upset and angry. That is so funny I just remembered that. I do the same thing. Anyway, I am rambling.
I loved the music that the Blackwood Brothers sang.
When we listened to it the music made you automatically want to tap your feet. Of course, mine couldn‘t reach the floor; or kind of swing back and forth in time. There was no sound of music that my father loved more than a bass. The Blackwood Brothers had a bass, tenor, and baritone. The harmony was perfect.
Well the end of this story is just amazing. After the music was over, my dad walked up to the front where the singers were and bought one of their books. I still have that book.
I learned how to play piano from that little book other than the Thompson books and our hymn books.
One of the songs in that treasure book was a song called, “Little Angel Put Your Little Shoes Away.” I played that song over and over because I could sing it and play it which is no small feat for a six year old. One day my mom had tears in her eyes and asked me to stop playing it. Seeing the tears, I did not ask “Why?” I just stopped it.
A few years before I was born my older sister had been killed in a sledding accident. I am sure that song made the picture of my sister appear in her mind.
Memories are amazing things, aren’t they? Some are pleasant, some are sad, and some are painful. This memory is pleasant and sad. I miss my parents, but have such a grateful feeling of having had them as my mom and dad.

The Life Span Of A Gnat

If you read some of my previous posts you will remember we had a lot of tomatoes in our garden. We would pick some that weren’t quite ripe and put them on a little table on the porch to finish ripening. Well, that was a mistake because the table had a varnished finish. Sooooooo the last of the in-completes had to come in the house to finish up. I never gave it a thought that some of those tomatoes had little splits on them or bad spots on the bottom that I couldn’t see. We used them as fast as we could, I made sauce, used them in salads, canned some of course, made goulash, spaghetti sauce; you name it.

We used all of ours. Then our neighbor gave us some of hers; now we have gnats!! Not just a couple. We now have swarms of gnats. We have not had a tomato on our counter for weeks. I have gotten to the point of spraying hairspray on them. It doesn’t kill them, but they stick to wherever they are when I spray them. I poured vinegar down the drains. I actually think that they like it.
I got on the computer and it said to punch holes in a baggie and inside the baggie to put a half of a banana. The gnats will go inside and can’t get out. Well, I just didn’t understand that would work. I know, it would have been really cheap to see, but I didn’t. On another chat room, someone said to get a spray bottle put water and just a little drop or two of dawn. They said it works because it is heavy and the gnat then cannot fly.
Today I have slapped myself in the face so many times I have a headache. I just cannot stand them! I killed them with my hand. I killed a gazillion of them with my Dawn dish soap bottle. It really does work. However, you do have to be careful not to spray next to where you are going to fix supper; the gnats want to help. You also don’t want to carry it into the place where your computer is. I put two towels over the computer so I could spray them. I suddenly thought, NO! I will ruin my computer. So that’s when I started to slap my face.
Last but not least I used my computer to see how long these blankety blankety blank gnats live…….I could not believe my eyes; FOUR MONTHS!
I counted it up the gnats should be gone by Christmas. They will either be gone or I will have stock in bananas and Dawn dishwashing soap and/or tranquilizers. They lay in wait ‘til I lay down for a nap. I just now had one try to crawl up my nose. I just don’t know how much I can take.
Isn’t it interesting that with every new year I learn something new because I experience something new.
I will have them gone by Thanksgiving!!

A Doohickee

This is the space for the picture of the doohickie in my fridge. I tried and tried to put it in but my new software that I loved quit. So..... just use your imagination. I am sure that there are millions of doohickies in this world.

We have been having trouble with our refrigerator. Today is the second time I have had to clean out the refrigerator because it has water underneath the crisper drawers.

Bending over to clean the refrigerator is almost excruciating pain for me. Throwing out stuff is not the same as cleaning. I proceeded to my sleuthing this morning determined to find the source.

Yesterday I bought some sliding drawers for it so it will be easier for me to get things out of the fridge.

I had to take most things out to get them organized for the sliders. As I was doing this I again found all this water; even in the butter container. My husband and I were both irritated because some things were ruined.

He finally went outside disgusted. I continued on my search. I took things out, put things back in the drawers and then it happened. I hit something in the back of the fridge and it fell down. There it was…..a doohickey! This little doohickey catches the water when the freezer defrosts. I was so excited. I then saw all the water on the back walls of the refrigerator.

The next thing I had to do is solve the puzzle of how to put it back in the hole that holds it. It was like one of those Chinese puzzles that you can buy at the carnival. But I did it!

Little does that little doohickey know, but I am on to it. I will carefully watch that it is doing it’s job!

Quitting Smoking And Cutting Your Toenails!

Keeping my hands busy since they don’t have a cigarette in them has been a trick. Not only for me, but for my husband also. This week we have made a pack  pact that we will really really lose weight.

The other night we had company and she too had gained  weight and the amount was exactly thirty pounds since she quit smoking. 

We saw her again last night at karaoke and I told her that it was to the point that I didn’t feel good and that I also couldn’t do things that was not a problem before because I was so fat. I told her that cutting my toenails was almost impossible. She laughed and laughed and said, “Well it is impossible for me, I had to get a long gripper that old people have and put a fingernail file in it and file my toenails with it.” We laughed ‘til we were almost sick, then I said, “Well my problem is lack of exercising. I use the excuse that it is too hot.” We visited for a bit and the topic of being too heavy came back and she said, “But it’s just too hot!” We laughed and laughed, but the problem is no laughing matter. My husband and I quit as a team and we will lose as a team. We already have discussed a plan, now we just have to stick to it.

Wish us luck!

From The Beginning......

Many years ago maybe forty, we lived in a small town in South Dakota. The house was huge and it had a good sized unattached garage. It was probably a carriage house originally.

One day there was a knock at the door. An elderly man and a younger lady explained why they were there.

Many years ago the man had planted many of the big tall trees in our yard. They were huge trees. Many of them were elm threes and presented much needed shade in the hot summers.

The man wanted to walk around the house and look to see the changes and the things that still looked the same.

He wanted to go to the garage as quickly as he could. He was a big man with white hair and a quick smile.

When he got to the garage he got very quiet. He kind of shook his head and then he closed his eyes. He was remembering when he was a young man and things that had happened years and years ago in that building. This unexpected visitor had invented the first vending machine in our garage!!

He looked at the house and smiled and then he looked at my children. He said that shortly before we bought the house he had wanted to buy back the house and have it bulldozed down because it was in such bad repair. He then found out that my husband and I had bought it so he couldn’t go ahead with his plan. When he saw what we had done with his old home, he was very pleased.

Isn’t it interesting how you just never know who is going to be behind the door when you open it? That was a very interesting visit. I just remembered that visit the other day when I saw someone use a vending machine. The elderly man sold his rights to the patent and made a lot of money, however he could have been a billionaire if he had not, I am sure. I think it is kind of like winning the lottery and having the choice of taking lump sum vs. cash every year for life. Hmm.

'Tis The First Week Of August

'Tis the first week of August and this is the week my daughter was born forty three years ago.

'Tis the first week of August and football begins!

‘Tis the first week of August and some little ones are going to their first year of school, or are returning to school.

‘Tis the first week of August and the chiggers are attacking.

‘Tis the first week of August and already the garden is pulled up and gone. The cleaning up and making it look nice will wait til the chiggers have moved on.
‘Tis the first week of August and the deer have found our melon patch. Those plants have been pulled as well as the others.
‘Tis the first week of August and the heat of July has followed into our beginning of fall.
‘Tis the first week of August and the State Fair is over.
‘Tis the first week of August and we are expecting our new roof on our house to save us lots of money on propane as we were promised!

‘Tis the first week of August and although it brings it’s problems, we would like to see more of them so we can continue complaining.

Flight Of Honor

If my kids’ dad would have lived, he would soon be eighty six years old. To know him was to love him. Life with him was a new joke every day, or to hear jokes repeated every day.
For many years he did not think he would ever have children. Because of that, he was very involved in boy scouts, baseball etc. He also loved his nieces and nephews and enjoyed being around them.
When he was a young man he was in the army. He was in active combat in World War 11. In the county that he lived in he was the most decorated soldier during that time. He had a bronze star, a silver star, and others that I don’t remember.
Then he was almost forty three he found himself the father of a cute little baby girl. Then two years later, a little red haired boy, then nine years later, another little boy. He now had his family that he had always wanted.
As the kids grew up the little girl enjoyed softball. One time I remember that he disagreed with a call that a referee made. The referee yelled at the kids’ dad and told him that if he thought he could do a better job he could change places. In a heart beat, he was out on the field and finished the game! Of course, that was a very long time a go. He died about ten or eleven years ago and is missed very much.
You may wonder about the title of this post, however, it is really very appropriate. In Missouri, they have an activity called Flight Of Honor for World War 11 veterans. There is like a lottery that veterans can get on a flight to Washington D.C. to see the monument in honor of those veterans that also honored their country.
The kids’ dad would have liked to have gone on that trip, but I think he would have liked to have had his children with him. Almost every time they show the veterans getting on the plane, they also tell the names  and pictures of veterans that died before they could go on the trip.
The trip is financed by private funds and charities so if you have a chance to help, please do so. I have seen tears on the faces of the veterans which express how much it means to them.
The picture is one of the young man who fought for his country and helped keep his country safe from a dictator. He was a private at this time in Macon, Ga.
At his time of discharge he had the rank of Master Sergeant.

Old Gifts

         

Years ago, I mean a whole lot of years ago, my daughter-in-law gave me a very simple gift. It was a pint jar of pretty red and yellow tomatoes. I don’t know what kind they were. They are not regular, are not cherry. I have no clue, but they are so pretty mixed together in a jar.
I have never opened that little jar because for two years I used it as a decoration on my stove. Then I moved and for five years I used it for decoration on my stove again! They just looked so pretty on my stove that is black and white.
When I got  married, I decided to move the little jar. I decided it was going to decorate my toaster oven. You have no idea how many people have picked that jar up and looked at it. Most ask or presume that I canned them. Of course, I have to deny that I did not.
Today I decided that I would put a picture of them in this post. I would love to know what you folks know about tomatoes. Are they in fact tomatoes? It really doesn’t matter, I just know that they are very pretty and where I travel they will go.
My mother used to say that home made gifts are the best because you know that the person that made it for you was thinking of you the whole time that they made it for you.
It is interesting how that works in reverse too, isn’t it?

Best Friends

Will Rogers once said “A best friend is someone that knows you and likes you any way.” I always thought that was very true.
I have a best friend that has been just that for seventeen years. We have seen the very best and the very worst of each other the whole way through. People always thought we were sisters. We generally wore our hair somewhat alike and the same color. She was a little taller, but no big deal. We laughed and cried together a lot. We certainly did not agree with each other all the time. In the good old days she would watch my back and I would watch hers. I think you know what I mean.
Our guys would throw us great big birthday parties even with bands once or twice. We were a fun duo.

My friend is very ill now which, of course, makes me very sad. However, she is still telling me what to do. She has taken that “seat of honor” lately especially. Every day it seems she has a list of things she thinks I should do.

Today it was an easy way to make pie crust since I am having so much difficulty with it any more. My hands shake so much I end up with half of it on the floor. She told me to buy a cheap refrigerated one. She also told me that it was very flaky. I did what she said, of course. I learned a long time ago, Carole Knows Best. Guess what, it took me about five minutes to put that crust together for a pie.
Hopefully, it will be a long long time that she will continue to hold that “seat of honor”. I still need someone to tell me the right thing to do.