Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Funniest And Finest Optimist

Yesterday and last night it snowed and snowed. We were very fortunate, though we had no ice and no wind. It was not a blizzard and though I have not been out, I am sure the roads will be easy to plow and clean out for the travelers this weekend.

Fran went to the living room window last night. He could see the snow fall beautifully because of our outside light was shining softly by the house. He watched for awhile then he slowly walked back to his chair. He said, “Well, I guess I am going to have to fix the snowblower now.” I was so surprised. He used and used it the last storm we had. So I told him I thought that it was working just fine. He then told me that a pin had broken and he hadn’t fixed it because the weather was in the fifties and sixties. He thought he would fix it in the spring. Have you ever heard the song called the Arkansas Traveler? That’s my Fran.

Today he is using the snowblower, however, it is blowing out of one side. I wish you could all see him, he is covered with snow. I just love him!

He is the eternal optimist. He said it was too cold to snow. Hmm, I didn’t know it snowed when it was warm!

Oh, by the way I haven't shown him the little picture of the snowman, he might not see the humor LOL


Friday, January 29, 2010

A Yummy Inexpensive Experiment








As most of you know, Fran and I love to go to a flea market/farmer’s market about eight miles from here. It is good exercise for me. Some days I have to use my cane, and some days I don’t need it. The flea market is always on Tuesdays, often rain or shine. Usually we are there with me complaining about how dumb we are.

Last fall about the last Tuesday before winter arrived the produce truck had Yukon Gold potatoes on sale for five dollars for fifty pounds. Can you imagine our good luck! Fran and I worked and worked making French fries and American fries and hash browns for the freezer. Those potatoes are so very good.

A few weeks ago I happened onto a meat sale that was smoked pork chops for eighty nine cents a pound in ten pound boxes, so I bought twenty pounds. Well, that was an ooops! That happens sometimes you know. They were so thin and so thick and some were all hide. I knew I could make soup out of them, but Fran doesn’t like beans and ham. Today I went out to the freezer to get something for supper. There were the boxes of smoked pork chops and bags of frozen potatoes. I brought them into the house, thawed them out, cut the pork chops in chunks, chopped onion and put them in the bowl, mixed mushroom soup and milk and poured that over the potatoes and ham. To finish it off I put slices of Velveeta cheese over the top and baked it for an hour. Oh yummy! I am so happy I thought of that because that will empty out the boxes of chops. Fran was surprised that is was not ham. I am so happy that I could fix the ooops.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dr. Seeley Made Home Visits





Dr. Seeley was a physician in the little town where I grew up. He had darker skin than I did, whether it was his nationality or if he spent more time in the sun than I did, I didn’t know or care, he was a very nice man. His hair was black as coal and he had black hair on his arms and he smelled like tobacco. He wore a white uniform like our pharmacists do now days.

Dr. Seeley made home office calls after his office visits. That was not unusual at all for doctors in those days.

I can remember one day he came to see me. I remember I had a lot of pain in my belly. My mother was very nervous which was unusual for her. Of course, I was very young and didn’t think of all the horrible things that could be wrong with me, thank goodness. I didn’t know that my sister had had a cyst on her ovary when she was my age. I am sure that is what my mother was afraid of, if not other horrific things. It turned out that it was only menstrual cramping and I was just fine. If that’s what you want to call it.

In those days you just didn’t take medicine. If I had a headache which was seldom I was told to lay down with a cold cloth on my head. Hmm, no aspirin?

If I told my mom I “didn’t feel good” the first thing she always asked me was had I gone to the bathroom in the last day or two. That seemed to be the question and the fix for any problem. That was one thing that was in the medicine cabinet; Ex-Lax.

Getting back to Dr. Seeley, I will never forget my last office visit to him. It was for something very simple, a polio shot. Nurses in those days, I guess didn’t do that. Anyway, he gave me my polio shot. I am here to tell you, that hurt so bad I can’t even tell you how bad. I looked down at my arm and the needle was at a ninety degree angle. I think what he did was hit my bone and it just bent right like that. I thought I was going to faint, but I didn’t. I had a very sore arm for a long time though. I guess anyone can make a mistake, but oh that hurt!


Monday, January 25, 2010

Older And Wiser








When I was about twenty seven or twenty eight years old, I had two little ones that required a lot of care. One of them especially was very “busy.”

One day I got a dull toothache. The next day I got a toothache that required some aspirin. The next day I had a toothache that made me moan with pain even with aspirin every four hours.

It seemed that the more my tooth hurt the more difficult it was to care for my little ones and the naughtier at least one of them misbehaved most often, both of them or it seemed.

I can remember not sleeping well at all those nights. Those of you that have or had little ones their little wants and needs seem to magnify when you are not feeling well. I asked friends and family about a good dentist that didn’t charge an arm and a leg. In those days we had no insurance and very little money. The appointment was made for the next day. I couldn’t believe I didn’t have to wait for several days to get in.

When I walked in the office I was the only one in the waiting room. Soon the assistant called my name and I was escorted into one of the exam rooms. In about fifteen minutes the dentist walked in and said a very curt hello. I immediately thought, “ eww not very friendly, are you guy?” The dentist had white hair, a white mustache and yellow teeth. His breath smelled old. You have to take into consideration how young I was.

He checked all of my teeth and used the little mirror and so on and so on. He told me that my wisdom teeth were bad; one especially. He said that a former dentist had filled it and now it had decayed below the filling. He would have to pull it. I felt the prickling of tears behind my eyes. I was scared to death and the old man did nothing to help me at all. He gave me three shots of Novocain. Those shots scared me too because I had had a lot of dental work done and three shots of Novocain was excessive. After letting me sit for what seemed like forever, he came in with, I kid you not a pliers. He tapped my tooth with the pliers. It did not hurt. He pried and pulled and nothing happened. I had my black patent leather purse in my lap to hold on to for dear life. All of a sudden he grabbed my purse and threw it across the room. He climbed up on my lap, yes my lap, and jerked and jerked and out came my tooth. He did not apologize at all. He said, “there you go.” He also admonished me for having a wisdom tooth filled.

I told everybody I knew not to go to him. The next day my mouth hurt so bad the pain was excruciating. The next day was worse. I called the dentist and he said since it wasn’t bleeding it was a “dry socket.” The thing to cure it was to bite on a dry tea bag. That was like magic. That took the pain away almost immediately.

Years later I am so much wiser!


Don't Take This Medicine If........................








Don’t take this medication if you are pregnant, or if you are planning on becoming pregnant. Don’t take this medicine if you are taking this medicine and that medicine. This medication could cause you to have a swollen tongue and choking symptoms. Side effects may cause you to have hives and constipation and diarrhea (that’s interesting). This medicine should not be taken if you have liver disease (some people don’t know). Don’t take this medicine if you have kidney disease (do you know?) This medication could cause respiratory failure, this one could cause heart attacks, and stroke. This medication has been known to cause depression and thoughts of suicide. This medication can cause low blood pressure and could cause blood clots and internal bleeding. This medication could be fatal.

I think this list is just a tiny tiny part of what we hear on television when companies are advertising medication.

These ads scare me to tell you the truth. How can a doctor possibly know which medicines could be a death warrant to you. One might just be the last straw and will be deadly to you and no one else.

Once my doctor gave me a statin and it made me swell up something fierce. I could barely get my shoes on. Sure enough he looked it up on his computer, it could cause swelling. Should he have done that before he gave it to me, or maybe it doesn’t do that to the majority of people. I don’t know.

One thing that I hear on television that makes me shake my head is a declaration that people that have taken brand xyz medication may have developed xxyyzz or may have developed a fatal disease from taking it, to contact telephone number 1234566. In just a few minutes I swear there was an ad for the same medication. And besides that, if you are dead you just cannot make that call!!!

One thing I do know for sure, don’t take medication from one of your friends or family members and go to your regular physician for a renewal or for a new prescription.







Saturday, January 23, 2010

Thank You Reader's Digest For The Nudge!







Well, I never thought that I would be writing a blog a year ago. I didn’t know what a blog was a year ago. I am an avid reader of the Reader’s Digest and one day they were suggesting that people with interesting lives should write their memoirs. They explained that memoirs do not have to be in exact order. I sat there in my chair and thought about if I had had an interesting life. I knew I had had a very blessed life, with three healthy children and was well taken care of as far as being warm and fed and loved by my parents and siblings. All of my grandchildren were born healthy and ornery and funny. That was the key, I wanted my children and grandchildren to get to know me better than they did then. I knew if something happened to me those stories would be gone forever.

I knew nothing about starting and creating a blog. I felt like I was trudging through thick mud with my dad’s five buckle overshoes on. Oh, it was so difficult. Once I had it done, I emailed the news to my brother. He wrote back and said that he had looked several times and couldn’t see it. He finally found it. I had to change the address. I knew nothing about it.

The next thing I had to master and am still trying to master is my spelling, sentence structure and grammar. Thank goodness for spell check.

The stories I started writing the first part of the year were about my ancestors and the settling of the little town outside of where I was raised. I thought they would be interested in those.

The most response I got were the stories I wrote about Cherokee, Iowa where I went to school. I had pictures of my schoolmates and of the many things my friends and I did there. My kids needed to know that yes, their mom played tennis and went roller skating. Imagine that!

Well, today marks my one year and two days of stories. I was sick all summer, so I didn’t get to write much then and I really missed it. Today also is my three hundredth post. I want to thank you so much for reading. I love seeing you on the stat counter and on the maps showing me where you live. You make my life happy and fulfilled. Thanks again for filling in the gaps that my loving family and friends left just for you.

Friday, January 22, 2010

The Streaker!





Giving my four year old a bath was a job that I never looked forward to. My little guy and water were like oil and water, they just didn’t mix. After he was in the tub for awhile, however, he didn’t want to get out and fought me tooth and nail when he saw me get the towels out.

My little guy was also full of pranks and loved to tease me. His blue eyes just sparkled with fun and future pranks to be seen.

Of course, like all moms know little ones are slippery when you get them out of the tub. This one particular day I did get him all dried off and his clothes laid out ready for a new day. I went to the bathroom to get him and he was gone. I ran downstairs and he was not there. I looked outside and naked as a jay bird he was running down the sidewalk as fast as he could go and looking back at me and laughing his little head off at the joke he had played on his mama.

We had just moved to the city and I am sure that the neighbors thought I was a terrible mother. But what are you going to do? Just hope for a better day and say to yourself, someday I will think this is funny. “Some” day has arrived, I am smiling as I think of my little streaker.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Pearl Test






As babies grow to toddlers, as toddlers grow to bigger children, as children grow to teenagers, and as teenagers grow to adults, we accumulate things. Among these things that we accumulate are scars.

If you take a close look at people they all have scars. Some people cover facial scars with makeup or hair combed over them. A lot of scars are covered with clothing.

Scars are caused by hundreds of things and/or people. I have a really bad scar on my arm caused by surgeries to fix a badly crushed arm from a car accident. I have a scar on my hip from a bone transplant. I have oodles of scars on my face and arm from skin cancer surgeries. Well, there is also a scar from an appendectomy, and one tiny little scar when you look at it closely looks like something took a scoop out of my leg.

The amount of blood that I lost when that accident happened was unbelievable. The scar is on my shin and the accident happened when I was having a shower. I was fifteen years old and was shampooing my hair with a shampoo called Prell. Many of you won’t know about Prell, but in the early days it was packaged in a glass bottle that looked kind of like an hour glass. Any fool would realize that when you get lather all over your hands a glass bottle is going to just slide right out and smash on the floor of the shower. Well, that’s exactly what happened with shards of glass flying all over me and the wall and the floor. There was a trick to get the shampoo out of my eyes and hair and shut the water off and get out of the shower without causing myself more mortal injury than had already been done.

The funny part of this story, if there is one, is that Prell shampoo was so widely advertised for it’s ability to make you glamorous and it’s thickness in the bottle was demonstrated by a pearl being dropped in the bottle. The pearl took forever to get to the bottom of the bottle so therefore, it was marvelous for your hair. Now remember my age, fifteen. About eight years later, Prell had added a new marketing technique. They had added Prell in a tube that you just squeezed into your hand when you were in the shower. I always figured it was because there were other people besides me that took chips out of their legs. Well, I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I continued to buy Prell in the bottle. Prell was a beautiful emerald green color. My little girl was about a year and a half old and toddled into the bathroom and reached for the bottle and it smashed into the tub and green shampoo all over the place.

I didn’t think it was a big deal and I went to work to clean up the glass. That was done in a minute because it broke into three big pieces. Then came the cleaning up of the shampoo itself. I had the worst time of my life. It came up the stool, it came up the bathroom sink, it would not go down the tub drain. It took several hours to get it taken care of. I never bought Prell again. Oh, and for those of you that are wondering about my little one, I was right behind her and put her in her highchair while I cleaned it up. They quit selling that shampoo a few years later hmm wonder why.

You might want to take a close look at how much that bottle of Prell cost in the sixties.




Wednesday, January 20, 2010

One More Is Not A Crowd







The state of Texas has always bragged about being the biggest state in the union. They brag about the biggest steaks, the biggest cowboy hats and on and on.

The state of Texas, as of yesterday afternoon about one o’clock had to make room for one more big, little boy.

That little boy’s name is Jesse James Want. The special part of this little guy is that he is my husband’s great grandson. I can’t believe this for a minute. I am just not old enough to be sleeping with a great grandfather, do you think? You don’t realize that I am plenty old enough. If anyone would look at me anymore you would think she probably has a dozen. I have let my hair go gray, Fran has gray in his hair, but the problem is, that when I look in the mirror it is a total shock. In my mind, I am about forty, I think Fran feels the same way.

Fran’s daughter put pictures on Facebook for us to look at since she didn’t have our email address with her at home. I showed Fran the pictures after I blew them up and he just grinned. He thought the baby looked like he would be able to go home if everything was alright with his granddaughter.

Fran is an old pro at this, he and his wife had six children and a posse of grandchildren! By looking at Fran’s expression however, this little guy holds his own special place in the family and his heart.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010





When I was an old teenager, fifteen or sixteen you know, I had a curfew of midnight on weekends. I was not allowed to go out during the week unless it was school activities or church related. You have no idea how much I wanted to go to “buck night” at the drive in movie. “Buck Night” was on Wednesday night, so that was a no go. I may have gone one time. You packed as many bodies in one car as you could and it only cost one dollar. Kids packed blankets and popcorn in the trunk and more or less ignored the movie. The movies at the drive in were usually horror movies anyway so I didn’t miss wonderful what we used to call “shows.”

My mother always meant what she said. When she said no, she meant no and when she said midnight she meant midnight. I was the kind of teenager to test the obvious just to see if that was in fact true. One night my boyfriend and I got to my house at eleven forty five. We sat outside the house listening to music, perhaps a little “necking.” At five minutes after midnight I walked in the house. Mother said,

“you and I had an agreement that midnight was your curfew and you are late.” Well, the fight was on. I told my mother that I had been sitting in the driveway for twenty minutes. Mother said, “That was not the agreement, IN the house was the agreement.” For the “test” I was grounded for a week.

I never did think that was a fair punishment, but I was always in the house on time after that. Her style of discipline really worked, didn’t it? That has been fifty years ago and I still remember that conversation practically word for word.


Monday, January 18, 2010

He Always Tried To Help




When I was a teenager, oh in the early sixties, Saturday night wrestling was a very very popular television must. Not only with grownups, but with teenagers. The wrestlers were all called by their names and known by their home states and countries. I can remember my own mother telling me what a nice man Yukon Eric was. He used tree limbs for weights etc. Yukon weighed two hundred eighty five pounds and had a sixty six inch chest. He did not smoke or drink. He once went into a bar and ordered a glass of milk. He was a sad man though. My mother just loved him, I think because he had a baby face.

I can remember watching my dad watch the television wrestling. I giggled to myself while dad watched. He “helped” the wrestlers involuntarily; a twitch here a twitch there. His hands would roll into fists, his shoulders would first one then the other go up and down to miss the onslaught of his formidable opponent. During this time you must not talk to dad. If you did, it wouldn’t make any difference because he was AT the “fights” and he wouldn’t hear you.

This afternoon I was watching the Vikings play against the Cowboys with Fran. I found myself “helping” the Vikings with involuntary movements. I guess it helped because the Vikings won an important game. Maybe Yukon won some matches because my dad helped him out!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Nurse Of Hope








I grew up in a small town of about eight thousand people. When I married I lived in towns of four hundred and two thousand. I think you get the picture; very small town girl.

My sister was a registered nurse. She had a gift for healing.

Her hands were the most soft and caring. They were just like my dad’s and looked like my dad’s.

Once in awhile she would call me and invite me to lunch. We lived about eighty miles apart, so that involved having to get a sitter, so it didn’t happen very often. Rosie was in charge of a lot of patients in a large hospital. One day I arrived at the hospital early and sat on a bench to wait for her. I couldn’t believe the lady in a white uniform and a nursing cap and half glasses on the end of her nose was my sister. She wore a taffeta dress uniform, white hose and shoes. Her shoes were blue from being polished so many times. She walked very quickly. As my sister walked she “swished.” Her walk was fast with a predetermined destination. I felt almost sorry for someone that did not care for Rosie’s patients the way she ordered.

My sister had some sadness in her life, the loss of her husband for one. She decided to work for hospice and make the end stages of life easier for people.

One weekend I went to Des Moines with her. She was the keynote speaker for a Hospice convention. It was an excellent speech. After the speech was over, we went to lunch. This all took place in Hotel Fort Des Moines.

It was a beautiful place. It was like a palace to a small town girl like me. I will explain that the tables were decorated with style and beautiful china.

At the end of the meal, the waitress came with a small plate of strawberries and a bowl of melted chocolate. She handed me a tiny fork, and waited. While she waited, I waited, I looked at my sister, and she looked at the waitress too. Finally the waitress explained to use the small plate on the table to place my strawberry on. My sister and I looked each other in the eye and started to giggle. I think it took a good twenty minutes for us to quit acting like school girls.

The school girl routine happened to us every now and then. What memorable fun!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Cat: Part 2

Good morning. I  thought some of you that are animal lovers might be interested in the continuing saga of "The Cat." Fran is so soft hearted; was heating our big porch and feeding the cat and continued to pet and encourage the cat to come to him. I was the big meanie in this story because it costs a lot of money for propane and Maggie our little dog was unable to play on the porch with her ball. The cat was swiping at her with her claws and I was afraid for her. I finally called the vet and they said that they often placed cats. She said as a matter of fact there was a man in our area that had reported his cat missing. Viola!!!  Fran took the cat to the vet in Maggie's cage. The gal at the vet's just reached in and the cat went right to her.  Fran couldn't get over it. The vet examined it and it was a neutered cat. They were sure that it was just lost and the  man will be so happy it was well taken care of.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Don't Bite It In The Middle




When I was a little girl we lived on a farm in Iowa. My dad milked a few cows and was a grain farmer. We were poor but we always had enough food to eat. My mother always baked homemade bread for us to eat as well as the bread and rolls she made to sell at the grocery store.

As a special treat she would buy peanut butter at the grocery store and would make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The jelly or jam that we had was homemade and absolutely delicious. She would slather butter on the bread that was about three quarters of an inch thick and then the peanut butter and then the jam or jelly. The sandwich was a double Decker She would  give us an ice cold glass of milk to go along with it of course. Sometimes my dad would join us for our snack. I loved my dad so much, but I didn’t want him to join us then. He was a sticker about two things, I couldn’t sing at the table and I couldn’t bite my peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the middle. He just didn’t understand how delicious it was when you did that. You see when mom put the jelly on the bread the majority of it would migrate to the middle, therefore, when I took a big bite in the middle I got jelly squirting out of both sides of my mouth and both ends of  my sandwich. Oh I can just taste it now. As a matter of fact, I can. I just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ate it just exactly the way I wanted it and it was slathered with butter too. I do not want to visit about high cholesterol today, either. Uhm, it was so good.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Can Coveralls Shrink In The Closet?




My husband is such a good stepfather to my youngest son. Last night my son called and said he had a chance to buy a used furnace and central air conditioning unit for a hundred dollars. Well, if everything works, that was a steal. The lady that owned it wanted to go totally electric.  Mike wanted to know if Fran would store it in our shed until he got the venting done etc. Fran said, of course.
The next step is today and that is cutting the pipes so that the furnace can be taken out of the house where it is. Where it is is in the country with no power. No power means by the time they get there it will be dark. Hmm that means flash lights or lanterns. Like I said, Fran is a wonderful stepfather.
The weather is not cooperating either. We are smack dab in the middle of the plains. Our wind chill last night was twenty below zero. Fran needed to go out and get the built up snow off the pickup. It had snowed again last night with horrendous winds that swirled around and made little drifts all over my car and his pickup. The doors on the pick up were frozen shut. He needed to get in there to get saw blades to use on that furnace.
He knew that the temperature was just awful outside, so he went into the spare closet to get his coveralls. He said, “Well I gave all my coveralls to Mike.” I said, “Mike is thirty inches around and you are about a half a foot bigger.” Fran said, “Well, I am sure they would have fit.” He found some coveralls that he put on. He did have to admit that they were a little snug. He had to wear a coat lined with sheepskin over the overalls. Oh, he was so cute. I thought, “If he loses his footing, he will just roll down the hill!”  It is just amazing how his overalls shrunk in the closet.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Where Are You From?









As most folks that have a blog or more, I have a stat counter, or blog counter. I am absolutely fascinated with it. I can travel sitting in my easy chair and loving every minute of it. I look to see how many people have read one of my posts and find a town I have never heard of. Then I look it up on the computer to see where it is and what the population is and what the people there are most proud of.

I find cities, towns, and the other day a village. How fun! I have lived in cities, towns and villages.

I am hearing from relatives that I have not heard from in years or at least not very often.

I always wonder how you find me. I have networked blogs from Facebook, however, I think a lot of people “blog-hop.” I love to blog-hop. It is one of the most fun and interesting things I have ever done. My goodness, you all have such unique lives and are doing things I used to do and things I never thought of doing ever in my whole entire life!

I read about people that collect things; I used to do that. I had to get rid of my collections. When you downsize in homes you have to do things like that. The collecting I look at closely, I still have pieces that I collected long ago.

I read about young moms and their children; I had three children and had all kinds of things happen that I didn’t think anyone would like to hear about. I guess I just thought it was a normal way of life.

Any way I just think it would be so much fun to hear from some of you that read my posts. I love the comments and the counters. Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow.



Thursday, January 7, 2010

Retirement





Our friends for the most part are retired. If they aren’t retired, they are married to a spouse that is.

I was one of many baby boomers that did not think it was necessary to have a 401k etc. etc. I had always had a good job, but had not made good investments.

There was one thing, however, that I was passionate about. That one thing was that I should have a house in my name that would be paid for before I retired. In order to do that, I would have to look in a little bedroom type small town to be able to pay for it in three years. A few years prior to this “feeling” I had bought forty acres of land and sold it for a large profit. I used that money to remodel my “new” little house. On the month that the last payment was due, my ex-husband left me. Thank goodness, I had that “feeling.”

Now that I am retired, I rent that little house for a small income to help my very small social security. Smaller now in 2010 than in any other year, because the government says that there is no cost of living increase. If that is true, why are the members of congress entitled to a cost of living increase in their pay checks? I love living in the United States. I think that we live in the best country in the world, but I do have difficulty understanding some things especially why my check is smaller and my bills are higher. That sounds like an increase to me.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Lost Treasures






Years ago when I had to put my mother in a nursing home to rehab from a fall, I eventually found that her temporary stay needed to be permanent. That was one of the most difficult decisions for my brother and I. The loss of independence is horrific, not only for the person, but for the family also. The family has difficulty with an impending sense of denial. For instance, surely Mom will be alright, she has just had a short term problem and then she can go back home when she is better. Often times that just doesn’t happen. Again often times, the patient adapts easier than the family members.

My mother’s house had to be gone through and cleaned out. She had lived in that house for over thirty years. Her things had to be sorted for keep piles and throw away piles, and sell piles. There were things that needed to be read and sorted. Among the many things I found were love letters that my father sent to my mother before they were married. I had no idea he was such a romantic. I read a few of them and thought I was intruding on their private life and stored them in Mom’s Memory Box where I found them or so I thought. That box had been moved three times before I thought of those letters. I now had time to read them. The letters were gone. I was so disappointed. The contents of the letters helped me know my parents more than you can imagine. Another thing, my parents had always seemed old. They had always had white hair and kind of straight laced; little did I know. The only thing that was missing were the return letters from my mother to my father.

I have been writing stories about material that I found in Mom’s Memory Box this year. Much to my surprise, I found the letters again. I had put them back in the box. They are in perfect condition and are almost eighty years old. In fact they will be this year.

One of the most fun things I discovered was my dad’s sense of humor. He sounded like one of those people you see and hear about in the roaring twenties. This is a quote from him that tickled me. “ Well, hon, I have oceans of love for you and there is a kiss on every wave.” What, that didn’t sound like my dad.

Then I discovered a letter that was written on tablet paper. He wrote a regular letter then he turned it upside down and wrote on the bottom side of the top side. You could hardly read a word of it. At the bottom of the letter he apologized and said that he thought it would be fun to do that.

I am sure you realize that the depression was going on during the thirties when my parents were in love. My father did any job possible to earn enough money to survive. He often worked in the fields, but reading these letters I learned he sold Christmas cards too. He would go house to house peddling these cards. One month he told my mom he had earned five dollars doing this. He also was very verbal with mom about one of his bosses. Oh, he didn’t like him. That just didn’t sound like my dad either. My dad was very laid back and easy going. Oh, I forgot in the thirties my dad was very young, maybe not so easy going.

My dad eventually got a job working for my mom’s dad on the farm. He had been hankering for that job for years. But what kind of thanks is that, you hire a guy to do farm work and he steals your daughter!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

My New Jammies From My Old Friend


            


I was talking to my best friend the other day and she said she couldn’t wait to see me because she had an “I love you gift” for me. Well anyone that knows me would know that I was about  to go nuts to get my surprise.  I just love my friend, she has been my friend for almost eighteen years. We have cried together, laughed together, and been sad together. We have been angry together and glad together.
My friend has been very ill for several months, but it is looking like she is going to be all better. See, the sad, and the glad.
Well before I could get to her house, she arrived at mine after not being able to visit for a long time. She walked in and handed me a bag with the craziest pajamas I ever saw in  my life. I am wearing them right now. They are red and white, and green and purple, and black and pink and blue. Now is that enough color for you? I just love them. I would have loved them no  matter what color they were because they were an “I love you gift” from my best friend.
She will be my best friend forever and ever.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Cat's Cradle











Cat’s cradle is one of the oldest games in the world. For some unknown reason today I could envision my grandmother and I playing this game. I don’t think she let me win, but I will tell you one thing, she was one of the most patient women that I have ever known. Cat’s Cradle is not one of the easiest games for a little person. It takes a lot of hand-eye coordination. However, it a very inexpensive toy for children. You have to have about two feet of string; that is all you have to have to play.

I looked it up on the computer today and I just could not believe the history this game has. It goes back centuries. I almost think that the camaraderie I had with my grandmother playing the game of cat and the cradle might just beat out a video game or two.


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Are We Look Alikes, Or Not?












These people are not twins, sisters or just friends, we are related though. We are first cousins, our fathers were brothers. In my mind we look alike, the gal with her hair up is Bonnie and of course me. In the picture I thought we were the same age, but I am twenty years older in the picture of me. What do you think, do you think we look alike?

Is It Really Important To Read The Instructions








If you have been following my posts since Christmas you learned that we got a Wii for Christmas. My husband is crazy obsessed with the games that came with it. Bowling was his favorite until today. Today we found out where the audio plug was and now it is really really fun. Fran started playing at nine o’clock this morning and quit at four o’clock this afternoon. He didn’t eat breakfast or lunch.

We had company that wanted to see how the Wii worked so he played right through the company stay. He kept saying how much more fun it was to play since we had all that wonderful noise coming out of the game.

Fran is already talking about a game he wants to buy for “her.” That was a direct quote he made this afternoon. Ha!

Before our company came, Fran and I were playing the bowling game. The screen and the book tell you over and over again to keep the little wimote strapped to your wrist. We pretty much pooh poohed it and played for six days without using the straps.

This afternoon I just felt in my gut I was going to get a strike and gave the wimote a little extra gusto and zing! It went ten feet in the air, knocked down an 8x10 picture that was sitting on a shelf and then landed on the entertainment center. It got really quiet in the house. I can remember that was the only time it was quiet all day. Then I kind of chuckled. Fran really didn’t see the humor in it, I almost broke HIS game. He quickly put an adjustable strap on the little remote thing and was instructed that I should probably wear it.

When our company arrived I told them that Fran had grounded me. They laughed and then looked a little astounded that those little remotes could fly. I think they took that under advisement when they were on their way to Wal Mart.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

I Made A Mistake


I know it's impossible to believe but those of you who might have made the corn casserole may have noticed that it was really slippery going down. I put a cup and a quarter of oleo. It should be a stick and a quarter. I don't use sticks so that is what I am going to use as an excuse for this oops. I am sorry if any of you had a casserole that just wasn't quite as you expected.
Please try it with the new measurement. You will love it, I promise.

I Resolve.......




I don’t want anyone to hear what I am going to resolve for the year of 2010. The reason why is I don’t know if I can keep those resolutions. Silently, oh so silently I tell myself that I will do better. I will clean out dresser drawers, I will clean out under the cupboards, I will clean the refrigerator at least every two weeks, I will pitch and throw etc. etc.

One thing I will do is knock down cobwebs and have Fran do things that he doesn’t want to do. Fran has to vacuum and he needs to do it more often. He just needs reminded that’s all.

We need to do a better job of yard work. I can help more. I just have to get started in the morning before it gets hot.

I would really like to make resolutions for Fran, but he probably wouldn’t go for that.

I really had the cleaning bug this morning as I was using my swiffer I thought that if I did this every other day it wouldn’t take as long. The whole thing is I hate to clean a clean house. A dirty house shows me what I have accomplished.

Well, last year I quit smoking and this year I will continue to not smoke. After almost fifty years that was really cool, don’t you think? The quitting though has left my hands with nothing to do except what I call grazing. Fran and I both wander through the house and eventually end up at the fridge or the cupboard where the snacks are. Silently, yes for sure I hope so the grazing has got to if not quit, slow down!

My daughter has a blog where she has posted a list of 100 goals for 2010. She has set herself with a 75% accomplishment of getting them done. She published her goals so everyone can see, mine are quiet so no one can hear!




Friday, January 1, 2010

The Cat







About a week ago, our quiet life in the country has been turned upside down. We got Maggie about nine months ago, and sometimes she makes quiet seem like a thing of the past, but for the most part she is a part of our little family we love and have fun with.

Last week I went out about six o’clock in the morning to take Maggie out for her walk. All of a sudden I heard this horrible meowing almost a shriek. I went back in and got Fran. That was the beginning of the end of peace in our little house. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a cat had got caught/or was living under our house. Every day has been a different episode with that cat. It is a beautiful chocolate Siamese cat. It’s coloring is perfect. It was starving to death. Fran had to take part of the skirt away so he could see under the house. He told me to get “Her” (I don’t know what it is, but I call it a her) some food. The cat was starving. That cat has eaten so much food in the last week she should have gotten sick, but not so. She has decided that she likes it here. Fran has heated the porch. She comes out to eat, she sleeps on Maggie’s bed and Maggie hates her. The feeling is mutual. The cat hisses at Maggie, but now does not move from the bed because she knows that I won’t let Maggie eat her up. Maggie has continued to pledge her allegiance to the chasing of cats like all good dogs in her ancestry. All to no avail. Fran swears that he does not want to keep the cat, but why would he go to town and buy forty pounds of propane to heat the porch. Hmm, I just wonder if there is a sequel to this story.