What We Did Years Ago

Before sick-o's ruined my fun, my mother, my sister and I would make all kinds of popcorn balls. I mean tons of popcorn balls. Popcorn balls were my mother's thing for Christmas and Halloween. Orange syrup for Halloween, of course, and red and green for Christmas.
Mother made home made syrup, but I didn't. My syrup got to "hard ball" quickly so you ended up scraping on a cement block for your treat. About  a century ago a syrup made of marshmellows came to save me. The popcorn balls remained soft and delicious.
We gave out apples, candy, and my favorite Milky Way.
The kids's dad always wanted the little ones to give him their candy so that he could "check" it to make sure it was good for them. lol
So every year they would fall for it and willingly give him their little pumpkins. And then the squeals would begin with dad and children fun fighting over the candy.  I was telling Fran about that and he laughed. I could almost see him thinking, "smart man." Towards the later years, the treats ended up being nickels. Where did the fun go?  I handed out nickels a few years ago, and a little boy said, "but don't you have any candy?"  Hmm.

I Would If I Could But I Can't!

I have a "thing" about wearing shoes and jackets. I feel trapped and very uncomfortable.
Today was cruddy outside. It was fifty degrees, too breezy, and drizzly. So of course, we chose today to go to WalMart. About fifteen miles down the highway I started to struggle with my jacket. The jacket was lined with flannel and my shirt was denim trimmed with corduroy. Hmm. There was nothing slippery going on. My brilliant husband let me huff and puff all to no avail. Finally he said, "give me your arm!"  So there was a discussion that lasted until we almost went into the ditch and with me not really screaming but with a very high pitched voice. "If I could get my arm out I wouldn't need your help!"  Needless to say, I walked into WalMart with no jacket and just cuddled up to hubbie.

The Bookcase is full of Memories

Years ago I received a wonderful gift from my daughter. It looked like a big frosted candle jar. It was in fact a frosted glass jar full of memories; my daughter's memories. Inside were slips of paper in three or four different shades of pastel paper with typed memories and one by one put in the jar as she remembered them.

At the time I received that jar, I thought, "How cool." I have kept that jar all these years and have shown it to my friends, but then for several years had forgotten to look at it. I moved it, dusted it occasionally. That was about it.

I have it on display in my bookcase because it is pretty and is surrounded by other memories. A clothespin rocking chair given to my by my oldest son also years and years ago and a picture of my youngest son and Santa and me taken when I worked at a nursing home. That was about thirty years ago.

I was puttering this morning while my computer was getting cleaned out and thought, "I think I will look at those pretty little slips of memories." Well, I got a surprise. Most of her memories I had forgotten. What a shame! They sounded like such fun. I could have cried, however I am so happy that I had made her life happy when she was a child and a young woman.

There were some memories that I think her father made possible. I absolutely know that I would never ever have permitted her to have a telephone in her room.

So my message to you folks is to go through your memory jars, your scrap books, and albums and anything that will job your brain to make you smile, because if you don't someone will beat you to it.

Seek And You Shall Find A Bunch Of Junk

Fran has been on a fall house cleaning jag this fall. Today he bought me some new hangers because we were out after we gave some to his mom when she was in the nursing home. After about fifteen minutes,he brought me two sacks of hangers. And gave me a sarcastic remark about the amount of hangers we had.
The search for hangers got him on a "clean out the closet two hour manic obsessive compulsive "bag up trash out" and a mumbling I think lecture for me." 
However, when I was allowed in there I did see three pairs of boots that he had been looking for, new shirts that hadn't been opened from last year. His turkey hunting mask, 9V batteries, Oh I could go on for hours.
I thought this was so fun. I think his next task should be cleaning out dresser drawers or I could clean out his "stuff" in the shed. That should go over really big.
I should have had the camera out when this was going on, but I don't think that would have been a good idea!!

Do You Have Any Regrets Along The Way?

For many years I worked with the elderly in long term care. I saw that many of them had no family that visited. It was especially noticed at holiday time. We made sure that all residents had gifts at Christmas time. We made sure that there were parties at Easter, St. Patricks Day, and most other holidays like Thanksgiving. I used to worry to some extent that the gifts were generic.  I have seen that in years gone by; gifts were tagged "boy" and "girl for little folks that parents didn't have funds to buy them gifts at holidays.

My brother lived in another state and couldn't come "home" very often. My sister by the time I am talking about had passed on. Before she died she kept my mom company while I was working with the residents.

I remember especially one Mother's Day that I was putting flowers on the tables, watching the families visiting with their folks and felt a pang almost of jealousy. I wanted to be home with my mother. However, if I wanted to keep my job, I had to be at the facility. I found myself looking over my shoulder at an especially large group and didn't see a large spill on the floor and fell very graciously in the coffee.

You all know that I am a very nostalgic person and I talk about my family a lot. Fran has a junk drawer that is sacred to him and I have a "top drawer" that is sacred to me.

Here is a birthday card to me from my mother when she was 82. Note her handwriting. She died when she was 90.  I hope you all have a drawer that is really special to you. In that same drawer I have a letter from my brother. I don't know how old that one is but I am sure it is old. None the less it is saved in the top drawer.

Beautiful Day At The Lake

Little things mean a lot as we get older. The way little babies smell works it's way into our mind and as that happens we remember...
A young child's hug is worth it's weight in gold, the funny things they say are worth writing down.
It seems like last year I wrote a story about Lady Autumn showing off her new finery before Mrs. Winter ruined it. (October 22, 2009) I went to Fran's mom's house and asked her if she would like to go to the lake and see the pretty leaves. She said she would. However, when we got there, we were a bit diasappointed. She only got to see one red tree and one yellow tree. That was interesting because we have several trees that have turned here in this area.
The one thing we did get to see was white caps caused by the thirty mile an hour winds. Kind of fun to sit by the dock and watch.
The air was clean and crisp. We wish you all could have been with us.

They Called Her Aunt Lu

My grandma's name was Lulu. All of  her nieces and nephews called her Aunt Lu. I was just a little girl thinking, "why do they all call her that, she's grandma."  At that stage of my life, my mom and dad 's name were their given name to everyone but me etc.
Most often people that are really close to me call me Lu, except Fran. He always calls me, "she, her etc."  he uses LuAnne also once in awhile.
One thing I am so grateful for is that my parents did not name me Lulu.
The main reason is that when I was little there was a cartoon character named Lulu. She was a crazy looking little girl . She had a
little knot on top of her head. And....she was always getting into trouble. Nothing like me.... especially the knot on top of my head.lol

Fifteen Pounds of Potatoes

Fall is upon us thus, being time like spring, to clean out closets and under the bed etc.. I have no basement or I would clean it too. I was cheerfully folding clothes to go to Goodwill and then there it was....
My favorite pair of jeans from years gone by. I was going to fold them and put them in the bag too. I longingly held them up to me and in my imagination pictured myself still wearing them. They are so pretty.
My daughter asked me the other day how my diet was coming. I told her I had lost one more pound. I explained to her that when you're over sixty an unwanted pound attatched to the waist, hips, legs, face, etc. does NOT want to come off. In the last six months I have lost almost fifteen pounds. No carbs (much).
Anyway, I put the jeans up to my waist and I just knew they wouldn't fit, but I thought, "what the heck" and then they slipped right on. Believe it or not my husband noticed. His remark was, "a new pair of jeans?"  I'll take what I can get. lol
Some times it pays to clean and sometimes to cut back on the carbs a little.

Cell Phones vs. Landlines

I hate bills. I hate unneeded bills. You know, a long time ago, there were no cell phones. First crank type telephones with an operator to dial for you, then the first land line phones were sometimes called princess phones. They still work in this day and age when the power goes out. Mobile phones do not. I don't think that a lot of cell phones do either. I have a princess phone that is at least forty years old. Princess phones were pink, blue, white, yellow anything that would match the decor of the room it would be in.
It always rings out or in when it is needed. I had one that was mother's and bought another at a flea market so I had an extra one. Forty years is a long time.
This little article started when I wanted to call a farmer about some apples that he usually has for sale. Well, I know where he lives. On Hwy M. So I got out the phone book. There was a person by the last name and an address. I couldn't be sure if the person that sold apples or not and I wasn't about to get embarrassed at this time of night.
I told my husband , "you know what? it won't be too far in the future that there will not be any telephone books, because there will not be any landlines."
Well I will tell you what, there will always be a landline in my house. The cellphone company told me the other day I need to use my cell phone more because I only used 7 minutes last month and 27 minutes the month before.
I always forget my phone at home, or I forget to charge it. My family and friends are always yelling at me. Their favorite saying is, "Mom why do you have a cell phone when you never carry it, or let it go dead."
This is not a new complaint, I may renew my contract and I may not. I don't like bills, but I will never, ever get rid of my land lines.

The Lost Is Found!!!

I am sure that I am more nostalgic than most folks.  Forty years ago there were no video cameras etc. However, there were cassette recorders. In those days, it was much too expensive to use the telephone to call my parents and my sister, so we would have the recorder sitting on the dining room table or even on the kitchen counter, so if I thought of something, I would stop and add to the "tape" that I would send through the mail probably for just a few cents.
My father, especially was the recorder in our family. Mother recorded her organ music that she played for her patients. She said that the music soothed the patients that were either agitated, or in horific pain.
Some time ago I found several of these tapes and put them on cd's for my brother and my children that would be interested. Then one day I wanted to play one and  it was gone. I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I called my daughter and she said she was sure she had it, but couldn't remember where.
Yesterday Fran and I decided to sing all afternoon getting in some practice for Saturday night karaoke. I asked him if he knew where the BREAD karaoke cd was and he said, "no", so I started looking and sneezing. Oh my goodness. The dust was so thick and at this point I didn't care. There was my little girl in the poncho that my mom  had made her, there was the cd with my four year old and my two year old at the zoo. At one point my two year old said,"mama is it going to eat me?!"  I really didn't need the cd but, oh what a warm and fuzzy it was for me to listen to and have in my hand.
I went to see my mother-in-law this afternoon and told her about it. Now she is ninety-six and she said, "Oh, I would give anything to hear my mom and father's voice again."

Nostalgia is a good thing.