Just Because

My mother was a natural born seamstress; she could look at a picture and make a pattern. This didn’t just apply to clothes; at one time she made a crib for the baby in the family. She had very few tools to work with, but it was very well made and lasted a very long time. Even though I was a kid at the time I was impressed.

One time when I was about 5 years old, I came downstairs from a nap, and my mother handed me something. It was a homemade doll; she had made for me while I was outside playing and before I woke up in the mornings.

I have never in my lifetime been so excited and happy over a gift. It wasn’t my birthday, it was a just-because gift. It was made from a white flour sack, with cotton stuffing. It had arms and legs, an embroidered face and brown yarn hair. Mom said the hair was the color of my hair. It was my prized possession, and I carried it around and took great care of it until one day I accidentally left it outside. One of those Oklahoma gully washer rain storms came up and my poor doll was pounded with rain. It was rather limp and lumpy after that, but I loved it anyway. I still love dolls, and have a couple on display, but none have ever meant as much to me as that rag doll my mother made just for me, just because.

 Maybe that event inspired me to make dolls. I have made a few. 

 Here are some of the dolls I have made:

I had a few Granddaughters.

I had a few patterns.

I tried to create an elephant, but it looked more like a pig so I added wings and a curly tail. I sent it to Laura because she is the one that always says, "when pigs fly."

I had so many of these little people made, that I gave them to the trick or treaters.They liked them.

The Cleaning Fairy, Me.

This morning I went into a cleaning frenzy. It only takes one episode of ’Hoarders’ to do it.  There is no way in hell or any other place that I will allow piles of garbage and other wonderful collector items to stand between me and my table or bed. I even have a favorite chair and couch that fit into that category. I had to empty the canister on the vacuum cleaner. That is a challenge that boggles the mind (that is, if you have a mind). You cannot just set it back in there, it has to be adjusted with exact precision or it won’t work. It finally happened and by now the adrenaline is running in high gear so the job was a breeze. This included floor scrubbing and dusting furniture. Now I am exhausted and thirsty so I am having an ice cold can of aspartame, phosphorus, potassium benzoate, phenylketonurics, sometimes known as diet Pepsi.
It is a beautiful day on my little part of the globe. I think there is rain heading this way. It will first hit the coastal area and then we get the tail end of it. The weather prophet said there could be snow in the mountains. It’s summertime, when is it going to stop snowing?

Photo's of the Little Ones

Granddaughters, Leah and Chloe now three and the personalities are developing. Chloe is giving her Dad the evil eye for taking their picture. Leah finds it rather amusing.

 

Chloe going on a bike ride with her Mom.

This was taken several months earlier.

I think this was taken at Christmas time.

Taken last September

Wheels of Progress

When I got my first computer back in the early 90’s I had barely seen a computer, but I had a burning desire to find out what all the hullabaloo was about. The office I had worked in had joined the computer world before I retired, and I had some knowledge of them. I didn't know anyone that owned one so the only way I was going to find out was to buy my own. I brought that thing home and read the instructions and miracle of miracle I got it up and running. It was an MS DOS 305 or something like that. That probably is not the exact name of it, but I was able to get something on the screen and I didn't know how to close the page.  I knew you guided the mouse around, but I didn't know about the X in the corner. I joined AOL and it was a phone hookup, and you had a certain number of minutes or you had to pay more.I learned about email and they had chat rooms and they were even fun back then. They had web sites where you could find friends, and I found many friends that I exchanged email with. Everybody was sending the corny joke’s to each other. Everything was free, now you have to join things if you want to be a part of it.  What fun. I kept the "How to books for dummies" in business for a long time. I started hearing words like defrag, ram memory, windows, and floppy disc. Haven’t we come a long way? The following is one of those emails that had been forwarded to me. 

Most of my family live in Oklahoma so this is for them.

You might be an Okie if:

1. You can properly pronounce Eufaula, Gotebo, and Chickasha.
2. You think the people that complain about the wind in their States are sissies.
3. A tornado warning siren is a signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.  (No kidding! This really happens)
4. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
5. You’ve had to switch from A/C to heat in the same day.
6. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by distance from the door, but the availability of shade.
7. Stores don’t have bags, they have sacks.
8. You see people in bib overalls at funerals.
9. You think everyone from a big city has an accent.
10. You measure distance in minutes, (“I’m about five minutes away.”)
11.  You refer to the capitol of Oklahoma as “The City.”
12. It doesn’t bother you to use an airport named for a man that died in an airplane crash.   (Will Rogers)
13.  You go to the lake instead of the ocean.
14.  You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit ti wear.
15. You know someone who has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
16. You have known someone who has a belt buckle bigger than your fist.
17.  A bad traffic jam involves two cars stopped at a four-way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other go first. (It has never, ever happened in this State)
18.  You know which State “Miam-uh” is and which State “Miam-ee” is.
19.  You know cow pies are not made of beef,
20.  You aren’t surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.
21. Your “place at the lake” has wheels under it.
22. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F350 4x4 is.
23. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.
24. You actually get these jokes and are “fixin: to send them to your friends.
25.  Finally, you are 100% Oklahoman if you have ever heard this conversation:  “ You wanna coke?”  “Yeah”  “what kind?”  “Dr Pepper”

 

 

A New Great Grandbaby

It's lullaby time with a new great granddaughter. I now have six great grandchildren, and six granddaughters. 

This is the new arrival. Her name is Shelby, born January 28, 2013.

This is Shelby's Mommy (Molly) and big sister, Leah.
I don't have a recent picture of her Daddy.

This is an old picture of three sister's. Cora is the bride. Shelby's mother on your right and Emily on your left. It's old, but I like it.

The Way it Was

We had a well with a pump just outside the back door. We had a bucket that sat on a separate small table. A wash basin sat on the table also. Our drinking water was in the bucket and a dipper which everybody used. Nobody was afraid of a little germ. We had a cupboard that was not built in. It was a piece of furniture. We had two of those in our kitchen. I have no idea how we were able to keep all our dishes in those two cupboards. A large family meant a lot of dishes and they were all dirty after each meal. To do the dishes, you had to heat the water on a stove that had to be fed wood constantly. The water was heated in a large tea kettle. The dish pan and another one for rinsing was set on the other cupboard. There was no place to set a draining rack. I don’t think anyone had ever heard of a draining rack in the 1930’s. Well, nobody in my house anyway. Female’s washed dishes, men only did outside jobs. Women also did outside jobs, such as washing clothes and hanging them up on a clothes line to dry. Tending to a garden in the summer months. Gathering eggs and bringing in kindling and wood for the stoves was done by both female and male. That is just the way it was. I don’t believe anyone thought they were being treated unfairly. On a farm there was plenty of work for everybody. Men usually milked the cows, but many women also helped with the milking.  I often heard my mother say, “I never milked a cow in my life, and I ain’t going to either‘.  I thought that was a good rule so I never milked a cow in my life either and I ain’t going to.
In the winter months, the clothes washing procedure was moved to the back porch, which was screened in. It was just about as cold there as it was under the tree. It didn’t take nearly as long to do the laundry in the winter months as in the summer. At least you didn’t have to stand in the snow to wash the clothes. Everything was hung on the line to dry, freezing or not. They were frozen dry, and when you brought them in from the line it would be like bringing in the wood. Everything was frozen stiff. When they thawed out, they would dry rather quickly. Stuff was draped over everything in the house. It’s no wonder everybody was sick most of the time. Colds, and stomach ailments is what I remember the most. Of course if one person caught something, everybody would end up with it as well.
That is just some of the way it was.  Remember this, the next time the Pizza delivery man is running a little slow.

Walmart Event

Here is my list, go find it.

Not much to do except watch the snow melt. I went to Wal-Mart for a few things. One thing on the list was one light bulb for the front steps so the paper carrier doesn't break her neck and sue me. Just a simple light bulb is all I was in search of.  In the first place, finding something on that six acres the store covers is like searching for the Lock Ness Monster. I kept asking store clerks, and they were only posing as store clerks, they were vendor’s. Never ask a vendor where anything is, they don’t know. I’m not the only one that mistakes vendor’s for store clerks. I heard one couple ask one where the peanut butter was. They have more vendor's than store clerks. I finally found a genuine store clerk, and she knew exactly where they were. They have a billion different kinds, blue light bulbs, pink, mood, red and even a black bulb. What is the object of putting a light inside a black bulb? There must be a reason because they had some. I finally found an ordinary looking bulb, but they only come, four in a package.  I'm 84 years old, why do I need more than one. Not only that, they last for 9 years if used properly.  I now have a 36 year supply of light bulbs. They better bury those bulbs with me so when I get there I can light up the place. 

I can always milk something out of the Wal-Mart to blog about.

 

Is this a vendor or a store clerk?

Time Does Not Wait

Now we are going paperless. The wheels of progress never slow down. First it was the Pony express, and then it was the Postal Service, now its Electronic mail. On my last visit to the Doctor’s office I received a web address and a pin number. I came home and set it up. I now have access to my medical record with that doctor, and can make an appointment or cancel one on line. It shows my blood pressure and weight, and other things. I think it’s great. Lowe’s also has a setup like that. When I bought a new hot water heater, the clerk told me how to set it up. Now I can go to the website and see when I bought the heater and how much I paid for it. Don’t you sometimes wish you remembered how old an appliance is? I know we can keep those records in a file, but this eliminates the paper, and all those binders (with or without women)

 Now if they could develop an electronic method to rid your house of the excessive junk it would be a perfect world. I'm trying to get rid of my collector items. My collector items seems to be old towels, dish towels, sheets, and even underwear. Why do I keep those things forever? I know I can't take them with me when I die, but just in case...

I am working on it and am slowly, very slowly moving things to the throw-away bag and box. I have a box of old books in the Van to deliver to The Goodwill. They've been there for a few weeks, but I have good intentions.