Oddities

If you leave a comment but it disappears, I had nothing to do with it.  Really.  I've just noticed my lovely sister's comments have disappeared!  My last post (an impressively fun run on sentence) also disappeared.  Must redo that for comma fun!

silly sentence

I am feeling really silly right now and wonder how long I can make a run on sentence yet still have it make sense, it should be a pretty simple thing for me to do, since I already do things stream of conscious when my mind is in overdrive, but I digress, I think I can figure this out and make a sentence at least a good confusing length without really overdoing it, wouldn't you think, I mean commas do cause you to pause and pause, that's really all they are for, so a sentence using many of them, though not correct in the syntax, or punctuational sense should work, at least I guess in theory it would, given it were kept on topic and easily enough followed, provided, of course it's at least partially grammatically correct, that might just be a possibility, writing a lengthy sentence yet having it be on topic but twisted, just enough to make it both fun to write and fun ( at least for me) to return to and read later, I wonder if I'll try it tonight?

Save some for later....

Save some for later, you never know when you might need it!

Don't eat it all in one setting.

Always have enough for company.

These are all sides to the same coin...perhaps a chaos theory 3 sided coin??

My grandma was born in 1915. She was born into hardworking coalmining stock. Times were hard. She quit school in 8^th grade so her sisters could finish. Her Mother passed her off as a sister so she could remarry, and my Grandma’s Dad called her “Pete” her name had not a single P in it so….no clue there! I’m sure my Mother can enlighten me. She was a trained nurse and was proud of it. She met my Grand Dad working in the local Scott store. The local news paper carried a story that”….popular with the boys, got married” What MY Grandma?? No clue on that, she was the most “proper” person I’ve EVER met. I learned from Mama…save some for later….

Onionteen (unguentine)- my Grandma died when I was 15…in ALL the years I lived with her…we had the same tube, we could only use it in dire emergencies because…”you don’t want you use it all you may need some later”

Baby Powder- “don’t use it all leave some for later” thus we had at least 5 partial containers when my Mom came to visit…holymotherofheaven!!! My Mom cleaned up the powder by combining it. I was certain we were all going to get sucked into the abyss…I had NEVER seen anything combined before!

Suntan lotion- “that’s expensive it came from Avon, save it for when you need it” We had 3 things of suntan goo…coppertone in the tub, we had to save that for when we were really going to be out. The orange, we had to save it because it was an orange shaped container, but we couldn’t save it empty…that would be wasteful. We also had some QT tan accelerator but we didn’t use that.

Perfume- we had the same bottle forever because Daddy gave it to her before he died…this I understand.

Blackberries- they moved from KY to FL. They were the last blackberries my Daddy (grand daddy) picked for her before he died…I understood it for a time, but she kept them 5 years. They got tossed out the year my Mom visited and combined the powder. Nearly killed my Grandma that year. Funny thing the blackberries grew across the road and it’s like Daddy was freed to live again (ok maudlin)

Soda- always offer someone the last of the soda….To this day I am forever offering someone the last sip of hot flat soda or beer. My husband would love this to stop. He assures me it isn’t hospitable at all, but rather rude.

Food-NEVER take the last OR the first of the food on a plate, table, tray, buffet…etc.

Dry goods- never finish the last of the cereal, flour, oatmeal, cornmeal etc…always save it until you go grocery shopping again even if it’s just a table spoon or two, because then you are never out!

Mercurochrome- “don’t use it except when you really need it! It’s hard to find!” It was literally ALL over in the 70’s and 80’s. Like the unguentine this too was similar to the oil in the lamp…it never ended! We had the same mercurochrome until the day she died. I have no idea how because once I painted a Barbie doll with it.

From all these caveats about saving for later…I never let a person leave hungry if I can help it. I don’t eat in front of people unless I have enough to share. I will offer the last sip of hot flat soda, but I don’t mean to be rude.

I have infected my husband with this odd behavior….I have partial bottles of spices that are as old as our marriage. I have soup mixes from years ago. We had our “emergency meat” lurking in the back of the freezer for YEARS, even after power outages. Sadly it didn’t sprout and grow a cow when we finally disposed of it. Oddly not even the starving strays in the neighborhood would touch it, kind of makes me glad we never had to use it. She taught me to hold on to things…I’m not as much of a pack rat as she was…I tend to hold on to people, places, memories….not so much meat anymore.

What did you learn from your Mama?

Mother's Day miracle

Wow! No arguing!! I could not believe it...two whole days with a minimum of whining! I thought that certainly this Mother's Day would be no different from the last 13...yeah our son is only 12 but from 99-11 is 13 in all. I was lying in bed this morning wondering when the arguing would start. When would the crying begin? How many times would I have to tell him to STOP being such a baby? Just suck it up and act your age! Quit picking fights! Every Mother's Day is usually marked with "Happy friggin Mother's Day to me!! I hate this day!!" Then I go away and hide until the bickering ends. I didn't have to call my husband down ONCE! ...or my son. Usually it's like I have two kids. One a surly pre-teen the other an annoying older brother! Fortheloveofheaven...no one...NO One....told me husbands reverted!! I have had to break up wrestling in grocery stores, "stop making fun of me" fights and "stop touching me" wars. I only have one child, or thought I did. I was terrified about this year. I'm more emotional and feel less mentally engaged. Kind of like fog brain.

Imagine my heart stopping surprise when.............

This morning all I heard were the sweet strains of "good morning" and "happy mother's day" as they presented me with my son's homemade raspberry muffins. We all ate in bed, drank coffee and talked about our plans. The guys walked to a farmer's market to get my knives sharpened and buy bread. I picked them up. We went to see Thor. I had popcorn. There were no dreaded heavy vibrations dominating the movie. We walked, shambled, around a boardwalk. We fed birds I rescued a baby turtle, we fed a muskrat. We came home and had the crock pot rabbit stew they made. We watched TV...I even took a nap! I don't nap because I am a really unpleasant person after a nap. Today I wasn't mean at all! I didn't even gripe much. HONESTLY! I only naffed a little, the sun was bright and they wouldn't stop to hold things so I could dig in my purse for my sunglasses after the movie. I wasn't even too shaky today, though an old lady got in a handrail war with me at the movie theater...I WAS there first and I really needed it more.

Yesterday was pretty perfect too. Great lacrosse game, they played hard but still lost. My son did an awesome job in goal and covering his guys. We had lunch with some dear friends. The margaritas were great! We came home, the guys loaded the canoe. They canoed, I sat on the beach and read. We came home, grilled out and I had more beer. I learned there is a very fine line in drinking with my cord injury. A certain amount of booze will help the vibrations to lessen and the tremors to slow...too much has the opposite effect. Now I need to test this line on a regular basis to find out just where it is!

So that was my Mother's Day miracle...it was perfect!!

I'll make a roux

I'm trying to hold this together. I think I do a reasonable job on most days. I did not do well today. I have felt really vibratey the past two days. for lack of a better description it feels like someone has hit a tuning fork, placed it on the base of my skull and left it vibrating. Today everything is just off. I didn't want to get out of bed because I was just so wiped out. I don't feel like I'm really "here' when this all happens. I feel like inside I'm on fast forward, my body is on slow, and the world is just spinning along. Ok, now that I sound completely insane....this is how I handled life today.

I made a roux. After I made the roux, I sat down. I got up and started to add things. I sat down. I chatted online for a while with a new group of friends. I am trying herbals (not pot!!) to calm down the hypersensitive feelings. I truly feel like I don't belong anywhere right now. I have a few people I trust to spend time with and that's it. I feel like crying and laughing all at the same time. I'm not sad, I just feel...different. My husband is going to read this and wonder "should I eat this gumbo? What did she put in here??" The gumbo is fine...I'm fine...I'm just working with the learning curve.

......2 days later, Ok...I forgot to add the okra to the pot of gumbo, the next day I resurrected the pot, added the okra and a few other things. I guess life is like a pot of gumbo, you try to get it right, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't...it's never the same but it usually tastes good as long as you start with good ingredients. Right now I have some excellent ingredients! I have my family, some close friends here and I've met some really great people i'll probably never really meet face to face. We are all making a lovely pot of gumbo here...or to steal an idea from my new friend Eve...Stone Soup. We take what we're given and hope it's good.

Happy days

Mama said what???

My Grandmother raised me. My Grandmother was from rural Kentucky. Kentuckians or at least my Grandma, have their own special language. For years I truly believed if I went outside in a storm, especially one with lightning, or if I sat in (not near or by..always in... even though it was in a chair near) a window during a storm, that I would die instantly. How would this occur you may ask...simple. I would be lexicuted. I also knew that I would die if I touched a cat during a thunderstorm (they always had to be put outside during storms) , used scissors, or sewed. How would this happen one wonders and why did the cats have to be outside? It would draw lightning to you; and of course lightning lexicutes you!

I would always be kittled, if you rode in a car over nails you got a flat tar.

In elementary school (moved to FL also noted for dialect issues) I would always be made fun of when I said certain words because the Kentucky accent never really left. Words pronounced Grandma style like home, phone, bone, tone had a slightly different inflection and a drawn out "eau" sound...kind of like, but not quite like, the word faux. Hauxm, Fauxn,Bauxn, Tauxn...just something you have to hear to believe. Also the fireman did not put out the fire. No sirree Bob! The farman put out the far on the far side of the mountain. It took me a while to understand dee and day. Examples of how this can happen you ask? Sure thing! It's Mondee, but we write it Monday; Sairdee, but we write it Saturday! So the days of the week are really....Mondee, T-yewsdee, Winsdee, Thursdee, Fridee, Sairdee and Sundee. All this was going on in my poor rattled elementary school-aged head. It was YEARS before I fully comprehended that lexicuting was electrocuting. I could spell electrocuting though! I wasn't really sure why we spelled the days of the week differently than we pronounced them either.

As far as countries go...Italy was Itlee, Mexico was MexEco, I'm sure there were other fun country pronunciations but I can't remember now.

Food was pretty normal...biscuits, gravy, cookies, puhtaytah (potato) chips, soda pop, tail toters (we didn't eat those) pulley bones, ribby back, little back, hoe cakes, johnny cake, corn pones, fried potatoes, sweet milk, light bread, oleemargerine, store bought cake, rashers of bacon, searal (cereal), pot liquor, pink gravy, red eye gravy, city ham, country ham, swish cheese, rocafort dressing, we had boh-wuhld aigs (boiled eggs)...we could never drink milk while eating fish cheese grits were even suspect....if you need an interpretation just ask; but not about the fish because I don't remember why. The ban was uneasily lifted when I kept coming home from school alive after eating fish sticks with cheese grits and drinking milk.

Dressing was always fun...When I was very young my shoes were brogans! I didn't wear jeans I wore blue jeans (no matter the color). There were pinafores, pants or britches, dickeys, T-shirt dresses, gauchos, culottes, saddle oxfords, sandals (with socks of course!) pantyhose, sup hose, petticoats, half slips, full slips, paten leather shoes (patent), high heeled shoes, tennis shoes or sneakers, moon boots, chukka boots, house shoes, pajahmas, night gowns, Sundee best, play clothes, school clothes, they were brassieres and never bras. We had anklets (ankle socks), knee socks or tube socks. We had drawers not panties.

For beauty and cleanliness there was rouge, face powder, cologne, sweet oil (ear cleaning olive oil), oil of olay (oh-wuhl is how you pronounce oil) toe nail polish, lip stick, Sairdee night baths and spit baths.

I miss mama! She put onion-teen ointmunt (unguentine ointment) on my burns, vicks salve on my chest, muhcureahcrome (mercurochrome) on my cuts, she festered out stickers with egg shell lining, drew pus sores to a head with a hot wash rag, and all colds were cured with hot toddies. When I was cold I had goose bumps, and if my skin was splotchy purple with cold it was pidey or all pidey lookin. (no clue!!)

I acted growney up, or sassy, or too big for my britches.

We had lighting bugs, we cut the grass, there were piss ants, sugar ants, far ants...ants were ants but our Aunts were aints. Aint Sally, Aint Lil (leah...again no clue)

We got to it dreckly (directly) things were over yonder, way over yonder, way way over yonder or not far. God was in heaven, the Devil was in hell and I had no idea who Satan was.

I still say things funny!!!

But I am alive because I was never lexicuted, not even once even though our cats stay inside!

spelling....hands...you know

Dancing with myself...a mental road trip

I can feel the wind in my face, my friend is driving like a maniac! We'll have fun fun fun til her Mommy takes the Fairmont (Fairlane...nah not us!) away...

Drive through the projects singing Witchdoctor, how nouveau cool we are with cigarette holders and hounds-tooth mod dresses...tres chic!

We'd blow out cigarette smoke just to sing the line..."I see you through the smoky air, can't you feel the weight of my stare..." and make it be true!

She dropped an egg on the floor just to prove it was impossible to clean up of linoleum....

If even one of us had a fake Id we could have stayed...so we got one!

Why did we never do nefarious things back then...well aside from lurking outside the club I wasn't allowed in (Thanks Mom!)

Remember the night the car broke down on the expressway, we had the navy guys, the southside voyage and the cabbie on pot? I was sure we were going to die that night. Did we steal your brother's car??

How much alike and totally insane we were then, we hid our insanity from one another admirably even while summoning the dead on our Ouija board.

How could we have had so much in common yet never know it, we shared so much but not quite enough it seems to blend our loneliness and reach out to each other. I wonder how things would look today if we had had any sense back then?

Would we live in houses side by side on a street that bore the name of Sunnylane? Would our children chase storms and use EMF detectors together? Would cocktail hour start at 9am and run til 2am?? Would I wear party dresses too?

I always saw my emotional problems as a huge weakness when I was a teenager. I told no one what I was going through. Friends would share some of their problems with me, but I was ashamed to share mine. I think as teenagers we felt invincible and invisible all at once. We didn't share the real things in life because they were too raw. Now we are older and hide the real things under a rock, or cut ourselves off from the people who care the most. Maybe we feel embarrassed or our pain has forced us to protect ourselves. Whatever the cause, we've most likely all traded one set of issues for another. Our problems have become the baggage in our lives.

I think it's like shifting luggage...as teens if we had only lost the soft side suitcases or duffel bags with our best friends, would we now have a whole freaking matching set of crazy bags with hard sides in a vast array of colours hiding under our beds? Or would we be luggage free?

All those years we spent dancing with ourselves not even realizing we weren't alone in the room. If only we could have seen each other through the smoky air, it would have been just like heaven, and we'd have never had to walk alone...If I had the chance I'd ask the world to dance!

laptop today :-)