Eye Candy

I'll be baby sitting my grandbabies most of the weekend so I don't know when I'll be getting another chance to write. So here's some recent photos of the younger men in my life!

Cooper and his Daddy during our incredible snow storm

Cooper at Christmas

Darling Dylan

My Cousin Ginger sends me the neatest stuff...

The History of the Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath,because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for
removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ' old-time apron' that served so many purposes.


REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.

Getting rid of my 'security' blanket....

Since I began blogging I've almost continually had some kind of stat counting system linked to it. No more. I deleted it at 391,000 visitors. I'm feeling anxious, tho. Isn't that stupid?! But it's kind of like the anxiety a chocoholic feels when they realize they've already eaten their secret stash of MnM's they'd hidden in the back of a cupboard and they know there aren't any more hidden elsewhere! Believe me, I know how that feels as well, since I used to weigh 221 1/2 pounds and I had MnM's -- as well as bags of fried Cheetos -- stashed everywhere...even in an empty clothes washer. I was obsessed. I was obsessed with my numbers, too. I don't like being obsessed. I want to know I can shed the counter just like I've shed around 60 pounds altogether. Dear Hubby commented to me as I passed by him the other day, "You're sure looking scrawny." He meant it in a nice way, believe me. I love that man.

Dear Hubby and I were looking over our 401K account today and...

Ohhhhhhh...I LOVED this! And yes, I'm old!

My cousin Ginger sent these to me in an email this morning and I loved my trip down Memory Lane so much I decided to share these with my readers. I'm sure there are others out there who'll remember a lot of these with fond memories of play time and family stories concerning some of them. Such as this wringer washer. We had one when I was very little. And my mom told me about one that they owned when she was a little girl and my grandmother got one of her breasts caught in the wringer! And women think being full-breasted is so great!

TV Test Pattern

Topo Gigio from the "Ed Sullivan Show"

We NEVER missed Ed Sullivan on Sunday nites!

Tinker Toys

Timmy & Lassie




Door-to-door Fuller Brush Men

Studebakers...my childhood best friend's mom had one of these.

Speedy Alka Seltzer

Sky King and his niece Penny.

Roller Skate Key

Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorders

Penny Candy.

The 5 & Dime store in my home town had a huge display table

FULL

of penny candy.

Some even two or three for a penny!

Old Yeller

Metal Ice Cube Trays with Levers

Marlin Perkins from

Mutual of Omaha's

"Wild Kingdom"

Lincoln Logs

Jiffy Pop popcorn

Gum Wrapper Chains

S & H Green Stamps

You redeemed them at Green Stamp Stores.

We got some for a wedding gift and I redeemed them

for a clothes iron and a table lamp

Flash Bulbs

Fire Escape Tubes

The hospital I was born in had one just like this one.

Drive In Restaurants

Erector Sets

Drive in Movies

Ding Dong!

Avon Calling!

Cork
Pop Guns

Cigarettes for Christmas

Both of my parents smoked

like chimneys

when I was a kid.

Chef Boy Ar Dee Spaghetti in a can

Chatty Cathy Dolls

My childhood best friend also had a

Charming Chatty doll

Car Hops

Brylcreem

A little dab'll do ya!

They'll love to run their fingers thru your hair. !

Brownie Camera

Beany & Cecil Cartoon Show

Aluminum Christmas Trees

with Color Wheels

45 rpm record spindles

15 cent McDonald Hamburgers

5 Cent Postage Stamps

5 Cent Packages of Baseball Cards

...and how about The Beatles

Bubble Gum Cards???

I had tons of those.

5 Cent Cokes

Major Roadblock

I'm feeling...not anxious, exactly...but I'm feeling like there are an awful lot of unresolved issues in my personal life at the moment. Nothing monumental -- at least I certainly hope not. But enough to have me feeling very unsettled inside. I don't like feeling unsettled. I know that's silly on my part because Life is something we have absolutely no control over. Maybe I should say I prefer my 'unsettled-ness' in smaller doses. Not so many at once.

It's funny how we're our own worst enemies, isn't it? Or maybe it's just me. There are some things going on now where I wonder, "What if I would've done this differently? Or that? Was I right? Was I wrong? Is it because of me that this situation is what it is now? Did I not offer enough support or give what this person needed? Is this somehow my fault?" At what stage in Life do we let someone stand on their own two feet and draw back on 'being there' for them? How do we know what it is they need as it is? How much boils down to how a person is put together genetically in the first place? How much does our role in their lives affect them? These are the questions that go round and round in my head when I first pillow my head at nite. I'm getting to be too old to try and solve the world's problems. I learned a long, long time ago that I can't, tho that doesn't stop me from caring. And I am here to pick up the pieces.

When my grandson Dylan is particularly stressed or needing comfort, he comes to me with his arms open wide and crawls in to my lap. He tells me, "Hold, Mom." And we give each other a long, tight bear hug. I could hold that darling boy all day long if he'd let me.

Sometimes that's the way I feel, too. And that's when I open my arms and crawl into the embrace of my Savior. Those sweet everlasting arms. What comfort they give. That's when I say, "Hold, Lord."

Even tho she saw a photo of me on my short-lived Facebook account, I was hidden behind my littlest grandson. So this photo of Dear Hubby and me is for Donna, who likes to make mental pictures of her commenters. It was taken on my web cam a few years ago but I haven't changed much, outside of the fact my hair is now shoulder length and straight. All on its own, mind you. When it was as short as it is in this picture...and shorter beforehand...it was so naturally curly I could hardly get a brush thru it. But now, longer, it's got a bit of natural wave to it and is all soft and silky instead of coarse and curly. Go figure, eh? I am horrifically camera-shy so I don't like to keep a 'real' photo of me in my profile or permanently displayed on here. But maybe once a year I post one. And this is my once-a-year for this year.

Our Illustrious Mayor...but not for long, I think

Once again, our fair city is in the limelight.

In the past, it's been the Blazers but they seem to have cleaned up their act.

Not this guy.

My Constant Gripe....

Why oh why can't there be another hour or two

in a day

JUST FOR FUN!

I Apologize...

...to any of you who visit from foreign countries and depend on the Google site translator widget I had in my sidebar. I had never noticed before today that advertisements have been added to it and when I saw them today, I got rid of the widget. My site is not about ads. And I especially don't appreciate them being added to my blog without them asking my permission first.

I don't get upset very often, but that bugged me.

The nerve!