Memory Monday: My Daughter Had Another Birthday

my daughter eating her first birthday cake

MY DAUGHTER HAD ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Years have come and gone since my daughter had her first birthday. We celebrated that one with her granddaddy and her step-grandmother at their home in Texas. My husband and I decorated the cake (I had planned it with a cupcake on top to give to her). We make a brown sugar bear on it because we had called her “Becky Bear” since the day she was born (just to let you know—we don’t call her that anymore). Here’s a picture of that cake:

After she blew out the candle—with help from her parents, we gave her the cupcake on top and let her have fun. As you can see in the first picture, we put newspaper underneath her to catch the mess. We had a lot of fun and memories from that day. As a side note, it was on her first birthday that she took her first steps by herself.

A few days ago, I was watching my granddaughter and I told her that in two days’ we would be having her mommy’s birthday. She said, “Birthday cake.” I told her that Mommy would blow out the candles. She said that she and her mommy would blow out the candles. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, after all, who would win in a fight like that with a three-year-old.

After the family dinner of manicotti, salad, and garlic bread (all my daughter’s choices), I brought out the birthday cake with candles. And as my granddaughter had said, she helped her mommy blow out the candles. By the way, my daughter’s birthday cake this year was tiramisu (again, her choice) and there were no bears anywhere around.

Throwback Thursday: Stern Women

The latest from my "old and known" file

Woman in the middle on the top row—“Look into my eyes. You’re getting sleepy. You’re getting sleepy. Close your eyes and sleep. When you wake up, you will…"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: Just How Accurate Are Those Family Stories?

My daddy, his sister, and their cousin

JUST HOW ACCURATE ARE THOSE FAMILY STORIES?

As I was growing up, it was always an exciting time when we got to go to my mother’s parents’ home. There were often a lot of relatives since several of my mother’s siblings lived somewhat nearby. And then there were the times when one sister decided to come “home” and then one or more of the sisters would plan on coming at the same time. It was during these visits that I learned a lot of family history. Later, after I interviewed (and taped) these get-togethers with my mother, aunts, and grandmother. I am pretty sure the stories that I got were accurate—at least, as accurate as older women wanted to share.

Now stories from my father’s side of the family are a little sparse. One reason is my father had only one sibling—my mother had six. Another reason is my father’s sister lived far away and we hardly ever saw them. While we visited my dad’s parents, those visits were usually day trips. We would leave early Sunday morning, stop along the way and go to church, then get to my grandparents’ home in time for a late lunch. We hardly ever stayed the night. Usually, when we went we just played outside while the adults visited.

All that was said to explain why I don’t have a lot of stories of my father’s family. From a few things my dad had told me, I was able to piece together some of his side of the family. And thanks to Ancestry.com, I have also been able to learn more about that part of my family (and a bit more accurately). My sister told me that when she questioned my dad’s sister (our dad had already passed away when she needed this information for a college class) that she was told our grandfather had run away from home when he was eleven because his new step-mother was so mean. When I hear a story like that, I’m thinking he never went back home (and my aunt never said he returned). Well, when I looked at the census for when he was a little older, he is listed there living with his father and step-mother. He might have “run away” to his older brother’s house, which was only a few streets away, but he eventually came back home.

Another story I heard years and years ago, was that after my granddad married for the second time (my dad’s mother had died eight years before) was that my dad went to stay with his aunt (his mother’s sister) and her family during his last year in high school because she and her husband had lost a son the year before. I always thought the cousin who died was in his teens, like my dad—see the picture at the beginning of the article. I thought this was the cousin who had passed away. But today, I was to look at Ancestry.com to see if I could find just when this cousin passed away and what his name was. I got another surprise. While it is true that my aunt and her husband lost a son the year before my dad came to stay with them, the son that passed away died the same day he was born. I really think the reason that my father spent that year with his aunt’s family was he didn’t get along with his new step-mother—he called her “Madam” then and I never heard him call her anything but “Myrtle” as I grew up.

I think I need to spend more time on Ancestry.com. Maybe I will learn more about my dad’s family. I wonder what other stories that I’ve heard aren’t exactly true.

Throwback Thursday: Bushy Haired Baby

The latest from my "old and known" file:

Grumpy baby “Can’t you at least put a shirt on me before you take the picture?”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: Some of the Ways They Did Things Back Then

my grandmother with one of her children

SOME OF THE WAYS THEY DID THINGS BACK THEN

I was reading a book recently—Things Mother Used to Make, published in 1913. My grandmother, who was married in 1922, might have done some of these things. Here are a few items from that book that I found interesting—especially compared to the way we do things today:

To Save Confusion in the Home "Plan your work, then work your plan."

Monday—Wash, if you have it done in the house. If sent out, use that day for picking up and putting things in order, after the disorder of Sunday.

Tuesday—Iron.

Wednesday—Finish ironing and bake; wash kitchen floor.

Thursday, Friday—Sweep and dust, thoroughly.

Saturday—Bake, and prepare in every way possible, for the following day.

Homemade Shortening

Do not throw away small pieces of fat from pork, lamb or steak. Put them on the stove, in a skillet or agate dish and cook them till there is nothing left, but scraps. Then pare a potato, wash clean, cut into thin slices and cook in the fat for a half hour to clarify it. Strain through a cloth. This will be good to fry doughnuts in and for all purposes, where shortening is needed, except for pie crust.

Pieces of fat, not fit for shortening can be saved in some old utensil and made into kitchen soap.

Never Throw away Old Underclothes

Keep them for housecleaning, for washing windows and for washing lamp chimneys. Old pieces of calico or flannel make good holders to use about the stove. Wash, boil and dry cleaning cloths when soiled, that they may be ready for use again.

To Keep your Hands White

Keep a piece of lemon in your bathroom or kitchen. It will remove stains from the hands.

Save your Old Stockings

Old stockings are fine for cleaning the range. Slip your hand into the foot and rub hard, or place an old whisk broom inside. It will make the sides and front of the range clean and shiny. In fact, you will seldom need to use blacking on these parts.

To Remove Disagreeable Odors from the House

Sprinkle fresh ground coffee, on a shovel of hot coals, or burn sugar on the shovel. This is an old-fashioned disinfectant, still good.

To Lengthen the Life of a Broom

Your broom will last much longer and be made tough and pliable, by dipping for a minute or two, in a pail of boiling suds, once a week. A carpet will wear longer if swept with a broom treated in this way. Leave your broom bottom side up, or hang it.

To Soften Boots and Shoes

Rub them with kerosene. Shoes will last longer if rubbed over with drippings from roast lamb. Old-fashioned people always used mutton tallow on children's shoes.

Now aren’t these wonderful hints. Do you think you will use any of them? Really, aren’t you happy that you live today and not 100 years ago?

Throwback Thursday: Girl Riding a "Horse" Leg

From my "old and known" file:

Little girl—"What do you mean this isn’t a real horse?"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: What My Daughter Ate as a Little Girl and What She Eats Now

My Daughter Eating a "Normal" Meal

WHAT MY DAUGHTER ATE AS A LITTLE GIRL AND WHAT SHE EATS NOW

When my daughter was little she LOVED cold hot dogs. If I heated them, she refused to even touch them. They had to be cold. Everything else she ate was “normal” but not hotdogs. Well, there was that time she insisted on eating spinach right out of the can—like Pop-Eye, the sailor man (Toot, Toot), but that only took her one bite to decide that canned, cold spinach was not for her!

Well, today, she still tries new things and she loves to blog about them. Recently, she and her family tried Burmese food, then wrote about what she had on her blog, You Ate What...? The strange food adventures of a suburban girl in Oklahoma.

I would love for you to take a peek at what they ate. You can find out all about it here

You Ate What? Burmese Food (This link will open another page).

I hope you enjoy it. You might even want to try Burmese food sometime. What were some of the “unusual” foods your children insisted on eating when they were little? Do they still eat them today?

Throwback Thursday: Smiling Boy

From my "old and known" file

“Look, Mom! No cavities!"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: My Daddy's 100th Birthday

My Daddy in 1917

Casper Office Phone Number

MY DADDY’S 100^th BIRTHDAY

I have been waiting for this month since last year when I was looking at my family tree on Ancestry. Daddy (yes, that’s what I still call him) was born in 1917. He was a baby during the First World War, a soldier in the Second World War,  a husband and father of two and a-half-children during the Korean War (I was born in the middle of that war), and went on to have three more children. He suffered through the death of his last child, who only lived overnight. Later, he saw his children married and loved seven grandchildren, but passed away before his last two were born.

Daddy lived through the loss of his beloved mother when he was only nine, was a protective older brother to his much-loved sister, and learned to live with a step-mother with whom he never had a close relationship.

During the Depression, there were nine people living in his family’s two-bedroom house (it did have a screen-in porch) when his father took in his first wife’s brother and his family. One of my daddy’s chores during that time at night was to cut out cardboard insoles to cover the holes in his father’s shoes so his father could walk to work at a grocery store.

My daddy wanted so much to get a college degree. After high school, he would work 40 hours a week or more, then take a college class at night. He tried doing this over the next eleven years—although WWII did come in the middle of that—but was never able to get enough credits to graduate.

He so wanted to make a success of himself. He tried many different ways to better his and his family’s life. But looking back over what I know of my Daddy, I can see how it never seemed to work out--he was an academically-minded man (think college English professor) trying to become a business success. It never worked out for him.

The thing I remember most about Daddy was his faith in God. At times, he was a weak man. At times, his temper took hold. At times, he said and did things he was ashamed of afterward. But he loved God and was a Christian. After he had a major heart attack and was able to attend church again, people said his prayer brought tears to their eyes.

Yes, Daddy was a man who lived in his time with its wisdom and attitudes—many of which are different in today’s world. He was flawed, but he loved his family. I learned a lot from him. And I love him and he is still very much a part of my life, even though he passed away over thirty years ago.

HAPPY 100^th BIRTHDAY, DADDY.