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.

Throwback Thursday: Sleeping Children

From my "not so old and definitely known" file:

"The Energizing Bunny has left the building."

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

Throwback Thursday: Girl Asleep in Ice Cream

From my "oldish and known" file:

She likes to eat. She likes to sleep.

Sometimes she likes to do both at the same time.

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

Throwback Thursday: Two Boys on a Blanket

Child on left—“Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s…”

That's my caption. Finish it or create your own in the comments.

Throwback Thursday: Girl with a Cat

From my Old and Unknown File:

"It’s my cat, and if I want to name it 'Dog,' I can!"

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

Throwback Thursday: Children in a Wagon

From my "Old and Unknown File":

"Think we can get another half dozen kids in the wagon?"

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

Memory Monday: Child's Chair

Little Blue Chair

A Child's Chair with a History and Maybe a Future

I won’t say our family members are hoarders, but some of the things we keep are used for generations. My husband was an only child, and his mother saved a number of things from his childhood—his story books, his metal trucks, his small record player with records, his little cowboy boots (which no one after him ever wore), his porcelain potty (not the chair, just the bowl), as well as several other things, including the chair above.

Now my mother didn’t save as much, but then there were four of us girls. I still have my last doll which my daughter played with when she was a little girl (see post about the LAST DOLL), a few books that I got through a Weekly Readers Book Club subscription, and a stuffed Jolly Green doll (well, this last one I finally threw away a couple of years ago because it was literally falling apart, maybe because it was over fifty years old).

I guess I have passed on the saving/hoarding gene to my daughter. It showed up in her at an early age. Once when I told her to clean her room, she hauled a large trash bag into the living room filled with books, toys, and trash. When I asked if it needed to go to the dumpster or put with what we would sell in a garage sale, she let me know it was neither—it was what she was saving for her children. Now you have to understand that at the time she was probably only in the second or third grade, so I figure she had heard me say the same thing “way too many times” about something I was saving for my grandchildren.

But there are some things that have been saved (and used) across the generations. The chair pictured above is one of those things. My husband used it about sixty-five years ago when he was a little boy, only it was a deep rose red then. Years later, our two children (who are both in their thirties now) used it. We have discussed the different colors of the chair lately, but neither one of use can remember when it was repainted blue (there is a layer of white between the red and the blue—how patriotic).

The chair is in use again for the newest generation. Our little two-year-old granddaughter sits on it while she plays in our living room. It is just the right size for her. And as well-built as it is, it should be available for the next generation in about another twenty or twenty-five years (and maybe several more generations after that).

Throwback Thursday: Two Children in the Sunshine

Little boy—“Mommy, make her stop moving her fingers and making things crawl on me!!!"

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

Throwback Thursday: Tattletale?

Girl on right—“They did it! They did it! I saw them do it!”

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

Throwback Thursday: Two Women with Hats

Lady on the left--How many times do you think we can bounce on this before it breaks?

There's my caption. Do you have one? Leave your caption in the comments below.

Memory Monday: How to Dress for Housework

My mother's paternal grandmother

HOW TO DRESS FOR HOUSEWORK—HAVE WE BEEN DOING IT WRONG ALL THESE YEARS?

After reading this article in the book Putnam's Household Handbook by Mae Savell Croy, published in 1916, I realize that I haven’t been wearing the right clothes for doing housework all these years. But that will all change now. Read the article and think of my great-grandmother above. Think she would want to exchange her long skirts and long-sleeved blouses for the gymnasium suit—she was married about 20 years when this book came out. See if you think you will change the way you do housework.

HOUSEWORK WITH THE AID OF A GYMNASIUM SUIT

A gymnasium suit worn during the morning hours when sweeping, dusting, cleaning, washing, or in fact, when doing any work where exercise of the body is practiced, will leave the wearer far less fatigued after her duties than when wearing a clumsy dress or heavy skirt, as is usually worn by housewives.

One is always nearly exhausted after a hard day's work on the day set aside for cleaning, but the adoption of this method of dress for doing housework enables the worker to do the work in less time and hardly feel the strain when the day is over. There is a certain amount of freedom felt in the gymnasium suit. If this is questioned let the reader visit a gymnasium class for adults and see the light-heartedness and care-free manner of the members while at their exercises. It makes one feel almost a child again. A heavy skirt is a handicap and is constantly in the way if one must climb up for dusting pictures or cleaning windows.

Too, it gathers much dust and grime and no skirt worn constantly for housework looks tidy very long. A light weight cotton union suit is all that is necessary for wearing under the suit. It is easy to get out of this costume into the tub when the work is finished and the wearer, instead of feeling tired and worn, is refreshed and brightened simply through having effected a change in dress.

The gymnasium suit gives free play to the muscles that are otherwise bound down by tight bodice and sleeves, and the weight removed from the body and lower limbs enables the wearer to move with rapidity and ease and to get the full benefit of the exercise taken in a very easy and comfortable way.

While it is really better to wear the suit without corsets, as is done in gymnasiums, if the wearer does not care to leave her corsets off, the suit is still far preferable to the old form of dress.

Aside from the freedom of the muscles and the light weight of the costume as compared to the dress and petticoats, it is a much more economical apparel than the dress. The suit can be made from five yards of fifty-cent serge, and two such suits will last with good hard wear a couple of years. They are easy to wash and iron and a great saving will be experienced in the laundry. The serge should be thoroughly sponged before being made up, in order to save the wearer the discomfort of the suit becoming too tight after being washed.

An outer skirt should be kept conveniently near to slip on over the gymnasium suit when the door bell rings or when tradespeople call, and a much neater appearance will be presented than to go to the door with a soiled cotton dress on, or a heavy shirt bearing spots from cooking.

As a last and very important argument in favor of the gymnasium suit, the disposition of the wearer will be immensely improved, for nothing will so quickly cause a woman who does her own work to become irritable and nervous as to be in a half exhausted condition while having to face the annoying little problems that come up daily in her home life.

Wait!!!! I just remember—I don’t do housework. My husband said he would do it so I could have time to write. Now, I wonder if he wants me to get him a gymnasium suit so he can feel refreshed after he finishes all the housework. Nope, I don’t think I’ll even ask him. I know he’ll prefer his jeans and tees. Which is fine with me as long as he keeps cleaning.

Memory Monday: My Father-in-Law

My father-in-law acting silly

MY FATHER-IN-LAW

As Father’s Day approaches, I want to honor a very special man who was in my life too short a time—my father-in-law. He was a wonderful man who loved his wife and son. They only had one child because after she gave birth to their son, the doctor told them that any future births would have to be by C-section because my mother-in-law was too small to go through that again. When he heard that, he said they wouldn’t have any more because he didn’t want her to have that surgery (you have to remember this was in the 1940s). She told my father-in-law that she wanted to give him a daughter. He hugged her and said that when their son married, they would have their daughter. I became that daughter, even before my husband and I married.

After my mother-in-law passed away with cancer, he moved closer to us. Shortly after that, I changed from calling by his first name to “Dad.” (I had always called my father “Daddy” so it just seemed right.) Through the years, we shared a lot of great times together. I learned to sit on his left side when we played the game of 42, or he would outbid me just for the sake of outbidding me which he knew would cause me to give him one of “those” looks. We also had a number of contests concerning losing weight—and he won all of those. I think his secret to winning was what my mother-in-law prepared his meals while I had to do all the cooking at my house (and we all know that the cook has to “taste” everything before sitting down to dinner). One of my sweetest memories was when they would come to visit and he would get out my guitar (which I never learned to play, but he did), tune it up, and play while I sang with my mother-in-law.

But, I think the most wonderful thing about my father-in-law was how he took on the role of grandfather to our two children. His love for them was so deep and sure and constant. I just wished that he had lived long enough to see them reach adulthood, to see how they are living and loving, working and having fun. He was always so proud of them.

And with my granddaughter here now, I know that I will be better grandparent because of the example he was. Thank you, DAD.

Throwback Thursday: Two Women and a Tire

"And for our next DIY project, we will show how to make a picture frame from an old tire."

There's my caption, what's yours? Feel free to leave your caption in the comments below.

Throwback Thursday: Three People

Here's my caption:

"Now, Hiram, stop gawking at those people over there and look at the camera."

That's my caption, what's yours? Feel free to leave your caption in the comments below.

Throwback Thursday: Child in the Snow

"Oh, my goodness! I think I see Santa Claus coming!"

That's my caption, what's yours? Feel free to leave your caption in the comments below! Merry Christmas!

Throwback Thursday: Horse and Carriage

Woman: I can’t believe you brought me to a one-horse town and this is the horse.

That's my caption, what's yours? Feel free to leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: Memories of My Father-in-Law

My father-in-law and his mother Vera

MEMORIES OF MY FATHER-IN-LAW

Because so much of family history is lost when just one person dies, I wanted to try and save as much as possible of ours. About a year after our son was born in the mid-80s, we bought a camcorder, and I started interviewing family members. (Unfortunately my father and my mother-in-law had passed away by then, so I will never be able to record their personal histories and stories). The first person I interviewed was my father-in-law. In recalling stories, he repeated how his mother one day was out in the field hoeing cotton, when her young beau came by. It was very uncomely for a young lady of that day to be see bare-footed (which she was at the time), so she quickly dug two holes in the ground, stepped into them and covered her feet with dirt. She could then properly greet her young man.

My father-in-law, also, told a story about his father. “One day, Dad and I were sitting at the table while Mom was fixing supper. Dad noticed that the punched-out S and P lids on the salt and pepper shakers had been switched when they had been refilled. So, Dad carefully poured out the salt into one pile on the table and the poured out the pepper into another pile. He then scraped the salt into the container that had held the pepper and then he put the pepper into the other shaker. After replacing the caps on both shakers, he sat back in his chair with a smile of satisfaction on his face for a job well done. I was just a little kid, but as I looked at the salt and pepper shakers and then at my dad, I asked him, “Why didn’t you just change the tops?” Laughing now, my father-in-law said that his dad just sat there looking stunned.

If possible, try and record or write down your memories and stories that you were told growing up. They will make a great bridge from the past generations to the future.

Throwback Thursday: A Pile of Girls

Here's my caption:
"We played Ring-Around-the-Roses and we all fell down."

Got a good caption for this picture? Feel free to leave it in the comments below.