General Discussion & Chat: Coffee and...For Friday, January 13, 2006, 0 by meezersfive

meezersfive wrote:
Friday the 13th!! Sarv, your principal must have had sadistic tendencies, put me in a room with first graders, and I'll be out the window! I like children in very small doses...but a room full!! Yow!! Camping reservations here are a nightmare too, it's an automated system and the best time to get on and accomplish anything is the wee hours of the morning. We used to go with a group of friends and family and had a great time, but at this point, I'll stick with cooking on a range and showering in my own bathroom! I think your DH needs the 2X4, seems he mostly wants to complain but not to volunteer to do the work.

Oz, your horseradish experience parallels one I had in a chinese restaurant. I ordered a spicy dish, because I like spicy...but holy cow, after a couple of bites of their Szechuan wor main, tears were flying from my eyes, clear across the table, like a squirt gun, my nose was torched, sweat was running down my face and the waiter came running over, frantically telling me "drink hot tea..drink hot tea"!! The one to watch out for is wasabi, which is super volatile! Even the memory makes my nose run!

My dad had a friend who used to grow and make his own horseradish. He ground it outside and warned everyone to stand upwind to avoid the fumes!

I hope everything is going well with Susan's surgery today. I don't imagine we'll hear anything until her DD's update us.

Orchid, I used to love to do macrame, and had one handy little booklet that had all the knots, and several patterns. I did plant hangers but like you and I01, found it difficult to find jute or hemp when it was no longer popular. My niece made me a beautiful multi-tiered one that hung down about six feet, I still have it somewhere.

Maria, I am going to check your blog for your stories. It is important that people remember those events, and difficult times. Here in the states, we had rationing of essential foods and things like rubber and gasoline, but people were not starving as they were in Europe. And to think there are groups today that want to convince people that there were no concentration camps, makes me sick.

I remember being sent to the store with those little cardboard tokens that were used for butter or sugar. Those were the days in the early 40's when there was always a little corner store within walking distance. I was so impressed with the way Mr. Shapiro could snap open a paper bag with just a flick of his wrist! He had a nice penny candy display right in front of the counter where he weighed your purchases, and wrapped them up. We didn't have money to spend on candy, so all I could do was look.

Dcat and Orchid, any farm family can attest to how hard you have to work to keep things going every day. I spent a lot of time on my stepmother's sister's farm, and there were always chores to do. And no chore too large for small hands. Weed or hoe, feed the chickens, slop the pigs, carry water into the house, bring the cows in for milking, but we had plenty of time to play, and we ran wild most of the day in our bare feet. Plenty of relatives to visit within a couple of miles, where we walked across cow pastures as a shortcut to their homes.

I feel it builds character to have to contribute to the family work, and fully agree that if kids had to do that now, there wouldn't be so many juvenile behavior problems. Kids are overindulged, and expect everything that their friends have. I see them walking around with cell phones, and Ipods ....which are now apparently necessities and not luxuries. No wonder people's credit card debt is astronomical.

When I had lunch with DD and DIL on Wednesday, we were talking about living wills, and finally, real wills. We made a pact that we would each strong arm our husbands into either making or updating wills, whether or not they want to. It's like those guys think they, or we, are going to live forever. Maybe they want the state to come in and decide how our possessions are to be divvied up....I can just see DH's family lining up with lawsuits to claim what they think is rightfully theirs. And maybe some of mine....LOL What a nightmare!

Sammi is snoozing on my knees, after a vigorous workout romping around for two hours. That seems to be his maximum, then he crashes for an hour or so, and it starts all over. The girls are getting a little less hissy, and Souky actually played tentatively with him yesterday, until he got too excited. Last night he played with some new toys that his Auntie Elaine sent him, and here's a shot of him, midair, looking like a ballerina, doing a half turn in order to come down and attack the unsuspecting toy! He's a lucky little fella, to have such good friends....

Don't have much planned for the day, but wanted to say good morning to all before I struggle with the laundry monster, and run the vac...place looks a little cluttered up..and I need to clean off my desk, pay some bills, and file papers. So, have a good day everyone, watch out for meteors and runaway vehicles....

Sheila