So Many Memories

I've been so wrapped up in my memories in March that I failed to do the one thing I wanted to do in this year of 2011 and that was to remember birthdays on my blog with a Birthday Shout Out.  So that said I will be adding those special birthdays on their respective days.  March 1st and March 22nd.  Sorry guys.....forgive me!

So when I started this month of memories I never realized how great it would be to spend this month going down memory lane.  There as so many memories yet to share. Like babysitting for 25 cents an hour or buying gas for 25 cents a gallon or a ticket to the movie 25 cents but that will have to be for another day!  Tomorrow is a new day and a new month!  Can't wait to see where my favorite things take me!




Movin' on Up

This was our second home.  We moved here about nine months after we got married.  We felt like royalty to be out of that basement apartment.  It was a scary move because our rent increased to $150.00 a month.  But we were able to work with the landlord to have it reduced to $125.00 if we agreed to keep the side walk shoveled in the winter and the grass mowed in the summer.   That additional $25.00 was HUGH!  But the sacrifice was worth it. We loved our little two bedroom apartment.

First Home

We got married on a Wednesday in the Salt Lake Temple.  Our wedding reception was on Saturday, three days later, in California. The next day, Sunday we loaded up our car and headed back to Utah to find a place to live before Tuesday, which was the day Mr. Man had to be back to work.  Are you following me here?  We arrived in Ogden on Monday morning and started our search.  By day’s end we had found a place to live.  A one bedroom basement apartment, furnished and everything; it had a lovely turquoise naugahyde couch, aka vinyl or faux leather or gross, take your pick.  Rent was a $100.00 a month.  It came with a washer big bonus but the drying was done outside on the clothes line.  We had a wonderful neighbor who liked to fish but didn’t eat fish so he gave them to us.  I laugh when I think of it.  I wasn’t always laughing then.  Mr. Man left for work the next morning in our only car.  He was gone 12 hours a day; he was commuting even back then.  I knew no one and with no car had no place to go anyway. There I was 6 days married, no car, no husband for the better part of the day, no cell phone (because they hadn’t been invented yet) or phone for that matter.  I laugh when I think of it, still!  Mostly because I can’t imagine sending my daughter’s or my son’s for that matter into wedded bliss with no place to live.  Crazy!


There she is.  Our 1st Home. 
Our front door was the side door!



Waist

My waist is a memory.  I had one once I’m pretty sure.  But today it is just a memory. It would be nice to have it back. But I think that will have to come in the next life. 

This is why I don't have a waist.
Just sayin'

Delivery

It is fair to say every Mother has a delivery story of one kind or another.  It is a memory we love to share.  It is one of those memories that well ….. lives forever. Who would forget it, who would want to?  It was for me one of the most magically and spiritual moments in my life.  I was blessed with easy pregnancies and quick and fairly easy deliveries.  We had girl, boy, girl, boy.  The girls are five years apart and the boys are 5 five years apart.  My delivery days were Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Weekends just worked best for me; if you count Monday as part of the weekend!   One baby came one day late, one baby came three days late, one baby came 3 days early and one baby came right on time!   One baby came in the afternoon, one baby came in the morning, one baby came in the evening and one baby came in the middle of the night. With three babies I chose to give birth using no medications at all; first baby I didn’t know better.  For me it was so much better to rely on relaxation and controlled breathing for the pain. The experience, despite the pain, was extremely empowering and rewarding. Not to mention the quick recovery!  It is amazing to me that even now, many years later, I can still remember so many of the details of each delivery experience.  These are memories I hold near and dear to my heart. 

Special Deliveries! Special Memories!

T.V.

Just when I think I can't think of the perfect memory something or someone comes along to remind me of a great memory.  Thanks brother.  I was having a bit of a wonderment but he shared with me his children's new found love of The Dick Van Dyke Show.  As a child I didn't get to watch this show much.  My dad wasn't a fan of all Laura's whinning.  But as an adult I rediscovered it.  Television today only hopes to be so good.  I miss those days of television, the likes of The Dick Van Dyke Show. I loved the show then, I love the show now. It makes my heart sing.  No matter how many times I watch this show it brings me great laughter.  Excuse me I think I will go watch an eposide or two or three or ..........!

The Pen

I remember when the pen (or pencil) was the writing instrument of choice; actually they were the only option.  Remember stationery?  Paper, paper I love paper.  Today’s paper is so fun.  And as much as I love, love, love my technology.  There is something about writing things down on paper.  Gone it seems are the days of letter writing on paper, when there is e-mail.  It is kind of sad to me that that form of communication is slowly disappearing.  And remember when you had to actually write out your homework assignments? No computers for that.  Reports were written out by hand.  Rough draft first of course then the final draft.  That was the rule in our house.  Those were the blood, sweat, and tears days for sure. Remember that?

.22

This memory month has really stirred up the memories of not only me but of Mr. Man.  Today’s memory is his.  The year was ahhhhh 1963, it was summer time.  Mr. Man took the money he had saved, got on his bike and rode 10 miles to the store and purchased a .22 rifle.  With the rifle perched over the handle bars he was off for the 10 mile trip home with his new purchase. When we hear these stories we are amazed at the thought.  A 12 year old, 10 miles on a bike alone to buy a gun.  When I hear these stories I hear determination.  I hear grit.  I hear resolve.  In today’s world we can’t let our 12 year olds ride their bikes 10 miles alone to buy a gun, we just wouldn’t do that.  We couldn't do it!  So today how do we go about teaching determination, grit and resolve?  Good question.

The Bike

Life on the Farm - Part 2

There are many more memories on the farm that I must share. Well not all of them. I won't share any mice stories; there were plenty! And we had an agreement me and the mice; don't show your face or leave me any little calling cards and I won't have you exterminated. Sadly for them they didn’t live up to the agreement and they met a fiery death but then I said I wasn’t going to share their story. Sorry. So there was another creature on the farm that caused me grief and that would be the skunk.  Please someone tell me why we need them.  I see no purpose in their existence.

The story goes like this. Mr. Man was working nights. I had let the dog out for a bathroom break before bed time. The dog (Andy) got nosy and well you know what a skunk will do and it did. But the dog lover that I am would never just leave my dog outside no matter what he smelled like.  Plus I felt safer with him in the house; after all who would come into a house that smelled like a skunk.  And by the way skunk smells different close up. It smells worse, in case you wondered. So I spent the night giving Andy tomato juice baths to cut the smell.

In case you wondered it doesn’t work. But it does keep people our of your house.  I still loved life on the farm, just some days more than others!

Happy Birthday Shout Out!

I pause to interrupt this 31 Days of Memories to bring you a Happy Birthday Shout Out.

Today is birthday Number Six for Gran #5!

Happy Birthday Little Man!
Love you so......

Life on the Farm

Twenty plus years ago we lived on a farm.  About 250 acres of a farm.  Our portion was only about an acre.  We loved our acre.  I loved our acre.  Who knew I would love country life, but I did like no other.  We had fruit trees and a garden that produced wonderful tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, corn, onions, radishes, Swiss chard, watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries and wild black berries.  What was not to love?  We just loved it all.  One year we canned over 100 jars of tomatoes.  It was amazing.  We also made fruit leather out of all the apricots.  It was a crazy process.  After treating the apricots with sulfur to keep the apricots from turning dark, we took off all the screens from the windows in our home and put the apricots on them to dry outside.  The summer sun did its job and soon we had beautiful, wonderful, tasty dried apricots.  Oh and the apricots that were overripe we made into fruit leather.  We used our station wagon to dry them! It was a wonderful time in our life.

Rain

So my mind is flooded, excuse the pun, with the recent rains we have been experiencing.  The first memory is as a child.  We lived in a house that was built in a former walnut orchard.  Our home was at the edge of that orchard.  Whenever it rained the gutters in the street couldn’t handle that amount of rain that was coming down.  As it rained the water would rise and rise and soon it was almost to our door step.  Our front lawn was covered; it was like living on a lake.  Such fun to a child; water, water, everywhere.  I loved it.  Fast forward.  The year was 1986 the month was February.   We lived across from the Sacramento River and its infamous levee.  Average rainfall in February is 3.77 inches.  That February there was 10.30 inches of rain.  That much rain in a short month is tough on an old levee.  One night there was a “levee alert” in our area, so I loaded up the kids and headed to town to Nana and Papa’s home.  Mr. Man stayed behind to stand watch.  Thankfully the levee in our area held.  Record flooding that year caused several levee failures in Sacramento Valley.   We were blessed.  So the rain.  Mr. Man says it is better than snow because you don’t have to shovel it.  He has a point.  But some days I look hard for the rainbows because some days, some days the rain just drives me insane!

Relief Society

The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, and has approximately 6 million members in over 170 countries and territories. The Relief Society is often referred to by the church and others as "one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world."

My memory. In the spring of 1983, I was called by the Bishop of the Woodland Ward to be the new Relief Society President. This was an overwhelming thought. Me, Relief Society President, are you sure you have the right person, really? I grew up in this ward; many of the sisters in this ward had been my Primary and Sunday School teachers or Young Women Leaders. Now you wanted me to be their leader?  Wasn’t I too young for the job? It was such a daunting responsibility. But despite my age (29) and despite the fact we had three young children and I was due with our fourth in a month or so I accepted the responsibility and have been so much the better for it. I learned the Lord doesn’t choose the qualified but qualifies those He has chosen.

Side Note:  Although the Bishop called me in the Spring of 1983. He told me he wouldn’t make the calling formal until after the baby was born and I was ready to come back to church. So it went down like this. Baby was born June 18th, the following Sunday, June 26th, although I was not exactly up and running I wanted to be at church because one of the young women I had taught years earlier was speaking in church prior to leaving on her mission. Well, the minute I stepped into the church the Bishop took that as my cue as my return. Men! The rest is history but those memories and times are remembered fondly.

Education

I started my illustrious education at a school name Harry Dewey Elementary School.  My kindergarten teacher’s name was Mrs. Ketchup; I don’t know if it was spelled like that, but that’s what I remember.  She drove a blue Studebaker; that I do remember.  She use to tell us she was always afraid to drive next to a logging truck for fear a log would fall off and crush her; why I remember that I don’t know.  But I do think of her everytime we drive by a logging truck.  The other part of this memory is that I walked to school by myself; I had shoes on, there was no snow involved nor were there any hills to climb.  But I was five and school was a half a mile away, from the street I lived on I had to go on four different streets before arriving at the street my school was on.  Can you even imagine that?  Were those days really in my lifetime??  Don’t answer that.



School Mascot



Top of the Morning Officer

I don't know if this is a good thing to write about or not.  I certainly wouldn't want it to happen to me now just because I'm talking about it.  But this memory goes back to the very early days of the marriage.  Mr. Man was a police officer for the Ogden (Utah) Police Department.  I was on my way home from work this one particular day and for whatever reason Mr. Man and I were annoyed at each other.  I'm sure I was the one mostly annoyed at him for reasons that are unknown to me at this time.  Well, Mr. Man was on duty and took it upon himself to try to pull me over.  "Dude, I'm not pulling over.  Turn off the lights.  It's not funny. Not the siren............please. Turn off the microphone......don't call out my name.  I'm serious. Okay, I'm pulling over!"  And so I did.  I was not impressed by this little maneuver but the memory of it has never faded and always makes me laugh at the thought of it.  That was the last time I was pulled over by anyone.  And I hope to keep it that way!

Today

In my work I am always dealing with the future.  I said to someone in the office the other day………."what day are we working on?" and her reply, “for you it is probably May already!”  She is not too far off.  It made me stop and think about the memories I’m making with this day and what I will think about them in the future.  Really not all days are full of fun and happy memories but that’s not to say we can’t take what we learn in any given day and make it worth something of value in the future.  So today as I work in the future, I will stop long enough to live in the now and make something of it.

Food

So I saw this the other day and could not stop laughing at the memory of it.  This little clip is a memory from days gone by when D2 was much younger!  She could of written the script.  I. Love. It. 

 Just Love the Memory!

One Hour

I can’t believe it has only been what 48 hours since you left but I miss you so much already.  It happens every year, you would think I would be better prepared for your departure.  As much as I think about you going I can’t seem to wrap it around my head until you actually leave.  And then poof you are gone just like magic you disappear.  Such a sweet memory. I miss you so but I know you will come back, you always do. See you in November.

The Diaper Circle

So this memory is about diapers. Funny memory I know. So by the time I was a senior in high school I had become, annoyingly I'm sure, "green." It wasn't called "green" then you were just being "e-conscience." The "e" standing for ecology. It was all about ecology back then. It was really just a concept before its time. So back to this senior year in high school. My brother was born during this time and my parents were a month away from moving into a new home. Also, my mother was without a washer and dryer. Paper diapers, very primitive paper diapers, had hit the market. Horrors; all those diapers in our landfill. I would not let that happen so until we moved into our new home I took the cloth diapers to the laundry mat. Who was I?

So yes once becoming a mother I did use paper diapers from time to time; I had lost my “green” passion. But I will say the use of paper diapers was a luxury and used mostly when we traveled. And now I hear cloth is making a comeback and there is the circle.

Cloth

vs.

Paper



The Three "R"s

My memory of Sundays when the kids were small are of two things. Curly Noodles (Top Ramen) and nap time.  Curly Noodles as they were called was the personal favorite of S1.  The nap time was my personal favorite; still is!  Sunday my day to rest, reflect and renew!

The Gift

Every wedding era has "the gift." In my day that gift was the fondue pot. With a look similar to this:

Can't remember how many we got but for sake of memory let's just say I had a handy re-gifting supply. The fondue pot it was a classic.

Well fast forward a few decades (decades that sounds ancient and we've been married almost four of them oh man; sorry I digress it happens a lot). So back to the fast forwarding. Isn't it lovely when something simple like the fondue pot transforms into something lovely and wonderful and oh so tasty like this:



Yummy Melty Cheese



Yes that is lobster, and shrimp and duck and..........



 Fondue you've come a long way and I love you more today than I did yesterday!



Candied Popcorn Balls

It was I would say about September 1971.  It was the afternoon before a Mutual activity. I was asked to bring candied popcorn balls. So with help from my mom this is how it went down.

When we pop popcorn that we are going to candy we always air pop it right into the kitchen sink.  Makes clean up a snap.  So that afternoon we did just that.  Once the popcorn was done, it was on to making the candy syrup used to cover the popcorn.  The syrup by the way is cooked to about 250 degrees.  Okay popcorn done, syrup ready.  Now it is time to cover the popcorn and then shape it into popcorn balls.  The trick to this is you have to work fast.  So that day my mom stirred the popcorn around in the sink while I poured the syrup over the popcorn.  In my effort to pour quickly and her attempt to stir quickly I poured the syrup, the very oh so hot syrup right over the top of her hand. OUCH!  Big Ouch! Big Giant Ouch! To make matters worse her first reaction was to go to the freeze to get ice; which wasn't necessarily a bad reaction but we should of just turned on the water so she could let the water run over her hand and stop the burning.  But the sink was full of popcorn so of course she didn't do that.........that would be wasteful or something.  It was crazy.  Oh and my mom was pregnant with my youngest brother at the time. So for several months she was one handed or at least had very limited use of her hand.  So the moral of the story is, it is okay to ruin a sink full of popcorn if you should pour the syrup on yourself........... in case you didn't figure that out already!

Stupid Cats

I'm not really a cat lover.  Never have been.  Sometimes I want to love them but they are just not loyal enough for me.  They don't need me and so I don't need them.  Not to mention they are too aloof for me.  But this memory is about a cat.  Not my cat but the office cat.  The cat's name was Sparky.  His brother is Surge.  Appropriately named for cats that live at the office of an electrical contractor don't you think?  So one day we realized we hadn't seen Sparky for a few days.  Then someone came to work and said they saw a now deceased cat in the road that appeared to be Sparky.  So myself and the other half of my brain went to check it out.  When we came upon the cat we too were uncertain of the identity of the cat.  We found a piece of cardboard near by and the other half of my brain scooped up the "body" and put it in the backseat of her car.  This is a true story.  I of course was gagging; it doesn't take much to make me gag.  Do you know how bad a dead cat smells.  Bad doesn't really cover it.  But we had to know if it was Sparky or not.  So we drove back to work (a couple of blocks away) with our heads hanging out the window.  Back at the office we laid the cat in the back of the building so we could have a quasi viewing. It. Was. Not. Sparky.  Sparky appeared later in the day.  Stupid. Cat. Sparky doesn't live with us anymore, he had issues. So he lives on a farm in Napa at last report.  Oh and the deceased unknown cat; its finally resting place the dumpster.  May it rest in peace!

Side Note: "How was work today honey?" "It was great, we scooped a dead cat off the road, then had a viewing for it in the back of the shop."  I Love My Job.......I really do!

Philtrum

You are probably wondering what that means.  We all have one.  I actually had to google it because I've always known it as the space between my nose and mouth.  The philtrum is the midline groove in the upper lip that runs from the top of the lip to the nose. I'm happy to learn it has an official name. 

So what is a philtrum doing in a blog about memories.  Well, a couple of things.  The first thing is mine has a now faint scar down the middle.  When I was younger I took a head dive over my trike into some gravel.  Very painful and left a nice scar down the middle; we didn't do stitches for such things back in the day.  We wore our battle wounds proudly and boy do I remember having a fat lip.

But the memory I cherish the most is from my Primary teacher.  She taught me that that little space, with the slight indentation was actually an imprint of Heavenly Father's finger across my lips as I left His presence to come to earthly life.  He was telling me Shhh so I would always remember to be still and listen for His voice.  I will never forget that as long as I live.

Five Books

When I was younger.....really younger, under five younger I was all about why. Why this? What that?  My mom even purchased a set of books entitled “How and Why” just because my vocabulary was so full of why?  Well, why may have been my trade mark question as a child; but over time I have found that the “why question” is sometimes impossible to find answers to.  In fact I dare say even then the answers weren’t in those books.   Over time I’ve learned the “why” question usually keeps me stuck in an endless pattern of wonderment.  Why is like a not so happy merry-go-round I can't get off of. So my question isn’t why any more.  My question is what?  What can I do to help myself out?  What can I do to help someone else out?  What lifts me.  Why does not.

Food Then

I remember food was a lot simpler back in the day or maybe we were fancy and didn't know it.  Either way remember when we called:

Sour cream, sour cream and not Crème Fraîche

or

White sauce, white sauce and not Béchamel 

or

Cream puffs, cream puffs and not Profiteroles

or

Green onions, green onions and not Scallions

or

Green beans, green beans not Haricot Verts

I wonder with these fancy names if kids sit up and eat their food better?  "Come on, honey you need to finish your Haricot Verts before you can get down from the table?"  I don't think so.

A bean is a bean is a bean!



Friends Like That

When the past meets the present it makes for a wonderful evening of conversation and good company.   Thanks Steve and Jeanie.  Catching up with old friends, looking back, looking forward, makes for new great memories.

A Waist

So I didn't have this on my list of memories.  But there was a time I did have a waist, in recent years I’ve sort of lost sight of it.  So talking about it now does make it fall under the memories category.  This post isn't so much about the fact that I remember back when I had a waist as it is about remembering when you could buy pants that fit on your waist.  This is the deal.  Yesterday I asked Mr. Man to buying me a pair of sweat pants.  A simple assignment and one that I felt (as did he) was within the realm of his shopping expertise.  Simple sweat pants, nothing fancy.  Finding a simple pair of sweat pants it turns out is not so simple.  It took him three stores, but he had success or so he thought.  They looked right to me as well……..that is until I tried them on.  Hello what is with these low rise (as they call them) pants?  Why does anyone want low rise pants?  There is no comfort there for me, I feel like my pants are falling off before I barely get them on.  I’d show you a picture but this isn’t that kind of blog!  You all have an imagination but I suggest you don't use it.

A Bunny

My pet love goes way, way, way back. My first pet memory is when I was about four.  I was promised a bunny for Easter.  I was so excited to become an owner of a bunny.  Almost every day I would ask my mother to call the pet store to see if my bunny was ready.  It seemed like the day would never come.  I'm sure my mother thought the day would never come either due to my endless question of "is it time to go pick up my bunny yet?"  (Yes, I was a persistent four-year old, shocking I know.)  Well, the day finally arrived.  I was so excited I couldn't stand myself.  When we arrived at the pet store and while waiting for my bunny to be brought to me my attention was diverted.  It was this diversion that changed everything.  I had a decision to make. It was one or the other I couldn't have both. So that day I didn't go home with a bunny. That day I went home with a bird.  A parakeet.  I loved that funny bird.  I would let it out in my room to fly around.  I'm sure that was special for my parents.  Sadly I didn't have my bird very long.  I use to take my bird outside; yes in the cage.  But one day we had company, cousins. They let my bird out. Punks.

  

Party Line

Disclaimer:  I’m realizing that these memories of mine are going to severely date me.  This is problematic for me as I’ve always been a bit of a "resentor" of the age thing; after all once we reach a certain age aren’t we all just the same age??  Besides I want to live forever. So I’m just putting it out there that what I’m about to share over the next month is real stuff and did exist in my life time. 

So the party line.  This is not about line dancing in the fifties.  This is not about politics and what party you align with.  This is about the telephone line.  Back in the day you didn't have a phone line just for you.  You shared it with two or more customers.  So I know you are thinking how did that work.  Well, you each had a different ring, so you had to know your ring when the phone rang to know if it was for you or someone else.  And if you wanted to make a call and you picked up the phone and if someone else was on it you just had to wait your turn; people were patient back then.  I remember as a little girl, I was probably 3 or 4,  picking up the phone and just listening to people talk to each, I have no memory of what they talked about which is probably a good thing but I do remember listening. Oh my word that cracks me up.  Oh and yes we could dial the number ourself we didn't go through an operator.......unless of course you needed to place a long distance call then that was a different story.

Hello.....can you hear me now!

The Curling Iron

So I have to say when I first thought of spending my month in memories I feared I wouldn't come up with enough stuff......but the truth of the matter is I can't stop thinking about stuff.  There are a lot of crazy things I remember and some stuff just really funny.  Other stuff I wonder why I even remembered it......so random.  My next dilemma was where to start.  So of course I made a list and the list grew and the list was random and in no order. So that's where I will begin with the first item on my list.  And that item was the curling iron.  Really a curling iron was on the list of things you remember.  Hello, you can go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart........all the marts and buy a curling iron what's so memorable about a curling iron.  Well, I will tell you.  And yes this dates me......whatever!  So the first curling iron I remember was one my mother would heat on the stove.  I feared that thing.  Do you realize how hot you can get a curling iron by placing it on the stove....I don't know why I still had hair on my head after it was used on my hair.  Those babies got HOT!  It would freak me out because I knew I was going to get burned by it and I did on occasion.  This picture is much like the curling iron my mom used although I don't remember the rusty part.  Don't talk about my age after you read this please........if you can help it.

I don't think ours had those fancy handles.



You could get some pretty tight curls with that thing.
It pains me just to look at it.



Happy Birthday Shout Out

I pause to interrupt this 31 Days of Memories to bring you a Happy Birthday Shout Out.

Today is birthday Number 3 for Gran #9!

Happy Birthday "T" Boy!
Love you so.......

Memories

Well the month of love was way too short, there is so much more to share in the love department.  I guess that will have to be for another day.  I love how these months of "themes" have come together for me.  They keep my mind moving and clear out the cobwebs in the process.  And in the process of clearing those cobwebs many wonderful memories have been brought to the forefront.  Memories otherwise tucked away. So in March I will focus on memories.  Memories that have touched me. Memories that fascinate me. Memories of just whatever pops into my head.  So join me for a month of memories............let the madness begin.

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