Grandma's 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-folk 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.

Yes, Yes, Yes! Thank you so much for finding that for me. I'll save it this time! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Thank you, that's it! I never would have found it by the title. Originally just skimmed it while out and planned to read it when I got home, but days went by and so did the thread. Definitely want to check out that book. Sounds like it would apply to more than just a kitchen redo. Feel like I'm always weighing something or other and often think life was so much easier when I was a poor grad student when everything I owned fit in a car and decisions were more obvious.... for everything. Now too much stuff and too many options. Thanks again for the link.

georgia, thanks for posting the above. I found it fascinating. I went through my state and see I am in a minority. Some of the terms I had only heard when living in other parts of the country, e.g. when I lived in West Virginia, I heard the frequent, quaint use of the "anymore" described. Also, a frequent southern usage I'd not thought about in years is the "I might could do that...." I also use "coke" generically to mean any "soft drink." Other expressions were completely unknown to me, e.g. the name of the night before Halloween (?)