jemdandy clarified the celler/basement issue well. As far as dinner, the farm life, "dinner" was a formal meal and since my parents came from a (mostly Scandinavian & German descent) farm background, our meals were normally breakfast, lunch and supper. On the farms, "Sunday Dinner" was a fancy meal usually right after church. Often special guests would be invited. Occasionally the minister, close friends, relatives were common guests. Sunday being the day of rest and in this farm area you were NOT to be working on Sunday. Often you'd go for a drive, and you'd see people and it was called "visiting". Ya, it was a cold Sunday and we stopped at Bert & Edna's a while, they served us dinner and they had their neighbors over and we played some cards and visited and when it started to get dark it started snowing so we headed home. Growing up, the terminology was the same but we didn't get into the formal Sunday meals too often, however, holiday meals were still more formal and therefore it was "Thanksgiving Dinner", "Christmas Dinner", etc. And, as in old world ways, you would "dress for dinner" usually. Being dressed up from church or if entertaining or being a guest, you were usually in more of the Sunday, go-to-meetin'" attire. As people were getting more rooms in houses as I was growing up, "family room" was added to the lingo. Growing up we used "couch" for what is properly called a "sofa". A couch has only one arm. Now I have a futon! Hide-a-bed would occasionally be used and that was a pullout bed in a sofa. Sofabed or studio couch had the back fold down to make a bed similar to how a futon works now. My aunt and uncle had a "cottage" on the lake, we had a "cabin". My Texican relatives called it a lake house. When people try to sell junk, it can be called a garage sale (whether or not it's in the garage), or rummage sale. Rarely around here is it called a yard sale and out east it's a tag sale. Here, the soft drinks are called pop. In Texas my uncle's generation called it "soda water" and (his daughter's) my cousin's generation, it's Cokes. Y'all care for a Coke? What kind would ya lock? (And this was before even Diet Coke came on the market.) Root beer, orange, grape, etc were all "Cokes". People I know out east and in the southwest called it soda. Around here, "soda" involves ice cream and pop. It was interesting when representatives from around the country had a meeting in Charlotte NC the one time. Talk about needing translators! Most of the time we figured out what the others were say but when the guy from Boston wanted to find a "bubbla", it took a while. Everyone else knew it as a drinking fountain or water fountain. This guy's accent put Cliff Claven to shame! But even with his dialect, we all knew when he suggested we "hova be-ah". Yes times change too. I still remember my uncle commenting on the societal changes. "Used to be you'd eat in the house and go out to sh*t, now you sh*t in the house and go out to eat! Oh, and the infamous submarine sandwich and variations, don't forget po'boy, hero, gyro, cuban, hoagie and Dagwood. Now would you like a paper or plastic bag? Or would you prefer a sack? To my dad it was a "package". Here a loose meat type of sandwich is called a Sloppy Joe, nicknamed sloppys. Not far south of us, they call them maid-rites. One gal I know grew up calling them scrambled hamburgers. Faucet/spigot? Kitty-corner, caddy-corner, catty-corner? Skillet, fry/frying pan, spider? Pit or seed? Firefly or lightning bug? Pail or bucket? Tennis shoe or sneaker? Step, stoop or porch? Cornbread, johnnycake or journeycake? Duck duck gray duck or duck duck goose? Grocery cart, shopping cart or a buggy? And while at the cabin you probably have a dock. Others use a pier.

We're getting ready for our 21 year-old granddaughter's visit. She flies in Saturday morning and we'll pick her up in Orlando. She's just a sweetheart and I haven't had her all by herself since they moved from Florida when she was 3 or 4. Guest room is ready and just need to do some last minute clean-up. I'm so excited!! She's a great photographer and takes all the pictures for her college yearbook. She made me a Mother's Day card which was a collage of nature photos she'd taken. She's going to give me lessons while she's here so I can post pictures. Paid bills, made out a grocery list and a list for Wal-Mart. Did the ususal daily stuff--pick up, make the bed, etc. Dinner tonight is a chicken breast that's in the crockpot right now with a tarragon mustard sauce. We'll have that with rice and DH's favorite--peas. Still have picnic cake. I should have brought it to the KT!!

I went to a birthday party for my three grandsons who turned 2, 4 and 6 with birth dates of 5/31, 6/2 and 6/4. My daughter had hot dogs and chicken tenders on the grill, home made potato salad, home made mac and cheese, tortolleni salad, veggie tray and cake. Im so full. It was fun but there were 30 children and 20+ adults. I was glad to get home.

Okay -- cooking for one. I just put all this in one skillet: 1 sautee onions, a little red pepper, some steamed cubed butternut squash, some soaked white beans, salt and when all was kind of done, threw some raw baby kale & sliced grape tomatoes on top and put the lid on. Meanwhile -- 3 eggs with a teeny bit of milk, turmeric powder & pepper, mixed up and on low fire a la scrambled. When it was cooked I put it on top of the skillet stuff and then put it all in a bowl and ate alone. It was just everything I had in the refrigerator. I wish I could practice on some company dish -- a real dish. I found this very good but would I serve it to anybody? I feel very challenged about cooking for friends and I have done it often.