I’m turning into my grandmother!
5 months ago
This morning I put on a pair of socks with my sandals. My sandals were old lady sandals to start off with, but, oh so comfortable. Socks with them is something that I never thought would happen.
And then, after laughing about that, I got ready to go out, filling my pocket with old lady candies from the drawer.
How about you? What are things that you do that could be a sign you’re getting old?
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Comments (26)
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Oh no, I'm too young to be a Great Grandmother
Comments (8)Alberta, How are you doing now? Has the initial shock warn off a bit? Try to look at it this way when it comes to you. Age is just a number, drum that in to your head about yourself. Then start thinking this way, I'm going to be a great grandmother and I'm only 62, Yup, only 62 and I can still enjoy having those littleones around me and teaching them plenty of things, especially gardening. Most great grandmothers are much older and don't really get the chance to enjoy their great grandchildren they way you will be able to. Congrats Fran...See MoreI'm no longer GRANDMOTHER
Comments (57)I'm Nana Once had to pick up eldest grandson from daycare. My DD had notified them. Teacher escorted me to his classroom and said "_______ here is your Grandma to pick you up!" He looked at us and said "That's not my Grandma" She gave me a semi panicked look and he continued "That's my Nana." His other grandma is "Grandma" not me!...See MoreOur Grandmothers' and Great-grandmothers' kitchens
Comments (30)When I was a small child...until I was about 5 years old...my grandmother lived in the house my great-great grandfather built between the beach and the marsh of the Southern Maine coast. He'd bought a house, reversed the plans, and added a whole extra house worth of a wing. One side faced the ocean, and one, the marsh. They made it into what would now be called a bed and breakfast, I guess, and their guests were hunters in the Fall and bathers in the Summer. Oh, and they served 3 meals and tea every day. They being my great-great grandma and her maid/girl Friday (and my grandma, once she got old enough to help). I don't know what their average guest load was, but I do remember seeing a picture that had been used as an advertising picture post card with the crowd of guests out in front of the Woodbine Cottage...there had to be at least 30 people there. I remember my grandmother telling us how she used to have the chore of picking the meat out of the lobsters. The skin on her hands would turn red, start cracking and sometimes bleed (I don't know why lobster shells do this, but having picked the meat out of 3 at one point, I can believe her). This, so they could put big bowls of lobster meat down the middle of the table for the guests to help themselves. See, lobster at that time was dirt cheap, and for my great-great grandfather, who had his own boat and traps, an economical way to stretch the food costs associated with feeding the guests. My poor grandma still got a flash of anger in her eyes some 50 years later, when she related how the guests would put their cigars out in the bowls containing the remaining lobster when they were done with dinner. They baked all their own bread, made all their own pies and sweets, in fact, cooked everything from scratch...and a far more difficult scratch than people of our generation cook from, if they do! On a WOOD stove/oven. Without a REFRIGERATOR, let alone a dishwasher. In the Winter, they shut down the entire ocean-side wing, and lived in the original house to save heat. I have only the hazy memories of a young child, but I remember that kitchen as small. And as y'all know, generally the things of childhood are usually smaller when visited as an adult. Naturally, by the time my grandma was mistress of that kitchen, with grandchildren underfoot, more modern appliances had been installed. But there was still a narrow, dark stairway going down into a cellar in one corner (I assume that was the root cellar) and a small closet with a toilet in it in the other corner. I don't know what the use of it was before they put a toilet in, maybe a pantry? There was a kitchen table, where we ate, and a window seat (probably a storage chest) where my brother was bedded down after he had his tonsils out, so that he could eat with the family (he got ICE CREAM while I had to eat boring old chicken, potatoes and peas :( Funny the things you remember). With about 6 people around the table, I do remember my grandma having to sidle around the table to serve things, which paints a picture of how small the kitchen was. I have lived with and cooked in a number of small kitchens in my life. The smallest was in a condo I rented, which was called a "junior one bedroom", meaning that it was a studio apartment with a small bedroom tacked on. I could literally stand at the stove stirring a soup, reach over to the sink on my left for some water to add if I'd let it boil down too far, and pivot on one foot to open the fridge behind me to pour myself a glass of wine to sip while I cooked. And yet, you do learn to make do with what you have, if you like to eat well. I cooked a 5 course Japanese dinner for 6 people once in that tiny kitchen. You just learn to prep all your ingredients before you start actually cooking, and you sit down and plan your timing carefully before you begin, picking dishes that can be made ahead or partially ahead, using the minimum of last minute pots, pans and dishes. Yes, our grandmas and great grandmas generally made simpler dishes than we might now, but those simpler dishes were more difficult then. No (or very few) convenience foods, prepackaged mixes or instant ingredients. Recipes weren't as precise either, they couldn't be, because ingredients, measurements and temperatures weren't all that precise either! I shudder to think of trying to bake a loaf of bread or a pie in an oven heated with wood or coal!...See MoreMy bedroom decor took a u-turn now I'm lost.
Comments (27)I don't think you need to paint the bedroom furniture if you go back to the blue silk rug. With the dark and warm rug, I think it would be better in a least a cream or latte tone if not stained wood, but I think the white can work fine with a lighter rug, If the sofa doesn't need to stay, I'd probably prefer a pair of chairs and table or ottoman in front of the fireplace more than a sofa to the side, but you have the sofa. Move it over there and see how it looks under the window, whether it is too large to go across in front of the fireplace,etc. Then decide. Consider one of the round tables at that end of the room either as an end table to the sofa or between two chairs. If you want the piece under the window to be showcased, you have it in the wrong place. It has too much competition there -- a fireplace, the wood mantel, the black fire screen, a window and a dark mirror all competing with it. Is there room for it across from the bed if you also put a bench there? If not, I would try it at the end of the room where the sofa is but to one side. If you don't have anything under the spot with the painting, it could go into the corner of that wall and the wall where the sofa is. Are the drapes something you had and thought you might use or something bought for this room? You might be able to make them work, but to be honest, I'd like something lighter. Silk panels would look rich. I've seen smocked gauzy white than could take the room in a much different direction. I am guessing your French leanings would favor the silk panels.or long yardage draped across the window and down in an exaggerated scarf treatment....See More- 5 months agolast modified: 5 months ago
Absolutely kevin. My husband has his father’s Oliver tractor (1949) that he keeps saying he’s going to refurbish. He put two new tires on it a few years ago, bought a new exhaust thingy. It still runs, but looks like he11.
A few years ago, when he was joy riding on it, the crank for the starter fell off somewhere in the long grass and he’s never found it on the property. Not that he needs the crank. He always uses
the electric start but says his father was too cheap/poor to buy a new battery when he had it and relied on the crank. Sentimental, I guess.. I’ll occasionally drive it, but boy do you need strong feet for the clutch.
eta
Here’s his Oliver rescuing his John Deere many years ago.
- 5 months ago
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoroxsolid thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10- 5 months ago
5 months agolast modified: 5 months ago
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy", (found the right quote).roxsolid thanked schoolhouse_gw- 5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoroxsolid thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
- 5 months ago
Ha, Olychick! This was in our morning paper.
I love a man with a sense of humour.
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