Halloween

I remember Halloween as a Child (with my 2 Sibs) not really being all that fun. In Illinois where I grew up by Oct. 31st it was 99% of the time very cold. You could not wear a costume because you needed heavy winter coats and something on your legs. What kiddo wants to dress in a Princess or Skeleton Costume then cover it up with a coat, long corduroy pants and boots. So, usually all we wore were masks. It was kind of fun going to the Ben Franklin Dime Store and picking out a new mask every year. Back then the masks were made of rubber and after wearing them for a couple of hours your face and the inside of the masks were a sweaty, wet mess. Half the time you could not see where you were walking, so you kept the mask raised and planted on top of your head.

Back when I was a Child you carried a Brown Paper Grocery Sack or a Pillowcase to put your Goodies in. Treats were not always candy back in the days when people trusted their Neighbors. There would be candy of course, but there also would be Home Made Cookies, Cup Cakes, Pop Corn Balls and Peanut Butter Fudge with a Candy Corn stuck on top. There was no Saran Wrap or Plastic Bags so alot of Goodies were just tossed in you bag as is. You might get lucky and have a piece of Waxed Paper on some. There was also always the neighbors that gave you an Apple or Orange. Of course these were just tossed in ontop of the Cookies and Cup Cakes. The large Sack or Pillow Case would start to get pretty heavy for a little one so it usually was just dragged on the ground door-to-door.

We usually only went to our Neighbor Hood, but there was 1 house a little off the beaten path we would hit. This was a man that lived alone and always gave out Nickles. So his house was a must. After a trip up one side of the Neighbor Hood and down the other side, we were more then ready to go home. Mom always took Me, Cher and John Trick or Treating and my Dad stayed home and gave out our Treats.

When we got home it was so much fun to pick through the Goodies to see just what we had got. Of course the Cookies were crumbs and all the candy was covered with the Frosting off of the Cup Cake and the Pop Corn Ball had drawn moisture and was a bit tough. But oh how proud we were of our Treats we had gathered. We were allowed to eat some of the candy before we went to bed. Candy was never a real Biggie to us because Mom was very good at letting us have treats all year long. Now this happened every year I can remember. After Me and my Sibs went to bed my Dad would DUMP all 3 bags in one Big Bowl. He then would of course help himself to a few Treats. In the morning our candy was no longer OURS it had become A Community Candy Bowl. And the Nickles just disapeared???? Probably some time just before Christmas, the left over Trick-or-Treat Candy was tossed out. I don't think we ever ate it all.

Now there is one thing I would like to say.... ...............If the Hat Fits....

Wear IT.......................Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!

Untitled Project

Untitled Project <-- <-- click on Untitled Project to see a Short Sweet Picture Show of MY MADISON!

Feeling alone in a Crowd.

Somewhere around a month 1/2 to 2 months ago Jen and I started planning and working on Mom's Estate Sale. She had an attic full, a storage shed full, a garage full, every cabnet full, every closet full, if there was a flat spot, something was on it and she never thew away any magazines or "important" papers (there were boxes of these), every greeting card and photo she recieved was kept, she had a Doll Collection and a Miniature Shoe Collection. We found and I am not fibbing, about 200 new skiens of yarn and at least 75 Crochet Books. Mom got where she could not shop in store, so items were bought from Home Shopping and QVC. I found brand new things that were never even opened. Some of these things I had no idea she had. She kept them secret, knowing I would Bitch to her about the buying. Her clothes closets (4) were packed. She never would get rid of anything. She had Fat Clothes, Skiny Clothes and clothes she was wearing at that time. She loved Shoes and back in the 80's she had a handbag that matched ever pair of her shoes. Now we are talking at least 50 pairs of shoe and matching Bags. Now to add to all of her treasures, when my Aunt Cora died Mom got controll of her Estate and kept most of her Goodies and clothes. I could go on and on about the 3 George Foreman Grills, New Seal-a-meal, crock pots, storage containers, food prossesors, bread machine, deep friers, electric can openers, Yogart Maker, Ice Cream Maker, irons, coffee pots, etc...you are noticing I am putting an "S" behind some of these things, she had more then 1 of every thing. Mom was born in 1925 and grew up poor. Raising us 3 kids she did without so we could have nice things. I really believe in Mom's older years, she was trying to make up for the POOR DAYS. She treasured her belongings and just could not part with anything.
As soon as the neighbors seen we were working on this Sale they started coming over. We went ahead and let them look. They would look and they did buy. One Dear Friend was called and tolded about the up coming Sale. She came over and bought. She then returned 7 times before the Sale with some of her family and Church Ladies. They also looked and bought & bought & bought! We put some of her large pieces of furniture on Craig's List and got rid of those. Folks were also allowed to shop when they came to buy the furniture, so alot was sold that way. Well finally Jen & ME, with a "little" help from Wade & AJ, got this Estate Sale together. It took us a good month to a month 1/2 to get to this point. We had the Sale Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Left over items were 1/2 of the marked Price on Sunday
Strange People rummaging through my Mom's Treasures really was sad for ME. There was one time I had to leave Jen alone with the Sale. I had a small melt down and went over to the Nursing Home for an hour to spend some time with Mom. I needed my Mom to comfort ME and to tell Me it was okay, that I was doing the right thing in selling her Life Long Collection of STUFF. Of course Mom could not help ME..she does not even remember her Collection of Life Long Stuff. After the visit with Mom I left feeling much better...sharing her belongings with others that can get some use out of them, is all I can do at this point. Next on the list is to spiffy up the house and put it on the market.
I am tired, I am sad, I am MAD, I am sick, I am LONLEY! "MY LIFE" is consummed with my Mom. and there are times I feel very "Alone in a Crowd"

This is just a smidgen of her things. Alot-alot was sold before these pictures.

Peek-a-boo Where's Dottie?

Where is Waldo? or should I say Dottie...This Kitty is driving me up the wall. I am at my wits end!

Never...never have I had a Kitten/Cat that climbed any higher then the cupboard counter. Oh what is a Mom to do?

Dare DEVIL Dottie...

In the 34 years of Blissfull Marriage (chuckle) to AJ we have had 6 Cats all strays except our Beloved Quincey a papered Persian. I have loved everyone of them, but have had my Favorites. My very Favorite was Wienier. She was white with some Siamese in her. She was "MY" Cat and
"I" surely was "Her" Girl. She lived to be 13 years old. To this day I still miss that Girl. But my missing Weiner is slowly ebbing. I have now fell in love with another Little Girl Cat "Dottie". She was born under a shed and was pulled out from under the shed by a Big Burly Mad Man. He guessed the litter had been under there 4-5 weeks. He said the stays were always having litters under the shed and he was tired of it! There were 2 more kitties under the shed that he could not reach. Not knowing just what he may do to this Baby, I ask if I could have her? and he handed her to me like a Hot Potato. She is marked very funny and has a Dot on her chin and on her toe, so came the name Dottie...Dot...Dotter...and AJ call her Dorothy. She is a JOY. Her and Marley hit it off right away and play together all the time. Murphy, knowing she was and is a Baby grabs her by the back of the neck and pulls her around. She is so intrigued with her tail and even though she is 5 months old, she still does not realize the tail is part of her! She is so very playful, AJ & ME just love to sit and watch her. I know I am making her sound so special...she is just a normal
Kitten...except she is ours... and that makes her so Special to us.

Now one thing Dot likes to do is climb. She is always on a chair or in a window sill. She likes being high. Now today I went into the garage through the kitchen and forgot to shut the wood door, leaving the screen door exposed. Well I hear this scratching sound and turned around to see Dottie climbing the screen door. She climbed clear to the top and......

then got over onto the top of the wood door and stretched across to the top molding of my cupboards. I grabed the camera and decided to get this on film, because hopefully it will never happen again. She was moving pretty fast, hence the blurred pictures.

Across the top molding she went. She was very sure footed. I was thinking I bet she could cross a power line outside like the squirrels do.

On she went, past the Bon Appetit Sign and right up to my Vintage Fiestaware Pitcher....hoooo noooo not the pitcher please! but she made it and headed around the sharp corner.

This is where she haulted! If you look close you can see the molding stops there for abot 36" or so before it starts up again. Now she is looking at ME and I am saying "don't you do it"...

One more look to see if maybe she can make the jump...and that is when, I had climbed a step stool,and I snached her up. I really think she would have tried to jump across if I had not grabbed her. After a good scolding i I put her down and took the stool back out to the garage, this time shutting door behind me. And when I came back in "What to My wondering eyes did appear?"

Dottie had climbed onto the high back of a spare Kitchen Chair by the back door and had made it up to the top of the door. Back out to the garage I went to get the step stool. By the time I got in to rescue her she had decided to.....

see if she could walk the less then 1" door frame. After getting her down from the door ledge and another good scolding, I got out the jar of CatNip and made her a CatNip toy ( easy peasy, a small piece of material, a bit of CatNip, twist it closed and tie a ribbon around it). I decided a CatNip Drunk Kitty was better then a Kitty with a broken neck.

Now is the time to stock up for the winter, on blocks of Suet for your Wild Birds. Nuthatches love Suet.
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Down Memory (AUTO) Lane...

Remeber the Blog below? Yes, the one where the speakers were living in my backyard. Well Oct. 1, 2011 they finally got to shine and do their stuff at the Czech Fest. For about 5 hours they pumped out Oldie Car Songs like: My Little GTO, See the USA in Your Chevrolet, Little Old Lady from Pasadena, Beep Beep, Little Nash Rambler, One Piece at a Time, Hot Rod Lincoln, and My Rocket 88. And in honor of the Czech Fest he threw in the "Beer Barrel Poka"! Old Classics Cars were lined up on Main Street with windows down, doors open and hoods up. Everyone could just take their time and look each Car over inside and out. And the whole time the people were being serenaded by AJ's Collection of Oldie Car Songs. You could have cut the Nostalgic Mood with a knife. The Cars were beautiful and the music was the frosting on the cake!

Here is at the end of the day when the Cars had been judged and trophies being handed out.
This is a AJ and (son) Wade, the Music Maestros of the day. I do not know these Cars, so I will just let you take a Walk down Memory Lane and see how many you can name. There was alot more than this, but these are a few that caught my eye. Enjoy!

The weather was >^..^< Purrr-fect! Check out the sun and 75 degrees.

And this Pretty Trophy was given to Jen & Wade.......

for entering their Little Mercedez, Kompressor.

Czech Fest is always the First Saturday of Oct. Hope to see ya there next year!

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If you have Bird Houses that have nest in them, just leave them alone and do not clean them out this Fall. Birds will go in the Houses during the Winter to keep warm.