Taking a Break

I feel I have lost my mojo for blogging so I will take a break, recharge my batteries and hopefully come back to it again.  I enjoy reading you all so I will continue to check in on your lives in the blog world.

Love Those Raisins

A couple of weeks ago I reminisced about the movie "The Big Chill".   I had DVR'd it and just watched it tonight.  Ahhh.. What a great soundtrack for our life we had. .  One of my all time favorite songs, of that era, is in that movie.  Heard It Through the Grapevine by Creedance Clearwater Revival.  Wikipedia says it came out in 1969 so I'll go with that because, being a girl, I can tell what I wore dancing to it, but not what year it was....exactly.

I remember what I wore because it was New Year's Eve and my boyfriend/would be ex-husband, had a party at his parents house, down in the finished basement.  This was back in the day of HiFi's and 33 & 1/3 albums.   If the stereo was your parents, you could stack 3 or 4 records to drop, but if it was the "sound system" of a music connoisseur, they owned a "turn table" and only one could be played at a time.  We were at the parents so the record player was loaded.  The thing with that CCR album was the long version of  Heard It Through The Grapevine  was 11 minutes long.   That's a long time to be dancing to one song.  Frankly, I am reminded more of the dress  more than who I was dancing with.  hmmmm.  Guess I really liked this dress and the silver shoes. ( Remember my mentioning how my mother cut out the "bad parts"?

Having said all of that, when that song comes on an Oldies station, what pops into my mind, first thing?

These guys.

They still make me smile.

Home Parties

My first memory of a home party was my mother buying Sarah Coventry jewelry.  She didn't have a lot of extra  money in the late 1950s into the 1960s so I can't imagine the pieces cost much even then.  I still have ( or had is a better word)  one thin chained necklace in silver with a twisted design hanging from it.  ( Allison has it now or I would take a photo of it and believe me, I have hunted Google for an hour looking for it.)   You may be surprised to see you have a left over piece too.  It is clearing stamped on the back.

After that I think the Avon lady was ringing our doorbell.  Sometime in that same era she discovered Tupperware.  I think that bottom green bowl in the upper left corner, is still at my Dad's house.

This was our mother's Tupperware.  Ours, or at least, mine, was the orange, yellow and bright blue heavy duty kind that warped in the dishwasher.  ( Now, it doesn't)  My girls carried those Sippy cups around for years.  I bought the majority of my Tupperware in the 1970s and it's gone now.  I dish washered it when I wasn't supposed to.  Oops....

Here's a sick Allison with blankets, her pillow, kitty and her Tupperware sippy.

Into the 1980's I discovered a few other home party companies. 

Home Interior

I can't tell you how many of these votive light globes I bought.  I had green and gold and clear I believe. 

in the 1980s, my sister had a couple of Copper Parties and after searching Google again, I still could not find a home party company. 

I do know these are votive candle holders, but there were punch cups like this that would actually frost on the outside when we used them for a favorite 80's punch.  You could only hold onto them by wrapping them in a napkin first..

The punch I used to do at Blueberry Festival time.  In that large green Tupperware bowl would go

1 large can frozen orange juice concentrate

1 large can frozen lemonade concentrate

Here you could add either frozen limeade, pineapple or other flavor

1 full Fifth of Vodka (that was the only liquid)

It would get "almost" frozen but the booze would not let it freeze solid.  You would put a couple scoops of that in the copper cups and then pour 7 Up over the top.

Did that a few times ! 

In there somewhere too, was Princess House 

I must not have bought anything.  I know my sister has had these coffee cups forever.  She uses them everyday.  I've never seen her with any other kind of coffee cup.

I'm not much of a crystal buyer evidently, but I am a candle buyer.

I still have a couple of those mint green candle boxes waiting to be opened and burned.

And that brings me to one last party.

Pampered Chef

I love this pizza stone.  Mine is not so clean and pretty.  The think with these stones is, you can't wash them.  They would absorb the soapy water. So I scrap like a mad woman.  And, I am scrapping with that little brown square of plastic I had to buy, just for that purpose.

I don't think I've seen the end of home parties.  I do know I've seen the end of me hosting them.

The Voice That Was Whitney

Long before Christina was called "The Voice", I think, Whitney Houston was one of those voices that made me stop what I was doing just to listen.  She was not one you would choose to do for a karaoke.  No Way. When I heard this morning, that she had died, I really wasn't suprised.  Like Amy Winehouse, we all knew she walked a very thin line.  My heart was heavy though, with the loss of what might have been.

I can't be the music lover I am and not say what a fantastic talent she was.  Who could watch Bodyguard  and not be moved by that woman.  I can't say she will be missed... She was all ready missed while she was still here on Earth!  She ruled the airwaves in the 80 and 90s.  Then, with her marriage to Bobby Brown, she lost it all.  She fought her demons and lost.   We are all the poorer for it.

I don't think there was ever an American Anthem sung at a football game that rivaled her 25th Superbowl appearance.  She was fabulous.

My heart goes out to her daughter.  I don't know if that little girl, while she is 18 now, ever saw her the way we did, in the beginning, when her talent was shiny and new.   I don't profess to know what her personal life was like, good heavens, no.....but we got a peak inside.  What we saw scared us, for her,  I think.  We want someone with such talent to do well and be well.

So this song, for me, says it pretty much. Didn't We Almost Have it All     She did, didn't she?  Almost...

Happy Birthday to My Baby Girl

She may be 27 on February 12th, but she will  always be my baby girl and Daughter #3.  She was born on February 12th, but we came home from the hospital on Valentine's Day.  She was my best Valentine ever!

From the moment she could talk this child has kept us in stitches with her crazy since of humor.  Here, she's shell hunting and came upon a jellyfish.

When big sister Rachel was a little worried about spending the night with a girlfriend, Allison volunteered to go with her.   The other Mom was fine with that. They often did, and still do things as a team. 

All together, Me,  Sarah, Daughter #1, my Mom and Rachel and Allison about 1998

At 18, she( the laundry lady)  worked at the Michigan Renaissance Festival with this thief and wench.

After high school and deciding college wasn't for her, she took off on a great adventure.  The little girl that was not afraid to leave home, left Michigan, at 20, for the Teton Mountains of Wyoming.

She spent 4 years traveling back and forth for the "resort" season, but the year she got this photo, she had worked through the winter and experienced all 600 inches of snow.

Allie under the antler arch in Jackson, Wy. She had been home since October for the winter, and then got an offer for a year around position at the Lodge.  Terry drove out with her so she wouldn't have to go alone and then he flew back.  When the season was over and she was missing her family, Rachel flew out and drove home with her.  Little did I know she would then drive it alone the next year.  (That's just not good on a mother's nerves.)

After she left the mountains in the west, she lived with us a while in North Carolina and worked in a restaurant on  the ocean.  Not even the Marines playing volleyball on the beach  could keep her there.

Now she's back in Michigan,working and  sharing a home with Rachel and Tuc.   She inherited one of my traits and that is, we adopt people.  I know of one Christmas, right before she left in April for Wyoming, she was working at a Daycare.  One of the single moms lost her job the week before Christmas.  Allison took her entire check and bought Christmas presents for the 3 children because the Mom had no money.    Allie will go out of her way and inconvenience herself, before she would let down a friend. 

For the girl who's not afraid to wander......

Happy Birthday Allie.... I miss you.

Hats Off!

I was reading Connie  at Farside of Fifty  yesterday where she mentioned men wearing hats.  It reminded me that my 84 year old father has always worn a dress hat.  As soon as fall arrives he starts wearing his hat and doesn't go anywhere without it until the next summer.  He started wearing them in a era when that was popular and he just never stopped. 

It reminded me of the hats I'd seen my mother wear.  I don't have memories of her wearing one very often, but there were moments.

Like Easter 1955

Also in 1955 was this one of my grandmother (Mom's mother) Mattie in hers.

I love ladies in hats.  I wish I could pull them off.  I just can't.  I've got a couple I take to the beach with me now, but they're not cute...believe me.   I watched the "Royal" wedding, in large part, to see the hats.  Weren't they fabulous!   Those Brits know how to wear a hat.   Another hat voyeur location is the Kentucky Derby.  It was somewhere I wanted to go, just so I could wear the big hat! 

When I was working at Gantos (high end women's apparel), back in the mid to late 90's,  we sold hats. I'm talkin" feathers and rhinestones.     Usually they were bought by black ladies that were buying dress suits.  They looked stunning!  Nothing can turn a head like a well dressed woman in a brilliant hat.  They just put the explanation mark on an outfit.

I would have loved the big hat days of the early 1900s.  ( Big hats/ big hair...I'm seeing a correlation here.)

 

When we visited Biltmore a couple of springs ago, I loved this painting of Edith Vanderbilt..  Now, that is a hat!

 

Disco Fever

Having another night when I couldn't sleep, I was listening to my MP3 player in the wee hours and had some Bee Gees, among others, to keep me company.

In the summer of 1976, I became a 26 year old,single woman again.  I had a 2 year old daughter and a job to support her.  That year Dorothy Moore's Misty Blue came out, along with The Manhattan's Kiss and Say Goodbye.   But the one that made the most impact, I think, was the Bee Gee's You Should Be Dancing.     That big mirrored ball started spinning.

In 1977, Saturday Night Fever hit the movie screens and Disco hit the dance floors. 

                                         ( I could watch John Travolta dance all day long.)

I worked 8am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday for a non profit organization.  We got paid every other Friday.  On "Pay day Fridays" about 20 people would go to the club/bar that had one of these lighted dance floors.  I could only go once in awhile and when I did go, I could only stay a couple of hours.  I was paying a babysitter.  Of course, the rest of them would close the bar.   But, there were rare moments when the music would be going and the floor would be covered with dancers like this.  I loved it.  I could never go enough to learn all the steps, but I did learn enough to blend in and it was great fun.  It's where I learned the phrase" If you hoot with the owls, you have to fly with the eagles".  I was a Mom. so I didn't get to hoot with the owls very much.

I can only imagine how much polyester was on that dance floor.  I know one of the guys I worked with had polyester suits (not the leisure suits either, regular, suits) that he could put through the washer and the dryer.  They even looked bad back then.

I don't have a photo of my Disco days, but I do have one of Terry's.  He's permed, wearing his open collar, that moustache and his zodiac sign necklace.  No, I didn't know him then, but I'm sure I would have been dancing with that guy.   The funny thing with this picture is that it is about 2 feet by 3 feet and hung in his parents living room for years.  Only when his Dad sold that house in the early 2000s, did we get the picture.  His brothers and his daughters have never let him live this one down.

Let's Boogie.......Do ya dig it? 

Movie Time

I just set my DVR to record The Big Chill for me later tonight.  It's on now, but, of course, the big game will be starting soon so I have to watch.  My interest lies in the commercials mostly.  I have one daughter that is a big Tom Brady fan and he did go to University of Michigan, so we that bleed blue, will be cheering him on.

I had mentioned yesterday, that I thought I would make cabbage rolls for dinner Sunday.  Terry so sweetly said, " Nothing screams Super Bowl like Galumpkis."  So I changed that to home made pizza.  Goodness....
I thought of another movie that I liked that is rarely on TV.  I really can't say that I remember it being on, but it must have been.  I know I watched it first on VHS.

That movie is Sommersby with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

Jodie Foster's husband ( Richard Gere)  comes home from the Civil War changed in many ways.  She thought he was dead and is now engaged to another man.  Still, she takes him back.  Is he the man she married is the big question.  


This is such a chick flick.   I proudly say that in the most heartwarming, tear jerking, big sigh award wining way.

Yes, You Do

I was reading a post yesterday from one of my favorite bloggers,  Deanna  at My Loves, My Life.  She mentioned in her "Now I Know" post,  that her mother would tell her about the passing of her mother's numerous cousins, most  of which  Deanna didn't know.  I can so relate to that coming from my mother too.

Only my mother, who has been gone for 5 years now, would also include bits of gossip, marriages, divorces and births of children to people I had never heard of.   I would tell her, " Mom, I don't know who that is."  She'd answer, "Yes you do."    No, I really don't know who that is.  So then she would give me directions to their house or tell me how they were related to someone I went to high school with 40 years ago. 

She had worked at the Head Cashier in the only grocery store in town, for about 20 years.  She knew everyone and if she ran across someone she didn't know, she'd introduce herself.  She'd tell this stranger who her children were and how old we were.  My oldest daughter Kathy is 56. ( Now I'm older! ha!)  Thank you Mom for sharing that bit of information. 

I remember on one instance she hired a new cleaning lady to help with the vacuuming and dusting. ( Mom was 70ish years old and deserved a break.)   She told me who it was and it really was someone I had gone to high school with.  Her last name started with a P and so did mine.  We were either in the same row of desks or close by one another all through school.  That was my total knowledge of her. So, the first time I happen to go visit Mom when "Mary" is there, Mom tells me... "Go say hello to her."   She was in the bathroom with her head in a toilet bowl.  I didn't want to say hello.  She didn't even know I was there.  Mom pointed her finger at me and said " Go. Say. Hello."  I went.  I was 55 years old and I did as I was told.  Neither of us knew what to say to one another, but I was following orders.

Mom suffered for decades, from Fibromyalgia, so there were many days she couldn't get out of bed.  On some of these days, because I lived close, I was her surrogate.  She would call and say, " I need you to go to a funeral for me."  I may have heard the name of the person before, but I sure didn't know them.  "Yes you do", she'd say.   So, off I'd go.  I'd have to explain I was there for Mom.  Awkward.....

She would also do the same thing to my daughters.  This is what happens when we all lived in the same town.  My girls went to the same High School I did.  The funny thing was when she would try it with my sister, who had left town at 20 years old and lived about 30 minutes away.  "You know Ruth.  She grew up in the blue house across from the Post Office and married your old boyfriend "Jiummy's" cousin Steve?  You know them.  " No I don't"....... "Yes, you do."  There was no arguing with Grammy. 

Then she discovered genealogy.  Good heavens.  That opened the flood gates on more people we didn't know.  More to the point... people she didn't know either.  That didn't slow her down.  She would find long lost, distant relatives that she would email or write letters to  and then tell us about the marriages and deaths in their families.  Good grief.  I told her I was waiting for the movie.

Sadly, I heard her words coming out of my mouth.  When Rachel (daughter #2) was with us on the last cruise, one morning for breakfast, eggs sunny side up were on the menu.  She ordered them.  I told her " You don't like those."  She said, "How do you know that?"  I told her I know her.  And I was right.  She likes eggs "over easy', not sunny side up.     Instead of saying "Yes, you do" -  I had said "No, you don't". 

Ouchy!

This is the third day of a migraine run so please forgive me for not reading and commenting lately.  I really am missing you all.  

I have gotten migraines since I was 11 years old.  My mother got them  and, fortunately, only one of my three daughters gets them, but rarely.   My mother's stopped after menopause so I was hopeful, but that was not my case, unfortunately.  So, I do have prescription medication for them.  Over the years I have tried all kinds of stuff.  Some of the prescription medications have such a small amount of dosages, like Imitrex has only 8 tablets in a script (they may have more now, I don't know. ) that I would delay using them until it was too late to help.

So I have learned to work through a lot of  head pain.  I spend years in florescent lighting and working on computers, both of which trigger headaches in "normal" people. 

I did want to make a comment today though, so bare with me typing with one eye closed and the headache above the other one.  (Only half kidding there.) :)

I just saw that "Soul Train's" Don Cornelius died at 75, due to a self inflicted gunshot.  I was a Soul Train girl.  It used to come on, in my area, after American Bandstand, in the early 1970s.   Don Cornelious was a sharper dresser and could "bust a move", although, he generally didn't.

It got me thinking that we also lost Don Kirshner in January of 2011,   He was hugely instrumental in getting the Monkee's television program on the air,but what I knew him for, was "The Midnight Special " that came on at 1:00 am.     I want to say it was on Saturday night,  but it may have been Friday. 

This is an infomercial (really? on Youtube?) but it does show how many huge performers Don Kirshner was able to book for this program.  You can just check out a few in your memory banks.  My dear husband is 5 years younger than me, so he is swearing he was too young to stay up this late but maybe his babysitter watched it.  Give me a break!  Of I was 21, he was 16.  I told him he read too many Playboys at 16 if he thought he had a babysitter then. Men!

We've lost 2 big icons of our generation.  Dick Clark is still hanging in there after his stroke.  I can't tell you how many hours I watched Amercian Bandstand.

I texted my husband at work and he texted back.... Casey Kasem?  He's still with us.   Casey and his "long distance dedications"  was radio but he, along with these gentlemen of television, entertained our generation.  They were the voices and the venues of our youth. 

I have fond memories of both the Dons.  Thank you for  the music.