Older Than Dirt

OLDER THAN DIRT

LightningBugs / Older 'n Dirt

'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'

'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.'

'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'

"It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. "Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it." I remember this so well....sitting until my butt was sore. Using quarts of ketchup on the liver and downing glass after glass of milk. Asking for extra napkins to spit the peas into. Always getting caught.

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. Actually, I did play soccer, but the bus brought you home after practice and I believe I was a freshman in high school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 5. It was, of course, black and white. I remember a color TV, but we only could get three channels and the rabbit ears with crumpled tin foil on the ends would need to get adjusted. On Sunday you watched bowling, bowling or more bowling. And, we saw The Wizard of Oz every year from the time I was 8 until my own kids were 13. Classic.

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 4. It was an old black Dodge. We had a car, but my old mind isn't sharp enough to remember what is was.

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line. Ah yes, the party line and one neighbor always monopolized it! Jeannie Youker. Mom would get excited to see her car go down the road so she could use the phone! And cell phones?! Forget that!!!

Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was. Neither was delivered to my house which was so far in the sticks, the only milk delivery would have been the cow coming into your yard.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. I had a paper route, but again, not until I was in high school. For a job, it sucked. It did. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at 6AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember? Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. YUP. Ignition switches on the dashboard. Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. Real ice boxes. Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. We were advanced and used rubber-bands. Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner. Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about:

Ratings at the bottom.
Blackjack chewing gum
Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water and I would even chew the wax for fun!
Candy cigarettes Yup, now that was a smart invention, ha?
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles yup, and they were just the right size
Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes LOVED these
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
Party lines We've come a long way baby
Newsreels before the movie
P.F. Flyers
Butch wax No idea what this is, but I'm thinking it has something to do with hair?
TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and the noise!
Peashooters
Howdy Doody
45 RPM records My first one was Michael Jackson, "Beat It". How embarrassing.
S & H greenstamps and we had to LICK 'em. imagine?!
Hi-fi's In particular, a Close-N-Play. Wow!
Metal ice trays with lever These things were dangerous!
Mimeograph paper
Blue flashbulb
Packards now THAT was a car!
Roller skate keys
Cork popguns
Drive-ins These were GREAT and why, as kids, were we so infatuated with the bathroom?
Studebakers
Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

I scored 17.

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life.

Lucky Lunch

A four mile trip from work to home is such a life saver. I particularly feel so lucky to be able to escape work every day to drive home at lunch. Imagine the money saved...a cheap lunch, and probably an unhealthy one would be $4. Four dollars per day x an average of 20 days is $80 per month. And, seriously, would you buy the same $4 lunch per day? So, I'm probably saving more like $100 per month. For me, that's an entire new outfit or two at the consignment shop. Plus, I don't bring a lunch to work and nibble on it while still working.

The dogs love it too....they get to go outside and bask in the sun. I get to eat healthy leftovers or make a sandwich in which I know the ingredients. I catch up on TV shows I've DVR'd, I unload the dishwasher, throw in a load of laundry...just chill-ax (as my kids say). I particularly love the 1-2pm lunch...makes the afternoon go by a lot quicker.

So, here's to lunch!

What a difference 40 pounds makes

Weight Loss

I've been down this weight loss road more times than I care to mention. But at the end of June it was, as they say "shit or get off the pot". I decided to get off the pot.

I've lost 40 pounds. I was a fat fat girl. And, believe me, I'm still not a "skinny" girl. I didn't feel good about myself, I didn't dress in high fashion at all. I have not worn or even purchased a pair of jeans in 10+ years. I certainly did not purchase or wear any heels. My idea of heels was a 1 1/2" high heel the size of a pirates wooden leg. Not high fashion. No, no, no.

Today, I'm off the blood pressure medication. I'm wearing a new pair of jeans. I'm wearing real heels. I am getting compliments on how I look. Many. I've had to buy new clothes including new underwear, pants, shirts, bras, you name it. I know, TMI...but I am thrilled about it. Sadly, I don't have a bathing suit that fits me and I can't buy one for a few months because bathing suits are seasonal...even in the south. But still, so cool. I don't drink beer, I don't drink soda, I don't eat fast foods.

Being healthy, losing weight, is NOT easy, but the results make you feel so awesome. I'm happy to speak with you, e-mail you, etc about what I've done to make this happen. But, if you never contact me, that's fine too....I didn't do this for you, or for my family, or for my employer. I did this for me and I (ba, dah, ba, ba), I'm loving it.

Paying it Forward

Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,616 groups with 5,918,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free.

A very intelligent woman I work with told me about a Website that encourages offering, for free your gently used items. I had no idea how many people absolutely cannot be bothered to seek any alternatives to their "junk" than to take it to a local landfill. You know the old saying, "one man's junk is another man's gold"? Very true, but not only that, your junk could be something that someone else cannot even afford! And, is it really junk?

I've been losing weight and thankfully my fatter girl clothes have been piling up in a large trash bag. Yesterday I decided to post my FREE bag of clothes on the Wake County freecycle.org. SO many responses, but as I stated, the first person to respond to the posting via e-mail would get them. The people who visit this web-site are people in need of your gently used stuff. I've given things to Goodwill, sold things on CraigList, but this made me feel really good.

There are postings for moving boxes, aluminum cooking trays, baby clothes, diapers, furniture, used lumber, etc. Just too many things to mention. There are two major categories...OFFER and WANTED. This isn't where you SELL things, it's where you offer, for free, something that you no longer need or want...something you may consider junk.

You have to join this website and then join a Yahoo group for your area...but if I can do it, anyone can do it. We all have stuff and this organization really can help to keep us from making "dump-runs".

Paying it forward. It makes sense and it makes you feel good.

http://www.freecycle.org/

October 8, 1993

15 years ago today, at ~4:13pm Spencer John Hughes was born in Utica, NY. He was 8 lbs., 2 oz. He had beautiful blond hair and looked just like his brother.

Spencer enjoys life, always has. He played soccer when he was younger, Pop Warner Football and Middle School Football. He has acted in local plays and is really good! He has loads of friends and is a loyal person.

These days he's busy with high school, church and his part in the Hope Student Ministries band, Cary Young Life, 9th grade student council and most recently in-line Hockey! Whew, that is a costly sport, but Spencer helped keep the costs more reasonable with his searches on CraigList for his hockey gear. He's going to play goalie and boy oh boy, I just hope and pray he doesn't get hurt. He has very nice teeth and I'd like him to keep them all.

So, after band practice we'll have birthday dinner and he requested Chicken Parmessan. Then a calorie overload of Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake...purchased at Sam's (3 slices of 3 different flavors) for $18.00. A deal! We'll sing our special Happy Birthday song just like Grandma Angie did about looking like a monkey...simple, but very nice. At the end of the month we're going to have a "teen-ager" pizza/skate party for him. Just too busy over the next 3 weeks.

I am so proud of Spencer...I constantly get compliments about him...well, except from his math teacher. He's very polite, he's honest, he's caring, he's good looking, he's funny...he's a great kid.

Happy Birthday Spencer! Mom and dad love you!

An Exercise in Faith

So, as you know, Austin moved out over two weeks ago. He recently celebrated his 18th birthday on 9/28. Well, since my father took ill, on Austin's birthday we went to see my dad. Austin went with us, hopefully because he understands that family is very important. It wasn't a great visit with my dad, he was REALLY sick. But that's another blog. (don't get me wrong, he's in the hospital, and I'm grateful for that...he will get better).

We stayed at my parents house for like, an hour, and that really was long enough because my dad was just not talkative or in the mood for company. We were home by 5pm to get ready for Austin's birthday dinner and Jessica coming over.

We had all the presents bought, the dinner planned and the Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake purchased because that is what he wanted. It was going well until after the presents. We told Austin he would not be able to get his gifts and his laundry back to his friend's house, where he is "living" on his scooter and we'd be happy to follow him and drop off the stuff. He said that we couldn't. Well, I, personally, was so hurt. Why can't we know where he is living? The realization I came to was that, as parents, we are an embarrassment to him. I couldn't help but cry, I just felt so hurt. Well, I let him know I was hurt and the evening went downhill from there.

The truth is, we wanted for Austin's 18th birthday to be so wonderful that we all walked around on egg shells and inevitably, those egg shells were crushed. Austin let us know that he does not approve of the way we handle ourselves. We are passionate people, and we tend to anger quickly or react quickly and that makes him uncomfortable and apparently embarrassed. We are products of our environment...Don from an Italian family and me from a family where loud is just normal! But in my husband and my family there is intense love, support and most of all fun.

You know, we are not perfect, by any means, and never claimed to be. But I will say this...for all the things Austin complains about that we do wrong, there are plenty of things we do right. Unfortunately, he won't realize this for a few years. He also doesn't see that some of the "wrong" is from him. For now, we feel that we've done the best we can...there is no "parent" manual, no "perfect family" manual and if Austin decides to write one, we will certainly read it...request a signed copy.

Since he left, on his 18th birthday, and Jessica was the person he chose to take his gifts to his new home...we decided that we need, more than ever, to exercise our faith. Three days after his birthday, we found out he had been dropped from college due to excessive absence. Thankfully, that was his dime...or his $800. Whatever happens happens, it's in God's hands, what is to be will be, there's a reason for everything, etc., etc. Austin knows that we are there for him, he knows we love him and we are worried about him. He doesn't seem happy to us at all, but these are his decisions.

An exercise in faith, letting go. It's not easy, but it's not impossible.

Bluer Skies

My last post was a little dismal, but things are looking up. I've learned a lot from this experience. I've learned how to communicate better as not to alienate. I've learned to just listen, but still be helpful. I've learned to watch the tone.

Austin turns 18 this Sunday, and he is doing well. I'm just grateful to hear from him every day and know that he is safe. He's realized some things about himself too and actually, that's great.

I have less laundry, I don't have to buy Cheeze-Its and I can now cook more than just chicken...we still miss him though. Harley misses him too.

Plus, I was sent a text message by Austin last night which just made my day...

"you guys really are good parents. Thanks for everything"