I Love you, Grandma

I wish my grandmother had been less senile and healthier in her later years.  I have a few things I would like to talk to her about because I think she'd understand because she had the life experience of living through the Great Depression as a child.  There were stories she told that I still adore even though they speak of untold hardship, being very poor, and self reliance.

1.  My grandmother was a very, very skinny child. Then her mother wormed all the kids with tobacco (just like they did the horses!) there on out, my grandmother became pudgy.  So apparently she did have worms.

2.  My grandmother's family also had the whole head lice thing happen while in elementary school (most of them never actually graduated...went until 8th grade and quit).  Instead of the nice shampoos and ect we have now, her mother soaked all their heads in kerosene lamp oil and boiled all the laundry in lye soap.  I for one can not even fathom having kerosene in my hair, the way it must have smelled or felt...and how on earth would it ever wash out?  It probably didn't wash out for a long, long time.

3.  She lived on a family farm, so they were fairly lucky and rarely went hungry; however, they did eat all manner of things including ground hog, rabbit, duck, deer, you name it, if it was free, someone was eating it.

4.  After she married; my grandmother, along with my grandfather, were migrant workers locally at times to make ends meet.  If someone was making hay, picking corn, or something that needed done; they were there; sometimes bartering time for things they needed, sometimes being paid since they were too poor to afford their own land and rented houses for years and years.

5. My dad lived in a small closet on the third floor of a rental house with no heat, quite large cracks in the walls, layers beyond layers of blankets and no indoor toilet for a good portion of his childhood.  This was in the 50's and 60's...the heat was provided by the cook stove in the kitchen...most of the rooms were unheated.

6.  She was rarely idle. She was always cooking and canning, washing laundry in her old fashioned ringer washer, and hanging laundry outside on the line.  (Yes, she did have a dryer, but she liked to smell the sunshine!)  She was always telling stories, teaching her grandkids (me!) something and singing in her off key too high pitched singing voice.  She crocheted, sewed, quilted and made all manner of crafts, including reupholstering furniture.  She donated many many things she had made to local nursing homes.  (In her later years when someone who had hoards of yarn or caches of fabric died, it was generally given to my grandmother...she then made blankets and afghans and donated it to someone who would find some comfort in it.)

Whenever I think of complaining I think of her.  She never did complain. Not once. Not about something that couldn't be helped. If it could be helped, she'd do something about it.

I miss you Grandma. I always get to missing you this time of year. Even though you left us just 6 years ago I feel I've lived a lifetime since then.  School of hard knocks or something, having always been kind of spoiled because my parents made enough and worked enough that we never worried where food or clothes came from...and now I sometimes have wondered where food or clothes would come from.  You died nearer Thanksgiving, but I always think of you in mid October when I moved into your little yellow mobile home and it seemed so empty there without you.  You wanted me there, I wanted to be there, but turns out it was pretty lonely with no other people, no animals, and no one relentlessly baking pies and bread.  In some ways I wish I'd stayed.  But hindsight's 20/20 and there's no telling if I would have been better or worse off.

Have Lacked Motivation to Post

I've totally lacked motivation to post things lately. 

Loads of tension in my household lately have been focused on a geriatric cat who may or may not be suffering from senility. I think senility is quite likely since she has decided our sun room made a fancy litter box in which to pee.  I also suspect accidents in the living room; however I as yet have not had time to deal with the stripping of that immense amount of carpeting.  Cat pee is such a pervasive smell that it seems no amount of anything is getting it out and Jon has been constantly complaining and up my butt about the smell.

I finally obtained his permission to rip out carpeting.  I have done so in the sun room and have since been spending my time removing carpet adhesive from the pretty tiles I found underneath the carpet. The tiles are damaged on the edges due to the tack strips being nailed through them so I am also repairing that damage with concrete patch and am going to work on disguising the damage with a border of paper floor DIY that I found online...pretty cool. Will take some time.  (Senile cat has since stopped peeing on the floor in there. I hope she doesn't find a new spot.)

Once I manage to finish that project, I will rip out the other carpet.  Don't know when that will be or how long it will take me, but I do believe there is nice hardwood under that carpet.  Could be the finish is damaged and I will have more projects than I care to, but I'm okay with it having character.

I am going to have to invest/make rugs.  And possibly invest in lots of nice wool socks as it will feel much much colder without the carpeting.

Jon and I had our three year wedding anniversary last Friday. We celebrated with copious amounts of alcohol, a James Bond Marathon (only Sean Connery, he's the only 'real' Bond) and some much needed together time.  Jon bought me an orchid which I am not supposed to water or anything due to my black thumb and he will have the care of it because I seem to easily kill all things plant.

It seems to rain every weekend.  I can never seem to hang out my bedding and, it being a month since I've been able to hang it out it was gross so I washed it anyway, now I despair that only the sheets will be dry and the blankets are still wet.  If the dryer worked this wouldn't be such an issue, but as it is I've only so much space to hang wet clothing/bedding in the house.

Vincent seems to have the runs again. Mystery, considering he's had no greens and I haven't altered his diet in any way.  Since he wasn't feeling well, he lucked into only having his nails trimmed instead of a haircut. I didn't want to stress him too much.  He doesn't mind nail trimming as much as hair trimming, oddly.

My car, which I have taken good care of since I bought it has decided to burn oil for no good reason. Engine seems to run fine, is getting good mileage, but now wants to smell hot and burn oil.  There's not a speck of rust on the car.  I suppose I will be looking for a wrecked Cobalt with a decent engine at some point. Hopefully at least a year from now.  "New" engine still cheaper than used car.

Not sure I will make it home for Christmas after all, sadly. Need dependable/running car...and right now, we only have the one and since we have yet to win the lotto, this one needs to be conserved until we get another one going.