My younger sister and I like to joke that while we were growing up we lived in a Barbie doll house. My mother made sure the house was spic-n-span every night before she went to bed. You would not find a sock in the middle of the living room floor, or a shoe out of the closet! Not a dirty dish in the sink. And God forbid there was toothpaste spit in the sink! My friends would come over and were always impressed because our house was immaculate – as if no one actually LIVED there. Of course, to see three kids lounging around in the living room gave it away, but there wouldn’t be things like Barbie dolls or Tonka trucks found in the living room! No sir, toys only belonged in the bedrooms or outside.
So, my housekeeping is on a totally separate norm than the Barbie doll house my mom kept. I often wonder if it is the generation gap or just my family. My granny had an immaculate house – but then she was my granny and all her children were grown and on their own. My sister keeps an immaculate house – and she is somewhat like my mother, not letting toys stay in the living room over night, etc. Yet, I also know a lot of people my age that do not flip out if a sock is laying around – admit it, they walk there, because we know our children don’t leave ‘em there! If babydoll Rosie is laying on the sofa, or hot wheels are stacked near the transporter by the back door those mom’s don’t go all crazy and start having a melt down because a few toys are out of place.
Yes, I admit it! I do not keep a Barbie doll house! I keep a lived in house! By the time I get home from work and do the homework struggle, make dinner, give bathes, do a little laundry, check email, and any other chores that need done I could care less if the Ironman toy is on the kitchen table, socks didn’t make it to the basket, Legos are on the living room table and any other thing that is out of place. I know that my kids are loved and have everything they should need! If I don’t get to the dishes that evening because I’m making snacks for the next day for a party at school, it’s OK. I have the next day to do it! Why take those moments with my family for granted because I have a few dishes in the sink or toys in the living room? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t live like a pig, but if toys are downstairs, WHO CARES? Yes, I let the table pile up with junk mail, but we all sit around the table and eat dinner together as a family every night
Therefore, if anyone wants to comment on my housekeeping I will leave you with this thought – you can come in and do my housekeeping. The laundry is waiting. The dishes can be washed, dried and put up so I can have an immaculate kitchen. Feel free to dust EVERYTHING. The toothpaste can be cleaned out of the sink. All those toys, please feel free to find a home for them! Don’t worry, your job is secure, because it will be like that again the next day when you arrive. However, while you are cleaning my house and making it into a Barbie doll model, please know that I’m teaching my two children the difference between right and wrong, I’m carting them to swim classes, I’m attending the PTO meetings to help the children’s school, I’m attending Scouting meetings and 4H events. I’m there for my children, making sure I’m always in their lives, knowing they can count upon ME! There will be a time when there are no toys in my living room, dining room, and kitchen. There will be at time when I can keep up with the laundry. Yes, there will be at time when I don’t have to clean out the spittle in the sink! However, right now, my children will always come before picking up toys and cleaning out the sink. . .
It's that time of year again, when school age children shimmy into their new shirts and shorts, sandals or sneakers, smelling like brand new clothes! I generally always loved the beginning of the new school year because my parents always bought us new school clothes. I can honestly say I never remember starting school without a few new duds to start the school year off. The older I got, the less I received, but still, even as an adult, I try to start the new year off with new clothes!
My husband and I were talking a few weeks ago and he asked "Why is is to important to have new clothes for the boys for school? They have plenty." I looked at him like his spaceship had just landed on earth and he had green skin and tentacles popping from his head instead of ears. Yes, my boys have plenty of clothes; but, that isn't the point of school clothes! School clothes are a tradition that my parents started, and I'm certain a majority of other parents have as well! So, I looked at him and said "Did you not get new school clothes each fall?" as if I didn't already know the answer, right?
"Nope. My mom just bought us what we needed throughout the year."
So, I had to explain the Modricker tradition in our family (and probably 99% of American families). That every year the boys would always have some sort of new duds to start school in. They need to walk into school smelling like new clothes, their sneakers white and shiny (for all of one day) and feeling full of themselves, because who knows what the school year will bring.
When I was a kid, yeah, I was one of those families that wasn't 'well off', but my mother always made it a point of getting us a few new outfits, jeans, etc. I can clearly remember one summer when my Granny took my mom and I to the JCPenny that was in town and purchased a few outfits for me for my first few days. Later in the week my mom told me "Don't tell Pappaw that Ma'amaw took you to JCPenny!" because that day my grandpa's wife took us to Val's and bought us clothes as well. They were horrid boys jeans because I was a 'heifer' then and she didn't want to fork over the money for a pair of jeans in my size for girls! That was probably the only time I let my grandpa and his wife buy me clothes. Yet, I had my newly (hated) clothes for school.
So, the tradition has been passed along and my boys are starting school tomorrow with their new clothes! You have to admire Kmart for continuing with their lay-a-way department! I only wish Meijer and Walmart would reopen theirs! Maybe then I could stimulate the economy more, as well as other parents that need these types of services? My parents always used layaway for school and Christmas and that has continued as well. . . .Yes, they have instilled lots of awesome qualities into me! I only hope to do the same with my children.
The spaceship took off quickly after I explained the tradition.
During my carefree summer days as a little girl and teenager, I knew my parents did not have a large disposable income. My dad was really the only one with the income, and he was supporting a family of five! So, in the summers, my mom would watch some family and local children (this is how she eventually opened her daycare). This would allow for my parents to have extra money to purchase new school clothes for my sister, brother and I, as well as start a Christmas layaway. Generally, the kids did not bother me, as I would just take myself up to my bedroom and immerse myself into a book, take off on a bike ride, go to my cousins house, and other goofy things that children do.
Yet, there was one thing that would get to me. Summer lunch!
Due to the fact that my mom had extra mouths to feed during the summer time, she had to stretch the food budget a little more. So, instead of using smooth, creamy Kraft cheese slices on a grilled cheese, my mom would slap on a slice of unmeltable government cheese. Milk was watered down with powered milk, which was just disgusting and I'm surprised I drink milk to this day! The Donald Duck OJ was just too bitter to drink! Alas, there was also boxes of King Vitamin or Kix cereal to eat for breakfast. Mac and cheese was my mom's specialty though. She'd chop up a package of hotdogs and make several boxes of mac and cheese, enough for about ten kids, and that was lunch! And my husband wonders why I don't care for either one to this day!
We had some nasty lunches growing up, and I'm glad that standards have changed! I'm glad that God has blessed my husband with a stable job so that I'm not dependent upon the powered milk routine. I'm also happy I don't have to use generic cheese that just doesn't melt, because you can't have a good grilled cheese without the cheese oozing down your fingers! Yeah, my kids like mac n cheese with hotdogs, but so does their daddy, so I cannot fault them there!
Those summers were long, boring and drawn out. . . and even though the food sucked sometimes, I don't think I'd trade them for the world, as they have taught me to respect the fact that my mom did the best she could under the financial circumstances we were under!
So, today, while I was waiting for my prescriptions to be filled at Meijers I was browsing the store and I walked past a large display of canning supplies, inhaling and I was lost . . . It was like I was in the TARDIS being drug back to my junior and senior high years! There, smack dab in the middle of the isle was a display of Mrs. Wages'. Pickling seasonings, salsa, spaghetti, all tickling my nose hairs like it was yesterday. . . .
When I was a teen my parents grew a garden every year. It wasn't just a small, backyard deal like I do, but it was a HUGE sucker! Rows and rows of green beans, corn, maters, onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, every so often watermelon or cantaloupe. The places varied -- a couple years we had a good tract out at my grandpa's, then we moved it over to my aunt Ruth's and we stayed there for many years. We spent a majority of our summers out at aunt Ruth's and let me tell you, I am so glad, to this day, that we had a pond to swim in! We would go out and pick, weed, water if necessary, swim, and go back to it.
Then we would go home. . . .
It was like someone shot off a gun and the race was on to can the products before they turned. We had corn that would be placed in the deep freeze (and I think at some point it might have been canned), green beans would have to be strung, snapped, and soaked (this was my favorite part, see why later), tomatoes would be cleaned, boiled, strained (what a mess the kitchen would be) and made into spaghetti sauce, salsa, BBQ sauce, ketchup and just plain on tomato sauce! Cucumbers would be cleaned, speared and shoved tighter than a can of sardines into pint jars to be pickled into bread and butter pickles. Lord, that was a stinky job! For one, I hate the smell of vinegar and then you add the pickling spices! Might as well plan on smelling like pickles for a few days!
Everyone raved about my mom's salsa. She would make it from mild to super spicy. She would toss some corn in it, some times it was black beans, but it was always good! Her motto was always "You can have a jar if you promise to return my jar!"
Now, we not only did veggies, but we also did fruit! Strawberry jelly is my all time favorite that we have canned (and a few years ago, Mom and I canned 53 jars right here in MY kitchen!). When we would go to Tennessee every summer we'd bring a bushel of peaches back and make peach jelly. We made cherry and grape as well! My Granny, oh my, Granny could whip out apple butter that would melt your biscuit! How I miss that apple butter!
Although I always hated the gardening aspect of the summer, the snapping of the beans is something I will always cherish. My parents always planted string beans, therefore, before snapping, you had to snip off each end of the green bean and pull the string off. I can remember many of days, sitting on the back porch with my Mom, Granny and Dad. . . we'd sit out there for a few hours talking and stringing beans. Granny would always tell mom she was doing something wrong (isn't that a mother's right to do?) like she'd tell mom how to soak the beans overnight and salt them, etc. Memories that I never want to forget out . . . the early summer evenings snapping beans with my parents and granny!
So, today, when I inhaled that godawful pickling seasoning, I stopped in my tracks and was taken back 20 years to the carefree days of being a kid and helping her parents. . . .
I cannot believe I just deleted my regular blog! The ENTIRE blasted thing! *sigh* Well, here is to starting again!
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