Rides on the Rugs . . .

Back in the day . . . haha. I am really old so now you will really know how old!

When mom would mop the floors – on her hands and knees, of course, (which I still do) she would move all of the kitchen chairs away from the table and line them up in a row. She taught us kids how to play choo choo with the chairs. Honey was always the lead then me, and Little Phil was the caboose. Our father was a railroader so this game was important to us. We loved it! Although sometimes Honey, the conductor, could get a little bossy. She was the oldest after all. Haha.

We played trains until Mom needed to move the chairs back in place. She left a little path not mopped so we could get out of the room and somewhere else while we waited for the floor to dry. Woe to the person who walked on it! I do not understand that because to this day it does not bother me if someone walks on it. Perhaps we have better chemicals because I have never seen little footprints made from walking on it while it was wet.

At some point later she would wax the tiled floors. They were the old tiles they all had back then. Ours were dark brown and light brown. I am sure you have seen the type. They were alternated like a checkerboard. Any way, waxing time… That was our favorite part! It was more fun than choo choo train.

Mom would get her rag rugs…they still sell them today … and pull us around on them to buff the floor for a beautiful shine. We had two rugs going at a time because we could pull each other too. We had races and fights. We tried to push the others off. It was great fun! We pulled the person and then did an abrupt swing to the left or right. The goal was to knock them off. We learned to grab the sides and wrap ourselves up and it was more difficult to “swing us off the rug”. It could be accomplished though. Sometimes a swing to the left and quickly back to the right would knock a person right out of the rug. Waxing the floors was always the most fun part.

Mom seemed to make everything fun! I love you Mom!