Tag: writing

Laying Carpet

Back in the 60’s or so, my Mother and Father purchased some peel and stick carpet for their kitchen and dining room. It was avacado-ish in color with a pattern on it, so that tells you the date. Mom and Dad were so excited about this. They had bought the house in the country and were still fixing it up to their liking and updating it to the current styles. When we first moved in, it was a two bedroom house. It was now a three bedroom house and had tap water and hot water now. They pumped the water from the pump inside. This was, by the way, the BEST water ever!

They had the boxes of the carpet in the kitchen up against the wall. On Saturdays, they always went grocery shopping alone. Phil, the one with all of the bright ideas, (haha) asked me to lay the carpet with him. I said absolutely not. He takes one out of the box and shows me how easy it would be. You just peel the paper off and lay it down and it sticks to the floor. That certainly looked easy and it looked like it would be fun. It would be a great surprise for Mom and Dad to come home to!

We opened the boxes and got that carpet laid in no time at all. We stood and admired our work. Well, we did not admire it for long. We really messed up!!!! The carpet had a pattern on it and we did not pay any attention to that pattern. It went every different direction. It did not look good at all!

Guess what, Mom and Dad WERE really surprised when they came home!!!! This was not the first time we “surprised” them. You think we would learn. I should tell you that Mom and Dad never really got that mad at us. My Dad laughed, if I remember correctly.

SEPTEMBER . . .

Hello friends.  Just was looking at my calendar to see what appointments I had coming up.  I saw the notes on certain dates and recalled it was a painful month at one point.  Three relatives died that month.  Of course, all in different years.  It turns out they all were exactly one week apart.  When the first two died, it happened to be on Labor Day the year they died.

September 3, my sweet sister, Honey, passed.

September 10, my dear mother passed away.

September 17, my dear Aunt Eileen passed away.  She was married to my mother’s brother.  (Just clarifying the Aunt status.  She was not my mother’s sister.)

September 24, surprise!  A niece, Angela, was born!

Those were all a great loss.  It’s not so painful any longer as it is not fresh.  I still miss them like crazy and would give anything to have them back.   Also, someone special was born that month seven days from my aunt.

I do not remember the years, but I remember the order.  First was my mother, then my sister, then Aunt Eileen, then Angela’s birthday. Each event is seven days apart.

I am not quoting Angela because it has been awhile since she said it, but I am paraphrasing.  Haha! It was funny how she said it and the face she made was great.  She said something like,  “Gee, not sure about having this birthday” or “not sure that I like my birthday there.”  We all laughed pretty hard so whatever she said with the face she made was something else!  Her tone of voice was great too!

Every September, when I get sad, my sweet, beautiful niece comes to mind and makes me laugh again.  So, September is a great month, too, because we got Angela that month!

Happy Birthday, Honey Lee!

My sweet sister was born today in 1951.  She passed away September 3, 2007.  She was 56 years old. She left behind two boys and lots of family who loved her very much.  She is sorely missed by family and friends still, even though it has been 19 years.

Not only was she a sister to our three brothers and a sister to me, she was a loving, loyal, caring friend. The best friend you could have.  Oh, we could argue and argue we did!   None of us were ever wrong so it was a little difficult at times, but the love was always there.

My mother has told stories about Honey and how she was when I was born.  Mom said that Honey thought I was hers and no one should bother me.  She was very mothering and protective.  She was the same toward me the rest of her life.

Mom said that Honey just loved to hear me laugh.  She said Honey was dancing in front of me with her doll.  Something happened with the doll and I laughed and laughed.  Honey loved the laugh so much that she kept on with the doll and I was laughing and laughing.  Mom tried to get her to stop as it was her favorite doll but she wanted to hear my laugh.  She kept it up until the doll was destroyed.  Mom said even though it was her favorite doll, it did not bother her because my laugh was worth it.  Of course, I only know the story since I would have been too young to remember.

There is one story I keep thinking about for some reason.  We moved to Charleston in 1959 I believe.  I was not in school yet.  Honey had to start a new school.  We all know how the stress of that is.  No friends, not knowing the school, bus ride, it is hard.

For some reason, mom had to go to Honey’s school and she had to take me along.  I guess there was no one to babysit. Our younger brother must have tagged along too since he was not in school. 

Honey had told mom to not let me embarrass her.  I obviousy was attached to Honey.  Mom told this story but in later years Honey told it.  I can still see her face and hear her voice and all of the inflections in her voice.  I still laugh today thinking of her face and voice.

She said we walked in and mom was talking to the teacher as she held my hand. I found Honey in the room and started excitingly shouting and waving to her.  Honey says it like this … Honey Wee!  Oh Honey Wee!  Honey Wee!  She is waving with her arm flying around. She said she was so embarrassed and she put her hand up to her face and said she was slumping in her chair.  She said she could have died.  Then she added that I was so cute in the little dress and hat that I had on. She always called me Little Debbie. She still showed love in embarrassment.

Through the years we remained best friends.  We lived together … two different places in Charleston and one in Dekalb.  She moved to Springfield and I did not.  I spent a lot of time there, though … weekends and holidays and when I could, many days at a time.

She married and I married.  We still visited each other and spent the weekends and holidays together.  Arguments and disagreements, yes, many.  Laughter …. so very, very much!  Laughter was the biggest part of our family’s life.  Laughter until some snorted.  Laughter until you could not breathe.  Laughter until the race to the bathroom. Laughter, the best!

Oh there are so many, many memories. The school story has me laughing today on her birthday. 

Ha! She is still making me laugh and does not have to tear up her toys.

Special Little Light To Use When The Power Is Out . . .

The post a few days ago about the storms and tornado mentioned a “special” light we used when the power went out. We will now tell you how “special” it is.

Wessie had to go to bed at 7:00 p.m. because he had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to work. He told us all goodnight and left me this light that was about 12″ long and said it was a great light, but I had to shake it to keep it lit. He said he did not know why you had to shake it, but it was really bright. He said he got it at Dollar Tree so it was only $1.25. He did not really care if we had to shake it because it was so bright. I took it from him and put it on a little tv tray sized table in front of the couch and told him goodnight.

Later on, when it got dark, I walked by the table and picked up the light and took it to the bathroom. Imagine if you will, someone walking around shaking a 12″ long light up and down continually. I felt like I was shaking a maraca. I was thinking about getting a nice rhythm going and singing along. Haha. It is even harder to do other things and to wash your hands and dry them all while shaking a light. I came out and told my story about this “special” light and where it was if they needed it. Lol. We all laughed. I laid the light back on the table.

I got up from the couch a few times and the light would come on. I raised up off of my feet and bounced a couple of times and the light did not come back on. I thought that perhaps me getting up shook the floor and in turn made the table shake and the light turn on. I went ahead with whatever we were all doing. I go back to the couch and the light comes on again! Again, I bounce up and down and nothing happens. The guests that we had think I am weird (which, actually, is nothing new!). I am suffering in silence trying to figure out the “special” light. I finally moved it away from me and put in on a table closer to the hall so when someone needed to go to the bathroom, it would be handy.

My daughter-in-law came in and said is this light a motion sensor? I told her no and that something was wrong with it and you had to keep shaking it. I again explained everything Wessie had said about it. She said she thought it was a motion sensor light oh, because she walked by and it lit up. I told her that it was because she shook the floor when she walked. Haha. What a mess. She kept walking forward and then backward and said it was, in fact, a motion sensor. We laughed so hard.

What funny things Wessie can come up with. What things he can make us all believe . . . for awhile. Haha. I love him. Always good for laughs, which makes you happy. Thank you again, Wessie!

Oh! By the way, Wessie being Wessie, now wants all of the lights like that that he can buy because now, they are even more “special”!!!

HA HA!!!

Do you remember on Everybody Loves Raymond where the little older man always throws his arms up in the air and says, “Ray’s Here! Ha Ha!”? Well, we do that a lot around here. We do not say that Ray is here, we just pump our arms in the air and say Ha ha! We do it when we are excited or happy about something. You have to have seen the man, he says Ha Ha in such a special way. It is not your regular voice. We imitate that as well.

It has been cold here, really cold, for those of you not located where we are. I had told my brother earlier in the day that I was bored out of my mind and starting to get lonely. Well, later on in the afternoon he texted me asking what I was doing. I responded that I was doing nothing, of course. Then he was texting really weird things, just dumb, funny things. Then the texting stopped. Of course, I became really excited. He was coming by the house, I just knew it! Oh boy, company!

I know what cars people drive. I know my children drive Nissans. I know people some family members drive vans and some suv’s, etc. I am not sure what make they are, I know the color and style. So, when a black suv pulled in the drive, I just knew it was my brother. I ran out the door and stood on the porch stoop and pumped my arms in the air and yelled loud enough for the neighborhood to hear, “HA, HA!!!!” I was all smiles and everything.

The two gentleman just stood and looked at me. Gosh, it was the Walmart delivery person. He had a friend with him. I stuttered around and said that I thought they were my brother. They just looked at me. Why do I keep doing this stuff to myself? Haha. I never, ever learn.

Along Came A Spider . . .

So, it is fall and with fall comes bugs, insects, creepy crawlers. We all know how I feel about them. I would like to move to a new house when I spot one. Who would have thought or even imagined this could have happened.

I was at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes. They were the smaller potatoes. I was merely slicing off the “nasty parts” and leaving the peelings on and then quartering them if they were large enough to do so. I was making green beans, ham and potatoes. I saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked huge.

I backed up, sort of shook my head and came back up to the sink. There was a “blonde” spider lowering himself down in spurts. You know how they do, they go down in increments. Boing, boing, boing. Oh my! Ugh! What am I going to do. I grabbed the only thing available, a potato. I am banging and banging on the spider to kill him. Or so I thought. I was not even hitting him. He quickly ran to the front of the sink. I missed again. (This is really good for me because I usually do not kill them. I put a glass or something over them for Wessie to kill when he gets home.) He landed on the floor.

I only had a house slipper type of shoe on. There was not really a sole, it was all a thicker type fabric. I stepped on him anyway. I have no idea if I got him or not. He was so blonde he would have blended in to the shoe. I took of the shoe and inspected it. I could not find it at all.

It was so hard to continue to stand there and finish the potatoes not knowing where he was. I debated and debated on throwing out the weapon and not using it. I totally rinsed him in hot water and peeled away.

On another note, supper was extra good. Might need to add that “special” flavoring again. Haha. NOT!!!!!! Also, an interesting note, Wessie loves that dinner and would not even eat it!