puddle--interesting thought about people's misbehavior not going to waste... of course it never does. Granted it is a nonsequitur, but I recall a Molly Ivins column where she points out the basic unfairness of sin taxes bearing so much of the load, and suggests the virtuous should be taxed for their behavior as well.
listener, thinking about your comments on the last thread. I think maybe I learned from the best, lol! During at least part of my childhood, mama attended railroad auctions (where insurance companies had bought out insureds' good, and resold them), at these auctions, you bought BIG lots. . . . I remember specifically, the Year of the Ruskettes. . . . A family of 8 or 10, and Ruskettes for breakfast every single day, lol! Also, due to the box top bargains, many of our birthday and Christmas presents were due to the Ruskettes. Later, she used to go to the poultry company and buy our eggs in the big 15 dozen cartons. We'd use half, and she'd sell the other half to neighbors, *at cost*, because that allowed her to buy ours at cost, too. Otherwise, 15 dozen would have been too much. We bought cheese in wax covered five pound rounds, four to a box. The first was mild, the last was very sharp. Powdered milk was pretty awful tasting back then, but we used a lot. She discovered that if you made buttermilk out of, it tasted pretty good, so there was pretty much always a two gallon glass jar on the counter, making. Then daddy got a cow that he kept on the back lot at his bidness. The morning milk was for butter and curds and cottage cheese, the evening milk for drinking. Too bad they never got into cheesemaking.
But I really think the most important thing both parents did was never to whine or complain that we were *poor.* All their kids just grew up thinking we were *smart* lol! I was startled when I met the father of my children who felt he'd grown up in poverty. His dad had a job throughout the Depression, and they bought a house in 1932. Traced back to the only fact he could find: he'd been told one Christmas he couldn't have a bike because it was "too expensive." OUR first bike was a salvaged, sanded, and repainted one -- because we were so "smart". . . . I could never quite believe my friends would pay $4 bucks for new jeans, when I could get mine at Sally for 25¢!
Finally got the book for the course I will be teaching (the "how to be a college student" class). Combined that with taking Son to get his textbook for the first college class he will be taking (introduction to the 3d gaming industry). I'm having him do a lot more on his own on such outings. Obviously, he needs to be able to be independent when on a college campus. I'm struck at how much more patience and effort are required when "teaching a man to fish" as opposed to just giving him the damn fish and being done with it...until tomorrow.
My mom used to say that. She could do X or Y or Z *easier* than making us do it right. . . . Of course, none of us believed her until we had our own kids.
i never thought of myself as "poor" when I was growing up. Probably at about the same economic level as your kids' father. Of course, most of the people I knew were at about the same economic level. And in Pine Bluff, those who had a bit more didn't particularly flaunt it. At least not until the paper mills opened and a bunch of Yankees came down.
Did anyone catch the president's speech last night? It was excellent. If the jobs bill isn't passed, it will be squarely and unspinnably the fault of the Republicans.
These days, I expend a lot of energy trying to remind Demetrius, in a non-bitchy way, that we really do need to consistently work on teaching Son independence. There's so much he does FOR the kids, basically because it's the "path of least resistance"--and probably because he wants to make sure it's done"right". I suspect that if HE was the one taking Son to pick up his text from the book store, he wouldn't have sent Son across the street to go into the store on his own.
Oh how I enjoyed and appreciated reading your little memoir, puddle!!!
I remember the cheese and the powdered milk too. We always thought we were living it up when we had those rations! Ha! I learned a lot about making do, and I'm glad for that, especially now.
The difference for me is that my parents weren't so creative and stalwart as yours. We knew we were poor, but I guess we didn't hang our heads over it. It didn't need to be anything said at home, but became obvious at school. When you're wearing the same dress for three days straight and nobody else is, you stand out. White bread with milk and lots of sugar for breakfast and a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread for lunch doesn't carry a second grader very far through the day. And I recall being served spoiled meat for dinner many times. We didn't have to actually eat it, but a meal had been served, so no guilt for the parents. Yet my parents always seemed to have enough money for cigarettes.
They had a rough beginning with a shotgun wedding and a premie baby. I think they believed in their early years that better days would come, but for them they never did. All their lives they never owned a house, and Mom never learned to drive a car. Mom died ten years ago last month, and Dad died six years ago yesterday. I am at peace with how it was, and it's good to be here. Very good.
Good for you, Renee, going the extra mother-mile for your son.
I remember being in the kitchen (a galley kitchen, mind you!) with three or more "helpers" making dinner. Home schooling gave us the extra push to let the kids truly contribute. Each of them got to take turns doing the various chores around the house. Son*in*Maine was far and away the best at housecleaning chores! This is because he wanted nothing more than being able to go out and spend most of his day in the great outdoors, exploring the woods and birdwatching. Plus he was a morning person. So he would get up and do all his chores first thing so that he could go for a woods walk before breakfast. We liked it best when he had laundry duty because we'd wake up and the clothes we'd worn the day before were already clean and folded outside our door! Ha!
Another favourite chore for Son*in*Maine was being the keeper of the woodstove, because he was up early and would have the house all toasty warm before we had to get up! He is truly in his calling now, as Wildlife Biologist and Daddy of Two! :-D
No, I don't do TV even for important political speeches. This morining, it took me less than 5 minutes to read the newspaper's bullet list of the main items in the proposal. Still saying that Social Security doesn't matter. That giving Congress leave to savage it as the will is less important than getting the economy moving right now. Maybe he's right.
And yes, if it doesn't pass it will be unspinably the Republicans fault. Which would be wierd in a way, given their hostility to both taxes and Social Security.
A certain former governor of Vermont is first.
ReplyDeleteRenee's candle page:
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=Renee
Thanks for posting the link again, Cat. ♥
ReplyDeletepuddle--interesting thought about people's misbehavior not going to waste... of course it never does. Granted it is a nonsequitur, but I recall a Molly Ivins column where she points out the basic unfairness of sin taxes bearing so much of the load, and suggests the virtuous should be taxed for their behavior as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe not the truly virtuous, but at least the extravagant.
ReplyDeletelistener, thinking about your comments on the last thread. I think maybe I learned from the best, lol! During at least part of my childhood, mama attended railroad auctions (where insurance companies had bought out insureds' good, and resold them), at these auctions, you bought BIG lots. . . . I remember specifically, the Year of the Ruskettes. . . . A family of 8 or 10, and Ruskettes for breakfast every single day, lol! Also, due to the box top bargains, many of our birthday and Christmas presents were due to the Ruskettes. Later, she used to go to the poultry company and buy our eggs in the big 15 dozen cartons. We'd use half, and she'd sell the other half to neighbors, *at cost*, because that allowed her to buy ours at cost, too. Otherwise, 15 dozen would have been too much. We bought cheese in wax covered five pound rounds, four to a box. The first was mild, the last was very sharp. Powdered milk was pretty awful tasting back then, but we used a lot. She discovered that if you made buttermilk out of, it tasted pretty good, so there was pretty much always a two gallon glass jar on the counter, making. Then daddy got a cow that he kept on the back lot at his bidness. The morning milk was for butter and curds and cottage cheese, the evening milk for drinking. Too bad they never got into cheesemaking.
ReplyDeleteBut I really think the most important thing both parents did was never to whine or complain that we were *poor.* All their kids just grew up thinking we were *smart* lol! I was startled when I met the father of my children who felt he'd grown up in poverty. His dad had a job throughout the Depression, and they bought a house in 1932. Traced back to the only fact he could find: he'd been told one Christmas he couldn't have a bike because it was "too expensive." OUR first bike was a salvaged, sanded, and repainted one -- because we were so "smart". . . . I could never quite believe my friends would pay $4 bucks for new jeans, when I could get mine at Sally for 25¢!
Thanks, Cat. ♥
ReplyDeleteFinally got the book for the course I will be teaching (the "how to be a college student" class). Combined that with taking Son to get his textbook for the first college class he will be taking (introduction to the 3d gaming industry). I'm having him do a lot more on his own on such outings. Obviously, he needs to be able to be independent when on a college campus. I'm struck at how much more patience and effort are required when "teaching a man to fish" as opposed to just giving him the damn fish and being done with it...until tomorrow.
I need a nap.
My mom used to say that. She could do X or Y or Z *easier* than making us do it right. . . . Of course, none of us believed her until we had our own kids.
ReplyDeletei never thought of myself as "poor" when I was growing up. Probably at about the same economic level as your kids' father. Of course, most of the people I knew were at about the same economic level. And in Pine Bluff, those who had a bit more didn't particularly flaunt it. At least not until the paper mills opened and a bunch of Yankees came down.
ReplyDeleteYeah. When Marc was in his early teens I gave up on trying to get him to load the diswasher because it was just so much *work*.
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone catch the president's speech last night? It was excellent. If the jobs bill isn't passed, it will be squarely and unspinnably the fault of the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteThese days, I expend a lot of energy trying to remind Demetrius, in a non-bitchy way, that we really do need to consistently work on teaching Son independence. There's so much he does FOR the kids, basically because it's the "path of least resistance"--and probably because he wants to make sure it's done"right". I suspect that if HE was the one taking Son to pick up his text from the book store, he wouldn't have sent Son across the street to go into the store on his own.
ReplyDeleteOh how I enjoyed and appreciated reading your little memoir, puddle!!!
ReplyDeleteI remember the cheese and the powdered milk too. We always thought we were living it up when we had those rations! Ha! I learned a lot about making do, and I'm glad for that, especially now.
The difference for me is that my parents weren't so creative and stalwart as yours. We knew we were poor, but I guess we didn't hang our heads over it. It didn't need to be anything said at home, but became obvious at school. When you're wearing the same dress for three days straight and nobody else is, you stand out. White bread with milk and lots of sugar for breakfast and a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread for lunch doesn't carry a second grader very far through the day. And I recall being served spoiled meat for dinner many times. We didn't have to actually eat it, but a meal had been served, so no guilt for the parents. Yet my parents always seemed to have enough money for cigarettes.
They had a rough beginning with a shotgun wedding and a premie baby. I think they believed in their early years that better days would come, but for them they never did. All their lives they never owned a house, and Mom never learned to drive a car. Mom died ten years ago last month, and Dad died six years ago yesterday. I am at peace with how it was, and it's good to be here. Very good.
Good for you, Renee, going the extra mother-mile for your son.
ReplyDeleteI remember being in the kitchen (a galley kitchen, mind you!) with three or more "helpers" making dinner. Home schooling gave us the extra push to let the kids truly contribute. Each of them got to take turns doing the various chores around the house. Son*in*Maine was far and away the best at housecleaning chores! This is because he wanted nothing more than being able to go out and spend most of his day in the great outdoors, exploring the woods and birdwatching. Plus he was a morning person. So he would get up and do all his chores first thing so that he could go for a woods walk before breakfast. We liked it best when he had laundry duty because we'd wake up and the clothes we'd worn the day before were already clean and folded outside our door! Ha!
Another favourite chore for Son*in*Maine was being the keeper of the woodstove, because he was up early and would have the house all toasty warm before we had to get up! He is truly in his calling now, as Wildlife Biologist and Daddy of Two! :-D
ReplyDeleteWow, Renee. That must have been kind'a scary, for you and for him. I take it he accomplished the mission satisfactorily?
ReplyDeleteHaven't found the transcript yet, but here's a link to the speech on YouTube:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5f-FwN2ZJs
No, I don't do TV even for important political speeches. This morining, it took me less than 5 minutes to read the newspaper's bullet list of the main items in the proposal. Still saying that Social Security doesn't matter. That giving Congress leave to savage it as the will is less important than getting the economy moving right now. Maybe he's right.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, if it doesn't pass it will be unspinably the Republicans fault. Which would be wierd in a way, given their hostility to both taxes and Social Security.