Sew What?

At the school I was attending at that time all the seventh grade girls were required to take a Home Ec (Home  Economics) class for one semester. All the boys had to take wood shop.

In home ec we learned many useful things. Like how to shampoo our hair.  And to change our underwear every day. And to clean up after ourselves. The best thing in class happened when we were shampooing hair. One of the girls took off her blouse to keep it from getting wet. Her hair was full of shampoo when the janitor came in (unannounced). You never saw such a furor trying to get her properly covered and him out of the room.

We also learned how to formally set the table and the correct way to serve (serve to the left, remove from the right). We even had the honor of serving the Junior/Senior Banquet.

For one assignment we gathered wildflowers. We learned how to dry them and then arrange them. I will admit that was fun.

We made aprons. I gave instructions for those previously. And we made circle skirts. A circle skirt is a true circle that can be laid out and you will see a full circle.

So we purchased our material, laid it out, and cut a circle of fabric. In the center we cut another circle to fit our waists. We made waistbands and sewed them on. Them we took them home to hem them.

I was extremely confident because my mother made a lot of our clothes. We measured and pinned the bottom to prepare for hemming. Mom supervised but I did the work. She never did our homework for us.

I was up late working on my skirt but I had it done by morning. I folded it carefully and was off to school. I was excited because that skirt was half the grade in that class.

Each of us put on our skirt and modeled it for the class. I was mortified! One side of the hem was at the top of my leg. The other side was brushing the floor. In between it went up and down. What happened?

Needless to say my grade was not good. And I still do not know how I managed to mess it up so bad.

Mickey the Martian

My sister's youngest son was different.

From the time he was born he was born he loved music. The best part of that is he loved the same type of music I listened to.

Often we got together just to listen and dance. Everyone else would retreat to a different room for us. 

One of my favorite days involved him. He had a little cardboard guitar. He gave me to pencils to use as drumsticks. We listened and played and danced and played air instruments for a long time. It was glorious.

My nephew had one problem. Or maybe it was ours. He did not speak English.

He spoke to us. It was gibberish. Of course we always answered him just like we did any of the babies in the family. They eventually learned to speak with us though.

It became a family joke that with Mickey by mistake we got a baby from Mars and they got ours.

One day when he was about three or four years old that little light bulb lit up above his head. He had always understood what we were saying. The light bulb made him realize that he needed to speak the same language as we did.

I am happy to say that he grew up to be successful and speaking English. He has two beautiful daughters. They both speak English.

Friday Night Movies

My children and I liked to go to the library. Because we lived in a city with a large population the library was huge.  

We would go to whatever section of books appealed to us that day. 

My daughter and youngest son liked the children's section. She liked children's fantasy the best. My son liked a little more action in his stories.

My second son liked police stories or spy stories so that is the section he wanted. My oldest son enjoyed science fiction and that is where he went.

I am more fickle. Biographies are often my first choice. Sometimes I want self-improvement books. Mysteries are fun. Whatever strikes my mood that day.

When we had made our selections we would check them out and know we could spend the next week getting comfortable with our books. If we had some quiet time a book was a good way to fill it.

Somewhere my husband had acquired an old 8mm movie projector. I discovered that the library had old 8mm movies I could rent.

So every week after we made our book selections we went to the movie section. We picked out a movie together.

On Friday nights we popped popcorn and each had something to drink. We invited friends and family. We all sat om blankets on the ground. Then we showed the movie on the side of the garage.

It was such fun for everyone. And it cost absolutely nothing.

Cowboys and Indians

Cowboy movies and television shows were extremely popular when I was a child. They were on television when we got home from school. In the evening others were on for the whole family. 

Cowboy movies at the theater drew crowds of families. A good movie and a bag of popcorn (for a nickel) was a real treat.

I am a person whose grandfather was a real cowboy in his younger days. Not a shoot-'em-up cowboy like the ones we saw on TV. He practically lived out on the range taking care of cattle. 

I also lived near a lot of what we called Indians. Even though they were close there was still a mystery we felt about them. They did not look or act like us and many spoke a different language.

It stands to reason that children often played Cowboys and Indians. The cowboys had cap guns and a sturdy stick to use for a horse and of course a cowboy hat. Indians had bows and arrows, a horse, and a feathered headdress.

One day my two brothers and I were outside playing. When one of my brothers and I went into the house and quietly sat down Mom suspected that something was wrong. We were working too hard at looking innocent.

When my other brother did not come in she went to check on him.

She found my brother hanging by his neck from the apple tree. He was turning purple.

We had captured him and just like in the movies he had to hang. Then we could not get him down. Not knowing what to do we simply went in the house.

If Mom had not gone out to see where my brother was he would have died. 

Itchy

My favorite aunt and uncle had moved to Missouri. I missed them a lot because they had spoiled me as much as they could.

They had no children but their house was huge. We went to visit and there was plenty of room.

They also had a gorgeous lawn. The grass was green and thick. It was perfect for playing. We went out and played tag. We tumbled in that glorious grass. It was such fun.

When supper was ready we all went inside to eat. Then it was time for a bath and bed.

That was when we started to itch. It was a burning itch. Soon we were all crying.  

The grass was full of chiggers. Chiggers are small mites related to spiders and ticks. 

These small mites feed on animal skin. The bites burn and sting at the same time. Intensely.

The common treatment is Calamine lotion. My aunt did not have any.

She did have Campho-Phenique. We used that. It stung a bit but we felt better.

We were able to finally sleep. Not well but for a while.

We did learn not to roll around in strange grass.

 

Three Billy Goats Gruff

The first song I sang to each of my grandchildren was The Unicorn. I sang other songs to them until they became old enough to tell me to stop.

For some reason I do not remember the first story except the one I told my daughter's son. It was Three Billy Goats Gruff.

He had just come home from the hospital. I wanted to give my daughter a chance to rest. Of course the baby decided to cry... a lot.

I sang to him and he calmed down. But he was not ready to sleep. I decided to tell him a story and that was the first one that came to mind.

Stories and songs are important for a baby. The rhythm and a soothing voice are comforting to them. And it is a good way to forge a bond with the baby.

Singing and telling stories is important. So is reading to them.  They learn that there are new stories in books. Hopefully they will want to read on their own as they get older.

Keep Them Apart

When I was in junior high (now they call it middle school) the adults at the school were overly cautious about sex. We were on the verge of becoming adults and we might have (gasp) impure thoughts.

The school had two front doors. One was for boys and the other was for girls. Those of us who rode the bus to school all entered through a side door!

Classes had both boys and girls. There a teacher could make sure there was no mingling.

The front of the school had a tall rock wall between the doors. Between the school and the wall there was a small very high lawn. (I wonder how they mowed it.) That was where we ate lunch if the weather was nice.

Of course males and females could not sit on the wrong side of the lawn. However committed couples found a way to have lunch together. The boy sat up next to the invisible line on his side. The girl cozied up to the invisible line on her side. Then they could eat lunch together.

But Lord help them if they wanted to hold hands or lean in for a side hug. A teacher would appear from nowhere. The couple would each have to retreat to their own sides for the rest of lunch.

I have to relate a funny story about me. I was extremely naive. I knew very little about the whole subject of sex.

With parental permission we were to see a movie about venereal disease. 

A pure young couple were looking forward to graduating high school. They planned to marry when they graduated college. They would remain pure until they were married.

The young man went with a group of older boys to the city. They introduced him to a 'loose' woman. She introduced him to worldly ways.

So he became a monster because he was no longer pure. He went home and promptly raped his pure girlfriend.

A short time later he complained that he had a 'sword' down there. (That is what I heard. I was married before I realized he said sore not sword.)

When he went to the doctor the diagnosis was syphilis. 

The moral was: Do not got to the city with older boys.

                         Stay pure

                        Remain true to your girlfriend.

The movie implied that the young man's life was ruined and he destroyed his girlfriend's life.

I was simply confused.