Mom

 

I always like to have a sunflower growing in my garden to remind me of my mom. 

The State Flower of Kansas!

That's where I'm from and that's where my mom lives.

The bowl you see below is the one we would put potatoes in for supper.

Just cut up, boiled potatoes. 

Most of the time, we had gravy, but sometimes we didn't.

 

 

My mom is turning 73.  She was the oldest of four kids. 

 Her dad was a plumber and her mom was a house-wife. 

My mom married young, had my sister and then me.

So, you could say, I'm from a small family.

 



 

I had a wonderful childhood. 

We didn't have new cars, go on fancy vacations or have snazzy clothes.....

but we did have lots of other things.

Like table-cloths on the table, then on the line.

 



 

We had order.  My mom kept everything in order.

Our laundry was always done and we never threw towels on the floor of the bathroom.

When I moved to Texas, I was rather shocked that some people DO throw

towels on the bathroom floor.

 



My mom loves calendars, birthdays, stationary, stamps, letters, and reasons to send cards.

She sometimes sends us 4? Christmas cards and writes a letter on each of them!

She loves coupons, newspaper clippings, frugal facts and address books!

 



 

The yellow pot-holder you see behind the little clothes-pin bag is a gift from my mom, to me.

If she had it 50 years ago, chances are she has it now.

She had an uncanny ability to take care of things and make them last forever.

 



My mom also loves house plants.  Especially this cactus plant.

She gave it to me a few years back because it was getting too heavy for her to lug in and

out of the house because of cold Kansas winters.

It got watered too much.......and is no longer with us.

:(

 



My mom always had our hair fixed, cut, curled, cleaned, combed, brushed, pony-tailed.

Just for the record, not everybody knows how to put curlers in their hair.

Or anybody else's for that matter.

These little plastic space-ship rollers were used on my hair often.

 



 

My Great-Grandmother in Colorado, gave some Shamrock plants to my Granma, Granma gave

some to my mom, my mom gave some to me, and they are very happy here in Texas.

I wish mom could see how well they grow in my flower garden.

 



 

The above house is the first house I remember living in.

I contacted the lady that lives in the house now....and she graciously let us come

in and look around.

Nothing is like I remembered.

Except the long closet in the front bed-room.

That's a different blog post.........



 

This is my mom with my sister.

The little baby announcement is the very card my

Granma sent out to announce mom's birth.

 



 

This is the house on the *by-pass* ,

my Granny lived a few houses down

and my Granma lived a couple blocks away.

 

I had a wonderful child-hood.
(did I already say that?)

I grew up with gardens, swing-sets, cats, dogs, chickens, music,

sprinklers, sunflower seeds, money for bottles of pop,

trips to the city swimming pool, Avon perfume, Lake Wilson,

pretty pillowcases, firecrackers, Dairy Queen, bikes, mulberry trees, cousins,

libraries and library books, games, records, Girls Scouts and Brownies,

 doilies, and lots and lots of friends.

 



 

My mom was not a fancy cook..........but she was the *best* Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.

We ate cherry jello, pork chops, macaroni and cheese,

 meat-potatoes-gravy-canned vegetables,

cinnamon toast, rice with cinnamon, pancakes with sugar instead of syrup,

 canned ham, glazed donuts, cans of hominy and beets,

gizzard gravy ..... but not much ice cream.

 

I was brought up to be early to any occasion, on time wasn't good enough.

We did dishes every night and didn't leave them in the sink.

We cleaned up everything from a camp-out before we went to bed.

My mom made lists and stuck to them.

Our cars always had gas and the salt shaker was always full.

 

Now, my mom is old.

I can't imagine life without a mom.

She is also now a Christian.

When she dies, she will go to heaven.