Three years ago tomorrow this appeared on Jenkins Online for the first time. 

Thursday, May 15, 2003
Who Am I

Just a bit of fluff about Momma’s Corner.  On Les’ Place I had a room of my own. That was back about 15 years ago.  I wrote in prose about anything you wanted to talk about.  Now I’m in the corner, no cat at my feet or rocking chair to sit in yet. (I haven’t gotten permission to fill the place up yet.) I’m not above calling a pile of shit exactly what it is.  After my daughter went to college I learned how effective the F—- word is and I have a tendency to use it like salt on mashed potatoes.  I love to talk, to share, and to gather ideas that will make both me and my correspondent think.  Boring, I hope not.  A lot will depend on you, the news media, and the people who call themselves leaders .  With the help of the Evil one I’ll get a profile developed so all may see that “the golden years do suck” but you just keep plodding along and hope a smile develops once in a while.

Two years ago this was the message!

One Year & A Day Of Footprints

Well Momma’s Corner is one year and one day old today.  We have had some happy times, sad times, and just plain nothing times.  But in my mind that is what life is about.

Pus_in_prada_boots said that this was my roadside stand along the information highway to sell whatever I’d like.  I don’t know how many have paused to view the wares but I hope a few footprints are on the path!

Last year’s message in part contained this:

Well did I do it?

Two years of hopes, joys, and trials that life so frequently hands out to the mortal man.
But we are still plodding along.  Just a little slower with a few more aches and pains.  But still determined that it is worth the effort to stay in touch.

I hope that the last two years have been good for you as well. That the set backs we all have encountered will soon be cleared away and we can get back to living not just exisiting.  Thanks for visiting with me.  You have played an important role in my life.

Momma

We have been through a lot this last three years.  My diagnosis of COPD.  Jay’s bouts with blindness and his double bypass operation.  The loss of dear pets.  The greater loss of good friends and family.  The struggles of the family with health and financial problems.  The funny things that came before my eyes and the tears that sometimes clouded my vision.  Important things to say and little funny shit to smile over.  The comments from you to encourage me, support me, or make me think of a better way to do things played an important part in keeping the mind working, and not letting me just give up.  The friendship that was born of these visits were not always great devotional events but the importance of them in my life cannot be expressed strongly enough.

So my friend as I plod into year number four I find that the so called leaders of our great Nation are not doing a sterling job of making life better in these United States.  The man to do the job is still hiding in the trees and we are going to continue to suffer if he don’t get his ass in gear and show us what he has got.  Yes ‘The Golden Years Will Still Suck’ but so will everyone’s life if someone doesn’t jump on the train and pull the brakes! 

Well I pretty well got used to writing without the F—- word.  I do have my rocking chair, my cat, and now even a dog at my feet.  I can still clean the house—when I feel like it.  I still hate to cook but I do that too.  But I still don’t have my profile compiled and my hundred pounds of extra person is still being lugged around.  (Gym!  Doesn’t that word go with shoes?)  Sadly I well never be a runway diva ( there ain’t enough sequins in the world) nor will I ever master belly dancing.  The only thing I’m getting good at is ranting and taking a little nap every once in a while.  Ah such is the life of a country retiree!

Back on the ninth I posted about seeing a Hummingbird—- (Sorry I always have to stop and smile because of that old jokes—You know why Humming birds hum? Because they don’t know the words!!!) I know Groan!!  Anyway today this arrived in the mail:

It came all the way from Holbrook,  New York.  Thank you Dar and Mike it is lovely now I’ll have to smile every day.

Speaking Of smiling—As Jay sat at the computer this morning good old Molly came off the steps, through the railing, across in front of the screen, and climbed up on the new shelf for the telephone.

This is a picture of the desk setup and if you see the phone—that is where she crawled into.

The latest thing between the girls is for Brandy to lay on her belly, wag her tail at Molly and beg her to play The distance between them is getting smaller but Molly still isn’t ready to play.

Yesterday we took Brandy with us down to Oakland County for some chores. First it was to stop for Jay’s haircut and have everyone in the shop love and cuddle Brandy. Then it was on to the CreditUnion with the same attention.  Then we stopped by Wes’ house and the two grand-kids also cuddled with her.  Last night after we got home that poor puppy was all give out.  Such a very busy day for a little girl!

The last bookmark made by Mrs. DoF for my regifting has finally been delivered.  A little late but part of Jasmine’s Birthday present.

The other half was her shrug which I hope is a pleasant addition to her kool look!

Hope it was a Happy 15th Birthday Jazz eeven if I’m a little late wishing it!

This from good friend Pammie.  It sure stirred some memories of my kids.

If you are 30 or older you may find this is funny!

 
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning. . . Uphill BOTH ways. . . Through year ‘round blizzards. Carrying their younger siblings on their backs. . . To their one-room schoolhouse, where they maintained a straight A average, despite their full-time, after-school job at the local textile mill. . . Where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that.  .  .

I’m over the ripe old age of thirty, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don’t know how good you’ve got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter. . . With a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3s or Napster! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!
And talk about hardship?
 

We didn’t have fancy crap like call waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that’s it! And we didn’t have fancy caller ID boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your Mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn’t know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony PlayStation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like “Space Invaders” and “Asteroids” and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you couldnever win.  The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I’m saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. . . We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire. . . Imagine that!

If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot. That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled.

You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980.

But if You think that was bad let me tell you how hard I had it because I’m older!  Hey where you goin’?

Wow you take a test and find an interesting fact that you don’t believe is true. So you ask the hubby and he replies it couldn’t be more true .

You Are Wind

Strong and overpowering A force to be reckoned with, no one dares cross you You have the power to change everything around you You are best known for: your wrath Your dominant state: commanding

Hope I don’t scare anyone off!

The process of getting better can be almost as bad as being sick. You find you want to drop that head on a soft pillow as fast as spilled milk drips off a table on to a freshly mopped floor. Not quite up to running in the Kentucky Derby but feeling guilty like a puppy who has peed on the rug about accomplishing your daily routine. 

The last few days have been divided between doing what I want to do and what I need to do. I have played Free Cell and ran the vacuum. When I take Brandy out to the exercise pen to do her thing I take ‘Teacher Man’ with me. I sit in the sunshine on my old green plastic lawn chair and escape for a few minutes.

I will sit at the computer and read blogs, commenting sometimes, or just enjoy a visit into another life. In the back of my head floats the thought that I should post but sometimes Free Cell or Solitaire wins the battle of the should over the does! I take time to check the E-mail and find gems that were sent to me and I smile, even laugh out loud, then proceed to pass them on because I want others to smile or laugh too.

At 7:30 this morning I hauled my old tired body, clad in nightgown and slippers, with an arm load of Brandy out to the pen. I happened to look towards the deck with the bird feeders on it and there was my first Hummingbird of the season darting up to the nectar feeder. A smile spread over this old road map of life. my ankles stopped aching, and my whole day started shining like a new penny. What a miracle it is when a tiny bird, a squirmy puppy, or the morning sunshine on your face can bring such happiness to ones life.

A check in the side yard shows that the bleeding hearts are doing very well. 

However a visit to the Doctor’s office revealed that Jay has pneumonia and I have bronchitis.  Man no wonder we feel so shitty!  So it is Azithromycin for both of us and with any luck we should be on the mend in no time.  I’m still waiting to visit my brother and my grand daughter.  Yeah for spring time!!!

For you remember stay warm, eat right, love someone, and darn it smile it makes you feel so much better!!!

Funny thing about old women—they tend to show you things you don’t care to see.
Not nasty things but things they find delight in that you would never think about. 
Like yesterday I put the Humming bird and the Oriole feeders. The Journal had an article on preparing for the nectar lovers yesterday that I read after setting them up.Lo and behold this morning I saw my first Baltimore Oriole of the year.  I called Jay to peek out the french doors and he saw something for a change.  Now my next quest will trying to get a picture of it.

Next the what I think is a Crab Apple tree is wearing her best outfit today.

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Every Spring I take the same picture of the same blossoms and am still thrilled to look out and see the rebirth of something so lovely again.

Anothrt thing about old women –they become very practical as they age. For example my canister set!

In the basement on a shelf sets two glass cannister sets.  One is a lovely blue in a barrel type pattern ane the other is aqua in a fruit jar pattern.  Both I find are hard to get their contents out of.  Lovely to look at and a pain in the ass to use.  So with Jay’s sharp mind we settled on plastic containers with large openings to pour contents in without spilling and scoop them out with ease.  Why didn’t I think of that?  Becarse Dearheart I’m attuned to pleasing visions not practicality.  Oh well we live and learn and thank goodness I still have the faculities to do both.

There is something about me that makes husbands buy me the darndest things. Many years ago when I was pregnant with Wes my first husband bought me a snow shovel for Christmas. It obviously worked seeing Wes’ Birthday is 12-31. What brought this to mind you ask, Well today my Mother’s Day gift arrived via Fedex. 

Yes my friend it is a brand new Alligator.  This is to aid me in cutting up branches and limbs. How? Because it weighs only nine pounds. That is much lighter than our small chain saw. Besides I’m hoping that the boys might want to try it out and I won’t even have to pick it up.

Happy Mother’s Day to me early!!!