It's dangerous when I think, no?
Not this time. Yesterday was Mom's birthday. I kept myself real busy, spent a lot of the day at the kennel playing with the 2 week old puppies and letting my beasts play. I always figure it's better to stay busy than sit around thinking. Didn't really work, tho.
So, today, I'm cleaning the house. As I'm vacuuming, I'm thinking, how did Mom do it? She was a stay-at-home mom, but let's be honest, taking care of me and Pa was no picnic. I now realize she is partly to blame for how spoiled Pa is now, but I also know he was no easier to take care of back then. He couldn't do anything without making a mess and he was never good at cleaning up the mess when he was done. (I still remember the time he was painting the outside of the windows, and got about as much paint inside as out...Ma was less than thrilled!)
The "routine" stuff was a lot to do. Monday was laundry. It wasn't as easy then as it is now. The family will recall that when I was a little brat, I stuck my arm in the washing machine ringer and tried to remove my arm at the elbow. After that, they got one of them fancy automatic washing machines. But it wasn't as big as the ones we have now, so it took longer to get it done. Even after we had a dryer, Mom would still hang clothes out to dry. I remember the clotheslines strung all around our back yard, from tree to tree. She would go out and wipe down the line to make sure it was clean before she put out her clean laundry. When one load was done, part of the previous load might be ready to take down. In and out, check the laundry. She didn't want to leave it out too long, the birds had a habit of christening it, and then she had more work. If she was lucky, she was done with the laundry in time to sit for a few minutes before it was time to cook supper.
Tuesday was ironing day. I KNOW! Ironing! Can you imagine? That routine actually began the night before. For those who don't remember, back in "the old days," we didn't have them fancy irons that had steam. The night before, you would get out the sprinkling bottle. Usually, an old Coke bottle with a top on it that had holes in it to "sprinkle." Lay the shirt or pants or whatever out on the kitchen table, sprinkle it, roll it up and stick it in a plastic bag. Repeat until all of the laundry was in the bag, ready for ironing. Sometimes, she would just sprinkle as she ironed. Ironing was hot and miserable. Thank God for permanent press!
I can't remember now if Wednesday or Thursday was cleaning the floor day. The floor in the kitchen, hall and bathroom was this nasty black tile, and she had the "scrubber" to clean it. Then you had to wait for it to dry. Then wax it, because it was really ugly without wax. The rest of the house was hard wood floors, so "all" she had to do was run the vacuum. Sometimes she would just use the dust mop. (Do they even still make dust mops?)
Friday was always grocery shopping day. Oh, what fun. Not. I think I inherited my dislike of grocery shopping from Mom. Even shopping was a lot different. There were no bar codes. Everything had a little price sticker on it. The "checker" actually had to punch in each individual price of each item. It's scary to think that back then, about $5 worth of groceries would fit into one of those paper grocery bags.
Cleaning the bathroom was different. We didn't have all of those miracle cleaning products. Mom had rags, Comet and elbow grease. She was forever washing rugs, drapes, windows. There was dusting and just plain picking up after Dad and me. She painted the walls and ceilings before they put in ceiling tile and paneling in some of the rooms. She made curtains for the kitchen windows, for the bathroom and for my room.
She made a lot of her clothes and my clothes. I would drive her nuts. She would take me to pick out a pattern for something and I always picked out stuff that either wasn't easy to make, or wasn't real practical.
If that wasn't enough, she loved to garden and for several years we had that for her to take care of, too. Personally, I hated picking strawberries and peas and beans. She liked flowers, too, but that was a losing battle with my father and his lawn mower.
All of that, and she always had dinner on the table at 4:30 p.m. for my father.
Then, when I was 8, her parents moved into a mobile home in our back yard. Gradma did the routine cooking and cleaning, but Mom did their laundry and the hard stuff that Grandma couldn't handle.
I wonder that she didn't lose her temper more often. Like the day Grandpa was going to walk the 5 miles in to town because she wouldn't drive him (he had Parkinson's and couldn't walk worth beans) and she tied him to his chair in the back yard because he refused to go back into the house. Or the time Pa bugged her once too often too early in the morning, and she smacked him on the head with frozen sausages. (God knows, I've been tempted more than once!) Or the time she shoved the Maypo (nasty cereal I screamed I had to have in the grocery store, and then refused to eat) down my throat.
I don't know how she did it. Guess I just miss her today.
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You're Mom was a great lady. It's amazing she put up with us talking on the phone, for it seems like hours on some days, and didn't have call waiting or any way to know if her friends were trying to call her. I have good memories if coming out to your house and listening to your new stereo. Also I was scared to death I'd scrape Dad's car on one of the trees pulling in your driveway!! Miss those days!!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about mom yesterday too. I had mentioned to Aunt Rose Marie that it was her birthday and how much I miss her. I kept busy all day too. We went to the Arizona Natural History museum and spent 4 hours in there. She would have like the dinasours and all the gems.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was old enough I had to do the ironing. I didn't mind that as much as some things at least then I could watch TV. It was miserable in the summer though. I still have her sprinkle bottle, I think it was actually an RC bottle, mom hated ironing, so sometimes that got me out of picking beans etc. I remember being made to hang clothes on the clothes line too and take them down. The mosquites would always bite my bare feet. I have never had a clothes line outside anyway. I hated scrubbing those floors but sure do remember doing plenty. Then father would come home and get mud on them. I hated dragging out the vacuum and still do! Mom never bought anything at the grocery store that wasn't on her list. I would get so mad about that too. Cleaning that bathtub with that yellow water was impossible with what we had too.
I think mom made most of my clothes and I hated that, now it's cool! I hated picking beans and peas and strawberries too. The mosiquitoes would eat you alive out there, it was hotter than h..., the only good thing was listening to the Cardinal games on my new transitor radio. I still love baseball. Hense why I am in Phoenix to watch baseball.
You forgot to mention too that not only did she force the Maypo down your throat she spooned up the puke and shoved it down too! Guess that is why I never got anything that wasn't on her list!
Great memories,
Carol
This post brings back so many memories. When I was little, after my parents divorce, my grandma and sister usually kept me. My mom had a full time job, school and a personal life and I don't know how she did it then and I don't know how she does it now. My grandma used clotheslines. To this day there's something so peaceful and almost romantic about seeing clothes on a clothesline.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 14 my grandmother and great aunt had to come live with us because they really couldn't take care of themselves anymore. My sister would come and take care of them during the day, until my mom got home from working a full time job. Then my sister went home to her husband and three children and took care of all of them. I'm constantly amazed at women who have the patience and ability to manage and perform these tasks . . . I have neither.
My grandmother passed away when I was in my late teens and most of my life she'd been sick, but I still have very early memories of her, my great aunt, my sister and my nieces [who were always more like sisters]. I regret that "Nanny" died before I was old enough to truly remember and appreciate the things she did. My great aunt was the one who got annoyed. She let me stick my finger in a light socket one day after telling me "no" about a million times.
That's a lesson you only need to learn once.