Under 40 ..... Don't Read .... Memories.

We didn't have a wash board at home that I recall. My husband's mother washed with a wash board in the yard outside. She boiled water in large pots over an open fire and scrubbed her labor-husband's coveralls there on the washboard. Of course, he wore them for a whole week, too. So she only had to scrub them once a week. :) They probably stood alone so she might have preferred a pair for each day. But remember this was pre-depression and during the depression.

I do remember being scared of the dark and the boogie man. In our home with it's very large rooms and extremely high ceilings, it was scary to go into one of them at night. You see, the electric cord and unshaded bulb hung in the center of the room. You had to walk in swinging your arm trying to locate it. I avoided having to do it like the plague. I remember heat in only one room of this large, drafty house. Thankfully we lived in NC and it wasn't like living up North. But I was sickly and very cold natured. Mom would put a blanket scrap on top of the oil circulator and when ready she and I would run through the house (through 4 rooms to get to mine - which was actually the front hall divided by a curtain from the front entry area). I would jump into bed and Mom would reach under the covers, grab my feet and swaddle them in the warm blanket. Aren't Mom's wonderful! You see, my Mom lived from age 8 to 17 in an orphanage and there was no Mom to swaddle her feet in the cold of night.

How I wish you folks could have tasted my Mom's cooking. Her biscuits were fantastic. She could out Martha Steward and Rachel Ray all the Martha's and Rachel's in the world. Her cakes were fabulous. And vegetables? Well, she had it down pat to wonderful.
 
Jasher said:
And do you remember adding the little yellow food coloring packet to the white Oleo, which was a substitute for butter back then. Do you remember back when Coca Cola had real cocaine in it. That was the original or "Classic" Coke.
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I didn't know that about Coca Cola.... You are kidding me right ? But yes I do remember the food colour stuff as I always got the job of squishing the bag. .... LOL.
 
O boy!!!! I remember those days well and did it all.Heck when I was a boyscout my first aid kit was a bottle of mecurichrome and a few bandaids. Yup I dun been whooped many a time by my POP with a willow switch which he made me pick my own. Iwould allways come back with the old dead brittle switch. When he smacked me with it it would break on the first crack, so he made me get another 1 only green and he would stand there and watch me an say "pick that 1" I think the food thing is that we over sterilize everything so our bodies dont build up an immunity anymore. My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. Such a simple way of life. Yup B/W tv, took bout 5 minutes to warm up then the pic would come on. Those were XLT days in the 50's-60's. You want fun ?????? I would go on an adventure like the movie "Stand by me" Such precious memories. Thanks Dusty for stirrin up my memories:cool::D:shepherd:

O yeah can't forget the tree fort me and my Dad built in that willow tree. Spent many a night up there with him just bonding. I could go on n on. Some day i will continue

God Bless you on this special day

Chili out.:groupray:
 
Dusty said:
I didn't know that about Coca Cola.... You are kidding me right ? But yes I do remember the food colour stuff as I always got the job of squishing the bag. .... LOL.
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It's true Dusty and Dr Pepper I think had opium in it when it first came out. I should do more research on that to make sure.:)
 
I got a few memories, having been born in 1949. I remember my brother and my mom watching the Twilight Zone and I hated it so I'd go sit on the steps around the corner and put my fingers in my ears until it was over.

We were so poor after daddy quit farming. I remember when I was about 11 or 12, going school shopping for clothes and not being able to get the fashionable things, like the big mohair sweater, or the petticoat that made your dress stick way out, until the next year, when they were half price and no longer in style. Mom was so proud to present me with a mohair sweater, but I couldn't wear it much cause it itched like crazy. She also got me that big petticoat, which fell down around my knees as I was running to catch the bus and laid me flat out in a mud puddle. I watched as all the kids laughed at the window and the bus drove away.

There were no choices as far as shoes in those days. You either got white tennis shoes or saddle shoes. Remember playing jacks?

And, one of the fun things we'd do on a Sunday morning was take a drive. Daddy even went with us so if mom saw a dirt road, we'd have dad drive slow, while we walked down that road and picked up geodes, found fern growing in the ditch, which my mom had to dig up for her garden, or we looked for wild Asperigus (sp?) in the ditches.

I remember how upset mom would be at dad when he'd sit at the bottom of the stairs with his belt because we kept getting up for a drink of water or to go to the bathroom.

Easter was fun. We'd go to a church and hunt Easter eggs, then use the left-over colors to put in water with mom's white carnations and turn them colors. We'd usually get colored bunnies or chicks on that special day too.

But the most fun my mom had was when her and grandma would decide to have chicken for dinner and hack off the chicken's head and throw it at one of us kids so it would jump around, blood spirting everywhere, chasing us and scaring us to death. What drama we had to go through! Sick, huh?
 
memories

When I was a child, we only had chicken once a year, on Christmas Day. It was really special.
Ice cream was a special treat, we would ask for a "threepenny cone" (2 cents), or rarely, mum would buy a "brick" of ice cream, which was a tin of ice cream about the size and shape of a brick, then they started using cardboard cartons.
Mum made all my clothes, even underclothes, how I used to wish for bought ones like some of the other girls!
We got our water supply from a tank, and every night would wash our hands, face and feet in a tin dish, after which the water was thrown onto the garden. Sunday night was bath night, again in the tin dish, But starting with hair, then upper body, then stand in the dish to wash lower body.
 
lorraine said:
When I was a child, we only had chicken once a year, on Christmas Day. It was really special.
Ice cream was a special treat, we would ask for a "threepenny cone" (2 cents), or rarely, mum would buy a "brick" of ice cream, which was a tin of ice cream about the size and shape of a brick, then they started using cardboard cartons.
Mum made all my clothes, even underclothes, how I used to wish for bought ones like some of the other girls!
We got our water supply from a tank, and every night would wash our hands, face and feet in a tin dish, after which the water was thrown onto the garden. Sunday night was bath night, again in the tin dish, But starting with hair, then upper body, then stand in the dish to wash lower body.
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Heh Lorraine I was 10 years old before I ever tasted chicken!:o My mom did not make our clothes but certainly new how to stretch a budget with 6 kids to feed!
Do you make any of your own clothes?
 
OK, I can top all of you all!!:D

Even though I just turned 40 this year, when I was growing up we walked to school, did not have microwave ovens, did not get a color TV until I was in my early 20's, both my grandmothers, in the city and the country did not have running water and the one in the country had an out house. We actually killed, cleaned, and cooked our chickens for dinner, I didn't have a Pepsi until I was 18 and our TV time was 2 hours per evening, half of that time being taken up with the rantings of our dictator, Ceausescu so I spent my time reading books like Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, Tess of the d'Ubervilles, etc. Oh and NO ONE even saw a computer until after the revolution, not to mention things like Play Station, Xbox, ect. Ha!

Laura:cool::cool:
 
Cool! I new a lady who told me that as a child she lived so far back in the woods "they had to pump in daylight". I will not tell you what they used the J C Penny catalog for though.:o
 
Ha ha .... I know cause I remember way back when I was in Britain and they used the same thing on the trains ....:eek::eek::eek:.... LOL
 
Bo - when I was raising our 5 children, I made most of their clothes and mine. Heavy coats, suits, "wind breaker jackets,", etc. I made Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for their Christmas. I remade hand-me-downs to fit us and re-did big coats to make small coats. I made most of their pjs and robes. I cut down towels to make wash clothes. I split worn sheets down the middle and sewed the sides together to make the center seam and hemmed the edges. You could make a "double" bed sheet that was wearing thin work very nicely for a long time on a single bed by doing this. Do I sew now? No. My eyes are not that good. But mostly, I simply have no desire to be "creative" in that manner any more.
 
GrannyG said:
Bo - when I was raising our 5 children, I made most of their clothes and mine. Heavy coats, suits, "wind breaker jackets,", etc. I made Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for their Christmas. I remade hand-me-downs to fit us and re-did big coats to make small coats. I made most of their pjs and robes. I cut down towels to make wash clothes. I split worn sheets down the middle and sewed the sides together to make the center seam and hemmed the edges. You could make a "double" bed sheet that was wearing thin work very nicely for a long time on a single bed by doing this. Do I sew now? No. My eyes are not that good. But mostly, I simply have no desire to be "creative" in that manner any more.
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I have great admiration for people like you GrannyG! I don't think I could sew my way out of a box!:D

Laura:)
 
hmm i learned how to sew (by hand) when i was about 8 yrs old my grandma taught me and now i am fairly proficient i did quite a bit of sewing from the time i was 12 untill i was nearly 19
 
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