I was talking with my friend who lives in Florida. We got on the subject of weather. At the time, my area was not hot and humid as it usually is. Hers was typical Florida weather in the late Spring and Summer----hot and humid. I mentioned to her, from my experience of being there, Florida had only two seasons---deodorant works and deodorant doesn’t. She laughed, and the conversation swung to deodorants, in one swipe.
I like to go through my library to find interesting books and titles. Here are some: Bad Cow Jokes by Terra Bull; How to Avoid Falling Down Stairs, a step-by-step guide; Ambushed by May B. Surprize; Chicago Gangs and Families by Tom E. Gunn; Downpour by Wayne Dwops; Sparkling and Clean by Armand Hammer; Ten West Virgina Fixes by Jerry Rigg; How to Survive Being Laid Off by Gwan Home; Simple Lawn Care by Ray King; Coping With Bad Neighbors by Bill D. Fense; Gentle Massage by Ophelia; Tug of War by Paul Hardd.
I was having my hair done. A very disgruntled customer, who had a strong attitude of entitlement, started to berate and demand free service from the strong, female owner. The owner would not succumb to the threats telling the customer she had had the same stylist and procedures for many times. The customer told her, Well, I’m going to bring my husband here to fix all this!” She thought that would scare the owner. Fat chance since the owner was a very strong female who was not intimidated by anyone, easily. All I could think was, “Her bringing her husband here to intimidate this very strong woman is like bringing a cake to a knife fight---kind of a crumby idea.”
While visiting a friend, we started looking at pictures of old cars. The restoration of ’56 and ’57 Chevrolets were featured. All I could think of was, “Who in 67-70 years will want to restore a Tesla?”
I’ll never be OK with donut shops cutting a hole in my donut, and then charging me separately for the same hole they robbed me of. That’s double dipping, in my opinion. Soooo, I buy whole, holeless donuts to get my money’s worth. I want a whole holeless donut, not whole holes from a whole donut.
Always remember, someone’s effort is a reflection of their interest in you, and that they care about you.
When one of mine was little, they were full of questions; some I couldn’t answer and some I could. We had just come home from church. Out of the blue this inquisitive one asked me, “Mom, does God have a pencil?” I responded with, “Yes, I’m sure He does.” Silence, but I knew the look on their face; the silence meant they were thinking. “Mom, does the pencil God have, have an eraser like mine?” Without missing a beat I said, “No. The pencil God has doesn’t have an eraser, because God doesn’t make mistakes.” The silence was profound and the face of this sweet one showed agreement.
Have you ever made biscuits and gravy? If so, you know that gravy is just flour, water/milk, salt, and pinch of flavoring, and grease/oil/butter. Good biscuits for this dish are a bit crunchy on the outside. I equate gravy to glue and the biscuit to me. The gravy/glue holds the biscuit/me together. No wonder I feel good after eating that.
I was visiting Aint Daisy when Sara Lou came stomping up the porch stairs. “Whall, hey, chile. What’s a-botherin’ ye that ye need to beat yer feet so?” the wise one asked. “Aint Daisy, I’m so mad at my husband. He keeps telling me how to cook, comparing me with his ma, cain’t seem to say anything nice to me at all. I don’t know what to say to him to make him stop. It’s getting mighty difficult not to smack him a good one, but he’d hit me back only harder. Do you have any ideas to help me, please?” she cried. The sweet, wise one smoothed her apron over her knees, rocked a bit, took a deep breath, and squinted her eyes. “Honey, I’m sure you’d liked t’ hit, but that hain’t a gonna solve anythang. An’, it seems if’n you say anythang to defend yerself, it will fall on deaf ears a-cause he don’t think he’s doin’ anythang wrong. Sos, ye do th’ best thang, ye keep silent, no matter how angry ye get. Jes let him bellow like an old bull. Ye knows ye ain’t a-doin’ anythang wrong and ye know ye know more’n him about what he’s a-puffin’ about. An iffin’ he askes ye why yer offended, jes tell him, ‘I hain’t easily offended, but I sure cain git easily annoyed.’ Can ye do that…..stay silent? ” she asked. “Oh, I suppose I can, but what good will it do? I want to yell at him in my defense,” she grumbled. “Whall, lemme tell ye that silence is sometimes the best answer; it really h’aint gonna gitche in trouble; it gives wonderin’ to the other, and it soothes yer soul. He’s a-gonna get tard o’ blowin’ his wind an’ will go off ‘n leave ye be. Lemme know how it turns out, and ye come on back fer some pie when yer a-gonna tell me.” Sara Lou walked a bit softer as she left and she surely had a straighter back. I could tell she didn’t feel as defeated as when she arrived. ‘More wisdom from the Lady of the Holler.
I was asked, “What is the worst response to a police officer that asks, ‘So you know why I pulled you over?’” My three responses were: “”You were lonely?” or, “Well, if you don’t know, neither do I.” or “Hmmm, forgetfulness is a bummer, huh?”
When I was teaching, there were meetings featuring an “expert” on various problems/challenges we teachers faced every day. I’ve always wondered how many years these “experts” spent in the classroom. So, in my last year of teaching, I asked one of them in an after school meeting on a Friday. The response was, “One school year.” Then, they smiled all proud. I responded with, “So, your ONE year, versus 5-30+ years represented here, makes you an EXPERT??” Some teachers applauded. I sat down with a smile.
A long time ago, I was taught that respect will take a person further than they think. I taught this to my children and others’ children. One child, not mine, refused to “learn” saying it really wasn’t necessary. Well, they didn’t show respect to a person in uniform thinking their yelling, “I have rights!!” would take care of the issue. They were very surprise when that didn’t happen. They called me telling me about what had happened, and they’d just been released from jail. I asked why they called. They told me, “I remember something you often told us about respect. You know that statement of, ‘Learn respect. Many apologies will not take its place.’” I told him, “Yes, I remember the jest of what you’re telling me. The correct phrase is, ‘Disrespect will close doors that apologies can't reopen.’ Both statements of respect are correct. Some ‘doors’ close, due to disrespect, may never be opened. And, some ‘doors’ closed may be opened a bit, but never fully as they were before. Respect and disrespect are a choice for you. There are more consequences for you with disrespect than with respect. Hugs to you and keep learning.”
The old saying, “Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a day and more” is very true. But, if you teach a woman to garden, she feeds the whole neighborhood zucchini!!
Brenduhh came over a bit grumpy. “What’s wrong, kiddo?” I asked. She said, “Well, the doctor told me I had to replace coffee with green tea. It’s something about oxidants and all that stuff. He, also, said I’d feel better,” she grumbled. “Hmmm, I don’t think your doctor is totally correct. I read where when you do that, you’ll lose 89% of what joy you have in life,” I said sarcastically. “You are 100% right, Trudy. What joy is in a cup of tea when you love coffee?” she grumbled some more. I agreed and poured her and me a cup of strong coffee and placed a warm cinnamon roll on our plates.
I like cake, but I LOVE pie. I was reading something and enjoying a piece of pie. It amused me because it was logical and dealt with mathematical terms. “Eating too much cake is the sin of gluttony. However, eating too much pie is okay, because the sin of pi is always zero.” I cut and ate another piece of my cherry pie and enjoying it without one bit of guilt.
Some words to think about: Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.
My daughter, Tara, came to me all excited. “Mom, my friend got some chickens, and they can count their eggs!” I was surprised and exclaimed, “Wow!!! That’s unusual. What kind of chickens are they?” She smiled and said, “They are mathemachickens.” She got me on that one…..we laughed. Later she asked me, “Mom, what do you call a prestidigitator that’s good at arithmetic?” “They are called mathemagicians!” she glowed.
Smiles and blessings to you. Trudy 😁
