Blah, Blah, Blah

Yup, Another day where one of those blogs means nothing.

My husband thinks I don't read his blog, I do, I catch up, he also doesn't realize I live in his world, so what he writes about, I pretty much live! So let's see my point of view...He's got 2160 followers, I have a merely 900, pails in comparison I know, I suck, but maybe because I'm just a stay a home mom and he's just this big-wig executive with almost 500 FB friends and I barely top out out at 200. I realize again this is not a popularity contest, just an outlet to a means of communication to my humdrum life!

~ Easter: Went nicely: had friends over, kids did an Easter egg hunt from the "Easter Bunny", inside the house as it was raining outside! Landon got his hand stuck in a door due to a game of "hide and go seek", nothings broken! THANK GOD!!!

~ It's been raining for 3 days, had a tornado scare on Friday..talk about nerves unending...Landon sat in the closet and said "I think I'm gonna start crying" as the tears were streaming down his face! My heart was breaking as I calmly tried to comfort him and let him know it was going to be ok! Deep down inside, I had no idea, I was so scared myself! My heart was fluttering!

~ I am not fond of living here, these storms are crazy, being glued to the television in the hopes that this storm won't turn into a tornado, I mean how do people live like this? I would take Florida and their Hurricanes ANY DAY! At least we had a day worth of preparation, it was the same amount of time spent in a safe room, but at least we knew when the eye of the storm was hitting and when it was gone...HERE it just COMES and GOES whenever the atmosphere changes, its frustrating and very scary!!!!!!

~We got up this morning and got ready for school despite the storms, I was determined on getting to the gym, so, we are getting to the car, and Landon says, "I am so tired, and my arm hurts",..."Oh Brother", so we spend the next 10 minutes negotiating as to the pros and cons of him going to school with a sprained hand and what will happen if he gets tired and sick and so he decided it is better, "he stays home to rest like the doctor told him"! Smart Kid!!!

We spend the rest of the day coloring, playing trouble and Candy Land, and watching movies, and it turned out to be a great day!

~I found out my "Soaps" got canceled! I know this means nothing to most of you, but to me, this means the world! It's like the end of my life! I remember my mom taping episodes of these soaps and then my grandmother NEVER missing a DAY of these soap operas! and to know now they are going off the air is like...well...my grandmother past away in 2007, and my sister and mom boycotted these soaps, but I kept watching because it was our "thing". She would get Soap Opera digest for us and pass it through my sister and I to make sure we were current! Now to know there will be no more soaps,, no more Soap Opera Digest! I mean, seriously, whats a stay at home mom to do??!!??!!! DVR the FOOD NETWORK? I am feeling all sorts of loss all over again! :>(

So, I will leave you with these parting words, shame on ABC!!! LOL!!!

I guess its General Hospital and the "mock mob" show for now!

B-O-R-I_N_G!!!!!

Ok, that's all I got for now...

Over and out....

Except that I DVR'd "Chuck" and I love that show, and since the kids are sleeping and Landon is going to school tomorrow, and I can actually make it back to the gym and get back to a routine, I think tonight will be my last lazy night with no excuse......!!!! :)>

Ok, seriously..over and out!!!!

...and like I said...this was seriously, blah blah blah, just like our storm filled rainy day today... just random thoughts from a mom who spent the whole day with kids today! LOL!!!!!!!

Good Night World!

Manny and the Great Depression....

So coming back from my trip in Ohio, I was packing and I found a folder my mom had stashed in the closet of my old things from high school. I had never opened it up at the house, I brought it home and finally went through it the next morning over coffee, I was so happy with what I found, and article I wrote about my grandfather some 17 years ago! It was so old, it was printed out on a dot-matrix printer paper! I had to laugh out loud!

So in the corner Sr. Lousie (my AP History teacher) had written in the comments... "Christy, by all rights you should have lost points for being late but this was excellent...100"!

Again, I had to laugh, because I realized, at least my whole life I have been consistent! So, I wanted to share this with you, words my grandfather shared with me, about the Depression, what he thought of the world 17 years ago, and how it hasn't changed in recent years, the world has only gotten worse, and although he passed away in 2007, he knew so much, and knew exactly where the world was headed even back then....

I remember sitting and interviewing him for this article, I remember thinking how one day, I would look back at this and be happy I did it, I am! That day has come, and so I hope you enjoy reading a piece of history, of my history, and history that was shared by my grandfather. He was a Lt. Col. in the Army, served his country proud, and is what I believe to be a true American Hero!

"My life during the Depression was an interesting experience," Manny commented. He proceeded to say, "At the time I was most affected, I was a teenager." While I sat across from him, he told me his views of how he saw that critical period in time. When I was talking to him, he seemed to remember some things and laugh. He talked of how he was a boy in the family of eight children and two parents who immigrated to the U.S from Italy.

"Jobs were very scarce in that time, so whatever job was open we took. I remember how one summer I worked on a golf course and was a caddy. I would wake up at 3am, walk 5 or 6 miles and only get paid $1 for the whole day. At the time I was 13 years old. My family was poor and so whatever job the children could get they took to help out. For awhile my dad was out of work and there was no welfare back then. My dad had the WPA with him so they soon got him a job. For $12 a week they put him to work. He did different jobs each time." I laughed when I heard him say the WPA, for recently I had learned about that. "Of course, at the time, everything was cheaper, why you could ride the trolley car for $.05!"

He explained that for food most of the mother's would make a huge pot of pasta and beans. It could feed 9 people for three meals a day, for three days, "not to mention for only $.50". I was surprised when he said that but then he said, "that's how it was back then".

"For the entertainment on the weekends we would go to an open field and play football, stick ball and basketball". I said, "Poppop, that's what they do now too". He laughed and said that when you lived in the city it was different. The girls would play jump rope or hopscotch, the boys would play stick ball in the street or play handball against the wall of a building. Sometimes they would play hockey on skates if they were lucky enough to get a pair for Christmas. When it would rain or it was gloomy out, they would go to the movies for $.05 a person. As he got older once or twice a week the town at night would become, I guess you would say, the "major hang-out". The town square would convert into a street dance for the kids to dance and have fun. He commented it was good because the kids would stay out of trouble. Imagine, in today's world you could never do that without the gangs or trouble starting.

He told me that everyday his mother gave him $.10 a day. Five cents for the trolley to school and back. Only instead he would ride the trolley to school and walk home. On their way home they would stop by the bakery and buy what they called "stale bread" and buy a big bag for five cents. On the weekends, they would hitch the back of the trolley cars and sometimes disconnect cables that made the trolley run. When the conductor would chase them, they would run.

One time he mentioned, he jumped off and a taxi ran over him. He was bruised but nothing serious. When his dad came home he spanked him for his actions then asked how he was feeling. He said it was fun, but he always hated getting caught!

Getting back to a serious note, he said, "Back then you never had calculators or machines to figure out the bills. Everything would be written down on paper and added mentally. Also, nothing was packaged. Everything had to be weighed out. We packaged them ourselves at the counter. So you had to be good in math. You know when your grandmother was younger, she went to the store and the little Italian lady had a list there. The list was called a 'trust'. When you didn't have enough money to buy food, you wrote down the amount owed and signed your name. She would always be embarrassed because they were so behind. The lady would say...'Anita, tell your momma she need to pay'...Now you could never do that!"

He continued to speak about the schooling. "When I was younger, I went to a Slovish Catholic school. Of course since I lived with so many sisters they thought it was cute that I wore shorts to school. So everyday they forced me to wear shorts. Now I must tell you, that now it's no big deal, but back then and most importantly in a Slovish school, wearing shorts meant you were a sissy! So that was my nickname. Wearing pants proved your masculinity. Since I had the nickname of a sissy, I used to be tough. I always got into fights and the nuns used to send me out of the classroom. ....

....to be continued.......

this was a three page essay so I decided to break it down into 2 parts. again, remember this was written by my 14 year old self, so if the reading and writing is young...you understand why! LOL!