Hare Today, Goon Tomorrow

     When the Back to School vibe gets into full swing, my memory machine gets cranking. For as long as I can remember, Mother gave me a Toni Home Permanent (Tonette!) before school started.
The smell.
The papers.
The rods.
The torture I endured for pretty curls.
Like I had a choice.
I was a child.



The Toni Home Permanent did not frizz my hair for which I am grateful, but I could hardly sleep at night with the fragrance (?) circling my pillow.

As my hair grew and the perm "grew out" a bit, Mother would use either "spoolies" or "pinkies" to assist in keeping the curls abundant.

 Remember the sound of the spoolie being folded over to trap the wrapped hair?
My curls were numerous and my hair so silky that the waves often carried the indention from the plastic snap-over on the sponge thing we called "pinkies."

Going back to school had more to do with pretty hair, a good hair cut, or a soft wave-only perm than the right school supplies or book satchel or lunch box. Oh, what a nightmare on a first day of school when my forehead looked as if I'd recently recovered from a frontal lobotomy and had forgotten to wrap gauze around the scar. The elastic that held the dryer bonnet in place would make horrid indentations and necessitated an attempt at heavy bangs to cover the abomination.

Here's to all the girls whose mothers "jerk a knot" in their heads to create ponytails and pigtails adorned with big bows to brighten the first day of school.

New Year, New Joys, Love is in the air

Memories are powerful. Some bring hysterical laughter, others throw me off the bridge, into tears. 
For a week in January, I sorted through photos and single pictures with the task of "downsizing."
In those photos were tons of pictures of Mother and Daddy, relatives, their friends, both David and Richard as babies and into young adulthood.
I boxed up all kinds of photos and sent them to the "owners" who may do with them as they wish. A full week of "catharsis" must have been just the ticket.

David, who has grown into a wonderful man, has chosen his one and only - Amber. She is a love.
June 2, 2018 will be their wedding day.
I'm planning the rehearsal dinner and putting together a cute slide show, of course. I have lots of pictures.
I'm listening to favorite tunes to write down for the DJ at the reception, too. Talk about fun!

2018
It's a new year and life is about to explode with love and joy for our family.
Time to make many more wonderful memories.

January: It's Snow Time

 January: that time of year when weather gurus are put on high alert.
     Seldom did I go to work or school on my birthday; mid-January always had plenty of snow.

Camden (AR) High School - 1962

Known to stay up late, reading or watching late-night TV, when the forecast called for snow.
Known to wake up at 3AM, check through the blinds to see if the forecast held true.
     Speak in tongues when not one flake had fallen.

Being grateful when the school system began making the critical call before 11 PM.
Being grateful when Robo Call was used to notify parents and teachers about school closings.
      Glad I did not drive 10 MPH to work only to be turned around along with the buses.

I celebrate that I can enjoy the quiet beauty of snow and not worry about make-up days.
I don't worry about getting to school and calling the buses to send students home.
I don't worry about driving home from work in a quasi-blizzard, begging drivers in front of me, "don't stop...don't stop."

Still very interested as weather forecasters' struggle with accuracy in predicting snow
   I don't worry about it, though.
I look forward to the beauty, the blanketed quiet, the strange shapes covered in white
   The inner-child looks forward to sledding and hot chocolate

The long-range forecast for my area: snow around mid-January
Maybe I won't go to work!

No Ugly Christmas

“Christmas waves a magic wand over the world and suddenly everything is softer and more beautiful,” said Norman Vincent Peale, American minister known for popularizing the concept of The Power of Positive Thinking. Christmastime filters daily life through a magic, sparkling haze that blurs the rough edges of splintered rhetoric and unveils cold, hard eyes to truly see splendor.

A Visit from St. Nicholas (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) by Clement C. Moore is the classic poem that moves the night visitor’s story to conclusion in easy rhyme. Then, overcome by the late night’s beauty, Papa pauses, amazed at “The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow (giving) a luster of mid-day to objects below.”

The ability to envision a frosty, full winter moon that provides a sparkle on fresh snow comes with conscious watchfulness for the beauty that surrounds us.

The charm of Christmas is easy to behold when the world is seen through appreciative eyes. By adding sprinkles and twinkles, it’s possible to make each day more beautiful and festive. Once, ladies who could afford gorgeous, beaded and sequined sweaters with secular and religious Christmas motifs were enviable fashionistas. Beauty had no real competition in December.

Then, after a decade of glitz and glam, the fashion hackers went to work. Invitations to parties stipulated attire: an ugly Christmas sweater. Ugly and Christmas used in the same phrase posed a puzzle. Boxed away sweater treasures fell from the shelf and became a popular source for sweaters that would win an ugly prize, hands down.

 To quiet those garish, ugly sweaters, glorious melodies like

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, the morning lawn with a glistening frost, and the words to new songs such as Isn’t He Wonderful by John Wimber, highlight the season. Personal Christmas playlists and Sirius satellite radio provide familiar tunes to lift and soothe moods throughout December. Let There be Peace on Earth, rousing harmonies, organ music, and silver bells create loveliness all around.

And then out of nowhere, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Grandma’s misfortune was not pretty; she had hoof prints on her forehead and claw marks on her back. From a grandma perspective, it seems rather tacky to sing and laugh about how happy grandpa has become since grandma met with an unimaginable end, and on Christmas Eve, of all times.

When looking for cheer and happy times, to get beyond Grandma’s fate and the mental health of the girl who wants a hippo for Christmas, Hallmark Christmas movies uplift the spirit with happily-ever-after, all day, every day of December. Each movie ends when the girl chooses the hometown boy, sending the Wall Street tycoon packing. Stringed instruments play and diamonds float to earth. Orchestras crescendo and “every kiss begins with K(ay).” A sentimental sigh is natural and Christmas beauty wins another round.

Drawing crowds to the box office, however, are movies that spoof everything about Christmas and good tidings of great joy. Bad Santas starring Billy Bob Thornton and Bad Moms with Christina Applegate use dark humor to suggest Christmas is nothing but a wholesale, retail extravaganza driven by panic and stress-filled nightmares.

After a hectic trip to the mall and worries about Grandpa’s spiraling behavior, families can open the mailbox and check out the greeting cards for some relief. Currier and Ives and Thomas Kinkade visit homes through cards with scenes of Americana and familiar Christmas locales like Bedford Falls. The cards trigger memories of Christmas Eve candlelight services, every late-night drive for batteries to whatever store is open, and all those Christmas mornings with the kids when Santa got it exactly right. Visions of sugar plums, the Christmas spirit, giddy grins, and family traditions provide joy.

A new tradition, though, has become downright creepy for many moms. Santa needs no help in making his list and checking it twice. He does not need that ill-behaved escapee from the North Pole known as Elf on the Shelf. Banishment may be the real reason the Elf is absent from the North Pole. The elf has wild, creepy eyes, looks terrible in a skirt, and is a lousy house guest to boot.

The beauty of Christmas is subject to being stolen by spoil-sports and party-poopers like The Shelf Elf and the Grinch. Everyone knows a Mr. or Ms. Grinch who wants to stop Christmas from coming, stop the merriment and celebration altogether. The Grinch learned a fitting lesson from all the Whos in Whoville who didn’t need packages with bows to celebrate Christmas love.

Nothing and no one can stop Christmas from coming. Christmas came a very long time ago, and the Love that came down lives in hearts all year long. Wimber poses, “Isn’t He Beautiful” and Amy Grant sings about “love that circles around us like the gifts around our tree.” Polar experiences whisper "I Believe!"

Celebrating and decorating with love, singing and accessorizing with enthusiasm, and keeping God’s greatest Gift as the centerpiece of the season offers opportunity to witness astounding beauty in daily life throughout the Christmas season.

So, if there is anything ugly in 2017 Christmas, let it be accidental.  

Life Dictates How and When to Downsize

What is "downsizing?"
 - Letting your real life dictate your living area and storage space. Downsizing progress becomes obvious during the weeks before Christmas.

1. Downsizing has begun when Christmas accoutrements are missing, when red and green storage boxes are reduced to 3 labeled boxes, when they are emptied twice, when those green chargers are lost forever. Downsizing is moving right along when sets of red chargers take center stage, sets that were in the pantry, and no one knows the green ones are gone.

2. Downsizing is underway when certain Christmas placemats are missing, when sixteen placemats in various motifs are unaccounted for, when a brainstorm signals where four favorite placemats are located, and when 4 similar placemats in same fabric are found in a highly unlikely place: Clearance aisle at TJMaxx.

3. Downsizing calms when wrapping paper and ribbon are in plentiful supply. Hidden away under the bed in a red and green wrapping paper container are four rolls of coordinating Christmas paper and five rolls of wired ribbon. No wrapping paper anywhere else, no bows in dresser drawers, no tissue paper stuffed away in a box labeled 'tissue paper.'

4. Downsizing is fun when the baking and cooking essentials of the season are readily available and it's not necessary to unload the pantry to find and use them.

Step 1 in the downsizing process has been accomplished. Proof: when it's a challenge to find 'white elephant' gifts once stashed away on multiple closet shelves.

The Next Step: As Marni Jameson, Arkansas Dem-Gaz columnist and author of Downsizing the Family Home, said, "Life is not supposed to be a snowball of stuff that keeps growing as it rolls along."

She has two rules that struck a chord with me:
     1. Do not be a storage facility for your children or parents. If you are 65 and still have your son's Cub Scout uniform, you have issues.

     2. Those who have aging or deceased parents are not responsible for being the family museum.

I am challenged to move toward Step 2 in the Downsizing process.

Pilgrims - Before America's 1621 Thanksgiving

   

     These Pilgrims have been with me for almost 30 years.The story of why I still have Coca~Cola bottle Pilgrims is one I enjoy telling.
     Back in the day...when I taught English language and literature with a creative flair, students had the opportunity to bring something from their own imaginations to the most recent study, to show understanding of the important concepts. No need for paper and pencil.
     One of my students did not like coming to school. Period. She presented plenty of doctor's notes when she did show up. Her mom would collect assignments from the guidance office for two weeks at a time. One of the assignments in the list from me was the culminating project following the study of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, one of the most important early pieces of English literature.
     A study of human nature and relationships among the pilgrims who traveled from London to Canterbury was shown in the classic.The characters are fictional but they offered insight into the time period and a study of the various social classes, revealed in each pilgrim's tale.
     While these two Pilgrims help with November decor every year, I remember why they grace my table. It would be downright weird to have the Wife of Bath and the Cook central to the decor for my Thanksgiving dining room table.

It started with Cinderella's Glass Slipper

Fall fashion floods Facebook. So cute. So coordinated and in great colors. 

However, check out the SHOES. They are stylish, up-to-date. 

The wrong shoes can ruin any outfit, regardless of how well put together you are from the ankle up. 

The Southern Girl’s standard greeting, “Cute Shoes! How’s ya Mama? Think _______(your team) gonna win?” originated with The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love. 

Jill Conner Browne inspired me to get my own crown and my own majorette boots, living life inspired by both. 

Therefore, I am on a quest for Fall’s cute shoes!