Hi to all, Evelyn, I loved your story about not wearing underwear that's ripped or torn, etc "in case you were in an accident". I got the same instructions as I was growing up! LOL That - right along with the "keep a dime in a pouch - pinned to the inside of your bra - in case you need to make a phone call"! LOL Thanks for yet more memories! :) Deb

Dear Folks, I'm still plugging away at printing out my stories in a draft mode. And the stack of them keeps piling higher and higher. But I just read and printed out a story I wrote in 2002 that I had forgotten about. I had posted it to the list the night I wrote the story but I thought you'd enjoy reading it again. vee Lady Bird, Lady Bird March 9, 2002 How does the nursery rhyme go? Lady Bird, Lady Bird, fly away home, Your house is on fire, Your children all gone. Now I don't know about you but around here in Western New York this past fall and through the winter we've been plagued with ladybugs. Outside the house, inside the house and all over the house. This evening while I was fixing dinner, there were two ladybugs roaming all over my kitchen countertop and one dumb ladybug that had flown or crawled down into the stainless steel sink and couldn't manage to crawl up the side to get out again. I had a problem with the first two every time I wanted to set something down on the countertop. It seemed that no matter where I decided to set a dish or bowl down, one of them was right there slowly snooping around. What was worse was the dumb one in the bottom of the sink. Of course that meant that I couldn't run water in it because I didn't know if it could swim. Over and over it tried to climb up the side, and over and over it would eventually fall over backwards and land flat on its back in the bottom of the sink with its little legs waving frantically in the air. Finally I got tired of seeing it struggle so I placed my dishcloth in its path and it gratefully scrambled up on it. SUCCESS! It clung to the dishcloth as I lifted it out of the sink but then I found I had a problem. It didn't want to let go of the dishcloth. I tried to coax it off on one of the leaves of my Aloe Vera plant but it would have none of that! I then tried to scrape it off on the leaf but it was too quick for me and scurried over to another part of the dishcloth. Finally I just gave up and placed the dishcloth over the side of the sink where I usually keep it and frankly I don't know where the ladybug is right now or where the other two are right now either. And Frankly My Dear . . . .!! In other words, Lady Bird, Lady Bird, If you can't crawl out of my kitchen sink, Stay out of my kitchen!

Dear Folks, Well, I just took care of the questionnaire. I called the phone number on the form and told the girl what my physical problem is. I didn't get very far into my explanation when she told me to just forget about it and throw away the questionnaire. She was so understanding that I almost burst into tears. See how simple things can be when you actually expect them to get worse, not better? vee

Evelyn A few days ago, we saw a WalMart employee pushing carts back into the store. He was a young guy with his pants so low on his skinny hips that we didn't know whatover kept them up. Maybe he had them pinned on! <gr> Faith

Don't know about inside-out underwear, but one of my mom's strong "rules" was not to wear underwear that was torn or pinned together - just in case you were in an accident. Huh - it didn't make sense to me, yet still I obeyed. When I was in a serious car accident in 1982 (don't know how I had the courage to say so - maybe from the drugs given me) but I told mom that I didn't have torn or pinned together underwear. Basically there was no comment from her end of the phone line. A few years ago the fashion was to wear sweatshirts, t-shirts, etc inside out. And I saw on TV one day that it was cool to have your underwear showing above your jeans. So glad I'm not one to be fashionable !!! Hahaha Evelyn

Hi Folks, In California, they usually have you phone in the night before to see if you're needed. If not, you're off to work. However, in the past, I had to report in to the court and sit there all day. I also was transferred to two other courts before my time was up. However, I put together a full jigsaw puzzle each day; and just so I didn't feel guilty about contributing something to the system, I borrowed the court's scotch tape and repaired all the boxes of puzzles and games in each of the three courtrooms. I never was called, but it did take it's toll on me physically. My blood pressure had dropped so low that I was coughing constantly because I had too MUCH relaxation and finally had to stop one of my blood pressure medications but only figured it out after having to visit the doctor to figure out what was wrong. I realized that this was the first time in my adult life that I was able to sit around all day and do nothing. Certainly would never have done that with a real vacation because I was always going and doing something. Interesting to think what life must be like without the normal pressures of day to day existence. Beth Fleischer a California transplant -----Original Message----- From: "Vee L. Housman" <housman@adelphia.net> Sent: Feb 28, 2005 9:37 PM To: NYNIAGAR-FOLKS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [FOLKS] Juror Qualification Questionnaire Dear Folks, In today's mail I received an envelope from the Niagara County Courthouse. Inside was a Juror Qualification Questionnaire. No it wasn't a call to jury

Hi to all, Re: towel and pillowcase folding? Had to reply back! :) Yes, I have "a system". Was taught "a certain way" growing up - and still doing it now! LOL Towels and pillowcases both "the same way". Lay them out. Fold them in thirds - lengthwise. Then - in half the other way - with the end you bring "just inside" the one you have on the table top. Then - in half again - again, careful not to go over that bottom "edgeline". Then flip it over and that is your "top". Vee - I fold pillowcases differently than you as you see. But the "end result" is that that center "top" is always the with the "embroidered "edge" ... out. Wonder if they can check for things like this "in our family blood" in that DNA testing going on all over now? LOL Deb

Hi Vee - On the one hand, I hate to tell you this, but for some reason, they just don't care what your normal hours are! LOL, I know this from personal experience. I had to spend 8 days getting up at the awful hour of 6 AM the last time I got called. (btw, it's also no smoking..) And I wasn't even a juror. I was a spare, in case one of the real jurors got sick or something. So, I had to sit there every day anyway. However, there was one man, when we were waiting to be questioned, who simply said, "I can't do this, I can't sit on these benches for hours at a time. I have arthritis." The judge said, "Then why didn't you tell them that when you got your notice?" and sent him home. There is a place on the form you get, so you can explain any reasons why you shouldn't be called. I actually kind of enjoyed the experience. It was definitely different from what I am used to. Although, I was glad I was a spare, and that nobody got sick. The kid on trial kept looking at all of us like he would use a gun on us if he had one. Several of the jurors made up their minds the first day without any evidence, and I know it was from the way he acted. Kathy

Dear Folks, This evening when I sat down to dinner and sprinkled salt over my baked potato, I realized that there were only a few grains of salt left in my favorite salt shaker. When I cleared away the dinner dishes I deliberately placed the empty salt shaker in the middle of my kitchen counter where it would nag me until I refilled it. I managed to ignore it all evening long until very late tonight when I was on my last legs (literally). But there was no way I could trundle off to bed without filling up the salt shaker. I removed the cork stopper at the bottom of the shaker and carefully started to pour salt into the shaker from my salt box. But I guess because of the late hour I didn't keep a careful eye on the amount of salt that was spilling out from the box. As a result it started to overflow from the little hole and a whole bunch of salt landed on my counter top. Ignoring the salt on the counter I kept pouring more salt into the shaker VERY carefully and when I was satisfied that it was full enough I plugged the cork stopper back into the shaker and placed it where it belonged on my kitchen table. But then I had to contend with the grainy salt that was on my counter top. I couldn't believe how much of it had scattered all over my counter top. First I tried to gather it all together with my hand and sweep it off the counter into my waste basket. But it got to the point where I had to almost clear everything off of the counter and use a damp dish cloth to wipe off the remaining salt. But I managed to fill up my salt shaker and clear off the salt from counter top. And if I find tomorrow that I still have a gritty counter top, well I guess I'll have to face that tomorrow. Such are the little tribulations in our lives! :-) vee

Deb said, > Re: towel and pillowcase folding? Had to reply back! :) > > Yes, I have "a system". Was taught "a certain way" growing up - and still > doing it now! LOL Towels and pillowcases both "the same way". > > Lay them out. Fold them in thirds - lengthwise. Then - in half the other > way - with the end you bring "just inside" the one you have on the table > top. Then - in half again - again, careful not to go over that bottom > "edgeline". Then flip it over and that is your "top". Oh yes indeedy, we're on the same page. That is if towels had an embroidered or fancy design in the middle of the hem end. Of course you'd have to fold them in thirds to show off the design when you put them up on the towel bar. But do you remember this one? Do you remember pure linen "guest towels" that you'd spend hours on embroidering them so beautifully that they'd take your breath away? OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating on their taking your breath away but I still have some of mine that I embroidered so carefully and prettily but frankly I can't ever recall my putting them out on the towel bar for guests to use. I know that when I'd be faced with "guest towels" in someone's bathroom, I wouldn't dare disturb them and would if necessary use my slip to dry my hands on. If I didn't have a cotton slip available, I'd use my cotton underpants. (Psst, don't tell anybody!) > Wonder if they can check for things like this "in our family blood" in > that DNA testing going on all over now? LOL Frankly, it makes me wonder if the two of us should be checking in with our therapists in the event that we have an a obsessive/compulsive personality that goes back to our childhood. Nah, I'm perfectly content with folding things the way I always have. Don't bother me in the least. That's the natural way to fold things. :-) vee

Dear Folks, In today's mail I received an envelope from the Niagara County Courthouse. Inside was a Juror Qualification Questionnaire. No it wasn't a call to jury duty it was only to determine if I was basically qualified. Questions such as whether I could communicate in the English language, am I a US citizen, am I still a resident in Niagara County, am I at least 18 years old and if I've ever been convicted of a felony. Of course I qualify on all counts. But on the reverse side there is room for me to use to detail any answers on the other side. Well, no I don't. However, I'm sorely tempted to give them an advance warning if I were ever called to jury duty. In the first place, don't ANYBODY expect me to get in my car and drive all the way to Lockport and be there by the unheard hour of 8:00 a.m.! Even if that were remotely possible, once I got to the courthouse and shuffled my way into the juror selection box, don't expect me to sit in a chair for more than 45 minutes max! Even if I were to bring along a cushion for me to sit on, after 45 minutes the aches and pains of my body would shut my mind down and to hell with their questions about my opinions on any subject whatsoever. And if some crazy attorney decided to pick me as one of the jurors, heaven help the court system! They would have to deal with one bitchy juror (OK, change that to one "VERY irritable juror") who would vote to hang the accused even if his only charge was some sort of "misunderstanding" with a shopkeeper. Well, I guess that since I've gotten that out of my system, I'll just answer the questions and mail it back to the courthouse. And if I get called to jury duty, I guess I'll just have to call the right person to explain my physical condition and the impossibility of my serving on a jury. For my sake and for there's! :-) vee

Leslie just said, > Vee, the odd part about your writing this particular message is that I > have an elderly sister-in-law who *has* to wear her panties inside out. > She is allergic to the threads that are used in the seams. So, hey, if you > want to wear them inside out... I say, "Go for it!" Hey I might actually do that! (gasp!) > BTW, I also have the compulsion that every pair of panties has to be > folded right side out. Someone can see the dust in my house, but Heaven > forbid that someone might find my underwear inside out! <G> I also have > a compulsion about folding the pillowcases and the towels "correctly". I > grew up in a home where this was stressed; and, old habits die hard. I know, I feel the same way but when you mentioned folding pillowcases, I have a feeling that we may have come from the same "school." My mother always taught me to first fold the pillowcase in half crosswise and then crosswise again. And from there I was to fold them into thirds so that the hem edge of the middle of the pillowcase was face up. The reason for that was that just about every pillowcase was elaborately embroidered or had fancy handwork on it in the middle of the hem edge of the pillowcase. With the middle showing face up, you were able to keep the pair of pillow cases together and in addition you could pick out just which pillowcases you wanted to use the next time you changed the bed linen. Any other folding of a pillowcase now would be almost sacrilegious to me! :-) vee

Dear Folks, As I was folding the laundry tonight, of course I made certain that all of my underwear was folded with the seams in. I had been doing it all my life. But tonight I wondered why that was so important. After all, no one was going to see my underwear and frankly I thought it would be more comfortable for the seams to be on the outside. Of course that doesn't apply to slacks or blouses or sweatshirts and anything else we wear on the outside. Oh my goodness, how embarrassed we'd be if anyone noticed our seams! Who knows but what the next time I do the laundry I won't be so fussy in folding my underwear. But I have to admit that it would be a daring thing to do! :-) vee

Dear Folks, I'm sure most of you remember what the ringing in of the old year of 1999 and ringing in the new year of 2000 (new second millennium--second 1000 years) would mean. Of course it would be so exciting to think of being alive here and now and entering a new millennium. But more than that, the thought struck terror in the hearts of people all over the world. This was the reason. No matter how advanced computers were, there was one big gliche in them. It was the handling of dates. Before the year 2000 the computers would recognize dates as dd/mm/yy (day, month and year). Therefore in the computer's brain the "yy" that would show "00" would be recognized as 1900 not 2000. If a bill were to be paid by 05/01/00, it would mean that it had been overdue for 100 years! The gliche would affect the government and all large businesses in the world--financial institutions, transportation, utility companies, credit card companies and just about all businesses. Some people panicked. Many people made certain that they withdrew cash from the bank beforehand, stocked up their shelves with groceries, had an extra supply of fuel oil on hand all took all sorts of other emergency measures. But the problem had been recognized years before the year 2000 and the computer industry was working 24 hours a day trying to fix the problem. And so was the government and the businesses. And they did. They fixed it. By the time New Year's Eve rolled around, just about all computers were Y2K compliant and when the clock in the steeple bonged out 12:00, everyone cheered and checked their computers to see if they were ok. They were. HAPPY NEW MILLENNIUM! vee

> ...and frankly I thought it would be more comfortable for the seams to be > on the outside. =================== Vee, the odd part about your writing this particular message is that I have an elderly sister-in-law who *has* to wear her panties inside out. She is allergic to the threads that are used in the seams. So, hey, if you want to wear them inside out... I say, "Go for it!" BTW, I also have the compulsion that every pair of panties has to be folded right side out. Someone can see the dust in my house, but Heaven forbid that someone might find my underwear inside out! <G> I also have a compulsion about folding the pillowcases and the towels "correctly". I grew up in a home where this was stressed; and, old habits die hard! Leslie

Dear Folks, Ruth Barton sent an email to me personally but I believe she meant to send it to the entire list. This is what she said, " Vee, What happened to Charlie, was he killed in the war? You musn't keep us hanging like that. LOL " Regarding my Aunt Jean's boyfriend Charlie, this is what happened to him. One evening Jean and I talked over the phone for the longest time and she told me the whole story. She was madly in love with him and she with her. Of course it was during war time and he was stationed in different places but they still kept in constant touch with each other by mail. But one day Jean received a "Dear Jean" letter that broke her heart. He had met someone else and they were going to be married. Aunt Jean has never gotten over it to this day and her heart is still broken. Aunt Jean did however marry someone else eventually. He became my Uncle Al. At first I thought he was really great but toward the end I disliked him very much. He died a few years ago but Jean will still stick up for him in spite of the mental abuse he heaped on her. Such is life I suppose. vee

A friend sent this to me and I see as something well worth sharing. Evelyn The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet curtains that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old, having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ... just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away ... just for this time in my life." Old age is like a bank account: you withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the Bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing. Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred. 2. Free your mind from worries. 3. Live simply. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less.

Wow, Kathy and Evelyn, Both of you bring back memories of ironing of everything in the wash. Yes, I started out by ironing handkerchiefs to get the hang of meticulous ironing. With my father's large white handkerchiefs I learned to get the iron up into the corners so that there wasn't a wrinkle or pucker in the handkerchiefs. However, there's no doubt in my mind that Daddy even took notice of how neatly his handkerchiefs were ironed. Certainly he only pulled out his handkerchief to either wipe his brow or blow his nose in it. But Mother's handkerchiefs were something else. They had embroidery on them and/or crocheted edging and they needed to be ironed with perfection. No Mother didn't use her handkerchiefs to wipe her brow or blow her nose in them, they were pretty much for show, not for blow. They were so dainty. Then I advanced up the ranks to iron my father's shirts. They were of cotton and had been dipped into a starch solution, dried out and then dampened to the point that they ready to iron. The first thing you did was to iron the collar. It had to be perfect. Then you tackled the rest of the shirt being just as meticulous. Of course pillow cases had to be ironed as well as blouses and even dish towels. But then came the time in the mid 40s when we ended up with the miraculous mangle iron. It had a long padded roller that when you pushed against the peddle it would come down on the hot metal plate and you could feed through sheets and shirts and blouses and hankies or whatever needed to be ironed. With the sheets, it took a bit of experience as to the best way to feed them into the mangle and not have them dangle on the floor. With other bits and pieces to be ironed, frankly they weren't as meticulously ironed as what we had always managed to do by hand. Even in my present physical condition, I still have the urge to open up my ironing board from the 50s and iron everything in sight. It's so soothing and there's such a sweet smell like nothing else. vee ----- Original Message ----- From: <Snow689@aol.com> To: <NYNIAGAR-FOLKS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 4:47 PM Subject: Re: [FOLKS] Fw: What is it with Wrinkles?? > <<<starting with hankies and slowly moving on to shirts/blouses.>>> > > The first time I ironed my husband's handkerchiefs, he asked me what > was > I doing? Now I wonder if I looked in a book of "ladies etiquette and > little > household hits", does it say, Start your daughter learning to iron with > handkerchiefs, moving slowly to other more important articles of > clothing... > My daughter started her marriage telling her husband she did not wash > handkerchiefs - so buy tissue! But, I did teach her how to iron, by > talking to > her while I did it. If you want to ignore someone, you have to get > distracted > elsewhere - so she watched. Then on occasion I would make sure 'I didn't > have time' to iron something she needed desperately - so she did it > herself. > Kathy > >

Dear Folks, Today I continued to print out more of my stories and memories to eventually gather them together in a book for me, my family and any of you who would be interested in such a book. In the process I was brought up short by a message I had posted dated 9/12/01 on my birthday, the day after the awful 9-11 attack on America. I had forgotten that I had written down the details of my birthday. There it was, my 70th birthday and all that I could think of was the horror of the day before. But the day brightened up when I went out to the mailbox in the morning. This is what I wrote: IT'S NICE TO HAVE AUNTS September 12, 2001 When I woke up this morning, the memories of yesterday flooded over me. I listlessly walked out to the mailbox and picked up my mail and the newspaper. When I saw an envelope with Aunt Jean's return address, it reminded me that today is my birthday and that she was sending me a birthday card. Dear Aunt Jean never forgets my birthday. But this year she enclosed a very special note in it. It concerned a memory of hers of when I was a little girl and she was a young woman in love. This is the way she typed it up: MEMORIES OF JULY 14, 1941 A whimsical little girl just 9 years old found herself in the midst of a large crowd of people. It seems as though most of them were eating ice cream cones while enjoying the festivities in Niagara Falls. My LOVE and I were with this little girl when she said, "It's so crowded that you don't know if you're licking your cone or someone else's!" Charlie and I laughed and for a number of years later, Charlie would become almost hysterical with laughter [over the memory]. They were very happy days for me and I still think of him. He wrote to me while he was stationed overseas but I never got to talk to or see him again. If living, he would be 88 1/2 years old. Time goes on but memories last a lifetime. Just to let you know, I'm doing OK at 83 so naturally I don't have the get-up-and-go that I used to. Happy 70th birthday, Vee. Love ya, Jean Her note certainly brightened up my day and to brighten it further "the gang" at the Town Hall treated me to lunch and this evening I got a phone call from Aunt Teeny (Ernestine) (Jean's younger sister) wishing me a happy birthday. Aunt Teeny reported that their older sister Aunt Edna (age 91) is doing just fine. It's so nice to have special aunts, especially at a time like this. Oh, wait a minute, I just have to tell you this. Right before I was just going to sign off, the phone rang. It was Cousin Jackie (Jacqueline) Aunt Freda's daughter. Oh my goodness! Jackie and I haven't been in touch in years with the exception of annual Christmas cards. But there was Jackie on the phone to wish me a happy 70th birthday! We laughed a lot, she reminded me that I am older than she, and I reminded her that she will be 70 about three weeks from now. Neither of us can believe the big 7-0! We were such giddy teenagers together back in the 40s. What memories we have! vee

Thanks, My spelling wasn't too far off, was it? Not bad for a wild guess. Ruth At 12:26 PM -0500 2/27/05, conachie@rochester.rr.com wrote: >PS: Is Canandaguia, NY anywhere near you? Even though I didn't spell it >correctly. > > >Ruth > Canandaigua is about 25 miles southeast of Rochester, NY. where I live. > >Louise -- Ruth Barton mrgjb@sover.net Dummerston, VT