Who left the dimensional door open? - Thread 021

News Center (Online) ^ | 1/20/02 | Unknown

[acnielsen guy]

THREAD 021

Dregs and Flakes

Posts since 1/29/02 23,804

[grannie9]

Yep you're right.. I had two surprises and they are great.. There's always room for a couple more I guess..;)

Al did all the math too, and he figured 62 for sure. Of course mine doesn't amount to a hill of beans.. The few years I worked cost Al money.. (I worked for him;(lol )

[lodwick]

Freepers are generally smarter than your average bears. ALWAYS take the money and run - same deal as with the lotto payouts from the government, and I hope that not too many of us fall for this most voluntary of all taxes. My SS letter last week was plenty amusing to me. They were all concerned that I sould go greet at WalMart, or something, as my check would only be $600/month or so based on past extortions contributions. What the geniuses don't realize is that the IRS, for whatever reason doesn't count my rental income, as earned income, so there is no Social Security involvment. Going out in style is a good thing.

[andysandmikesmom]

Both of my boys were surprises....those surprises are always so much fun...sweet babies coming into ones life, well, nothing is finer...

I was actually surprised at my SS totals...had not realized that I worked as many years as I did...my totals pale in comparison to BigDoms, but then every cent counts, so we were happy to see my totals...

[lodwick]

Please remember, if you use ANY html, you must use ALL html. Sheesh.

[andysandmikesmom]

Yes, indeed we are smart buggers, arent we?....

My dad could not wait to retire, and when his company merged with another company, they offered the senior members, such as my dad, either continuing to work, or grabbing their retirement pay at full retired value, if they would go early...

Dad, being a machinist at Sunbeam, said, who in the world wants to keep running those machines, and working away...he would rather be fishing or woodcarving or reading, or working in the garden...

And I am so glad he retired early, because he died when 67...if he had waited until even 62, or worse yet, 65, he would not have had many years to do what he loved best, enjoying himself with all his interests...

By going at 59, he did have some decent time to relax, and enjoy the fruits of all his hard work...

[grannie9]

Hey guys, look what's peeking thru the green? Yum!!!

[grannie9]

Hoooome Grooooooooooown Tomatoes.. Best keep the frig stocked with Cottage Cheese and Chives.. ;)

[andysandmikesmom]

You are making my mouth water...all veggies taste the best when you grow them yourself, but to me, two things are the very best, when you grow them yourself...

The first is sweet corn...there is nothing finer than having a pot of water boiling on the stove, all ready and waiting...then head out to the yard, pick the corn right then, run into the house, shuck the corn, and throw it in the boiling water...YUM YUM

The second is tomtatoes....fresh tomatoes, right off the vine, are sheer divine dining....a few freshly picked tomtatoes, sliced thick, spinkled with olive oil and italian seasoning mix, and a small smattering of mozzerella or provolone, or parmesan cheese, shoved under the broiler just until hot and done, served with hot crusty bread, and thats a meal, all unto itself...nothing else needed or wanted, except perhaps a nice chilled glass of wine...

God surely does give us wondrous bounty from the garden, in the form of fresh sweet corn, fresh tomtatoes, and wine, coming from those glorious grapes..

[andysandmikesmom]

And I forgot...fried green tomatoes...When the days shorten, and the tomatoes on the vine are no longer ripening, some folks like to bring them in, and store them in a brown paper bag, to make them ripen...

But I liked to keep my remaining green tomatoes green, and just slice them, batter them up, and deep fry them...no tomato need to go waste..

[lodwick]

Good job with the 'maters - excellent. Before we moved to the part of town with no soil, I did the cucs, tomatoes, okra, squash and most all the southron stuff except beans and watermelons.

Now I go to the Farmer's Market for fresh goodies. A fat tomato hollowed out and stuffed and baked with cheese, green onions, maybe mushrooms, plenty of bacon and whatever else trips your taste bud's trigger is fine dining to me.

[lodwick]

We will soon be drooling on the keyboards - if we keep this up. ;-)

[andysandmikesmom]

Gadzooks...all this fine veggie talk, is making me hungry...

When we were living in North Carolina, we always had a huge veggie garden...and with all that heat, the garden began early in the year, and ended late....

We always grew lots of squash and zucchini...and of course, before one knows it, there is zucchini coming out of your ears, and one was always trying to come up with new ways to use that zucchini...I guess our favorite way was homemade zucchini bread....I made that stuff, it seems once a week, not wanting to waste any of it...

But I always left a few zucchini, on the vine, just to see how big they would grow, and some sure grew big...the boys would go out, and pick one of those huge zucchinis, and use it as a bat, to hit hard green tomatoes....Ah, a new sport...veggie baseball...

[grannie9]

I love fried green tomatoes.. omg..yum..

[grannie9]

Now I have to go cook some Keilbasa.. yassah..

[lodwick]

yes - the only downside to the home garden is ALL that produce ripening at the same time. But you make new friends by giving it away to the neighbors and trading receipes on how to use it all.

Some of our best friends are those we made in the old neighborhood, when we were just starting out, and had to borrow things from the neighbors.

In this hood, everyone can afford to have at least one of everything, and there's not the same sense of neighborliness - everyone's great, but you just don't shout over the fence, "Hey there, can I borrow your weedeater when you're done?"

[andysandmikesmom]

Love that Kielbasa....one of my dads favorite foods in the all the world was Kielbasa...the last summer, before dad got sick, mom and dad came up from California to see us, and take a young Andy with them down to Cal for a few weeks...

Naturally I always tried to prepare their favorite foods, so got two huge rings of Kielbasa to grill outside, along with other foods, making for a fine barbque...naturally, Dad just consumed mostly the Kielbasa, as he loved it so....

Being as I made lots of burgers and hot dogs to go along with the Kielbasa, I knew and had planned for there to be leftover Kielbasa, for dad...

The next day I was grilling pork chops and chicken...but I remember so well, as dad looked at the meats grilling, he asked, shyly, was there any Kielbasa left from the night before, as, altho he did enjoy grilled pork chops and grilled chicken, still his mouth was watering at the thought of last evenings grilled Kielbasa...

Aha, my plan had worked out...I assured him there were a few pieces of Kielbasa left, and I would bring them out, and allow them to heat up on the grill, for his exclusive dining pleasure...ah, his moustachioed lip smiled....

I am so glad I did that, as it brings a smile to me, as it was only a short time later, he was diagnosed with cancer, and went downhill so fast, that I dont know if he had another Kielbasa barbque after that...

For such small food treasures to bring such joy, is a wonderful thing to behold, when looking back on it...

[andysandmikesmom]

There is much to be said, for neighborhoods, where everyone knows you and your kids, and your gadgets....

We also had three plum trees in the backyard in North Carolina, and they would be loaded...I would always let all the neighborhood kids take as many plums as they wished, to eat at our house and take home with them...

It seemed like during those lazy summer days in North Carolina, I used to wind up with all the neighborhood kids at my house, in my yard....they were all good kids, by and large, and they listened to me, and behaved...I enjoyed having them all over, and got a kick out of it....

I always used to bake a cake a day, most of it being consumed by the kids, and having enough left over for our desert at dinner time...I actually think that the kids behaved, in order to get some cake...nothing like food bribery to keep a herd of rowdy boys in line...but it worked...

[grannie9]

Sounds like our house when the kids were young.. All the neighborhood kids lived at our house..

In fact when I went to Lynn last week, my daughter Dyan's girlfriend came over to show me her new baby boy, (and he's adorable) and she said that I was her Mom and our house was her house for all those years.. She still calls me all the time to see how we are.. Nice girl..and we had a very friendly neighborhood.. That's why I hated to leave..

I also baked everyday, and always had at least one or more of my kids friends stay for dinner, just about every night.. I never knew what it was like to have only us..

[andysandmikesmom]

But wasnt it fun, having all those kids over..I always loved it...of course, my house was always a disaster, with all the kids running in and out, and all the acitivites with kids and pets run amok...but I just remember it as being loads of fun....

When we first moved down there, Andy was barely 4, and still had a year before he went to school...most of the other kids in the area, were already in school...but Mikes older friends had a little sister, just about Andys age...her name was Brandy, and she was a little doll...

Brandy was very tiny for her age, no doubt going to be a petite little thing, whenever she grew up...she had snow white hair, and big blue eyes, and a sweet, pretty little face and she was just sweet in nature...

Her mom lived down the block from us, had two older boys, and an older girl...and just Brandy at home during schooltime...the mom sold tupperware, and had asked me if I could watch Brandy during the day, when she had her sales meetings and parties, and she would pay me...

Well, I was just glad to have a little playmate for Andy, and told the mom she did not have to pay me, I just glad to have Brandy for a little playmate for Andy...cute...Andy and Brandy....

Anyway, playtimes with Brandy were never the same each week, being timed to coincide with the moms various parties...but usually three days out of five I had Brandy with us...the mom would always bring her lunch and enough for Andy...usually sandwiches and soup, or macaroni and cheese, or a can or spaghettios...so Andy got a free lunch and the two of them enjoyed their lunch together, and playtime together...

Altho poor Andy always wound up playing 'house' with Brandy, she being the wife and Andy being the hubby, and having to call each other 'sweetie' and 'honey' and such and pretending to have babies...but Andy indulged her, knowing when the boys came home from school, he could play baseball or football, or roll around in the dirt, when the boys came home...so it all worked out well...

But one day, Brandy wanted to know where Dom was...well, her dad was in the airforce, but his schedule was a little more regular than Doms, her dad being a mechanic, and BigDom being Airborne, and much more prone to longer hours...

So I explained to little Brandy about Dom and how he usually returned late, after we had already had our own dinner, and how I always saved his dinner if he returned home late...Well, little Brandy then would come down to our house, later in the evening to find out if Dom had returned from work...if he had, and was eating dinner at the table, she would ask if she could sit at the table to talk to him...she was just the cutest little gal, no one could refuse her...

So often, Dom spent his dinners with Andys little playmate Brandy...usually Andy and Mike were doing boy things, with each other or their friends...but little Brandy would be at our table, enjoying her time with Dom...when he was finished eating, she would hug him and say bye bye and go home...

I was just glad that she felt like she could just come over any time, and eat with us...

I also used to keep on eye on one of Mikes friends, whose parents were separated(the mom went back to Japan)...the dad was in the army, so the kid got home from school before his dad returned from base...so most days, I would wind up feeding this kid as well...

I guess I just felt there was always room and time and food enough to watch and feed those kids who needed it...

[grannie9]

Isn't it amazing how many kids need a place to hang out..? A place where there are people always around?

I used to wonder where all the parents were, and how come our home was the place they chose to stay? Even then I guess a lot of mothers had to work, but it was still sad for the kids.. My son's teenaged boyfriends always seemed on the loose, like no one was around for them.. It was like they never "had" to be home for anything including meals..

Well, I guess it was about the same when I was little.. All my friends gravitated to my Mom and Dad's house too. They liked her cooking I guess, and the easy atmosphere.. lol