Growing up I learned a lot of valuable lessons from my mom. How to starch sheets(thank god I don't do that anymore)... how to polish shoes(I've learned to move to sneakers or suede)... how to clean an oven (mine now self cleans) and polish silver(if you don't have any you don't have to polish it)... how to cook (although I still haven't mastered rolling up that ice cream roll without breaking the cake). But there were a few lessons that although I learned them, I never quite understood until I got older.
One was the lesson called "Clean Closets Happy Cleaning Lady." Anyone who has a cleaning lady knows a good one is a pearl beyond price. There just aren't a lot of GOOD 'environmental engineers' out there today. Yesterday's cleaning lady is now the CEO of her own company, no more vacuums and dusting or scrubbing for her! So once you find one, you'll do ANYTHING to keep her happy. I guess it wasn't so different when I was a child.
As a child, Rose was our cleaning lady. Rose arrived at our house like clockwork every week. She was our ever efficient cleaning lady who helped my mom make order out of our house of chaos. Not an easy feat when you have four kids under 10 running around under foot. Rose also worked for my grandmothers, so I guess you could say all our family 'dirty' laundry and houses kept Rose busy.
The oddest thing about Rose's visits didn't have anything to do with her cleaning or with Rose herself. Instead it had to do with the day before Rose came. The day before Rose came to clean, we had to clean so THE CLEANING LADY COULD CLEAN! What's wrong with this picture?
I suspect I'm not the only one who had to clean her closet and under her bed before the cleaning team arrived. But I still find it odd. I mean we were paying Rose to clean, so why was I cleaning before she came? I've always wondered just what Rose thought of all the tidy little closets of four children under the age of 10. I mean, wouldn't you have wondered?
The key lesson I learned from my mother was WHEN to clean. My mom's answer to that...ALWAYS. Do it everyday. Don't let it get ahead of you. All valuable lessons, but the most important lesson was when MUST you clean?
The answer? Before the cleaning lady gets there! God forbid the cleaning lady knows that the rest of the week your closet is a mess! Or that your shoes are under your bed!
Maybe I didn't train my kids right. But at that age their closets(and under their beds)were never THAT neat. Of course I don't have a cleaning lady either(Ah! I knew I had an out there somewhere.)So I've adapted the reason to clean and when to clean for my children to suit our family. To my children I say, clean your closets frequently enough so when you open the door what's in it doesn't land on your heads. And don't put stuff under your bed and you won't have get down on your knees to clean it out, just occasionally vacuum. Better yet, buy a bed that has drawers under it so you don't even have to vacuum under it because dust couldn't get under there is it tried!
I'm all for the easy route! (sorry mom!) But most important of all I wanted my children to grow up knowing their 'momma didn't raise no fools' and they are smart enough to adapt my rules for their lives just like I did my mom's.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Eating Liver Won't Kill You, Will It?
I suspect most of us grew up hearing 'eat your liver, it's good for you!' Yuck! Yes I ate it. I'm sure it's good for me. Mother's are usually right about things like that--liver, Brussels sprouts, peas.
But how many of you, now that you have your own kids, are repeating that particular mantra? I have to say this is one area where Mom and I differ. We always will. I'm NOT going to make anyone eat liver. Or Brussels sprouts, or peas, especially canned ones. It's not that I don't agree it's good for you, it's I'm not about to make anyone eat THAT STUFF!
I'm one of those people who go to a restaurant and doesn't order sweet breads too. The good news is that not eating that stuff won't kill you! (Mom never told me it would, just that it was good for me.) You'd think she would have gotten the message after my brother stuffed his veggies in his pants pocket and she found them for the zillionth time in the laundry!
Of course Mom did let us cover the liver with ketchup to kill the taste (or maybe as a way to get another food group in us?) For some reason we never had liver with onions, no idea why. But we did eat other odd food. Like gizzards. OK, you get a roasting chicken or turkey, it comes with all that 'gunk' inside. We actually ate the stuff. Yuck! We also ate a lot of wild game. Ducks, geese, sometimes venison. Wild game is definitely an acquired taste.
It was only after I grew up that I realized that a sure sign of just how much my mom loved my dad was her willingness to cook the things he shot! And eat them too. (I guess I should give thanks we weren't eating squirrels or rabbits.)
My children lucked out. No wild game at my house. No chance to chomp down on a piece of shot that got left in the duck for dinner. No gamey tasting dinners disguised with gravy. Nope, my mom didn't raise a fool, I married a man who didn't hunt and solved that problem!
So thank you Mom for teaching me the value of the nutrients of liver, but thanks but no thanks, I'm NOT making my family eat it! I just force feed them TOFU!
But how many of you, now that you have your own kids, are repeating that particular mantra? I have to say this is one area where Mom and I differ. We always will. I'm NOT going to make anyone eat liver. Or Brussels sprouts, or peas, especially canned ones. It's not that I don't agree it's good for you, it's I'm not about to make anyone eat THAT STUFF!
I'm one of those people who go to a restaurant and doesn't order sweet breads too. The good news is that not eating that stuff won't kill you! (Mom never told me it would, just that it was good for me.) You'd think she would have gotten the message after my brother stuffed his veggies in his pants pocket and she found them for the zillionth time in the laundry!
Of course Mom did let us cover the liver with ketchup to kill the taste (or maybe as a way to get another food group in us?) For some reason we never had liver with onions, no idea why. But we did eat other odd food. Like gizzards. OK, you get a roasting chicken or turkey, it comes with all that 'gunk' inside. We actually ate the stuff. Yuck! We also ate a lot of wild game. Ducks, geese, sometimes venison. Wild game is definitely an acquired taste.
It was only after I grew up that I realized that a sure sign of just how much my mom loved my dad was her willingness to cook the things he shot! And eat them too. (I guess I should give thanks we weren't eating squirrels or rabbits.)
My children lucked out. No wild game at my house. No chance to chomp down on a piece of shot that got left in the duck for dinner. No gamey tasting dinners disguised with gravy. Nope, my mom didn't raise a fool, I married a man who didn't hunt and solved that problem!
So thank you Mom for teaching me the value of the nutrients of liver, but thanks but no thanks, I'm NOT making my family eat it! I just force feed them TOFU!
The Dumbing Down of America
Are students today a product of the 'dumbing down of America?' Were the Baby Boomer generation better prepared for college than students today? In my opinion the answer is an unequivocal YES. The teachers in my past prepared me by not just teaching me facts and figures but by teaching me how to find the answers and giving me a desire to learn new things.
When I went back to college as an adult (40+) I was thrown into classes where the majority of the students were half my age. Culture shock to say the least! I came from being a stay at home mom of two to a full time student. Most of the rest of my class were 20-23, and age I hadn't been in a long time! I quickly learned that age wasn't the only thing separating us. They came from a totally different world. One where correct English wasn't important, History wasn't taught, basic Biology wasn't understood and Art was an anathema.
Their slang was different, their education had been different, and I ran into 'the dumbing down of America' first hand.
The slang I could handle, although the constant parroting of 'that's so gay' took a bit of getting used to. It was the lack of a good basic education that astounded me. Their grammar didn't exist. History didn't include some very basic important events. And the concept of art appreciation was....under appreciated, basic biology poorly understood.
I was in a class where we were discussing busing. It wasn't a history class, but it was obvious that to most of the class 'busing' had to do with how to take SEPTA (Philadelphia's local transit authority) and had nothing to do with civil rights. I remember the professor (who was about the same age I was) looking at me as if to say 'you know what I'm talking about right? I'm not the only one who knows this happened.'
I admit to being blown away at how ignorant many of the younger students were about current events or recent history. I could understand if they didn't have a good grasp on the Crimean War... but busing? Come on! So if you're a history teacher today, please take the time to bring your students up to speed on events that effect their own daily lives--like civil rights.
Another example of the 'dumbing down' occurred when two of us were doing an oral report on making mobiles. OK, mobiles, not rocket science, almost every baby has one hanging over their crib and most kids make them in preschool. But we were talking about Alexander Calder's mobiles. A little more advanced, but the same concept. People kept interrupting and saying 'slow down, I don't know what that means.' Have you been to the Philadelphia Art Museum? That giant thing hanging over your head in the lobby? Right, Calder, mobile. Did they ever have an art history class? Read Time or Newsweek? If so they should have been familiar with Calder. And even if they weren't we had photos so they'd be able to understand what we were talking about. But they were so used to being spoon fed information using words with one syllable that they had a hard time following the presentation.
Basic biology also seemed to present a problem. One class in human reproduction seemed to stymie the men in the class. Out of nearly thirty students only fifteen passed the class--most of them dropped out after failing the test on human reproduction. Very scary. After that class I no longer wondered how so many teens end up pregnant.
Another time a group of us were doing a oral presentation on Elder Abuse. A serious topic and one people working in health care need to be aware of. One student came to class for the presentation unprepared and with note cards written in English on the level of a 2nd grader. This wasn't a student who grew up going to poor schools or who had a learning disability. She'd graduated from Penn State. I guess I expected she had to pass a decent English Composition before she got out.
Are students today as well prepared for college as the Baby Boomer generation was? In my experience, definitely not. They are the result of 'the dumbing down of America.' Unfortunately with the new 'teaching to test' mindset the actual education of our children and grandchildren isn't going to get any better.
When I went back to college as an adult (40+) I was thrown into classes where the majority of the students were half my age. Culture shock to say the least! I came from being a stay at home mom of two to a full time student. Most of the rest of my class were 20-23, and age I hadn't been in a long time! I quickly learned that age wasn't the only thing separating us. They came from a totally different world. One where correct English wasn't important, History wasn't taught, basic Biology wasn't understood and Art was an anathema.
Their slang was different, their education had been different, and I ran into 'the dumbing down of America' first hand.
The slang I could handle, although the constant parroting of 'that's so gay' took a bit of getting used to. It was the lack of a good basic education that astounded me. Their grammar didn't exist. History didn't include some very basic important events. And the concept of art appreciation was....under appreciated, basic biology poorly understood.
I admit to being blown away at how ignorant many of the younger students were about current events or recent history. I could understand if they didn't have a good grasp on the Crimean War... but busing? Come on! So if you're a history teacher today, please take the time to bring your students up to speed on events that effect their own daily lives--like civil rights.
Another example of the 'dumbing down' occurred when two of us were doing an oral report on making mobiles. OK, mobiles, not rocket science, almost every baby has one hanging over their crib and most kids make them in preschool. But we were talking about Alexander Calder's mobiles. A little more advanced, but the same concept. People kept interrupting and saying 'slow down, I don't know what that means.' Have you been to the Philadelphia Art Museum? That giant thing hanging over your head in the lobby? Right, Calder, mobile. Did they ever have an art history class? Read Time or Newsweek? If so they should have been familiar with Calder. And even if they weren't we had photos so they'd be able to understand what we were talking about. But they were so used to being spoon fed information using words with one syllable that they had a hard time following the presentation.
Basic biology also seemed to present a problem. One class in human reproduction seemed to stymie the men in the class. Out of nearly thirty students only fifteen passed the class--most of them dropped out after failing the test on human reproduction. Very scary. After that class I no longer wondered how so many teens end up pregnant.
Another time a group of us were doing a oral presentation on Elder Abuse. A serious topic and one people working in health care need to be aware of. One student came to class for the presentation unprepared and with note cards written in English on the level of a 2nd grader. This wasn't a student who grew up going to poor schools or who had a learning disability. She'd graduated from Penn State. I guess I expected she had to pass a decent English Composition before she got out.
Are students today as well prepared for college as the Baby Boomer generation was? In my experience, definitely not. They are the result of 'the dumbing down of America.' Unfortunately with the new 'teaching to test' mindset the actual education of our children and grandchildren isn't going to get any better.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Squirrels, Food and Our Tax Dollars At Work
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| Photo courtesy of Phenomenica |
As I was outside complaining to my neighbor about the inconsiderate nut buriers that infest our yards a little boy came up and asked us 'how do squirrels FIND their nuts after they bury them?' Wow, have to admit, it never occurred to me to ask that one! But once he asked I HAD to find out the answer. For any of you out there with children with enquiring minds that want to know or who are plagued themselves by the burning need to know just how they find the nuts they've buried in your yard I found the answer.
It seems most of the studies done on squirrel nut retrieval were not done in the wild but under controlled conditions. Students doing graduate work actually got GRANTS from the government to have squirrels run through mazes to test their memory and see if they used visual or smell cues to escape the maze.
Anyway, those studies suggest squirrels actually use their MEMORY to find all those nuts. There was some discussion about whether they used eyesight or smell to find their nuts but it seems that's not the case. Squirrels are most likely to remember larger number of nuts buried together than smaller caches of them (which is why I have more BIG holes not little ones in my yard). Squirrels also PRACTICE digging up the nuts and reburying them. There's some suggestion that this 're-caching' helps the squirrels "refresh" their memory of where their nuts are and what they've stored where.
So the next time you're aggravated and saying "THOSE STUPID SQUIRRELS"...seems they aren't so stupid after all--they can remember where they buried all those nuts!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Commnetary of Squirrel Proof Feeder
Review on Amazon.com by G. Rene "Frontman" (Seattle, WA, USA) on the Heritage Farms Absolute II Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder that just about sums up some people's attitude toward the varmints!
Not Squirrel Proof At All, But I Like Squirrels--Commentary on Feeder
"My wife has tried all kinds of different feeders to defeat the squirrels, but none have worked. She had high-hopes for this one, but it didn't take the squirrels long to figure out how to hang from the sides while working the lever up and down to release seeds. On the other hand, I LIKE squirrels, even had a tame one when I was a kid. So I keep rooting for the squirrels. They gotta eat too! And for those who think of squirrels as cute rats, they are not. Rats live about 3 to 4 years. Squirrels can live for 20 years. That means there are squirrels in the woods around our house who have been here longer than we have. And I figure they have a right to survive! Rats, on the other hand, I have an air rifle with a scope to take care of them.... "
I just have to say, I'm glad I'm not in his scope! He sounds serious about his method of rat control. What do you do to keep your squirrels under control? Or don't you care? Comments wanted.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Squirrel Nuts
If you can't beat them, join 'em! The squirrels that is! In this case, steal the nuts from the squirrels and buy that person who is hard to shop for this holiday season a box of these artisanal kettle-roasted nuts!
Squirrel Brand’s presentation is as memorable as the flavors, which makes these nuts great for gifting. They are packed in black and gold tins, and the larger quantities come in a beautiful wooden outer box. Give the gift that hits the spot, Squirrel Brand’s roasted nuts are classic crowd pleasers!
The Squirrel Brand Co. based in the U.S., has been kettle-roasting nuts since 1888. Squirrel Brand draws inspiration from around the world and creates unique and flavorful blends. From sweet California almonds seasoned with black truffles harvested in Northern Italy and ground into a sea salt to pecans laced with Squirrel Brand’s take on Herbes de Provence, the classic French blend of dried herbs, Squirrel Brand Nuts are a gourmet nut experience. Visit The Daily Grommet to find all the great flavors you can
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Black Friday Deals!
Finding great deals on Black Friday is akin to finding that feeder that defeats the squirrels! VICTORY! To help you in your search for the perfect gift try these links below. Maybe you can avoid the mall on Good Friday.
Black Friday 2011
Best Buy Black Friday Ad
Red Envelope Coupons
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