Dear Mothers,
Good Morning. I have enjoyed Mz Violet's writings. I know you all do, too. She writes so nice and quiet. And me ... oh, Lord Jesus, come quickly! It's all too much for even me and I write it. Yesterday, when I wrote all of that, I was playing with Olivia, 4 years old, and taking care of 6-week-old Olivia Rose. But I am sure the way it read, you probably thought I was chopping meat or something. I vowed today that I am going to write nice and quiet. That's a tall order for a lion tamer.
Last night in the night, I suffered like a dog, but the Lord delivered me and I am just fine now. If it were not for Jesus Christ, I would be as dead as a doornail. And most people who write don't write out that they were almost as dead as a doornail the night before. But with me, it is what you see is what you get. In my day, nice ladies never told all like I do. But I just figure with all the falderal out there, I didn't want to add to it. And, heck, I figure I will only be on the earth about 20 more years, at the most, and then I will leave this earth behind and never look back.
I told the Lord this morning, "Ya know, Lord, I should have never had kids. What was I thinking?" With Jim's and my genes the way they were and I had 6 children? What a gambler! Most of 'em are halfway alright, anyway. Well, it depends on what you think is alright.
Dan is in this rock band? Well, he is in NYC right now, but is ready to go to Oregon to be with his band. Those punk rockers are a scream. A few days ago, they send me a postcard. I thought, "I get a postcard from the band?" This boggles my mind. Casey, the head of the band, tells me the news. And that Dan will be coming to Oregon and they will all be home for Christmas. Then that evening, Christian Joy calls and Jason got a new accordion over Ebay. Chrissy wanted him to play me a song over the phone. It sounded like he was playin' the polka all the way from NYC. If I was writing fiction I couldn't make up a funnier life then this one I live.
And Christian Joy is trying to get into this deal for her clothing designs that she could make a million bucks. Some kids go to NYC to make it big and then they don't and they come home. My Christian Joy went to NYC and really did make it big. Of course, why not? And on her website is a link to Happy Housewifery? Hello? Don't ask me -- I just live here. And, anyway, Christian Joy says, "Mom, if I get this big deal I am after, then you won't have to babysit anymore and I will buy you a real computer." (I have an email machine.) I told her I would babysit, no matter how much money I have. I love children about me.
But ya know the way the punk rockers love me, I just wonder if I will go on the road with 'em? I used to tease them and play the piano and ask them if I could be in their band. They would seriously, with no smile and spiked hair, tattoos, and earrings say, "No way -- absolutely no way." Really, I can't figure out why punk rockers love me. I think my kids tell them tall tales about Jim and me. Well, maybe some of those tall tales are true?
Well, I have to laugh this morning! For some of you new ladies coming on, "Welcome to my world. Sorry, what you see is what you get." And I wanna tell you all, too. Aunty Tootie came over the other night to minister to me. I value her friendships so much. I don't think I could make it without her. Please pray blessings on her today and all of the friends who came to pray with me just lately.
Housewifery
I just love Mz Violet's writings because they are so soothing. They are a nice balance to my firewater.
One thing I wanted to write about is this. Mz Violet was talking about clothes and ironing and all. In the winter, I like to wear the long skirts with long underwear under them. Well, when it gets really cold, I wear cut off jogging pants under my skirts. I love to go to the Salvation Army and get big sweaters. But on the days I bake, I like to wear sweatshirts with my skirts. An apron fits a lot better over a sweatshirt. But I don't like the shirt at the bottom to bunch my skirt up. I like for them to lay flat and loose. So I take my scissors and cut the ribbing off the bottom of the sweatshirt. Also I like to wear the shirt sleeves rolled up? So I cut the ribbing off the sleeves, too. Then I roll them up. It makes the shirt look a lot more feminine and it's more comfortable with an apron. Usually, you can find cute sweatshirts at the second hand store.
Mz Violet, I know you would hem the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves. But you don't have to, as the material doesn't unravel. But to hem the bottom would be good practice for some of you ladies to learn how to hem. Just take a needle and thread and sew the bottom edge up. Turn it under twice. If you don't know how, just ask someone around 40 years old. A package of needles and thread is only about a buck at the Dollar Store. Now see, Mz Violet, I taught my girls and boys to sew and embroider, etc. But a lot of women were never taught this. And some have no idea even how to iron a pillowslip. They have never held an iron in their hands. If a button falls off, they throw the shirt away. So I try to encourage them to do some simple sewing projects. And keep writing on the art of ironing, as we love it.
Another way to make an apron is this. Just go to the Salvation Army and get a cute prairie skirt that you like and cut the back out of it. Cut it on the seams so the seams are already there. And get a cute tie to tie it with and you have an apron.
In the 70s, the housewives used to make jeans skirts. You had one Jill, remember? But you would take an over-sized pair of jeans -- maybe some of your husband's old jeans -- anyway, you cut the seams out of the inside part, so it all lays flat. So there isn't any legs. Anyway, you can sew a panel in there and you have a skirt. Also if you have bib overalls that the top is good but the bottom is full of holes? Just cut the bib part off the jeans and sew a skirt at the bottom. I have a dress like that and I love it.
And you can make a lot of cute things with bandannas. Just hand sew them together and make a tablecloth and use the bandannas for cloth napkins to go with it. Practice sewing buttons on by sewing some cute ones on the napkins.
The 70s Hippy Housewives
Well, the children will soon be here so I should wrap this writing up.
But I learned most of my housewifery in the 70s and, oh, that was a bang up good time. We were sorta rebelling against the stuffy 50s uptight materialism goin' on in that era. So we became free spirits of the Hippy 70s. It was the Jesus revolution and some of us were Jesus Freaks. Flower children who were nothing if they were not free thinkers. And all of these ideas came into our homemaking.
My own mother could have killed me for the way I did my curtains. Well, come to think of it, she still could kill me for not measuring my curtains. "If I buy you new curtains, will you put 'em up right?" she told me just about a week ago. Well, heck, the Hippies just put anything up for curtains. A dish towel or a flowered old fashioned tablecloth. They were back to the landers who decorated with canning jars. I hated Tupperware then and I still do and I put everything in glass jars.
Tony, Jill's son, is 32 and loved his childhood days when his mom was a Hippy Housewife. He remembers her hanging clothes on the line and she wore her long flowered skirts. He says he won't marry a girl until he finds a girl like his mom was. Tony would pray for his mom in later years to get her long hair back and be like a hippy again.
There was a real godliness about those housewives in that era. Many wore the long skirts and the bandannas on their heads. Actually, they are in style now, too. Christian Joy tells me the 70s style is in! In NYC, you can't hardly find any 70s things in the second hand stores, as they are all taken. When Chrissy was here, she bought up a lot of Hippy things here to take back to friends. Chrissy loved the Hippy way I dressed, too, when she was growing up. We always go to the Salvation Army when she comes to town. The daughter in laws, too, will go with us. And Chrissy said the last time we went, "Mom, I love you in the long skirts and boots and shawl around your shoulders."
Of course, about anything goes, as far as style, now days. So you may as well wear what ya like. Folks who need a certain label on their clothes to feel important, I think, are pretty shallow in their thinking. Some of my kids have to have a label but they get good and laughed at by Dan and Chrissy.
Well, I better hit the road -- the children are coming.
Love,
Connie
