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Sue Spitulnik

Writing, Sewing, Travel, and Thoughts

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Sue Spitulnik

I am a retired grandmother that grew up in western New York State, left for 25 years, and am now back in the area. I happily live with my husband and two cats. I am pro-military, writing, food, family, and quilting. I am con-exercise, insulting commercials, and lack of common sense. I have met some great friends through this website.

National Mail Order Catalog Day

I’m not quite old enough to have torn a page out of the catalog to use in the outhouse.  I don’t think I missed anything.  I wonder if the youngsters of today would even know that actually happened.

The first “catalog” was just one printed page; put out by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872.  It eventually grew to 540 pages with 20,000 items.  Sears soon followed with their first edition in 1896.  The appeal was the middleman or store was eliminated so the prices were lower.  By 1971 there was 250 million dollars in just postal revenue.  That’s a whole lot of packages and excited faces when they arrived.

I remember both the Sear’s and Ward’s catalog arriving when I was a kid.  It was usually early fall so you could order “in time for Christmas”.  I would sit and go through it page by page with a magic marker circling all sorts of things I wanted.  (Skipping the ladies lingerie.)  Wanted is the key word there.  My mother was a very practical person and we usually got one want and lots of needs.  I still think that way.  My kids hate shopping for me because I don’t do frivolous well.  I ask for things like a hatchet, a tree branch trimmer, saw horses, fabric shop gift certificates.  You get the picture; things I can use.

The big department store type catalogs have disappeared as we now go to our computer to shop on-line.  It is so easy to type in the name of what we want, price check and often make our decision on who doesn’t charge for shipping.  My latest large purchase was a new battery operated hedge trimmer.  I shouldn’t admit how many times I cut the cord on my old one then had to splice the wires.  The new one isn’t much lighter but it sure is less of a production to use when the mood strikes.

I still get excited when my new fabric catalogs arrive from different sources.  If at all possible I shop at my local quilt shop, but every once in a while there is something in a catalog that I haven’t seen in a store and I succumb to temptation.

Since I retired I have gotten into the bad habit of staying in my pajamas unless I am going someplace.  When I am expecting a package I get dressed early so I can go out and get the mail as soon as it arrives.  The excited face when I see the box still happens.  Some parts of me will never grow up.

 

 

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National Thrift Shop Day

I know someone who would never dream of wearing another person’s cast off clothes (because of germs.)  My feeling is if you give them a good wash, your body will never know the difference and your wallet will be happier.

I am jealous of the woman who can eat all day, and not gain any weight; or the one who no matter what she puts on, looks great.  I don’t fit in either category, and I like to eat.  Therefore, when I go to a thrift shop, the clothes that have the best selection are the size I have grown out of.  I didn’t get the exercise gene either.  I need to learn portion control, but what fun is that.  I am also short, so finding a pair of pants or dress that I don’t have to hem is almost unheard of.  The result is, I really don’t enjoy shopping.

In my locale we have Goodwill stores and multiple privately owned thrift stores.  We even have one that caters to the crafting crowd whose proceeds go to help local senior citizens.  I know some people who buy all their business clothes in thrift stores so they can afford to have more outfits to wear.  They are mostly those thin ladies I find irritating.  They are also the ones who stop at the second-hand shops on a weekly basis to make sure they don’t miss something good.

Last summer I bought a beautiful needle felted sweater at a craft show.  I was told the original sweater came from a thrift store.  It’s a beautiful maroon and has a huge dragon fly and flowers on the back.  I wear it proudly.  I also have a couple of blouses that I always get compliments on, an old leather coat that is going raggy on the cuffs, and a “new” one waiting for this winter; they are my “finds” from second-hand shops.

Every once in a while I get into a sewing project that requires nylon, leather, or silk.  Rather than try to find new pieces of fabric I go to the thrift store and buy something inexpensive that I can cut up then put the remains in my rag bag to wait for the next idea to strike.

If you are looking for bargains in the clothing or household area, visit your local thrift shop.  You may find an unexpected treasure.

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National Airborne Day

National Airborne Day is observed each year on August 16.   This is a day designated by the United States Congress to honor the nation’s airborne forces of the Armed forces.  National Airborne Day was created in 2001 by 43rd United States President, George W. Bush.

August 16, 1940, marks the date of the first official Army parachute jump, validating the innovative concept of inserting United State ground combat forces behind a battle line by parachute. 

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I’m guessing, but I’ll bet if I ask my grandson about pilots in the U.S. military forces he would look at me and in his dead pan way, say, “Grandma, they’re in the Air Force.”  Not necessarily so, my precious little one.

The Army had the first pilot in 1907; the Navy in 1910; the Marines in 1911; and the Coast Guard in 1916.  The Air Force wasn’t even formed until 1947; before that is was part of the Army.  The point, the United States is protected by our armed forces and each branch has it’s own aircraft/helicopter and it’s own pilots.  I’m sure you’ve seen movies depicting each of these branches as I have, but I never thought about the reality of pilots in each branches until I started doing some reading.

In the mid ’80’s I was working at a Denny’s just outside a large Air Force base.  We were used to seeing guys in their flight suits.  One day I noticed all the insignia on the suits were different.  Being a detail person, I read them, then asked if they had flown in the Navy plane.  One of the guys told me no one was supposed to know that particular plane was on the base.  I just smiled and told him they shouldn’t have landed in the day light then.  He didn’t seem to think anyone would notice a fighter coming into a base where only cargo planes were usually seen.  Guess I fooled him!

If I may be so bold, as you go about your day think about the freedoms we have in the United States, then say a quiet thank you and offer a prayer for safety for all our Airborne Forces and their support teams.

 

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National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

Sometimes when you are the youngest you get to help your Mom do something just because you fit in the spot where the problem is.  I must have been about seven years old when I had the privilege of cleaning up the mess of all messes.

Whenever we got a new puppy my mother was the one who had the job of house training  it just because she was home all day.  To make the job easier, and to keep track of the puppy better, we used a table leaf to barricade the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room and to the bathroom.  We humans just had to step over the twelve-inch obstacle.  A black dachshund puppy didn’t know how to jump it.

Shortly after we got Dee, I came home from school one day and could smell lemon when I went in the house.  I thought, “Oh, Mom baked.”  When I got to the dining room I just stood there looking at the remains of a whole lemon meringue pie underneath the dining room table, like someone had thrown it there on purpose.  There were pieces of the meringue in big chunks on the linoleum floor, there was the lemon curd filling hanging on the center, arm size, corkscrew turned spindle table leg and all over the floor, and the unbroken glass dish was upside down wedged against the leg, waiting for someone to rescue it.  Me!

I asked, “What happened?”

My mother was sitting in her green chair at the head of the kitchen table.  Luckily she had a great sense of humor. With a very matter of fact tone, she answered, “I wanted to show your father (who was in the living room) the best meringue I had ever made and I forgot to step over the table leaf.”

“Did you fall down?”

“No, just the pie.”

“Why is it still there?”

“So all you girls could see how perfectly it landed.”

I think I asked if I could eat some of it with a spoon and the answer was no.  After we laughed that someone couldn’t have made it land that way if they had tried, Mom got out two pancake flippers.  She scooped what she could reach off the floor.  I went under the table, got the pie plate, and put what I scooped into that.  Then the “fun” part had to be done.

Mom slid me a large pan of warm water with a dish rag in it.  I sat comfortably under the table and cleaned every individual crevice of that table leg until it wasn’t sticky anymore.

The next day she moved all the chairs away from the table and mopped the floor then made us another lemon meringue pie.

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National Creamsicle Day

I hope you have had a creamsicle as least once in your life.  If not, I urge you to give one a try.  I know, when it’s hot out and you want ice cream on a stick, a chocolate fudgesicle or fruit flavored popsicle probably come to mind first.  A creamsicle has an inner vanilla layer completely surrounded by an orange sherbet layer.  In my opinion they are more creamy than the other options.

When I was young, icies and slurpies were only treats to get at a carnival, not the local convenience store.  We did have squeezies which were small cups of sherbet that you ate by squeezing it out of the cupcake paper type cup.  They didn’t last long, and invariably the last  bit dripped onto your shirt when you tried to “drink” what had melted.

We have a local fast-food diner that sells creamsicle twist soft-serve ice cream in the summer. I visit my father’s grave on his birthday every August and on the way home I have a creamsicle cone.  My father loved ice cream and so do I.

A refreshing dessert when you want to serve a group is a refrigerator poke cake.  (You can Google that name for directions.)  I think I’ll make an orange one for our next family gathering.

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National Left-Handers Day

According to statistics only about 10% of the earth’s population is left handed.  It’s interesting that the scientists can’t figure out why.  One of my older sister’s is a leftie, but can do lots of things right handed.  And if you are a golf watcher, you know Phil Mickelson is right handed, but plays left.  Odd, I’ve never heard it explained how he came to do that.

I’ve been in a store where they only sell things for left-handed people.  If I remember correctly it’s on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  They had things like scissors, hand turn can openers and monogrammed pencils for youngsters.  I didn’t find anything in the store I could use, but I loved visiting the Wharf.

We need to give lefties a break.  They are forced to read labeled tubes of stuff upside down and backwards.  What?  Go get your toothpaste tube and hold it like you would a pencil.  If you are right handed the lettering is right side up and reads from right to left.  Now, transfer it to your left hand in the same position.  See what I mean.  Good thing it’s only toothpaste and the fine print isn’t very important.  I did look at my Chap Stick and that is labeled for a left-hander.  I guess it’s only fair.

I’ve been making quilts for a long time.  I love the colors, the creativity and forming something useful and beautiful from a pile of little pieces.  I teach some basic quilting classes and after everyone introduces themselves, my first question is, “Is anyone left handed?”  That is important, because how they cut their fabric using a rotary cutter, mat and ruler is opposite how a right-hander does it.  For the best results when cutting, use the ruler as a friend and measure with that, not the mat.  The piece you are cutting should be under the ruler and the excess fabric should be to what ever side your prominent hand is.  I guarantee more precise cuts if that general rule is followed.

Next time you go out to dinner with friends or family.  Be polite, let the leftie pick their corner first, so you can both enjoy your meal without banging elbows.  You will both appreciate being more comfortable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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