I am old enough that when I started wearing stockings they were held up with a garter belt. Nothing worse, except maybe a corset, which thankfully I never had to wear. A garter belt was on my dislike list because it often twisted, rode up my back, or showed beneath my skirts. Ugh! When panty hose came out they were a God-send though I can’t say they didn’t run as easily as the pair of stockings. I’m sure with today’s modern technology they could make a pair of stockings that don’t run, but then they wouldn’t sell as many so I doubt that will happen. Continue reading “Pantyhose — Hurray”
After a day of ice skating in the cold, 15-year-old Chester Greenwood came up with an idea to keep his big ears warm. Partnering with his grandmother who sewed tufts of fur between loops of wire, Chester soon had a working model of earmuffs. On March 13, 1877, he was awarded a patent. He was a prolific inventor, but this is the invention he is most known for. For almost 60 years, Greenwood manufactured these ear protectors, which provided jobs for the people in the Farmington, Maine area which is now known as the “Earmuff Capital of the World.” [courtesy National Day of Calendar] Continue reading “Protect Your Ears”
National Sock Day was declared to celebrate matching socks. The calendar says if a pair can stay together through washing, drying and sorting it is a magical thing and worthy of note. I think it has more to do with the human that takes them off rather than any magic, but I do know some people who need magic to have it happen. Continue reading “Warm Feet”
The picture for today makes me laugh. Check out the looks on the people’s faces on the right hand side. They seem to be astonished the people on the left are in their underwear. Since I was a little kid I have wondered why it’s wrong to be seen in your underwear when it usually covers more than a bathing suit does. Now imagine the people on the left to be in bright-colored bathing suits and you’ll understand what I mean. Sometimes bathing suits are even skimpier. Oh well. Continue reading
It’s National Lost Sock Memorial Day. How many individual socks do you have sitting on top of your dresser? They lie there waiting, in hopes their partner will be found hidden in a folded sheet, or in a dusty ball under the bed.
My husband has a few and I do to. It’s funny, because I buy the same brand of sock for him year after year. He has brown ones and black ones. I can only tell them apart by the hue of color according to the age of the sock. Which means, they could be matched with each other at most times, but yet, I still have these poor single socks with no mate.
According to the National Day of Calendar, this day is thee day to throw out the single socks and have a little memorial for them. It also suggests you could use them as dust rags, or make hand puppets out of them. I remember making hand puppets when I was a kid. We got out my mother’s button box and found just the right button for the eyes, and nose. Do kids even do that today?
I have a special young man in my life that is a sports reporter. He wears mismatched socks on purpose because he says it’s a good ice-breaker or conversation starter when he’s out in public. I can’t say as I’ve ever seen it do anything but get weird looks from people. My grandson also wears mismatched socks, but he has a better reason. “Grandma, I just pick the first two out of the drawer that I can reach.” Maybe it’s because his mom doesn’t take the time to match them. Either way, it is his form of personal self expression.
If you don’t do it today, the next time you do laundry, give each one of those single socks a little kiss and toss them in the trash. By now you should know the other half of the pair is not going to show back up. Maybe they are in washer or dryer heaven.
It’s National Hanging out day. The title got me. I expected to have to explain spending time doing nothing with a friend. Instead, I get to remember how my mother taught me how to hang out the laundry.
We had two clothes lines in our back yard when I was growing up. One ran from the barn to the back of the house and the other from the back of the house to the corner of the side porch. Underwear was always hung on the latter one so it couldn’t be seen from the street or the parking lot next door. Underwear was still unmentionables in the ’50’s and ’60’s. The other line was for sheets, towels, and regular clothing. That line also got more sunshine. Sheets hung in the sun and breeze felt and smelled good when you put them back on the bed, but they were stiff.
I can say if I hung laundry like the picture shows I would have been reprimanded. We had a clothespin bag you could hang over the line by its hook and push it along as you took out a pin. If hanging wash cloths, you would secure the corner of two wash cloths under one pin, pull the cloth our straight, then add another. If all the wash hung in one layer it would dry faster. I liked the snap clothespins better than the push on type. You youngsters might have to google images of clothespins to see the difference.
My sisters still have clothes lines. They live on “back” roads outside of their respective towns. I live in the city suburbs and have heard the town frowns on clothes hanging out. I have some neighbors that do it, all over the age of 75. I have succumbed to the easy way of laundry, the clean wet clothes and sheets go right into the dryer that sits next to the washer. They don’t smell fresh when they are dry, just hot. And no, I don’t use scented dryer sheets like you might suggest because I’m not into chemical fake smells. Some parts of me are pretty fussy.
When my son was an infant I used cloth diapers (Jeez, I’m old!) and we didn’t have a dryer. I would hang those diapers out in the wind, freezing temperatures and standing in the snow. He was born in February. When I would take them inside they would be frozen stiff, but when they thawed out, naturally, I would shake them, smell the freshness, and fold them with love. It was a good time in my life. Pampers or Huggies were available in the early ’70’s, but were only used on vacation or for the babysitter. How times have changed.
When I go for a drive and see laundry hanging out, I admire the person that took the time to do it and remember my younger years.
Sue Spitulnik 