mason jars and water from the hose

Thatta girl!

Song for the Day: Left of Center, Suzanne Vega

I was reminiscing with some friends recently about how my mother used to scold me for using a mason jar to drink from when there was plenty of nice glasses in the cupboard. My reply was always the same "it tastes better in this Mason jar". The same goes for the water from the hose, it was so refreshing in the hot NC summers to just grab the hose and drink. My mother would tell me I was acting "like a dog" but honestly it tasted so damn good. We never really understood each other, but we had a strong bond nevertheless. We had many cooking adventures, as in the time we tried to make a low-cal cheesecake but we didn't have enough cream cheese so we added farmers cheese. Every slice had a few stringy bits that followed it for several feet. Another time we made a cheesecake and used a spring form pan. I was young, mind you and didn't realize that if you tried to pick it up from the bottom, the bottom of the pan would slide all the way to the top...cheesecake all over kitchen floor. After those two episodes we started buying Sara Lee cheesecakes. She used to skip meals the day of her 'weight watchers meeting' and then after the meeting (and the dreaded WEIGH-IN) she would go out for a big meal at Golden Corral. Although she had a great sense of humor, she was always so worried about what others would think. I cannot begin to tell you the many times she would remind me to be sure to 'wear clean panties in case you get in a wreck'...uh Mom I think that would be the least of my worries if I was mangled and bleeding profusely. Once when I was suffering from a broken ankle, while we were in the emergency room, she chided me nonstop for forgetting to shave my legs. *rolls eyes* And to this day I cannot sleep in the nude, due to her constant nagging about my choice of bedtime attire "what if there is a fire in the middle of the night and we have to run out in the yard?? what would the neighbors think??" Uh Mom our house is ablaze shouldn't we be more concerned with that?? There was no arguing with her though. She had a temper, WHOA BOY. I can still see her banging her fist on the counter in a rage (better to take out her anger on furniture than us I guess. I myself throw things) I can remember coming home from a date one night, I was a little late and my date wanted to come in and 'watch tv'. I opened the door and suddenly she jumped out from behind it, fire in her eyes, scaring the bejesus out of me and my date. He quickly said Goodnight and squealed out of our driveway. Thanks Mom. (she was actually mortified about that one, since there was a 'outside witness' to her craziness.) She had several unique words that she invented that our family still uses to this day: HOCKY: (say with lots of phlegm-rattling back-of-the-throat emphasis) which is an adjective that means "NASTY". As in, Lauren, your room is HOCKY. Gum-gurry, which meant that stuff that gets on your teeth when you don't brush. Trinket referred to a woman's privates (I love this one as it is much nicer than any other word that is used for this area.) She was a very interesting person, my mom. I miss her lots. Love ya mom:)
Lest you be sad today, this article here ought to cheer you up. Cheese=FUN.