May 22nd, 1948…I could be considered an antique!

..Yes, you guessed it..Sunday , May 22nd was my birthday. ..63rd to be exact.  That old saying that “life goes by in the blink of an eye” seems truer every year. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was playing 4 square volleyball in the middle of Plum Street in Elgin? ( We all played in the street back then)..I remember when the vegetable cart came by our house, pushed by a lovely older man, selling produce from his garden…OR , better yet, I can remember the scissor sharpener guy. He came walking by about once a month, offering to sharpen knives or scissors , carrying the tools of his trade in a small wagon.   My Mom was a seamstress, so she always had her “pinking shears” sharpened…Do any of your remember or still use pinking shears???

  Actually, I  do come from some strong German stock..My grandfather’s brother lived in West Virginia, in a little old house up a muddy dirt road.  His name was Fred Rausch and his wife’s name was Fanny…(Yes, I had an actual Aunt Fanny and Uncle Fred. ) Aunt Fanny churned her own apple butter on their farm.   Uncle Fred farmed the land and taught school in a one room school house,  just down the road…You just can’t make this stuff up, so here are the pictures…

My  Great Uncle Fred Rausch……                  and my Great Aunt Fanny, making apple butter..Letart, West Virginia

I guess I must have been a fairly pleasant enough looking child.   My Mom and Dad had a professional picture taken in Chicago when I was small. I have no idea what happened to that curly hair…It left when the wrinkles showed up

Here are a few more mug shots,  at various stages of my life…..

No, my name is not Buster Brown who lived in a shoe….Yes, I did mow grass…and…. who the Hell did my hair for that last photo??

Right to left…Prom, 1965…..next, my Senior picture…and yes, that IS Phil Donahue..Some of us girls went to Chicago to see his show in the 1970’s.

Which brings me up to 63 years old…I’m not sure just who that youngster was in the above photos..But I DO know this old crow….63, with attitude…and damn happy to be here!

 

PLEASE NOTICE THAT MY OUTFIT ACTUALLY MATCHES FOR A CHANGE…WELL, SORT OF

My daughters got together and gave me this neat stepping stone on the left, with all the grandkids names on it… I put it outside right in front our stoned bushes  (stoned as in rocks, not “high”),  just beside our deck…And Kelly and Cindy brought me over a beautiful planter and a neat solar light…SCORED BIG, EH???

My birthday was a hot and windy day…It got so windy here that it blew a vase of silk flowers off of our table in our bedroom upstairs,  and broke it all over the floor Vacuuming was not on my list of things I wanted to do for my birthday.…I retrieved the flowers, found another vase, and rearranged them in the new one. Not a bad job…

Did I mention that I worked in a floral shop for 6 years?? If I listed all my jobs..HMMMM, well now, let me see…babysitter, a soda jerk at a newstand, floral arranger,  nurse’s aide, Avon Lady, Tupperware salesperson, Beautician,(owned my own shop called Tangles), teacher’s aide for Special Ed, Optician…and …chief cook and bottle washer for a family of 5…God, I love retirement!

My birthday will , unfortunately, go down in history as  a very deadly weather day..Sunday a huge F-4 tornado hit Joplin ,Missouri and killed (so far) 119 people.  According to the news, the debris cloud from that tornado was 18,000 feet high, and they found some of the papers and files from Joplin’s St.John’s Hospital 60 miles away..I cannot fathom the terror of that storm.  It certainly puts one’s life in perspective…and I promise I will never complain about a birthday ever, ever again in my life!

Yesterday I saw my Podiatrist about my upcoming (Thursday) Plantar’s Peanuts surgery (To those who are just finding this blog, don’t ask)….He gave me my “boot” that I will be wearing for the next 2-3 weeks with ..and told me that I will be on crutches with NO weight bearing. 

Stick with me on this one, blogosphere.. The blogs I publish after this surgery could be very interesting,  coming from a drug induced delirium/stupor….But, my surgery is not NEARLY as debilitating as Odel's knee surgery …(Hi Odel…think of me would ya?) Hey, maybe I could milk this thing to my advantage , and have McGuyer in the palm of my hand….No, never mind..that will NEVER happen , right?????

 

I WILL NOW APOLOGIZE UP FRONT FOR ANYTHING STRANGE THAT SHOWS UP IN THE NEXT FEW BLOGS….