On My Mind

Our house was built in the 80s, and when we moved in the rec room had "deep pile carpet",, almost shag... and the bathroom had orange.. We have never replaced it, first because we figured DD and her friends were in the pre teen to teenage years and they would spill stuff,, and now mom is here and always cold. But someday we will put down hardwood or laminate there. Believe it or not that carpet is still in pretty good shape except where Chloe has chewed a hole, and some stains.. I can live with that at this point,, mom has already burned holes in the couch, and her smoke would just get into any new stuff.

Oh the orange shag carpet, did everybody buy one of those back in the day? When sis was newly married and poor they found used carpet remnants to lay until they could afford a floor - yep, one was orange shag, the other green shag.

Hey, Cali

Many years ago I met with a group of twelve friends to play Pokeno.
We were in our 30’s and 40’s. Most of us had kids. We lived in the same neighborhood.

We each hosted a game, once a month. The person hosting served wine or a signature drink, a margarita or a special punch. a non alcoholic option, appetizers and a meal for us to enjoy and desert. It was fun!

Anyway, all of the moms would end up talking about our kids and one woman told us the funniest story.

She said that she had put her young child down for her nap so she decided to make a phone call. Her daughter was four years old at the time. Her child woke up while she was on the phone and decided to play in her mom’s bathroom cabinets.

Her child found tampons and had them all over the bathroom floor, just having fun like kids do. She was counting them. She had unwrapped some of them. Hahaha 😂.

My friend finished her phone call and went to use the bathroom and saw her young daughter who exclaimed, “Look what I found, Mommy! What are these? What do you do with them?”

My friend was a quick thinker! I would have NEVER thought of this answer. She told her daughter, “Oh, honey, I am not sure what those are. The people that we bought the house from must have left them here!” Hahaha 😂

My friend was so funny. She told us, “Yeah, so we buy our kids all of these expensive toys and my kid was having a great time playing with a box of tampons that she found in my bathroom cabinet.”

Freqflyer, you had a beautiful blue stone floor? I can just imagine how pretty that was! I really liked that this house wasn’t updated. Didn’t like the kitchen, it was ugly with the green applied and burnt orange carpet and burnt orange curtains. But I liked the hallway bathroom-it was all white, the tiles around the tub and on the counter had been painted white. And the wallpaper was white with large solid blue flowers with matching curtains. We’ve since removed all the wallpaper in this house. The master bathroom had carpet, it’s a small bathroom and it was carpeted. When I pulled the carpet out after a few years, I discovered remnants of 2 different types of flooring which was neat! Also when we painted the inside of the house, we discovered that the hallway and the 2 hall closets (we have a long hallway with 8 foot closets along one wall) had been painted pink at one time! The master bedroom was painted mint green at one time according to the paint remnants too!

Blue butterflies are the prettiest.I love it Send~

My new blue butterfly avatar image is the Apple rendering of their butterfly emoji. I borrowed it.

Sorry for your loss Becky.

worriedinCali, oh my gosh, that house sounded like the one story house my then hubby and I had bought in New Jersey. To be honest, I liked the fact it wasn't updated, what you described sounded the same as what was in this house right down to the bathroom tile.

The orange rug in this house was a orange/black shag carpeting on the enclosed sun porch. One day we pulled up a corner of that rug to see what was underneath. We thought it would be just cement, it was a beautiful blue-stone.... it was like we found gold, we cleaned up the stone, polished it, and it was our pride and joy.

Becky sorry to read about Jay.

Just saw this story on the news. Very interesting story.

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/produce-sticker-art-created-by-erie-man/73-dd1c46d5-4e21-4156-aa9b-32988fa61748

Becky, I am sorry to hear about Jay's passing. I am truly sorry for your loss.

Becky -- So very sorry for your loss. Sending warm thoughts and hugs your way.

Oh Becky I am so sorry, Parkinsons is a terrible disease, so at least you are right, he may have preferred this ending, with dignity and fast.. Love you!

Becky, so sorry to hear of your loss, losing a sibling must be terribly difficult, and one I dread in the future. I know how much you loved him as you spoke of him so often, may he rest in peace and love. Take Care!

I'm so sorry Becky, you have endured so much these few years since we met you.

Oh Becky! I'm so sorry to hear about Jay's passing. You must be devastated. (((((hugs)))))))))).

Awe, Becky

so sorry to hear of Jay's passing - I know you will miss him

hope you can dwell on some happy memories to ease the grief

hugs,
MsM

Becky,

Very sorry for the loss of your brother. Hugs!

I’m so sorry for your loss Becky.

Read the newspaper today and saw an obituary for the woman we bought our house from. It brought back some memories......I remember that the house was a....well I forget the type of listing but it was exclusive to the agent so other agents couldn’t show or sell the home. And it turned out the agent was my uncle’s cousin (my uncle=my moms older sisters husband). I had met her a few years earlier at a funeral & turns out either she or her husband was related to the home owner. The house was being sold because the woman who owned it had split from her husband and she was moving to Arkansas. She must have moved back here because she was living here when she died last week at 85. I recall being told that she & her husband were 80 when we bought this house but that must have been wrong. She was the 2nd owner of the house and had bought it many years before. She was described as “nutty”. The house hadn’t been updated since the 60s or 70s when we bought it. Two rooms were covered in wallpaper with matching curtains (and I mean, the curtains were the same print as the wallpaper!). The kitchen had green appliances and burn orange outdoor carpet. The master bath had pink tile, a blue toilet and sink and a pink & mint green mosaic wallpaper from the 1960s! A few years after we moved in, I went through a file cabinet she had left behind and found a bunch a paperwork from when one of her daughters got married in the 1980. That was a neat discovery, there were receipts and handwritten notes/plans! Then there was the gossip relayed to us by the Older gentleman who lived next door to us for about 8 hours. The home he lived in belonged to his 2nd wife. He was her 2nd husband. She has died and left him a life estate so he could stay in the house until he remarried Or died. He ended up moving out when he remarried. I forget the details but I believe Sonya, the woman who owned our home, was a divorcee living in the house with her 2 kids and she had an affair up with the man next door who promptly moved in with her. I believe he was married to our neighbors (The one who told us this) wife-her first husband. Her obituary said she was pre-decreased by 2 husbands and one of her daughters, who died in her early 50s 5 years ago. She wasn’t a hoarder but she had A LOT of stuff. Every room was full. Not anywhere near hoarder status but like....the front room was full of sewing stuff! I forget what was in the middle bedroom. It was just normal stuff, she had been here 40 years I think so she had a lot of stuff. She actually stayed in the house a month after closing & paid my husband rent because she needed more time to pack all her stuff.

When we bought the house, she asked that we not remove the olive tree in the middle of the front yard because she had planted it with her kids and they all wanted it stay there. To this day, the tree is still there! It has never put out olives though. My husband is taking about having it removed but I like it.

for years we got junk mail with her name on it so I thought of her often even though I didn’t know her. Just knew of her. In fact we got something with her name on it just last month. We’ve been here since 2003!

RIP Sonya. You’re olive tree is still standing.

Praying for you Becky. So sorry for your loss.
May God comfort you through this time

Becky, So very sorry about your brother. I think I can imagine how you feel, at least a little. Both of my brothers are 10+ years older than me. I still remember being a teenager and learning women usually live longer than men. Being younger and a woman, I figured I would be the last of my childhood family. Later I developed some health issues that may change that outcome, but maybe not either. Since one brother is a co-POA with me for my mother, we have become much closer. Mom was my best friend in the family but her MCI has taken that away; now my brother is fills that roll. We have both been blessed to have a good relationship with our brother.

I pray you find God's comfort during the challenging days ahead.

So sorry for your loss Becky.

Oh Becky, I'm so sorry for the loss of your brother. Hugs, and praying for you and his loved ones.

Thinking about my brother Jay. He had a stroke and passed away this afternoon. I’m sure he is glad he didn’t have to live for years thru Parkinson’s, but I’ll miss him beyond belief. That’s the last of my immediate family gone. Never thought I would be the last woman standing.

cwille,

You said it best! I agree totally.

Yep, I hear that!

Gershun,

Dysfunctional families have always been around but I feel people allow themselves to be exploited by being on these shows. They would be served better in a qualified therapist’s office.

I would never appear on any of those shows. He has to hire outside professionals to do the therapy. He hasn’t had a license in many years.

Yet, he feels he is current on treatments. Any genuine person is constantly continuing their education. Anyone that sits out of the medical field for awhile usually enrolls in classes to catch up.

He has his wife advertising her skin care products on his show. I can’t take any of it seriously. Take his ginormous salary away from him and see how much he would care about others.

Same with the others. I had to laugh when I heard Oprah say years ago that she would do her job for free. Yeah, right! Don’t believe that for a sec. All about money and ratings.

I used to think those families on those shows were paid actors.....but then I met my hubs family.🤔

Lol Send,

I find it amusing that Oprah is a spokesperson for WW too considering she has lost a few human beings in weight and gained it all back a number of times. Yes, we all try and fail but no one is paying us to do it.

I think even Dr. Phil or Jerry Springer would be shocked at some of our family situations lol. I remember watching Jerry Springer years back and actually being able to relate. Like there was an episode called "Holiday Hell with the Family" or something like that and it was over the top but totally not shocking. Then at the end of those shows, Jerry would say, "Take care of yourselves and each other." The irony of his statement after all the drama was funny. I agree that most of these talk shows and advice shows are all about the ratings and going for shock value.

CM,
Sit at the kitchen table instead, spread out with pen, paper, computer, and keep getting up for coffee and snacks. When you leave for a moment, come right back. Take a break every 45 minutes, and a pain pill if your rear end starts to hurt from sitting too long.
Check back in with us when you are finished.