History of the Apron

My mom sent this to me yesterday to read. It came to her via an email. I liked it so much that I thought I would post it here for others to enjoy. This bit of information that was shared with my mother, brought back many wonderful memories for her of her own grandmother and the aprons she use to wear. So sit back, grab a cup of something warm to enjoy and read a bit about the "history" of the apron.





I don't think many kids today know what an apron is.





The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress she wore underneath. Back in the day, ladies only had a few dresses to wear so it was easier to wash an apron than it was to wash the dresses and it took less material to make an apron than it did a dress. So the apron was worn to protect the dress underneath, but it evolved into so much more than that.





It served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.





It was wonderful for drying children's tears and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.





It was used to carry eggs and fussy chicks from the chicken coop and sometimes half-hatched eggs from the nest to the warming oven in the house to finish hatching.





When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.





And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped the apron around her arms for warmth.





Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow from long hours of canning and cooking over the hot wood stove.





Wood chips and kindling were brought into the kitchen in that apron.





From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.





In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.





When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.





When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner.





It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.





Folks today would go crazy trying to figure out how many germs were on that old apron.....I don't think anybody ever caught anything from an apron.....but love!

As a side note: We had a wonderful time celebrating my Mother's birthday this past Tuesday. Look for a photo update this weekend and also that contest I mentioned last week.......Happy Friday.

A Special Day.....

Today is my Mother's Birthday. My mother is a an amazing woman. When I was little, I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. Guess what, I'm very much like my mother in many ways and that makes me very proud as she is one special lady! Mom is pictured below with all three of her children. I'm on the far left, mom is next to me, my brother is in the middle and my sister is on the far right. I am the youngest in the family and was born the year mom turned 40. I have kept my mother young all of these years...he, he or maybe I gave her gray hair long before she wanted it. Either way, I'm blessed to have such a wonderful Mother!! Happy 80th Birthday Mom. May your day be filled with love, happiness and surprises.
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Mother, Happy Birthday to you.

(Please excuse my off key singing, I can't carry a tune in a bucket!)

This evening, Hayman, myself, Countrychick and Cowboy M. are taking mom and my dad out to dinner to celebrate her big day. We are headed to her favorite Mexican restaurant. I'm hungry already...........

Thought for the Day........

"SIMPLY BE, RATHER THAN DO, FOR A MOMENT"

Rain, Snow and an Award

We woke up to snow this morning after having two days of rain. I won't complain about the weather as we really need the moisture. The snow this morning was a wet, heavy snow. There were only a couple of inches in the valley and most of it is melting off now. The mountains around us are once again covered in white. The temperature has dropped down into the low 30's again. I guess that is better then temps that register below zero. If it starts raining again, it will surely turn to snow over night.




Last weekend, Jeannelle over at midlife by farmlight presented me with an award. Thank you so much Jeannelle. I'm so happy I have gotten to know you over these past many months. The directions for this award are very simple and they are posted below the photo of the award. When I started blogging back in August, it was for my own enjoyment and pleasure. I had no idea that I would meet many wonderful people on this blogging journey or make new friends. I thank all of your for stopping in to read and check up and for allowing me to share my world with you. Thank you to each and everyone of you for following along with me. It is so very hard to pick people to pass awards on too, but I had to choose eight, so with no further ado...these are my eight.

WOW

Adventure Girl

Oregontribal1

Gail from at the farm

Scrappy

Lisa at Laughing Orca Ranch

Colleen

Lisa from is that a garage door on my ceiling

Just follow the directions below for passing on the award. Just want you to know I love you all.

"The Friends Award isn't about being the most popular blogger or having the most read blog. It is just because you are a friend."Here's the cleverly written text of the award: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

The award below was given to me a few weeks back by Gail from at the farm. I know it is a bit late, but Thank You Gail. The day you gave this award to me, I really needed it. So I'm now passing this award on to Jeannelle. She is a sweet, wonderful bloggy friend and I'm so happy I know her. I encourage everyone to drop by the blogs I have listed here today. They are all wonderful, amazing, inspiring people. You will enjoy your visit to each of their worlds.

Wishing everyone a Happy Sunday Evening........

Glitterfy.com - Glitter Graphics



No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I have just been very busy with work. I had to go to the Big City of Reno to the University of Nevada Reno for training this week. I left on Wednesday and got back late last night. Hayman went with me.....I spent the day yesterday in training for my job and he spent the day walking around the many Sporting Goods stores that Reno has to offer. He was in "Man Land" heaven. I can't believe how fast the week went! Guess what, my last post was my 100th post! I had something planned for my 100th post, but totally blew the opportunity by not paying attention. Soooo.......next week, be on the look out for a little contest.....yes, I said the word CONTEST. With that said.......here's wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Work, Movies and Shopping........

First off, I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since last Tuesday! I'm not sure where the last week went? I had every intention of having wonderful things to post the last few days, but I didn't get around to it. The end of last week at work was busy, busy, busy. My boss asked me to write a "strategic plan" on how I will move our county 4-H program forward and how I will go about putting those plans into action. Upon hearing that from him last Wednesday, my brain seemed to go into shut down mode. Talk about major writers block! I have my thoughts about this "strategic plan" down on paper for the most part....now I just need to organize them into coherent sentences. This project is due on the desk of my superior on Tuesday. No problem, no sweat, piece of cake......piece of cheesecake! And if you think I'm serious about those...well you're wrong. I'm a bit worried that I won't have it done by Tuesday. Every time I sit down to work on it, my brain goes blank! So I'm not going to work on it again until tomorrow...after I'm done cleaning house. Maybe I will have some sort of work related, creative inspiration after a bit of house cleaning. One can only hope...........

Yesterday, I didn't feel to great, so I spent the day on the couch watching movies with Hayman. We watched Space Cowboys and The Bucket List. Good movies, both of them. Then I made Hayman watch P.S. I Love You. That movie is one of my favorites. Hayman didn't know what it was about, so against his better judgement said he would watch it with me. Well about fifteen minutes into the movie, he looked over at me and said, "this is sad, I can't watch this." But he did. He watched the whole movie.....he laughed, he was very quiet in spots, he chuckled and then, well, he got dust in his eye. Yep, dust......the darn dust will make your eyes water every time. I just love a man who's not afraid to get "dust" in his eyes............my big, strong Hayman got a bit teary eyed.

Today we headed to town for some grocery shopping. What a tedious chore that has become. Where I once had plenty of time to grocery shop, now I must find time to fit it in. Good thing I have been a menu planner for years. That is something I started out of necessity....living many, many years in remote locations, sometimes hours away from a large grocery store. Even though we are only roughly thirty miles from town now, I still plan meals and do our major shopping once every two weeks. I still make a trip to the store in between for needed items, but the planning and sticking to the routine saves us money. When I started back to work, a few people said to me that since I would be in town everyday, I would inevitably go to the store every day for items or to pick up stuff for dinner each night. I made a vow to never, ever let that happen. That to me is a waste of money! So I continue to plan, shop accordingly and cook all of our evening meals daily. I believe that a good, home cooked meal and sitting down as a family each night to eat and share our day is of great importance. Call me old fashioned......but last minute food or take out just won't cut it for me.........

Okay, so where was I going when I started telling you about our shopping trip and then got off on a tangent about meals......oh yes, while shopping today, I went down the candy isle. I don't go down that isle often....but today, I was looking for something. As I was walking down the isle, the Dove Chocolates caught my eye. I was given Dove Chocolates in my Secret Santa box at Christmas time. I'm now addicted to them........thank you Red.....=) So today, I spied them.....they beckoned to me......I bought two boxes......Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Promises and Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Caramel Promises. As you unwrap these little goodies, there is a message on the underside of the foil wrapper. I unwrapped one right before I started this post. This was my Promise Message...............

"Don't Judge Others or Yourself."

And I will leave you with that thought..........I think I will go make myself a milkshake.

Tuesday's Quote.....

"How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world. How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution...how we can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness" - Anne Frank

My Weekend in Review...

Yeah, I know, exciting title to this post, but my creative mind has taken a leave of absence today. I know there are more interesting things I could blog about today, but I can't think of them at the moment. So I thought I would tell you about my weekend. Friday evening after getting home from work, I chatted with my sis on the phone and enjoyed a glass of wine or several, depends on how you look at it, watched a little TV and went to bed early. Saturday morning I started laundry, cleaned, did more laundry......and more laundry. I don't know where all of the dang laundry came from, but every time I turned around there was another pile that needed doing.......I swear the piles were like little rabbits and kept multiplying like crazy! I did manage to sit for a bit and catch up on a few of my shows that were on the DVR. Since going back to work full time, I don't watch TV like I used to. Okay, back to the exciting stuff....I can see you all on the edge of your seat....yeah right. Saturday evening, Hayman and I went to a local dinner held for the Nevada Chuckar Foundation. It is an invitation only event and it really is a lot of fun. They have a wonderful dinner, raffle and auction. We tried to bid on a few items, but got out-bid on both. The Governor of our State was in attendance and sat just a table away from us. Hayman and the Governor were actually in the bathroom at the same time. Exciting, I know.....you can hardly stand it. We got home very late on Saturday night or Sunday morning, depending on how you think about time. I was up early on Sunday and plopped my tired self in front of the TV and watched more recorded DVR shows. It was nice to just be lazy. Then guess what........oh come on guess.......Yep, I did more laundry. Where Sunday's laundry came from I will never know, but there were four more loads to do. I NEVER have that much laundry to do, EVER!! I am one of those people that keeps up with the laundry all week, but for whatever reason, it was never ending this weekend! The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing......I made a wonderful stew for dinner with homemade biscuits. I also made snickerdoodles for dessert. I watched a little more TV, then it was off to bed early as I had to get up early for work this morning. See, my weekend was so exciting.........I know, I know, you all want to rush out and have a weekend just like mine. Go ahead, I won't hog all of the fun for myself.........he, he, he, he.

Happy Monday to All.......

Glitterfy.com - Glitter Graphics

Hats Off......

Today I salute all of the hard working Cattlemen and Women who have forged a life for themselves out of hard work and dedication to a way of life that they love! Today in our office and meeting room, there is the yearly Cattlemen's Update for our local area taking place. As these men and women arrived today, I could hear their laughter, their greetings to one another, their hushed voices discussing matters of importance and I could hear the concern in their voices over what the future holds for them and their livelihoods.

It was interesting to listen to all of this and watch it unfold before my eyes. The meeting room is filled with a sea of cowboy hats......worn by young and old, men and women.

Today I salute you all!

(I must add that the Cattlewomen's Association and our local feed store provided a very, very, very yummy lunch!)

Tuesday Quotes....

"Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Write in your heart that every day is the best day of the year."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Simply A Quiet Sunday....

"Little acts of kindness can add up to a lifetime of happiness." I took this photo in January of 2005. This tree was in the backyard of the third house we lived in here in our little valley. It had snowed heavily, then the fog settled in the valley for several days. When it lifted, this is the sight we were greeted with. It took my breath away!

So Many Words.....

Words can define us, make us, break us, hurt us, bring joy to us......I used wordle today to create my own wordle word list. It was a lot of fun to see what words came up. Go give it a try.