Last week, I watched The Journey of Natty Gann while making some muffins and cleaning up the kitchen. If you have never seen the movie, it is a period piece, set in the early 1930s, during the depression. An out of work widower must choose between staying with his daughter in Chicago, or going out to Washington state for a rare chance to work. He has little choice but to leave the daughter in the care of a floozy of a landlady. Natty, the daughter (14 years old?), runs away from the bad landlady and rides the rails all the way out to Washington. (Many adventures along the way. It ends happily.)

What struck me about the movie was the utter poverty and hopelessness of the great depression and the terrible choices people had to make back then.

While watching, I realized that my dad would have been around the same age as Natty during that difficult time.

Like so many other children, my dad had to quit school (8th grade) to go to work. My dad really loved to play baseball, but couldn't join his brothers and the neighborhood guys in a game after dinner because he had to go to bed early. You see, dad was fortunate to get a job in a bakery. Being a baker meant very early to bed and very early to rise in order to get the baking finished by the time the shop opened.

The wages were low, I think he earned around $1.15 a week, but the job had a big perk: he could take home all the day-old bakery he wanted. With 7 mouths to feed in the family, 2 parents and 4 siblings, that was a blessing.

His dad, my grandfather, had to wake my dad up in the wee hours of the morning to go to work. I think it nearly killed my grandfather to do so, because he himself was out of work. He knew my dad should have been allowed the few pleasures a poor kid could have--playing with his neighborhood buddies. But my dad had to shoulder the responsibilities of an adult at age 13 and go to work. Come payday, my dad gave his earnings to his family.

His situation was not as dire as some; he knew he was blessed to be in an intact family that had a roof over their heads.

Whenever I heard my father tell that story, I never heard any bitterness or anger in his voice in the telling. There always was an attitude of gratitude in the fact that he had a job that paid money and had the benefit of the extra food. 

Later he joined the CCC, and even though he could have had a deferment, he joined the Marines. (Photo is dad in his Marine days; he was an aircraft mechanic.)

After WWII, he married, had a family, and continued working hard until 1982, when he retired.

The poor guy, he barely cashed his first Social Security check when my husband and I purchased a rental property in the Riverwest area. It was a BIG old flat that needed painting. My husband and I worked on it, and a host of other things that needed doing there, but seemed to get nowhere fast.

Seeing our need, my dad offered to help. The irony was, he had his own large townhouse sided so he would never have to paint again! But there he was at our rental, climbing ladders with brushes and paint bucket in hand. Not one to sit back in his retirement, he saw a need, filled it, and remained cheerful until the job was finished.

My dad worked hard all of his life. Maybe that is why he was able to stay independent in his own home for so long. Even at age 88, when we had that huge snow in November of 2007, he was still helping snow blowing the neighbors out!

Being always ready to lend a hand, that characterized my dad. "Can't complain" characterized his attitude in all things. 

I think the people of his generation experienced so much hardship in the great depression and WWII, that it forever shaped them into people of great strength. Sometimes that can make people bitter and hard, but not my dad. He always put his trust in the Lord. Dad, like Job in the Bible, always had the attitude of, "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21 Or, put another way, he would say, "You've got to roll with the punches."

Even now, with halting speech and gait, if you ask him how he is, he still manages to look at you with his blue eyes and say say, "Can't complain."

Happy Father's Day, Dads. Don't ever think you are not leaving your mark on your world.

(I am still learning Job 1:21 and to be like my dad.)

Past post: My Favorite Marine

Links:

My mom was an amazing woman. Her priorities were God, Dad, us, others, then herself. She was kind, generous, and a whiz at managing money. Since the economy is in the news so much these days, I will focus on her money management talents.

To use an expression I once heard, she could pinch a nickel so hard the Indian was riding the buffalo! That is no longer politically correct, but thankfully the nickels have changed now too. The updated version would be she pinched a nickel so hard Jefferson was riding the buffalo! I am sure if she had been sent to Washington, she could have balanced the budget.

I grew up in a blue collar household located in a gold coast suburb (Shorewood), yet my parents never argued about money. Mom elevated frugality to an art form. She used coupons and stuck to her budget. (She used an envelope system ala Dave Ramsey.)

Most mothers back then still cooked meals, and she was no different.  We ate up leftovers and did not waste food as many do today. Sundays we splurged and had lunch out at a modest restaurant after church and munched on popcorn for dinner. She would joke that it was against her religion to cook on Sunday! (I follow that same practice.)

Her philosophy of money management was to skimp on things that don't matter so you could splurge once in a while on something that would greatly improve your quality of life. That is how we ended up with a dishwasher back in the 1950s and a color TV in the mid 1960s. You may snicker at those two items being a luxury, but trust me, they were not the norm--even in Shorewood.

One of the items we saved money on were clothes. Mom sewed her clothes and most of my sister's and mine. She taught me to sew and I made my first dress in 3rd grade.

Another other area of savings were vacations. I think we started camping in 1958. Even though mom was not really the camping type, she saw that it was a relatively inexpensive way to see the U.S.A. We would pack up our huge cabin tent and head out to Mt.Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, etc. Those are fond memories.

I had some girlfriends who were from much wealthier families than mine. There wasn't jealousy or envy about that fact; that was just how life was. One in particular has been my friend since the 1st grade. Her parents owned a popular resort up north that was frequented by Green Bay Packers and other local celebrities. She spent each summer up there.

Her mom took her to Chicago each year to purchase all new school clothes. Because I was always interested in fashion, that was a wondrous thing to me. They also had a housekeeper who did all of their cooking. My friend seemed to have the ideal life at the time.

Recently my 1st grade friend mentioned how she thought I was the privileged one when we were growing up. She wished her mom sewed her clothes, made oatmeal cookies, and above all, she wished she could have traveled like we did on our camping trips!

In looking back at my life, I have to agree. I was privileged. I still am. So much of who I am and what I value was influenced by my Godly mother. If she were here today, I would rise up and call her blessed. She left a pair of large shoes to fill.

If your mom is still here, be sure to tell her all that is in your heart this Mother's Day.

Links:

When my son was young, we dyed eggs for Easter. Oh my, what chaos! But he had so much fun, how could I say no? My sister would come over and join in the festivities (and mess). Our favorite dyes were those oily swirl type paints.

Some of the eggs turned out so pretty, it was a real shame to destroy and eat them later. So we decided to dye either hollowed out real eggs or use the plastic type that split apart--that allowed us to keep them indefinitely.

Martha Stewart online has some great egg decorating ideas this month.

I decided that an egg tree would be the perfect place to display our works of art. The tree was easy to make. All I did was go into my yard and prune off a young scrubby tree. I think I use part of a dogwood bush. A young buckthorn would also work well. (Heaven knows there are plenty of those around!) You can purchase ready made trees too.

After you trim the little tree to a pleasing shape, spray with white spray paint and let dry. You will want to leave the lower trunk a little longer so it can fit into your "stand". (The trunk might need a little whittling to fit it into the stand.)

For the stand, I just used a plastic tub, like the kind Cedar-Crest ice cream comes in. I also took a short piece of metal conduit (make sure your tree trunk fits into it, but any tubular material would work: plastic, PVC, round toothbrush case, etc.) and held it perpendicular in the center of the tub and then poured some mortar mix in around it. I then let it cure overnight. Plaster of Paris would work too, I think.

I put the tree into the conduit tube in the stand (a few Popsicle sticks can take up the extra space and keep the tree straight.) 

The stand goes in a basket with some "grass" on top. I used some natural packing material that came in a food gift basket. You could use that shredded crinkle paper you get from a craft store too. If you do not have a basket, you could use a large circle of pretty fabric and gather it over the whole base and tie with a ribbon or even use wrapping paper.

My tree stand in the basket then goes onto a serving platter that I put more of that "grass" in.

Pick out the prettiest eggs you dyed and glue a narrow ribbon loop on top. I used the blow hole to poke the ribbon ends into and Tacky glue. A small silk flower can cover the hole if it got too large.

You may want to leave some eggs with longer, separate ribbons so you can tie them onto the branches that a loop won't slip over.

Now you are ready to decorate the tree! 

If the eggs are plastic, heat up a metal skewer or nail  in a candle (you can use a pliers to hold the nail so you don't get burned) and melt a hole in the end.  I then made a ribbon loop and knotted it through a bead so I could slip it through the hole to hang.

Here are some countdown ideas:

We hung the real eggs on the tree, but I left 1 to 2 dozen of the plastic ones for the basket top and serving platter.

I placed inside each plastic egg a jelly bean, malted milk ball egg, etc. and a Bible verse pertaining to Easter. If you were really ambitious, you could add a number to the egg, 1-24 and then put the Bible verses inside in chronological order: verses about needing a Savior, Palm Sunday, the arrest, Good Friday, and finally the resurrection. (I never got my act that together.)

I wrote the verses onto card stock and then cut with a pinking sheers. These days there are really fun scissors available--I'm sure children would enjoy making the verse strips. We put a sticker on each strip, but a rubber stamp would work too. You could use the computer and a printer to do this too.

Each day, the child picks an egg, reads the verse (we put the verse back in the egg), eats the treat, and hangs the egg on the tree!

By the time it is Easter, the whole tree is bedecked.

If you have more than one child participating, the eggs could be separated and stored in maybe half of one of those prettier white foam cartons or clear cartons. Or one child maybe has all blue and green eggs, the other pink and yellow, or one has the odd numbers, one the even. You will sort it out.  

Some people place something pertaining to Easter or the verse in each egg if they don't want to use candy: i.e. A cotton ball for Isaiah 1:18 Though you sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Other items might be a heavy horseshoe type nail, a small lamb, a thorn, a small palm branch etc. I believe you can purchase a dozen of these eggs with the small item in them at Family Christian Stores .  

 





You can display your treasures in a basket too.

Brown eggs can be quite interesting.

So let the egg-citement begin!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.) 

I store the bare tree upside down from a basement rafter when not in use--just twist a long wire loop around the trunk and hang from a nail.

Links: Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

One week down, 51 more to go in 2008. Already I am thinking, where did the first week go? (I started the new year out a little under the weather, so that may account for feeling I missed out on something.)

The end of the past year and start of the new naturally lends itself to being a time of reassessment. Being one of those Christmas letter people helps me sum up our highs and lows of the year. 

I get a pretty good look at our finances when I make our one time, year end donations to various causes rather than monthly donations (it just seems simpler to do it once).  I also render to Caesar by bringing my property tax payment to City Hall prior to year's end.

Some people clear out their Christmas decorations immediately after Christmas--they can't stand the clutter. Me, I leave my tree up until at least the end of January. I figure it takes me so long to put the thing up (if you saw it, you would understand) that I at least like to bask in its glow a bit before taking it down. Plus the decorations help chase the winter blahs away.  

Organizing seems to be a common theme of the new year. You can see it in the big box store ads. All sorts of organizational bins and boxes are on sale to get your stuff in order. 

New Year's resolutions are popular, but by now, some are already broken. I much prefer setting goals--something to strive for. The acronym J.O.Y. helps me keep my priorities straight. It stands for Jesus, Others, You. 

Setting a goal for the J, for example, might mean spending more time reading the Bible and praying every day. But make it a reasonable goal--maybe one chapter a day and 15 minutes of praying. (Keeping a prayer list really helps me.)

O for others could include your family. Maybe this is the year you will make family time and family meals a priority? Others also includes neighbors, community, school, volunteering, politics, charities, etc.

Finally You!  Getting/keeping fit and healthy living goals are always popular here. Again, don't start with something unreasonable like walking 5 miles a day. How about walking 3 times a week for 1/2 hour? (That is my goal this year. I know my dog will be happy about it too.) Saying you will never eat sugar again won't work, but designating a small sweet treat to once a day is something that could work for a lifetime. You also means taking a little time to do what you enjoy--maybe your You goal is to learn something new or go visit a place you always wanted to see. It might be as simple as saying you will make time to meet with a good friend once a week.

Well, it is time for me to get on with my day--must go ORGANIZE something!

Hope you reach your goals for 2008.

My dog just received a Christmas card! He is a popular dog with our local dog sitter. (She was kind enough to also include us.)

When we got our dog in 2001 we were faced with that common problem of what do you do with them while on vacation?

Through word of mouth we found out about a local woman who dog sits in her home. It has proven to be a very nice arrangement for both our dog and us. 

I am sure there are very nice kennels out there, but we really like leaving Zipper, our 13# Maltese mutt, with the neighborhood sitter, who we affectionately refer to as "Grandma". Our pooch has a blast at her house when we are on vacation, which helps us to enjoy ours as well. (It is like doggy camp for him.)

Entrepreneurship is one of the things that makes our country great. I like to support local businesses and entrepreneurs as much as possible. Often they provide a better level of services and do it with a more personal touch--like sending customers personal notes. 

Zipper, by the way, was obtained from the Wisconsin Humane Society. We put in a request for a small, no-shed dog and a few months later received a call that "Walter" was available. (That was the temporary name given him.)

One look was pretty much all it took. He came home with us that day and has been a wonderful addition to our family ever since.

The Wisconsin Humane Society is a very good place to adopt dogs from. They do extensive personality testing to make sure the dog does not have aggression issues.

Just one month before Zipper, we had a very bad experience with the Waukesha Humane Society adopting an older dog. That dog had to be put down for biting. We later found out he was surrendered for aggression reasons. A pretty traumatic experience for the whole family. (He was our first dog.)
 

Warning: DO NOT go to a Humane Society just to look! That is how it all starts. We really had no intention of getting a pet until we went to the Wisconsin Humane Society on a homeschool field trip. The rest, as they say, is history!

This is Buddy, I believe one of the dogs rescued from a puppy mill by the Elmbrook Humane Society. Buddy now brightens the days of residents of Fairview Senior Homes. (This picture does not do Buddy justice.)