Hello everyone! My first blog site encountered a problem and for some strange reason, cannot be accessed anymore; so along with my new posts, I will be putting some of the old posts on this site also.

Here's one from a while back. :) 

Grandma's Elixir

Contrary to what my grandma believed, Vicks VapoRub is not really a cure-all. That's not to say it doesn't work for some things, but Grandma thought it was the answer to most any ailment

Cold and cough? You can bet it was rubbed on our chest

Stuffy nose? Just inhale that eucalyptus and camphor smell and put a dab in your nostrils and it will help you breathe easier. This one actually got me into some trouble at school one day. Fighting a cold, I had put a glop of it in a Kleenex to take to school. When my nose felt stuffy, I'd occasionally take it out and sniff the VapoRub . Unfortunately, Mr. Emerson, my 9th grade history teacher, didn't appreciate the magical properties of Vicks and made me throw it away and write sentences for interrupting the class. Of course, my friends and I had been pretending it was snot on the tissue in order to gross out the snobby girl that sat in front of me. 

Sore throat? Grandma told me many times to unscrew that green lid and get a little on my finger to swallow down. When I pointed out the warning on the label (which by the way says DO NOT USE IN THROAT OR MOUTH), she assured me that a little bit wouldn't hurt me; it would just make my throat numb and make me feel better. Thankfully there were times that I didn't follow her advice.

I saw her use it on her hand one day when she burned herself taking cornbread from the oven, and even overheard her telling my aunt that she'd used it on her hemorrhoids! Yes, Grandma would've been a great spokesperson for their company, because she sure believed in the power of that salve.  

I always got a chuckle out of how she kept that jar handy and how often she touted it's benefits, so imagine my surprise when a few years ago, I read something on the internet claiming that Vicks VapoRub could help cure nail fungus. My sister-in-law had just been complaining to me about my brother's toenails turning yellow because he'd gotten a fungus from spreading out mulch while barefoot. (Is this a gross blog post or what?!) Excited that maybe my grandma had been on to something after all, I called to share the remedy with her. Laughing, she interrupted me and said that they'd read the same thing and that he'd been rubbing it on his toenails every night for 3 weeks. "Is it working?" I asked hopefully. "No," she said, "but I sure can breathe good!"

For those of you interested, here are a few links showing the history and many uses of Vicks VapoRub:

http://www.ehow.com/way_5445453_vicks-vaporub-remedies.html 

http://www.mythirtyspot.com/2012/10/13-helpful-ways-to-use-vicks-vaporub.html

GRANDMA'S APRON

As I looked through my kitchen drawers the other day, I ran across this apron.

It was made for me by my Grandma King and I have a blue one similiar to it that my Grandma Bray made. They both laughed when I requested them several years ago, but seemed happy to make them for me. Now both of them are gone, but I smile whenever I see those aprons and think of my childhood and how often my grandmas and mother had one on. I don't wear my aprons often.... in fact, not in years, but they are so special to me and bring a flood of memories whenever I see them.

Not long ago, I saw this poem on a friend's site and found it very touching as it reminded me of seeing my grandmas do many of the same things. Hope you like it:

Grandma's Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with 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…
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood 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-folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that'old-time apron that served so many purposes.

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.
Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
People now would go crazy trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I never caught anything from an apron…
except Love.

~Unknown


I also remember how my grandmas used the pockets to hold their clothespins while taking clothes off the line and how flour always seemed to be on the apron from frying chicken, making biscuits, or rolling out pie crust. On Sunday dinners at Grandma's house, my sister, my cousin, and I would have one tied around us while we helped with dishes. Funny, the memories that an object can bring back.....


Saw this at the dollar store today and couldn't help but buy it for it Christmas. Not very functional, but I think they'd like it. :)