My Daily Journal: March 5, 2018

This is My Daily Journal and today is Monday – March 5, 2018 and it’s been almost a week since we started our 31 day challenge on teaching ourselves  – “The Lost Art of Cozy Living.”  How is it going at your house?

You know – back in the days of my childhood – working hard and cozy living – was just about all we knew.

I grew up in a household similar to the Walton’s.  It was Grandpa and Granny Anderson – Uncle John and Aunt Dorothy – Uncle Harry – my cousin Bobby who came a couple times to spend the summers with us from Washington, DC – and daddy, mom, my 2 sisters and me – AND my dog Fluffy – a little blonde Cocker Spaniel that was the light of my life when I was growing up.

Here’s a photo of my childhood home – where I lived until I was 9 years old – and at 9 – we moved one block away in our own home – which was said to be marked by Hobo’s of that era.

The hobo’s knew they could knock on the door of 906 East 5th Street and get a meal from an elderly lady that lived there for decades – and her last name was Rehlmeyer I do believe.  And the story of living in a home marked by hobo’s is a story for another day – but oh the memories – I’m wondering as I write this – if that experience right there – was what set my heart and mind to feeling drawn to the homeless and less fortunate as strongly as I am.  Because even though when they’d stop by – daddy wouldn’t bring them inside our home – he’d take a meal out to them and sit on the front porch and talk with them while they ate and he’d let me set out there with them.  I LOVED that and I loved hearing their stories.

This is a photo of my first home below and that house looks small – but it goes way back.  It was like an enchanted homestead to a little girl with a little pug nose and Shirley Temple hair – that evidently was born with an already – old soul.

And there were 2-3 sheds back there – a secret garden full of hollyhocks and sunflowers and zinnias out the wazoo.  A chicken coop and a little business run by my grandpa – where he sold minnows and worms to fishermen – I LOVED that old minnow and worm business and grandpa would let me help as often as I wanted. This was in the late 40’s – and YUP – I’m that old!  🙂

I’d take that little dipper net and dip down in those huge concrete tubs that were about 6-7 feet long and about 3-4 feet wide and there was 2 or 3 of them – for different kinds of minnows – and then there was the worm bed.  I loved digging in the worm bed – and now THAT got me in trouble – because Grandpa wanted those worms left alone and all rested for the fishermen that stopped by to get them.  But I loved turning the dirt over in that big worm bed with a little stick and watching those worms wiggle and squirm.

We had a well outside the side kitchen door and we’d pump fresh water into a metal bucket each morning. And that was our drinking water for the day.   That old bucket had a little metal ‘dipper’ that set down in it and it set on the kitchen cabinet beside that side door.  If we wanted a drink – we’d each just go to that big bucket and get a drink out of that dipper – YUP – we all drank out of the same dipper all day long –

The men would work the farm which was a couple miles away – IN FACT – it set in the very spot our local South Gate Nursing Home sets now.  That used to be a big old barn that set in that spot – with pigs and cows and big old chicken snake that grandpa let live in that barn.  OH HOW I LOVED – spending the day with grandpa at that old farm.

The women would do the household chores and cook all day – do wash on a wringer washing machine and hang the clothes on the clothes line out back.  They’d cook big meals at lunch and after lunch – clear our plates and wash them and put them back – and then just throw a big table cloth over the table – and we’d have left overs for supper.

Simple pleasures that make for a storybook childhood – that’s what most kids are missing today.

There was a kind of narrow dirt path – and I say narrow – but I’m guessing that path was 2-3 feet wide – that led right out the back porch door – straight to the little potty house – and yes we had an old Sears catalog there for our shopping convenience …

But back in those days – although times were very hard on most families – most all had their priorities straight and in just the right order.

Everybody in the family went to church on Sunday – and wouldn’t have dared mowed the grass on that day.

People took the time to sit and visit – and evenings were not spent in front of the tv – they were spent on the front porch or sitting in the yard – if weather permitted – and in winter – everybody gathered around the old coal stove and talked.

Summers for kids were spent making mud pies or playing swing the statue or any number of imaginative games.  YES – Kids actually had very active and creative minds back then.

Evenings in summer would find the kids catching lightning bugs in jars – and no – that never got old  🙂

Winter evenings would find kids on pallets on the floor by the old wood or coal stove – coloring in coloring books – I can smell the scent of those old coloring books and crayons even now.

SO – the art of cozy living is nothing new.  Families had it down to a science back in those days.

We’ve just let modern day technology take control of our lives – and these silly iphones and others – the very thing that was made to help us communicate – have almost stopped communication in it’s tracks.

If you kind of found yourselves overwhelmed with work last week – OR just couldn’t figure out a starting place to start practicing a little bit of the lost art of cozy living – then – scratch that – because last week is in your past.

Start TODAY – Monday, March 5th – 2018 – to place little bits and pieces of cozy living into your day …

Turn off that TV and talk about the day you have planned ahead and something fun or enjoyable you can do together today.

Or at the end of the day ‘talk about your day and how it went.’

Have a candle light supper – even if it’s sandwiches – turn off the big bright lights and light a candle –

Geezer even put a music channel on our TV (it was free – we just hadn’t put it in) and I’m just playing soft oldies in the back ground during the day – very softly now – and we’re hearing “Fly Me To The Moon” and “As Time Goes By” and “Love Letters in the Sand” – and other warm and fuzzy songs –

Talk about a relaxed atmosphere … even in the midst of our work load …

I AM LOVING this month of cozy living – and I hope to keep it up …

Gotta get busy – I started out feeling like I should write about The Secret To Abundant Living this morning – because of some daily devotions I read out of for a few minutes each morning – but either me or possibly God – had other ideas … at any rate – this is what we have today  🙂

A teacher asked her class one day – “What’s here today – that wasn’t here 100 years ago?”  And a little boy in the back of the room spoke up and said “ME!”  🙂

LIFE IS PRECIOUS – YOU ARE SPECIAL in each of your own ways – Remember that!!!

And whatever you have on your schedule for today – MAKE TODAY AWESOME!!!

I love you all –

Peace and lots of love – from me to all of you …

We really ARE going to get my junk book journals posted SOON – Kim’s been working almost double over time – but she’s about to have just a short break and be on regular hours for a bit – and we’ll get this done – MAYBE even this week   🙂  Etsy Shop and Youtube Video’s – coming soon  🙂