MY SATURDAY MORNINGS SPENT WITH FRED AND BARNEY

One of my sweetest memories from childhood was my Saturday morning ritual.  My mom would let us sleep in a little later, and, of course, we knew we would have to get all our chores done before we could go out anywhere, but first we could sit around leisurely to watch our favorite Saturday shows; the cartoons!  I would get up and make myself some breakfast, consisting of lightly toasted bread, buttered first and then slathered with grape jelly, accompanied by a nice cold glass of milk. Naturally, I would eat this in the kitchen because my mom did not allow us to have food or drinks on the carpeting.  In hindsight, I realize she had good reason for this particular rule, because I always put an awful lot of jelly on that toast.  After breakfast though, it was time to plunk down in front of the television to watch my favorite shows of the week.  I let our children do the same, but, even by the time they were growing up, the offerings were never as entertaining as the ones that I viewed as a child.
Today's cartoons truly fall short, in my opinion, compared to the ones that I watched back in the days when I was young.  "The Flintstones, "Mighty Mouse" and "The Jetsons," made such an impression on me, that I can still sing the theme songs from every single one of them, along with a bevy of others! I liked the way they were animated and I liked the lighthearted stories that they told. They were silly and fun, and I relished every moment of them.  Sadly, I can never find any reruns of those classics, because, if I did, I would be willing to put off all my "grown-up" Saturday morning chores, make some butter and jelly-bread toast, and watch them all over again with the same enthusiasm I had as a child.
Another ritual that I sorely miss is watching all the animated Christmas cartoons, along with the family, when they were aired right before the holiday.  "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Magoo's Christmas Carol" were shows I looked forward to every year, and knowing that if you didn't allot time for them in your schedule you wouldn't be seeing them for another whole year made them all the more precious and important to watch.  I even treasured the "Dolly Madison" commercials that were always shown during "A Charlie Brown Christmas, but not at any other time of the year in my area. Those commercials, somehow, made the shows more memorable to me because Charlie Brown specials were the only times when I saw them.
Today, of course, those shows are still aired but they are shown multiple times; somehow making them feel less special than they did in the past.  Also, with the advent of videos and the DVD, the need to set aside time to watch the shows together was no longer necessary.  I remember a time when I was watching a video with my daughters when they were small, and, as was their usual custom, they asked me to play it over again after it had finished. I mentioned that when I was a child we didn't have videos, so they asked me how it was possible to rewind them that way.   I explained that we couldn't, and, not only that, we could only watch the shows when they happened to be on television; they were not available whenever we wanted!  Their faces showed the evidence of both their pity and astonishment.

In retrospect, I think maybe our way was better.  Not having something whenever we wanted it made it all the more precious and exciting to us those times when we did. I think the fact that today that is no longer the case, leads children to continuously expect instant gratification, because more often than not, that is exactly what they get! In any case, I miss those shows shown once before the holidays, and, of course, those delightful Saturday morning cartoons.  Sponge Bob is alright...but he will never compare to Fred Flintstone....sigh.  Blessings, Amycita 

WHY WE ARE STILL EATING OFF OF THE KITCHEN COUNTER, INSTEAD OF A TABLE

Last year, my husband and I decided we needed to have some work done on our house.  With the three oldest daughters out on their own now, and Olivia at college for most of the year, it seemed like an ideal time to give our house a little update.  Olivia was just four when we first moved out here, the twins were 10 and Holly was 13, so the fifteen years that ensued were busy ones, that were filled with a parade of friends, pups, cats, fish, parties, sleepovers and school projects, (not to mention a few of my cooking disasters or the couple of floods in the basement) so the house was in definite need of a "little sprucing up." Since Dave was exhausted from having been working six days a week to pay for all of the aforementioned, as well as the groceries, clothes, mortgage, vacations and college fees, too, we decided to hire a contractor to help us with the job. The plan was to have the whole house painted, an upstairs bathroom remodeled and new flooring to be put in throughout the house, but, somehow, along the way, two more bathrooms, the laundry room and the kitchen ended up being remodeled, as well. The project took many months, and the fact that our marriage survived intact speaks volumes about our tenacity.
Each day I would return from work, excited to see what new transformation would greet me, beyond the dust and mess.  My unabashed enthusiasm often amused the workers, as I would expound, at great length, about the beauty of drywall or hug the new laundry tub, which came with a retractable hose AND towel rack!  We muddled through our absence of a working sink in the kitchen, and the loss of my favorite curling iron (which I still haven't located amongst the many items that remain in the 10,000 boxes, still unpacked, in the basement) until, finally, after months of work, the job was completed. The house looked more lovely than I could have ever imagined and the only thing left to be done (other than unpacking those pesky boxes) was to buy a new kitchen table and some furniture for the family room...that was almost two months ago and I still have not completed these tasks.
Since July we have been without a kitchen table, which one would think would spur me on to make a quicker decision, but, not only do I hate shopping, the ability to go online offers far too many choices.  One site alone brags that it has over 7400 tables to choose from!!  Are these people crazy??  I get exhausted just thinking about looking at 7400 tables, much less choosing one!! And what if I choose one and then see it cheaper on a different site that offers 7400 tables??  Not only will I hate myself, but, more importantly,  I will have been forced to have looked at 14,800 tables!!!!!  So, I am left with the only sensible thing to do....eat off of my brand new kitchen counter for the remainder of my life, or until they offer me less choices.
Blessings, Amycita...and here are a few pics of the project. :]