Oatmeal and Creamy Wheat

When my kids were little, they referred to Cream of Wheat as "Creamy Wheat" and the name has stuck to this day! No doubt, in their now adult years, the kids rarely if ever think about Creamy Wheat, much less say it, so it is up to my hubby and me to carry on this tradition.

So, when grocery shopping recently, imagine my delight when I saw none other than "CREAMY WHEAT" sitting on the shelf! It fairly jumped into my cart! It surely knew that I would enjoy it more than any other brand  of cream of wheat.

Then that got me thinking of oatmeal and a couple of long ago memories. My mother made oatmeal frequently (and creamy wheat too!) and she always put raisins in it. Now I'm sure that she figured that the addition of raisins would increase the healthiness, not to mention the deliciousness, of said oatmeal. Well, she was WRONG!! I probably never told her (being the obedient kid that I was) that I could not stand, disliked intensely and otherwise detested the raisins in my oatmeal. I would eat them anytime straight out of the box, but hot in my oatmeal? Nooooo. So I suffered through the hot raisins.

And you know what's funny now?  I LOVE raisins in my oatmeal!! Who knew! I guess my mother did : )

Quaker Oats Tins -- Vintage Nonsense

My other oatmeal memory is of a time when I was about four, maybe five, and had to have my tonsils out. Back then, if you got sore throats, they yanked your tonsils. Well, my throat was sore for pity's sake and I didn't want any old oatmeal -- with or without raisins.

Vintage Milk Bottle -- LovenVintageLaura

So along came the milkman making his milk delivery. Milkmen back then knew the people on their routes and ours was always friendly and offered a bit of cheery conversation as he picked up our empty bottles and left our milk order at the back door. I liked to talk to him and watch him put the bottles in the wire basket that my mother put out on the back steps. (The best was when she opened a new bottle and stuck a table knife in the cream on top -- I got to have some before she mixed it into the milk. Yum!!)

Milk Bottles with Carrier -- Modred Vintage

The day of my tonsillectomy (since I refused to eat the oatmeal) my mother asked him if he would feed me a few bites and see what happened. Well, you know the end of this story! He got me to eat the oatmeal, I got my tonsils out, and afterwards had all the ice cream and jello that I wanted!!!

And, my little friend from down the street was waiting on the front steps when I got home from the hospital -- just like he told my mother he would!

♥  I'm linking my creamy wheat and oatmeal memories over at Blue Monday at Smiling Sally's.
♥  And also linking over on Rednesday at It's a Very Cherry World.

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George and a Cherry Tree

Well, it's the start of another week, the kids are out of school, and Washington's birthday, aka President's Day, is celebrated. I guess all the other presidents wanted to be remembered, and we can't just keep on adding holidays or we won't have a need for schools (although the kiddos would probably think that was cool)!!

And, it's also Blue Monday!! 

I found this cute vintage card in Carrollonline's Etsy shop -- a young boy reciting "First in war, First in peace, First in the hearts of his countrymen" which was said at Washington's funeral. From the look on the teachers' faces, they're not too happy with their student -- maybe because of those bloomers he's wearing? Or maybe because he followed in George's footsteps and chopped down a cherry tree?

(Clicking on each photo will take you directly to the listing!)

Here's young George after he chopped down that cherry tree. The evidence is right there in his hand -- you know he'll never live this one down!! Note that it says "his truthfulness" on the card... From ModernPoetry on Etsy.

How about setting your presidential table with these gorgeous Fostoria goblets? I love the cobalt blue!  You can see George on one and Martha on the other on the goblets in front. I love the addition of the silver tray in the photo too! This is from Jen's Closet on Etsy.

Here's Martha looking very lovely -- now we know why old George fell for her!! This is a 1975 Effanbee doll from their Famous Women Series and is found in Mother's DollsNStuff on Etsy.

This is Mount Vernon, Washington's home near Alexandria, Virginia. Can you imagine living in such a beautiful home? I remember visiting it on a summer vacation when I was 10 or so. This lovely calendar print can be found in Redford Retro's shop on Etsy.

I hope you enjoyed my little tribute to old George!

I'm linking up on Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally. You'll see lots of beautiful blues over there!




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Home is Where Your ♥ Is

I came across this sweet crewel embroidery at a thrift shop and just had to have it! I popped it in this wooden frame I had on hand -- I think it looks pretty good in it!

I love the cheery colors -- the yellow watering can and those sweet red strawberries.

The strawberry vine reminds me of picking strawberries and blackberries at my grandparents home in Alabama. They were planted against the fence and we could just go outside and pick them -- heaven for a little kid! I remember one time that my brother and I went with some neighbors to pick blackberries -- there were rows and rows and you had to wear long sleeves so you didn't get scratched and it was so HOT in the summer! But sweet.... oh my goodness! I probably ate as many as I picked!


Ah, but those cute strawberry jars -- I've always wanted to try my hand at growing strawberries in one of those. I think I'll just have to look for one in my ramblings about.

And do you see the little woodland creature peeking out of the Dutch door? I think Dutch doors are just the best -- I always had one in my pretend houses when I was little! I thought it would be so much fun to open the top of your door to greet a visitor, or cool pies on the ledge of the bottom one!

And who wouldn't love the sweet saying across the bottom -- and the teeny ladybug strolling by!

I did a bit of online exploring and found that, as I suspected, this is a Sunset Designs Jiffy Stitchery which came in kit form. It's a design by Chris Davenport and was copyrighted in 1978. It took me a while to find a picture but I finally did -- and when I enlarged it, I could just make out the year (in Roman numerals no less)!

So cute -- if it hadn't already been embroidered (and very neatly done, I might add) I think I would have grabbed it to do myself! I've done some crewel embroidery from kits like this one was, but don't know if I still have them. I may have given them to my daughter since she asked for them! Hmmm, I'll have to do a bit of hunting!  I also did a special one for my mother that she hung in the livingroom -- I have it now. But those are for another day....

♥♥♥ Today, I'm linking my sweet embroidery to Knick of Time Tuesday
and even though there's only a tiny bit of red, those strawberries want to be linked to Rednesday !


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