Suz's Blog beginning

I was told the other day I should blog. Simple compliment I guess~but in my brain it started a discussion with myself. WHY? Why did he say that? What do I have to share with anyone. Well, what started this you say? His headlights were foggy and I told him to take some toothpaste and scrub on them and viola~ clear headlights again...of course all I had was the gel toothpaste, and it works better with plain ole paste, but still he saw the huge difference. Thus he complimented me by saying "You should blog."
I know it was an off the cuff comment, but it got me to thinking.
What little tidbits have I always taken for granted that everyone knows but possibly don't. With the internet all you have to do is type in your favorite search engine (dogpile.com is mine by the way in case you wondered) and you have an answer for everything from removing splinters with baking soda, to how to change your oil in your Toyota.
But what about people who didn't grow up in the country the way I did. I grew up with limited funds (poor if you prefer), we grew most of what we ate, killed what we didn't grow, and God bless my Mother scrimped for the rest. Dad burned off copper wire in the fall for our Christmas money (EPA would track him down now for that) and cut our wood for our winter heat. We kids wore yard sale clothing most of the time, except for right before school started we got 2 pair of jeans, a couple of shirts, a NEW pair of tennis shoes, and socks and underwear. Back then there weren't places to go to get free school supplies (Mom wouldn't have taken them anyway because we EARNED what we had~NO HAND OUTS~she would roll her eyes with society today) so school supplies were very basic. My Dad worked at a land fill (dump) and when stores would overstock, or order the wrong thing, or whatever, we would occasionally get a pair of Nike shoes or expensive jeans. When the local Colgate factory closed many Colgate products went to the landfill by the truckloads (literally) and we had dish soap, bar soap, toothpaste, for months and months. People down the road actually broke into our basement and stole a lot from my parents. The idiot kids left the empty Palmolive bottles in their parents front yard about a week later...Dad paid their Daddy a little visit...well you can imagine...

Well some people may think this is something to be ashamed of, growing up poor. I on the other hand am quite proud of it. I learned to fix what I had when it broke (don't run to Wal-Mart and get another one) or do without. Sounding like my Maw now~ kids today say, can't we go get another one...I say nope~you didn't care for it properly~do without. I still have my teddy bear from when I was 3 years old. I still have my first Red Rider BB gun. I still have my Fisher Price toys and little people. Why because I took care of what I had. Knew if it broke, or I lost it, I was not going to get another one. As I grew up, I was frugal. Some of my friends who were busy keeping up with the Jones' made fun of me saying I lived like the Amish (not true we had TV). Now with the way things are EVERYONE is refurbishing, fixing up, re-purposing, canning/freezing, gardening.....and I think oh,ok, what's the big deal been doing that since I was a kid. That's what poor people did. I was in Wal-Mart the other day and overheard a young couple discussing the musty smell their house had due to the carpeting. The young man was looking at those carpet dust you put down right before you vacuum the floor, but he was telling his young wife they were just too expensive. I was looking for washing soda to make some laundry soap (I will tell you how to make it later~save huge $$$), but I digress, back to the couple. I told them to get baking soda and sprinkle it on the carpet, wait about 4 hours then vacuum and the smell would be gone without all that overpowering flowery smell in the house. They were shocked. The young wife said why didn't I think of that. They followed me down the aisle and I showed them what to use, how to use it and how often if needed. I guess I caught the attention of another lady in the aisle because she came over and asked me how to get the weird smell out of her washer (yes I knew the answer) and down the other end of the aisle~then I sent her over to the food section to get vinegar. By this time my 9 year old was whining he was hungry, and I knew I had to get out of that aisle quickly before someone else asked me something else...
Well, that is the beginning of my blog. Nothing really special about it, but I think it may be helpful in the future to you, if I don't forget I started it while freezing and canning and crocheting. I am just a country gal, but I would be happy to help out with my country knowledge on how to make a peach cobbler or clean your sinks out that stink. And to Gerald~this is all your fault! :D