Scrapbooking

Ever want to get lost in your thoughts?  How about getting lost in your memories!!!  That is what scrapbooking is all about.  Use your imagination to create beautiful backgrounds for those treasured memories.  Memories that you may have forgotten or just pushed to back of your mind.  Some of those memories bring smiles, some bring tears, some you can't believe really happened, and how in the world did I get that on film?  Isn't it amazing the good things that happened in our lives?  You think to yourself, "How could I have forgotten that?"  I have pictures that can never be replace or reproduced, esp. of my Mom and Dad.  Pictures of relatives that have been long gone or just recently departed.  And you wonder why you didn't take the time to take more pictures of those wonderful people whe had such a profound affect on your life.  My Mom and Dad both had to work to barely make ends meet.  We stayed with relatives and really enjoyed it.  We had cousins to play with.  No video games, not much tv (only could get 3 channels if you could get the antennae turned to keep the picture from fading).  Remember how cold that antennae pole was in the winter.  And we had to turn it with our hands!!!  We rode our bicycles everywhere.  We had roller skates that fit over our shoes.  You had a key to turn to tighten the skates to fit whatever pair of shoes you had on at the time.  Cooking hot dogs and roasting marshmallows over an open fire was only done on the week-ends because that was a real treat for us.  The only place we could afford to eat out was the Dairy Queen.  There weren't that many restaurants back in the day.  Only a few "cafes" scattered over several counties.  We had our 8-balls to answer all our questions about our futures.  We wrote our boyfriends name in all our notebooks (on, in, and anywhere else it would fit).  We wrote Mrs. blank balnk a million times and surrounded it by all sizes of hearts.  We went to church on Sunday's whether we wanted to or not.  You were not given a choice.  We helped to feed the hogs (I loved the sound of them eating corn and mixing the "slop" (a powder you mixed with water) and listening to them slurp it up).  I liked to scratch their backs and watch them wallow in the mud to keep cool in the simmer.  I did not like the winter when time came to slaughter them to make hams and ground sausage and cracklings and bacon.  There was a lot of lard rendering, too.  We used that to cook.   I had to have supper on the table when my parents got off work.  I got 50 cents a week for chores which I did, or my Dad took the belt to my hind end.  That 50 cents had to last all week.  I remember saving dimes to buy me a pair of penny loafers.  I had to borrow a formal from one of my friends to wear to the Prom.  I miss those days when life seemed so simple.  But I don't think I would change any of it if I could.  I wish that our young people could have known those days.  May God bless and keep you each and every day.