My Retail Reality: A Snow Storm in July, A blizzard in August.........

My first job working in retail was working for the local grocery store in Vermont.  I started bagging peoples groceries and worked my way up to cashier and working in the little office by the registers.  I remember that every now and then I would dream about bagging peoples groceries.  Then when I woke up in the morning all my blankets would be piled up.

My second retail job was working for a bank.  Yes banks are considered a retail job, everything in a bank is something they are selling to you.  People often say " I don't feel like they are selling products to me... well they are believe me they don't ask all the questions about your life just because they care about you... they want to figure out how they can get you to open a loan, or get a car loan through them... It is all sales!  My dreams after work for banking were always quiet crazy too.  I was always chasing down a bank robber.  I don't know why as I never felt I worried about the bank being robbed, but I had really good karate skills in my dreams, and always caught the bad guy.

My most recent dreams related to retail work have been about snow storms.  I'm part of the closing crew of a store and I look out and the snow is coming down.  I look out again and the doors are covered with snow.  Then I'm shoving the inside of the store so that the customers can still shop.  I'm not sure why  I'm dreaming of snow storms and blizzards.  Perhaps I have felt a little overwhelmed with the work load, or I'm worried that a storm will come this winter and I won't be able to drive home.  I've never been good at interpreting dreams, but I find it interesting how sometimes work ends up in my dreams. There are still nights where I dream I'm back at my first grocery store job, bagging groceries....... Life was so much less complicated back then....
I sometimes wonder if I had become a Veterinarian or Vet Tech. would I have dreams about operating on animals?
G.G.
Do you dream about your work?

Ancestral Ponderings.......I Live Among Their Furniture......

While on Stay Cation last week I spent a lot of time cleaning my house. I realized that I live among the furniture of my husbands ancestors.  Our house is a mixture of old pieces of furniture that have been handed down through the generations.

We have furniture from my husbands families old beach house.(This is the cats favorite place to sit)  This chair is older than me.  And furniture from family members who were moving and wanted to bless us with some nice extra things in our house.

Bureaus from ages past..... I'm not sure any of the the old furniture has any real value, but I love to sit and think about who might have had it before me.  What did they keep in them, perhaps some hidden treasure.

....and bed sets too.  I don't think there is much in our house that we have even bought.  And the quilts are all made lovingly by my mom. 

I recently read a book called "Fire Bird" where the main character could hold an item and know about the previous owners.

I would love to have that ability.  To be able to sit on one of these old pieces of furniture and know about those who owned it before me. The rocking chair though, it is new.  It is special because my in-laws had it made for me when my son was born.  When my grandparents were moving I had wanted one of their rocking chairs, but they didn't give me one.  How I would have loved to sit in a chair that was theirs and remember them and our time spent together.  Perhaps though I'll pass this chair down to my children or grandchildren, and they will think about me and know that I spent hours rocking in this chair with my babies.

Do you have any old furniture from relatives long gone, do you think about them when you sit on them and wonder what their lives might have been like?

G.G.

# Throw Back Thursday.....A Day At The Amusement Park.....

I'm not a big amusement park person, but while going through old photo's I found some where I actually went on the rides.  Here I am on the bumper cars with my brother.

This looks like it might have been fun, and safe, and not scary....That's what I like!

My favorite ride, the Merry Go Round, perhaps this is my first time ever on one! It only cost $1.50 to go to this park.

Here is a photo of me with my daughter on one of her first trips to an amusement park.

Here they are at Santa's Land in New Hampshire.  We also went on a roller coaster that day and I thought my daughter was going to fly right out of it.  It taught me to always watch the ride before going on, as it went around twice.  I was not happy.

I think I like the kiddie rides the best!

My daughter looks happy in this photo, it was the beginning of the ride, and unfortunately for her she also gets motion sick, she didn't look so good at the end of the ride.

Now that my kids are teens they have to do things by themselves.  Even though they hate to be up high they rode this skyline tram.... I felt like I needed a seat belt on this.....

The roller coasters are way too fast and scary for me.......

So I take photo's, eat the yummy sugary food, and carry every one's stuff!  But it is still fun to spend a day at the amusement park with my children, and watch them try new rides!
Happy Thursday.
G.G.

Some Days I Miss Being A Stay At Home Mom.......

Part of my Stay-Cation is cleaning my office.  As I clean I stop and look through my scrapbooks.  Most of them are from when my children were little.  It was one of those "Stay At Home Mom"  things to do.  Back then all the "At Home" Mom's would get together and scrapbook, talk and watch the children play.  Today as I looked through them I thought of how blessed I was to stay home with my children when they were young.

It was a choice I made quiet happily.  I loved staying home with my children.  Life was slow, and lazy.  There was library time, meal times, nap time ( that was a favorite), special TV show time.  There was play group, and for awhile speed walking in the mall.  I think the only thing I really missed was adult conversation.  As most of my time was spent with just me and my two kids. I probably drove my husband crazy when he came home because I just needed to talk to someone on an adult level.

It was nice to be the one who taught my children about the world.  I taught them how to read, and write.  We went on nature walks, and spent lazy summer days at the pool, and on weekends we spent our evenings at the beach.  And when sickness hit the house we all just snuggled up together and got better.  There was no worry about work schedules, babysitters etc... We lived in our own little bubble of a world and really it was wonderful.

We also could just go away on vacation with out really having to worry about being back.  It was nice to share two different worlds with my children.  The crazy New Jersey town and beach life, and the quiet mountain life of Vermont.  I would not change anything from those years,

 they were wonderful. 

Now my children are teens, and they need to learn to be independent, and I can't stand the empty house all day.  So as much as I miss those slow days, I'm glad for my busy work world, because staying at home with the children out of the house is not fun. Well except for vacation because everyone needs time off.  And the quiet today was just wonderful!

G.G.

# Throw Back Thursday......Thinking about my home in New Jersey......

This week I've been thinking about my home in New Jersey.  Not quiet missing it, but thinking of the things I liked and didn't like.  I liked all the sun that came in,  I love to sit in the sun.  I didn't like living right next to someone else though.  My father in law warned us about buying a duplex, but it was what we could afford.  I have to say I love the peace of my new house and not living so close to people that you can talk to them while in the bathroom.

I liked our big bedroom, and the color it was painted, it was beautiful in the morning sun. I didn't like the plaster walls.  It cost a lot to fix those walls, and ceilings.  I didn't realize what a fixer upper we had bought.  I wish I had  a Realtor like we had out here back then.  I would probably never have bought that house if I knew how much needed fixing and knew how fixated my husband would be on making it look period correct.  We were talking just this week about how nice it is to have a house that doesn't need major fixing.

I loved the kitchen that my husband built with the help of a lot of different friends.  I hope someday to get the same colors in my new kitchen.  But if it never happens that will be OK.  My upstairs living room in the new house has a great color scheme and I can just feel so comfortable and relaxed in it.

I love the family memories.  Watching my children grow, getting our furry friend.  We have wonderful memories of living in that house.  We also have a lot of crazy duplex stories.  I've been thinking of writing about life in a duplex.  Because life can be different when you have no control over who lives right next door.  And that is why I'm so glad to have my new house and a fence around the yard. 

But here is to the wonderful crazy duplex years!

G.G.

Ancestral Ponderings.....They came in ships and that would have made me sick!

The majority of my ancestors came to America when the only way to travel here was by boat.  I like this photo of the ship that might have carried those first ancestors across the ocean.  I can imagine a rough and stormy trip.  Were they brave, were they looking for a better life?  Had they even been on a boat before?  I would love to read about what their voyage was like.

But I know one thing, I would have gotten really sick.  I might have been one of those passengers who set off the first wave of illness.  I could have been one that died from it and had my body thrown over into the ocean.  I think possibly I would have prayed for death if I was in their shoes.  As I unfortunately  get motion sickness very easily.  People who don't suffer from motion sickness just can't understand the dread of it.

When I was in high school I went on two ocean boat trips.  The first I was not prepared for the fact that I would get motion sick.  And unfortunately for me and the rest of the people it was a very windy and stormy day.  Let's just say I was the first to get sick, but almost everyone that day got sick.  Solid land was a welcome sight to us all.

One thing I have learned about motion sickness is that it is hereditary.  And so I assume that one poor woman at some point survived a very bad trip across the ocean.  I'm grateful she made it here and that I'm able to live in this great country.  But I'm glad I don't ever have to take a journey on a ship to an unknown land.  Flying across the country was bad enough for me and my daughter.

G.G.

You can find lots of photo's of ships and information on who was on the ships just by searching for 

"Ships of my ancestors"