by Debbie Walker

I bought another book of different uses for regular products. The name of the book is CLEAN IT! FIX IT! EAT IT! It is authored by Joey Green; it is said that he has about 20 books published. I have enjoyed reading the content, have no idea if I will ever remember the ideas when I need the advice. I have not gathered information on all the ideas in the title, however, there is much more for a column at a later date. Let’s move on now:

DOWNY can be used as a hair conditioner: add a half a capful of liquid Downy to four cups of water. Pour through your hair. Rinse and, ta da, no tangles.

DOWNY will also eliminate static electricity from inside a car: Mix two teaspoons of Downy and one quart of water in a spray bottle. Spray fabric and carpeting. No more static! I will be using that one!

WD-40 is great if you get your hands all greasy while playing mechanic. Spray on hands, wipe with a paper towel, and then wash hands as usual. You can also use it to remove tar from your vehicle. We have Love-bugs here right now. They make a mess of the cars. I may just try this one, too.

Smirnoff Vodka can help as a hair product. Now don’t be upset, you will only be using one jigger of it. No, I know it wasn’t made for this purpose, but it works. Add one-ounce jigger to a 12 oz. bottle of shampoo. The alcohol will keep your scalp clean and remove the bad stuff.

Credit cards, the ones you get in the mail that serve no real purpose, can be useful for scraping dishes. I also understand they work well with frost or ice on the glass of your vehicle.

Morton Salt can be very useful when you drop an egg on the floor. Pour salt on the egg and let sit for one minute. Then you can easily pick up the egg with a paper towel.

Silly Putty, remember the toy(?), can be used to pick up small, dropped items like beads or get them out of crevices.

Purell Hand Sanitizer can be used to clean stains from plastic containers when washing.

Wilson Tennis Balls may seem like an odd thing to want to put in your swimming pool next summer, but it will collect the body oils. It’ll make cleaning easier.

Bounce sheets put on the floor of your boat before winter covering to prevent mice and raccoon from setting up camp for the winter. It works for special vehicles being stored for the winter.

Murphy’s Oil Soap can be used for washing your vehicle. It also leaves a shine and beads up when wet.

Barbasol Shaving Cream can be rubbed inside car windshield and wipe off with a clean cloth to prevent fogging.

Colgate Toothpaste, put a dab on a pimple at night and the next day wash off.

Bag Balm will take care of the worst of diaper rash on the baby. I know this one personally. It saved my sanity with my daughter’s rash about 49 years ago.

I am just curious how many of these things you will try and what others you know about? Contact me with your questions or comments at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

by Debbie Walker

Sitting here with my latest cute little book, “You Know You’re A Mom…”, I knew I was going to have to share these with you. I hope they give you a chuckle. They each start out with: You Know You’re A Mom ……

You realize you’re the luckiest person in the world – after you get through throwing up.

Your world is rocked by a blessing the size of a blueberry.

Hearing your baby’s heartbeat for the first time causes your heart to skip a beat.

You know you’re the mom of a baby when …. You would pay $1 million for a 15-minute nap.

You realize all the books were helpful, but you would have been better off spending that time sleeping.

You start talking in a whole new language and use words ‘potty’ and ‘bite-bite’ while speaking to other adults.

You realize that to a little baby throwing food is as much fun as eating it.

You trade your designer purse for a diaper bag.

You learn the hard way that boys tend to spray straight up.

You set a schedule for everything; bedtimes, meals and baths. Your baby ignores every one of them.

You can now shower, dress and get made up in 1/10th the time it used to take.

You stuff most of the baby’s nursery in the diaper bag – and then realize you can’t carry it.

You suddenly realize you have that mysterious capability called mothers intuition.

Your baby is dressed better than you.

A tiny laugh from a tiny person can turn around the worst day.

You cry during your child’s first haircut.

You know you are the mom of a toddler when…. you wake up with extra people in your bed.

I wrote all the preceding words to prepare you for our family’s news. My granddaughter is turning me into a great-grandmother! That’s right, Tristin and her partner in this crime, Chris, are preparing for my first great-grandchild scheduled to arrive in the spring. Chris’ 10-year-old son, Hunter, is going to be the big brother. They are being told we will meet this child around the end of April to the beginning of May.

In the meantime, while we wait, we are getting reports about our (me and Wandering Nana Dee’s) great-grand baby. We have been told by Momma Tristin our little baby has been the size of a blueberry, the next week a raspberry, shortly after, a Southern Pecan, next a Kumquat and most recently a Brussel Sprout. Do you suppose this child will have a complex about being compared to a fruit or vegetable? (She gets this information on some sort of maternity website)

In the meantime, I came up with something I think will be fun. Baby books are in stores so parents can have a guide to recording the baby’s “firsts.” I have decided to start a book to record the family’s (mom, dad, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc.) remarks, pre-birth gifts and maybe some pictures, etc. I’ll let you know how this works out.

I am just curious what wisdom and advice you would be willing to share with us. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com with all questions and comments. Thanks for reading and have a happy, healthy week!

P.S. Just got this information tonight! Part of the mystery of childbirth is over for us. The parents shared with us today that the baby is a girl and her name is Addison Grace, nicknamed Addi. Can’t wait to hold her!

by Debbie Walker

I believe most of us went to school as children, different years, and different eras in some cases. To start, just in my family, there was dad and mom’s generation. Yes, we all know dad walked 30 miles to school, rain, shine, or snow and that’s after the chores were done.

Mom I discovered was in the top of her classes. I know they studied the three R’s, ‘Reading and ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic, taught to the tune of a hickory stick. Mom used to sing that for us.

Then there was my generation. Our school had four grades in the two buildings in town. One teacher for each of the two grade rooms. No kindergarten, just 1-4 and 5-8.

I imagine the teachers had plenty to complain about. I am reasonably sure my teachers have all gone to their reward by now. I bet they would have plenty to say about what their days were like.

After having volunteered in a classroom for two-and-a-half years, a thought crossed my mind. I have no idea what my daughter’s class days were like. I didn’t know how she was taught. What was the ‘theory’ behind the math style she was taught? The Common Core Math being taught now in Maine, oh, brother, it’s crazy!

I am not writing any of this as any kind of criticism of the teachers now. Believe me, from what I saw in those volunteered years I really don’t know how they do it without a volunteer or aide in their room. There is so much to be taught and, of course, there are children at different skill levels. My example would be the reading. The teacher must find a way to teach them all. They must make time for the computer-generated tests. And I don’t want to get started on that one!

There are possibly stations, in their classrooms, for their different types of class work. The teacher might be at the table teaching one level of reading to a group. There would be the group who sit at their desk and finish some class work, and there is probably a computer station for another group to get in their number of minutes for the week. There may be a library corner and a group will be there reading quietly, hopefully. Keep in mind now, the teacher must teach her group activity plus oversee the other stations. Imagine how that works out with one or two little ‘actors’ in the class.

Teachers must keep a schedule going all day. They must deal with morning break, lunch, and afternoon break. A lot of people think teachers get paid such a high wage. If you figured all the hours teachers work, including time they need to use on the weekend to prepare their classroom for the next week, hours they use up in the evenings, yes, divide those into their salary for hourly wage. They wouldn’t even be making minimum wage.

My intentions for this column was to give you a little view of the classrooms “then and now.” I’m sure you remember ‘then’ and I hope I gave you a look at ‘now.’ These are all my thoughts and opinions and not the responsibility of The Town Line.

I’m just curious how you remember “Then.” Let me know at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

by Debbie Walker

Wow! We are moving into the fall months fast!!! I am reasonably sure that most of you have special activities all thru the fall. I’d love it if you would drop me a line and share some of them with me. Hopefully you will enjoy the following:

Oct 1. International Coffee Day – Wake up and smell the coffee. And if you are CRUMPY without it, put it on speed perk!

Oct. 5. International Frugal Fun Day – a day to enjoy fun activities that are free. Use your imagination!

Oct. 9. Curious Events Day – Hold some kind of event that peaks one’s curiosity.

Oct. 11. It’s My Party Day – Make it simple or elaborate. You could always sing the words to “It’s My Party” (and I’ll cry if I want to), but without the tears!

Oct. 12. Moment of Frustration Day – This is the day to get rid of your frustrations. Think, what will let your frustrations out in a constructive manner. No arguments, please. Try singing, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Oct. 14. Bald and Free Day – Celebrate the Bald people. They don’t have to have haircuts, hair crème, I think maybe they don’t even have to shampoo.

Oct. 16. Dictionary Day – Celebrate Noah Webster’s birthday, the father of American Dictionary. Encourage children to use the dictionary. I have a big one at my desk and I have downloaded one on each tablet I own. I don’t have to use one often, but I am grateful when I find my answer.

Oct. 17. Wear Something Gaudy Day – It is your chance to stick out in a crowd. Wear something bright, cheap, showy, outlandish or otherwise not in good taste. I must celebrate this holiday every day!

Oct. 21. Babbling Day – Blatherskites (a person who is prone to speaking nonsense) this is your day. You will know them because they never stop talking nonsense. Babble away the day. This is your day!

Oct. 22. National Nut Day – This day honors all the nutty people of the day. It also celebrates nuts that are nutritious and flavorful. Then there is also the nut that screws onto a bolt. Don’t eat those, they have other uses!

Oct. 26. National Mincemeat Day – I am hoping everyone who reads this knows what mincemeat is. That would not be the case here in Florida. The truth is a whole generation, after 1900, didn’t know what this was. If you are one of those, just ask your neighbor, they may know. Yum!

Oct. 30. Mischief Night – This is the evening of mischief, not Halloween, according to the information I found. Law Enforcement discourages the activities of the past such as soaping windows, egging cars, etc. If you choose to honor mischief night, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want done to yourself.

Oct. 31. Halloween – the information I found stressed this as being the best holiday because it does not cause stress (?), no overload, and no holiday depression. Adults have been known to gain weight from this holiday, Beware!!

I’m just curious what your favorite day will be this month. Let me know your favorite date and why. I will be waiting at dwdaffy@yahoo.com for your questions or comments. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

by Debbie Walker

How many words have you made up over the years? When no other word would do when dealing with your children, did you make one up?

My friend, Nana Dee (of the Wandering Nanas), has made up a word. Dee has an amazing wit plus quite the collection of southern sayings. It was her made up word that spurred me into this column today. “Smartassery” is her word. It is for the times when she just can’t help herself and the sarcasms come out!

As I said, that got me started and finding a book and an article in a Reader’s Digest magazine clinched it for me.

The author of a Reader’s Digest article by Bill Bouldin titled the Best Made Up Words Ever is one resource for this column. A few of his words and meanings are what follows:

• Beerboard – to extract secret information from colleagues by getting them drunk.
• Blamestorming – The act of attempting to identify the person who is most at fault for a plan’s failure.
• Chairdrobe – A chair on which one piles clothes that belong in the closet. Not to be confused with a floordrobe (think ‘wardrobe’).
• Destinesia – When you get to where you intended but forgot why you wanted to go there.
• Fauxpology – An insincere expression of regret.
• Pregret – To know what you’re about to do is wrong, wrong, wrong, while also knowing you will do it anyway.
• Textpectation – The anticipation felt when awaiting a response to a text.

The next example of made up words, let’s call them “designer words,” concept is much like the dogs referred to as mutts are now designer dogs.

The reference book I used is by Eden Sher and the title is The Emotionary, a Dictionary of Words That Don’t Exist for Feelings That Do. I picked a few favorites that follow:

• Ambivicilty = Ambivalence + Difficulty – the anxiety of having to make decisions.
• Inrelaxability = Inability + Relax – the anxiety of having free time. My mother would say that was my problem!
• Irredependent = Irrational + Independent – unable to ask for help under any circumstances.
• Devade = Devastation + Evade – to purposely avoid asking someone a question, for fear that they won’t give the answer one wants to hear.
• Disapathy = Disappointed + Apathy – a state of indifference caused by repeated past disappointment in people.
• Proquester = Productive + Sequester – to obsessively work on a creative endeavor in isolation, neglecting friends, family, and/or other work.
• Smork = Small + Quirk – The deeply ingrained behaviors, reactions and/or habits one exhibits every day.
• Inattextive = Text + Inattentive – characterized by incessant phone use during social situations.

Now, here is a word for you to guess, made up word or in the real dictionary? The word is Tintinnabulation. What do you think? The meaning is “the ringing of bells.” All those letters meaning such a little thing. Is it really necessary? Must be because this word IS in the dictionary. Just keep in mind all words were made up by someone in past years.

I’m just curious how many words you have made up over the years? Let me know, please. I love this foolishness. Contact me with comments or questions at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Have a great week. Find something to enjoy!