Things I’ve learned this Week

Act 1, scene 1:  Setting the scene:-

[The door is flung open.  She’s arrived, but not under her own steam.  She was blown through the door with the great force of a wind which took no prisoners.  And she arrived with as much grace as a cow in a china shop and making about the same amount of noise too!].

windy-day

WHOOO!!!  Flipping heck, its windy out there!  I don’t know about the weather where you are, but here in the UK (in various places dotted around Great Britain), Storm Doris has blown in and she’s making sure that her presence is felt.  Folks here have christened today (Thursday evening, as I’m writing this),  Doris Day.  HA!  Love it.  (actually giggle to myself every time I say it.  Doris Day.  Love that soooo much!).

The odd thing about the weather this week is that I went out two days before Doris Day wearing a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a lightweight jacket.  I ended up taking the jacket off and leaving it in the car because it was SO hot!

sunny-day

We have a saying here: …  ‘Come to the UK and experience Snow;   Wind;  Rain;  Hail;  Sleet;  Sunshine;  Warmth;  Heat;  and Hotter than hot.  In fact all of the weathers,   all in one day!’

This week has been a mixed week.  I seem to have done much but only have a little bit to show for it.  I made a card for a blogging friends mum, who had broken her ankle.  I have photos, and now that the card has been received the other end, I can share the piccies with you.  I’ll blog the pictures in the next couple of days.  After making the card, I decided it was about time I cleaned my craft room and moved a few things around which were now in the wrong place.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!  Nightmare In the Craft Room time!    I got about half way through and really wished I hadn’t started this task.

I’m still finishing off.  And I’ll be so glad when everything is put in its rightful place, and all the papers and trimmings have all been put back where they belong.  phew!

Anyhoo...  you haven’t come here to listen to my ramblings about cleaning up.  You’ve come to get some edumacation.  (Yes I know it’s ‘education’  … but I prefer my word. lol)

So …  shall we dive in and get educationamalised?  Strap yourself in.  Ready?  And we’re OFF!  . . .

This week …  I learned to leave a fresh from the oven pizza all alone for at least five minutes  and NOT to take a bite of a slice until 5 minutes have passed.  How did I learn this?  ….  picture the scene dear reader …

The smells from the oven were over-whelming.  A gorgeous, tummy rumbling, nose twitchy sensation, hunger pangs sort of way.  The whole house smelled of the fabulous roasted vegetables which topped the pizza, along with the two different cheeses, and the little circles of garlic butter (the size of a penny) which dotted the top of the pizza.  And the Garlic bread which was cooking at the same time.

The timer dinged, sounding out its permission to remove that pizza from the oven.  Pizza and garlic bread were removed, and salad was waiting for the finished dishes.  The pizza was cut, popped onto the plates and served up.  The smell was way too much.  I couldn’t wait …  I lifted that slice up to my lips and took a bite of that fabulous triangular bit which came from the centre of the pizza.

What happened next was something that should have been reported on the news! (Unfortunately the POTUS pushed me off the top spot so I never even got a mention!).

What I didn’t know about that Pizza was that the toppings and the cheese came from the depths of the core of a VolcanoSo hot.  SO SO SO  –  H.O.T.!!!  Not spicy hot.  Hot as in ‘let me put an iron straight out of the blacksmith’s fire into your mouth and you bite down on it for a moment or two’.  Yeah, that sort of HOT.

I burnt the roof of my mouth behind my two front teeth.  Not just a little burn.  No.  I don’t do things by halves.  When I do things I go full-out and do ’em good.  Ohhhh… the roof of my mouth was sore for days.  The ‘problem’ lasted 4/5 days before I could brush my teeth in the normal way.  In the:   “I’m thinking about sunshine and flowers.  What am I wearing today?.  Why do I have the entire cast of the four-legged members of this household all in this tiny bathroom with me, looking up at me, waiting for me to what?  Tickle them all maybe?” … way.

I had to concentrate very, v. e. r. y.  carefully as I brushed the backs of those two teeth.  None of that brushing the gums as well motion.  Noooooooo.  I had to be sure that I brushed the teeth and only the teeth.  I had experienced the pain which occurred when I brushed the normal way I do, and I didn’t want to experience that again.  Care needed to be taken.

So I learned that I shouldn’t be a pig with Pizza.  Wait ….  wait….  and wait some more  … until the pizza was cool enough before you take a bite.  Good lesson to learn.

I’ve also learned this week: That the Cadbury’s factory make 600,000 Creme eggs every 12 hours, and all those eggs, if weighed, weigh THREE TIMES HEAVIER than an elephantThe moral of this tale is …  don’t eat more than one Cadbury Creme egg a week – unless you want to become an elephant.

I also learned that the Cadbury Brothers released the first filled eggs in 1923, but the Creme Eggs we all know today were introduced to stores only in 1963.  They were initially named Fry’s Creme Eggs. But in 1971, they were rebranded as Cadbury’s Creme Eggs.

Each Creme Egg consists of 180 calories.

According to a survey done by Cadbury, there are different ways of eating the Creme Egg:  53 percent of people bite off the top, lick out the cream, then eat the chocolate;  20 percent just bite straight through; whereas six percent use their finger to scoop out the cream.

Which group do you fit into?

I also learned this week that I miss some of the funny people from our films and TV screens who have either parted company with us, or chosen to sit back and enjoy life, or just aren’t getting the jobs offered to them anymore.  People such as  Steve Martin.  Bill Murray.  John Candy.  Robin Williams (I will never stop missing him).  Leslie Nielson.  Chevy Chase.  Danny DeVito.  Peter Sellers.  Vince Vaughn.  Jane Lynch.  Dan Aykroyd.

We need to laugh more.  I’m starting a movement for more funny stuff on TV.  Lobby your TV stations and tell them that in these difficult times in which we live, we need more funny stuff on TV!

I learned this week or should that be realised?  No, we’ll stick to learned.  I learned this week that I’m totally dumbfounded at how my attitudes towards certain things have changed as I’ve got older.

Things which were, in my opinion, ‘set in stone’ when I was in my twenties are now just not important at all.  Stuff which was so crucial in my thirties, really aren’t anything I bother about now.  Things which were of great significance are now …  meh.  They can all just slide on by me now.

What is important to me now is knowing that I am loved, and that the people I love KNOW I love them.  Can see that I love them.

Our (Mr.Cobs and I) two children, who had their trying times and their ‘I’m going to pour her down the drain‘ moments …  I now look back and see that in actual fact all that worry about them when they were in their teens,  was just me being an over protective mum.  I could see where ‘the dangers’ were and so would try to head them off before daughters 1 and 2 got to them.  But … I shouldn’t have.  They needed to learn, just like we all did.  Only by learning the lesson ‘the hard way’, would they actually learn what the needed to – that being … how to deal with the problem!

So … young mums reading ... allow your children to learn about the things they’re going to need to know about in adulthood.  Even if it’s how to get the lid off the Tupperware container …  or how to sort their dirty clothes into piles of whites, darks and mixed colours!  And WHY they need to learn that.  It’s a valuable lesson – knowing not to put all the washing in the machine without sorting it out and only washing the right things with each other …. as we’ve all learned!   😀

But …  enough of my ramblings!    … I know what you’re waiting for …  the JOKES!

My friend thinks he is smart. He told me an onion is the only food that makes you cry, so I threw a coconut at his face.

A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”

Q: What never asks questions but receives a lot of answers?
A: The Telephone.

Teacher: “If I gave you 2 cats and another 2 cats and another 2, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “No, listen carefully… If I gave you two cats, and another two cats and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “Let me put it to you differently. If I gave you two apples, and another two apples and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Six.”
Teacher: “Good. Now if I gave you two cats, and another two cats and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven!”
Teacher: “Johnny, where in the heck do you get seven from?!”
Johnny: “Because I’ve already got a freaking cat!”

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Officer asks a young engineer fresh out of the Institute of Technology, “And what starting salary are you looking for?” The engineer replies, “In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.” The interviewer inquires, “Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every two years, say, a red Corvette?” The engineer sits up straight and says, “Wow! Are you kidding?” The interviewer replies, “Yeah, but you started it.”

A bank robber pulls out gun points it at the bank teller, and says, “Give me all the money or you’re geography!”   The puzzled teller replies, “Did you mean to say ‘or you’re history?’”   The robber says, “Don’t change the subject!”

and last but not least …. this little thing which I saw this week and it tickled the heck out of me  . . .

fakebook-copy

Well that’s us done and dusted and all caught up for another Friday!  And not just any Friday either!  Today is the last Friday in this month.  Next Friday it will already be March.  We’re really racing through these months, aren’t we. Phew.  I can barely keep up.

I hope your Friday is a lovely one.  A day which passes without any problems, and no gremlins getting into the hours.

May your weekend be the weekend you’re hoping for.  May you sleep well and wake up feeling wonderful.

Sending you squidges, and hoping that life treats you well,  till we meet next time. 

sig-coffee-copy

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Author: The Art of Cobwebs - aka:- thecobweboriumemporium

Hello. I'm 'Cobwebs'. I live in a wee little cottage in the South of England, aptly called Cobweb Cottage. This little dwelling really is a cobweb factory. Not inside (well, occasionally) - but outside - flipping heck! This information should give you a clue as to why my blog is called The Art of Cobwebs aka: The Cobweborium Emporium. I've been arty and crafty from a very young age, and although my crafts have sometimes turned a corner and taken me in another direction, I've always crafted in some way, shape or form. One day, in the blink of an eye, life changed somewhat for me and the consequences were many. I had to find a new way of being 'artistic'. Card making; scrap-booking; producing ATC's and ACEO's; needle felting; Polymer clay; painting- but in a more relaxed style than I had before, and sewing, - are all things which I visit, as and when life allows. I've fairy recently become a Textile Artist and am enjoying this new creative outlet very much as it offers me so much scope for letting my imagination run through a grassy field and feel the wind in my hair - (mentally, of course). I love to create. To make things. I truthfully believe that the best gifts in the world are those in which you've given your time, rather than your cash. Thank you so much for visiting. Please visit my blog (link below) and have a look around. I'm sure you'll find something to enjoy, even if it's only a handful of jokes! (yes, seriously - there really are jokes!) Wishing you a truly blessed rest of your day! ~ Cobs. <3

47 thoughts on “Things I’ve learned this Week”

  1. Well my Friday starts in roughly 2 1/2 hours and we are supposed to get more snow!!! NO WAY. Thought we were done with that. The mornings have been very very frosty cold and by noon you are taking your coat off it’s lovely and warm. Feeling the sun on my sore spots is absolutely delightful, but alas, tis not going to last. Flurries and then rain for the weekend. YUCK. Wind? We have had our share of wind too but not a Doris or a Roberta or an Angus, just wind, gusts up to 80 kms one night. I love storms as long as no one gets hurt and you keep your power.
    We lost power last night for about 4 – 5 hours and living in a mobile home, it got pretttttty cold in the wee hours. I was up with the cats, letting them outside and it was soooooo dark, complete black. The neighbours back door light usually shines bright enough for me to see into my kitchen but not lastnight. All the clocks were out so I didn’t know what time it was, even my battery clock stopped. Odd. So by the time it was to get up, I had just gotten to sleep and for the whole day I was so out of it. Funny how that happens, you must fall back to sleep and it’s a deep one and all of a sudden you are awoken and just can’t seem to really “open” those eyes all day.
    As for things not meaning the same, I get it. Since getting diagnosed with cancer back in 2010, things that used to seem so very important, just aren’t. Everything meaningful are even more so, family and friends are so very important, always have been but are even more so. Life is too short to hold grudges and to just be angry at a family member that you think wronged you back in the day. They probably don’t even know about it, so my goodness, let it go. (Not for myself, but my brother). You only have one family, forgive them, you don’t have to forget necessarily, but forgive them. To go through the rest of your days in a funk, not good. “Be” the day you want to have. Live, love and laugh. Get together with your women friends, never put off till tomorrow, it may never arrive. Follow through with plans and get togethers. Life is so precious, life is so full of loveliness. Life is so willing to show you things you will never forget, so let it.
    hugs and special unicorn sparkles for Victoria, BC
    (sorry for going on and on)
    Oh and being a Mum myself of a loving son of 33, I too agree about the bumps and things that they must learn from as they grow. My son ate dirt! He is okay. I still drink from the garden hose cause I don’t want to be bothered to go inside, I am still alive. So many things we did with our kids and our parents did with us, sometimes I do wonder how we made it, but we did, and all the stronger for it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Dearest, most beautiful Soozyb. I didn’t know you had a battle with cancer either going on, or did have it at one stage.
      I’m not sure if you have a blog – I can’t find one by clicking on your name, so if you do have one please post the link to it in a reply here.

      Storms … unlike you, I’m a total scaredy cat when it comes to storms. They scare the heck out of me. The wind can be so vicious and I’ve seen on the news how it can cause so much devastation.

      Ok… I have to admit that I did giggle slightly about all your power going out, and all your clocks going off in the lack of power. I can only imagine the chaos! LOL. But no .. I shouldn’t laugh because being without a time piece of one sort or another must be so difficult. Everything now is kept to a tight schedule.

      See … you living in a mobile home … aw that would scare the living daylights out of me when the winds got strong! Those things seem to be made of feathers when the wind gets going. eeek!

      You are so wise about getting on with things and letting upsets and aggravations stay in the past. Life really is very short and we don’t realise this when we are young. We think we have forever. We don’t consider even for a moment that we aren’t guaranteed to wake up tomorrow. Life really is waiting to show you things you won’t ever forget, but only if you let it.

      Soozy .. don’t ever apologise for “going on and on” … I love chatting with you! The blog here is just an excuse to have a chat, over a cup of coffee, with really lovely people. And you are a really lovely person who I love chatting with.

      Do put a link in a reply here, to your blog if you have one. I’d love to visit.
      Heaps of squidges and love ~ Cobs. x

      Like

      1. Years ago I started one, a blog, I mean, but never did anything with it. My battle with cancer is over, at least it has been for 6 years. The body is still suffering from the ravages of radiation and that poison, chemo, scares the heck out of me. Thanks for your lovely reply Cobs, I am so very glad to have found your blog. I enjoy your Friday posts over my morning coffee 🙂 Thanks for that, and it’s a lovely way to end the week. Being retired, everyday is a day off, but it’s funny how the days pass so very quickly when you need that extra hour or two to finish a project. Wind and chances of flurries today here! YUCK, I am so tired of mud.
        Have a lovely weekend.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Soozy, I’m so so thankful to hear that your battle with Cancer is over.

          I can’t begin to imagine how the radiation has affected you, nor the chemo. But I know it’s not a walk in the park, nor an enjoyable pastime.

          If the wind they’ve told you is the same wind we’ve had, don’t go outside. When I let the cat into the garden yesterday the wind whipped the door out of my hand and flung it open. I thought I’d got hold of the door quite tightly. Scared the heck out of me. I thought the door, (all glass) was going to end up in a million pieces on the floor!

          So just be careful in that wind, Missy!

          So glad that you found my blog Soozy. One can never have too many lovely blogging pals like you. I’m so blessed.

          Have a truly wonderful weekend. Stay safe! ~ Cobs. xxx

          Liked by 1 person

  2. Crying…just crying…first joke has to be my most favourite one EVER! It has replaced my old favourite-what do you call an exploding monkey? A ba-BOOM!
    And oh dear pizza…dairy napalm. I’ve done that and the shock is so great you can’t even scream and tell someone what the matter is…hope it’s better 🙂
    I agree, priorities and attitudes really do change as you get older. A lot of things changed when I became a mother too, but ultimately, as you said-happy, healthy and loved 🙂
    Lovely post-have a wonderful Friday, lots of love 🙂 xx

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hello Samantha.
      I began reading your message and a smile spread across my face. Within seconds I was actually laughing out loud. I LOVE that first joke too. It’s … oh … brilliant! So simple but so punchy and it gets me in my chuckle muscle fair and square. LOL

      Although I’m not happy to hear that you too have been (mentally) scarred for life by a Volcano Topped Pizza. It was a killer. Thankfully .. it’s all mended now, although I can still tell you exactly where it was. :/

      Have a truly fabulous Friday Samantha, and a very happy weekend.
      Heaps of love and squidges ~ Cobs. x ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I like the short jokes as I can get them straight away..if someone starts telling me a long complicated joke I get bored and lose the thread…Never mind health warnings on cigarettes..they should put them on
        pizzas!
        Have a lovely weekend too, lots of love 🙂 xx

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Ohh a Health Warning on a Pizza! YES!

          But .. I know what would happen. They’d put the warning in that really really tiny writng that they use, so that us folks who are past the age of 32 and the eye sight isn’t quite as good as it once was, won’t be able to read it. So they’ll continue to laugh at us.

          LOL
          Have a great weekend Samantha.
          Squidges ~ Cobs. xxx

          Like

  3. Oh my Goodnessssss! So much to love 🙂 I look forward to seeing your card, as they are always unique and beautiful. That is AWFUL about burning your mouth and gums!!! I am glad you are healing! Truth….Learning lessons the hard way! Ugh, don’t we all, including our children whom we want to save from the things we learned. As I have become that wonderful certain age….Things don’t bother me as such too. Cobs, I was wondering how you have been feeling, did all that pain and medical issues you were having a few months ago heal? I sure do hope so! Oh, ( rambling here) cleaning my craft room takes forever…I can only do bits of it at a time! Have a lovely weekend Beautiful! xxxx

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello lovely Ruthie!
      I think you’ll get a giggle out of the card. I won’t tell you anything more, I’ll just let you look at it when I post it. LOL.

      I would love to think that we all reach that place of enlightenment, when we realise that things which bothered us at one point, really aren’t worth the trouble of even batting an eyelid at now. It’s such a fabulous place to be.

      Ahh, the pain and medical things … well they’re improved somewhat, but they’re still in evidence. I have to see my GP this week coming, to get the results of some tests and see where we go from there. I’ll be so glad when either they’ve got rid of the problem(s) or at the very least named them. How can you even begin to fight until you know who you’re fighting? If they can name it then we can fight it.

      I will admit though … it’s so tiring. The smallest things I do can leave me wiped out for days.

      I’m with you on the never ending cleaning of the craft room. Mine stays ‘clean’ for about 12 minutes. Then I start making it a mess again. LOLOL.
      Sending love and squidges to you Ruthie. ~ Cobs. xxx

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I eat a Cadbury egg any way that seems plausible at the moment. The trick is to savor the moment. I usually use teeth. Fingers are for licking bowls while baking. How I wish I had a comedy to watch right now! Has the world gotten too serious? Seriously????

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I very rarely eat Cadbury Creme Eggs … as I find I can never eat a whole one. One bite would be enough … so I find the teeny tiny mini ones easier to cope with as one of those is just enough. Do you get the tiny mini Cadbury Creme Eggs there Anne?

      The world does seem more serious at the moment Anne. The news each day seems to bring yet another story of fear and worry. So yes, I think we could all do with a break from this and to have the TV companies lighten the mood with some lighter, brighter programmes with something to laugh about. A little light comedy. The good stuff. Not this new ‘alternative’ comedy.

      Lovely to see you Anne. Sending squidges ~ Cobs. x

      Like

  5. Hi Miss Cob….laptop is back and now I’m having to learn all over . Me and tech just don’t see eye to eye. Can’t tell you how many people I have cut off on thenew cell phone not meaning to. As for the weather…son #3 and I worked on trees he downed for me yesterday and just about out did ourselves. First 80+ day of the year and now 32 night coming in tomorrow or maybe it is tonight. They keep changing it.
    Hot…yes I’ve done that mostly with coffee or soup. Just get in to big of a hurry. We all need to slow down.Love the cat joke.Kids a so much smarter than we give credit.
    It’s not just starting salary problems. Young people today already have their “dream” car or truck because mom and dad made sure they could drive in style and young married couples want to live just like mom and dad do now after a life time of working and collecting. Times do change ..I wonder if it’s good ? Weekend coming….Yea! Have a good one. I looking to blog again but lost some of my pictures with the poop out laptop. oh well…there will be more.am

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Aw hello Beverly. GREAT to have you back on your machine.

      I know, I know about how difficult it is to adjust when you’ve either got your old machine back from the tech guys, or, in the worse situation of having to get used to a whole new machine altogether.

      I lost my big desktop machine a couple of years ago and had to buy a new thing. I couldn’t even work out where to find the tab to click in order to close the darn new thing down. They’d changed the whole way a desktop works and everything was totally different.

      Fortunately, Son-in-law, husband of daughter no.2, is a computer whizz kid, so he ‘fixed’ things so that they look like my old computer when the computer loads. Ohhhh the relief was so much that I cried! I could finally find things again. Everything was back in the place that I’d always known it to be. AND … I could turn the computer off properly! Such joy.

      I hear you, my friend, with the buying of cars and homes for youngsters and young married couples.

      Young folks, not all, but some, actually seem to be fitted with an ‘entitlement’ fix, which makes them believe that they are fully entitled to anything and everything they ask for. And some of them expect to be given everything for nothing. They don’t expect to have to pay back for anything. They don’t expect to start at the bottom of a company and work their way up, but instead have a belief that they should go straight into a job at a Directors position, and with the salary to match.

      Is this all our fault? Have we inadvertently instilled this ‘entitlement’ error into our children?

      I don’t know the answer to this, I only know that this is all going to end in a very bad way.

      Yes, weekend is upon us. We have little Cobs coming tomorrow – he’ll wear me out for about 4 days after he’s gone home! lol. Coo, he is like a live wire. Trying to calm him down and contain his joyous bubbles so that he doesn’t do himself an injury is a tiring job! I can’t remember how I did it when our two girls were little … but I wish I could, because I need the tricks. LOL.
      Sending oodles of love ~ Cobs. x

      Like

  6. Brilliant Friday post as always 🙂
    So Doris called by yours as well ~she was here stamping her foot and having a real hissy fit … I think she was cross as I was in jeans & a sweatshirt on Monday and had the back door open a while (in February what is happening with the weather ??)
    I do so agree with you about letting youngsters learn for them selves as a kid I was semi feral yet I turned out reasonably OK (I think) at the age of 10 I could put a tent up by myself light a camp fire and rustle up scrambled eggs …I do have to admit I made them in an enamel teapot and forgot to remove the tea leaves first ~ but do you know what ? I never made that mistake again LOL

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Aww hello beautiful Mrs. P!

      Like you I too was allowed and encouraged to do stuff for myself. And … it was my job, from around the age of 8/9 to peel the potatoes and vegetables when I got home from school so that they were ready and waiting in saucepans to be cooked when my mum came home. I think the term now would be Latch Key Kid. But I didn’t think I was hard done by. It was just my job and the things I did in order to earn my pocket-money.

      LOVE the scrambled eggs made in a Teapot … with the tea leaves still in there! Aw bless your heart. Did you eat it? Or try to? If so … what did it taste like?

      I bet, if you told that story to Jamie Oliver or one of the other top celebrity chefs, they’d make the same thing and call it Cuisine, and sell it at an inflated price, then bring it out in a pot which you can re-heat in the oven. Again, they’d charge a HUUUGE amount for it, because it was Cuisine and all natural. A Superfood! And claim it will make your liver and kidneys work properly again, it will help keep your digestive system healthy, and improve your hair and skin.

      Y’know … the more I think about this .. perhaps we’re onto something special here. Maybe WE should market this. Something tells me that Dragons Den might be interested in us telling them our ‘history’ of the product.
      lol.

      Aw look … I’m off on a dream again.
      Sending squidges ~ and lots of love ~ Cobs. x

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yep we did eat it, as it was all we had in our little camp ~ gawd it was AWFUL it was many a year before I ate scrambled eggs again LOL
        Like you I did the veg prep when I got home from school.
        I also use to light the coal fire !! how I never burnt the house down, cut one of my fingers off or succumbed to a superbug I’ll never know …just think our whole generation survived by the skin of our teeth *giggling like a schoolgirl*

        Liked by 1 person

        1. GASP! I used to light our coal fire too! Did you do the paper over the chimney ‘hole’ to draw the fire?

          My dad did it once and he nearly set the house on fire. He left the paper and walked off. When he came back the paper had set alight and bits of it had floated off onto my mothers new carpet and burnt holes in it.

          She never forgave him for that. Every time she looked at that carpet by the chimney, she mentioned it with such pain and anguish in her voice. Needless to say, Dad wasn’t allowed to light the fire again.

          Y’know … I’m starting to think we must be related in some way. We have so many life experiences that we share.
          Or maybe it was just the times we grew up in.
          love ~ Cobs. x ❤

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Did you ever run out of matches and have to light a piece of rolled up newspaper of the cooker & carry it through the lounge to light the fire lighters ?? or if the match box got damp strike the match on the tile grouting on the fireplace ?? when I think back there is no wonder we grew up to be independent

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            1. OHHH YES!!! The rolled up newspaper, lit from the gas stove in the kitchen. My mother taught me how to do that, safely and without burning myself or the house down! lol. – We called them ‘tapers’.

              My Grandma had a special ‘thing’ which made tapers. It was a (I think) bakelite round ‘thing’ which came to a point on top (imagine the piped icing on a cupcake – spiralled up into a point) and there was a slit/hole in that pointed top, out of which came some milky coffee coloured, stiff paper. A looooong slim paper which you could break off to your required length. (There was a tightly coiled roll of this paper stuff inside it. The ‘thing’ was refillable, and my Grandma used to buy the rolls of paper when she visited her sisters in Blackburn in Lancashire). The idea was then to firmly get hold of the one end and with your other hand, kind of drag your thumb nail down the centre so that instead of the paper being a floppy curl, it turned into a stiff ‘taper’ of paper which you took to the stove, or candle or gas light and lit the taper, then took it to the fire in order to light the screwed up thicker taper bits of paper which were sticking out of the coals.

              My dad told me that by twirling and twirling those pieces of newspaper round and round and twisting them tightly, it would mean that they burned longer which helped the coals to catch alight.

              Aww yes…. match boxes! Yes … we would drag the match along the grouting of the tiles on the fire, in order to get it lit. But it was drummed into me to do it on a bit of grouting that didn’t show… like around the sides of the tiled hearth. And try, try, try not to make a pink mark on the grouting because apparently it was really difficult to get out, and my mum used to say that she didn’t want people thinking we couldn’t afford a new box of matches to light the fire when the box had got damp. LOL.

              My Grandad also had a pair of shoes which he could strike a match on the soul and it would light. I never found out how he did that. I’m pretty sure that you couldn’t strike a match and get it to light on shoes of today!

              Aww wonderful memories P.
              I’ve missed you so much and am so glad that you’re back, and I’m a little more able to come and visit after being rubbish for so long.
              Sending oodles of love and lots of squidges ~ Cobs. x ❤

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              1. Gawd we were never posh enough to have a taper making thingy ~ but I do remember making newspaper wraps to eke out the kindling, did your parents have a twin tub ?? washing day involved piles of whites, coloureds, towels, jeans then then my dads really dirty work clothes saved till last and the there was the fridge with an ice box as we had no freezer ~ which always seemed to contain a packet of frozen peas and a box of fish fingers LOL
                How times have changed fun for me was turning the record player up to 75rpm so the vinyl records sounded like pinky n’ perky

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                1. Oh. My. Word! I think we lived in the same house!
                  Only Grandma had the taper thing. We did the newspaper thing.

                  We started out with a washing machine which had a wringer on the back. (I have a post on the blog here about the time I got my whole arm stuck in that *&))*^% wringer!).

                  After the wringer washer broke down, my mum had a twin tub. Oh Lord what a machine! It seemed to be going all day when washing day happened. I was heartily sick of that machine. Oh.. and when it spun, it walked it’s way over the kitchen! Hells Bells, scared me silly!

                  Actually laughed out loud about the fridge… yes us too, and with that same pack of peas and fish fingers in the ice box. And in the summer my mum had some Tupperware ice lolly things which she made and they had these tupperware plastic ‘sticks’. The dog, one by one, got hold of those ‘sticks’ (looked more like a large baby dummy) and he took them into the garden and buried them …. after he’d given them a bit of a chew, naturally.

                  Yes, I did the Pinky and Perky with the record player too. But I got a telling off and told I’d break it. So I never did it again … but I sooooo wanted to. LOL.
                  xxx

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                  1. I wonder what memories the kids of today have when they are our age ??
                    I desperately need the link to your blog post about the wringer !!!!!
                    Our garden was a grave yard to kitchen cutlery ~ which we had used as tyre levers every time we had a puncture on our bikes …I don’t think we ever had a matching set in the house the whole time I was growing up LOL

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                    1. phew …. well it’s took me over an hour to find this post … but I was determined to find the darn thing! So … here y’ go!: https://thecobweboriumemporium.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/mangled-musings-or-how-i-learned-that-a-dastardly-destiny-can-lay-in-wait-even-for-the-most-innocent/

                      Enjoy!

                      Now then …. aw, the garden. Our garden was nicely kept, because my Dad liked to ‘do stuff’. So he built little walls or borders and planted stuff. The grass … was well worn. Between me playing and our dog (an Irish Wolfhound – a huge donkey sized dog), that grass didn’t stand a chance! lol.

                      My bike broke over the years in various ways: The chain came off (several times), the tyres were always going flat, and I was taught how to mend a puncture, with the aid of my mothers washing up bowl – which she wasn’t overly impressed with!

                      Like you, various bits of cutlery was called into action for an array of things, and also like you, I don’t think we had a full set of knives, forks and spoons which all matched. This could be the reason that one of the things I’ve done regularly over the years is buy new sets of cutlery and I do a headcount of said silverware in around October each year to make sure that there is a full set of decent stuff for Christmas.

                      I didn’t know that you used a screwdriver to put a new plug on anything until I was about 14. I thought that a knife was the tool required. lol.

                      Todays childrens memories? … well I know that my daughter No.1 will remember that I put bows in her shoes for her sisters Christening. She HATED them.

                      Daughter No.2 … I think she’ll remember animals. She’ll remember that we had cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs … and even a aviary full of birds …. and for a time … we had all these at the same time. But back then, we had a much bigger garden, and bigger house.

                      If there was one thing … just one … that you remember warmly from your childhood … what would that one thing be?
                      For me … it would be a dolls bed which I’d asked Father Christmas for, for two Christmas’s. When it was there, waiting in the living room, by the tree,on Christmas day, that was the day that I realised that Father Christmas hadn’t brought this for me, it had been made by my mum. They (my parents) couldn’t afford the very expensive dolly bed that I wanted, so she did the next best thing. She herself had made me one.

                      I can remember everything about that dolls bed. The colour, the way it sat so beautifully, the doll which was in it. The bedding …. everything. I can see it just as it was on Christmas Day.

                      What about you? Is there something from your childhood which you remember warmly?

                      Oh … and hope you enjoy the Mangle 😀
                      Squidges and love ~ Cobs. x

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                    2. The mangle post …. BRILLIANT 😀
                      I remember my dad pickling onions for Christmas and putting them in a huge sweet jar the smell of pickles take me right back to being a kiddo and I often would wonder how such a giant of a man could transform a humble shallot into manna from heaven …I LOVE PICKLES 🙂
                      One of the best memories from my childhood was Thursdays …yes I know strange but true, Thursday was my mums day off work so on that day I would rush home from school knowing I’d be like all the other kids I knew ~ with a mum waiting for me

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                    3. PICKLES … ohhh me too. Pickled onions and … (shame of my shames) … pickled eggs. Aw I could make the whole day a happy one with the devouring of a pickled egg.

                      Also loved it when my mom made me pickled cucumber slices. The desire to eat them was huuuuge, but I knew I had to resist for 24 hours, for after that length of time, they were ….s-i-g-h… pickled heaven!

                      Awww, love your childhood memory which stood out for you. I felt the warmth and joy you felt on Thursdays. What a truly lovely feeling, all wrapped up in smiles, warmth, joy, love and true, true happiness, kept safe inside your heart. Forever.
                      A Forever Memory.

                      I feel all warm, snuggly and filled with happiness and peace now. Thank you Mrs.P.
                      Love you oodles. ~ Cobs. x

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    1. I felt sure that I would be on the news that night.

      I swear to Dog that the burn I received to the roof of my mouth was enough to be splashed about world news in every country. Even when I stopped biting (straight away) the cheese had fixed itself to the roof of my mouth and continued to cause an all encompassing, searing pain and blistering.

      It was finally my turn on the news and …. no. Apparently there was something more important.
      LOL.
      Love you Sal. ~ Cobs. x

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      1. I fel your pain, having done that. Probably the words you said kept you off the news, they have to keep it clean, you know. Glad your mouth is feeling better now, though. 🙂

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  7. How is it that you made it this long without discovering that cheese and tomato sauce are made of lava? I’m rather impressed that until now, you had not bit into a right out of the oven pizza. Most of us learned this very important lesson in our 20’s… and again in our 30’s. (I am a stubborn one.)

    Oh, and please have a Cadbury egg for me. I love them. However, I’ve developed an allergy to milk. Those little foil wrapped drops of deliciousness can never pass my lips again. Sigh. It would make me feel better knowing someone else was enjoying them.

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    1. Aw Scrappy. How miserable can one allergy be? You were obviously having too much milk, so your body worked out a way of slowing you down. It made you allergic.
      hmpfff!
      The very next Cadbury Creme Egg I have, I shall dedicate it to you.
      Sending love and squidges ~ Cobs. x

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  8. Excellent as always, I am silly and burn my mouth occasionally too, usually by testing whatever I’m cooking to ensure it will meet the high standards and discerning taste buds of the mini Crafts. I have much sympathy for you there! You sound much better now, have a lovely weekend x

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    1. Hello Mrs.C.
      Fabulous to see you.
      Aw the burnt mouth was entirely my fault. I was being a little piggy and couldn’t wait. (sigh). Lesson learned though!

      Thanks so much for coming and sharing a little time with me. Love seeing you.
      Sending squidges ~ Cobs. x

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