Today, Martin and I drove to Toogoolawah to visit Mum and we took Haley and the girls as she has yet to meet Ella. Before we came home I asked Martin to take a photo of us as its four generations and would have made a great keepsake....that is if Haley and Emily hadn't pulled one of their stupid faces and my mother could have resisted the old bunny ears behind the head routine!
Haley hasnt been in Grandmas house since she was a little girl...on the way she said "I wonder if Grandma still has that old yellow rabbit on her bed and the bear soaps in the bathroom?" Yep!!!! 18 years and that yellow rabbit is still on the bed and the soaps are still in the soap dish...it got the better of me and I had to ask....mum those soaps are at least 20 years old, why do they still look new?....what a ridiculous question! She uses a little paint brush to dust them each week...of course!!! Note to self, buy a paintbrush so I can dust my soaps ...not!!!!!!!!!!
Mum's place is like a time warp..it hasnt changed in over 25 years...the beaded curtains in the hallway, the macrame pot hangers, the cow clock, the dolly vardin bed doll...and yes, the crocheted toilet roll doll...Emily's personal favourite....the donkey that belonged to my Dad....lift his tail and a cigarette dispenses from his bum...do it again, do it again!! I am afraid to say the whole town is a bit of a time warp...I had to go to the corner store to get some ham for lunch. " Could I please have six slices of ham for Yvonne sliced the way she like it...yes I will take her newspaper while I am here....yes , I can drop Maureens paper off on my way home, thats fine, no trouble...yes I will tell her you loved her fruitcake...sorry not sure if she has made your green tomato pickles yet" Yikes, no wonder she spends all day Fridays doing her shopping.
Our lunch was ham and green tomato pickle sandwiches and tea from a teapot all spread out nicely on the flannel backed plastic table cloth (which doesnt flutter or move as it is held in place with large tablecloth clips.)
After lunch we went to the loungeroom where Emily got to sit on a poof...you know those footstool things??? orange vinyl variety that looks as pristine as they day she bought it in 1970...apparently Mr Sheen keeps it's shiny appearance. A quick glance in the magazine rack revealed a magazine with the shock headline "Lady Di Killed in Auto Accident". Mum saw me looking at it and told me she is keeping it for one of the kids to have when she dies...(her youngest kid is 41) and that everything else is labelled....I divert this conversation as it has been discussed many times in the past and I already know who gets the china horse and who gets the cane bicycle planter (not me thank heavens).
I know you get older you get set in your ways and you become sentimetal but I can never imagine myself dusting my soaps or writing my kids names on band aids and sticking them on the bottom of my ornaments so there will be no bickering when I go to meet my maker...Having said that I am rather attached to the pot pourri hat that hangs on the wall in the bathroom....maybe it's time to let it go!

Footnote...I dont normally talk scrapping on my Blog but as some of you may be aware some people on aussielayouts are having a blast taking the mickey out of me...I am a good sport and have to admit the lengths they go to is rather funny..but if you happen to read anything about my fanclub its all BS started by Wendie and in no way my idea, I am so going to get her and a few others! (when I find out who they are!)