H.E. meets The Wall

My mother turned 88 today.  That and a couple of other things got me to thinking about how much has changed in her lifetime.  Just this week, she’s learned at least two new things.

The first call came a couple of days ago.

“Chris (the washing machine repairman) says I need a new washing machine, and Tommy (my brother) said to call you.”

She went on to tell me that Chris told her that Hardwick’s (probably the only place in Camden, Arkansas, that sells appliances) carried Maytag, her current brand, and a new brand that he said was good but cheaper.  I asked her what this new brand was.  She didn’t know.  I told her I couldn’t help her until she found out, so yesterday she made a trip to Hardwick’s.

Turns out that the new brand was something called Crosley.  I’ve never heard of it.  She said it was $50 less than the comparable Maytag.  I told her for $50 to just buy the Maytag.  That was fine, but she was going to have to use some different kind of detergent.  I asked her what kind.  She didn’t know, but the saleswoman at Hardwick’s said she could get it at WalMart.

I asked her if H.E. sounded familiar.

“I believe she did say something about H.E.”

I explained that H.E. stands for “high efficiency” and that Tide makes an H.E. detergent; I use it all the time.  I tried to tell her what the H.E. symbol looked like, but finally gave up and emailed her a picture.

The second call came yesterday afternoon.

“I was looking at my email to see if you had sent that picture and there were all of these emails from Facebook.”

My Uncle Bill, her youngest brother, was in town visiting her last week and set her up a Facebook account.

“One of them said that Ken Kisamore has posted on my Wall.  What’s my Wall?”

It’s good to know that you’re never too old to learn something new.  Happy Birthday, Mother.

Don’t Bug Me

Vincent, the pest control man, was just here and shared a story about his last visit to my house.  It was around Christmas, and Walker, age 4 1/2, was here with his family.

Walker started following him around, asking questions along the way—things like “what are you doing?”

Vincent said that not knowing how Walker felt about bugs and stuff, he simply said, “Well, your grandmother doesn’t like bugs, so I’m trying to fix it so she doesn’t see any.”

Walker didn’t bat an eye.

“Well I think you’re killing them myself,” he replied.

The Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop

I know it’s late to still be thinking about Christmas and too early to be thinking about next Christmas.  Heck, we’re already past Valentine’s Day and well on our way to Easter.  But I’ve had this post on my mind for a while and just haven’t gotten around to putting it on “paper” so to speak.

Since we didn’t open our Christmas gifts until December 29, after all the kids and grandkids finally arrived, our oldest son Hunter had plenty of time to do his Christmas shopping for his nieces and nephew after Christmas.  Returning from a good half day trip to Target, he was quick to share his ideas for what makes the best Christmas gifts for young children.  He said he looked for opportunities to annoy the parents.

I immediately thought of the Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop that my sister Margie gave Hunter one Christmas.  Made by Play-Doh, it came with bald headed plastic people that sat on barber chairs stuffed with Play-Doh.  A quick turn of the crank produced strands of Play-Doh hair that could then be cut and styled.

The problem for parents was that the tiny strings of hair ended up everywhere, particularly in the carpet.  This was the late '70’s when shag was still in style.  I can’t imagine how many vacuum cleaner bags I must have filled with red, blue and yellow Play-Doh hair.

Now here’s where I have a confession to make.  When LBeau and I learned what this little shop of horrors was all about, we immediately went out and bought another one.  When Margie’s son Matt was hold enough, he too got a Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop for Christmas.

And for any of you out there who might be interested in annoying some child’s parents, you can still find vintage Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shops on eBay.  Happy vacuuming!