'The Tellings' SOB'S lol

OK, I've been asked to share some of the 'Tellings' (stories passed down from one generation to the next) Some of these will come with a warning....you see the Matriarch of the family... is a lil naughty, I can't even repeat some of her tellings in polite society! lol This woman rules over an Irish Clan of 75? Yes, that sounds about right.....7 kids, 18 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and 1 great- great grandchild along with various in-laws thrown in for good measure lol

A story passed down from Uncle Steve.........decorated Nam Vet

My Father (being the oldest) and his next in line Brother Emmett were true SOB's....all the Sons of my Irish Grandparents served during the Viet Nam war...all 5 of her sons. Her baby, my Uncle Steve came back haunted and wounded from the ground battles in Viet Nam (Army) He was honorably discharged and sent home unable to walk.

Since his room was on the second floor, he slept on the couch until he regained full use of his legs. There was no air conditioning in that old house near the Taylor Street area of Chicago....so he could hear My Father and my Uncle Emmett stumbling home from the neighborhood bar every night where they both tried to wash away the memories of a bad childhood.

Many a time they snuck up on my Uncle Steve and threw firecrackers at him to watch him dive for cover.....very cruel I know! Or they would wait for him to fall asleep on the couch and scream incoming while they both made slow whistling sounds. Uncle Steve was the only one of her sons to have hand to hand combat in Viet Nam while the others served from a far.

Uncle Steve decided one night to exact his revenge on his menacing two older brothers.......He pretended to be sleeping on his couch/bed waiting for them to do their nightly ritual of having that last cigarette in almost a sleep state in one of the living room chairs. There were plenty of nights my Uncle Steve had to slowly lower himself on the floor and drag himself across the room to extinguish their cigarettes before they burned down the house in their drunken slumber.

This night while he pretended to sleep, they were true to form, lit their smoke and nodded off.....he quietly lowered himself to the floor and crawled across the room to them where he preceded to roll up the bottom cuffs of my Father's socks and then roll down my Father's socks then Uncle Steve scooted back and swung his crutch with all his might, across the shins of my Father...busting open both of them....my father barely moved. Then Uncle Steve rolled the socks back up, rolled the cuffs back down and watched as the blood soaked through them. Then he did the same to my Uncle Emmett.

The next morning both woke up unable to stand on their legs and required stitches. My Uncle never revealed his revenge to them......they just assumed they got their arses kicked at the local bar, or did it to each other on the way home from the bar. Both my Dad and my Uncle Emmett have passed on.......I'm sure they both know everything thing now! lmaoooooooo

 

I will post more of the 'tellings' from time to time....it will explain sooooo much of who I am! lol

Some of the 7 questions answered (series)

I've been tagged by the 'everything in 7 questions' tag thingy that has been going around......I was tagged a lot, but I kept putting it off and putting it off....writers block, dementia or was it just plain old demented?? it's hell getting old!

So here's my list of 7's....................

Seven Things I plan to do before I die:

Hmmmm, I seem to remember doing a journal entry on this a long time ago...I'm going to peek and see what is still left on that list to do  before I become a glitter and ash mix.......oh bad idea...never go back and read old entries...it's much like viewing yourself in pictures.....the cringe factor! lol so I'm winging it! lol

1) Art class......I am hoping there is a latent talent just waiting to spring forth under the guidance of a very patient and loving art teacher. I want to see if I can paint....any medium, I'm not that picky and if I can't paint with some kind of talent I can always go back to finger painting.......right?? lol

2) Hot Air Balloon ride.....they offer them out here in the Midwest, I want to take the sunrise ride with a glass of Mimosa and a basket full of croissants! Hubby and camera in hand of course! lol

3) I hope to have held and know well a great grandbaby or two before  I make a departure of this life and begin my next life....searching for Jim again. I have always felt this deep connection to this man, that I have known and loved him long before I met him.....he thinks I'm nuts, but then again can ya blame him?? lol

4) Vacation across the great pond and stay in an old castle.......hmmmm maybe another link to my past huh? I love the renaissance period, but I'm sure I would of detested the chamber pot! lol

5) Visit all the national monuments and wonders of America ...... I think I would be patient to even take this trip my automobile now ..... I'm mellowing in my old age and the thought of a country wide road trip isn't freaking the hell outta me so much anymore! lol

6) Live alone with just my Jim.......I know for most thisdoesn't compute, but you see we came together with children and then added more to our brood, and plus I still adore him after all this time so of course this would be on my list of 7 things to do before I die.....our children are spaced our first two are 19 and 22...then the stragglers are 13 and 14....so it seems we have raised two families over 2 decades and that's alot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...let me tell you! lol

7) I want to sit on a huge southern wrap around porch, preferably my own someday and spend  hours upon hours telling the stories of my heritage, that were passed down to me from my paternal grandmother......I want to pass the stories down so the next generations can pass along the 'tellings' We are a raucous, rowdy and sometimes raunchy bunch of Irish men and women and boy are there some good tellings that have been passed from one generation to the next! lol There was this time........lol

OK, Tomorrow's installment will be.......

Seven things I can do:

Weekend Assigment.....Sweet Home Chicago

   

                       "Blues Brothers"

kmh
2005

 

Although "My kind of town" Chicago doesn't have mountains with incredible vista's or miles and miles of ocean lined beaches one thing is unequivocally true.......we have the best damned food in all of America.....Chicago's style... Pizza the best! Chicago style hot dog....the best! Chicago's Italian beef sandwiches.....the best! Let's not forget Taylor Street Italian Ice on a hot summer night.

It really is a small melting pot of people on it's own....we have whole neighborhoods filled with sights, cultures and foods from all over the world. We have the Magnificent Mile to shop on, several beaches along Lake Michigan and we are fast becoming a mecca for movie industry. We have Second City comedy for which many of the "not ready for prime time players" got their first big break.

Wanna spend the night on the town trying to recapture your lost youth........Rush Street and Division! I spent the better part of my 17-23 years dancing the night away in all the night spots. The neighborhood I grew up had a view of the Sears Tower that always beckoned me to come and play and play I did....so many things that happened in those days, stays in those days....I have a reputation to uphold.....kinda lol!

What I loved most about growing up in the shadow of the "City with big shoulders" was it was only an hour drive in any direction..... north for the farmlands and a legal drinking age of 18 (at that time) or a quick trip to the open fields of Indiana, or the picturesque towns along the east shore of Lake Michigan in the state of Michigan or an hour east to the quaint towns along the Iowa border.....It is a very centralized big city and the options were many with the open roads and a tank of gas!

To read other people's takes on this great town join John Scalzi at Scalzi's Place

WANTED...dead or alive

OK, I am looking for the person responsible for inventing the 'snooze button.' He or she is not my friend! I never had the need to use my snooze button, or to psych myself out by setting the time on my clock 15 minutes ahead of the actual time. My DH husband is guilty on both accounts......Hmmmmm I wonder if any divorce papers state the reason for divorce as over excessive use of the snooze button? lol

This was the hardest thing to adjust to when I married this man of my fairy tale dreams.....the first couple of years I don't remember it bothering me as much, but then again I had 2 babies in under 11 months at that time, so I was already sleep deprived! loll There was a time where I had him agree to placing his alarm clock on the other side of the room, (this worked for years!) that way when the damned thing started beeping, he got up and stayed up! I was able to actually start sleeping through the one and only beeeeeeep!

This is a man who used to have to get up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning for a 3:00 a.m. start, so you see why I didn't appreciate the snooze button. I'm the kind of person who has no worries all day long, but once I am up in the night, I worry about EVERYTHING! 4 hours of sleep a night was taking it's toll on my considering I was spending the last 4 hours of sleeping time worrying. Top that off with dealing with 2 babies and 2 school aged children, a house to run and taking care of my DH 84 year old grandmother who was suffering from Alzheimer's and who was a cancer and stroke survivor and all the doctor visits that entailed I needed my rest!.....Snooze button....my arch enemy for years! Die snooze button die! lol

Well, about 3 years ago, my DH stopped putting the alarm clock on the other side of the room, but by then I was capable of not hearing it go off several times while I slept, I guess I just got used to it. But lately and they say your body changes habits every 7 years, I am no longer able to sleep through all that beep - beeping! lol! LOVE the man, HATE the alarm clock! What's a girl to do?? Lol Well after pleading, poking and begging him to get up for about 20 minutes every morning, I have a confession to make.......I, yes me! have resorted to snapping his boxers! lol Every time his alarm goes beepbeep I pull back with all my might on the elastic waist of his boxers and S..N..A..P! lol

So far this method is working well for me (LOL!)......Life is good again and I am thankful! ;)

Doing the tag thingy....lol

I played along with the tag thingy too.....I'm in a bit of a slump creativity wise....I think I usually am at this time of the year. The object of this tag thing is go back into your archives.....all the way back to your 23rd entry, find the 5th sentence and post it.

My 23rd entry was about all the lives that were changed and all the lives that were lost that day on September 11, 2001. My 5th line was as follows..............

"It took living one day at a time to move on with my life, to live it for those that could no longer live theirs."

What a shame it would have been for me to give up and give into the  terror that almost swallowed me whole that day. I thought it shattered my happily ever after attitude, because I thought as long as I was on American soil, I would be safe from what so many people in other countries experience on a daily basis.....fear, terror, war, destruction, ect. Then it hit me....I had to keep living the American dream for all those that no longer could, with that little bit of purpose, I was able to have hope again, able to start living again, instead of being........ one of the walking wounded.

Monday Photo Shoot

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Outsourcing Pictures

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Give your camera to a child, friend, spouse or relative and have them shoot some pictures.

Some shots and stories are worth repeating.............

My son and my Husband along with all the other 'men in the family' take a fishing trip down to ReelFoot Lake in Tennessee every year. My son loves the camera almost as much as I do, so every once in a while I give him one of those disposable pictures to take along with him, and I am always awed by the way he views his world.

When they came back from the 'just the guys fishing trip' he couldn't wait to show me this shot.....he said, "That must be what the way to heaven must look like Mom!".......And I guess to a 13 year old boy who loves to spend time with his Dad outdoors, it sure does look like the way to Heaven!

To see more Monday Photo Shots click on John Scalzi's link.......

John Scalzi's Journal

'Weekend Update"

I finally was able to sneak away this past weekend and run off to the ranch for a day. I would love to spend more time out there, but the elder extended family members that actually live on the ranch are so miserable to each other, it makes for an uncomfortable visit. I have Maggie in the house telling me how horrible Jimmy (her Jimmy not my Jimmy) is to her and then I get out in the barn and I have to listen to how horrible of a person Maggie is to Jimmy while I'm held captive in the barn. Talking to each of them whether together or sperate as to this is why most of the family stays away is falling on very old, very deaf ears. They are both set in the their ways.

I have a couple of friends my age that are married and carry on the same way. They don't think how uncomfortable and tiring it is to constantly be subjected to their snipes back and forth to one another. I find this kind of behavior so disrespectful. Jim and I (my Jim) hardly ever fight even though we sometimes have opposite opinions of many things, some times STRONG opinions, But we would never disrespect each other and carry on like that in public. Being around our friends that do put each other through the ringer in public. takes me back to that trapped feeling when I was a child. That awful feeling that I got while listening to my parents fight growing up. Who wants to feel that again right?

While I was at the ranch I made my excuses of really wanting to get out with the horses, my great escape from bickering going on back and forth between Maggie and Jimmy. On the ranch they have quarter horses, miniature horses and shetland ponies and the chickens. I tried to fire off a few rounds with the cameras, but either I didn't have the patience or I had unwilling photo subjects. So I just put down my camera and picked up the pooper scoopers! lol I was only somewhat pleased with one of my photos......chasing the chickens.

                            

Someday I am going to find a horse that fits just right to me and then maybe I will ride more. I'm just to uncomfortable on the wider horses, being 5 foot nothing I don't have that long of a leg reach and I tend to cramp up quickly. Maybe I'm just getting old and rickety! lol! I had a better day camera wise with the yellow butterflies that were swarming around the outside of the barn then I did with the horses. The picture in the previous entry was the end result of chasing butterflies and giving up on chasing down the horses for baths! lol

Sunday was spent at a state park enjoying the dog training and fishing show. My girl friend who is an avid bow hunter was one of the guest speakers, so I came along for moral support. There were puppies for sale there, ( I wanted all of them of course!) They had a baby deer petting zoo, a settlers camp from the 1800s with children's games and animals hides for sale along with beef jerky spiced 1 million ways. Sunday was not a good camera day either and was only happy with one shot by the end of the day. This is one of the tents set up for the weekend in the settlersarea......baby this ain't no Hilton, so I ain't staying the night! lol