life according to me: December 2008

I got this email from my cousin and I wanted to share. This is about my Grandma Dee's sister, my Aunt Jo.

Just thought I would share of snippet of time with my 94-year-old mom here in Mesquite.
It's 8:00 am and we have both just awakened. I'm drinking coffee still in my sleeping T-shirt sitting on the couch. My mom is attired in her pink pajamas resting in her recliner with a maroon throw over her lap. Shadow, the toy black poodle, is by her side. We are watching news on CNN. A commercial appears. She mutes the sound and pulls our her harmonica and begins to play Darktown Strutters Ball. This is when I am muttering to myself for not bringing my camera.
For the next 20 minutes or so at every commercial break she asks me for requests. "How about Back in the Saddle Again?" I respond. Gene Autry would be proud of her rendition. She throws in a few Christmas songs as well. This is a woman who has never had a music lesson and can't read music. She also plays the piano.
It's about an hour later and she has changed into her pink sweat suit, complete with a pick handkerchief tied around her neck and oh yeah, pink leather tennis shoes. She's excited because yesterday while grocery shopping we bought Aunt Jemima's buckwheat pancake mix and she's preparing our "hot cakes."
She takes her first bite and says, "This isn't good! Why I remember when you used to open the package and you could smell the buckwheat! This is tasteless." Very disappointed, she finishes her one pancake. I have two and they taste pretty good to me.
Several minutes pass and she says, "There's a phone number on that box. I'm going to call them and chew their asses out!" She dials the 800 number and a real person answers immediately. I am listening intently to mom's side of the conversation. She tells the person on the other end how excited she was to cook the hot cakes and then how disappointed she was when she tasted them. "Where's the bar code Kathy?" she asks me. I take the phone and give the bar code number to the very nice woman on the other end of the line.
I tell her she's been talking to a 94 year old. My mom says, "Tell her I've got all my marbles and I can still tell good from bad buckwheat."
Overhearing my mom, the woman asks, "What did your mom say?"
I repeat the comment. By this time, the woman is laughing and telling me how sorry she is. She requests my mom's name and address. She is going to send her a coupon.
She wishes us happy holidays and hangs up, still laughing.
And this is just a couple of hours here with mom. I'm sure I will have more stories by the time I leave.
Kathy