S&H Green Stamps....a childhood memory

Back in the olden days (I think I can say that now? I wonder how many of you remember or have even SEEN a green stamp?) we had green stamps.

If I remember correctly (and I was young, so my memory could be skewed? but I doubt it) when we shopped at either Kroger or Piggly Wiggly - for every dollar you spent, you got a stamp with the value of a penny - every 10 dollars, you'd get a ten cent stamp? Anyway - a ridiculously low amount of stamps for the money you spent. Maybe it was a 10% ratio? I don't rightly recollect, but I DO RECALL one day, I must have asked my mom about this huge bag of green stamps she had. (And when I say huge bag, I'm not talking about a little ziplock bag, or even a gallon sized ziplock bag, I don't even think those were invented back then, but I'm talking about a grocery bag, and again - not your standard grocery bag...the BROWN PAPER BAG - because I don't think the plastic grocery bag with handles had yet been invented...but I do remember when they were invented because back then they gave you a choice "paper or plastic" whereas now, they dis-invented paper. Can't find a paper grocery bag anywhere...try it! I don't know what to drain my meatballs on - but I digress....)

So picture a brown paper grocery bag full of S&H green stamps - IN THE RAW - meaning - the combined value of said stamps were undetermined because as of yet, they had not been affixed to an S&H Green stamp BOOK (see picture above) It was my job, as a 5 year old (maybe I was older?) to organize these stamps into books - they were the kind of stamps that you had to lick. I remember because I had to lick them all - to get them to stick in the book. This was before self-adhesive was invented.

So as a four year old - who was highly intelligent - yet talked too much (if you can even IMAGINE me talking too much...) my mother kept my mouth busy by sitting me in front of our radio (this was WELL before cable was invented) and licking these stamps. Now, I must have been a highly intelligent 3 year old - because each page on the book had different value systems. I believe you could fill the page with penny stamps, or half of the page with 5 cent stamps - or one row of the page with 10 cent stamps. So...(and this is where it could get confusing for a 2 1/2 year old) you could put 5-one cent stamps and then two rows minus one 5 cent stamps - or two five cent stamps and then a row minus a ten cent stamps - but under no circumstances were you allowed to put 3 five cent stamps and rip one of the ten cent stamps in half. I had to write that on the board a hundred times - my mom was strict about wasting the S&H green stamps....

Anyway - so the ultimate goal of collecting all these green stamps & books was that you could go to the S&H green stamp store and BUY whatever you wanted - the more books you saved, the more items - or nicer items - or bigger items you could "purchase" - If I remember correctly (and I always do) I had filled 326 books of these S&H stamps. (I remember this because part of the educational system in Texas was to find any number and divide it by two, then add 3, divide it by 2 again - repeat those steps until you come up with your age - that's how I remember I was about three years old.)

As a reward for licking all the stamps and putting them in the books, I got to go with my mom to the S&H store (plus - I think I Had to, because the babysitter didn't take S&H books as payment) I remember that day clearly - I was so excited when we finally had enough books to buy a square yellow sponge, so I no longer had to lick stamps.

Now, I can see my mother reading this and objecting about making me lick all those stamps - but I remember it clearly - I was a very skinny child. I didn't eat a lot of sweets, by choice, but I didn't eat a lot of anything else, on the count of my tongue always sticking to the roof of my mouth - and I also remember after cashing in all those books - I didn't have any more green stamps to lick - so I was able to eat solid foods again - and I ate a whole lot - my uncles would tease me about being able to put an entire pancake in my mouth in one bite - I'd fold it up into a little square piece and open my mouth real wide - it fit (we were poor, the pancakes were watered down and were more like crepe's anyway - so it was doable) And the first time my aunt saw me do that she said, "My goodness, Heidi, I can't believe you can eat so much - you're so skinny! Where do you put all those calories?" and truth be told - I'm not sure what I answered her, but I have recently discovered what I did with all those calories I ate when I was younger...I stored them in my late 30's.

My thought on the LAWof Attraction

Saw something on TV the other day - some celebrity was telling a news anchor about how she became famous. It was the ultimate "fault" of the Law of Attraction. She said "no negatives, the universe doesn't understand negatives."

In other words - if you don't want to get fat, you can't think "I don't want to get fat" because the universe doesn't hear "don't" it just hears "I want fat" - so you get fatter.

Never mind the fact that the universe is SMART enough to know exactly where galaxies, planets and stars all fit perfectly without too much history of catastrophic collisions...lets just pretend that the universe is only "smart" enough to manage EARTH. (because, if you think about it, really, that's quite the accomplishment. The UNIVERSE has to understand completely the EXACT location of the proximity of the earth to the sun - so we don't fry - so perfect the alignment, tilt - and rotation of the planet that it's able to sustain life - on several different levels - from temperatures ranging to hundreds below zero - to well over 100 - where several different life forms are able to thrive.

But yet, it doesn't understand the word "don't" my Baby is 14 months old. She understands the word "don't." In fact, Perhaps the universe has hit it's rebellious teenagers in universal light years - and is rebelling against all those who "don't" want to be fat...because I also have a 15 year old - and while he understands the word "don't" he doesn't necessarily heed that word.

So tell me, is the universe not bright enough to know when we're asking in negative speech - or is it rebelling?

Once you understand how to speak the universal language of the universe, you will have your dreams come true - according to one site "Patience is not necessary...without time and space, there is instant manifestation..." Well. DUHR. Is this universal Law of Attraction saying that - if we WILL time and space to negate itself, we don't need patience?

The fact of the matter remains, there IS time and space...in fact, the UNIVERSE created it, therefore, there must needs be PATIENCE.

WTH? Just sayin'

The obligatory Mother's Day post....

Lets just preface this by saying I started out the week diminishing the inventory of the gravel pit that is my kidney - by two - I had twins (one of them died in an experiment to see how hard I'd have to punch it to get it to break down - it took a hammer...) Here's the other one:


Now for the mother's day post:

A lot of my friends always have TERRIBLE mothers days - if it's not one thing, it's always another. I used to be like that, until I decided that mother's day was not so much about ME being served, but rather, about me being a mom!

A lot of my friends don't see it my way - but until you do, your mothers day will always stink! There will always be someone NOT doing dishes - or kissing up to you the right amount! There will always be a sibling fight - there will always be an extra mess left especially for mother to clean.

So - I sort of do it backwards. In years past, I've gotten my children each a mother's day gift. To thank them for the opportunity to be a mother. I'm not a perfect mother 364 days a year - so this ONE day a year, I put forth every ounce of my mother energy to be PERFECT.

Obviously if you have a rotten mother's day because you're not "served" adequately - then you're a sucky little muthah to begin with because clearly you didn't teach your children the value of service! You'll always lose! Instead of hitting that angle on the mothering front - I get up first thing - and make the best favoritest breakfast imaginable - then I spend extra time with them - combing hair - playing cards - whatever, no Sunday nap for me.

It helps have a great day...no expectations - except from my own actions!

This was a great mother's day - having no expectations...I woke up to my kids bringing in a TV tray with WAFFLES & ICE CREAM! SWEET! I'm not a sugar-for-breakfast fan, but hey, it's hard to say NO to this - especially when they're so excited about it - plus, it was Blue Bell ice cream. I think there's a law against not eating all of it?

The day before MD, I was STUCK buying and organizing 25 corsages, 8 flower arrangements and putting together some 16 bags of hershey kisses. ALL for the other mothers in the ward to support my husband and the scouts in their annual fund raising for camp efforts.

As I'm putting these items into separate piles for delivery - counting them out - organizing the delivery routes & other such SERVICE from my husband - and son - to other 25 mothers in the ward - I couldn't help but get a little bitter. My husband didn't secretly order an extra set of flowery arrangements, corsages or even the coveted chocolate bag (the boys were at Father/Son campout - they weren't available to organize this event....)

Well, the husband called - and told me he was not far from home - so again - I'm in a race to make sure he's happy when he gets home by cleaning up the kitchen (something I avoid on weekends - since he's home - and the kids are home - I let them do it, but they were dispersed this weekend.)

So as I'm in a frantic fury of white-tornato-ing in the kitchen - my kids walk in - I'm borderline annoyed w/ all my "other mother" rewards - when my 8 year old walked in with a McDonalds cup full of fresh-cut wild flowers. The most vivid orange, bright red, light purple - and greenery!

This is particularly touching to me - since every time we're out on the freeway in the "wild" I always mention the flowers and how I want to stop just to take a picture. Something about these wild flowers - they're 10 times more vivid in color than any one you can purchase! And they're not your average "rose" or "daisy" or "sunflower" they're desert flowers! BEAUTIFUL!

SO right then I was forced to blink back emotion...I mean - after all, it was no corsage...but it was an extra 30 minutes added to their drive-home-time - after a camp-out...stopping at just the right spots, 3 different times - to gather these flowers! Then having to stop again to get them some water from the cooler in the back!

WOW! They totally shouldn't have set the expectations so high - I'm bound to have a disappointing mothers day, for sure!!!

Well, after I ate my waffles & ice cream, I got ready for church & did that whole thing - hopped up on a few hundred more grams of sugar from the bishopric with milk & cookies (every mother's dream, right?)

I got home from church - and hit the hay - had a nice long nap - and then woke up to offers of the annual MOM-SPA!

Kiersten got a foot bath and massage, Kali also got excited about massaging my feet - (like I'm going to turn any of it down) Coby jumped in on the action combing my hair - Brynn wanted to comb, then the kids did that whole "walk on my back" massage thing - it was great!


I got about 300 little notes from Kali & Brynn about how much they loved me - and some cute scribbly pictures of nothing short of whatever I imagined them to be....

I really do love being a mom...and regardless of the little messes left for me to clean up on Monday, without taking credit for how wonderful my children are, I find that I learn so much more from them, than I can ever hope to teach them.

Love my babies! (And no, I won't sneak into their homes when they're in their 30's to rock them in the rocking chair when they're sleeping - that's just SICK and TWISTED whoever came up with THAT idea!)