Author Archives: chenson70

Home Improvement

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My husband, Matt, has been working diligently around the house the last four days. Mowing the lawn, trimming, grouting the new tile floor in the master bathroom, putting down new moulding around the floor in the bathroom. All this work in anticipation of listing our house with a realtor.
Matt is very handy with tools (one of the talents that Mama said a man should have). He is also very willing to try most any home improvement project. Everything that he has done at our house(s) so far has turned out really great, both in quality and in how it looks.
Whenever I see Matt working around the house (especially so successfully), I have to compare his abilities to my father’s. Home improvement was not his forte. I can understand why — he wasn’t taught home improvement growing up. I don’t remember my Grandfather ever attempting to fix a leaky faucet or unstop a toilet–his talents were elsewhere.
With my father, I vividly remember the time the back door lock jammed — the time I like to call “The Christmas Eve Door Incident”.
Obviously, the back door lock jammed. I don’t remember how long the lock had been broken, but apparently it hadn’t bothered Tom until Christmas Eve. Quite possibly, he was trying to sneak out to his car to gather Christmas presents (just recently purchased, I’m sure).
Thus, when the back door lock interfered with Tom’s plans, Tom decided to “fix” the lock. We’re not sure what Tom did, but a jammed lock ended up being a back door flung into the back yard. On Christmas Eve. In a small town where all stores close early on Christmas Eve and do not open again until the day after Christmas. In the mountains of North Carolina, where it tends to get cold in December. You get the drift that this wasn’t the most convenient time to have your back door in the middle of the back yard.
This ended Tom’s ventures in home improvement — to our relief. I have to admit that one of the (many) reasons that I fell in love with Matt was his ability to fix things. I know with him that the cold air will never come in.

Whew! It’s Friday!

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I am always so glad when Friday rolls around! I work for a Fortune 50 company, which I am convinced stands for “must attend no less than 50 meetings per week”. The result is that I am usually so zapped by Friday that I all want is a quick dinner, some decompression time, and then early to bed.

The only thing that I don’t like about Fridays is that I usually don’t see my husband. We only got married in December, and we each still own a house. Until we get my house on the market and sell it, my husband (God love him) is living in two houses. Since he knows that I am so tired on Fridays, he usually spends his Fridays at his house as I unwind at my house.

I was 37 years old before I got married. But I am so glad that I waited because I married an amazing man. He is smart, funny, considerate, honest, able to fix things and simply fantastic. There are days that I still pinch myself to realize that he married me. I hope the honeymoon stage lasts a little longer — I really like it!

The Things My Mama Said

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As implied by the title, I have learned a lot from my mother. God blessed me when He gave me to this woman. She is very wise and full of knowledge, all of it useful, but some more relevant than the rest.

My mom always talked to me and my sister, willing to explain the “why” behind her actions. Except for a brief time while I was 15 years old, I usually was on the same side as my mama. And she has been a great ally.

The older I get, the more I appreciate her teachings. She was right many more times than she was wrong. I find myself drawing on the things that she taught me as I deal with daily problems, and even with bizarre problems.

Here are some of the most memorable things that she has said.

  • Any man worth having has three things: tools that he knows how to use, a pickup truck and a chainsaw
  • If you always ask for what you have always asked for, then you’ll always get what you’ve always got
  • You’ll get over it (whatever “it” was) before you’re married twice
  • Pretty is as pretty does
  • You’ll never get a job / husband / education / house (fill in blank) if you have sex before you are married (please note: I guarantee that there will be several individual blogs around this one)
  • No one stands by you like your family
  • Sleeping naked doesn’t get you anything except a bed full of pubic hair

All these have served me well the last several decades. They have served well those with whom I have shared them.

First Musings

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So, this is my first foray into blogging. People have been urging me for years to write a book. I don’t know that I have a book in me, but I definitely have a lot to say.

As the title of my blog indicates, most of what I have to say involves my family. Past, present, and I’m sure future. I’ve got what my counselor has called “…one of the most interesting families” around. Coming from someone that is professionally trained to deal with “interesting”, I don’t believe that is a compliment. Well, maybe it is, if being unforgettable is a compliment.

I don’t know how this experiment into writing will go, but I’m game. And, I’m realizing as I get older that I need to leave a little bit of me and of my family’s history behind. You know, in the end, family is all that matters, and I’ve got a great one. I don’t want the stories and the love to disappear.