Sale coming! Have you heard?

In the November newsletter that went out yesterday, I announced a pre-Thankgiving sale.  All of my classes will be 20% off!  I'll send out an e-mail in a couple of days to give you the exact sale dates.  Be sure you are signed up for the newsletter or check back here on the blog this weekend.

Also today, I have a little story that expresses a gratitude this month.  See this blue crock?  It originally came from the All Healing Springs hotel.  All Healing Springs was a popular summer resort in the early 20th century here in my area.  The hotel burned decades ago.  I thought it had burned before my parents were old enough to remember but I was wrong.  I was treated this week to a little memory of my mothers from when she was a teenager.  This is very rare and I'm grateful something good came out of the challenges this month.

The day after my uncle died, my mother called and told us her washing machine was leaking. Water was coming out all over the utility room floor and she didn't know how to turn it off. Daddy has been under the weather and couldn't help her.  We raced up there.  Her water controls are behind the washer in such a way that it has to be moved to turn the water off.  Fortunately my husband was home and could move the washer and do this for us.

He spent 2 hours trying to fix the washer and figured out the problem but by then she had decided she would replace it altogether. So later in the day, DH went to see some clients while Mother, Daddy and I shopped for a new washer. On the way home, she asked if I was coming up to help her get everything out of the utility room.  Daddy reminded us the washer was still between the cabinet and the wall making the room impassable. So I said, we would have to wait until my husband could get home, right the machine and move it.

Did my mother listen to that?  Well, she listened, she said she agreed but you can imagine what happened. She was determined to clean up her utility room.  I'd also noticed some precariously leaning shelves when we were out there and told her we needed to secure those to the wall.

About an hour and half after we got home from the appliance store, she called and I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. I'm still not sure.  I literally dropped the phone on the floor and raced up there.  The shelves had turned over on her.  She was sitting in the living room unhurt, thankfully.  The same can not be said for the utility room, particularly the carpet. When the shelves came down so did a open gallon of Windex followed by an open box of Tide.  To say it was a mess is an understatement.  So I finally persuaded her to stay outside while I held the shelves with one hand and handed her stuff with the other.

We got everything cleared and over the next few days, new carpet and a new washer were installed.  I brought home a few things she had stored there including this crock that she said was valuable.  Mother isn't a blue person so I really didn't know why she had it at all.

One evening they were here at my house and I asked where the crock came from.  She told me she bought it at the estate sale for a house at All Healing Springs.  She also told me about going to the hotel when she was a teenager for dinners sponsored by political parties.  The Republicans had chicken at their dinners and the Democrats ate fish.  Apparently this was a longstanding tradition.  She talked about the family that owned the hotel and she and Daddy recalled the movie theater the hoteliers owned in town.  She told about going to matinees there during the war. This led to other reminiscing.

I'm grateful for this because my parents seldom talk about their lives as teenagers and young adults.  They married a little older than was the custom at the time so their single years are ones I've always been curious about.

So the little blue crock is at my house.  I don't know anything about its history but because of it, I know a bit more about my parents.
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Don't forget to check back this weekend for more info on the pre-Thanksgiving sale!