Writing Successes: Writing? Hmmm...Writing. I guess it counts that I relayed more cleaning stories with Sal? Sure. Why not. Blog was a success, anyhow.

Music Playing: Lights Out on KINK.

Exerpt from "And You Think You've Got It Bad" by Barbara Fairchild Gramm

A Man By Comparison - Because of the greater width of a man's head, he has greater mental powers. Women, have such a narrow brain. [...] As a man is vastly superior in authority to the wife; she should hold him in the highest and purest regard. Without a man's restraint a family is like a horse without a driver, a nation without a ruler, a day without sun. He is as neccessary as a table in a kitchen, or chairs in the parlour. [...]

I just about laughed myself sick.

I know, you're suddenly asking yourself, "What is that about?" This woman found a coverless turn-of-the-century book on housekeeping in an attic trunk. Being highly amused by the laughable "rules" inside, she began a quest to find simliar books and compiled them all into one book. That's what I'm quoting. You're going to see quite a lot of these, as I am easily amused, and this is terribly funny.

The above quote really struck me as a good banner for Women's Rights. It's so obvious a man wrote that particular passage. Of course, it is possible that, at the time, women really thought that. I mean, you can see right there they were TAUGHT it. It was the "RULES" of conduct, it was "How to Get A Man And Keep Him Happy." But it's so SAD that our gender once thought this way.

But it was this very mindset that led to Sufferage and everything that followed after. For everything there is a reason. Doesn't make it any less funny.

Called my stepmom today, and actually got a little more the "closet" story to share. My dad was sick, remember? Well, she brought over some soup and things to help him out. She wound her way through the little path in the living room to the kitchen, and I do mean a little path through the trash (and Dad had been cleaning up!). Finally, frustrated and upset at what she saw, she sent him off to bed and began to clean.

It took her 4 1/2 hours to do the dishes. Mind, dishes, not "clean the kitchen". As she spoke I had little flashes of that terrible little kitchen. Allow me to share why I new right away she didn't mean "clean the kitchen."

The stove had a vent over it that NEVER worked. Nobody ever cleaned it or repaired it. The light never came on, and the fan turned on but sucked up nothing. There was a layer of grease on, under, beside and above that stove. Inside? Don't even LOOK, man. I mean, YEARS of blackened meat drippings and spills were layered on that thing. The stovetop "cups" that catch the food under the burners? Yap, totally full and blackened.

Nobody ever once moved the fridge or cleaned inside the drawers or cupboards. We mopped the floor about once a year. We never, ever, cleaned the walls (and we did have food fights) or the ceiling. You know, I'll bet there was cleaning supplies in that house from the year I was born.

My stepmother agreed as I listed all these things. Every bit as I remembered.

Let me just pause to say its not all my mother's fault. My stepmother didn't come along until 3 years after my mom and I moved to an apartment. It's not like dad and the boys didn't have the opportunity to dig themselves out of that nightmare.

And you're probably thinking to yourself, how did Deoris live there? Was she a total pig? The answer is that I didn't have a choice, and no. My room was always the cleanest in the house. It was never SPOTLESS, but it was at least tidy. My books were alphabetical, my writing was organized by date, and I knew which pile of laundry was clean because I did it myself. I also cleaned most of the house, the hallway, the bathrooms when they were just too much to stand, and the kitchen. I also did most of the cooking.

I also wasn't really "there" there. I moved in a different world than everyone else, honestly. I still can't remember most of what anyone else does. I wasn't really around.

Well, I think that's enough for today. Tune in tomorrow for more of Deoris' Horrible Childhood! Installment three looks to be a loo loo!