Thursday 13: Thirteen quirks and quotes from my Granny

Last week, my Granny passed away. She was a very funny lady and she will be deeply missed by me. Here is a list of funny things she would say/do.

1) "I thought it was Audie" This would be the answer when someone would drive over to my Granny's house to make sure she was OK after they called repeatedly and she hadn't answered the phone. My granny didn't have caller ID, but would use her own "psychic" abilities to determine if she would answer the phone or not. She was always convinced that the person calling was some friend of hers (Audie) who she claimed talked for too long- which was funny because my Granny was known for tying up the phone line for hours on end.

2) "those girls" Those girls were which ever group of us that were on her nerves at the time. If she were talking to us it was "you girls" Those girls were usually Me and Kim, or my Mom and Aunt Patsy. Later those girls came to refer to some people who moved down the street with a lifestyle my Granny didn't agree with.

3) "Strang and strowed" This was a term my Granny would use as an excuse as to why her house was a mess. Those girls (Kim and Me) have strang and strowed. While we were known to make a mess when we were little- we were still supposedly stranging and strowning well after we were married.

4) "stepping out and toeing the line" These are phrases that my Granny would use to define the different degrees of someone she was gossiping about who happened to be either cheating or about to cheat on their marriage.

5) "Candle-itis" This was a medical condition my Granny would get from being around to many scented candles in the store. She also got this same disorder from being around too many flowers, such as at a funeral but never refered to it as flower-itis.

6) "The Junk Room" this refers to a room in her house that holds a lot of junk. This is a treasure seekers paradise. Who knows what kind of thing we may find in there. I could always go in there and would find something I needed every time.

7) "Somebody might need it" She was green before it was fashionable. She was always reusing things well passed their prime. She collected plastic forks from fast food establishments when we ate out and would bring them home to wash and reuse. She hated the throw any trash away if it could be reused- and oh how she hated for anyone else to throw things away as well. She was also big into can recycling and would make Kim and I pick up cans from the side of the road any time she spied one and we were in the car.

8) "Someone may need it" part 2 This was the rational for keeping a lot of stuff that no one would ever need. This doesn't just apply to her stuff, but other people's stuff as well. Maybe towards the end of the month when we all work on her house I will do a Thursday 13 with picture of things she kept that I have determined no one actually needed- EVER. We have a BIG job ahead of us!

9) "Here's your coupon" Sometimes, Granny (and Pa when he was alive) would "carry" us to Captain D's as a family. This was one of the nicest restaurants in town at the time. Granny would hand us all our coupon for whatever meal she deemed we wanted. Another funny she would do at the Captain D's is that she would order a fish and fries- (which is 2 pieces of fish, fries and hush puppies) and have my Pa order the two piece fish dinner (which is the same thing plus slaw). Then she would eat his slaw because he didn't eat it, or maybe didn't even like it. We had some fun times at the Captain D's.

10) "Hickie", "Thing" and "Yonder". Hickie referred to a person who Granny couldn't think of their name at the time she was talking about them and would substitute Hickie. Thing was something she would have us looking for, but thing was the only word we had to go on. (I say thing all the time and it drive Mr. D. NUTS! I add a y to the end- thingy). Something the thing was a thing-a-ma-bob, and the person would be a Hickie-ma-bob. Yonder was the place where the thing was usually located. For example- "go get that thing in yonder for me."

11) "MikeSandyKimShane". This was our name growing up. She would sometime call us the wrong names or just all the one big name that was a combo of our names. Just a month or so ago she had me married to my cousin's husband when she was telling my Mother something about me and Mr. D. If you have ever been around a group of kids- I am sure you call them the wrong names sometimes too.

12) "Have you heard back from your Baby" Since we announced that we were trying to adopt, this was the first thing Granny would say anytime she talked to me, saw me or wrote me a letter. She would ask my mom the same thing every time she talked to or saw her. "Has Sandy heard back from her baby".

13) "make yourself a bouquet" For some reason, after people close to us had passed, we would be instructed by Granny to make ourselves a bouquet after the funeral was over and we had come back to visit the grave later that day. With the passing of Granny, we decided to introduce our newest addition Maggie to this tradition. I think Granny would have been proud of our bouquet making skills.