Mother’s Day has come and gone and we hope all mothers had a day of celebration. For many it was one of reminiscing not only for the mothers, but for sons and daughters as well. Sadly, in many cases, we have only memories of Mother’s Day since our mothers are deceased. However, we are among those who still can hold fond memories of our moms.
I came across a letter written by a daughter who put somewhat of a different slant on the memory of her mother. The letter started with the statement, “I had the meanest mother in the world.”
Her letter then continued:
“While other kids had candy for breakfast, I had to eat cereal, eggs and toast. While other kids had cake and candy for lunch, I had a sandwich.
My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing.
I am ashamed to admit it, but she actually had the nerve to break the child labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make the beds and learn to cook. That woman must have stayed awake nights thinking up things for kids to do. And she insisted we tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
By the time we became teenagers, she was much wiser and our life became more unbearable. None of this tooting the car horn for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by insisting that our friends come to the door to get us.
I am trying to raise my children to stand a little straighter and taller and I am secretly tickled to pieces when my children call me mean. I thank God for giving me the meanest mother in the world. This world needs more mean mothers like mine.”
Enough said. * * *
Over the past months there’s been much said about gun control. We have no intention of getting into a public debate about that issue. However, a question came to mind when I saw a woman charged with terrorist threats while carrying a chainsaw. That caused me to wonder if there will be an outcry for chainsaw controls.
Nutrition labeling adding hours to shopping trips
Shopping trips to the grocery store once were measured in minutes. Now, it is not unusual that a major visit to the market may last more than an hour for budget-minded and diet-conscious shoppers.
Over the years the consumer, burdened by a tighter economy and health consciousness, continually watched the family’s budget and strived for healthy eating habits.
Today’s shopper is keenly aware of product ingredients. Information concerning total fat, sodium, calories per serving and daily value of vitamins now appear on the front, the back and the sides of a product box. Even a normal serving size routinely graces our product packages. The task of digesting food has become one of the simpler segments of our eating habits. Digesting food nutritional labels and their information is a much more difficult task and, in my estimation, is the basic reason food and other product shopping takes so long.
Labels may have made us modern shoppers smarter. Those same labels may have also made us a more frustrated shopper. The shoppers’ problem has been compounded not only by ingredient labeling, but packaging sizes as well.
We discover the box size may be the same on certain products, but contains fewer ounces of product content. Standard six packs of nearly any type of liquid now can be found in four, eight, or more per pack and with fewer ounces per unit. A ream of paper once was 500 sheets and today a ream varies between 300 and 500 sheets. Cases once held 24 items and now vary from 18 to 24. Even magazine, newspaper and other publication subscriptions that commonly were sold on annual, or semi-annual timeframes, now can be subscribed to for 13 weeks or less.
The shopper of today is much smarter about package size and cost than years ago. He also is much more frustrated. And to those food nutritionists who try to convince me eating healthy by rationalizing the notion a healthy steak serving should be no bigger than a deck of cards, I simply say, “Tell that to any Nebraska steak eater. * * * I thought a week or so ago the betterhalf got a little anxious to mow. Several times she found it necessary to skirt with the mower a few remaining snow drifts near the house. Judging by the weather this past Wednesday, she now appeared to again be plenty smart. * * * The years fly by. Nothing seems to make that more evident than the fact another high school graduation comes up and I can remember those neighbor kids when they started kindergarten, junior high and participated in many school activities.
Each year the graduating class is another outstanding representation of our schools and our communities. Most importantly, those graduates are going to make great future citizens wherever their future endeavors carry them. Congratulations to those graduates and their accomplishments.
Mother’s Day has come and gone and we hope all mothers had a day of celebration. For many it was one of reminiscing not only for the mothers, but for sons and daughters as well. Sadly, in many cases, we have only memories of Mother’s Day since our mothers are deceased. However, we are among those who still can hold fond memories of our moms.
