Thursday, March 4, 2010

WELL THANK YOU JOAN CRAWFORD!...

I swear my mother and I act exactly alike.

(There would be a picture of us together here, but she thinks If I post a picture or her name an 1920's silent movie style caper with handle bar mustache and cape will surely steal our family inheritance...

Most times this is a good thing, but then there are those times when its the ground work for World War III. First of all she doesn't like the idea of me blogging, AT ALL she says that 'no one cares about whats going on, and your gonna get your going to get kicked out of the lake.'   Second like this morning, we just fight at each other...  I got up early and went over to our storage house,   crawled through the Jungle of Junk to get the the windows on the far side of each room and take down 3 panels of cream 1970's pinch pleat curtains.  I bring them back to the house lay them out on the picnic table and start cleaning them up *mom looks out the window and waves* I get one panel all clean and take them to my room. Mom says "where did you get them?" I say "Across the street."  she says "Oh ok..."  I clean the next panel and my mother and I have a similar exchange, its when I bring the 3rd panel in JOAN CRAWFORD embodies my mother in "Mommie Dearest" fashion.
She gives me this deep scowl and says "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE?!" 
again I say "across the street in your bed room and my bed room."
Mom: "YOU CANT DO THAT! You cant just go in there and take stuff because you think its yours, your dads not gonna go for that." 
I explain "I put sheets up in the windows so the sun wont rot stuff"
Mom:"You need to ask your father, hes going to shit a brick, I know what he's gonna says...I just know what hes gonna say...."
(at this point im selfish and furious... so I say) : "IF IT'S THAT BIG OF A DEAL WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME TO PUT THEM BACK WHEN YOU SAW ME CLEANING THEM ON THE PICNIC TABLE?!"
Mom: "You'll just have to ask your father... I know what he's going to say"
Me :Then why ask him?! I'll just put the STUPID THINGS BACK!"
Mom: "NO, NO YOU WONT.... Where are you even gonna put these, they are rotten, and old why would you use old ones insted of the new ones you got?!"
Me"At the lake in the bedroom"
Mom: "YOU JUST GOT NEW CURTAINS FOR BACK THERE HOW MANY DO YOU NEED!"
(It was pointless for me to try and explain about the valances. So with out another word I swooped up the curtains went back to the storage house, RIPPED my way through the jungle and hung the curtains back up.)

Here's what could have been, I was so frustrated I didnt even fix them like how they would hang.
 

Oh well, I'll do something!  I really do like the vintage red and it IS for my room... 
See I share everything with my mom (I honestly think that's why she doesn't like the blog because im sharing with you guys!) At the same time Mom always gets on board with my projects when they are about half way done. Like when I brought the 1946 radio home and It looked like this...

 
She said "its a fire hazard and a waste of $10 ... however when I started sanding it down she said "Oh you've ruined it!" then when I had it sanded and it was a blond wood color she said "you need to just leave it like that." It wasn't until after I stained and varnished it and it looked like this....

 

Did she say "what a treasure! What a find! what a STEAL FOR $10!" 
Just like with my stove, she wanted for to just buy a new one for $300 where I was willing to take a chance on a 50 yr old one for $250. She thought it was silly That I wanted it more for the look than for the actual cooking and we argued over it for the ENTIRE month of July, of course once it was In the Casablanca it was 'the best thing i'd ever purchased..

So who knows about this curtain thing, while I spent $45 on the new ones, I really do think the red will look better. I also think its a sign i'm supposed to use them the paper they were wrapped in was dated 1956... and the Turquoise room was built in 1956

I love my Mom very much <3  I owe a lot to her!

-Mick-
 

7 comments:

Vintage Christine said...

I think it's just awful that you write about your mother like that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hey, a day without a fight with your mom is like a day without sunshine, I always say. Well, except I can't say that anymore, but I've still got all those memories. Ah, I remember that even BEFORE the Alzheimers we'd have some pretty good humdingers--the Alzheimers just added the extra spice of her repeating herself 50 million times.

jamie@midcenturymania said...

Oh I can totally relate to Mommy Dearest! Imagine what my house was like with 3 teenage boys and me in full blown menopause. I swear, sometimes I felt like I was frothing at the mouth while my head was spinning around on my shoulders. I just knew that every time my sons were on the internet they were being stalked by pedophiles. She'll cool off and give you the curtains.

Vonlipi said...

That was an interesting morning! Relationships with moms are so complicated...Mine was ok with me until I developped a personality and then nothing I did was right. She disowned me a a gazillion times and now doesn't remember me (or pretends not to, because that's the way she is). That's life! I would ask your Dad anyways because those curtains are just gathering dust and wasting away...I always say: Use your treasures! ;)

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Oh Honey I'm a Mom and I have a Mom and I totally understand! It is truly a love/hate thing. Love those red curtains, everything else will work out.

Missouri Michael said...

tee hee! when my mom gets like that I just get in my car and go home. That's the joy of owning your own place! She has finally stopped doing those kinds of things to me, but then again, I'm 28...her time for having any type of control over me has long passed. Now I get to remind her to keep me happy because I get to help choose her nursing home someday, and if she isn't careful, I'll put her in the low-rated local place. By the way, does Mother Dear read your blog? She might find this post amusing... ;)

Mick said...

Hah! Micheal I always tell my mom im going to send her to "Shady Pines" (from Golden Girls) if she isnt nice to me lol. Im gonna try it again tomrrow and see if I get my Mom or Joan Crawford. I think im gonna tell her that I will use the $45 ones for the bathroom insted of the bedroom.

Lisa said...

My mom's exactly like that. I would take her to estate sales with me so that she could raid the xmas goods and I could look for fifties lamps and dresses. The furniture in my bedroom right now, a 1930's practically mint suite of dresser, vanity, and bed, was a no to her because it was too dusty. Lisa: "You can't do this to me. I need your husband, my father, to help me move it. Please consent to letting him help me move it." Mom: "It's seventy years old. It's going to fall apart the minute we get it in the truck."

Nevertheless, my suite and I lived happily ever after, and she not long after (after an application of pine sol and a little elbow grease), said it was really beautiful, and a steal(I think it was seventy bucks for the WHOLE SET). Sound familiar? :)

Fun blog, thanks for sharing.