Portable, Go-Anywhere High Chair

So happy to be carrying these fabulous high chairs.  Lightweight, no assembly required, sturdy.  Each comes with its own matching carrying bag.

Kudzu Keepsakes has these in stock in our two physical locations.  We also take orders on line for the solid colors, camo, and collegiate styles.  

Ideal for grandparents, traveling families, active families, or at home.  

Find us on Facebook: PortableHighChairCarolina.

Happy 87th Birthday, Mom

            I’m just taking this opportunity to say “Happy Birthday” to Mom. 

She turned 87 yesterday. 

            Mom is Elsie Elizabeth Porth Shealy, and, please, don’t ever call her “Elise” instead of “Elsie.”  Her name is just the same as that of the Borden cow; she even has a deck of cards with Elsie the Cow on them, thanks to nephew Ted and his wife, Cheryl.

            I think Mom has more energy than I do.  She teaches Sunday School, is active in the Lake Murray Community Club, hosts groups at her home, and just generally stays busy.  She and her two older sisters, Jenny and Mavis, continue to play Scrabble.  Mom also likes to play cards, especially a game called Fan Tan. 

            She fought the introduction of a computer into her life for a long time, but now she is an e-mail junkie of sorts.  She is totally exasperated when her machine is on the blink.

            At the age of 80, she performed a rap number at the rehearsal dinner when my daughter Mandy got married. 

              A former South Carolina “Mother of the Year” and high-achieving sales executive, she has been the source of many hours of laughter over the years.  She’s the one who took a flight from Columbia to Chicago for a few days of meetings, wearing one kind of shoe on one foot and a totally different kind on the other foot.  She’s also the one who took an early morning flight to Baltimore, leaving her car running in the airport parking lot.

            Above all, she’s a great mom.

            Happy Birthday, Mom.

Mom with her 5 children.  Left to right: Seated - Rod (deceased), Shawn.  Standing - Lorri, Mom, Sherry, Christy.



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Yippee!!

Yippee!  It's published.  The first copies of my book arrived today!

Okay, so this is shameless self-promotion of a sort, but look at it this way: the sooner we sell out, the sooner I'll quit posting about this project.  Hint, hint.

What I really want to promote, though, is the art in the book.  We utilized the talents of 18 artists, ranging from sixth grade through retirement years.  The work by these folks is what really makes the book. 


"Don't Pick Up The Ham With Your Fingers" is a little gift or novelty book; the subtitle is "A Little Book to Do Momma's Naggin' For Her."

This illustration is featured on the cover.  It's by Austin Lane, a student at Socastee High School near Myrtle Beach. 






It's a book filled with the humor and wit of a parent's nagging.  So, why do the illustrations and caricatures feature a pig, a monkey, a ladybug and flip flops?  Find out when you get your copy.

Below are the links to see more about the little book and about the illustrators, including Emily Lyles, whose art is on exhibit at one of the Smithsonian galleries 11/1/11 - 1/22/12.

On Facebook

The Book's Blog

Those Eye-Catching Headlines

We’ve all seen them, haven’t we? Those appealing, eye-catching headlines.

They entice us; they make us want to read more – to turn the page or to click on a link. Or maybe the purpose is to tempt us into buying a product.

I saw a headline recently that was supposed to be appealing, but, to me, it wasn’t. It said: Back to my pre-baby weight: 25 years later.




Do you know what I weighed the day before my baby was born? If that is pre-baby weight, no, I don’t want to return to it.

Show me a way to return to pre-pregnancy weight and then I’m all ears. Or eyes. Or whatever.



I’ve given birth to three babies and now, all these years later, I’ve never been close to pre-pregnancy weight.


Part of the problem is that I gained 50 pounds with the first pregnancy, 50 pounds with the second one and 38 pounds with the third.

Another part of the problem is that I didn’t lose the weight between those pregnancies. (Hey, you do the numbers if you want to know.)

What was my pre-baby weight each time, i.e. my weight just before giving birth? Well, I could never exactly tell because I could never see the numerical part of the scales. I could see belly when I looked down, and that’s all I could see. Thank goodness. I don’t think I ever really wanted to see those numbers.

Yet another part of the problem is that I like to eat. I don’t like to diet and I’m not much into exercise, unfortunately.

Nah, that headline didn’t entice me. Show me a magic potion to get back to pre-pregnancy weight without dieting, without exercising, with lots of ice cream and pound cake.

That’s worthy of a headline.

 
 
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It's About Sex

I don’t write about sex very often. Maybe it’s because I don’t know very much!

But I just read that October is National Family Sexuality Month, an effort to promote open communication within families about sexuality.

Well, this reminded me a particular day many years ago. I’ve written about it before, so if you’ve already read it, just bear with me.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was at home with the three children, all of whom were quite young at the time.

According to the newspaper’s TV schedule, a show was coming on late that afternoon about teaching children how to say “no” to strangers.

Excellent, I thought. As a mother of youngsters, I wanted them to stay away from strangers and not to be tempted ever by candy or any other enticement. Without being pushy, I had us all in the room with the television when the program began. And so, we sat down and casually tuned in to watch the show.

After a few minutes of discussion about saying “no” to strangers, the conversation changed somewhat. It went from saying “no” to strangers to just saying “no” in general. And then, finally, the program’s focus turned to relationships between teenagers and beyond. The talk was about saying “no” to “doing it.” Should a person wait for love? True love? Commitment? Marriage? What? When was the right time?

As one might imagine, the children were engrossed in the discussion. Then all of a sudden, Tiffany blurted out, “I’m confused!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because,” she replied, “they’re talking about when to do it and I don’t even know what it is!”

Keep watching, honey, just keep watching.

And there you have it - our celebration of National Family Sexuality Month!

Who's the Most Harried of Them All?

Who’s the most harried among us?
Stay-at-home moms with three children under the age of 4? Stay-at-home moms with four active teens?

Moms who work outside the home AND take care of all the duties of home? Single parents who are holding down one or more jobs and taking care of children? Working adults who are responsible for their children AND their parents?

There’s probably not just one answer.

I’ve heard a story, though, of a mom who was definitely harried.

It happened years ago, when babies used playpens instead of the more updated accessories, like Pack-n-Play or Play-n-Go.

A mother with four very young children went overseas with her missionary husband to a remote area.

As a gift, their home church congregation sent the family a playpen, thinking this would be a useful item for a family with several young children.

The woman sent a note of thanks to the congregation. In it she wrote: “Thank you so much for the playpen. You cannot imagine how useful it is. Every afternoon, I get in it for about an hour so that none of the children can reach me.”

Don’t you just love it? And -- don't you just know that feeling????

Questions - Ripped from the Headlines!

Is it okay for a parent to refuse medical treatment for a child? At what point does a parent's right to make a decisions for a child stop, if ever? If the government can make decisions about the health care for a child, how far does this power extend?

Does the age of the child make a difference?

The government decides at what age a child starts to school and how many years a child should go to school or at least through how many grades, for example. The government decides a minimum age at which a child may drive. Is it wrong for a government to order certain medical treatment for a child who is extremely - or even terminally - ill?

The government decides about seatbelts for children.

If a child is missing, we want the government to help find the child.

What about the separation of church and state? How about freedom of religion? If government, medical experts and religious beliefs are at odds, what happens?

Where do we draw the lines? I'm interested in what YOU think.

Family, Friends and Facebook

Why am I on Facebook?

Well, I’m not certain about the “why” but I enjoy it.

This started about three years ago when I was in law school. I resisted for a while, thinking it was only for teens and the young 20-somethings.

Soon, though, I joined in. We set up study groups that way. This was our only serious use, however -- if I remember correctly.

Since then, the “face” of Facebook has changed. There are loads of people around my age. I’ve found long-lost friends from high school, from my hometown and more. It’s enjoyable to hear from them and to exchange news and pictures. People I knew as teenagers are now grandparents.

There are word games that I use for what I hope is “Alzheimer’s or dementia prevention.”

My Facebook “friends” are of all different ages, all walks of life and from just about everywhere.

Both of my daughters are Facebook friends.

Not my son, though.

I’ve sent a request on more than one occasion.

He refuses to befriend me. He says I’m too old for Facebook.

I'll bet he'd be surprised to learn there are people even older than I am on Facebook. Actually, he'd probably be shocked to find out there are people older than I am still LIVING!!!

Some Show 'n Tell

Years ago, I was filled with pride when Tree, my fifth-grade son, asked me if I would go with him for the class show-and-tell time.

I thought maybe the teacher had assigned students to bring their role models to class.

No, perhaps it was to be someone who baked cookies for them.

Or maybe, since I was serving on a local school board, it was to be someone in the public eye or someone who helped schools.

Even though my mind raced with possibilities, it really didn’t matter why he wanted me to come with him to school; I was just so pleased that he asked!

As Friday, the day for this event, drew near, I casually asked my son why he had chosen me. My question to him was rather matter-of-fact, no big deal.

Well, it was no big deal to him, when he casually answered, “Oh, we’re supposed to bring examples of vertebrate animals, and I thought you’d be a good example.”

A vertebrate animal.

Now, isn’t that special?

I managed to keep a pleasant look on my face as I assured him I’d be there and that probably no one else would bring the same kind of animal as he was bringing to class.

Ah, the sacrifices parents make!

But the best was yet to come! On Friday morning, as we readied for school, he said, “Oh, Mom; there’s just one thing. Mrs. Watkins said if the animal was large it had to be in a cage.”

A cage? Did my son think I was going to be put into a cage?

I went with him that day, but as this vertebrate animal and her son walked into the classroom, we both indeed walked. I was not in a cage.

* * * *

Copyright 2008 Sherry Shealy Martschink

(Since April marks the one year anniversary of this blog, I'm occasionally doing a few re-posts from the blog's beginnings. This is one of those.)

Am I Not "People"?

Now, I want to know: Do I not qualify as “people”? Am I nobody?
Here’s why I ask.
For years, my children have looked at something I was doing or something I was wearing and say, “Mom, people don’t do that anymore.” Well, I do.

For example, several years ago, silver jewelry was the rage (or so I’m told.) I had on gold jewelry when a daughter said, “Mom, people just don’t wear gold jewelry anymore.”
Since when am I not “people”? If I was wearing gold jewelry, then obviously at least some people were still wearing gold jewelry. Or maybe only one person.

Of course, I’ve read recently that gold jewelry is coming back in, which means I’ll more than likely switch to silver. After all, if we’re not here on this earth to be out of sync with current trends, thereby embarrassing our children, what is our purpose in life?

And then there’s the “nobody” that I must be. It’s the same thing, just different words. One of my adult children typically says regarding what I’m doing, “Mom, nobody does that anymore.” "Nobody wears shoes like that anymore." Well, I do.
I guess this is why one of my daughters and her friends always went to my closet for old-time or fun costumes in school.

Wanna know what’s going to be fashionable in a few years? Stick with me. I’ll show you, because I’m probably still wearing it from 25 years ago.

You Wrote WHAT????

Perhaps you’re familiar with the college application process, either for yourself or for a family member. It’s actually quite tedious and it’s not cheap.


When my son, Tree, was at that stage, he applied to several schools, even though this meant loads of paperwork.
For Tree, the process took place well over a dozen years ago. Even so, there’s one of those application forms I’ll never forget.

Now, bear in mind: the cost was $35 to $100 per submission, depending on the school, so this was serious business.


On this one particular application booklet, there were a few pages of background and rather mundane questions. Then there was a page that was almost blank. At the top were instructions to choose a topic for a one-page essay.


When Tree finished with the form, that page remained almost blank. Under the instructions, he had written the word “pickles.”
That’s all. Nothing else. Nada. Just “pickles.”

When I asked him what in the blue blazes he was doing, he explained, “Mom, it doesn’t say to write a one-page essay. It just says to choose a topic for a one-page essay.”

And that’s the way this application form - with an almost blank page - remained as he mailed it to the college admissions office.
His future, my money – and he wrote “pickles.”

Hilarious Mrs. Hughes

Creativity Can Be Alarming!

Sometimes creativity causes problems. Like when children are budding artists and want to color outside the lines, even though they are expected to color inside the lines. Or when a creative writer is told to write a news story and to stick with basic facts with no flowery language. Or budding fashionistas who have to wear uniforms to school.

When we were growing up, we were encouraged toward creativity. Sometimes, however, this could be quite challenging. I remember one time in particular.

Brother Shawn, even now, is quite inventive, and he was as a child also.
When he was about 10, he was into building things and experimenting. So, one day, as a surprise, he built a burglar alarm of sorts. The trouble was that he hooked it up to the commode!
Well, it was definitely a surprise.

When Mom came home from work and went straight to the bathroom, as she always did, she sat down on the toilet seat which had just been rigged with Shawn’s burglar alarm system.
Yep, she was surprised alright. Shocked may be more like it.
At least Mom and Dad had encouraged creativity – quite successfully!

Unique, Interesting and Mysterious

These two pictures show a bruise on my arm. Yes, I know; the pictures also show wrinkles, freckles, moles and FAT. Those aren't the reason for the post, though. The bruises are.

Mom's arm looks even worse.

There's a story behind these. They are about a week old. Last weekend, we babysat and took care of my sister's children for the weekend. Jonathan was a week shy of 12 months at the time; he is an angel. Christopher turned 4 in June; he talks all of the time and knows everything. I mean everything! Ryan is 7; Ryan has autism. Ryan doesn't talk; when he gets terribly frustrated, he hits and bites out of frustration.




Ryan is adorable. He is in a world of his own. He spends hours at the swimming pool just putting water into a cup and pouring it back out. He takes off all of his clothes at the pool. He eats salt off of chips, pretzels and anything else with salt. He likes to eat the peel off of lemons.


It is because of Ryan that many in our family are heading to Charlotte for an autism awareness walk on Saturday. My daughter Tiffany is coming from Nashville; son Tree is coming from D.C.; daughter Mandy and her son, Harrison, are coming from Denver.

Children with autism are often extremely bright. I believe Ryan is. When he was only two, he could put together puzzles quickly. It was amazing to watch him do so.

But Ryan hits himself; he occasionally hits and bites others. Like I said, he is in a world of his own. How I wish we could get easily communicate with him. He is, as the below graphic shows, unique and mysterious.

Time for a Change?

Dads (generally) are much more involved in their children’s lives when they are newborns and up until toddler ages than they used to be. They are more aware of what needs to be done.

I was the first-born to my parents, so there was a lot of experimenting, I guess.
This was a LONG time ago. There was no such thing as a throw-away diaper. No Pampers, no Huggies, no Luvs, etc. Just the cloth diapers that had to be washed and rewashed.

Many times over, I’ve heard the story about the first time Mom left me alone with Dad.
Apparently, my diapers were dirty – and I don’t mean just wet. They were DIRTY. Dad didn’t know what to do. However, it seems he wanted to do what was best for his little baby girl.

There just happened to be a barrel full of rainwater outside, so Dad took me outside, held me by the arms and dunked me up and down in the rain barrel until he believed both the diaper and I were clean – if not dry.

I hope he didn’t have other plans for that barrel of rainwater.

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden: Real People????

This isn’t a political discussion, and yet it is. It’s just not a partisan political discussion.

I’m sorta (for non-Southerners, that’s “sort of”) glad Sarah Palin and Joe Biden are the candidates for vice president. (At least we know the next vice president will have a two-syllable last name that ends with an "n.")

That’s because I sometimes wonder if elected officials, especially those in the highest offices, experience life like the rest of us do. I wonder if they have to make the tough decisions that the rest of us have to make. Sarah Palin and Joe Biden have some real life experiences.

Just after Joe Biden was first elected to Congress, his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident. His sons were injured in the wreck. He experienced tragedy and loss. Then, all of a sudden, he was a single parent. Later, he remarried, so he knows what it’s like to deal with “step” issues. His sons had a step-mom with his remarriage.

Biden was stopped in his bid for the presidency in 1988 because of issues related to plagiarism in a speech.

Sarah Palin has a special needs child, although since the child is just a few months old right now, she hasn’t yet had to deal with the problems to the extent she will have to over the next few decades. She has a pregnant teen-aged daughter, and we’ve learned that the teenager and her boyfriend will marry and keep the baby.

Sarah Palin is a working mom (and, yes, Joe Biden is a working dad, although his children are now grown); she has five children, one of whom is being deployed overseas later this month. Palin’s sister is divorced from someone who threatened violence and abuse against family.


In no way do I rejoice that these two candidates have had personal problems. However, even when we as the general public seem to want our politicians held to extremely high standards, we also want to know they understand the rest of us and the choices we sometimes have to make, don’t we? What do you think?

Grandma GOOFS Up!

Sometimes even grandmas goof up!
Today, I’m the grandma who goofed. And I’ve only been a grandma for five months! I wonder how many more times I’ll get bad marks.

It happened like this. Son-in-law Adam’s grandfather died, not unexpectedly. He, my daughter Mandy and grandson, Harrison, flew in to South Carolina from their home in Colorado. They are staying with Adam’s family but it was my task, i.e. privilege and joy, to take care of Harrison during the funeral. We didn’t get to play much because it was his nap time – and he took advantage of nap time. He must have been worn out from the traveling because he snored the cutest little snores!
At the appropriate time, I took Harrison back to his parents and, after a brief visit, went out with my friend, The Dawg, to play trivia. When I took out my phone to see what time it was, I saw that daughter Mandy had called several times, so I figured with several calls in a short time span, something must be terribly wrong. I quickly returned her call.

It was an emergency indeed. When I took Harrison back, I had not brought with me Eddie the Elephant! Oh, my gosh! Eddie the Elephant was lost. Mandy sounded rather frantic. I told her I would go home and look for Eddie and bring him to them if and when I found him.
I went home and, sure enough, there was Eddie the Elephant on the floor. I don’t know if I dropped Eddie or if Harrison dropped Eddie, but one of us dropped him – and like a good Eddie the Elephant, he stayed put.

Now it’s almost 10 pm. I’ve tried to reach Mandy by phone several times over the past hour to find out where I should deliver Eddie the Elephant. No answer. And since her in-laws recently moved, I don’t know where to take Eddie.
Maybe Harrison will be able to sleep without Eddie. I certainly hope so.
There’s nothing like goofing up as a grandma!

Bibles, Bunnies - and My Mom?

Years ago, Mom was in sales and was extremely successful in her job.
One year she won a trip to the Playboy Club at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
I know what you’re wondering: What in the world is a woman going to do at a Playboy Club?
This was a resort, with fine dining and many other amenities. Oh, yes, she would find plenty to do.

On the Sunday after learning she had won this exciting trip, as she left church, Mom smiled and asked Pastor Sox: “Do you think I ought to take my Bible to the Playboy Club?”
He quickly quipped: “No. I think you ought to take your pastor!”

A Serious Post: JonBenet Ramsey

The news is out. The DNA found on JonBenet Ramsey doesn’t match the DNA of family members.
What does this mean to us?
For some of us, it means to quit jumping to conclusions. It means “innocent until proven guilty.” It means “Oh, my gosh, I was wrong.”
How many of us thought someone in the Ramsey family was responsible for JonBenet’s death?
Many of us.
Now, members of the Ramsey family have been cleared because of DNA evidence.
The Ramsey family dealt with the loss of a cute and apparently precocious child. On top of that, they dealt with the scrutiny from the media and from the general public. So much of public opinion convicted the Ramseys. They appeared on national TV shows professing their innocence and trying to convince the world of their innocence. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Patsy Ramsey discussed how hurt and insulting it was to be dealing with accusations and questions.
It’s hard to face the fact that some parents hurt their children. [At first, I wrote that it is hard to imagine such behavior, but, unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine it; we know it’s a fact. Consider Susan Smith and Andrea Yates, among many others.]
Anyway, the news that DNA evidence has cleared the family of JonBenet Ramsey’s murder was something of a tragedy in itself.
The tragedy of this new revelation some 12 years after JonBenet’s death (she would be 18 this year) is that her mother didn’t live long enough to receive this news. She died of cancer two years ago – and probably somewhat of a broken heart.
One thing I don’t understand about all of this is why this took 12 years. News reports indicate this is “new” evidence. If the DNA samples were taken from JonBenet’s clothing, how is it new? How did authorities not come up with that evidence immediately? Crime scene investigation is not an area of expertise for me, so I hesitate to second-guess the experts. Certainly there must be an explanation for the 12-year time lapse; I just haven’t heard it yet. The good news is that authorities have not given up on this matter.
Regardless, this is still a tragedy within a tragedy.


(Photo of JonBenet from the Internet. Z Studio/Zuma Press.)

Childhood Fashion: Is There Such a Thing?

At an early age, daughter Mandy seemed to think she was a fashionista. Even as a four-year-old, she thought she knew more about what to wear than I did.
Rather than doing battle in picking out clothes for kindergarten every day, I usually picked out two or three possible outfits and then let her select one of those. She wasn’t always happy with that method, but it worked for a while.
By first grade, though, I let her make her own selections. She wanted to express herself. The only rule was that the clothes had to be clean. Her options were for school and playtime, not for church or other special occasions.
Mandy very rarely dressed as I would have dressed her, but she had on clean clothes – and she was happy!
One night during that first-grade year, she said, “Mom, guess what Mrs. Campbell asked me today at school.” I couldn’t imagine.
Then she continued, “She asked me if my momma even sees me before I come to school.”
On this day, she had on orange knee socks, red shorts and a pink shirt. All clean, of course, but what a sight she was!
At first I was a little embarrassed, but then decided I still would not fight those daily battles about clothing styles and tastes.
At some point along the way, she changed her tastes – for the better. Far better.
Now I ask her for advice on clothing. The answer is never anything I have in my closet. In fact, when she was in high school, she and her friends used my closet to find their costumes!