Our New Trees

Saras Trees

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Thanksgiving To Do List

To Do Before Monday, Dec. 1

 

1. 15-20 page research paper (100% complete, TTL!)

2. Thirty Chapter Summaries (73% complete)

 

To Do Before Tuesday, Dec. 2

 

1. Employee Manual (0% complete)

2. Read Chapters 14, 18 (0% complete)

3. Prepare for Case Study (0% complete)

4. Ten-page Literature Review on ten articles (0% complete)

 

To Do Before Thursday, Dec. 4

 

1. Project in Microsoft Project (0% complete)

 

To Do Before Friday, Dec. 5

 

1. Access Database Project (95% complete)

2. Website (95% complete)

3. Write Request for Proposal (RFP) (0% complete)

 

Things are looking ripe for a Miracle.

Compilation of Comments

I usually double-post my entries to a family email group, and so I get a lot of my comments that way. Here is a compilation of recent comments on Gone—but not Forgotten. We started out discussing the pain of being a consumer and somehow drifted into sour milk.

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SARA: That one scent of Suave body wash. It was pink and I don't remember the name of the scent, but they replaced it by another one that does not smell nice.

LOUISA: Oh, Kris, that was wonnnnnderful. I SO feel your pain. I got angry as I read your tale, disgusted with this consumer society that demands constant change so everyone has to pay more for their stuff without realizing it, forcing people to get different brands in disgust... oh you know how it works. I was mad when my favorite shampoo left the shelves. And please don't get me started on the Wal-Mart fabric sections. They used to be a dreamland of notions and cheap fabric; now they are either horrible or nonexistent. I haven't lived enough life on my own to know brands quite like you do, but I am already feeling the pain and anticipating much more to come.

I do have to give you and Sharon kudos for teaching us about Rowenta irons. I am attaching a photo of an old friend of mine that served me very well for at least three years. (Okay, so I did a LOT of sewing in those three years.) Mom gave me this friend for Christmas, and we've been very close ever since. Unfortunately, this friend's tale began to smoke recently, and after several weeks of hobbling with electric tape around the owie, we had to divorce. And so I went online and bought myself a new friend. And now I'm happy again. Mostly. The one problem is that Rowenta does not make that kind of iron any longer, so I had to settle for this one, which isn't completely satisfactory because it is either VERY STEAMY or not-very-steamy. It sort of jumps over the in-between part, unless I hold it there with my thumb. And when I set it up on its haunches, it has these handy-dandy no-slip patches that are perfectly dreadful and prevent me from sliding the iron to some other place on the ironing board! No, I must set it down in place and leave it there. So even Rowenta is in on the madness.

ALVIN: Some consumer products that I would miss with varying levels of emotional distress:
-Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds cereal
-Dockers pants
-Skechers shoes
-Blistex
-Pert Plus shampoo
-Ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen sodium (Alieve)

On a side note, Doretta’s grandma Saloma has made this wonderful raspberry punch in the past that I enjoy almost beyond words. It is very easy to make: all you need is raspberry ginger ale and raspberry sherbert. Both of those items are ridiculously hard to find. Someone told me that they are only available during the holiday season, so I guess I should stock up if I can ever find the stuff.

Speaking of holiday drinks, in Kentucky, there is this wonderful stuff called boiled custard that is available in the dairy section of any self respecting grocery store. Here in Virginia, no one has it, and no one in my circle of friends has even heard of the stuff. Boiled custard and Hardee’s are two things from home that I wish I could bring out here.

SARA: Speaking of punch, why would Kool Aid every get rid of the flavor Mountain Berry??? I'm fiercely upset about that! And speaking of deodorant, my long time Lady Speed Stick "Musk" is no longer in existence either. And how about those thin Andes with the toffee bits in them? This topic is starting to really upset me.

KRIS: Yes, Sara! I am in full agreement about Mountain Berry punch and those Andes with the toffee bits. Why, I LOVED those things! My anxiety level has just gone up another notch.

And wow. No boiled custard? I wonder what they have out there that we don’t have here. Make sure they don’t have Fortified Oat Flakes. I would be really upset/excited if it existed in another part of the country.

As for Hardees… Martin, Sharon, and I have created our own demand for their Frisco’s. It normally comes on some frisco bread, but we all three always get our “Friscos on a biscuit.” I don’t know if anyone else orders it that way, but I know that I, for one, would be very upset if they dropped the Frisco.

As for other fast food missing items…. Sharon speaks fondly of Taco Bell’s Chilito, which has been missing from the menu for a number of years now, and Martin describes Wendy’s former Chicken Cordon Bleu with enough emotion, it could bring tears to your eyes (and no, from all accounts, Arby’s current Chicken Cordon Bleu doesn’t hold a candle to Wendy’s). Who can forget McDonald’s cheese danish?

SHARON: Kris beat me to the punch on my dearly departed Chilito.

I well remember the day we were introduced, probably some 15 to 20 years ago. Mom & her girls and Betty Beachy & her girls had all gone to Nashville to go thrift storing. We went to Taco Bell for lunch--a first for us. Now going to Taco Bell is akin to walking through a culinary mine field for me, given their love of tomatoes and onions in everything there. Sara, who was much more worldly as she was already in the youth with a driver's license, had been to Taco Bell a few times already and recommended the Chilito to me. It was a wonderful combination of chili and cheese without having to special order it with "No onions, no tomatoes."

Fast forward several years to my year or more of working with Dad & Alvin installing church pews. In an attempt to add variety to our fast food diet, we frequented Taco Bell. Each and every time we went, I ordered a Chilito with sour cream. I loved those things.

Eventually, they came to call them the Chili Cheese Burrito--a rather inelegant name, in my opinion. To my dismay, they completely eliminated my dear Chilito from their menu a number of years later. I was so incensed that I went to their website and filed a complaint, to which I received a (probably automated) response that "they cannot respond to suggestions because of copyright considerations." Hello? I was only suggesting that they bring back what was rightfully theirs to bring back!

Imagine my joy when I found the Chili Cheese Burrito on the Taco Bell menu in Bowling Green this past year. But not in Franklin. Oh, no...can't have those things where it would convenient to have one occasionally (probably better for me anyway). But I imagine it is probably only there for a period of time before it once more disappears into the abyss of Gone, but not Forgotten.

ESTHER: Here are some of my can't find 'ems:
Black Jack Gum
Beeman's Pepsin Gum
Clove Gum (never cared for this one)
Dubble Bubble Gum

You can get Super Bubble Gum, but it doesn't look or taste like Double Bubble. When I was a girl, I was able to buy a pack of 3 green bubble gum sticks for a penny!

MARTHA: the one product that I miss is Finesse shampoo- it use to make my hair smell so delicious and fresh, even at the end of the day.

JOLENE: hahahahahahahaha! I feel your pain! Gina's been soooo sick with sore throat, and I finally convinced her to go to Dr. Persad. =D I remember fortified oats....I think....were they in a blue box? I remember one time mom made me a bowl of it, and she put sour milk with it and it marked the beginning of the age of Not Trusting Mom's Expiration Dates.

ESTHER: You don't go by expiration dates, you go by taste!

SARA: I agree with Jolene. I never trust mom's expiration dates.

LOUISA: Yes, and that is what moms are for. They are the buffer to taste all suspicious substances.

ESTHER: People are so wasteful when they throw stuff out that has expired when it is still good. The expiration dates are to cover the manufacturer's back. Did you notice that it says best if used by this date? It doesn't say not good if used after this date.

ANNIE: I agree with you, Esther, however milk does not last long in this house. I buy a gallon about once a week just for the two of us. Sometimes I want to have sour milk to make a batch of pancakes, in that case, I have to add vinegar and let it set a while.

SARA: Some things I have no problem using, but I can't stand sour milk. The taste just doesn't leave your mouth. Sort of like Jolene drinking butter milk when she thought she was getting boiled custard.

KRIS: I can’t imagine willingly using sour milk for anything—even pancakes.

I remember seeing an appliance commercial where this guy shuffles to the refrigerator, reaches in, lazily gets out a carton of milk, opens it, puts it to his mouth—takes a big swig. It’s sour. He immediately races for the sink and spits and spits and spits. It was really funny. And the commercial was very effective. 

One of our favorite family stories comes at the expense of Martin. One day, he went to Hardee’s and got a big Coke. He returned to the barn to work on some stuff in the shop there. He mindlessly reached for his Coke and took a big swig—only to find out it was Old Coke—from Another Time he had gone to Hardee’s, returned to the barn, and set down his Coke. He says it was so old it was slimy. He also spit and spit and spit. And he learned to throw his Coke cups away.

MARIA: I recently learned from Jolynn that you can boil sour milk for about a minute and it will give you curds and whey. Drain off the whey and you have homemade cheese for lasagna.

Then Esther doesn't have to be wasteful, and Jolene doesn't have to eat sour milk. And the lasagna is good, too.

ESTHER: Years ago when we lived in VA on a dairy farm, I would take a gallon of milk and let it sour and make cottage cheese out of it. I don't often get sour milk now-a-days, but I would probably feed it to the cats if I would.

More comments

DORIS M: I miss corn bran. It may sound nasty, but it was nice and crunchy (pillow shaped), and moderately sweet. It may actually still be found in Hutch, in what used to be Warehouse Market on Lorraine, in the days when taking a trip to town with Mom was a rare and anticipated event. (Who needs groceries when you can buy milk and eggs in the country, make bread, granola, and grape nuts, and simply open up a great assortment of canned food…from cherries to chicken?)

So I disconsolately, and with a nagging sense of guilt, forage in the cereal aisle, searching for something that’s not too EXPENSIVE or SWEET.

NANCY O: Oh I know what you mean !! The childhood things are not around anymore-I realize my childhood era and yours was two different era's. SMILE. I happened to be in a local owned drug store in Abbeville (complete with creaky OLD wooden floors) and here they had Necco wafers in a roll of ALL chocolates on the candy counter. I usually buy the assorted flavors and slip the black (the worst),the purple (pretty awful), green (ditto)to other unsuspecting folks. I was in the local computer fixit place in Abbeville and was slipping them in my mouth and Chuck the fixit man held out his hand for some and I told him about my find . I love the brown ones and to find a roll of only brown was a find. It doesn't take much to please some people, does it? Alas, I went back recently and all they had was the assorted flavors again so I'm back to passing out half the roll...........

I am Suspicious...

I am suspicious...of gas that is less than $2.00/gallon.

How long do you think my car will run on it?

Gone—but not Forgotten!

I don't consider myself to be one of those people who buys brand name items for the sake of the brand name. When I find a product I really like, however, I do expect the store in which I found the product to carry it permanently. I have an internal system which stamps my own brand of approval on certain products, very similar to the well-known "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." And I am very loyal to those products until the day when, inevitably, it disappears from the shelf! Just what is up with that?

Unfortunately, it seems my entire life has been plagued with great products disappearing. When I was a mere young child, Mom would get this cereal for us called "Fortified Oat Flakes." And those were the best flakes in the world. They were a little pricier than bran flakes, and they didn't give us the silverware that eating 200 boxes of bran flakes did (Mom got about twenty place settings of that bran flake silverware, and so you can imagine we got bran-flaked out!). So when we did get to eat Fortified Oat Flakes—My! What a treat! And then they stopped making it for a very long period of time. Probably five or six years later, Post (?) brought those oat flakes back for a period of time, and we loved them just as much. And then they disappeared again and haven't been seen since! How tragic! Other things from my childhood that have disappeared include Bonkers (candy) and good Vitamin C's (the ones you get now just aren't the same).

This is just one example of high-quality products disappearing from local inventories. There was my favorite scent of deodorant, for example—now gone. After months of Sharon's favorite deodorant being gone, she finally found it—in a salvage grocery store! Martha White lemon poppy seed muffins---yummy! Bowling Green has it, but it's not to be found in Franklin! And it's the same story with Blueberry Morning. My favorite razor (Gillette Agility)—gone! They've recently either stopped making, or at least stopped carrying, the narrow, full-sized Goody's hair combs (are you kidding me?). Then there was Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) sparkling lemonade ($.50 per liter) that was so delicious and is now gone—probably to make room for the nasty GV crackers. The Great Value cheese pizza was one of the best frozen pizzas in the freezer aisle. It too is gone. For a while baking parchment paper (a wonderful product) was missing. (It has recently made a reappearance, and I have stocked up!)

Remember pentels?! The ones with the twist-eraser but WITHOUT the grip—gone. The supposed "upgrade" is a sad, sad mistake. And then there are the shoes… I was much too poor to afford a pair of Eastlands when they were very much the rage, and by the time I became of monetary means sufficient to make a $60 purchase---gone. Oh, sure there are the kind that have 3 in. soles, but they just aren't the same. (Lucky for me, the Franklins came back as a limited edition, and so I do now own a pair—a pair for which I must wear band-aids so my heels aren't torn up.)

And the newly-revamped fabric department at my local Wal-Mart—what a JOKE! If you can find a zipper and thread in there, count yourself lucky.

And herein lies the tragedy of my tale. I currently have a very, very sore throat—the kind that requires a full head movement every time I swallow. The kind where you have white pus pockets on your tonsils. The kind where the doc takes a look and says, "oh my!" The kind where Mom makes chicken soup and Dad says she must donate the whole pot to the cause of getting better. The kind where I am inclined to gag every once in a while as my throat closes up due to no lozenge in my mouth. The kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night. And THERE IS NO CEPASTAT on the shelves of any drug store anywhere!! Oh, there is Cepacol alright---BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME. There are Chloraseptic lozenges—which I bought today and could not even finish the first one (Free Cycle it is). My Halls Breezers (a fairly new product) are there to provide some taste relief at least, but my favorite flavor of last year—Tropical Chill—GONE!

So let me extol the virtues of Cepastat. Cepastat is only the number one sore throat lozenge, as far as I am concerned. It deadens the throat, and the taste is not bad at all. And the stores are selling Chloraseptic Disgust in its place??? Thank goodness for the Internet. I have found that Cepastat is, in fact, still being made. It's probably being sold in stores somewhere too. But not anywhere around here!! And so I have ordered three boxes of Cepastat from PlanetRX.com. I was too cheap, however, to expedite the shipping, and so it should make it just in time for next year's sore throat.

In the meantime, I am offering my services as a retail product consultant even as I wonder which one of my current favorites will be the next to join the ranks of the "Gone but not forgotten" club.

What products do you miss?