You Wore My What? Eewww!

     Apparently Toni wore one of my brief panties over her panties to give it a "smooth" look. She did not, however, wear one of my bras over hers! 

     

     I found out within a day or two after Toni arrived and recuperated. My extra change of clothes was in a corner in a bag, in my tent. When I went to look at my clothes I found a pair of  paisley panties. I remembered having a pair just like it. I looked in the tag and found it was my size! Eew! She wore my underwear! Outerwear is one thing, underwear is quite another. I dunno if I want to wear that now. It's gonna take extra wash and a time to forget before I wear that. 

Me: Toni, whose panties are these?

Toni:  Oh yeah; forgot to tell ya I wore your underwear. 

Me: (giving a grimace and a scowl) "eew."

Toni: "Gimme a break! Ya got an extra pair of underwear! You're welcome!"

Me: "It's still gross." Scowling, I said "thanks a lot"

Toni's Food from home

     When Toni realized pick ups were being done she started collecting food for travel. She realized the packets had to be light but sturdy. A lot of her packets were kept in either quart or gallon bags. She made sure to secure them with masking tape over the seal.  She even labeled the food in the bags.  She originally wanted to sort them into meals ready to eat. Unfortunately she realized she was running out of time, so, she simply placed the packaged foods together by their own group.

     In one group she had oatmeal, in another group she had instant breakfast powder, still another she had powdered milk.  Those last two bags were kept together.  She had powdered drinks, cereal bars, energy bars(yuck), and Mac and cheese! Oh it's been a long time since I ate macaroni and cheese. Sigh, comfort food!  Jerky! She had jerky with her; beef, teriyaki chicken, bacon! It's meant to be eaten 2 oz at a time. If you reconstitute it (wet it) the jerky gets softer.  You can mix it in with the Mac and cheese or oatmeal! 

     What else did she have? She had various foods in wet and dry pouches. She had corn, chicken, pasta, rice, soup and tomato paste to start with! She had them all fit in her backpack! What didn't fit n her backpack she put in her pockets. Then, on top of that, she taped a few items to her body. She really wanted to make sure she had food to survive on for a long time. She didn't know what to expect when she got picked up. The food in the bag was meant to last between 1-2 weeks. Maybe longer if she went on an extreme diet.  

I have new clothes!

     I was lucky! Toni brought me a change of clothes! I'm bigger than she is so it's not like we can share clothes. She actually wore one of my shirts over her own layers. She also wore one of my denim skirts over her bottoms. Because I'm bigger my clothes were not bursting over her clothes. The fact that we reunited was a miracle as well. She didn't know what happened to me. Then she heard people were being "picked up" and "moved out" on the spot. She got herself ready in case she got "picked up" as well. She layered her clothes then put on a change of my clothes to "polish it up". She was ready to sell my clothes first if she had to.  Glad I found her first! 

Me: "Toni, isn't that my shirt?"

Toni: "uh, yeah. 

Me: "Toni, is that my skirt?

Toni: "okay. Yes it is."

Me: "Did you gain weight? Are you pregnant?"

Toni: "shhh. Shut up!. I'm wearing layers. Your clothes fit over mine easily."

Me: (surprised and insulted) "I see." "So I can have my clothes now, right?" 

Toni: (grumpily, agitated). "Yeah. Here ya go." She takes off my shirt and throws it to me. She takes off my skirt and tosses it at me. 

Me: (happy, ecstatic) "Thank you." 

Toni: "You want your socks, too?." (She flings them at me. 

Me: (surprised!) "Give 'em up now." (Doing dance of joy)

Toni: "before you say anything, here's your scarf, too!." And she rolled it in a ball and threw it at me. 

Me:  I scowled at her when she did that. However it was short lived. "Thanks!." I told her. 

     I'm so happy to have an extra pair of clothes!  A shirt, a skirt, a scarf and a pair of socks. Toni was actually happy to un-layer as well. It's warm, right now, here in camp. She said it was still freezing back home. She said she couldn't believe it when her group was told they were actually going to a warm place. Back home we've been in a deep freeze so long "warm" is actually "hot" to us. 

Cultural Reference Comparison

Me

Here are my ten cultural items;

1. World history atlas

2. Farmers Almanac (current)

3. Cookbook for die cast pots/pans and stove (small, thin)

4. Anthology book fables, fairy tales,

5. 1 Ream of paper 

6. Pencil box with: pens, pencils, erasers, sharpener, 1 box crayons, tape, glue

7. 1st-5th grade textbook: McGuffey Reader and Math combo

8. 12 piece bowling game. Ball and pins 

9.  Dominoes 

10. Puzzles 2 for 1 unit 

Toni 

1. Basketball board game with 2 die and pegs. 

2. Baseball board game with two die and pegs. 

3. Peg game board with die and pegs 

~~~~~All placed in a small plastic Tupperware~~~~~

4. 2-pk card games

5. Bingo/Loteria 

~~~~~ in a 20 Qt bag ~~~~~

6. Large print word search 

7. 3 notebooks 

8. Holy Bible 

9. Picture book of Stars 

~~~~~ in a 20 Qt bag ~~~~~

10. Pencil kit with: pens, pencils, erasures, sharpener, scissors, 12-ok crayons, tape, glue. 

Toni's Cultural Resources

     Toni's cultural resources and my cultural resources differ quite a bit. Of course she was able buy specific things and be more prepared than I was. I was picked up in the street with just the layered clothes on my back and my survival backpack due to the great blizzard! She was able to lay out her clothes and try to see what she could put on super layered for her "pickup". She tried different versions of clothes until she got the right combination I mentioned before. Now she had room in her backpack for more cultural resources. Whereas I had chosen educational materials, she had chosen recreational materials. Here's what she got: 

1. Basketball board game with 2 die and pegs. 

2. Baseball board game with two die and pegs. 

3. Peg game board with die and pegs 

~~~~~All placed in a small plastic Tupperware~~~~~

4. 2-pk card games

5. Bingo/Loteria 

~~~~~ in a 20 Qt bag ~~~~~

6. Large print word search 

7. 3 notebooks 

8. Holy Bible 

9. Picture book of Stars 

~~~~~ in a 20 Qt bag ~~~~~

10. Pencil kit with: pens, pencils, erasures, sharpener, scissors, 12-ok crayons. 

I see a lot of gambling potential with Toni. 

My Roommate, Toni

     When I finally saw my old roommate, Toni, I was very happy. Finally a familiar face. Of course she also happened to show up with some people from the neighborhood. Apparently, she was rounded up, in house, with the rest of the neighbors. However, she was prepared. She had tied to HER barrel bags and bags of personal belongings. She also had her backpack filled with personal emergency items, and a combo cane/chair! 

     What surprised me most was what she was wearing. Layers upon layers of clothes. She reminded me of Anne Frank arriving at the Secret Annex and un-layering her clothes. Seven panties!, shorts, leggings, pants! And still she had space for her long johns. For her top she had three t-shirts, three tees, two blouses, a thick pullover sweater, a sweater with a hoodie and her overcoat. Let's talk socks! She had on more socks than I ever thought possible. One of them is mine! Shoes! Regular closed shoes with galoshes over them! Perfect for this weather either way! All this layering on of clothes left her backpack free for other things. I'll leave that for another session. 

     Thank goodness she brought extra bags! That's another story. 

Homemade lunch bags and snack bags

Games and toys

Games and toys are hard to find now. 

People have been throwing away bottles and caps without realizing they'll still need them. Well, what I did was take the bottle caps, 10 in all; 1/2 I taped circles and 1/2 I taped (X) on them. I found an empty box of oatmeal and cut out a travel size game board from it. With the same tape I made tic-tac-toe rows. When close friends come by I offer a friendly game. My friends have taken to making homemade games, now, too. 

One friend made a game out of shells and/or rocks. Basically she made Chinese jacks. She already had the ball. She was simply missing the jacks. 

We keep our games out of sight. We made them. They're ours to use and share as we like. 

The laundry is poisoned!

A few days after I "laundered" the bitch's laundry everyone hears screaming in camp! First it started far away. Then it got stronger and stronger. There was a high pitched screaming turned crying. One by one clothing was dropped to the ground. Cursing was heard from the screaming voice. Laughter was heard from a group of boys. They kept following her. The bitch's BFF's kept trying to put her clothes back on and get the boys away from her. Finally an adult came out and told her she had poison ivy or something.  I just sat back watching.  She earned her poisioned sumac. BITCH. 

The Music Woman

Today I wasn't feeling very well. I didn't want to do a lot of manual labor, so I took out my recorder and started playing music that is learned by heart. People came by to hear me play a small selection of music. When you go a long time without electronics you become thankful for whatever crappy music you hear. I am not a seasoned musician. I only know beginner level music. I can play chopsticks (on a recorder? Yes with a little adaptation). I can play a few nursery songs as well. Mary Had A Little Lamb, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Normally no one would care. BUT SINCE NO ONE HAS ELECTRICITY my level of music playing was acceptable.  Someone asked if they could play my recorder. That's when I packed up and left. NO WAY is that person or any other person getting their grubby hands on my recorder. 

From YouTube account chopsticks on recorder. 

The Story Teller

With the stories from my water proof binder I am able to entertain the local families. I have memorized many of the stories so that I may leave my binder hidden. Many times I read a variety of stories from various sources. Sometimes certain groups will ask for certain stories, only.  One group will want to hear Aesop's fables only. Those are the parents who want to make sure their children know the realities of our new situation.  They view that as the most important education right now.

Others want to hear only the parables or passages from the Bible. This group prays constantly for salvation to GOD. I also am prayin for salvation to GOD.  

Yet, another group comes to me to learn silent/stealth communication. They pay me to teach them morse code and semaphore (... --- ...) (🎌🚩). I teach them to read it like learning to read a new language; single syllable words with family letters. This way it reinforces learning the letters then the words. 

Fairy tales. I recite fairy tales to the small children. It's the current version of child care. The parents will come with their children to watch me sing nursery songs with hand movements. These parents come with their own snacks for their children and a change of diaper as well. During this time we talk about what can be done to improve our situation. Most of the parents are women at this time. There are a few men who come. For one reason or another they have no mother figure to care for the small child. 

When the parents and small children come together the adults feel a relief. They know they aren't alone. This time gives them a sort of down time. Many have older siblings who come along as well. While the nursery songs may be too immature they appreciate not having to do HARD MANUAL LABOR. They often come and fall asleep during the sessions.  

The parents, after story time, get together   and share a little potluck.  Everyone brings what they have. Sometimes a parent who had something before will suddenly have nothing to share.  Every once in a while someone will try and mooch off the group. When that happens there are arguments between the parents. The mooching parent will argue a starving child.  The other parents will counterpoint their children are starving, as well. So it has been agreed upon that a parent without food will have to support and work the group in one form or another.  We have a lot of parents working now than contributing to a potluck. Very soon the potluck won't work anymore.