Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

PussGirl My husband does the 'soup cocktail' thing! Oxtail and tomato is a particular favourite.

Deadringer My mam and my aunties did the 'summer and winter' curtains thing!
Years ago when swags and tails were all the rage, my cousin spent an absolute fortune on curtains for her bay window. She said "I hope my mother never asks how l wash them, because l don''t. They get a run over with the hoover attachment when l do a blitz.'

And like PP, everything was unplugged at bedtime. Everything. I don't know if she still did that once we had video recorders. I doubt it, because she had no idea how to set the clock.
And if there was a thunderstorm. The tv aerial was taken out of the wall socket as well.

Mine was definitely odd.

She had a clock on the wall in the kitchen which someone had brought back from a holiday. It was a ceramic tile with a Dutch windmill design. Nothing wrong with that. But it was on the wall, still in the plastic 'box' it came in. To 'keep it clean', apparently.

She put sheets of newspaper on top of the kitchen worktops. Which were cream. Again, to 'keep them clean'. Clean apart from covered in newsprint....

Her finest hour was when she rang me and said that her 'carbon myoxide'(!) alarm in the living room kept going off at teatime (5pm). Never any other time. So l got her handyman, who had fitted it, to come out and check it.
He checked the meter, took the gas fire to bits, couldn't find anything wrong with either. So, being a decent man, he said he'd pay half towards a new one. It was a mains one, too, not a battery operated one. So he got a new one and fitted it free or charge.
She then said that one was 'going off' as well. At the same time, every day. Without fail. Both he and l were bemused.

Until..... she rang me and said that when she was dusting, she'd knocked a small travel alarm clock off the coffee table which just happened to be underneath where the carbon monoxide meter was situated.
And the alarm on the (old analogue) clock happened to be set for 5 o'clock. Which was what the 'alarm' had been. Presumably it had been going off at 5am as well, but of course she didn't hear it because she was upstairs in bed then. She didn't realise the alarm was set on it (God knows how long it had been, she'd never been up at 5am in her life) she just wound it up every couple of days.
I never dared tell the poor man.

The curry recipe I remember was on a recipe card that came from the milkman - I think lots of housewives collected them in the 1970s

I also remember my DM saving butter wrappers and plastic food bags that she washed and kept in a drawer with the fiddly paper covered wire ties and folded bits of used and washed foil.

Unplugging appliances including the TV is still done every night in her house and all internal doors have to be closed in case there is a fire. As teenagers though we commonly took plugs off hairdryers and curling tongs so we could jam the all the wires into the single socket at the same time as the record player so we could listen to music while doing our hair - much greater risk than so many of the other things listed!

We were also not really allowed to watch ITV as it was considered common, as was eating in the street, or shouting in public. No branded goods on the table, everything had to be decanted.

We had to wear slips under dresses and skirts and were chastised if we were not wearing tights. Bra straps shouldn't be seen. Going out with wet hair was considered life-threatening (these days I don't even own a hairdryer).

We were only allowed sweets on Saturdays. Always roast on a Sunday at 1pm sharp but on Sunday's we were allowed a small glass of wine with our meal from the age of around 5 years old!

Unlike others on her who were warned about cold surfaces, we were told don't sit on radiators, they give you piles - I now worry whether I am going to get piles from the heated seats in my car!

Always had to wait an hour after eating before swimming else we would get cramp and drown. I tell my own children this although now I am questioning if it is true.

My mum is in her 90s but was never religious or superstitious but she does have her funny ways, mostly regarding housework. She has summer curtains that are taken down in september, washed and pressed and put away and replaced with winter curtains. She is horrified that I have the same curtains up for years and would never consider washing them, too much of a faff. She also ironed everything, including underwear. Crazy.

Long T shirts only. " you'll catch a chill on your kidneys"
Not allowed to watch Eastenders. Common.
Everything has to be aired before being worn or the world would end 😂

Not my mum but my dad starting cooking this gopping casserole type dish with frankfurters in it. I can taste it in my mouth thinking about it and this was in the late 80's. I suspect it has a similar origin as the raisin curry thing....

God it was so awful.

Oh just thought of something else

My mum use to put butter in my ready brek

@RainySaturday
I can only do ironing if theres something (usually quite bland/mindless) on tv. This morning, homes under the hammer or escape to the country are fine as you dont really need to concentrate!

My mum used to iron everything but I think it was just an excuse to watch telly in the afternoon as she'd do her ironing sat down in front of it.

*flavours

My mum would buy lots of different flavoured of soup, tinned or packet-mixes.

There were four of us & one tin or packet would serve two.

She'd never put two of the same together, or make two separate pans so we could choose, but would mix two different flavours together.

So we'd have mushroom+vegetable, or oxtail+tomato etc

Cream of chicken + tomato was particularly nasty, I seem to remember

She also thought more was always better when it came to subtle flavourings, so apple pie would have a heaped tablespoonful of cinnamon in the fruit & marmite was spread thickly like butter

My MIL gives me sheets, bless her. Notably sheets my SIL had as a child and she's in her 40s now! She cleared out her linen cupboard a couple of years ago and proudly showed me - there were still millions of sheets sets and they only have their bed and a guest room

@Exhausteddog my mum has downsized to a 1 bedroom cottage ffs!!

Would only eat once a day.

Only eat once a day.

She=my mum

I struggle to throw old sheets & towels out too.
My father was obsessed with hot plates and couldn't bear eating outside (or indeed barbeques) as he didn't consider that the food would stay hot enough.
Ditto to the airing clothes, although as an exception, if they it was very hot weather (think 1976) they were allowed to both dry & air on the line (two separate processes, obviously).
When asked if she had her coffee black or white, she always replied "Black with a dash", but the "dash" was never quite enough and she always asked for a bit more. That's because she drank it WHITE.

Oh, how I miss them.

@maldivemoment
Lol me too. Im not sure there was reason other than being "not the sort of programme she wanted us to watch!" I remember feeling a bit when we did see it what all the fuss was about!

@nevernotstruggling @sleepyhead

Yes overflowing towels and linen cupboards here , including st michael and BHS (well my parents)...and duvets and pillows! I think there were about 10 duvets at my parents house - there was only 2 of them! (and they rarely had guests!)

My mum's the same with towels and bedding. There are towels in the upstairs "hot cupboard" (e.g where the hot water cylinder lives) that are literally threadbare and must date from the 60s - whenever we were feeling sick a couple of old towels would be whipped out "just in case".

Having said that, I also keep my towels in the "hot cupboard" and I don't think I've ever thrown one out .

I've thought of one.
My mother cannot get rid of towels or bedding or any kind.

We bought a family static caravan a few years ago. She filled it with bedding from the beginning of time. The cupboard is full of it and overflowing. None of it matches. We gave st Michael striped flat sheets that fit nothing.
The towels are more contentious. They are green retro print items. They are old and scruffy. I used one to line the dog crate in the car. My mother was outraged and I was in the shit over that....

We are never allowed to unburden ourselves from vintage st Michael and BHS. Ever....

Or itv in its entirety.

@Fuckingcrustybread
She used to make curry with sultanas and serve desiccated coconut and chopped hard boiled eggs on the side. I'm sure that the recipe came from one of those 1970s "exotic" cookbooks.
🤣🤣 My Mum did the same! When we were helping her recently sort out some books I mentioned that, she said oh god it was bloody awful wasn’t it but I thought I was the bees knees doing it, then found the book it actually came from in the pile we were sorting.

As children we were not allowed to watch Grange Hill in case it influenced us and we were rude to our teachers!

What the actual..?

There was a time in my childhood when we went on holiday in the depths of rural Wales, staying in a highly ramshackle building with no electricity and no running water. My mum's favourite part of this holiday? Throwing the contents of the potty out of the window, which she did gleefully!

She also kept a quote book, meticulously noting funny things members of the family said: this book is a family treasure.