Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

N

Not really silly, but this thread has reminded me of my mother's 'chip pan'! She had a special frying pan which was filled with, I think, lard of some kind. She would make her own chips from scratch, peeling and cutting the potatoes into shape then drying them in a tea towel before frying them in the, now melted, lard. They were admittedly absolutely fabulous chips but I do wonder how often the fat was changed, and more importantly, now realise how dangerous the shallow sided frying pan full of fat was!

My mum used to put both saltanas snd apple cubes into curry

My friends mum told her, and subsequently me, that you can't have a bath on your period, so spent the first few years sitting on the side of the bath washing myself when I got my period

My MIL irons fitted sheets too so they're perfect - god knows how

- men should have approx 50% more food on their plates than women.

I'm guilty of this in a way, I cook for me and two teenage boys and do three chicken breasts chopped up. I have maybe two or three pieces of chicken and they have about eight. I make sure they never notice though.

Still won’t bother to do it though. 😂

Men used to get served more food than women - my MiL still does this.

I'm 30 and I serve men more food. I mean men do need more calories than women don't they?! They are generally bigger and taller. I guess it depends if we are talking about a rare visitor or a close family member though.

My mum used to make a lot of our clothes 'much better than shop bought', put sultanas in curry and a random boiled egg or two in mashed potato. It was weird you'd be eating sausage and mash and come across a hidden boiled egg.

We always had to wait an hour before we swam too. Even after a small snack.

My MiL used to have winter curtains and summer curtains. She's the only person I ever knew who did this. She only lived in a tiny bungalow and I never worked out how or where she stored the excessive number of curtains she possessed!

My stepmother used to arrange our toys on the windowsill, facing outwards for the neighbours to see; the curtains had the pattern facing out towards the street rather than in towards the room. We also had a 'summer' and 'winter' arrangement of sofa and chairs, no central heating just a gas fire so that made sense, unlike the toys/curtain thing!

I can’t think of many that she actually follows but she certainly spouts stuff, one she does say and tends to follow is not to cross on the stairs, put new shoes on the table and we have a bloody great box of bibles somewhere that were my nans which we can’t throw away apparently soo am already prepared that one day they will be mine and then future burden of my unsuspecting daughter!

Atalune you've made me all misty eyed remembering the twin tub and me stirring it with mam. Her lentil and ham hock soup was also legendary- there was always a pot of soup on the go when we all came in from school in the autumn/ winter. Such great memories .

My auntie had a twin tub top loader and on a Sunday I remember sitting on the countertop and using the big wooden stick to stir the tub. The smell and steam was amazing. I loved it.

I also remember going to my aunties with my mom and dad and we would have ham hock lentil soup with big chunks of potato and turnip in it. It was delicious. We could not afford to make a roast for that many people- but the soup was endless with big slabs of bread and butter.

Love this thread OP!! Mum had a twin tub washing machine clearly remember the high pitched screams when she discovered a mouse had decided to join the blanket she'd put in for a wash. Getting sent to the shop for cotton wool aka dr whites sanitary towels note for shop keeper who would then put in brown bag lol

My mother would hurriedly chop and fry an onion each evening as she heard my dad’s car pull up so that it smelled like dinner was cooking as he came in the door. Whatever went with that onion ranged from thrown together to a complete disaster . Beef mince cooked in cream of tomato soup with lumpy mash was a memorable one

Also make sure
You got clean knickers on
You might get run over

My mum use to spit on her hankerchief and wipe my mouth with it

Yay - it's in Classics.
I proposed it to them RaraRachael as it's such a great thread. Thank you.

Just remembered, not my Mum but my Gran ( who was a terrible snob). When we were at hers we were not allowed to watch Magpie, it had to be Blue Peter.
One, because it was on that ITV, and ITV was common. Two because the presenter looked like a hippy, not like those naice ones on Blue Peter.
When I was older she thought it was just awful that Janet Ellis was pregnant on the TV, and her not being married and all. The fact that I was sat next to her pregnant and not married was different apparently as I wasn't on the television.

Airing cupboards. I'm surprised my children have made it to adulthood given the dire warnings I was given in our lack thereof.
Also piles. I am lucky to have escaped them from all that sitting on cold concrete I did.
And as for how my lungs have survived from not spitting up phlegm when coughing... well... I'm a medical miracle. I still want to shout 'but you can swallow phlegm because it goes down a different pipe!!!' But I restrain myself.