Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

[RaraRachael]

Trying to lighten my current mood and started to think about things my mother did - and insisted that I do - as they were "the done thing" back in the day.

Turning the clothes inside out to put on the washing line in case a bird shat on them
Lining every shelf in your kitchen unit with patterned greaseproof paper
Stuffing the chicken and then sewing it up with a needle and thread

Suffice to say, I stopped these ridiculous traditions when i realised there was no valid purpose to them

• Ironed naked or just wearing pop socks.
• Lived in pop socks - thought they were brilliant.
• Makes herself late for things by doing tasks she’d never normally do (ie ironing towels!!)

For those whose mothers had winter and summer curtains- Having to change curtains for seasons just sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary hassle!!

We used to have fluff cushion covers on the sofa and chairs in the "front room" (which actually faced the back garden, so no idea why she insisted on calling it that!), she would brush them every morning to get them fluffy again, and forbid anyone to sit in them for at least 2 hours. Mum would never add fabric conditioner at the start of a wash either, she would stop the machine during the start of the rinse cycle, add the conditioner and the resume the cycle. The weirdest quirk of hers was wearing a skirt over jeans in the winter....never found out what that was in aid of though.

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 put those extras (plus mango chutney) in little ramekins so you could pick your own garnish, it was pretty exciting (and definitely exotic) back in the day

@Fuckingcrustybread something like this? My mum collected recipe cards, I’ve got several sets, can’t bring myself to Chuck them, I know she spent a fortune on them

[quote Sohelpmedog]@Fuckingcrustybread something like this? My mum collected recipe cards, I’ve got several sets, can’t bring myself to Chuck them, I know she spent a fortune on them[/quote]
I'd love to see those cards! Especially the party fare ones - I bet those are fab

Yes, it was from those little cards and yes to the mango chutney, all in dishes to choose your own garnish.

My mum if ever using a tin (or jar 😊) of something like tomatoes, beans, pasta sauce etc etc, would always empty into the saucepan etc then add about 2 tablespoons of water to the tin (jar) swill it around to get the rest out.

I always remember a nice sunny day where a serious of unfortunate events occured, first of all a frog managed to wedge itself somehow under my mums foot in her sandle at which point he started panicking and flapping her arms around instead of just tipping it out or pulling her foot out. Then later our alsation was chasing a wasp, it stung my mum on the knee and then our dog accidentally bit her trying to get the wasp, not a serious bite though. Then later she managed to drop a hot pie on her foot burnt her foot, so had her foot in a bucket of water and was insisting on trying to sort of walk around the house cleaning instead sitting and resting with it in the bucket. The last one I had to take a picture as it was so funny what she was doing, still have it somewhere.

Oh I just love all of these

Spaghetti lasagne. Tinned spagetti between the layers of pasta.

^

Gold!

My mum had a ridiculous way of slicing runner beans: she'd place the bean against her fingertip and cut towards it. Because she always managed to avoid slicing into her finger (God alone knows how), she ignored my protests that it was dangerous and insisted that I must slice beans the same way as she did. Needless to say, I cut myself the first time I tried it. Even then, she refused to acknowledge that it was a stupid way of cutting beans, saying that I'd only cut myself because it was my first time, and that I'd be fine once I'd had more practice!

@raffle

My Mum used anything she could find in a salad, this included any fruit, (cheese egg and strawberry salad for example), any nuts or crisps (tuna salad liberally sprinkled with crushed up pickle onion monster munch). Basically anything lying around was fair game in Mum’s salad world.

There's a sort of genius to your mum's method! No waste and it could be delicious!

Not my mum and not weird but the older lady neighbour at our first home came out and showed me how to hang my washing on the line properly!
She was ace.

Oh and my mum would always say ‘she/he must need the money’ if a once well known actor suddenly started doing TV adverts. Examples - Michael Parkinson
Babs Windsor (that Bingo one she did)

[quote Sohelpmedog]@Fuckingcrustybread something like this? My mum collected recipe cards, I’ve got several sets, can’t bring myself to Chuck them, I know she spent a fortune on them[/quote]
My mum had that at one point. The favourite ones always covered in grease marks and bits of food 😂

My mum still salutes magpies (I don’t but I do ask about the wife 😂🤦🏻‍♀️) she’s been trying to teach my 3 year old DC to do it too

When I was little (late 80’s/early 90’s) we always had half an oyster shell in the kitchen cupboard for people to use instead of an ashtray - god knows why I can’t remember any of her friends who actually smoked 🤷🏻‍♀️
And I’d say 80% of her cooking was jar based, I remember my best friend being insanely jealous of our chicken chaseur & rice (everything came with rice) tea one night because her mum had made Shepard’s pie 😂😂😂

There sort of is a logic to ironing everything, especially knickers.
I was born in Southern Africa, and when back in UK Mother would still iron knickers. At that time (50’s, 60’s) there was a fly which used to lay eggs on the gusset part of knickers, which could hatch into a larvae which would eat flesh in that delicate area. If you ironed the crotch it killed the eggs.
Apologies if you are eating your supper!

My mum didn’t allow my sisters to wash their hair when they had their period. I’ve no idea why 🤷‍♀️. My dad said if I gave the dog bread it would give him “dropsy” and the classic if you go out without a coat you will catch a cold. Alarmingly so many people still believe that one

Growing up my mum used old underwear as dusters.
She never made gravy just used oxtail soup . Even on our Sunday dinners

My mum washed every Monday without fail, come rain/ snow or sunshine she always had 2 full washing lines out . She washed all our clothes towels and bedding etc, it took every her about 3 hours to get it all done . Wash, mangle into sink, rinse, mangle again then spinner.
She never had automatic washer but did have a twin tub eventually 🤦‍♀️

Being taught how to use a dustpan and brush on the stair carpet. Sweep top step onto one below... sweep top 2 steps dirt onto one below. So some dirt was painstakingly brushed off every stairs. Bonkers!

i do this

Wow id completely forgotten till thisthread but we had to watch BBC programmes esp on sat morn as ITV, Tiswas ext were 'common'. Also my mum tried ti insist that tampons wouldgive you cancer and if you were a virgin you wouldn't be able to use them anyway?!!! Bonkers....Yes to fruit in salad, sultanas and bananas...esp grated carrot in orange jelly...very continental actually. Lol

Had to make sure we got every seed out of a pepper as they are poisonous.
Ironed everything even bras
Each day of the week was a set meal same week in week out
Hair wash was a Sunday night only thing and hair drier had to be left out for 1 hour to cool down or house would burn down.
Iron again had to go on draining board for an hour to cool before putting away to prevent fire.
TV off and unplugged to prevent fire
Thinking about it she had a real fear of house burning down!
I was not allowed to kiss bf goodnight in his car when he dropped me off as neighbours would see.

Sohelpmedog
Robert Carrier recipie cards?!! My mum had loads lol...