I Love Orange Juice

OK. I am not really going to write about liking orange juice. I just wanted to see if you'd keep reading. The real working title of this freaking post is "A Glimpse of the Inner Corridors of the Mommacita Mind." Or something.

I visited with family over Easter. It was Deee Lux. Which means good. Glitch (formerly known as Mitch and Gloria) took me out to dinner on Monday for by Birthday. (I just miss spelled Birthday and accidentally wrote Girthday and gave myself an accidental chuckle because54 is pretty girthy.) Glitch is darling, and fun and cute.

I visited with me Madre-Padre and they are pretty good for 82 and 85 respectively. One has a brain for somethings, the other has a brain for the other things so they are working it out. dawg. Yep I speak Idol.

This weekend my mom gave me a couple of books that were hers as a child, and she gave them to us to read as we grew up. I must of read and reread and reread them a million times. I loved these a books. I wanted to marry them. The copy rights are in 1927 and 1934. I LOVED them:

This is the first one. It is a book to teach kids to have good health.

Here is an excerpt from it:

"One day Teacher Squirrel sent a note to Mother Squirrel. The note said, "Dear Mother Squirrel, Bettie Squirrel does not weigh as much as other little squirrels who are as tall as she is. She should drink more milk. Mother Squirrel said, "Dear me! This will never do! Bettie Squirrel must weigh more. She must drink more milk every day. She must be strong and healthy."
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The story goes on, with Mother Squirrel all up in Bettie Squirrel's grill about how much milk she drank that day. Then once she gets appropriately revved up, Mother Squirrel gives Bettie Squirrel both guns:
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"You must drink more milk. You must drink milk at every meal. You must drink milk between meals. It will make you weigh more. You must weigh as much as the other little squirrels who are as tall as you are."

.Bettie Squirrel fires back: "I do not want to drink milk all the time. I am tired of milk. I like candy and cake. I do not like milk."
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So Mother Squirrel climbs on her power wagon and yee-haws:
"Let me tell you something, Bettie Squirrel. I shall not let you go to any picture shows until you weigh as much as the other little squirrels."
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Bettie Squirrel knuckles under:
"I like to go to picture shows. I do not want to stay at home when the other little squirrels go. I think I will drink some milk. May I have some milk now, Mother Squirrel?
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Who Knew????

(Perhaps we have it all wrong nowdays? Perhaps we should be encouraging weight gain in females? Perhaps we should power struggle about more fat instead of less? Perhaps this is why I never was interested in starving myself? Perhaps?)

As I read through the book again, I found this picture, and I was instantly swept away to my childhood.


I know it is hard to see, but this is a chapter where Bettie and Bobbie Squirrel's Mother gives them red and blue drinking cups to take to school and they were instructed NEVER to let anyone else EVER drink out of their new red and blue drinking cups. (nasty nasty GERMS!)
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You can see that it drove me crazy that the cups were not colored in. I distinctly remember looking both ways, running to get a pen and a red pencil and sneaking back into my room, shutting the door, hiding between the bed and the wall and coloring in those cups, even though I knew I shouldn't. Proof that Mommacita herself once was a child. I love that little girl.

Never was caught either.

Here is the other book:

This is a simple story, about two kids, a brother and a sister, who lived on a farm, and there was a tree on it that had a squirrel family living in it. They played so much under the tree that their dad built them a table and benches for underneath the tree and they got to help paint them. And there was a birthday party involved with a cake that had walnut decorations. Oh! Oh! Oh!.... and a big storm that almost killed one of the baby squirrels.

I read it to Gracie and she was mesmerized. I love that a story published in 1927 can still capture the heart of a child in 2009. I hope you can see this illustration enough to enjoy it

And now you know why I was infatuated with squirrels and health habits until last year. Well, actually I still kind of like health habits.

And milk.

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