Mind your Bee's wax

Greetings,

You guessed it...  more noisy neighbors.

With all the construction work going on... this particular neighbor could not help herself.

I'll give you the highlights of the conversation:

"You need to be careful and respect an old house."

and

"If you were from the South.. you would know Southern porch etiquette."

and

"The girls (previous owners) did a lot of work to the house.  A lot of work."


and my favorite


"Your house used to be the best looking house on the block."




She of course told my mom all of this.... as soon as I saw her on the porch I ducked and ran in the opposite direction.  I have met her before.


1.  What does she know... she has never been inside my house.  How does she know what we are respecting or not?

2.  I AM from the South.  You cannot get more Southern than North Florida.  Seriously?

3.  The "girls"  had no clue what they were doing.  My dad spent most of his time repairing their messes.  He spent hours in the attic tracing "hot" wires that the "girls" forgot to cap or disconnect.  Not just crappy workmanship, but safety hazards!  Respecting an old house would be ensuring it does not burn to the GROUND!

4.  Used to be?  Get off my porch... how's that for Southern porch etiquette?


Is it hard for noisy neighbors to mind their own business?  Or simply be polite when talking about my business?  That's what a Southerner would do... say something somewhat mean, but politely and with a smile on your face!

Mind you own beeswax crazy neighbor! (not Chaplain wifelike verbage)


To call myself down from my rant.... I wanted to find the origin of beeswax.

Personal hygiene left much room for improvement in the 1700s. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told, "mind your own bee's wax."

Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term, "crack a smile."

In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt...therefore, the expression "losing face."



So in the most polite Southern voice... I want to tell that old bat to stop staring at my face.

But that might cause me to lose face.

But it would cause me to crack a smile.



Blessings,

Arm and a Leg

Greetings,


So far this week... we have bought:


A garage door opener.

A garbage disposal.

Kitchen sink faucet.

Oven range hood.

Bathroom sink vanity.

Bathroom sink marble top.


Needless to say... we are anxiously waiting payday. 


So we can eat again. 


The phrase costing an arm and a leg comes to mind...


In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms.




Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs;" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more.




Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

MilWives... exactly how many more days til payday??


Blessings,

P's and Q's

Greetings,

One of the many thoughts passing through my mind when our Nosey Neighbor informed us of our legal infraction....

I thought...

he needs to mind his P's & Q's.

Knowing, yet not REALLY knowing what this expression meant...

I Googled it:



"At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to watch the customers and keep the drinks coming.

She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in pints and who was drinking in quarts.

Hence the term minding your "P's and Q's."



I thought it meant minding one's own affairs... when it is really seems to be a term of attentive service. 

Maybe my Nosey Neighbor was being helpful??


Blessings,

Expressions of Interest

Greetings,


I got to thinking about what I said earlier... I was on cloud nine.  Months ago... I was reading a follow bloggers blog and ran across old familiar saying and where they actually came from. 

So I began thinking... where in the world did the expression "cloud nine" originate.

I found several different possibilities, but these two seem plausible in my mind...

The 1896 edition of the International Cloud Atlas which defined ten types of cloud. The ninth cloud was the cumulo-nimbus rising to a height of 10 km, which is the highest a cloud can be.

and

The expression originated as one of the classifications of cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive.


So just in case you were wondering where the expression on cloud nine came from... now you know!

Blessings,