Listen, don't expect much from this post, I'm going to time myself and when 15 minutes is up, this post is over. So don't get your, I'm all cuddled up, going to read a post vibe on. This is just going to be a very basic, maybe even crappy, actually definitely crappy, kind of post. And I'm not even apologizing for it.
And Betty's salt grinder in the shape of a hand, agrees with me. There's no need for me to apologize for this subpar-post.
I'm on vacation you see. In Canada many people (not all) get 4 days off this weekend. Good Friday is a mostly federal holiday and for some "Easter Monday" is as well. It depends on where you live and what kind of boss you have.
It's a confusing holiday for us.
When I realized the long weekend was coming up I had to suddenly decide what kind of boss I was.
Was I the kind of boss who would take the maximum amount of time off knowing it offers the opportunity to recharge? Or was I the kind of boss that would take the minimum amount of time off because relaxing is fine but it doesn't pay the Amazon bills.
It took no time at all to decide that I am the kind of boss who takes no time off. Not even if my hair spontaneously turned into a bologna sandwich. I would simply give my head a squeeze of mustard, declare dinner made, and keep working.
That's the kind of boss I am.
I immediately demoted myself to employee. I'm following federal law (based on the fact that my blog is read across the wholeeeeeeeeeee country) and giving myself 3 days off.
That's Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Plus I called in sick today, Monday.
Excellent. I've made you aware that the low bar for this post is because I'm currently on vacation, but the kind of vacation where you suddenly have to work a tiny little bit more and also dig 570 feet of trench for a fence.
AS THE TITLE SAYS
THERE'S MORE TO BETTY'S EASTER STORY
If you haven't yet, read The Easter Story first.
When last we met I told you all that I knew about my mother Betty's 3 month stay with a gaggle of Catholic nuns when she was 15. More memories surfaced today.
My mother, Betty has always been interested in fashion & style. When she was 16, just after returning home from the nunnery, she opened her own clothing store.
She set up shop right in her own bedroom and ordered all the sample dresses in her size.
And then she closed her store because it was a spectacularly poor business plan.
When she was in the nunnery, her ability to express her style was limited to a selection of demure barrettes.
And you'll never guess what happened. She fashion snapped.
In 1950, during Betty's holy weeks, she somehow got ahold of a potato.
Betty then put that potato behind her ear as she hid in her bedroom and plunged a needle and thread through her earlobe.
The basic method was to put a potato behind your earlobe so when you finally worked up the lunacy to stab yourself, there was something in between you your arteries.
Pierced ears were one of 2 things at that time:
- The absolute CUTTING edge of fashion
- An indicator of moral corruption
Betty was already morally corrupt by 1950 standards (smoking, climbing out windows) so there was NO reason not to further corrupt herself in the name of style and fashion.
On this particular day, in 1950, these morally corrupt ears were also infected.
Betty's ear swelled up to the size of a circus monkey, the nuns found out, her parents were called.
And all I can think is - she stole a potato. From a nun. From a lot of nuns.
She'd have to be devious to do that. And it definitely shows premeditation. Betty must have snuck into the convent kitchen and searched until she found the potatoes, chose the perfect sized one and shoved it somewhere to hide until she got back to her room.
I then picture 15 year old Betty in her school uniform. There would be no hiding spot in that uniform that a potato could look inconspicuous & even fewer places it wouldn't look startling.
While relaying this story to me tonight, Betty wondered aloud why she wouldn't have used an ice cube.
I wondered that too.
That's what I used when I infected my own ear after piercing it with a needle. Betty never found out about my infected ear though. Not until I told her last night.
Which explains why Betty got sent away to boarding school for being bad but I didn't.
I was sneakier.
This post has taken an hour. I forgot to set the alarm. That entitles me to another day off. And probably some french fries.
karen!
That's how I got my ears pierced. Luckily I had the ice cube / potato combo. And dental floss on the piercing needle. Alcohol swab and turning of the floss daily. Going good 50 years later. Betty ~such a rebel❣️
Your mom is a charm. Love you both.
Did she wash the potato? Or was her 15 year old self too eager to plunge the needle through?
My sister did mine. We used a spool of thread behind the ear. What's with that? The first one we used ice and it hurt like heck but didn't bleed much. The 2nd one, no ice, very little pain, with more bleeding. Hard to choose with was easier/better? She's a nurse but we used a sewing needle. To this day I don't know why she just didn't bring a needle home from work to use? (this was 50+ years ago) This brought back a lot of fond memories. Thanks!
My friend Mary Ellen pierced mine and my mother's at the same time. With an ice cube. The ice cube was very painful. The reason you didn't get sent to boarding school was because your mother knew what it meant to try killing a girl's spirit -- it never works but really pisses off the girl. Today I'll have a cocktail to celebrate Betty and her salt grinder.
My future mother in law pierced mine...years before her son would even look at me...but I was his sister's best friend and thus my inclusion into the family at a very early date.
Thing is..my mother in law drank. A bit too much, too often and often too early. And this was one of those times. But my best friend and I were determined to get our ears pierced and by using mom to do it, we would stay out of trouble with any adults who might have cared.
We had our necessary supplies on hand. Ice cubes, large sewing needle, and cheap cheap ear rings, oh and mom supplied her own alcohol.
Not many knew at that time that nickel allergies were common and the last thing you want when you put holes in your body is to introduce nickel, especially before the healing process is complete. But we had these nice plain hoops that advertised themselves as the perfect first earring because you could rotate it thru the hole in your ear multiple times a day, and that would encourage healing.
Wrong, oh so wrong. We both got whopping infections...but over time we both had healed ears and wore earrings all thru high school..
I eventually had to stop wearing earrings at all. My ear lobes are tiny and my MIL pierced my left ear thru so cockeyed that few earrings would even hang right in my ears. And my right piercing was so low that I was always afraid that any jewelry of any weight would have ripped thru the very narrow bit of flesh below the piercing...
My mother in law is now gone. And bless her alcohol sloshed heart, she loved me more than my own mother. She was the only one in the family besides my sister in law to have positive thoughts about me dating my husband, let alone marry him. She would be proud because we are still married and slowly approaching the 50 year mark..
Lol. Betty. What a rebel! I used an ice cube and copious amounts of rubbing alcohol to make a second hole in my left ear. No infection but my Mom hated it so I didn’t wear an earring until one day in my twenties I decided to see if it was still open …it was !
My 81-year-old mother, also named Betty still doesn't have pierced ears. She thinks it is barbaric and tells me so every time I put in or take out earrings in her presence.
Also, it is difficult to find clip earrings (except in Japan).
That is hilarious because I think clip on earrings are barbaric. They're awful. You think they're fine, you think they're fine, and then you take them off, drop to your knees and realize you just spent 6 hours with bear traps clamped on each ear. ~ karen!
I totally agree with this assessment/description. If it didn’t hurt that fiercely, you stood the chance of losing one! 😂
I fainted at the jewellery shop having my first ear lobe pierced 50 years ago. My GF had to sit on me to get the second lobe pierced at the same time. She said I would thank her later - took many years but she was right. Years later one piercing got infected and I stopped wearing earrings. One hole was closed up and my brother, who was studying to become a dentist at the time said that he was more than qualified (medically speaking ) to re-pierce my year with a needle and ice cube. Yep you guessed it, I fainted again !! I think he loved the idea of torturing his little sister - for a legitimate reason !!
Thank goodness all is good now and I wear earrings all the time just to make sure I never have to faint again !! Loved your story !!
LOL. Well, ditto, I loved your story too. ~ karen!
Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, my mother thought getting one’s ears pierced was heathen 🙄.
Amazingly, when she was much older, she got over that opinion and had hers done. Me? Nope. Maybe I should go for it.
Has nobody heard of Neosporin?
All my ear piercings have gotten infected at some point, despite keeping clean. (& belly button, but that was kinda the piercers fault, and mine for not listening to a sister who told me to go ahead and use it before getting infected to ward it off. Oops.) Take out the earring, if possible, then wipe with alcohol, or peroxide, or the cleaner they sell, wipe the piecing good too. Gently smear a little Neosporin on each side of hole, then a thin layer on the earring posts. Re-insert gently. Clean and turn 2+ times a day, using a swab or something after to reapply a little Neosporin, then turn again to help it get in the hole. Eventually you're good again. No big deal. Except for the pain. And pus. And ... well you know. Lol. (Have 13 ear holes, 1 button. Others? Not telling. 😁)
OMG!LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! I can hardly stop laughing to get this down:):)I'm definitely having my Thursday Margarita tonight celebrating Betty:):) I just know she was my mom in another life...LOL LOVE your blog.. P.S. Where did she find the salt grinder!!??:)
Hi Lu! Thank you, lol. From a local kitchen store I believe. If you click on the words "hand salt grinder" in my post it will take you to it on Amazon. ~ karen!
Oh, god, the things we do! I did the earrings which you squeezed a little every day until they finally broke through. That lasted maybe a half hour, it hurt like a sunny gun! So, I holed up in the bathroom for hours and I think I used those earrings and pushed through the pain. (See what I did there!?) 😂 I put alcohol on them every 10 minutes it seemed, and they were as sore a boil. That was 56 years ago and I can’t remember if they got infected or not. I always thought I had kept my little secret, until my parents came home from a trip bearing gifts for everyone. Other siblings got a necklace or a bracelet - I got a pair of stud earrings. She knew. She knew everything! Good times! Hope your weekend was a good one! I just finished up the rest of the dessert I brought home yesterday. Burp. ❤️❤️
Oh Honey, there had better be a part three...
In my late teens, a friend and I went into this hair salon in our small town to get our left ears pierced. This is the same salon where we both sat for an entire day with rubber caps on getting white streaks put into our dyed black hair. Another story for another time. We selected our studs. I'm pretty sure mine was a gold star. For the next week or so, I tried everything to hide it from my parents. Only showing my "good side", wearing a scarf, Elizabethan collar...whatever it took. I remember always smelling like rubbing alcohol because I diligently cleaned the piercing. The smell of it today takes me right back.
Somehow my mother saw it. And freaked the hell out. She went on ranting and asked if I wanted one of my grandmother's old dresses to wear. Umm...huh? I got some bling, I'm not doing granny drag. Anyway, I had a couple of different studs and small hoops I'd wear, but at some point I stopped wearing them. I'm pretty sure I could still jab something through that hole. I'll let you know if I try it.
If you try, I'll try. I have 3 holes I don't use very often. Yes. I do realize how that sounds. ~ karen!
My condolences.
Great stories! When my sister & I wanted our ears pierced in the 60's our mother said, "What?? You want to look like gypsies??"
We performed the surgery with icecubes anyway.
Years later Mom got hers pierced. I guess she wanted to be cool too.
Keep us laughing Karen!
God bless Betty and her potato-pierced ears! LOL! I took the looong, circuitous, and highly stupid way, of ear piercing (because I was terrified to going to an actual doctor or store to have it done). No, I used self-piercing hoops, with a pokey tip, that you put on your lobe where you thought the hole should go, then squeeeezed...and kept squeezing...and squeezing...and squeezing...till the pokey part finally poked it's little pointy head out the backside of your earlobe. Which took about 2 weeks. And A LOT of pain. I was not the brightest child.
Needless to say, the holes weren't straight, and were set too low (which I'm regretting today, as my "ears hang low and wobble to and fro" the older I get), and got infected a LOT. Years later in the 80s when I decided to get a few more piercings (to go with all my black clothing, of course!), I went the official route, only to discover "huh...that hardly hurt at all." I then nearly pulled a muscle trying to kick myself. 🙄 Ah, youth. Now, in my 60s, I've rediscovered clips! (and spring hoops, and magnetic earrings) But I still put clear polish on them so I won't get an infection...y'know, just in case. 👂