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Mom miscellany (Jeanne)

She used to always have a half-stick of Carefree sugarless gum. She would share, but you could only have a half-stick (torn in half). She was thrifty and knew that when it lost its flavor, we would spit it out. I don't really remember when she stopped chewing Carefree, but I vividly remember what a huge part of my childhood it was.

She had such a sweet tooth! She loved desserts and treats so much. When we had fruit that was tart, she wanted to add sugar to it. She and Louie were so different that way! Louie loves tart fruit. When Stacie started bringing her homemade desserts to family gatherings, my mom's face would light up. Yum for desserts!

She was more than willing to try weird foods (and expected us to give them a try, too). The beef tongue was disgusting! It looked gross (like a gigantic tongue) and tasted nasty. It was really hard to chew, too. She also made a pie one time and said, "Try it. It's apple." It didn't look like apple and she was being too clearly invested in our eating it. Finally she "made" me eat some. Yuck! That is NOT apple. Sure enough, she had found a recipe for green tomato pie. There wasn't nearly enough cinnamon to cover the taste of unripe tomatoes!

She was very daring and didn't mind breaking rules. She would actually say, "No cops, no stops" at a red light where she chose to keep going. (She also hated to wait.) We did a Chinese fire drill in Duluth, running around the car shouting while my dad panicked. "Get back in the car!" What fun! On a trip to Duluth that was just her and me, we parked by the cemetery next to the Glensheen mansion. We walked through the cemetery and onto the grounds to try to get a free tour. We didn't get in, but it was exciting and scary. Then there was our trip to Disney. She was curious about the giant white castle, so she walked over a hanging sign on a stairway on the exterior. Dad said, "That sign says NO TRESPASSING! You can't go there!" My mom just kept going, saying, "Sign? What sign?" We sure surprised the bakers when we opened the door where they were working.
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