domestic goddess

One day I turned up at my son`s old school a bit too early so until 3 o`clock I had plenty of time to whinge about his latest mischief to Evelyn, my favourite "partner in playground entertainment", the grandmother of one of the wee girls in Gregory`s class. They used to walk home past the playground at the bottom of our street too so whenever the weather was nice, we used to end up there together. This particular day, however, it was out of the question, it was so cold and miserable - so much so that the previous night, I was telling her, I`d been forced to switch the heating on... to my great regret, since Gregory decided to smear a whole wax crayon (black, of course) on the white radiator in his room. The wax melted on the warm metal and by the time I noticed what was going on, the crayon was actually dripping and solidifying in little blobs on the carpet. I told her that after scrubbing the radiator with my trusty Cillit Bang, I was shocked to see that the "dirt is NOT gone", and she told me she always cleaned everything with Flash With Bleach, suggesting that I gave it a go too. I promised her I would (althought I can`t stand the smell of bleach) but I didn`t mean right away - which she obviously did, as it turned out the next morning when she asked me, and I felt this tremendous guilt flooding me as I saw the almost physical pain she had to endure when she informed me that I might "miss out on the Buy One Get One Free offer at Lidl`s"! However, by the same afternoon it turned out that Evelyn was not one to leave half the stock unclaimed in any shop because she brought me her own spare bottle to the school where she handed it over with great flourish, while I was thinking, "Great, now not only will everybody think that my house is filthy, they`ll also pity me for being so poor I can`t even afford a bottle of cleaning product!"
Nevertheless, I was very greatful to her and made this wee thank you card depicting a domestic goddess, for that`s what I think Evelyn is. We moved house since then and I really miss her, as you miss somebody you`re fond of because they gave you a gift of a smile, a timeless piece of humour like when shortly after moving to this new town, I asked her where this place was where the school took the kids for a wee trip and Evelyn answered me with an absolutely deadpan face: "Och, that`s just where my hoose is!", as if this should`ve cleared up this geographical puzzle for me for once and for all... Anyway, I think one of the best things about cross stitch is that she`ll always have this card to remember me by - and, as I`m not that keen on the smell of bleach, I think I`ll always have her bottle of Flash to remember her by...