questions

[Joe]

I don't get the underlined parts in the following. Please help me out.

1. He's in a simple black jacket and a white shirt buttoned all the way up, looking old as the hills, straight out of American Gothic.

2. ...in a little wooden house built up off the ground.

(the house was built up a certain distance from the ground? There was some space between the ground and the base of the house? )

3. She also stuffed me at every meal, because conventional wisdom at the time was that a fat baby was a healthy one, as long as he bathed every day.

4. For all their own demons, my grandparents always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them.

Thanks.

[Natalie27]

I don't get the underlined parts in the following. Please help me out.

1. He's in a simple black jacket and a white shirt buttoned all the way up, looking old as the hills, straight out of American Gothic.directly from, right out of...

2. ...in a little wooden house built up off the ground...a house built above the ground...a tree house possibly...?

(the house was built up a certain distance from the ground? There was some space between the ground and the base of the house? )

3. She also stuffed me at every meal, because conventional wisdom at the time was that a fat baby was a healthy one, as long as he bathed every day.
she gave you more food than you could handle, too much, you were full up.

4. For all their own demons, my grandparents always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them. inner conflicts, problems, issues

Thanks.