A Walk Down Memory Lane, September 29, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!





I am five years old here and my mom made this dress. I like this dress alot, still. We wore dresses to school every day. If it was cold, we wore pants underneath just until we got to school. Then we had take the pants off so we were just wearing our dresses.

There's that Toni perm again and look at my bangs. Mom used to cut them. I must have wiggled too much and she had to keep evening them out until there wasn't much left.

Well look at me here! I'm one year older and I look the same. I do have some new teeth though.

Mom didn't make this dress, but I loved it. I loved it so much that after we bought it (late summer) I couldn't wait to wear it. I came down early one Sunday morning with it on and my mom & dad were in the kitchen. Mom asked why I had the dress on. I answered, "Cuz it's Sunday." Both mom & dad responded that it wasn't Sunday it was a weekday and we had to go berry picking. I was so disappointed.

Mom took us berry picking in the berry farm fields to earn extra money. We would go pick for the whole berry season. Raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. That was a long season for a kid my age. I do not like picking berries to this day. I like eating them though. I appreciated what the money could help us buy, my new dress.

Kids Still Not In School

These are collecting dust as are the brains of my children.

Just a quick note to those who know that our school district's teachers have been on strike since August 27th.

My kids have missed ten days of school so far. A judge has ordered the teachers to go back to work. They have refused. Today the judge said that if they don't go back by the 14th the union will be fined $1,500 a day and each teacher will be fined $200 a day.

It's a sad situation for everyone. It would be nice if they could get the things they're asking for. I'm just praying that they can find a compromise that will work for the teachers and the students and the school district.

I'm anxious for my kids to get started. I'm not looking forward to an extended school year and shorter breaks during the year, but that is what will have to happen.

Keep us in your prayers as we continue on in this new journey of our lives.

A Walk Down Memory Lane, August 19, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!
I'm joining Erica over at Scottsville for a walk down memory lane. You really need to go see her post today. It'll make you cry with joy. God is so good!


My mom used to perm our hair a couple times a year. I think this is probably Easter morning. Love those TONY perms!

My mom is a good seamstress and she made these dresses. It looks like we have headbands with flowers on them as well. Look how I have my arms. I got this from my dad. We both still do it when we don't know what to do with our hands. It's quirky, funny!

So this is my sister on the left and me, Nannette or Mocha Momma on the right. We are on the side of our small yellow house which is still standing, but looks awful.


I believe I am four years old here which would make my sister almost seven. It was April of 1962 and we moved to the house my parents still live in two years later.

We had good neighbors and I have fond memories of this house and the friends I had there. I'm amazed I remember those years since I was so young.

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Come back next week for sure.

A Walk Down Memory Lane, August 12, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

I like to try and join Erica at Scottsville every Wednesday for a walk down memory lane. This week I have another old picture of me from the 60's. Some of my followers and lurking, beloved, friends can rememebr the 60's. Those were the days my friends.

I'm quite sure this is my fifth birthday. I also believe my mom made this cake with the doll in it. I also think this is when I received my first and only Barbie Doll. You know, the one with the black and white striped bathing suit? I believe that was the first Barbie that was sold. Correct me if I'm wrong. Hope might know.

I just saw a picture on Amy's blog In Search of Normal yesterday of her daughter, Padme, who just had her fifth birthday and she had the doll cake. It reminded me of mine many years ago. Some cool things never die. (the cake idea, not me. LOL!)

So there it is, another quick trip down memory lane. I hope you enjoyed it.

A Walk Down Memory Lane, August 5, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!


Here's a trip down memory lane I'd like to forget. Certain church ladies always reminded me that all I ever did was cry. Well here are two pictures that show I cried at least twice.

Truly, I know that I cried about having my feelings hurt or being left in the church nursery. Maybe I even cried when older women with scary faces approached me at church or elsewhere. Heck, I don't know, I was a kid.

I do remember being afraid of some of my older female teachers until about fourth grade. I have no idea why. Maybe it was the old lady at church that told me "all I ever did was cry." There's no way to know what a kid like me was thinking.

A lot of people called me a cry baby which only served to make it worse. At my first wedding the old lady who said what she said, decided that this was the day she had to remind me one more time. Not, "Best Wishes," or "I'm so happy for you," but "I remember you always used to cry."

That day I was all smiles and I just laughed and smiled. Can't remember what I thought, but I'm sure it was along the lines of, "I cried cuz you're so ugly." Please forgive me, I was an unsaved 22 year old bride and that's my excuse. And I'm sticking with it.

I still cry over all kinds of things, but most of the time I try to be really tough.












I think someone pinched me and I know that little boy just took my toy. These are good reasons to cry. Why is it that out of the very few pictures of me as a baby, there have to be ones of me crying?

That's my trip down memory lane and I'm laughing about it now, but I sure wasn't then. Hope you laughed and didn't cry, cuz if you cried I'd say, "You're a cry baby."

Crazy Things That Happened As A Kid

Some weird things happen to us as kids. I'm sure you'll all have some to share. Feel free to share them as comments. I'll post them which will make this post more interesting.

I remember having Whooping Cough as we drove all the way to Ohio to visit relatives. I hacked and gasped and, you know the rest, for several days (or it seemed). My parents thought I was either car sick or being a brat and trying to get attention. Don't know why they would think that of me. Sweet little ole me! I was known to be a "cry baby" as a little kid

I do remember Yellowstone Park and losing my lunch in one of those beautiful, hot, blue pools. Ah, the memories. I'd like to go back to Yellowstone some day and actually enjoy it.

Somewhere on the way we went to a doctor and I got a shot in the gluteous maximus which helped me feel better right away.

BTW a note on Whooping Cough (I think it's called Pertussis): our pharmacy has a brochure advising adults to get a booster now because it is on the up-rise and it is so bad for babies to get pertussis. Check with your doctor to see if you should get a booster.

I also remember having Mumps on one side only. That looked hilarious. It was uncomfortable, but funny looking. I remember looking in the mirror a lot to see what it looked like.

The next thing was scraping my knee up pretty badly. I think I was like seven and my friend and I thought it would be fun to have her sit up on my shoulders.

She was smaller than I, but it still wasn't a good idea we discovered after I tripped, she tumbled down the driveway and I drove my right knee into the pavement.

I still don't know how she only got a little scrape on her cheek and no other injuries. I would have thought she would have had a broken wrist or arm or something.

I got five stitches. I don't think the Dr was very good at stitching knees because I have a thick white scar there. It's not so bad now, but at first it was really thick.

Next thing I did was cut my lower lip open. I was playing tag in slippery shoes in the school basement and I slid into a "safe" place which was the bench attached to the wall. I slipped before I got there and hit my head and bit my lip. Sheesh!

This time I got ten stitches. I had a fat lip for quite a while, but only I notice now. I am about nine in this picture. I can see that my lower lip is fat on one side. Don't know if anyone else can see it.

This one happened in junior high. Remember when there were paper boys/girls? There used to be paper boxes and the papers were delivered there bundled with a wire loop. The paper kids would come and pick up their papers, removing the wire loop so they could fold their papers before they went out on their route.

Well, one morning I was walking to school with a friend and I stepped in one of those loops and my other foot caught the loop too and down I went. I ripped my jeans, scraped my knee and bruised my hip area.
I was late to school and falling down was not an excusable event so I had a tardy on my record. That was devastating to me. TARDY! I was not happy.

The summer after ninth grade I was chasing my brother who had just aggravated me in front of my boyfriend. He ran across two yards (no fences then) and got away when I tripped on the neighbors dog chain.

I got some nice cuts across the top of my foot from that chain. How humiliating! I had to walk back to my yard to my boyfriend and act like I was fine. I wanted to cry it hurt so bad and the humiliation...my brother had won AGAIN!!

In high school one summer I was riding bikes with my boyfriend on a new trail by the bay. We were cruising along talking and laughing. I looked over at him and as I turned my head back I hit a pole.

Somehow I got my right arm up in front of my face in time and next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground facing the pole I had just hit. I guess I didn't flip because I don't think I would have landed facing the pole. I must have just left my bike in mid air turning to the side and landing on my bum.

I just had a sore arm. I was amazed and wondering why there was a pole in the middle of the bike path. Still wondering.

Same day within ten minutes as I crossed the railroad tracks I fell. I couldn't believe it. This time I cut my knee pretty bad, but didn't go for stitches.

I won't mention getting hit in the eye and later the throat with a softball. Maybe I wasn't meant to do any activities that required skill.

I think I'll leave it at that before I bore you to tears. I'll just say, God knew what I could handle, which wasn't much (I'm rather a wimp) and He kept me alive through other events in my life because He had a job or two for me to do.

Here I am to say I'm doing my best to serve Him because He went through unimaginable pain and agony so I could be forgiven just for the asking and be able to sit here today and write these funny stories.

A Walk Down Memory Lane July 29, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!


Thanks, Erica for hosting this. I enjoy walks down memeory lane.

As a kid, our family used to go camping every summer. We had some favorite places we went every year. The ocean, a friends' cabin on a lake, and this mountain campground.

I think I'm nine or ten years old here. I loved walking on the big fallen logs. I played in the woods and the creeks at this very primitive campground near the mountain.

There were only very old outhouses with four holes. I hated that more than anything especially in the dark when mom made us go use the restroom before we went to bed. Oooooh icky!

What a beautiful, green place this was. The creek was so cold it made any body part hurt that met with it's mountain chill. Oh so refreshing when it did get hot up there though.

Good times camping. My folks did a lot of hard work so we could go camping. A whole other story.

A Walk Down Memory Lane July 8, 2009

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!
I'm joining Erica over at Scottsville for a Memory Lane post today. As I've mentioned before, I love the ocean. I think it all started way back when I was a kid.

Our family would go camping every summer at a favorite place on the ocean. I took my hubby out there to show it to him before we got married. We've been their once since then. It is still my favorite ocean camp ground and beach.

Here's my sis and me in July of 1963. I was five and she was eight. I think those bathing suits were made of cotton. Black and white pictures bring out a good old fashioned feeling. Too bad they are so small, but that is what I was able to get.

We loved getting all sandy and washing off in the ocean and doing it again. We are holding up Razor Clam shells. I'm sure dad had us do that. He was a bit of a photographer. That's a 1960's action shot, he he!

Hope this brings back good memories for you. I just want to go camping there again.

A Walk Down Memory Lane With Dubb Dubb

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

This is a post for "Memory Lane" over at Erica's blog, Scottsville. This is my first attempt so here goes.

This picture isn't old and neither am I (Ha), but the seal sculpture brings back memories of my childhood.

This sculpture is of Dubb Dubb the seal who used to live at the zoo. We recently went to the zoo for a visit and this sculpture caught my attention.

You see, Dubb Dubb was every child's favorite seal when I was a kid. He was huge. This sculpture doesn't show him life size. I'm talkin' he was huge. Overfed is more like it. People could buy fish and feed Dubb Dubb all day long.

He would do tricks and really try to get your attention. He would also catch the fish real well. If someone wanted to feed the other seals, Dubb Dubb would crowd the other seals and get the fish anyway.

I loved standing by the open tank watching Dubb Dubb go through his antics of clapping his fins, waving and twirling in the water. All of the children would get so excited to see Dubb Dubb the seal perform for food.

Foster Parenting

Well, I've got my mocha so I'm ready to write. My dear friend sent me a gift card for Starbucks for my birthday last month. That helps the budget. I love mocha's and I'd have one or two a day, but it doesn't feel right spending money on myself that much. I drink decaf in case you are wondering. So I digress.

I've heard three families mention foster parenting in the last week and it reminded me of my parents foster parenting in the 60's and 70's. Foster parenting is a gift that I do not have. Raising our two kids seems to be enough for us. I feel selfish, but I don't think I have the stuff it takes to open our home up for that challenge. I applaud foster parents for being able to let their love cover the needs of foster kids and their own (if they have them).

My experience is mixed. Our family started with teen boys which wasn't the easiest place for my folks to start. My older brother seemed to despise these guys he had to share his room with. They truly took an extra parental effort because there were problems at school, at church, with neighbors, you name it.

Next, we fostered a three year old boy. He had numerous problems, but my parents felt that our love could help this little guy so we adopted him when he was five years old. I thought it was neat at first because I thought he would change (I was nine). He needed lot's of counseling as the years progressed and he was in juvenile detention or prison off and on as he grew older.

They labeled him "incorrigible" and he was put on Ritaline ( couldn't find the spelling for this). You know the routine. My folks quickly took him off of that med. They decided "wild boy" was better than "zombie boy". Well, I am four years older than him, so he was just old enough to get under my skin and drive me crazy and he seemed to love that. We have a strained relationship to this day. It's sad, we just can't be around each other for too long before he gets under my skin.

The next age was infants. Babies turned out to be so much fun and such an addition to our home. We all liked having the babies live with us. However, when my parents would consider adopting one, the paperwork from someone else would already be turned in and we never adopted a baby. It was sooooo hard to let the babies go. I remember a lot of tears around our house when a baby/ toddler was adopted out from our home. I think it became too emotional for my mom, especially if a child went back to it's biological parent and we knew it wouldn't be a good situation for the child based on our experiences with the little ones after a home visit.

The last child who lived with us was a six year old girl and she had major issues. She eventually went back to her biological mom. By this time my mom was fed up with the system and we retired. It was a valiant effort to help some kids, but for my folks it was too difficult in more than one way. I am proud of them for being foster parents for as long as they were. The experience was good in some ways and very difficult in other ways.

My prayers go out to foster parents and may God richly bless them for sharing their love with some kids who really need it. Don't be discouraged. God will help you through the challenges and you'll enjoy enough of the journey to make it worthwhile.

Small Town Stuff

I don't really come from a small town, but it's not like LA or NY that's for sure. Today, I was thinking about theater, baseball, fireworks displays & stuff like that. I think the small town stuff is so fun. Our farm team baseball games are smaller than pro games (of course) & I like it. Parking is easier, the stands (seats) are old and used to be wooden ( I haven't been there in a while so I don't know if they're still wooden) and I can see my old high school and what used to be called "tight wad hill" in the distance. The school sits on that hill now. I'll explain "tight wad hill" first. The people who didn't want to buy tickets sat up there. I think some hoped to catch a home run ball.

My grandpa would buy our tickets to the game around July 4th and there would be an awesome fireworks display after the game (very loud). We didn't sit on "tight wad hill" thank goodness.

So what I really want to talk about is small theaters. I have loved small town theater since I was a kid. Usually there are a lot of kids playing the characters. Some parents and some other adults are in every production. I went to the same production more than once many times. I saw "Jesus Christ, Superstar" several times. That isn't necessarily small town theater, but it would travel & appear in small venues. I also went to see "Gypsy" several times. I got away from visiting small theaters for awhile when I moved around a lot because of being associated with the military.

When the Navy took me to San Diego I met a friend with kids in a school for the performing arts and that was it...I was in heaven. I got to see performances a lot then and of course more than once. I volunteered with the choir group & got to know the kids better and I really enjoyed that. Now I enjoy college, high school and church performances.

My kids have even been involved in our church summer theater camp and I help out as much as I can. I see how much the kids learn in just eight days and I am amazed. The director and her staff have a gift that is an awesome thing to see in action.

I missed a lot of plays this year. I'm cutting back on spending so the entertainment fund for our family took a hit, but we'll fit a few in because it's character building and fun and necessary to do these things in spite of the economy.

I just realized I still call some of the actors by their character names when I see them in other plays because I don't remember their real names. Like "Doggie" and "Kittie" from "Jack and the Beanstalk. I'm a real groupie, I can't even remember their real names. Ha!

I won't turn my nose up at professional theater or ballgames though. My daughter and I had the privilege of receiving tickets from a friend who had two sick family members who couldn't go to see The Lion King. Oh my gosh! We loved it! My daughter didn't even ask to go out to the restroom like she usually does. We didn't even notice time passing. It was outstanding!!

I encourage you to try small town things once in a while if you haven't. It's fun! It's also good to support the arts and sports in any way we can. I enjoy the arts and sports even though I don't necessarily possess those talents I certainly enjoy being a consumer, spectator or observer. See you next post.

Things Dad Made

Lately I've been thinking about the toys and play things my dad made when we were young. He made the usual tree house platform, the tire swing, basketball hoop and wagon. Once he and my brother made a huge ping pong table (it was chin high when I was 6 and I was fairly tall). He also took old roller skates, a wooden fruit box, and some wood and made a scooter. When the fruit box fell off, we had a skate board.

Another time he just put a short piece of 2 by 6 over a nice round piece of an old, cut off, tree limb. We could stand and balance on it. If we were good we could stand on it while rolling the tree limb back and forth underneath. But if you were me, you could take flight. While the pieces of wood went flying one way, I flew the other. I've still got the scars to prove it. Ouch!

However, the two play things I liked best were the pulley on a line from the house to the tree, and the kiddie pool on the patio. First I'll tell about the pulley line. Picture this, we lived in a three story house, the second story being the main floor so the back porch was about fifteen steps up from the patio. Dad strung a rope from the porch down to the apple tree across the patio.

He had an old pulley on the rope and some handle of some kind. We would stand on the porch railing, he'd give us the pulley handle and we'd jump off the railing and fly across the patio down to the apple tree. The bigger kids would stop before they got to the tree, but my little brother, some called him "peanut" for his small stature, didn't stop until he slammed into the apple tree limb. Ouch!! Poor kid.

We had a particularly hot summer (once, just kidding) when I was a kid and my dad built a kiddie pool on the patio with plastic tarps and my mom's quilting frame, and some bricks, I think. He rolled the tarps around the frame many times and somehow crossed the frames at the corners and propped them up on bricks. I was young so I'm not quite sure how he did it so it wouldn't leak, but he did. We filled it with water and played in it for quite awhile.

Dad warned us not to sit on the sides or it might fall and he wouldn't put it back up. Of course we eventually sat on the side or bumped it so the side fell down and gallons and gallons of water went across the patio and onto the lawn. We certainly had green grass after that.

So to all you dads out there, go ahead and build anything for your kids. It doesn't have to be new or from a kit. Use what you've got in the garage or shed. They'll love the hours of play they get from the toys and they'll remember them, and what you did, for a lifetime.