Fun In The Sun With Dad

A lot of my fond memories were visiting with my dad on weekends. We usually went to my grandparent's home, due to them living in-between both of our homes. My grandparent's lived on a farm, had horses, cows, roosters, chickens, dogs, and yes...even an outhouse We kids thought that was soooo cool...(Of course, they had indoor plumbing that was the actual restroom.) My dad and grandfather taught us to saddle and ride horses (although, I couldn't tell you how to do it now), how to fish, etc.

They also taught us how to watch out for those cow patties, so as not to step in them. However, they never thought to tell us not to jump in them!!! We loved going to the hayloft and looking down at the cows and horses from the little window where my grandfather threw out the hay. They did tell us not to go up in the loft, so we would not get hurt. Being feisty children though, we just placed a lookout at the other end of the loft facing the house. That way, we could see if any of the adults would head our way looking for us, and we'd have time to vacate the loft. This worked great...until one Christmas day. My step-brother, who is a week older than I am, kept jumping from the loft to the ground below. My sister's and I kept telling him he was going to get us into trouble if he got caught...but he didn't listen to us. He finally ended up landing right in a fresh cow patty! Which normally would have been no big deal...he could have just changed shoes. This particular weekend, though, he had on his brand new pair of boots he had just gotten for Christmas! As soon as we got back to the house, everyone wanted to know where his boots were. (we had left them outside to clean up) No hiding that from anyone!!!! Every one of us got into trouble that Christmas. At least Santa didn't take back our gifts for being naughty! lol

Check Out "The Junk Drawer...

This lady is very funny! Sharing for today. I will continue with my own personal stories later.

http://www.junkdrawerblog.com/category/embarrassing

Enjoy your afternoon everyone.

Michael Jackson's Funeral Is Today

Image via Wikipedia

Just want to take a moment and send condolences to Michael's family, friends, and fans. I have been a fan of his since the Jackson 5 days, however..haven't really kept up with him lately. He was unique, a fantastic singer, and an awesome dancer! He was human, not perfect, and he will be missed by everyone.

Evian Roller Babies US

This is awesome! Since I love to laugh, I just had to show this to everyone! Enjoy!!!

Deviled Eggs Bedeviled Me

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

As I mentioned, I was not the one who inherited the "domestic" genes. I know that was probably frustrating to my mom, since my older sister inherited all of those things from her. Growing up, and still, I had much rather be outside looking at the cars with my dad, be out in the yard in the garden, playing with the dogs, playing basketball, baseball, riding horses, or whatever. Anything but "girly" stuff like shopping, sewing, cooking, wearing dresses, or cleaning. (I was, and still am, a jeans and tennis shoes girl. Still a tomboy.)

You must understand...ALL the women(mom, sis, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers) in our family are fantastic cooks (from scratch), professional like sewers, and spotless cleaners...til me that was. Yes, I can cook, clean, and sew if I need to...but don't particularly enjoy any of those type of things. (Love to eat homemade food, though!) My first attempt at cooking did not go well...I was stubborn, didn't want to cook, didn't even want want to be inside for that matter, and didn't listen. So, my first course was to make Deviled Eggs..simple, right? WRONG!!! I was tired of waiting on those stupid eggs to boil, it was too boring. So, instead of listening to my mom, I took them off the stove. When I cracked them open, they were runny. Let's just say...that is the last time I took them off the stove early! (Runny eggs didn't taste as good as runny chocolate pie...my favorite!)

I also was different in the fact that I hated wearing dresses. When I started band in 6th grade, I thought I had found a way out...You see, my mom would dress me for school in a dress (yuck..you had to be prim and proper in a dress, and I liked playing ball, swinging, and playing chase during recess, etc. Didn't even want to think about trying to keep my bow-legged knees together.). Well, I figured out that my trombone case was just big enough to put my jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes in. I would go to school, change clothes during school, then put my dress back on before I went home. Which, I did...for about a week. That is when my step-dad saw me at school in my jeans. Needless to say, I didn't get to continue my ways after that.

So, not for lack of trying on my mom's part...I just was not the girly-girl.

Free Nurse Training

Image via Wikipedia

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I definitely contributed to pre-training my mom for her nursing career. Let's see...my free classes included:

Lesson #1-Cleaning and bandaging 3 year old's remaining 4 toes.

Lesson #2-Cleaning and bandaging of 1st grader's eyebrow (I was talking with a little friend while walking down the hall and ran smack into a display case. Split my eyebrow open. The nurse at the school scared my mom half to death, because when she called her, she told her I had split my eye open.)

Lesson #3- Cleaning and bandaging 2nd, or 3rd grader's, moles after removal-don't remember which grade for sure. (I was playing kickball at recess and was on the base (offensively). Someone ran around the base and grabbed me around the back of the neck to slow themselves down, which ripped a mole on my neck half off-so, back to the doc's.)
Now really, I was not "clumsy"-nor "accident prone"...just played hard and wasn't scared of getting hurt-the true tomboy. It got to the point that my mom didn't even ask which kid was hurt, just... where was I, so they would know where to pick me up!

Lesson #4- Cleaning and bandaging 4th grader's leg. (Was being chased at school by a little boy, fell down, and put a gash in my leg...took 26-27 stitches inside and out to fix that one. My teacher almost fainted because she couldn't stand the site of blood.)

***By this time, I was instructing the doctor's on how to stick the needle inside the wound to deaden it and watching every step of the way. Like I said I never slowed down...after having these stitches; in about a week, I was seen playing tackle football with the boys at school during recess. This was not something that made my mom very happy, she was afraid that I would bust the stitches and have to do it all over again. She even told the doctor when we went to get the stitches taken out...hence
...
Lesson #5-Sometimes the doctor doesn't agree- he told my mom that if all his patient's healed as well as I did, he was going to tell them all to go play football! Of course, now I agree with my mom...it was pretty stupid...but, I was just a kid who wanted to have fun.

I skipped many years before having any other major mishaps. I will tell you about that in another post later. So, as you can see...my mom got lots of free nurse training by having me as a kid...and probably a lot of gray hairs to go with it. Well, free in the sense of experience, not doctor bills...

Four Year Old Arranges Marriage

Just a little background information here...my step-dad has always been a prankster and has a wonderful sense of humor. Obviously I must have recognized this the first few weeks my parents started dating. Because, after they had gone out about two weeks, I followed him into the kitchen and asked, "When are you going to ask my mom to marry you?". Now, I am almost certain my mom was totally shocked and wanted to climb under the table at that particular moment. However, forty plus years later, they are still together...so, I must have chosen well in my only attempt to arrange a marriage.

My step-dad was also loved by all the kids in the neighborhood because of this sense of humor. Children would come knocking on the door all the time. (...not to ask my mom if we could come out to play, but if our step-dad could come out to play!) I loved following him around and watching him work on cars or whatever else he was doing outside. Being the tomboy, I loved being outside! (Hated the domestic stuff...my older sis got those genes.) I was so impressed by his antics that when we went to his parent's house for Thanksgiving one year I repeated his blessing when asked to say the prayer, it went something like this...

"Bless the rooster, bless the hen, back your ears, and poke it in!"

I was so proud!!! (Again, shocked everyone...lol. Of course, mom had told him it was his fault because he taught it to me. ) I was still proud that I had remembered it correctly for him. hee hee.

You Have How Many Toes???

Needless to say, elementary got to be pretty interesting and entertaining when it came to counting...

Teacher: "Brenda, we are going to count our fingers and toes today. How many fingers do you have total?"

Brenda: "Ten."

Teacher: "Right! And how many toes do you have total?"

Brenda: "Nine."

Teacher: "Okay, Brenda, Maybe you aren't understanding my question. Let's try this a different way. How many toes do people have on a foot?"

Brenda: "Most people have five."

Teacher: "Perfect! So, 5 + 5= how much?"

Brenda: "Ten"

Teacher: "Great! Now, tell me again, how many toes do you have total?"

Brenda: "Nine."

The bell rang and I think the teacher was a bit frustrated and confused. (She never stopped long enough to let me to explain, so I didn't tell her why I had 9 toes total.) She just kept repeating the same questions. She called my mom and told her she just didn't know why I was not getting the answer. She knew I knew how to add correctly. My mom proceeded to tell her that I indeed did know how to count and I did only have 9 toes. She explained to her what had happened. As soon as I got to school the next morning, she grabbed me, gave me a big hug, and apologized for doubting me the day before. I didn't know what all the fuss was about, but I sure was glad she didn't start asking me that question again!

How It All Began

I was about 4 years old at the time. My Mom always was telling me to not go outside without shoes. Well, being the tomboy, I didn't listen very well. I was visiting my Dad's one weekend and we had just gotten back from church. My Dad was inside changing clothes, so I went outside with my step-sisters who were riding bicycles already. (You guessed it....shoeless.) Anyway, I hopped on the back of my sister's bike and she was pumping me around. My legs got tired, so I attempted to stick them on the cover over the chain. Well, I missed and my foot went into the spokes. Cut through 3 toes and hurt like crazy! (Of course, being 3...I screamed like a baby.) My Dad and step-mom rushed me to the hospital and the doctor was able to save 2 toes, but one little piggy ran away!!! Actually, my Dad found it...but they couldn't save it. (My step-dad came into the emergency room and told me he had found my toe...then pulled out a toothpick from his pocket....of course, I thought that was hilarious!!! LOL)

I constantly tell my Mom that I am the reason she went into nursing...she had plenty of practice on me when I was growing up. It all started with this incident and her having to soak and bandage it all the time. (I couldn't stand looking at it, don't know how she did???) They carried me everywhere...I never told them, but that was the only part I didn't like...I wanted to be grown-up and use crutches! (Of course, at the time I didn't realize I was too small and that wasn't even an option.)

Now today, I am a living example to all my nieces and nephews about the consequences of not wearing shoes. Don't feel sorry for me, though...it didn't slow me down one bit and to tell the truth, even when I wear flipflops most people don't even notice. That doctor did a fantastic job sewing it back and not having a big gap. (It was the toe next to my pinkie toe that was lost.) So, there you have it...my 4toed beginning.