Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time..... my brother, Tommy, was born. He was born as the 3rd in the family and the only son. I am 6 years older than him and my sister, a year and half. Naturally my sister and he had a lot in common and similar friends, but Tommy and I actually got/get along quite well.

Tommy was a chubby baby and kept his baby belly until he was about 10. I totally remember him losing his belly and turning into more of an adolescent/man. It was weird. Of course I was about 16, so what wasn't weird.

He is getting married on Saturday. It is sort of odd, different, interesting thinking that my baby brother will be married. I mean he is totally old enough (and some would say, "what took you so long"), but he is still 18 in my eyes.

He has asked the guests at his rehearsal dinner to put their two cents in and tell a story about he or Jenn or some marriage advice. Of course in the schedule of the evening, he has only allowed an hour for eating and story telling. I am wondering if he thinks if he only plans an hour for this, he will get off easily. Knowing 1/2 the crowd that is going (extremely well) he will not be adhering to his schedule. Our side of the family likes to talk and make fun of and expound on things. He could be in for a long night. I could tell you what I have in mind, but in the odd chance that he reads my blog before then (or ever?), I can't risk it. Instead I will tell you what I am not saying, because being all serious and gushy in public (especially when I get a chance to "roast" him) is really not me.

Tommy, On this eve of your wedding to Jenn, I want to tell you how proud I am of you and that I am impressed with the man you have become. Technically in my eyes, you will never be a "man", but I am willing to concede to boy/man. It's easy to see you still as a boy because you like your trucks, your lawn tools, making things in yards now (where once it was the beach) and your love of adventure. I can still picture you playing fetch in the backyard with Todd. I am sorry that I was too old to keep an eye on you in HS. I am so happy that you got to go to Waterville Academy and ski all winter instead of being in regular HS (although at the time, I was a little jealous).  I miss that we don't live closer and I hope when you have a passel of kids, you come visit often. (I love little kids that you can hand back to their parents). Plus you will have built in babysitter cousins for the little nuggets.

Jenn is a lucky girl to have you as her husband. Just remember to tell her often what she means to you. Remember to do your own thing, but to reconnect at the end of the day and be proud of each other. And remember that it is important every once and awhile to feel as good as that day you were wearing your Vaurnet shirt, your cool shorts with the white side stripe, your tube socks and you were the cat's ass (haha, pun intended) as the head of the school (6th grade).

Love you millions xoxo

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time.... I was given a Snoopy by my Uncle Dick. I am not sure how old I was when I got it, but I am going to go out on a limb and say I was about 3 in this picture and he looks loved already.

Snoopy was my one and only.

He never let me down and he didn't hog the covers.

He went on vacations with me, overnights and to college.

He has had a few operations and been re-stuffed a few times, too. (Kind of like me, lol)

He moved to the Cape with me.

He has been around a very (very!) long time. And even though he is not too fluffy for hugging these days, he still spends his nights in my room.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Easter dinner was a typical family meal, but with guests, so the conversation was even more lively. You would think we would try to tone it down a bit when guests were around, but not this family. There was talk of the shelf life of milk, the lessons my brother has taught his future bride (how to dry off after a shower without getting the bath mat wet was one), how the song "He's So Shy" came on the radio and my sister blurted out how I would sing it (in my head) to the crush I had in HS and one of our guests' dog was having issues with his knee. His partner said that the dog was so small he couldn't even imagine where the dog's knee was! I actually had to start writing things down so I would remember all this juicy stuff.

The best tid bit came flying out of my dad's mouth, which leads to:

Once upon a time, when my dad was in his early 20s, he and his buddies would come to the beach in Falmouth (which is on Cape Cod for all you out of staters). My dad is a very handsome man and let me just say, he was hot when he was younger. Not in an incestual way, I am just stating the truth.  My dad and his buddies would come to Falmouth on weekends in the summer. Evidently, at 3:00, if you did not have a date for that evening you would go stand at the water line. All the people at the water line would check each other out and hook up for the evening.

I can't tell you how loud the sound is when 10 people's jaws hit the dinner table at the same time.

This, I guess, was the precursor to Match.com?

How did this word get around the beach?

What was it like standing there  checking people out while you were being checked out... IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!? I mean a bar is one thing where it is at least dark and you have clothes on, but the beach in a bathing suit?! Yikes. (OK, obviously I have a few insecurities).

Now the real question is, do they still do this on the beaches of Falmouth? Anyone know the answer to this or am I going to have to take one for the team and test this out?

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, when airplane travel was cool and something people didn't do all the time, people actually thought about what they would wear on the plane.

See how dressed up they were? Well that is what my family basically looked like when I took my first (one that I remember) airplane ride in 5th grade. It was like going to church. Please don't get me started on how the flight attendants gave us all sorts of cool things and treated kids like royalty. And we actually got a full, hot meal..... OK, anyway, people felt it was important to look nice on a plane.

Yesterday, K and B went to Florida with their Dad to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We have been on planes plenty of times since I was in 5th grade and I realize people don't get dressed the way they once did.

Extreme case in point: Lady Gaga.

However, when K walked out with ripped denim shorts, I had to send her back to her closet for something more presentable. She looked cute, but I couldn't let her do it. It's like wearing jeans to church for me. I cannot wear jeans to church. It is something that was not allowed when I was younger.

So will my girls think of this trip when they are in their 40's and their kids want to wear ripped jeans on their first rocket flight? I don't know, but I would like to think that my grandchildren will look presentable when they get to Mars.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, we had a rotary phone in our home (it may have actually been that color). Let me bring you back.... you had to dial the phone by turning the numbers, one at a time and you could hear the little duhduhduhduh as the number reset itself.  Of course this phone was connected to the wall with a very long curly-q cord that would allow you to walk all over the kitchen.

Then we had the push button phone. That was cool! This still included the long cord too. Of course there was no call waiting, no answering machine and no caller ID. Barbaric right? This is the phone I got asked to the prom on. Wandering around the kitchen, twirling the cord, waiting patiently for a certain boy to ask me the most (or second most) important question of my life.

When answering machines came out, my mom was adamant about not getting one. She didn't see why we needed to get a message when someone called. She figured if people needed us and couldn't get us, then they should call back. Now we have voicemail instead of an answering machine.

I got my first cell phone in my 30's. My husband (at the time) had a "bag phone" which was a huge cell phone that pretty much came in a bag and he could transport it from his car to this boat. I was excited to get my cell phone and had him call me from the same room, just so I could answer it!

Since my first cell phone, I have progressed and upgraded to a Blackberry (crackberry) and of course love the fact that I can get my emails, check facebook and twitter and keep a contact list as long as my arm.

Evidently, I am already behind the times. I do not have an iphone or a droid. I have always loved Apple and have had Macs as computers for all of time, so I of course have wanted an iphone for about, forever. I would not get one though because Verizon did not have them and AT&T does not work too well on Cape Cod. Verizon has them now and I am counting the days until my next upgrade.

Guess what the iphone has that I cannot get on my crackberry? This...



Jealousy..... oh jealousy! 2 of my favorite things combined: shopping and an iphone. That's right, you can have an app on your iphone (or droid) that will scan a bar code and tell you if that product is for sale somewhere else cheaper. Seriously, why couldn't I have invented that? Other than the fact that I have no computer know how, but the idea in itself, I totally could have come up with that. It also allows you to buy it right from your iphone (or droid). Crazy.

The world has become a wild place(more and more like the Jetsons!) since I paced around my kitchen, twirling the long code, waiting for those 8 fantastic words, "will you go to the prom with me?". What ever will be next?

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, I was not very smart when it came to science. Who am I kidding? I am still not a science maven. I would have made a kick ass nurse if I could have gotten through biology. Anyway, my school science career came rushing back to me last night as I was trying to assist K in an 8th grade science project.

Let's review:
7th grade science: This is where I learned that you could use scissors to cut pizza. God I hope my science teacher washed the scissors before she started snipping at the pizza. That was before I was a germaphobe.

8th grade science: Would sneak peaks at lab notebook during tests. No I do not recommend this (especially if my girls are reading this).

9th grade science: Lots of beakers and stuff.

10th grade science: Chemistry. My first D on my report card. And a female teacher who favored boys.

11th grade science: Anatomy. Loved it, but it was not easy. Dissected fetal pig.

12th grade science: Did I take any science that year? Who knows. I am pretty sure if I didn't have to, I didn't.

College science: I so tried in 18 different ways to Sunday to not take science, but had to at my liberal arts college. I took physics 101 thinking it would be easy. Nope. Sucked.

So all this experience led to the 3 of us sitting on the kitchen floor last night, willing K's thing on wheels to go down a ramp and go exactly 60 inches. The thing would go past the line, we would adjust the ramp, it wouldn't go as far as the line, adjust again and it would go past the line.... are you getting the picture? Back and forth, forth and back with K whimpering, B laughing and me drinking.

In my mind's eye, I  could see all my science teachers mocking me. Then K said the thing that hurt the most... I wish Daddy was here because he would know what to do. Ouch.

*As a side note, after 20 tries in school today, she got the (damn) thing to work. I am hoping the teacher gives her an A for effort and me a break on science projects that need to be built at home.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, way back when I was in 8th grade (1980 people, do the math), my social studies teacher had all of us make a time capsule. We made it the first week of school and opened it some time during the last week of 8th grade. Well, B found it the other day and had a field day laughing at her 8th grade mom. (And yes, of course I saved it.)

Here it is, a little smelly and crumpled in an old tissue box.

Need a closer look at the smokin' hot 8th grader on the first day of school? Here you go:

1980 was during the preppy explosion. I am surprised I am not wearing 2 Izod shirts with the collars popped. Sweet chinos too, right? And to complete the look, a bag made just for me by mom.

Giggle all you want now, it gets even better. As I mentioned yesterday, I was a huge Red Sox fan. (Still am, just not fanatical). There were quite a few baseball cards in the box, a stat sheet cut from the Boston Globe from September 8,  and some magazine pictures of my favorite Red Sox. To even out my love of baseball, I also had quite a few ski racing pictures. So I was a total jock.

B pulled out a piece of string and asked why the heck I was saving a silly piece of string and I said that it was how tall I was in 8th grade. She thought that was pretty cool and immediately measured herself against it and found out that I was a good 3 inches shorter than her back then (and she's in 6th grade!).

The best things in the box were the questions I had to answer.
Name 3 people you respect:
1. Fred Lynn: I respect him because he's an awesome baseball player and someday I hope I could play as good as him. Evidently I was a dreamer in 8th grade too.
2. Ingemar Stenmark: I respect him because he's a massive skier. Someday I'm gong to win as many World Cups and Gold Medals as he did. Now that would have been something!
3. Carl Yastrzemski: I respect him because no one I know at age 41 still be playing baseball as well as he is. He is the only one I know (or seen) to make 400/3000. Smart ass B asked if that was how much money he made and I said no, those were homerun/something stats all before the steroid years.

Name 5 boys you think are cute:
Did I make up this question or did the SS teacher seriously ask us to write this? I cracked up at my answers because 3 of the 5 were "bad boys".

My 5 best friends:
Melissa Clark
Amy Potts
Carol Ventola
Kerry Lynch
Joyce Kreie
I happen to know that at least 2 of those people read my blog and  I am friends with 4 on Facebook.

Places I would like to go:
Colorado
Utah
Vermont
Switzerland
Huh? Vermont and Switzerland in the same grouping?

5 things I would like to accomplish this year:
1, Win at least 2nd place in a ski race.
2. Make the softball team.
3. Get an A in SS and English.
4. Get a B in Math/Science.
5. Go out with at least one boy.
6. Make an A+ in Gym.
Evidently I was an overachiever because I wrote 6 things instead of 5. An A+ in gym. I wonder if I reached that goal? And I did go out with one boy who was on my list of 5 boys I thought were cute for a total of 3 1/2 days. We were better as friends and had nothing to say to each other as boyfriend/girlfriend.

I may have to do this with the girls just so their children have something to laugh hysterically at years from now.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, Valentine's Day was a big deal. I remember picking out my box of cards for my schoolmates and filling them all out. Remember giving the best one to the boy you liked in your class? My dad would always give us each a rose. We always got a card from my parents and my mom would make the day special by adding something to our lunch or making a nice dinner.

During prime dating years, I made it known that I LOVED Valentine's day (so you better do something for me, or else). Often times going out to dinner wasn't an option and I would cook a nice meal and we would eat by candle light.

I even, once upon a time, got engaged on Valentine's Day.

When the girls were born, I started taking an annual Valentine's picture. I would go to Old Navy and buy them matching pink Valentine shirts and do a photo shoot. These are some of my favorite pictures of them.  Because I am crafty (dare I admit it), I always had the girls make their cards for their classmates. We marble painted hearts, added stickers to hearts and one year I took each of their top 10 favorite songs and made CDs for each of their classmates. We had fun doing this together. Given the option of buying cards for her friends or making them this year, B chose making them.

On Monday, I made the girls cinnamon rolls with pink icing, put  Valentine's cookies in their lunch, got them each a bracelet, cards and their own Whoopie Pies with their names on them. They were very appreciative!

I am not sure if Valentine's Day has gotten a bad rap about being a greeting card holiday or what, but I was very disappointed to see the answers to my brother's Monday blog he puts out. He sends a question to like 200 people and posts their answers on Tuesday. He's been doing this for maybe 7 years. He went on about how he is not a fan of Valentine's and how he and his fiance were IGNORING the holiday. He asked what his friends did..... many of them said the same thing. They sat around and watched TV, went to bed, worked late, blah blah blah. The thing that got me most was that he didn't even send my mom a card! He actually used to send my mom, sister and I flowers on Valentine's Day. How did he turn into the Grinch of Valentine's Day?

I believe that many people say that Valentine's Day should be celebrated every day, not just one February day out of the year. What I wonder is how many people DO celebrate it every day? Do you tell the people in your life how much you love them every day? Do you do random acts of kindness every day? Do you leave chocolates on the pillows of your kids every night? I think it is nice to have a holiday in the middle of winter (when we are all about at our wits end) to remind us who and what we are grateful for and that love exists in many ways.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, my parents went out to dinner and left my friend Melissa and me in charge of my brother and sister. It was summer in Ogunquit and our neighborhood was a hotbed of kid activity. Being around 14, the rule was no kids in the house that didn't live there. We all played outside until dark and then we went inside and just happened to bring in 2 boys with us. We figured we would just watch tv and then send the boys home.

My parents drove into the driveway and we panicked! We sent the boys out the back door thinking my parents would not be the wiser. Well, these teenage boys just happened to be about 6 feet tall and could easily be seen through the window.

We didn't get the wrath of my parents. We got the silent treatment and sent to our room. What felt like hours later, my dad came in and told us how disappointed he was in us. The ultimate punishment: disappointing my dad. That's all it took: "the look" and "the tone". Needless to say, nothing like this ever happened again and I can still see the look on his face and hear the tone of disappointment.

I got home from a meeting tonight and the car lights shown into the family room where I could see 2 girls on the couch. It made me think of that night long ago and it scared me to think that my girls are almost the same age as I was. I guess I have to start practicing "the look" and "the tone" and hope that I never have to use it.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time.... when my brother, sister and I were little, we were welcome into our parents' bed any night.

Well, it wasn't that easy.

My parents somehow lived their whole married life (except for the past 5 years or so) in a "king" sized bed.
What that really meant was 2 twin beds tied together. Yes, they slept together for 35 or so years with a crack down the middle of their bed. Remarkable that they have 3 children, right?

If I woke up from a nightmare, I would go into my parent's room. I would get to my mom's side first and she would move over an inch and let me hang off the edge of the bed. Not very comfortable, so I wouldn't last long. I would then crawl into the middle and sleep in the crack. Seriously not very comfortable, but better than the monsters that were waiting under my bed.

With my own girls, we called it "musical beds". One girl would come in, one adult (OK, me) would leave and head to empty bed, other girl would find me in empty bed and I would have to head toward other empty bed. Get the idea? Basically it was a mystery where you would wake up. If I was too tired to get up and move beds, I would often wake up with a foot in my face and no covers.

Would I do this again? Especially when I got some flack from my mom over this issue?

Of course.

I wouldn't change a thing. Well maybe.... I would have added more pillows and blankets on my bed and ordered a California King.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once Upon a Time.... when I was almost 11, we had a major snowstorm in the Northeast called the Blizzard of '78. School was cancelled for days. We got close to 4 feet of snow in the suburbs of Boston. It was a kids paradise and probably a parent's nightmare.

The 2 best memories I have of that storm are the beer bread and my trek across the street.

My mom was an avid listener of WBZ and Dave Maynard. He gave out his tried and true recipe for Beer Bread that was a must have for a snowy day in New England. My mom had to try it! I just remember my dad picking it up and relating it to a brick. I don't know what happened, but it did not turn out to be the best bread for a snowy day. She claims it had something to do with the yeast, I think she may have drank the beer instead of putting it into the batter. I would have with 3 little kids and a blizzard.

When the snow finally stopped,  it was almost over my head. My best friend lived across the street up a big hill. I put on all my snow gear and swam over to her house. That's right: swam. I couldn't walk in it, so I swam/crawled across the street and up the big hill to her house. I swam over their car that was stuck at the bottom of the driveway. You could only see the antenna.

I seem to recall my dad's snowblower laughing at him, too, when he attempted to attack the driveway.

I don't remember it ever snowing that much since then. When the girls were little it snowed a few feet one winter. We would throw them up in the air and let them land in snowbanks cracking up. Their favorite things to do in the snow were to slide off the roof of my minivan or jump off the railing of the deck.

The girls and I are a little jealous of the snow that suburban Boston is getting today. The Cape is getting lots of rain while my brother is getting a ton of snow. Sadly enough, we don't think he is going to make snow angels or snow forts, therefore not taking full advantage of the snow like we would have. We are treating it like any snow day though with snuggling on the couch, watching tv and baking.

Hey Mom, do you still have the beer bread recipe?

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time,  I went to the greatest elementary school. It was a K-6 school in the suburbs of Boston. This was a time when holiday parties were Christmas parties. I am pretty sure that there may have been a few Jewish kids in my school, but I couldn't tell you who they were. There was one parent every year who would come in and teach us about Hanukkah. We would sing the Dreidel song, play the Dreidel game and learn what the markings on each side of the dreidel meant. There was more than one jealous kid thinking that getting presents for 8 days sounded better than getting presents on one day.

The best thing of all though...... the potato latkes.

I can still smell them if I think back to the halls of my elementary school. We would cook them in the classroom in one of those plug in pans. Then we would eat them with apple sauce. They were absolutely delicious!

Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends! And if you want to swing by with some potato latkes, I will supply the applesauce and sing you the dreidel song!

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time my family, friends and I went to a royal wedding. That's right. We did. Well OK, we watched the wedding of Princess Charles and Princess Diana on TV, but we made a party out of it. We had to get up really early and get all dolled up to "attend" the wedding. We had tea and crumpets and watched the wedding as if we were there.

I remember thinking how young and slightly overwhelmed Diana appeared and how "old" Charles looked. Of course, this began my obsession with Diana. I am sure she would be very proud of William and Harry.

And now I get to share the joy of  a royal wedding with my girls! They are about the same age that I was when I watched Charles and Di. I have to start getting some crumpet recipes and finding my fine china. It has to be a smashing party!

Just a little favor, William and Kate.... could you please not have your wedding on June 11th? I am already attending the somewhat less royal, but equally important wedding of my brother and his fiance.
Great, thanks.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time (30+ years ago), my sister was born on December 30th. 35 years ago, my Grandfather gave my sister his birthday, November 3rd, because he thought she was screwed having a birthday 5 days after Christmas. He figured 60 was old enough and didn't need to celebrate any more birthdays.

I will admit, I did not think this was fair as a kid because essentially she got to celebrate 2 birthdays. 2 cakes, presents each "birth" day, extra attention each "birth" day....

But now that I am older and way more mature, I like the reminder of my Grandfather on this, their special day. Only the immediate family celebrates this (birth)day, but it is one of the things that makes my beautiful sister unique and special.

Happy 30 something birthday, Karen and happy would have been 95th birthday, Dada!
I love you!

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, when the girls were little, we would call farts, "toots". It seemed a lady like thing to call gas from your nether regions. "Toot" also put a cute spin on a smell that was nowhere similar to roses. Over time, they enjoyed the word "fart" more, probably because that is what their cooler and older boy cousins proudly called gas.

When I was little, my parents called farts "heinie-sneezes". Now, to me, my dad was very worldly because he traveled a lot for work. I assumed this was the german word for fart.* I used it freely and frequently thinking that I was so smart.

It did not occur to me until FRESHMAN YEAR IN COLLEGE what the word really meant: a sneeze from your butt. I don't know if we said it so fast that it became just one word in our house or what. I just never really thought it out. Now, I can't say it without laughing which is probably why I stuck with the word "toot" for the girls.

*Melisa, feel free to share that one with Kat :)

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, Halloween was fun. When I was in grade  school, we lived in a great (fantastic, awesome, amazing, SAFE) neighborhood. My mom was no Martha Stewart in the costume department, so she would throw the 3 of us in the Wagoon (think big old station wagon) and take us to KMart where we would pick out a plastic costume in a box complete with plastic face mask. My dad would take the 3 of us trick or treating in our completely flamable costumes with the condensation building up in our plastic masks. We would collect as much candy possible while he enjoyed some treats in cute, little glassses himself. My mom would hunker down at home and pass out the candy.

I don't know what happened in 6th grade. Maybe I got too big or too cool for the box costumes. I wanted a homemade costume. The pain and anxiety I must have put my mom through when I uttered the words "homemade costume" was probably unpalpable. I am not sure when she got the brain storm, but she told me I was going to be a raisin. She was not thinking of those cool purple dude raisins in the commercials, she meant plain raisin. She crumpled up a black garbage bag, put in over my head (yes, she put a hole in it for my head to come out of and 2 arm holes, too), then for some reason added a cut out of a smiling worm. In essence I looked like an old moldy apple with a worm, or a raisin with a worm.

Needless to say, she hasn't lived that costume down. I can be very creative( and so can she), but not so much with Halloween costumes. It's obviously genetic. My poor girls, they think they want me to create something for them, but I happily take them to any store in America for a store bought costume. Obviously, as long as this  family line of women reproduce, we will be keeping store bought Halloween costumes in business.

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun! So if you want to join along, please link up on the bottom and share a little piece of your history with the rest of us!

Once upon a time, when the girls were little, we would take many trips back and forth to my parents' house (2hrs away). We didn't have a DVR in the car. There was a lot of looking out the window, looking at books, snacking and playing with magnets on a cookie sheet. Once and awhile, all my tricks would be for naught and I would have to kick the floor of the car and say that Big Bird landed on the roof. The girls would get very excited and Big Bird would continue to make a fuss on the roof of the car. Then we would look out the window, into the woods trying to find the rest of the Sesame Street gang.

Monday was a day off from school, so the girls and I took little dude to a really cool playground about 20 minutes away. On the way home, little dude was tired, so B told him to look out the window while she hit the ceiling of the car and announced that Big Bird was on the roof of the car. He was hooked and I was stunned that the girls remembered this little trick. When we got back to little dude's house, he looked up on the roof to see if Big Bird was still there. We told him that he had gone back to Sesame Street.

Sure enough, when I picked him up Tuesday morning, he looked up on the roof to see if Big Bird had returned. I love that we have another generation of imaginary car riders!

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun! So if you want to join along, please link up on the bottom and share a little piece of your history with the rest of us!

Once upon a time, we spent many a vacation day at my grandparent's house on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH. I wrote about the bat problem they had here. I was hanging pictures this week and hung this one up of my sister and me. It was taken at the Lake in 1972, which means I was 5 and she was 6 months or so.

I love this picture although I have no memory of having it taken. It shows the black boat in the background that evidently my dad owned, but kept it at my grandparents. It had sweet red vinyl interior. Any time that I smell boat gas now, it transports me right back to this boat. We used to go waterskiing off the back of it. It would scare the crap out of me when I fell and was bobbing around in the middle of the lake. I wasn't scared of other boats, I was scared of the unknown fish and things that could be eyeing my legs as a snack.

We had strict rules for the dock. No going on if no one else was on it. And if someone was on it, we had to stop at the edge of the grass and ask if it was ok if we came on. With the help of my Grandfather, we would steal bacon out of the fridge and bait hooks with it instead of trying to find icky worms. (My Grandmother was never pleased when we did this!) We would fish off the end of the dock and catch 4 inch fish.

As we got older, we would dive off the dock. Depending on how much rain there had been and the level of the lake depended on how shallow the dives were. We also used to float around on truck tire inner tubes that were huge! You just had to be careful not to get caught on the nozzle where you blew them up because it would hurt.

I love how one picture can bring back so many memories. Do you have any pictures like that?

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun! So if you want to join along, please link up on the bottom and share a little piece of your history with the rest of us!

Once upon a time when life was simpler and I was around 11, 12, 13?, we played Kick the Can practically every night in our summer neighborhood in Ogunquit. We lived on a dead end, rocky, dirt road that was a hill. While our parents were, wait, I have no idea what our parents were doing because we were outside playing. We didn't really give them much of a thought. Anyway, there was always a bunch of kids and we had a perfect stump in our yard from where we kicked the can. Our (wall-less)outdoor shower was jail. We ran around everyone's house and hid and giggled and strategized.

One night, my friend Melissa and I were hiding behind the Armstrong's house (they were not home) and we were getting bored/silly waiting for our chance to rescue the prisoners. We started doing handstands against the house and cracked a window. That is how sturdy these "houses/cottages" were. The force from our feet hitting the house, cracked the window. We just about peed ourselves from horror and laughing. We vowed never to tell anyone and we didn't for a long time. The house was sold and remodeled before my sister ratted us out about 15 years later. That was probably the worst thing I have ever done that I kept secret of for so long. (Please read that as I was such a goody goody that breaking a window and not telling was a huge thing for me.)

One other time, we had a rousing game going with tons of kids and this girl, I think her name was Sarah (she was visiting someone), kicked the can and missed and kicked the stump and broke her toe. I think we moved the can from the stump after that mishap.

We also had great games of Capture the Flag on a field at the bottom of the hill. It was just a fun place to be in the summer. I barely remember watching tv there. Of course our tv was about 12 inches with antenna ears on top.

Feel free to chime in with what you parents were up to while your kids were running amuck around the neighborhood, Mom. I also have a feeling my sister will chime in on this one......

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun! So if you want to join along, please link up on the bottom and share a little piece of your history with the rest of us!

Along with my parents owning a summer house in Ogunquit, ME, my grandparents lived in Meredith, NH right on Lake Winnipesaukee. Yeah, spoiled, I know. It's funny how you don't truly appreciate it then, but what I would do to have either of those houses now.

Anyway, my brother was down this weekend and we were reminiscing about stuff and the bat story came up. Love the bat story and it will be forever imprinted in my mind like a photograph. There were lots of bats in the woods and sometimes they would fly down the fireplace into the house. I remember when I was really young, adults screaming and my grandmother knifing a bat like it was a serial killer. Maybe this is why I don't like scary movies?

Anyway, one summer, my brother and I went and visited the lake house for a weekend. He and I were in adjoining bedrooms and my grandparents were at the other end of the house. I heard something like a bird and woke up and ran and got my brother. (We were in HS or college at this point) He probably yelled a few expletives at me and told me to leave, but I made him get up. We went into the living room and realized that said bird was a bat. I don't think we went in to wake up my grandparents, but the picture I have in my mind is them standing there in nightgown and boxers with wife beater t-shirt with broom and knife in hand. My grandmother had some sort of head covering on and was yelling at me to put one on because (evidently) bats like blond hair.

The bat ended up dieing (being bludgeoned) in one of the bedrooms and tossed outside. I wish I had a photo to share with you and to hang up on my wall. The best way to describe my grandparents that night is think of the American Gothic Farmer's picture and imagine them

in their nightclothes,

with headgear,

and a bat hanging from the pitchfork.

Want to play? Leave me a comment with a link to your blog o'memories!