The Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge: Favorite Childhood Memories

I’m doing the Getting To Know the Blogger Challenge, started by A Little Unhinged.  Click on the link if you’d like to find out more and maybe even join in!

3)  What are some of your favorite memories from childhood?

I had a pretty awesome childhood.  We moved a lot, but we also tried to get back with family when we could.  Here’s some of the things I remember the most:

Being with Family-Just hanging out at my grandmother’s house and being with all of our cousins!  Christmas spent with the whole family on my Mom’s side was very special because there were so many family members there (my Mom came from a family of six kids).  Since we didn’t live close for a lot of our young life, those moments were especially memorable for my sister and me.

This is a picture of many of the cousins from my Mom’s side of the family. I’m the one squinting with the braids in my hair.

Chicago Attractions-We lived near Chicago during one of my dad’s tours of duty.  We got to go to some of the best places!  Shedd Aquarium, The Museum of Natural History, The Museum of Science and Industry, and so forth.  I would really love to have the opportunity to go back someday with my kids!

Radio station-My sister is three years younger than me.  We loved funny stuff, especially Weird Al Yankovic.  We made our own radio station for my mother by taking a set of walkie talkies and putting a rubber band around one so it would only send to the other one.  Mom listened downstairs while we did our very own radio show upstairs.  We made up our own versions of songs and commercials, and played records on my record player for the broadcast.

Halloween-We loved Halloween and it was always a big deal.  We would choose our costumes and Mom would make them for us.  It helped that she is fantastically good at sewing and crafting.  I have a link here if you want to see some of our AWESOME costumes:  Halloween.

Dough Art-Making things was a big part of my childhood.  We made our own dough ornaments every Christmas.  I can even remember how the dough smelled and how my hands would feel after making things with it.

The Barbie House-My sister and I had many different things that we liked to play with, but none as famous as the Barbie House.  My Dad made our Barbie house, and it was complete with windows, carpeting, stairs, many levels and even a roof with fake grass.  We spent many hours making up stories about the families that lived there.  This was so much better than any plastic dream house.  Many of our things were homemade or things that were repurposed into Barbie things (a mouthwash cap as a trash can, for example). The best thing was that Barbie did not discriminate.  We had Barbies from every ethnic group and walks of life in our house-we had African American Barbies and Kens, Hispanic Barbies, Asian Barbies, and even Barbies and Kens that had physical disabilities (in other words were missing limbs but we loved them anyway.)

There are many more, but those are the things that stand out most vividly and fondly in my mind!

Previous Blogger Challenge Posts-This Could Be Fun:  I’m Doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge, Where I Grew Up

 

Post Apocalyptic Hello Kitty and Grandpa Snake… Adventures in Imagination

Imagination is a very powerful thing.  My daughter has no shortage of imagination.  That’s why I’m almost a little worried.

Lately she has been begging me to play with her.  Pet Shop.  Barbies.  Hello Kitty.  But it’s not necessarily how you’d think she’d play.

The world of Hello Kitty, complete with weapons, torture, and a giant chicken.

Take Hello Kitty.  Princess Imagination has several of the Hello Kitty lego sets.  These Hello Kitties are not your run of the mill kitties.  They apparently exist in a post-apocalyptic society.  I noticed the kitties had assorted weapons-guns, swords, and axes.  “What are the weapons for?”  I innocently asked.  “They have to protect themselves against the bad guys.”  “Who are the bad guys?”  “The ones who try to steal their candy.”  Those are desperate measures, kitties.  I never realized how violent those cute little things could be.  I’ve noticed some lego guys without arms hanging out there too.  Not sure if they tried to steal candy, or if it’s some form of mutation from the fallout.  Speaking of mutation, there’s also a giant chicken.  Most recently she added the Death Star.  She said its the garage.  Makes you wonder what others say when they approach the Hello Kitty residence.  “That’s not a moon, that’s a space station.  No wait, it’s just a garage.”

I should have known the situation here when she announced all her Hello Kitties were in her room having a battle.

Oh the Barbies have to be the most fun.  Because we girls can do anything, right Barbie?  She has all of my old

Grandpa Snake is caught in many compromising positions.

Barbies.  I not only had the regular buxom blondes but also the Heart Family parents, kids, and grandparents.  Her favorite Barbie is the Heart Family Grandpa.  She latched on to him right away.  He was the first one she named.  “He’s Grandpa Snake.”  Grandpa Snake keeps some pretty interesting company, after all there is a LOT of nudity going on at this Barbie house (note the picture).  When the Barbies take a trip anywhere in their purple Volkswagon Beetle, she makes sure they take the toilet with them.  It’s in the trunk, because you just never know when you’ll have to really go!  A lot of Barbies seem to go missing their heads, which makes me think that they only think they are the only one.  I haven’t found a headless body laying next to a sword yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

I can only surmise what happened here… Barbie got the baby all ready to go out, then decide to take one quick naked roll around the house. Was knocked unconscious in a freak naked rollerskating accident…

I can’t really say anything… she is the daughter of a strange person with a rather big imagination.  Stay tuned for more adventures…

My husband: Engineer or Evil Genius?

I am married to an engineer.  A mechanical engineer.  He wasn’t actually an engineer when I met him, he was only aspiring at that point.  It took him many years to get to where he is now.  He just started actually BEING an engineer this year.  He designs stuff.  I’m not really entirely sure what he actually does at work.  He draws pictures.  He gets free pop and popcorn.  He gets a free gym membership (have I mentioned I’m jealous of the gym membership?)

Not THAT kind of engineer…

Sometimes he builds stuff.  Sometimes he even finishes what he starts.  Sometimes.  Occasionally.  Often when he starts something it morphs into something much, much bigger.

My husband’s stuff is more useful than what this guy comes up with…

The deck:  We have a pretty nice fenced in backyard.  There is a concrete patio area out there.  For some reason, he felt we needed a deck.  Is that a guy thing?  I had no strong deck feelings either way.  What started out as a very small deck turned into a quite large deck complete with rails and lights and a transformers looking gate.  The deck is still standing, the gate didn’t make it.  Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed the deck!

Then there was the Barbie house.  My daughter had just turned three.  She was obsessed with my old Barbies.  At one point while watching her enjoy the Barbies he got a wild hair, as he calls it.  It started out small, and then grew and grew and grew.  You see, engineers have to build things to scale.  So he built a three story Barbie house based on the dimensions of a real house.

It’s big.  You can fit humans in it.  It’s deep.  I often walk in to find my daughter’s behind sticking out of it.  At least she’s using it now.  There for a long time she would simply take everything OUT of the Barbie house.  Barbies sat at their table eating food on her bed.  Not sure if that is something that little girls dream of (WOW a house that is nothing but a bed…).  Or all of the Barbies would be out on the floor, possibly meeting their fate of being stepped on by Mom in the middle of the night.

The Barbie house remains unfinished.  It has fared better than many projects in our house.  I have done a lot of work on it-I “wallpapered” rooms (scrapbook paper and modge podge), painted rooms, made mattresses and blankets, not to mention spent hours perusing rummage sales and online auction sites looking for furniture.  The outside that was supposed to be finished with trim remains undone, the roof has yet to be assembled, I finally gave in and painted the outside.  I guess I can’t complain considering the lumber that is now my sons bed sat in the living room for months waiting to be put together…

At one point recently he told me he wanted to scrap the whole house and build a new one.  ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!  I have a couple of things working in my favor here-the fact that he works a zillion hours a week and the fact that he has to be properly motivated.

The very latest project just recently was completed-that would be my son’s bed.  It finally got painted after years of being left undone a couple of weekend ago.  It’s quite nice.  Now if only my son would actually stay in his room when he’s not being punished!  Now my husband wants to build our daughter a canopy bed.  She doesn’t even know what a canopy bed is but she thinks that if dad wants to build it therefore it must be cool.  She has no idea what she could be getting herself into.  I do…if it’s started it may get completed around the time she starts 1st grade.

I’m not complaining.  I’m sure other people have husbands who do the same thing.  Not necessarily build giant human sized Barbie houses but start projects and don’t finish them.  I guess I am guilty too-the kitchen was partially painted for quite some time and that was my project.  My husband’s parents house has had the same unfinished doorways as long as we have been together-currently they are still working on an enclosed porch that finally got a door that wasn’t made of plastic sheeting.  Much like my husband’s projects, this too was one that started small and got much bigger.  And I wonder where he gets it.

I always have to interject that I married “the interesting guy”.  He would rather be known as an “evil genius”.

No no not that evil genius…