The Undomestic Momma wants to see her readers' favorite old photographs. I knew, hands down, what mine were the minute I saw her topic of the day!
1. My mom's high school photo -She says she had the best hair in the entire school in the late 70's. I'm betting that she's completely telling the truth - look at those WINGS! "Shear" perfection. She credits the fan she sat in front of after washing her hair each morning for giving her that perfect "swept" look.
2. In the spirit of Halloween, this is my second favorite old-school photo: My brother and I, dressed up and ready for trick-or-treating, back in '92. Obviously, I'm the super cute clown. I hated that costume! My brother always went along to make sure no one ran over me, because I was such a little mousy thing. I was 7, he was 12. There was lots of candy.
I was a teen. My teammates and I were leaving the junior high gymnasium, where I had just finished playing in a crappy basketball game. It was a damp, cold night, and the sky was full of freezing drizzle.
and I was STUCK!
Stuck, in the middle of the parking lot, which was covered with a half inch thick glistening layer of smooth, solid ice. My parents were waiting for me in the car, which was warming up on the other side of the lot. To get there, I had to walk across the ice, approximately 75 feet. My fingers were dug deep into a half rotten fence post I'd managed to cling to, and I wasn't planning to let go anytime soon. I felt sick to my stomach.
After 10 minutes of encouragement from my friend, I eventually made my way to my parents' car, half in tears, half crab-walking, pathetically scooting across the ice with my friend's help.
Flash forward 13 years later: I still whimper and feel like throwing up when I have to walk on a slick surface. I've considered keeping a bag of salt in my car for those wintry days when I pull into an icy parking lot at work or the grocery store - you know, so i could toss a few handfuls out in front of me, make a path. I invested in a pair of Ugg-like knockoff boots (which are black and totally ugg-ly!) to wear all winter long, which I change out of when I reach the safety of my office. There, I take my boots off, set them aside to dry, and apply high heels. (Why do I not mind walking in heels when I'm afraid of falling while walking on ice? I'm not sure; it's just another one of those great woman mysteries.)
Nothing ever happened to me to create this fear; I'm just terrified of walking on ice!
I cry, I squeal, I sob. Sometimes, I crawl on all fours to get across a patch of ice, which completely embarrasses the living daylights out of my husband when we're out in public.
One time (at the age of 21), I crab walked across 5th Avenue in Huntington, the highly traveled four lane that intersects with Hal Greer Boulevard and surrounds the Marshall University main campus. My husband (then fiance) probably second guessed our future wedding when that whole situation occurred.
With or without treaded boots, I will never feel safe walking on ice.
It's a little early for winter stories, but I can't resist a fun writing prompt! I'm linking up @Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop - head over and give one of her prompts a whirl!
Back in the early 90's, my cute little french braided, teased-banged, rosy cheeked, purple stirrup pant-wearing self was obsessed with the following stuff:
LisaFrank (not surprising):
My favorite was Panda Painter, I was an "official member" (whatever that meant) of the Lisa Frank Club, and I totally wish I still had some Lisa Frank stationery now! I can still taste the lemon fruit dip that was a featured recipe in an issue of the Lisa Frank newsletter (confectionary sugar, lemon juice, plain yogurt, i made it every day!) I remember the $50 rainbow-striped sweater that I obsessed over when LF came out with a clothing line. Ohhh... Lisa Frank. How I miss you!
Twinkies (a little strange for me, but I hadn't made it into the Chocolate phase yet):
I couldn't stop eating these things! It all came to an abrupt end, though, when the asbestos-laced Twinkie recall hit the news. That's when I first learned how inconvenient food recalls can be!
Beavis & Butthead (strange obsession for a cute little girl with french braided hair):
I watched the show religiously. "Buuut it's a cartooooon!" I would say to my friends' parents, who disapproved of the show and were probably terrified of me, the straight A student who seemed like the perfect influence but really destroyed their childrens' lives by introducing them to the ultra-vulgar animated series. My mom let me watch it, but didn't really like it at all - she disliked it enough to make me feel guilty about what I was doing. Sometimes I would sneak off to grandma's house to watch it, so mom wouldn't have to hear the never-ended "uhhh huh huh huh"'s and all of the craps, asses, bungholes, and cornholios. Sidenote: this past summer, I finally sold my copy of "Beavis and Butthead Do America" at a yardsale I had back in my hometown. One of my old friends stopped by, saw it on sale for $2, and almost cried - and died. She couldn't believe I was parting with it! Heh Heh-Heh
Meatloaf (the singer, not the food - and this is the strangest obsession of all!) "I Would Do Anything For Love" was my favorite song in 4th grade. My dad was a Meatloaf fan, I thought my dad was cool, so I became a Meatloaf fan, too. I still know all of the lyrics to every track on the Bat Out of Hell II album. I'll never forget the MTV Top 20 Video Countdown back in those days - it was always a battle between Dr. Dre's "Let Me Ride", Salt-n-Pepa's "Shoop", Aerosmith's "Crazy", and Meatloaf's 7 minute long video, for the #1 spot. Man, whatever happened to music videos actually being aired on MTV?
A special thanks to the amazing Mama Kat for her awesome weekly writing prompts! Head over to Mama Kat's Losin it to get rid of writer's block! She is every blogger's knight in shining polka dots!
