summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Monday, June 23, 2008

no more pencils, no more books

no more teachers' dirty looks....do kids still say this on the last day of school? My kids tease me so much about my lack of technological knowledge...but hey, when I was a kid a computer was something in a Saturday afternoon sci-fi matinee, on regular tv....and the tv WAS colored, not black and white like they laugh about....my favorite movie, "The Wizard Of Oz", was on once a year, and all the kids in the neighborhood would look forward to watching it....and I was so scared during it, I would look down at the gold and orange plaid furniture to make myself remember that I was home, and the movie wasn't real....and phones were just the black rotary dial ones with the three foot cords.....it cost extra to Ma Bell to have more than one line, but when my brother was a teenager, he built himself a bedroom in the basement, and hooked up a telephone down there....oh, the boys we called, the prank calls we made....no such thing as caller ID to ruin our fun...things were more expensive then, relatively. When I was in third grade, I got a new bike, hot pink and sparkly, with a banana seat, and long shiny tassles on the handgrips....it cost $27.99......not too much different from a Wal-mart bike now. Things were made in the usa, and cost more....before watches were a dime a dozen, I had a digital one, I was in fifth grade.....then I got a Texas Instruments digital, with all the bells and whistles of the time, and alarm, ect....it was huge....I really wish I had a picture of it.....the kids would really like that...I grew up during the "energy crisis" and "double digit inflation", so these days are like deja vous to me....only instead of hybrids, we had Ford Pintos.....my family bought one in 1975, brand new, less that $3000.......

Anyway, I do go on and on.....I got up this morning, and sent Evelyn off to school...Kathryn, Suzanne and Sonja decided not to go....Molly went, 8th grade, for her French Proficiency test....then I decided to put stain on the lonely "last one" chair I bought on Saturday.....then I considered starting the polyurethane on the tables and benches, but I am tired, and lazy, and so reasoned it out that I shouldn't start until Aaron gets up and helps me....because it will go twice as fast....so here I sit.

Sonja has a little bug-house, that swings from a little handle as she skips around with it hanging from her little arm.....she captures moths, and baby butterflies.....which I don't like, because they usually don't survive.....but Sonja and Suzanne try to be really careful, because they want to keep these creatures forever.....as nice little pets....I just say to please get that thing out of the house right now...

Well, Aaron is going to be mad at me, but I think I'll wake him up anyways, to get these tables finished.....

3 comments:

Martha said...

Oh how I miss my green Schwinn banana seat bicycle! It was a hand-me-down from my cousin and was the best bike in the world. We usually rode double, and once in a while, if there was a bicycle shortage, we would ride triple. Disney movies were a treat since they only came around once a year. Same with holiday specials. I was afraid of the abominable snowman on Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer. My brother also ran a phone line to his bedroom and to the garage too. Dad had a Rambler stationwagon and we rode in the back. Car seats were a novelty and seatbelts were toys. We even curled up on the floor of the car to get warm or take a nap. YIKES!

16 blessings'mom said...

Yes, the good old days...we had a big white Ford station wagon with the rumble seat in the "backity-back" as we called it...there were seven of us kids, and my baby brother sat up front on my mom's lap. When I was really little, 3 or 4, they had a big old sedan, and they would take the back seat out to put tents and matresses in to go camping, and we just piled in and rode on those...like you said, seatbelts were toys....and those banana seat bikes: great for giving friends rides....I think we were more flexible back then, or something...

Martha said...

I think we had more fun and more skinned knees to go along with it. :)