Middle Aged Memories

On my 10th birthday my Dad brought me to the bank to open up a "passbook" savings account for the money I had collected from babysitting (watching 2 neighborhood boys inside/outside while their Mom took care of the house or went to the grocery for an hour).  I also used my money for my wedding (I was 25).  I was so proud of that passbook, I loved to ride my bike to the bank to add more money and get my account book stamped.

I had a somewhat regular Friday night babysitting job.  Would get $1.00 an hour to watch two little boys, ages 5 and 2.  They should have thrown in extra combat pay.  (Have you ever been pinched with pliers between your shoulder blades?  I have.)   Much later, I went and had my own two boys.  Ooooh, flashback!!!

I never spelled because the boys' dad was dyslexic and he couldn't keep up with it as well as the boys could.

have to speak "walk" or Bear expects to be taken for one...but if we put our coats on at night, he thinks he is going for a walk too!!!.if you say "what"...he will start to howl!! so funny and he also puts his face up in the air.....

I did a lot of babysitting, and as the youngest of four girls, I got a lot of "handmedown" jobs.  One family had four children, the oldest was only a couple of years younger than me, but they asked me to sit on a Saturday afternoon, my sister who was their regular sitter couldn't do it.  I said yes, it was a rainy day and the kids were bouncing off the walls.  One of the boys, he was 7 or 8, was being a terror, and I completely lost patience with him, so I told him to go outside and cool off.  When I looked out, he was happily splashing in puddles with no coat or boots!   When I told him to come in he ignored me and ran off down the street.  He came in just before his parents came home, soaked to the bone.  The dad just laughed, but they never asked me to come back again!  I was probably 12 or 13 at the time.  Too much stress for 60 cents an hour, if you ask me.

One of my memorable babysitting jobs was when the parents of one little boy told me to make sure that I stayed inside and kept the doors locked after the sun went down because the neighbor had just been released from the mental hospital,  I watched tv with the little one and got him to bed no problem.  Then as I went back to watching TV, I heard tapping on the window.  I freaked and spent the remaining 3 hours standing in the hallway, away from the windows until the parents returned.  I had myself convinced it was just bushes until the next time I sat there, and there was absolutely nothing near the window. 

This is the same family that the water pipe broke and flooded their house.  All before cell phones.  I called my dad to come turn off the water, but the house was old and he searched everywhere & ciouldn't find the main valve.

I'm had a memory...   Oh, wait, I forgot.

Wow, I don't remember those at all...and I'm really glad!  Maybe it wasn't an east coast thing...

Sort of reminds me of the new commerical for one of the cough or cold medications with the monkey in the drug aisle...it really has a strange face!

re monkey:   certainly fake & even more certainly sick and i think reacist.     anyway, watchin all in the family, jeffersons reminded me of "homemaking class"  in 7th grade, we were required to take one semester of cooking ---- purty aprons required, and sweing.  we made a gym bag, a nightgown  (same as gym bad but longer and open ended)  and coup d'gras(sp) an a line skirt!!    A N D the boys were reqired to take "shop "classes  and ne'er the twain shall meet! 

You all are giving me a bad flashback to making a dirndl skirt.  I had the same thing, Meece, one semester of each.  The cooking was not bad.  Our school was politically incorrect and had no boys in the class.

I was remembering the old ad campaign "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste," for the United Negro College Fund and the t.v. and print ads had that kid with a linked chain wrapped around his head.  I could not find a picture of that, so maybe that photo wasn't PC.  I can still see it in my mind.

and i think every house had a wet bar....my parents didnt drink, hardly ever had guests, and yet...

Oh N. M  I loved all those shows. Wow can you imagine making fun like Hogan's Hero's did?

I don't remember the monkey puppet but I do remember in second grade a girl brought this puppet to school even though she said it was real of a racoon she held in her arms and could make it move with wires inside. I thought it was so wonderful! It was very lifelike! 

I'm afraid I remember after my Mom and Dad's bridge parties then next morning my sister and I would go in the kitchen and finish off all the left over drinks from the party!