Happy May Day!

Back in the old days–when May 1st would come around, all the grade school kids would parade out on to the playground and each class would do a well rehearsed dance for all the parents. We practiced for weeks during our regular recess time so there was a ton of stress to do it perfectly…which of course, we did. The only hitch would be if the record–being played over the P.A. system would skip and no one would have a clue what to do. That was funny to watch…not so funny to be involved in.

Couple of things of note in this picture–

First: Being at the very end of the line means that I was officially the tallest girl in the fifth grade. Wowww–that was a big pain because it also meant, at that age that I was taller than all the boys too.  And those are some mighty big feet for a 10 year old. Again, I say wowww.

Second: Check out all those “bobby socks.” They were all the thing…you must trust me on this.

Third: I positively loved this skirt. It had cute little baskets with puppies on it. I was teased mercilessly whenever I wore it, because, well…you don’t see any other skirts with, you know…puppies, do you? Didn’t think so. But I liked it anyway, so when I was feeling particularly brave enough to be laughed at, I’d wear it.

Lastly, after all these years, I can still remember the names of the girls in line by me. Skeptical? Well, here goes:

Me, Peggy, Estelle, Lori Takiuchi, Gloria Estrada, Michi Jones, Donna Imigawa, and Valerie. Don’t you think I deserve a prize for that? I accept Cheetos and Symphony bars at the door…shamelessly.

Anyone besides me remember May Day dances at school? Tell me about it…please.

Happy May Day everyone!

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Snow Buddies

Doesn’t this ancient picture of “Snow Babe April” remind you of the picture of the little kid who was so bundled up that they couldn’t move? Cracks me up because I completely did that to my kids. In fact, whenever Prell was wearing this snow suit–with all the extra layers beneath it–we had to carry her up the stairs because with these tall boots and thick leggings she couldn’t actually bend her knees. But I’ll tell you–she was warm.

And check out her pint sized snow man. His eyes are made out of…Doritos.Yeah, in retrospect, I find that quite odd too.

But what the heck…

we were fresh out of coal.

Hope you’re all staying warm in all this white stuff my friends.

:}

Third Grade Ricky

I grew up in Los Angeles back in the old days when the girls wore dresses and milk was 5 cents and everyone sat at big tables instead of desks and classes were big and we had no idea that we should be unhappy about it. I remember sitting at the table and being able to perfectly swing my leg out and kick the kid in front of me…at will.  Now, sincerely–I have no idea why I would do such a thing, because I was not a mean kid at ALL. But he was a funny guy and whenever I would whack him in the leg, he would jump and make a really–on purpose–goofy face, and bust up laughing. As a kid, I think I believed that somehow, we were, you know– playing. But now, a million years later, I’m pretty sure he was just a nice boy, who should have told me to quit it or he’d punch me in the head…but he didn’t. Shame on that silly little girl.

Anyway, I’ve always felt bad about that, and wished that I could fix it. I’d go back in time and UN-kick him about a hundred times. And so I say to the universe, “Ricky if your poor leg has healed after all these years and you don’t hate the very idea of me and if you ever just happen to read my blog and find this post–I want you to know that I have been really sorry for about 42 years that I ever-ever kicked you, and if I could I’d give you a huge bag of Cheetos and a million dollars to prove it…if I only could.

And we’d be friends.

:}

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Question of the Day

Exactly how does one get ball point pen off a black and white photo?

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So, April just sent me an email that said:

“Kindalikethis…”

Smarty pants.

In the next installment of “Techno-challenged Grammy” we’ll be wiping the baby’s chin. ha!

And just like that, Jillian writes:

“I fixed a scratch on the original photo as well as the chin thing. See what you think.”

What I think is…

Where the heck did I get all these brilliant children?!!

What a blessing…

Christmas Dolly

Long, long ago in a far away land, there lived a little girl that got stuck with the part of a Christmas doll in Santa’s workshop. Now this part wasn’t so bad really–I mean, seriously, how hard could it possibly be for a 6 year old to stand very still in a box for about 10 minutes? Turns out it was pretty dang hard. In fact, from the very second that the curtain opened, it was as if teeny microscopic ants started crawling all over me. My nose itched. My legs itched. My arms itched. I tried so hard not to scratch, or move or blink even.

Then, as luck would have it, one of Santa’s elves came along and started painting my rosy dolly cheeks–with a soft, fluffy paintbrush. That was it. I couldn’t hold it another second and I busted out laughing. Well the previously sweet and gentle “elf” made a very scary, stern face at me and said, “Shhhhh!!”

The audience roared with laughter, but scared the livin’ daylights and all the giggles right out of this little six year old…

for about a week.

I have since recovered.

ho ho ho…