Flashback Friday, part 10

Photo taken 04/07

This is my genius brother. He was back on leave in the states from Iraq, and was used to making due with what he had on hand. Why go through all the steps to rotate the screen when it's easier to flip the whole monitor? Of course, this made my techie husband about blow a gasket.

Yeah, that's my gene pool. We may not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but gosh darn it, we'll figure it out! And usually will have people laughing at the same time.

Join in on the Flashback Friday fun! Swing by Tia's blog to find out more.

Flashback Friday, part 9

Ugh, it's been one of those mornings, but I'm actually posting my flashback on time today. Of course, my laptop's hard drive is fried, so I have no access to any pictures on it. I also don't know how to work the scanner from Hubby's laptop, so we're stuck with a blurry scan of a photo taken four years ago from my sister's Facebook. I've already posted all the old pictures from mine.

This is my family. My immediate family. As in just my brothers, sisters, their spouses and children. We make for a fun, large, loud group.



Let me introduce you to everybody- on the far left we have my brother (#4 of 5 siblings), his wife, and step son. She is pregnant with their daughter in this picture, but you can't really tell. This was between two tours of Iraq for him, so that's why his hair looks the way it does. His stepson wanted his hair to be just like his Daddy's (he's always called my brother Daddy, so sweet). She's also had another little girl since then.

Moving toward the right, we have my older sister (#1 of 5), her husband, her son and daughter. Her husband had issues with the whole solid white shirt concept. I believe my mom had to send him home twice to put a different shirt on. I'm pretty sure that's not his shirt he's wearing.

Then you have my mom (Grammy) seated, holding the Monster. She got to sit, but me, who had just had a C-section 4 weeks earlier had to stand the entire time. Whatever, it was for a good cause.

Moving along toward the right, there's me (#2 of 5) with my puffy pregnant face and Hubby holding Sissy. Monkey and Bubby are standing next to Grammy. That's not a smile of happiness on my face. I was in a decent amount of pain because my brother, whom I love dearly, decided it was his job to make the lady (who just gotten staples removed from her belly) laugh. Yeah, God bless him, he and my brother-in-law were playing with all the props and telling my poor mother they were going to get their picture taken in the ridiculously small Santa hats and Eater Bunny ears. They were also stealing the reward stickers and sticking them on people. You might even be able to spot a couple if you look hard enough.

Then there's my younger sister (#3 of 5) with my youngest brother's (#5 of 5) hand on her shoulder. She just recently got engaged, and he just started college. They're both hearing impaired, too. Did I mention that yet? She communicates almost completely by Sign Language, but she can read lips very well. He just has enough hearing to make him think he doesn't have to wear his hearing aids and ends up asking "What?" every five minutes. Yeah, that could be his age, too. He's at that irritating I-know-everything college stage. It's fun.

This was taken in January of 2005. My brother was back in the states, and my younger sister had traveled from Texas to see him and all the nieces and nephews. My mom had decided that this may be the one and only time she would get all the kids together, which of course meant we had to get our picture taken. I don't know if she really explained to The Picture People how many of us there were because we were crammed pretty tight into that room. They had to wheel the camera out into the hallway and stop every time someone had to walk by.

It was quite the evening. Trying to keep all the cousins clean and contained (White shirts? Genius idea, mom!), making sure everyone was smiling and looking the same way, and keeping my brother and brother-in-law out of the props was, um, interesting to say the least. That was a good holiday, though, and for all the fighting we did growing up, I still love my siblings and wish we could be together every day. Well, maybe not everyday, at least once a week. Uh, once a month, yeah, definitely once a month.

Stop by Tia's blog to join in on the Flashback Friday fun! You know you want to.

Flashback Friday, part 8

At this point I'm not even sure why I try to post on Friday. I should give up and plan on posting Thursday because then it would be on time for once. Hey, it's Flashback Friday, and I might get a post up by Saturday! Sara's way behind- what's new, huh? Anyway...

Tia posted a really cute picture of herself in Santa's lap. You have to go check it out because the expression on Santa's face is so epic. My parents never pushed the Santa thing, and were perfectly honest about it. So I don't have any pictures of me with Santa, but I do have this picture of a belly that jiggled on it's own.

(I'm pretty sure that's a doll in her shirt. Mine was definitely a very active baby.)

I'm about 6 weeks away from giving birth to my fourth and last child, and my sweet Sissy was determined to be just like her Mommy. She's not quite two in this picture, but she already knew everything about being a mom. She had quite a few babies, and although she carried them around by their heads, she was a very attentive mom. We even had to rig up a baby sling once Monster was born, so she could carry her dolls around just like Mommy.

Even to this day, she is in charge of those boys, despite the fact that they all outweigh her and could easily hurt her, she keeps them in line.

Come join in on the Flashback Friday fun. For more details, swing by Tia's blog.

Flashback Friday, part 7

I'm a little late. It's not because I was out Black Friday shopping. I refuse to shop on Black Friday. After thirteen years of retail, it's a matter of principle. Someone has to get up and be at work at least an hour before all those shoppers show up, and I can guarantee they'd rather be in bed. So that's my rant about that.

To continue on with the parade of hideous formals... I don't have a picture of me in a formal. However, I do have a funny story about my Senior year Homecoming Banquet. Yes, it was a banquet, there was no dancing. (I feel like I have to explain that every time so we're all on the same page.)

Imagine if you will, a small, private Christian school with about 120 students in the high school. Every year, a Homecoming Banquet is held in the fall, and a Junior/Senior Banquet is held in the Spring. Well after enough complaints of boredom from the students, the faculty decided to try something different. Because they were such a small group, they could do something fun, like say, a mystery dinner theater.

Yes, we went to a mystery dinner theater for Homecoming. We didn't fill up the whole room, so there were tables with random people sitting at them. I can't even begin to think what those poor people were thinking when they entered the room full of teenagers in formals with a few wary-looking chaperons. Oh, and even though someone at the restaurant knew that a group of Christian teenagers were attending that night, the actors went right ahead with the normal show, full of double-entendres and sprinkled with a few choice words.

This point would be a good time to introduce my date. He was a friend of my older sister's boyfriend, and he was in the country on a student visa. He was from England, had long hair, and drove a white Harley. He was also very well mannered and polite to my parents. Yeah, I was rebelling with an extremely polite gentleman because that's how I roll.

Here's a shot of me, my date, my sister, and another one of our friends taken on a different night.

Back to the banquet, we were sitting at a table with a few other people from my class, one of whom hated the school and did her best to be as different from everyone else. So of course when the, um, adult jokes were made, the director of the school (a Baptist Pastor) and the other chaperons became quite red, several students stifled giggles, several more ducked their heads and covered their mouths with napkins, and my date and my rebellious friend laughed loudly. I felt so bad. I had to explain to him why no one else was laughing. He looked confused at first, but apparently decided to ignore it because he continued to laugh at what he thought was funny which I enjoyed very much. Especially since it didn't help drain the blood from the chaperons' faces.

So the next year, they went back to the hotel dining hall.

To join in on the Flashback Friday fun, swing by Tia's blog.

Flashback Friday, part 6

In trying to keep with the "look at my hideous formals" theme, I found a picture that I actually like. I know that I'm normally very self-deprecating, but this time I can't really say too many negative things about this picture. I'm sorry, I tried.

This is my dad and youngest brother, too. In case you can't figure that out.

Obviously this was my Junior year of high school. Obviously I made the homecoming court. I didn't make queen because that was only available to the three Senior representatives. What isn't so obvious is that we only had fifteen girls in my class so it wasn't that big of an accomplishment and I'm wearing a bridal gown that was $25 on the sale rack of the bridal store where I was working at the time. Yeah, that dress had a train that my mom cut off. I believe the reason it had been marked down was because of some stains on the hem, because my mom cut off a couple inches from the front as well. She also put a slit up the front so I could walk without doing the geisha shuffle which was very helpful when I had to be escorted across the basketball court by my father during halftime. Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention that my high school is so small that they don't have a football team? They have Homecoming Banquet during basketball season and Junior/Senior Banquet in the Spring.

Anyway, I really liked this dress a lot. It was very retro in the way it was cut (for the early nineties anyway), and the neckline was fairly flattering for a girl with no chest. Hey, that's me! I had no chest, so it was fairly flattering. It's kind of hard to see the pattern, but it was a really pretty brocade stripe that lengthened. That was something my beanpole self didn't need, but I liked it anyway.

The one bad thing I have to say about this picture is- I have no idea why my hair looks like that. Whoever I paid to do my hair like that should have gotten a stern talking to. Don't get all up-in-arms about me being wealthy enough to pay someone to do my hair. I had a job, found a hugely marked down dress and bought my shoes at Payless. Plus, I was on court that year and was getting my picture in the yearbook. It was necessary. It does make my head look huge though, doesn't it? I look like a bobble-head. Oh, I almost forgot, the next night at the banquet, I matched the tablecloths. Yeah, they had off-white brocade tablecloths. Everyone else at my table was wearing black, so I stuck out like a sore thumb. Not something a shy teen-aged girl wants.

It's like when Maria made the kids clothes from drapes, except my mom stole a tablecloth. Not really.

You should recognize the girl sitting at my left, she wised up that year and went with something more subtle. No more Michelin Tire Sleeves for her! Sheesh, I'm really slumping over in the picture, too. I guess that's what happens when the person sitting next to you is a good six inches shorter than you are. I have to say too, that only three of us at the table were completely in dress code, one was right on the edge, one was in violation, and one kept her dress on her shoulders until the camera came out. That's one thing dress codes taught us- how to push it just far enough without getting caught.

So that's my Junior Year Homecoming Ensemble. If you would like to peek back at my Freshman and Sophmore years, feel free! I don't think I have any pictures of my Senior year Homecoming, which is sad. I don't even remember what I wore, but I do have a good story about that year and a casual picture of me and my date taken on a different day.

Join in on the Flashback Friday fun, if you're brave enough. Or just swing by Tia's blog and laugh at the rest of us.

Flashback Friday, part 5

Is it still Friday? I'm SO late, I'm sorry. I had a busy day and busy night, and I almost didn't post at all, but I already had a picture picked out, so here goes:




First let me apologize profusely to my dear, sweet friend who puts up with so much. (Psst- I'm fairly certain she had plastic grocery bags stuffed into those Michelin Tire sleeves. That's all I'm going to say about her while she is unable to defend herself.) And yes, I am wearing an ENTIRE. DRESS. MADE. OF. TURQUOISE. LAME'! You can't even see the shoes in this picture, but let me tell you they matched the silver pleather clutch peaking out from under my hand perfectly. As in they were also silver pleather. Silver pleather. So, not only did I have on a freaking turquoise disco ball for a dress, my shoes sent off little reflections of light so much that when my date and I passed a light fixture, we both had to cover our eyes to avoid being temporarily blinded. Oh, my poor date. That poor boy never knew what was coming. I should let him just pretend he had nothing to do with this, but he was actually quite adorable. And I need to show you the shoes.







I'm sorry, you dear man, hopefully this never gets back to you, and your wife and family don't start to question your sanity because you stuck it out and didn't run screaming into the night. (Breathe, Sara, it'll be over soon.) Look at my shoes. And oh, sweet lord, I have on flesh toned pantyhose. See, it's the little things like this that you have to block from your memory or you end up sitting in a corner, hugging your knees, and rocking back and forth.

On the plus side, my hair is good.

Can I just tell you that I couldn't lift my arms? I was afraid of tearing the dress. When Poor Date pinned my corsage on, he ripped a little hole.

So that's my Sophomore Homecoming ensemble. Once again, we didn't dance, so movement was not an issue. I'm thinking of making this holiday season all about my hideous choices in formal wear. Don't worry, I have more than enough to last for a few months. I may have posted a few already on this blog and at my Facebook, but you'll forgive me for mentally blocking out things like that, right?

Please join in on the Flashback Friday fun, go to Tia's blog for more info.

Flashback Friday, part 4

Just to let you know up front, I'm writing this post whilst supervising a second grader and kindergartner home schooling, so if I slip into "A says a, a, apple" mode, I'm sorry. I'm also drinking my coffee, and trying to keep my coffee breath away from the Princess who has made it known several times she does not appreciate the smell of coffee breath. I'm a multi-tasker, watch me go!

Tia posted her high school i.d. I thought about digging out my college one because we didn't get i.d.'s in high school, but I found something better. And by better, I mean hideously mortifying to all involved.





I don't have as many old pictures scanned as I thought. I'm sorry if I've shared this picture already on my blog. This is my freshman year right before the homecoming banquet. Yes, I said banquet. Remember when I told you I went to a private Christian school? Yeah, they don't believe in dancing, so I've never learned. So does the fact that there was no dancing might make the GINORMOUS train a little less odd-looking? Please? Yeah, there's really no excuse for that stupid train. It was a hand-me-down, but I asked to wear it. My mom offered to make me a new dress (there was a dress code that made store-bought dresses nearly impossible for me), but stupid me, I asked to wear that monstrosity.

I didn't have a date that year, we went as a group of girls, and had a slumber party after the big shindig. Why am I wearing a corsage if there was no date, you ask? My daddy bought it for me. Yeah, aw, whatever.

Those glasses alone are worth their own post. They're very Sally Jesse Raphael, huh? Although you probably can't tell in the picture, they had a deep red tortoise shell pattern. Ooo baby, I was stylin'. That was my last pair of glasses. The very next year, I got contacts, got my braces off, and got a boyfriend. Coincidence? I think not.

So yeah, I spent the whole night trying to keep my train out from under other people's feet, and I loved every minute of it! It was my first formal banquet ever, and I was dressed like a princess. Teenage hormones do crazy, weird things to you.

Join in on the humiliation, I mean fun next Flashback Friday! You know you want to.

Flashback Friday, part 3

It's Flashback Friday! I'm following Tia's example and posting a Halloween pic. Actually I'm posting two.

This is me and my oldest, Bubby. This was right before he turned four. My husband had just started working at the same place as one of my ex-boyfriends. It's a long story, but we had all been friends at one point, so it's not as awkward as it sounds. It was his office's party, and my first Halloween party. I've gone to plenty of Fall Festivals growing up, but we didn't celebrate "the devil's holiday". I don't remember ever dressing up as anything besides a cowgirl. We still raked in the candy, so I didn't really mind.

We had to dress up, and even though I wasn't really interested in going at all, I had to find costumes for me, my husband, a four year-old, and a one year-old. Let me add too, that it is nearly impossible to find a costume for an infant that isn't made of fake fur or any other material that is conducive to 90 degree heat. It is still FREAKIN' hot in October in Florida, but because most of the country is cooling off, apparently we have to improvise. Monkey, my second son, ended up wearing a Superman pajama set. I gelled his hair into a little curl on his forehead, and he looked adorable. I wore black cigarette pants, a black corset top (I was working at Victoria's Secret at the time, and I worked those sales racks), cat ears, a bowtie, and a tail. I think I also had black knee-high boots. At any rate, I had just recently dyed my hair black, so I thought it fit. The party was awkward, nobody was having fun (who has fun at their boss' house?), and it was over soon enough. One of these days, I'm going to throw a fun Halloween party just so I can say I've been to one.

This is my oldest younger brother. Catch that? There are five of us, three girls and two boys in that order. He's the one my kids call Uncle Bubba. Growing up, he was called Bubba because he was the only boy for almost ten years. He enlisted in the Army Reserves, decided to join full-time, got moved from Supplies to Helicopter Repair, got sent on two tours to Iraq, and decided no more. He lives in Virginia now, with his kids, and I miss him very much. We're the only normal two in the family, and that doesn't say much. Or speaks volumes, depending on how you look at it.

At any rate, I painted his face with glow in the dark paint, and I'm really proud of it. I think my Hubby was working because he ended up taking my oldest trick or treating with me. I was very pregnant at the time with my second, so I mostly sat on a bench, and he did all the walking.

Funny story about my brother, every time my husband had to take a business trip, he would come stay the night, so I wouldn't be alone pregnant with a baby. I swear, my neighbors gave me looks because every time my husband left town, this other guy showed up. We don't really look that much alike, either. Yup, good times.

Join in on the Flashback Friday fun, I'm sure you've got good stories to tell!

Flashback Friday, part 2

It's Flashback Friday! I almost missed it, too. I've had this feeling all day that there was something I was supposed to do, but it didn't click until I saw Tia's reminder on Twitter. And here I thought laundry, baking muffins, homeschooling, crocheting Christmas presents, and giving out medicine was all I had to do today. Silly me! BTW- giving a very flexible and energetic five year-old eye drops for an eye infection is about as easy as wrangling a greased pig. Or a soapy three year-old in the bath. Either way, I deserve a blue ribbon at the county fair.

Remember when I told you I wasn't a pretty child? The eighties weren't a good fashion decade anyway. This is my tenth birthday. It was a sleepover, and I was dressed up in my ruffled collar schoolmarm shirt and faded blue khaki skirt. Yup, I'm the one with my tongue sticking out.

When we were growing up, we were allowed to have a birthday party every five years. Because there were four of us until I was fourteen, this worked out to one a year with one year off for my parents to financially recover. I have solved this issue by having all my kids between November 12th and December 15th. They all have to share one big party. We used to throw each one a party, but as we added more kids to the crowd, we started to run out of money before Christmas even came around. Anyway, back to the photo.

Out of the seven girls that came (I invited all the girls in my class), I really only talked to three of them on a daily basis. I didn't really say much to anyone, for that matter. Don't worry, I'm making up for it now. I was such a late-bloomer. Sorry, I keep getting side-tracked, back to the photo!

We had a really good time. We made pizzas, cookies, and my mom made us home-made donuts in the morning. Looking back, I realize how cheap my parents made out, but back then I had no idea. I just remember having someone other than my sisters to stay up late and talk to. It was good times. You know, back when we still thought boys were gross. Once we started caring what the boys thought of us, it was all over. Sometimes I still think boys are gross, but it makes me happy when one of them tells me I look nice. At least now I don't totally flip out when a boy is talking to my friend and not me.

Flashback Friday, part 1

One of the blogs I stalk is Christopher and Tia. I fully admit my stalking. I may have posted a comment or two, but it has been a while. At any rate, Tia has been encouraging people to own up to their dorky, awkward pasts (at least in my case, she looks adorable) and join in on her Flashback Friday posts. So I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna bite the bullet, jump the shark, take the plunge, and any other cliche you can think of that would fit here. Please understand, I was not a beautiful child. Yes, Mom, I was beautiful inside, but outside I was, well as my loving father put it, a toothpick with an olive shoved half-way down. I was a really skinny white girl with a butt. Yup, baby's got back.

To ease you all into the wonderfulness that is my past, I'm gonna start with a picture of me and my older sister.





We grew up in South Florida, Margate to be exact, so this really could have been taken any time during the year, but I'm guessing I was either four or five in this picture. I am the blondish one in the red two piece, by the way. I couldn't really tell you why we were sunbathing by the trash heap, but I can tell you we didn't do that very often because I don't tan, I burn. And then get freckles. My lovely older sister (consequently, this picture may be the only proof that she was taller than me at one point in her life) tans like you wouldn't believe; she turns a gorgeous olive color. She also married a man who is part Puerto Rican, part American Indian so her children get really dark, too. Me? Oh, I married a Scottish/English guy. Yeah, we have clear children who turn the color of a watermelon at the slightest amount of heat. Hey, I married for love, not skin pigment. Oh, and we live in Florida, so I guess you could say my kids are red ten months out of the year, and then I have clear children for the other two. When I say clear, I mean you can see every vein in the skin. Just like their Mommy! Family photos are really fun, I always tell people my sister's kids are the brown ones, mine are the clear ones.

So yeah, that's more about my present than my past, but to tell you the truth, I don't really remember much about this picture. That was an awesome Flashback Friday, huh? Eh, maybe next week, I'll actually have a picture I remember something about.