Pig Tails, Spit Wads and Cartoons

When I think of seventh grade, I think of three things:
pig tails, spit wads and cartoons.



PIG TAILS
I was so self conscious of everything when I was this age. Twelve is a very "Don't look at me, I'm a freak" kind of age. We had just moved, I was trying to make new friends. I had just started to go to mutual, where there were, *gasp* boys! I was fortunate to not really get made fun of too much. But I was still so self conscious of myself. I didn't want to stand out in any way.

One day during class, a friend put her hair in pigtails. Soon most of the girls had put their hair in the same pigtails. They weren't Pippy pigtails, but low, conservative ones. But I refused to put my hair up. One, it would make people look at me because I had done something different to myself and that's not good. And two, everybody else was doing it, and that's just not me.

SPIT WADS
I was not a naughty person. I didn't like to do things I knew were wrong or that might hurt others. But I was quiet, and not usually inclined to stop others from doing these things. Unless it would hurt somebody else. I tend to put myself in other's positions and empathize with them, to the point of crying sometimes. That's mostly why I cry at things today, too. But that's beside the point.

One day while our teacher had stepped out of the room, some of the the other kids in the class started throwing spit wads at the walls and ceiling. I'm not sure why I remember this, or if it really had any impact on my life. But I remember that they got in a whole bunch of trouble for it!

CARTOONS
I love cartoons. I love to watch cartoons. I mostly like the old Looney Tunes, and the old Disney classic ones with Mickey and Goofy. When we were in middle school, each classroom had a television that we would watch Channel One on. Like I said before, I wasn't one to call out anyone if they were being naughty and I really like cartoons.

That being said, one day, that same rowdy bunch of kids started something up. Our teacher sat under the wall mounted television. I think she had diabetes, so she didn't walk very much and sat at her desk most of the time. One of the kids would distract her while another turned on the T.V. to Looney Tunes. We would watch them for most of the class period, then one of the kids would turn the T.V. off and she never knew. One day, near the end of school, she somehow noticed and we were all punished with extra homework.

Sixth Grade...

1993 was the year that began a new chapter in my life.

It was the sixth grade, the first year of lockers, multiple classes, finding out that there were actually other people in my class, and the year we moved. We had lived the town of Shelley since I was very young. I loved it! I walked or rode my bike everywhere, my friends lived just through the block, or next door, and I didn't have to ride the bus to school. Sometimes we did catch the bus at the middle school to go to the elementary schools, or stopped at King's to buy candy on the way to school. During the summer, we went swimming at the city pool as often as I could dig up the dollar it cost. Those times were truly what little kids dream of, lazy summer days!

Then my parents decided that they wanted to build a new house. Why? I don't really know. But I was excited until I realized it meant that we would have to move. It was only five or six miles out of town, so I wouldn't really have to lose my friends, but things would definitely be different. I would have to ride the bus, I'd have to change wards, which sorta meant having to make new friends. Even though I went to school with the same people. The house was literally in the middle of a field, not on a paved road. Some mornings when I was running late, I would have to RUN to the bus at the end of the lane. When I got there sometimes I would be covered in mud. My teachers always got mad at me for tracking mud everywhere.

We spent all the summer of '93 working on the house. I drilled every stinking hole for wiring through every wall of that house, hammered so many nails... We took our camper out to the house and would eat our lunches in it. Sometimes dinners. And sometimes breakfasts. Long, long hours spent there. We had a delay when my dad fell in the crawl space and broke some ribs. During that time, our ward went out and put the roof on for us. So nice, but more importantly, it meant we didn't have have to do it.

Our house sold in November, and we weren't ready to move. My parent's toyed with the idea of staying in our camper through the winter. In the end we lived with my Grandma and Grandpa for three months (I don't know why I remember, but we moved on December 15, 1993). That was so stressful on all of us. They lived in Idaho Falls, so that meant we had to drive from Idaho Falls to go to school in Shelley. My mom worked nights in Idaho Falls, so she would get off, pick us up and take us to school, go work at the house while we were in school, pick us up, we would do whatever activities we have (Dance, piano, etc), work on the house, then we'd get back to my Grandpa's, have dinner, then she'd go to work. I have no idea when she slept! That was about when I quit piano lessons. I had to practice on my Grandma's organ, and by the time lessons came I was so grumpy and didn't want to go, my mom didn't want to fight me on it, so I quit. We couldn't afford school pictures. My poor mother. When we finally moved in, the house wasn't finished. We were still putting in some appliances, we only had some of the carpet, working on tile, putting up wallpaper, etc. At least it was our house!

Then the mud set in. A friend through the field's dad died, so I went over and cried and cried with her. Then we were going to come over to my house to play Mario. It was forever around the field, so we just walked through it. I think we lost shoes and got sucked in up to our knees. Our cars were always muddy. Our little Geo got stuck several times in our lane. When people would come pick me up for something, or drop me off after something, they would always just meet us or pick us up at the end of the lane because they didn't want to drive through the mud, or sometimes it was the eighty feet of snow.. I was always so embarrassed by our road.

Tensions in our family were starting to get high. Yet, I still found ways to be a little kid. There were miles and miles of dirt fields to run with the dogs through. It was kind of hard to make new friends, but I did. I had a phone in my room, so I could talk to my friends in town. In privacy. I rode my bike into town several times to meet friends. I had several sleep overs (where we froze a bra and almost lost a friend). And I eventually turned 12 and entered Young Women. And that would start another new chapter!



P.S.- I've changed it so that any one can make a comment. So all you blog stalkers out there without Google accounts can now make comments.

Something feels funny...

Well, as previously mentioned, I'm such a wuss. I get car sick SO easy (I'm still recovering from a drive three hours ago), I'm scared of bears and moose in the mountains, and I get light headed REALLY easy! Which leads me to my bit on the fifth grade.

You may have noticed that sometime between fourth and fifth grade photos, I got my ears pierced. I had been anticipating this day for a really long time. My mom finally gave told me we could go get them done. We went to Claire's in the mall and I picked out the prettiest ones that they had. They put me up in the chair, and I know I was getting nervous. They were quick about it, but I do remember how bad it hurt. Like the earrings were just dangling by tiny little pieces of skin. I remember asking my mom if they were centered because it didn't feel like they were. Man they hurt. As we were leaving the store, I mentioned to my mom that I felt funny. The next thing I remember was waking up in the store, on the floor, with a cold rag. I had passed out in the middle of the mall and my mom literally had to drag me back inside the store. Nine year olds are getting big enough that you can't carry them anymore. I had pierced ears for several years, eventually letting them grow over because it made me sick to put new earrings in. In college I'd have to sit down in front of the hallway mirror, in the corner, just so when I started feeling gross, I could hide a little bit. Even then I felt like I had to pass out.


Other Times I Have Nearly Passed Out:

• My brother worked as a dishwasher in a retirement home. One night we got a call he had sliced his fingers and was on his way to the hospital to get stitches. When we got there, I sat in the corner on a stool watching them stitch his fingers. I remember slumping down and my dad helping me stand up and walking me out of the room.
• When I moved into college, we got some of those big cinder blocks to put under my bed so that I could store stuff under them. As we were unloading them, my thumb got really squished between two of them. Oh my gosh it hurt so bad, I thought it was broken! The main pain went away, but my black nail continued to throb for several weeks. When I was home one weekend, my step-dad suggested we put a hole in the nail to relieve the blood pressure. I had heard of people who did this, and was all aboard because it hurt SO bad! Well, he got a drill bit, because they are sharp, warmed it up in a candle and started twisting it on my nail. I think that's the only time I have ever swore around an actual adult. The duress pushed me over the edge. My mom walked in on our little experiment just before I went out. I spent the next hour on the couch with a cold rag!
• When I was a sophomore in college, I roomed with Cami, one of my favorite roommates ever! One night she woke me up in the middle of the night crying. She said something about her tooth breaking off. I didn't completely understand what she was trying to say and started to laugh at her. Then she showed me the half of her front tooth that had broken off. I quickly had to leave because I was nigh unto on the floor. They didn't need two roommates to take care of that night.
• A good friend growing up had part of one of her fingers torn off playing a game. She used to have bone and parts of nail come out of it and she would have to pick at it a little bit. Enough said.
  
• When I had my wisdom teeth out, and I came out of whatever they use to put me under, I couldn't stand up because I was so faintly. Same thing happened when I was super young and had to have teeth pulled.

Times When I Should Have Passed Out, But Didn't:

• I was studying in my bedroom and I heard a huge crash come out of the kitchen, and my roommate Becky scream. I jumped up and ran to see what was going on. I met her and another on the way to the bathroom. She was sobbing and a ton of blood was coming out of her mouth. I rushed her over to the sink and started to run warm water. I told her to get down into the water and we could see what was the matter. She started rinsing out her mouth and started laughing! I was so confused for a minute and then realized that ketchup was involved and I had been duped.
• I was going to be watching our neighbor's kids while she went to the hospital to have her baby. Well, early in the morning, they got me and I went over. Long story short, I had a first hand showing of the birth of her baby on the kitchen floor. Looking back it was really cool, and at the time I thought it was cool. But shouldn't that really be something that should make me pass out?
• I got rear ended in my little GEO. I had always said if I got in an accident, it would kill me. That was my first thought when I saw the car getting really close in my rear view mirror. It smashed the seat into the back of my head, and I had huge goose eggs on the back of my head/neck. They put me on a stretcher and I had x-rays taken. Man it hurt. And yet, I was awake the entire time.

McCoy Creek

McCoy Creek has become our new favorite place to head to when we have a few extra minutes. Tonight we headed out to roast some hot dogs. In no particular order here are our pictures from this evening:


We went to gather some water to put out the fire and stopped under a bridge. How cute are we? Very.


The Creek.


Sunny and beautiful. I could have stayed there all night.


Trying not to look like a dork this close. I'm not sure it worked.


A random picture of our fire, my legs, the hot dog sticks, and our cooler.


Jake took my picture because I took his. He's so hot.


Berries.

More berries. There was a chipmunk munching on 'em while we munched.


The bridge and Bigfoot in the background.


On the bridge.


My favorite picture of the night. It's just so pretty, I don't know how to explain!

4th Grade

I'm pretty much embarrassed to show you any more pictures of me. From here till high school seemed to be my awkward years. Actually, I may still be in them...

I was awkward.

I wasn't really girly.

I liked to run around, getting muddy.

I liked to ride my bike through giant puddles, climb trees and generally not be lady like in the least.

I wonder if I was a big disappointment to my mother, whom I'm sure upon hearing she had had a little girl, instantly looked forward to bows, dresses, tea parties and a myriad of other feminine things.

I did play with Barbies.

I was a Girl Scout.

This year was approximately year five out of 14 years of dance classes I would take. I'm sure you are all simply shocked, because as you know, I have the grace of a drunken dock worker.

I was on year five of piano lessons.

I hated having my hair done. I'm sure I would have rather have had teeth pulled instead. This picture, I'm sure, was the rare occasion. Oh, the humanity....


There was an old gravel pit near our house that Chris and I and the other neighborhood kids used to go sledding on. It was about a half mile up the canal, then you had to hike over where the trucks used to go, but part of it had collapsed. There was a section that you only went down if you were the bravest, or craziest of all the kids. It had a sizable bump in it that really sent you flying. Most of the time, you would end up in the fence when you went this way, but it was awesome to go so fast. We were always careful to only walk up on the sides so we wouldn't get foot prints in the runs. It was always funnest when the snow was fresh, so the powder would fly in your face. When it was icy, it was almost scary.

In the summer, we would ride our bikes on these trails. Holy cow, looking back, I don't know how I did that. I was a lot braver then than I am now. And possibly didn't understand that I could break my neck, or worse. We would also spend a lot of time in our neighbor's pasture. We became skilled at missing the manure! They had barns and chicken coops and fences to play around.

I'm sure my mother didn't know how much time we spent around all of those old rusty nails. Or that I used to draw on the walls under the stairs, or that I used to sneak the cat back inside after they went to bed. Of that I would stay up way late with my flashlight under my blankets reading The Babysitters Club.

Mom's are pretty smart. She probably knew.