Saturday, December 31, 2011

Things you don’t know about me…

Happy New Year!

happy new year
Can you believe it’s 2012 already…time goes by so quickly and the older I get the faster it goes.  Does it seem that way to you too?

I thought, to start off the new year, I would tell you some things about me that you don’t know.   Not sure anyone will be interested, but these are things that made me who I am today, so you might know me better if you read them. :0)

In the hospital where I was born, I was the last baby to be born there.  There was a set of twins, then me….then the hospital was torn down and I believe there’s a Kmart there today. lol 

I was pretty poor growing up, but I don’t think I ever knew it, my parents always tried to make my childhood special.  I remember my daddy coming home one day with a box…it was a baby alive doll box.  I thought it was just a box because I wasn’t used to getting toys out of the blue, but my mom and dad took their last $10.00 in the bank and bought me that doll.  I kept it for a LONG time, but if you remember baby alive dolls, you could feed them real food….let’s just say I fed mine and it didn’t come out, and baby alive doll food stinks when it’s left inside the doll.  YUCK!  

baby alive

I grew up in a little house out in the country…..we had an outhouse, a smokehouse, a pigpen, (with a pig named Arnold),      a garden, a well and a pond.  I remember one time I was playing with dish liquid, trying to make bubbles,  and I spilled the bottle and it came within inches of dripping in the well…oh boy did I get in trouble!  I would have ruined our drinking water if it had gotten in the well….. God was looking out for me even then! lol

I learned how to ride a bike when we lived in that house.  A purple bike with a banana seat and a high back.  It looked sort of like this, but with a high bar in the back…

purple bike

I had to learn how to ride my bike in the grass….with a hill….and a fence.  I can assure you I hit the fence more times than I can count trying ride around the house and flying down the hill. I finally figured out how to ride my bike and ran in the house exclaiming, “I rode around the house nine times”!  I was so excited.  

I recently went back to the old farm to take pictures of the house, but it had been torn down and big barn is there now.  I sat in the middle of the road and cried…..it’s hard to see your childhood home torn down.  BUT our pond was still there.  I had a pet duck that used to swim in the pond…my dad was skimming rocks in it and hit the duck in the head by accident. I thought sure he had killed it because it’s little webbed feet went up in the air and it was down head first in the pond. I suppose it was just addled a bit, because it eventually came back up and was ok.  I sure have a lot of good memories of that old place! One summer we had a chicken disappear, we couldn’t figure out what on earth happened to her. One day she came strolling back to the farm with a trail of baby chicks behind her….now how fun is that?! I kind of miss living on a farm.

hen

We eventually moved from there into a trailer park….my mom made it into the prettiest home.  She has a knack for that.

I made a lot of good friends living there….one of which was a boy named Michael Todd Johnson.  We got along really well (ok, most of the time), but I remember one day he stepped on my foot with football cleats on and cut my foot open. I mean really OPEN.  He picked me up and carried me to Mrs. McCall’s house….she was a little old lady that lived in the park, she used to be a nurse, so she cleaned it up and put steri-strips or butterfly bandages on it.  He apologized to me for years for doing that…I still have a scar.    Ok….you remember I said Michael Todd and I didn’t get along ALL of the time?  Once before school, he took my umbrella at the bus stop, and was poking me with it..then he hid it and wouldn’t give it back.   I can’t believe I’m telling you all this, but I punched him in the nose….he went home with a bloody nose and missed school that day.   He never took anything of mine again, and we were very good friends for years!  LOL  Oh…and I’ve never punched anyone in the nose ever again!  :0)

We lived in that trailer park from the time I was about 10 until I was 15.  I met my hubby (TJ) right before we moved from that trailer park into our first house…a real house that was ours.   I remember he came over to visit us in the trailer and we already had everything packed up…I think he thought we were REALLY poor because when we eventually got moved into the new house, he looked really surprised to see pretty things all set up in the house.   I only lived in that house for a short time because my hubby and I were married young.  I was only 17 and he was 19 when we got married.   We had our first son 3 1/2 years later, and 2 more sons later on.   We’ll be celebrating 27 years of marriage on Valentines Day….I told you time goes by fast.  Now here we are celebrating New Years Day 2012…not sure where all those years went, but I know I enjoyed every single one of them. 

I am so grateful to have a nice home and beautiful things now, and to have a husband that goes to work every day to provide for us. I guess I just wanted to start off this new year with a grateful and happy heart while reminiscing about what’s made me who I am today.

I hope the new year holds peace, prosperity, health and happiness for each one of you!
May God bless you in this new year~!

Missy

14 comments:

gail@My Repurposed Life said...

Missy, I enjoyed reading this post. I too grew up very poor,(with a single mom) until I got married, then we had it all. Funny though, things come full circle and again I struggle. But it's okay, I've been here before, so I know how to do it.
Things are getting better, slowly but surely. 2012 is going to be a great year! I know it, I feel it in my bones. :)
I hoping 2012 is the best year ever for you and your wonderful family!
gail

Leave It To Davis said...

Well I REALLY enjoyed this post!!! I can relate to your childhood. I, too, was poor. We lived in a house next door to my grandpa. It belonged to my grandpa. My friends called it a cracker box because it was so small, so my dad went and got a loan for a 3 bedroom brick house....just so I wouldn't get teased. It cost them $20,000....payments of $100 a month...and they struggled! Can you imagine? Well, I lived there 8 years before marrying at 17...had a baby at 19....and have been married 39 years. We had two sons 15 years and 18 years after that, and have never been well off....always getting by. But, happiness isn't about how much you have, but how much you enjoy what you have.

I never hit anyone in the nose,(lol) but someone did slap me once for treating a boyfriend of mine badly. I still see that girl to this day....she says she doesn't remember slapping me, but I remember it. Not because it hurt physically, but because I knew she was right...and that hurt. Funny how some memories never fade away.

My dad brought home a Chatty Cathy for me when I asked for a b-b gun when I was 5. I was terrified of that talking doll and kept it in my closet, afraid it would come out and get me at night. I donated it to church when I was ten. My mom thought I was being generous. I was just happy to get rid of that evil doll. lol

It's nice to hear about your youth...you should post more of these every now and then.

Happy New Year to you and yours!!! Hugs....Cindy

Patty Marker said...

I remember a few of those things too Missy. What a wonderful way to start the new year...getting to know a friend better. I pray you have a blessed and very happy 2012. Patty

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

I love this post, Missy...I've been thinking about doing a fun facts post, too! So fun to learn more about you, my friend!

KatieQ said...

Thank you for sharing some of your childhood memories. I enjoyed reading them. I hope you will share about yourself in the future.

Angie Beasley said...

Loved reading all of this. I,too, had a purple banana seat bike. Mine had a basket on the front. My "little" brother made me push him around on it,and tried his best to keep up with me while riding his big wheel. You have the best memories,cause you were blessed beyond measure, just like I was. With the things that money cannot buy!!! The greatest of these is LOVE!!!!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I think you inherited your mother's knack for making a pretty home!

Thanks for sharing!

Deanna

Fairfield House said...

Missy,

I loved reading this post and finding out more about you, sweet friend. Are you an only child?
Thank you for emailing me. I will be getting back to you this week.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2012!

Love, Deborah

The Barn Door said...

Thanks for posting your childhood memories!
Happy New Year!
Karen & the Hounds

Cindy said...

What a great story... i enjoyed every word of it, and laughed out loud at you punching the guy in the nose! You'd had just about enough outta him that day... smile. I love that you talked about being poor, but not really knowing it... sounds like a kinda wonderful childhood with the duck, and the pig, and the wonderful simple things you experienced and appreciated. It's cool how
no matter where you lived your mom made it pretty.
You must have gotten that from her, and now just look at how awesome you turned out!

hugs,
Cindy

❁Velma ~Down Our Country Road❁ said...

Isn't it amazing how the memories come back? I'm so thankful God allows us to have such memories. We have so much to be grateful for. It's not what we have but what we do with what we have, isn't it? I love the duck story...I could just picture that poor duck with his feet stuck up in the air...had to laugh out loud on that one...haha!!

Sis-O said...

Thank you for sharing your memories. I enjoyed reading them.

Gail said...

This is so neat and interesting! I definitely can relate except a few years older! We do have another thing in common though; I too was married at 17 and my husband was only 18! Funny! Gail

A Southern Rose said...

Missy,
As I was reading this post I couldn't help but notice how much we have in common with our growing up days. I too married very young. I was 16 and had my first child at 17. She is now almost 29. As a child we grew up poor and thank goodness we lived next to my great grandparents who helped take care of us and our many needs. They had a garden and a farm also. Plenty of chickens,ducks,and a couple of pigs. I remember going out to gather eggs everyday after school. My granny would leave that job for me because she knew how much I loved doing that. So many memories came flooding back to me as I was reading your post.

Thank you so much.

Hugs,
Lee Laurie

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