Crazy Antics and Dreams

Happy Halloween Memories

The first Halloween night that I remember was spent at my Grandmother’s house. Both my brother and I helped her to hand out the treats to the kids who visited her front door. Some of the older kids wore very scary masks that scared me so badly that I still remember trying to sleep on the foldout couch in Grandma’s living room. To make it worse for a four or five year old girl, it was a full moon that year and the moonlight lit up the entire room and caused strange shadows in the windows.

Some years later, Halloween had become a fun excursion with the other kids in theneighborhood. The Halloween outings that I remember weren’t complicated. Few in our immediate neighborhood had elaborate costumes; indeed, most of us wore nothing more than a face mask. Our masks were carefully packed away and stored for the next October.

In those days, we knew all of the neighbors on our block and most of the neighbors for several blocks around. As we grew older, the more far ranging our Trick of Treating took us. During some forays when my brother and I were pre-teens, we would cover the better part of six or blocks. The only problem was that our Treat Bags would become so heavy, but we loved every minute of the sugar high that followed!

A couple of years later, my brother and his friends played tricks on the younger children, draped toilet paper on the trees in the yards of their friends, and generally scared some young kids so bad they would run crying to their parents.

While I was in high school, Mom would send me out with our Bassett Hound, Sadie, to escort my two younger sisters and our cousin who lived up the street from us. The girls loved going and Sadie was quite content to tag along. My favorite memory was that several of the widows who lived alone always made homemade goodies for the kids from the neighborhood who visited them. When I took the girls Trick or Treating, these wonderful women would send goodies out tome too. Trust me, one lady made the best homemade Divinity!

Since I was born in late October, I love the month and how the air seems to change as November approaches. I’m also a fan of costumes and being able to wear one on Halloween and not be thought to be weird. Well, weirder than I am at times!

Commercial Ads Between and During Shows

There are so many commercial ads between cable shows nowadays. Doesn’t it distract and annoy you when you watch cable television shows? Specifically, I’m speaking about the little ads for other cable shows on the same channel. You know, the little characters that smile and stand next to the title of their show. So now the viewer is subjected to five or more minutes of commercial ads between the show segments and the little ads at the bottom of the screen. In addition, these ads during the shows have become more common and some are larger and more distracting.

Originally, cable channels charged in order to provide more show time and fewer advertisements. What happened to that concept? Just another example of consumers being  ripped off by a service we pay for at a premium price!

Consider this to be my annoying little advertisement. lol! ====>>>

 

Too HOT to Leave Home!

Okay, so here’s how it’s been lately. The late afternoon temperatures have been at least 100º and has gotten as high as 105º or more! You really can cook an egg on the sidewalk with these temperatures! Since the summer heat and I do not get along well, I try to do errands in the early mornings so I’m not in and out of a car that has been sitting in the sun for any length of time. Unfortunately for me, I was out and about to doctors’ appointments the other day. These little trips in the south Texas heat gave me a massive case of heat rash! How bad is it? I’m covered in this itching burning red rash over most of my body and this includes the palms of my hands! I never knew you could have a rash on your palms. Needless to say, I AM staying in the air conditioning for the next several days.

And the file cabinet came falling down!

Long ago in an office that I once entered from time to time, this painful antic occurred. The offices of the asset managers contained solid oak furniture including several four drawer lateral file cabinets. The cabinets were very heavy oak and were able to handle the heavy files that were used on a daily basis.

One of our young asset managers was the guardian of real estate files that I used every day. The first time that I opened the top drawer of one of the cabinets in her office, I noticed that the cabinet rocked forward when the drawer was open. Since the cabinet was supposed to be stable and balanced, I closed the drawer and investigated the problem by opening the bottom drawer. To my dismay, the bottom two drawers were empty. The first thing I did was to inform the asset manager that she needed to rearrange her files. As incredible as it may sound, she informed me that it was easier to get the files out of the upper drawers than the bottom drawers. Apparently, she didn’t want to bend down every time she needed a file. Did I mention that she was a blonde? Also, she had all of her large black binders on top of the cabinet. After her explanation, I returned to my office to continue working.

Not more than a day later, I returned to her office to put some documents on her desk. Before I could turn to leave, the top-heavy cabinet fell forward and pinned me to the front of the desk. As if that wasn’t a bad enough situation, all of the black binders battered my head and shoulders. Being alone in the office and too stunned to shout for help, I was happy to see our mail clerk passing by the office. She sprang into action and went for assistance because she was too petite to lift the cabinet herself. The president of our company was the closest man in our offices so she ran to his door and ordered him to help. He was so stunned to be ordered by the clerk that he just sat at his desk looking at her in disbelief. When he didn’t jump up right away, she ordered him again in a slightly higher voice. Fortunately for me, he left his office and ran after the clerk. By this time our IT manager was walking into our offices and helped the president raise the cabinet off of me and back into place.

Once I was freed from my predicament, I could barely stand so I sat in the nearest chair and cried from the pain and the embarrassment. By that time the entire staff came to the office to find out what the excitement was all about. While they removed all of the files from the cabinet, I tried to compose myself. The funny thing is that my boss, a very nice man indeed, was on the telephone in the adjacent office. He told me that he heard a loud thump, but since he didn’t hear anyone scream he wasn’t concerned.

All in all, I survived this catastrophe; let’s just say that I was badly bruised over eighty-percent of my body. The only good thing that came out of this incident is that all of the cabinets in our offices were inspected for stability.

“Where everybody knows your name . . .”

There are definitely times when you wish that no one knew your name; there are too many of these times for me to list here. This incident jumps to the top of the list! While leaving work with another employee one evening, the elevator was soon crowded to capacity with “suits” and other executive types. For this trip from the seventh floor I was positioned in the front corner next to the elevator’s control panel. Unfortunately, the elevator stopped about an inch or more lower than the lobby floor. A couple of gentlemen made room for me to step out of the elevator first. Sadly, I must have been the only person in the elevator car who hadn’t noticed that the floor of the car wasn’t flush with the lobby’s ceramic tile floor. When I turned to step out, my foot caught on the lobby floor and I fell sideways out of the elevator and landed with my usual lack of gracefulness. The only person in the car that knew my name exclaimed loudly, “Sharon!” I’m not certain which was more embarrassing, falling out of the elevator car or knowing that all of the strangers in the car now knew my name – go figure!

A Sears Store, My Mom, Me, and Some Cashews

As a young teenager, I didn’t always enjoy going shopping with my Mom. On one sunny afternoon, my Mom insisted I tag along with her to the nearest Sears department store. Back then all of the Sears stores in our area had a candy counter where all sorts of delectable goodies were displayed as temptations for unwary shoppers. The smell of popcorn being popped in a theatre-style popper is one that still evokes memories of fresh hot buttered popcorn. This day was different when it was announced that a new shipment of cashews had just been roasted and salted. This was a temptation that my Mom couldn’t refuse so we headed to the candy counter at best possible speed. Mom purchased one pound of hot cashews. We munched on the delicious cashews all the while Mom shopped. When we returned home, less than a fourth of the cashews were left. It’s amazing how ill one can become after eating so many cashews! I can’t remember if we even told the rest of the family that we had consumed almost the entire pound of cashews, but it is a great memory all the same!

Fall Down, Go BOOM . . . again!

Well, folks, I ended 2008 with a boom instead of a bang. On the afternoon of December 28, 2008, I tripped and fell onto the tile floor. As usual, my face broke my fall. That afternoon I was at home alone and the television commercial where the elderly lady says, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” came to mind. As I struggled onto my knees, I soon found that my knees had hit the floor soon after my face and were very painful. By that time, blood covered my face and was dripping on the floor. Fortunately I was able to grab the small cushions from a footstool and used them to kneel on and ease myself to a standing position.

 

A glance in the mirror showed the aftermath of my clumsiness. There was a gash where my glasses cut the bridge of my nose; the inside of my upper lip was cut; my upper front two teeth felt loose; and blood was dripping from both nostrils. Now with all my various falls where my nose was the part of my body to hit first, this was the first time since I was five years old that my nose was a bloody mess.

 

As embarrassing as it is to fall on my face again, it was more so to call for a ride to the emergency room. After four hours in the crowded E.R. waiting room, I was released from the E.R. By the time I got home, both eyes and most of my nose were purple. Purple raccoon eyes are never a positive fashion statement. In addition, my upper lip was swollen and made me look like I’d been beaten with a baseball bat.

 

The following Wednesday I went to my E.N.T. and he confirmed that my nose hadn’t been broken. At last, some good news! I also went to a hand specialist and learned that I had a hairline fracture in my right hand. Unfortunately, I’m right-handed. Alas the bad news, my hand was put into a cast for four weeks. Having a cast on your dominant hand is bad enough, but when it also encases the ring finger and pinky is like adding insult to injury.

 

Needless to say, I haven’t spent much time on the computer. Hopefully, no more fall down, go boom!

 

P.E. Class Uniforms

During the summer of 1964, my Mom bought my new school uniforms for my freshman year in high school. The previous summer I had a growth spurt that added more than three inches to my height. In anticipation that I would continue to grow, Mom purchased my P.E. shirt and knee-length shorts a “little” larger so that she would not have buy another uniform if I were to continue to grow. Unfortunately, Mom’s plan backfired on me. Instead of growing out and around I continued to grow a bit taller and thinner. To prevent my shorts from falling down around my ankles I had to use diaper pins to keep my shorts on my waist. Even then I had to be careful that the oversized shorts didn’t slip below my hips when I was running laps. Believe me it is bad enough to be a clumsy adolescent, but the added embarrassment of baggy shorts is now funny to remember. Fortunately, I only had P.E. in my freshman and sophomore years. Once I no longer needed the shorts, I gave them to my Mom who was able to wear the shorts without diaper pins.

Homemade Cookies, Blackberry Wine, and Craps

One of things that my family did during the Christmas holidays was to visit our relatives. For the most part we visited the grandparents and several of my great aunts. The trip to Aunt D’s home was my favorite. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, she would bake cookies in preparation for the Christmas holidays. My all time favorite cookie was a traditional German cookie made with anise that was a delight to the taste buds. In addition, we were able to enjoy the company of our cousins who were in town to visit their grandparents. My brother and cousin taught me to play dice games in the corner of my great aunt’s living room. One year when I was in high school I had a cold and felt bad. My dad gave me a small glass of blackberry wine. After I drank the wine, I felt better so I asked my father if I could have another glass. This time I filled the glass myself, but I switched glasses to a larger water glass. Let’s just say that I   really enjoyed playing dice with my brother and cousin. Once we went home I went to bed and happily slept in a wine-induced stupor. Sleep was a real benefit since I had coughed and sniffled for several nights in a row. Fortunately for me, my parents didn’t know about how much wine I had enjoyed and dad laughed when I told him how the wine had helped me to shrug off the cold.

Ping-Pong Balls from Heaven

There came a warm spring day in the early 1960s when the first shopping mall on our side of town had its grand opening. We were still in grade school and there was a large vacant lot behind our school. The new mall was very close to the school and the marketing people for the mall had a helicopter buzzing around the area. During recess the helicopter began to drop brightly colored Ping-Pong balls as it passed over the vacant lot. The Ping-Pong balls were numbered and could be redeemed for prizes. One of the prizes was a ride in the helicopter.

 

Imagine a hundred or more teachers and students from our school chasing Ping-Pong balls in an open lot! Thank goodness they weren’t dropping bricks because some of the Ping-Pong balls fell on us during our quest for the prizes. My brother ran fast and gathered enough of the Ping-Pong balls that we were able to take a ride in the helicopter. When Mom picked us up from school that afternoon, she learned    about the prizes and we went to the mall to collect our helicopter ride.

The helicopter was small and could only carry a couple of people at a time so my brother and I were the first to fly away in the helicopter. The sensation was different from anything I had ever experienced and we had a great time with the friendly pilot. Mom and our sisters flew next and the pilot teased Mom and girls before landing by rocking the helicopter forward and back. I’m not certain whether our sisters remember the ride because they were probably in first or second grade at the time. I remember the ride and I still get a kick remembering that the pilot flew over a house with a swimming pool in the backyard. Mom wasn’t too thrilled when we later related the story of how we hovered over the woman who was sunbathing next to the swimming pool. What I remember is that this was a very exciting afternoon for all of us.