Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Decisions, CSN Giveaway and Childhood Mayhem Revisited

I spoke with my sister Kelly yesterday. It looks like some decisions are close to being solidified. She has pretty much decided to go ahead with more chemo and with the surgery. I am happy. So happy I could cry. Ok, I did cry after we hung up because I surely was not going to cry on the phone with her. No way. As I have said many times, crying is a sign of weakness between us sisters. The underbelly of the beast. Cry and the other sisters will go in for the kill. I'm no fool so no crying until that phone hit the cradle then it was Niagara Falls. I hate that my baby sister has to go through more of this cancer crap but I am happy. There is hope again.


Speaking of my baby sister, don't forget she will be picking the winner on Monday for the CSN $45 gift certificate. From Legos to LCD TV Stands, CSN has it all with over 200 online stores to browse. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me the craziest thing you and your sibling, (they can be actual, inherited or chosen), have ever gotten yourselves into. The comment that Kelly fancies the most will be announced Monday the 28th. How easy is that? Well, easy until your sibling finds out you told the world about them. Then it gets really interesting. Believe me, I know. Anyway, to kick this into gear, I am reposting a story I wrote last year about a little incident when Kelly and I were kids. Enjoy!


I was thinking about my mom today. I was remembering how mad she would get at my sisters and me when we were little. I never could understand why she made such a big deal out of things. I mean, seriously, we were just little girls doing little girl stuff. It wasn’t like we were biting the heads off of bats and knocking down old ladies on the street. That came much later in life. Although, there was that one incident with the new furniture.


My mother was very frugal. My dad was just the opposite. While my mother sat at the kitchen table for hours clipping coupons and planning the route to the seven stores she would hit to save a dollar, my dad was out buying the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos the world had to offer. My mom wanted to drive her car into the ground while my dad was off to London on the Concorde. They were quite the pair, those two.


When my father finally talked my mother into new living room furniture, it was an event in our home. The green scrolled velvet high backed chairs with matching Mediterranean couch and fancy hi fi in the cabinet that matched the end tables which matched the coffee table which matched…. Well, you get the picture. Then there were the new lamps to complete the ambiance of the place. There was the giant round ball looking thing on one side of the room but on the other side, are you ready….on the other side was the three foot naked angel lamp. Yeah, you read it right.


This amazing creation of a living room was really more like a museum to us. We were not allowed in there. It was for company. Adult company. Not us. “Do you girls understand?!?!?!?!” Now think about that. You have a room in your house with all new stuff in it including a three foot naked angel lamp and then you say stay out. What do you think is going to happen the first time you leave your little darlings home alone while their dad is on the Concorde and their mom is hitting seven stores to save a buck?


So we decided to build a fort in the museum living room that fateful day. First, we got rope from the garage. My sister Kelly tied one end of the rope to the giant round ball looking thing on one side of the room while I tied the other end of the rope to the three foot naked angel lamp. Once we got the rope just the right height, we ran to our bedroom and pulled the blankets off our beds. Running back to the museum living room giggling with excitement, we each grabbed an end of the first blanket and threw it over the rope. Imagine our surprise when the giant round ball looking thing on one side of the room and the three foot naked angel lamp on the other side of the room flew off their matching Mediterranean tables and came crashing down onto the coordinating green shag carpet.


By the time our mother arrived home with her value crammed grocery bags, the blankets were back on the beds, the rope was back in the garage and the giant round ball looking thing on one side of the room and the three foot naked angel lamp on the other side of the room were back on their matching Mediterranean tables. It was years before she ever noticed the glued back together body parts. That is the very good thing about a room rarely used. It buys you time to live.


What made me think about this story today? As I was putting away the last of the Christmas decorations, something caught my eye in the nativity. Baby Jesus is missing an arm and I am pretty sure his head was not on backwards before Christmas.


Darn kids!

17 comments:

Stephanie said...

LOL Oh dear! Poor Baby Jesus...you do wonder what the little one's get up to when we are not around.
Great story, and glad to hear your sis has made a decision that makes you all happy! Hugs!

CiCi said...

Personally, I like kids who have the gumption to glue things back together if they break them. Every time I read about the continuing testing and treatments your sister faces and endures I am in awe of her strength. You are such a good sister.

Deborah said...

OMgoodness. My brother, sister, and I have such similar stories. We had that very same living room. Right down to the Mediterranean furniture.

We would pile all the couch and chair cushions up in the middle of the floor and use them as trampolines.

Such fun!

Brian Miller said...

snort. too funny.

ok, so one time (at band camp, no just kidding) we accidentally (isnt it always) almost burned down a mountain. we were camping and it was well passed the hour of decency. in the dark a flashlight could not be found so one person had the bright idea to take a stick from the fire to help them find the portapotty, which somehow ended up in the middle of no where. long story short said person found the porta potty but then did not know what to do with the stick while adjusting their clothes to use said facility. not wanting to lose face by yelling out they put it down, "just for a second"...and a few minutes later we heard yelling then a glow from the porta potty...said person escaped the porta potty but we spent the early hours of the morning watching the portapoty burn, which was fine until the holding tank ruptured...needless to say our parents never found out, until years later...

Not So Simply Single said...

Oh, girl, you crack me up! Thanks for the laugh...

I would miss my Mom something terrible if she passed. We chat almost every single day!

Sending you some sunshine from Maui...

Lisa

Two Shades of Pink said...

Oh poor baby Jesus. And naked angel thing. I was never as brave as you. Perhaps because I did not have a sibling willing to go down with me. My dilemma was living with anal retentiveness. Once I had a girlfriend sleep over and my parents went out so friend thought it would be fun to invite a bunch of guys over who stole all the beer in our house. The beer my parents don't drink but was sitting on a shelf, counted with labels facing out like tiny alcoholic soldiers...gone. I spilled the beans before I got busted. See? Not as brave. But smart. :)

Katharine said...

LOL!I was scared of my own shadow growing up,and my siblings were no help so I don't have any stories.. I wish I had been braver... I can't wait to hear your kids story of what happened to Baby Jesus!

J.J. in L.A. said...

What is it with 'the adult room' and your parents? We were only allowed in our living room on New Year's Eve because the adults had taken over the 'family room'. Where's the logic in that???

Pranavam Ravikumar said...

Very Nice.. Although I came here accidently, enjoyed a lot.. Thanks for the post.. You have a nice day!

Not So Simply Single said...

Don't worry Marla, that story of the 21 year old was over ten years ago, after a broken engagement.

I don't sell my soul for a quickie anymore, trust me!

Plus, I have grown since then by leaps and bounds!

Love you,

Lisa

Not So Simply Single said...

Miss Marla, I know you are a mother hen, and I appreciate it very much. That is the quality of you that I adore!...

Remember however, not all of us are saints like you....(I have a jaded past...Unfortunately!)

But, 14 years ago I quit the alcohol and cleaned up my act. The adventures in my book are when I was a drinking fool. This is not who I choose to be now!

Love that you are so sweet and caring. I swear we are sisters!

YOU ROCK!

Lisa

gayle said...

You have some great memories of your childhood!

Coby said...

Too funny! Poor baby Jesus! That's just wrong. So wrong.

I have siblings, but never lived with them so I am, for all intents and purposes, and only child. Which means that all of my really stupid stuff happened in college. But I have a dear friend, Felise, who may as well be my sister. Our sophomore year of college, we pledged our sorority together; we also had frat brothers, since we were constitutionally bound to a fraternity. There was a party at a frat brother's house one night, one of the brothers wanted to get branded with his Greek letters. So, we took a wire hanger, bent it to look like a Sigma, then got it nice and hot over a gas stove and...sizzle! The smell of burning flesh permeated the air.

Yup. I was a fool.

Silver Strands said...

FUNNY!!! thoughts and prayers for your sister ... wow - another round.

but I keep going back to FUNNY. I keep cringing as my grown kids confess whenever we're together - and then I think about my lack of a frontal lobe for all those years and wonder how I managed to stay alive into adulthood.

Mrs. Tuna said...

I understand the sister thing, only sending the best thoughts to both of you.

Michelle said...

Now you've got me wondering about my own daughters...what stories am I gonna hear later on? I haven't noticed anything glued back together but I'll start looking more closely :)
We used to hop the fence to the public pool and go swimming at night but a mean old lady in the apartment next door would always call the cops on us. We got pretty good at out-running them, though...once we hit the woods they didn't chase us any more. I guess they had bigger fish to fry.

Sandra Wilkes said...

There is something really special about a Baby Jesus with his head glued on backwards! It's all in the family..as they say. My best to your sister...Sandra

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