More Memories

When Dayna saw my postings, she recalled several other memories we have.  So many things are inside jokes that we still say a few words and we both crack up.  Some you had to be there to understand, but I will try my best to recount her memories.

These aren't Mickey's

We had a period of time in our last house when the mice would get in the house.  Sometimes we would be sitting in the living room and we'd see Charlie prowling around.  Sometimes, we thought he was just being his usual quirky self.  Then when the mouse ran across the floor and Charlie pounced, we'd find out why he was prowling!  

 

Once he caught a mouse in the middle of the night.  I  woke up to hearing him thrashing through the house.  When I got out of bed to reprimand him, he came tromping to my room with his "new toy" in his mouth looking at me like, "Hey Ma, check out what I did!"  I promptly told him to keep his new friend in the kitchen and play quietly!  The last thing I wanted to deal with in the middle of the night was a cat and mouse!

 

Before we left that house,we had Charlie trained to catch and hold hostage until we could relocate the furry little things.  It was much better than cleaning up mouse guts and blood, and they're just so darn cute I felt horrible when he played with them too much.  We used to grab them in a few paper towels and walk them to the lot across the street.

Grandpa didn't spill rice

For a time at the end of my nursing studies at Brookdale, we had to stay at my father's house.  Any one who knows my Dad knows he is not the world's greatest housekeeper.  He is a perpetual bachelor.  He's had his issues and you can always tell when he's doing ok or when he's doing poorly by the condition of his house.  If he is okay, there is evidence of cleaning and projects.  If he's having a rough patch, the place is a hot mess!

One night while Dayna and I were watching TV in the bedroom, I went to get up.  Before I put my foot down I saw a pile of spilled rice.  Grandpa spilled rice on the floor?  Why would Grandpa spill dry rice in the bedroom?  Then the rice moved!  It was NOT rice!  So of course Dayna and I freaked out just a bit.  Then we decided to try to get rid of them using the only tool within reach...toothpicks!  Dayna still considers this "stabbing maggots with toothpicks."  It was gross, but we had a fun memory out of trying to get rid of them.

 

The Money Seat

When we lived in Matawan, my little brother Robbie stayed with us for a time.  He used to like to sit in the recliner in the living room.  Everyone likes to sit in the recliner.  It's typically the only seating IN the living room.  Any time he would get up, Dayna would jump in the chair.  He'd go to the bathroom, come back to find Dayna in his seat.  He liked the chair so much that one day he offered Dayna a dollar to get up so he could sit.  My daughter is no dummy!  She gladly accepted the bribe.  She showed her gratitude by promptly jumping in the chair anytime Robert got up, and graciously accepting his dollar when he'd come back.

Roller Derby

Dayna was about 4 years old when she first started roller skating...in the house.  I didn't mind much, I could see her, the carpet prevented scrapes and other boo boos, and she was pretty good at it.  She'd whiz around the kitchen, plug along over the living room carpet, back to the kitchen for a lap around the table...she'd be occupied for hours!  This was a fun game!  

 

I can't tell you how many people thought I was crazy for letting her do it.  I can't tell you how many reprimanded me.  What I can tell you is that it was more than one.  We finally put a stop to the in-house roller derby when Dayna forgot to stop and crashed into the living room window :-)

 Bed, Bath & Beyond!

 About two years ago I was "redoing" Dayna's room.  I had gotten a Bed, Bath and Beyond catalog in the mail with a coupon.  We decided to go check out the store and see what they had in terms of organization.  We saw kitchen gadgets and cook wear.  We saw bathroom stuff.  We saw closet organizers and browsed a bit.  I checked out the curtains.  We came along to the "Bed" part of the store.  Dayna saw a nice comfy bed all made up pretty and decided she was going to lie on it.  That's when we realized it was NOT a bed at all!  The "bed" scooted over and clunked down under her weight!  I was mortified.  I hollered at her, brought her into an aisle, made sure she was alright, and then we nonchalantly wandered into the pillow section, picked out a pillow, paid and left.  We laughed in the car.  To this day anytime we see commercials or circulars for the store we think of "Dayna breaking the bed."