Sunday, November 8, 2009

A good list gets me every time

I love lists. Whoever invented them is genious. I recently purchased this book, Listography: Your Life in Lists, because I thought it'd be fun, and it is. It's the bomb, actually. Not gonna lie, some of the lists are real hard to fill out, I haven't figured out yet if it's the fill-out-over-the-years or fill-out-about-your-past kind of book, but just going with the flow on that one.
Some of the topics are funny, some make me sad, and some I don't think I'm brave enough to put on paper, but all of them bring back great memories.


List Bad (stupid/silly) Things You Did as a Kid


(Age 9) No matter how careful I was, I always managed to make the worst food spills: slice of pizza face down on Mom's brand new cream-colored rug, dropped a gallon of milk that busted all over the kitchen floor (and of course underneath the refrigerator).


(Age 13) Thought I'd help Dad out and mow the lawn, but one time forgot to pay attention and ran the (again, BRAND NEW) riding mower into a tree...oops.



(Age 5) Ok, picture a department store with color-coded bins of pretty soaps in cute shapes and sizes (much like the ones to the right) all out in the open to mix-n-match your own bag of mini soaps. Now picture being five years old and seeing this...Let's just say I found out pretty quickly that they weren't candy when I bit into one.


(Age 7- 18...seriously.) Didn't your mom ever yell at your for leaving chapstick in your pants pocket and sending it through the washer (and DRYER) which is only discovered by the random grease stains on various pieces of clothing in the load? Mine did. ALOT. I think I lost a good 10-15 sticks this way. Sorry, Mom.


(Age 8ish) Never try to curl your long hair by twisting it around and around in a round brush from the tip to the root. It will get stuck. Your mom will freak out yelling you're going to have to cut it out and have a bald spot. And you will cry hysterically. But hopefully your Dad will have the patience to slowly untangle it all. Thanks, Pops. 


(Age: My Whole Life) Can't tell you how many times I fell for the "Kara, will you go upstairs and get 'such-and-such'," "Kara, clean up this game," or "Kara, do my chores for me" from my brothers...as long as they put "We'll time you!" at the end. Tell me I'm not the only one that couldn't resist a good ol' time challenge.


(Age 11) Home by myself and hungry for dinner. Favorite food: tacos. Taco shell in the toaster oven to get crispy while I heat up the fixings.  Turn my back on toaster oven and minutes later notice a bright light out of the corner of my eye. Taco shell up in huge flames in the toaster oven. 
Panic. Unplug toaster oven. Blowing out fire doesn't work. Cup of water does the trick. Inside of the toaster a little charred, but still works. Don't tell Mom.


(Age 13) Neighborhood kids and I used to skateboard down this hill by my house. I did it a few times with no problems then my fourth ride or so I started to lose my balance halfway down the hill and ended up sliding head-first down the end of the hill. I was quite cut up, but . I think Mom was more mad about the wholes in my clothes than she was worried about me. I suppose I don't blame her. Moral of the story: Don't try to skateboard when you're not a Skater. It won't be pretty. 


I'm sure this list could go on and on, and feel free to comment if you know me and have any to add (but be nice!), but I urge you in your spare time to reflect on your life in lists. It's fun and good for the soul.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

nd who can forget the ever popular phrase, "ooh. thunk, thunk, thunk " as you fell down the stairs ( all-be-it repeatedly!!) Great times, great memories!!!!!--wouldn't change a one!!! Joe

Kara said...

Hahaha I knew one of you wouldn't let that one slide! I figured it'd either be you or Kel. Thanks for the reminder Mom!

Note to readers: What my wonderful Mom is referring to here is the time I tried to carry a huge box down the basement stairs to build a fort. The box was taller than me and when it got stuck on a step, but my momentum kept going; my feet came off the step and I fell down a good 8-10 steps. All my family heard in the rest of the house was me scream "WOOOOAAAHHHH!" then my bum go "thunk thunk thunk."

They (obviously) won't let me live that one down. Already bracing myself for the story being told at my wedding...:)

Shannon said...

When I was 4 or so, I had a Barbie dollhouse (sidenote: it was huge and awesome). One day I took one of the long plastic pieces to said dollhouse and ran around the house with it...in my mouth. I was a clumsy child and inevitably stumbled over my own feet, and the plastic piece rammed into the back of my mouth. Let's just say I could swallow without wincing in pain for about two weeks.

Also around the same age, I was riding my bike (with training wheels) and decided to attach an umbrella to handlebars so that it was sticking out to the side. Then I tried to squeeze in between a car in the driveway and the bushes in our front yard. The umbrella hit the car, knocked me off balance, and the bike and I tipped over into the bushes. Oh, and they were rose bushes, thorns and all. I had cuts all over my arms and legs.

Needless to say, I wasn't the brightest kid.

Kara said...

Baaaahahahaha, awwww Shannon! I'm sorry, I love you and all, but I have to laugh at those. I'm sure they weren't funny at the time but I just pictured your facial expressions and voice telling me those stories in person and I laughed pretty hard.