In an attempt to lighten the mood around here, I'm going to embarrass myself. (LOL)

Being's that the economy really sucks right now, it had me reminiscing yesterday with DS about what it was like for me growing up in a family of eight, where money was ALWAYS extremely tight. Most kids now days have no idea how great they have it. I recall on more than one occasion, when I was about 5yrs old, going outside to play in the snow with socks on my hands because I didn't have any gloves to wear. (Hey, at least there were no holes in them. ) But wait!.... it gets better! When I was in 1st grade, I had to walk about 1/4 of a mile to school everyday. One day it was raining outside, so my mother sent me off to school with a bread bag on my head to keep me dry. She slit one side of the bread bag so it would fit on my head like a rain cap. God bless her, she's always been a resourceful woman. When I got to school, I actually hung the bread bag up in the coat closet with my jacket so it would dry. (I guess that makes me a big dork, huh? LOL) So, the next time your kid complains about not having the coolest new over-priced shoes, or whatever..... You can tell them to be thankful you're not sending them to school with a bread bag on their head!

Okay, I doubt anyone can top the bread bag rain cap (LOL), but please, do try. Go ahead and spill your embarrassing childhood stories.

.

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No outfit is complete without cat hairs!

~~~MsMiser

I have done the socks on the hands, also bread bags on your feet to line your boots if they were leaky.
My dad made my lunch every day. I never had bologna or ham or anything...it was always stuff like tomato sandwiches (one of my favorites to this day) pickles and cream cheese, watercress and cream cheese....not normal first grade stuff. also, if we were low on bread, he used to turn the heel out, so the crust was on the inside, and I couldnt see it
I am sure there are lots more, Ii just cant think right now. It seems we made do with what we had instead of running off to the store all of the time (I am 40, so no Walmart back then)

Ha ha ! My mom did the bread bags over the shoes to keep snow and water off...must have been a 60's thang...I did the socks as well..my dad was a cop and wore black uniform socks..so the socks would go all the way up to my shoulders. We'd get up in the morning as a child, eat cold cereal, hop on our bikes, and stay out all day long..no water bottles, we drank out of hoses in the yard...

Another childhood memory..you RARELY drank soda on a reg. basis..at least in my family ( 8 kids also !)..coke was only when you went out to eat ( also rare ) or a picnic or social. Kool aid was the kids drink back then.

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Live, Love, Laugh

Brendasm! Your lunch stories take me back but to this day, I can't eat tomato sandwiches...

My sweet daddy also made our lunches EVERY day. He made us tomato and cheese and they'd be soggy by lunch.

We didn't have TV. People (teachers?) would talk about TV shows ALL the time. I'd feel so lost.

Seems like small potatoes now, but I remember forgetting to bring the official kindergarten snack in 1971 when it was my turn. Our teacher had the milk distributed and asked, "who had the responsibility of bringing today's snack?" as I sunk waaaaaay down in my little chair. She knew and I knew she knew, but there wasn't a peep from me. Bless the woman's heart, she never said a word to me, despite the opportunity for me to stand up and confess my sin.

She was a good but firm teacher. Misbehaving in her class caused you to move to a smaller desk next to hers for the entire class time. She also pinned a homemade tiger tail to your shirt to make sure everybody knew you were the bad kid. That happened to me one time. I was a very good girl after that!

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I want to keep ALL of my paycheck and eliminate the pyramid scheme known as Social Security (there is no lockbox ). Do you want the same thing? www.fairtax.org

Wow, I am soo lucky that our bus always stopped in front of our house.Our driveway was short and we had a roof over our porch to stand under where we could watch for the bus comming on a rainy day.
Other than going the whole day unknowingly with my butt covered in blood with white pants on,on my first period,the only other time I can think of was in the 6th grade when I spilled a sandwich bag full of Redhots in the middle of class with a hundred little tiny red balls bouncing all over the classroom floor.
I bet my face was redder than those Redhots!

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when our house burned, i had to wear cloths that was given to us since I had NOTHING at all but what I had on. The cloths were nice and clean, they just didnt fit. waaaay to big. but it was better than wearing the same thing every day till the insurance came in and we could get some cloths.

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MsMiser, I am laughing so hard i am crying!! The bread bag story is fantastic!! HAHA

I'll post an embarrassing story as soon as I stop laughing/crying and when I remember one!

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

Oh Oh I remember one!

My Mom forgot to do laundry one week, and I had no clean clothes to wear, so she made me wear a pair of her pants.. they were those old lady stretchy kind and they were NEON ORANGE! All the kids on the bus were laughing their heads off... I hated the color orange after that for the longest time!

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

We did the bread bag in the boots too, and I still do that with my kids. I also turn the heel of bread the other way and they never know...or use them if we're out of hotdog rolls.

As far as embarrassing...well, I have a brother who is 6 years older than me and was a big athlete as a teenager. Every now and then, he'd get home all sweaty and dirty after a baseball game and my mom wasn't home yet. He'd look at me and say, in a very solicitous and concerned voice, "wow Maureen, you don't look so good" which was my cue to freak out and run away as he chased me yelling "you need oxygen! you need oxygen!" and out would come the cup (aka athletic supporter) and once he'd tackled me to the ground he'd slap it over my mouth and nose and yell "BREATHE! BREATHE! OXYGEN!". To this day I can't see a cup without getting the urge to run.

Maureen

My father (God rest his soul) was from Italy. He killed goats for food. We lived in a suburb of San Francisco. Once the girl up the street peeked up under the garage door which was only open about a foot. She saw what was going to what extent I don't know. But the police showed up. They thought maybe it was a devil worship or something. My Dad told them he's originally from Italy. He showed them the homemade tomato paste, sausages, etc. He told them a goat is good food in Italy and he bought this one and just wants to eat it.
Well of course the neighborhood kids made fun of us for a few months until they forgot.
My father had a very thick Italian accent. He sounded like Ricky Ricardo (and looked like him too when he was a young very handsome man) so my friends when I was in elementary school made fun of his accent and the way he talked.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Here's a funny story..in 4th grade, it was cold outside, so my mom made me wear a hat to school. Back then, I believe it was maybe 1970?-71? The big thing in hats for girls was sorta a huge white puff ball, with long strings with more puff balls on the end of the strings. Well, my mother tied the hat strings so tight, that when I got in the class room, I could not untie them. I tried , then, to pull the cap off my head, but it would not budge. It was stuck on tight like a motorcycle helmet ! I turned beet red, so embarrassed, finally ended up cutting the strings ! My mom was mad !

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Live, Love, Laugh

Every time it rained ,walking home from school my bladder would about bust, I would go in a little hardware store and pee on the floor then tell the man it was raining hard outside.mmm Wonder why he followed me with a mop?

I was 13 (and had a fully developed chest by then) and I was riding my bike on the boardwalk of the beach during the summer (we spent our summers at the beach). Anyway, I am enjoy the day, the ride and notice all kinds of stares by people I am passing. Then someone POINTS to my chest. I look down only to notice that the plastic hook that held my bikini top on had broken and my top was flapping in the breeze...I was fully exposed! I couldn't understand how I would not feel that but I didn't. I was beyond embarrassed and getting back to the beach house was an ordeal. I was about 3 miles away and way before cell phones. Our place didn't have a phone so no calling for help either. I had to steer with one hand and try to hold my top on with the other. Finally about 1 mile in a woman stopped me, opened up her beach bag and gave me a tshirt to put on. I am so relieved.

I can't believe I shared that LOL

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Thank you, thank you for giving me the gift of laughter this morning. It's been a rather crummy week at work so this is just what the doctor ordered.
Mostly because I can relate to so many things said. The bread bags on the feet, the poofy white hat, the leak with the my first period.

I think the one time I was the most embarrassed was around 13. My BF and I would ride our bikes everywhere. We lived in the country so riding 5 miles to visit a friend was nothing.

We were cruising along a two lane country road when we passed a farmers field that had two older teen guys working on a tractor with their shirts off. My friend and I were so busy oogling them that we crashed into each other and ended up in a heap in the roadside ditch. The guys had to help us untangle ourselves out of the wreakage and get us back on the road. We were wet, grass stained,scuffed up and very red faced. And of course not even a blip on these guys radar. We were only 13, and not worth looking at in their eyes.

And OP the fact that you hung up the bread bag hat had me in tears I was laughing so hard.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I forgot ...we ALWAYS ran out of toilet paper when I was growing up. My mom would put the tissue box on the back of the toilet until she could get some. Also, there was a Fays drugstore that had awesome deals....everything we had was Fay's brand, there was Fayquil instead of Nyquil etc. One day my brother picked up the tube of "Fay - O Dent" he asked why we couldnt have one name brand product for once
Also, she sent me to the store on my bike for hair spray, and i bought Vitalis (mens heavily man scented)hair spray. She yelled at me, then walked around smelling like a guy because she refused to throw it out.
edited to add...I just thought about this after reading Jaded's over/under question...I answered according to toilet paper, but she asks about paper towels. I dont use paper towels, never have and was raised without them, so maybe thats why its not weird to me. We always have kitchen towels to dry our hands, dish cloths and rags to throw out with really gnarly stuff. Just never bought them, and I am glad, because they arenot cheap.

Thanks for a great laugh. I needed that.

Judi

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"Try to see the glass half-full."

I LOVED you bread bags story. I know it probably wasn't fun then, but is preciously funny now!

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

ROFLMAO! Your story just brought back another suppressed childhood trauma for me (LOL) , very similar to yours. I too had one of those bikinis with the cheapy plastic ring in the middle of the bosom. The summer when I was 12 (with a mostly developed chest ), a friend and I went to the public pool to splash around and ogle the cute, slightly older guys. I was very self-conscious at that age (still am), so thankfully, at that particular pool we were allowed to wear a white T-shirt over our swimsuit. After splashing around in the pool for a while, my friend got out and started toweling off. When I swam to the edge of the pool and started climbing out, she pointed at me and started laughing! I looked down at my shirt to see what she was pointing at. To my horrifying surprise, the little plastic ring on my bikini top had broken and the top fell loose from my chest. Since I was wearing the T-shirt, I didn't notice (couldn't feel) that my bikini top was not covering my chest. But, when I was getting out of the pool the wet shirt clung to my body and made it obivious to my friend that I was topless underneath my shirt. Thank God she was there to alert me with her laughter or I would've been walking around like that all day.... or at least until some stranger pointed it out to me ..... then I would've been so embarrassed I would've never been able to go back to the pool. I have no idea how long I'd been swimming around like that, or if anyone even noticed since the pool was so crowded and my shirt didn't cling to my body when I was in the water. I know how embarrassed I was when it happened to me and I had a shirt on, so I'm sure you must have been mortified sexysmurf! (LOL)

.

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No outfit is complete without cat hairs!

~~~MsMiser

I remember when I was young ,don't know how old I was ,but was not aware of a "girls role" yet.I was a tomboy and was usually dressed in my brothers hammydowns and played with Hot wheels and GI Joes,and mostly boys toys.Anyway, I went swimming at a public pool with my dad and brother and when they took their shirt off, I took my shirt off too, and jumped in the pool like it was perfectly normal.Everybody started comming up to me and asking me if I was a boy or a girl.After awhile of this I started to wonder and asked my dad and brother and they just said I looked like a girl to them.It wasn't till years later that I finally noticed that all the girls were wearing tops when swimming,and that was what "girls" were suppose to do. I was totally clueless,lol.

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I don't know if this was just my parents being cheap, or the predecessor to today's recycling/reusing craze: When I brought my lunch to school in a brown paper bag, I had to fold it up and bring it home to be used again the next day (and the next day - basically until it fell apart). Rather embarrasing for a middle/high schooler back in the 70s/80s. I always wanted to be one of those carefree kids who just threw their bag away at the end of lunch!

I had to bring my bag home too!! And sometimes, dad would pack my lunch in a mcDonalds or other weird sack. For some reason, my parents boycotted buying lunch bags