Oh the Joys of Summers Past 2

Insomnia, we meet again. Okay, since you win this round I will now recount memories of summers past. Internet, have you ever done something that you wish would disappear from the depths of your soul and mind? Okay, now that you understand, I can relive the horrible atrocity of our fashion shows. As little kids, my younger siblings and I were quite interested in fashion, or really just showing off our hopes of becoming a model. At the time of growing up, models were THE thing to become. Cindy Crawford was my idol for example. I even went to a summer camp to learn the aspects of modeling. It really was some high schooler who was trying to make some money, but either way...I thought it was so cool.

Now an important point of this story is that my family was one of the few at the time to have a video camera. Yes, the vintage type, you know the one that was like a boom box on the side of your head with a battery life of 30 minutes or so. My father was quite strict on the usage of such expensive (chuckle) items so the only time we had access to it was in fact when my parents were out. That means that one of my older siblings was left in charge. You guessed it Internet, Christine (come on, we had to have someone for hair and make-up). So after getting our outfits together, that usually consisted of our older siblings' clothes, we set up of the living room.

We took our dining room table and placed it at the landing by our front door. Now our front door opens to this little landing and goes directly to a set of stairs leading up. This gave us the hallway for entry onto our runway. We usually covered the table with a white sheet, and had the coolest music playing. My sister Christine would then announce us and down we would come. Now, we usually broke our shows up into seasons, with each person doing their own outfit in each season. Ridiculous? I know. What was hilarious about this whole thing was that my little brother joined us. Let's just summer was interesting with his swim team speedo on. Michael Phelps had nothing on him (chuckle).

Now just imagine big hair, 80s jewelry and clothing, mixed with little mishaps like tripping, falling off the table, or even the random dog in the shot. Yeah, summer was great, and our fashion shows were even better. However, there is a downside to these little events. Every little bit of information I just gave you, there is photographic EVIDENCE that it actually occurred. Not just the hideous outfits, not the actual proof of it happening, but the fact that you can RELIVE the events at ANY GIVEN TIME. This has not slipped the mind of my older sister Christine either. She still brings up a number of events that are still on tape somewhere, and she happens to be holding all the tapes hostage. I know, crap. So think back to those days of summer with love, and remember blackmail is NEVER cool.

Oh the joys of summers past 1

Internet, do you remember your summers as a kid? Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to relive some of those stories with you all. So here is story one because I am currently on summer break from my job, allowing me to think back when times were simply dull. Well they were considered dull if you weren't at our house. With four sisters and a brother you had plenty of playmates. However, being the younger ones you were talked into doing quite some hilarious things later.

First, I remember the lemonade stand. EVERYONE remembers the lemonade stand bit, right? I am sure you do. But, did you have a manager? I did. My sister Christine has always had an eye on money and budgets for the longest time, even back when she started as our lemonade stand manager. We started our little production line easily enough. However when Christine got involved, things got complicated. It was quite hilarious now that I think back. She set our pricing, picked the kool-aid flavors, and we set up and sold the stuff. She stayed at home waiting for our arrival and then she collected the money. Yes, you heard me right. She made a percentage and then divided up the rest for us workers. Thinking back now, it makes me laugh. Then, it was just fact.

We took our small amounts of money that we made and then walked up to the corner store to buy ridiculous things. I remember buying a can of silly string for $2.99 thinking I was really spending a lot of money. Wish I could go back to those days. We even had different size cups with varying prices. We always hit the busiest corner and had signs to boot! In all honesty, Christine only helped our business thrive, or at least keep us afloat. Well Internet, think back to those days. Remember how you anxiously awaited your next customer? Keep that in mind the next time you see a rag tag team of kids hawking flavors of kool-aid. Buy a cup, it sure makes good memories and the amount of sugar added to the kool-aid by the kids will make you smile if you hadn't already.