Life before 2008 18 Aug 2006 12:45 pm
small town trivia and pediatric death-defying stunts….
- it takes 26 seconds, taking the railroad overpass, to officially travel through my town, which is becoming a simple neighborhood without any official place of business except for the post office.
- it takes 2.5 minutes to drive through the nearest real town, Wartburg, assuming you get stopped by one of the (3?) red lights.
- getting a hair cut at Connie’s Classic Comb, the pink salon in the middle of the town, cost me a whopping 3 bucks. She couldn’t bear to charge more since she’d only trimmed 2 inches. I tipped her 8, since I couldn’t bear to pay so little! To which she rewarded me with my very favorite expression in all of Tennessee….”I appreciate you”. It’s a common way to say “thank you” and I think it’s one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard strangers bestow on one another.
- there’s a sign on the road that reads, “Moveing sale”. and another, “pew pads for sale”. On the way here from Oak Ridge, we pass “Coward Mill Rd”. Makes me wonder, that one does!
- there’s a whole sherriff’s patrol car designated “Litter Patrol”. Where do you think one must be on the totem pole to get that position?!
- all of the neighbors here think it’s entirely acceptable to have a “town dog”, as long as no one has to admit they feed him more than the others or treat his mange. This grosses me out.
- since nearly drowning Saturday, my toddler has: learned to crawl into the fridge holding onto the shelf and letting the door close behind him, stand and nearly jump out of the grocery cart (3 times), open the door to the bathroom and flush nearly all the magnetic letters Grandma sent him one at a time, covered his head with a produce bag alarming other shoppers in the store, shocked his finger trying to plug in a lamp, and stuck a fork into a toaster. All of these things happened while he was within my arms’ reach; I will now cease to multi-task in hopes of keeping him around as long as possible. I have a new full time job; if blogging suffers, sobeit.
on 18 Aug 2006 at 12:54 pm 1.Michael P said …
Do we live in the same town and just don’t know it yet? Ha-ha.
West Brookfield runs a close second, although we just got a Dunkin Donuts this week. And let me tell you the controversy that stirred up. Yikes. Confession time…I was sawing logs this morning when you called (figuratively, not literally, although we do have to find some firewood pretty soo, nights are getting chilly). And my cell phone reception is crap, I don’t have a long distance provider on the home phone yet, and I’m off to work in an hour. So, maybe we can continue to chat e-mail or actually talk sometime this weekend. Let me know if there is a time you might be able to call. Look out for the litter patrol.
on 18 Aug 2006 at 1:05 pm 2.Tia said …
well it won’t be the first time we lived parrallel lives! We need to get some firewood soon too…
I’ll be home all weekend and next week too. I’ll call ya tomorrow
on 18 Aug 2006 at 1:58 pm 3.Shannon said …
Tia,
All of my children have thoroughly enjoyed the produce bags and have BEGGED for them at one time or another! Even now Sam, my SEVEN year old, loves to “put one on” and say, “Hey Mom, look!” and laugh hysterically! As long as I keep the fruits and veggies dropping into waiting bags I don’t have to worry, but as soon as I give anyone an idle moment, my “helpers” are sure to give all the toddlers in shopping carts around us alarming ideas!!
on 18 Aug 2006 at 1:59 pm 4.Erin said …
Stink! Firewood this early? It’s still 70 degrees at night here. I got so excited last Sunday when it was really pleasant and tolerable to go walking around neighborhood. 2 miles - I was really impressed with myself. Mind you that it hasn’t happened since but it will soon as the weather cools down further.
Tia, one question. Is everyone related in this small little town? I know in college if my friends came from a 2 stop light town, most of them were all related in some way or another.
on 18 Aug 2006 at 3:24 pm 5.Tia said …
i’ve heard, “I’ve got kin ’round there” more than once
on 19 Aug 2006 at 10:20 am 6.dali said …
Tia darling… it sounds like my little E. and your toddler are cut from the same cloth. I love God’s sense of humor blessing us with such adventurous children. She’s been missing her front tooth for a year now because she knocked it on the coffee table due to repetitively jumping off of it. The first time she knocked it, it lived. But, the second time it had to be pulled. Her other front tooth is gray due to the accident and she doesn’t let up. She has been teaching herself to dive off the side of the pool this summer, tries to do front flips completely in the air on my bed, she tried to do a backflip, too, but I had to nix that idea since it looked like she was headed for breaking her neck, and during toddlerhood she did things even more similar to your toddler… she ran down the street naked and into the neighbor’s backyard while I was in the bathroom (we live on a main street), she dropped an orange in our toilet which resulted in my husband having to install a new one because it wouldn’t come out (we figured out later that we could have possibly burnt it out once he uninstalled the toilet), she’s drawn on freshly painted walls, scratched a picture into the side of our Suburban, etc…