Bee's questions...

I haven't done this is soo long! I was going to have this done before Christmas! LOL Not anymore. Maybe I'll start with a Bee day are something!

Did you have any childhood diseases or health problems? Any stitches or broken bones?
I had salmonilla poisioning in my blood when I was about 7. The doctors didn't know what it was for a few days so I stayed in the hospital. My mom stayed with me on a cot. She found out there that she would get heartburn from bananas. Funny how you remember stuff. When I was 21 I was diagnosed with ITP...low platelets. You had it to when you were born because you had my blood in you. You now have great blood. I haven't had stitches..your aunt Kassy has had enough for all of us. I broken all my toes on the bulkhead in the swimming pool when I was on the swim team. I remember one time, my big toe popped out of the joint and I had to have Kassy pulled on it to pop it back in. All our friends were screaming around us.

Have you ever been hospitalized, or have you had surgery? What for?
See above for one. I was hospitalized for the ITP on Thanksgiving. And then again a year later to have my spleen out. Who needs one of those anyway??

What were some of the best experiences in your early life?
All of them have to do with your aunt Kassy. We used to play together all the time. We would go out on the boat with mom almost everyday in the summer. We would jump on the trampoline. Dance to music on the radio. Ride bikes in the front with Murphy. I don't know what else but we were always playing together.

What were your favorite family traditions?
I don't know if we have that many. Christmas eve we opened one present from Mom and Dad. It was usually PJ's or underwear. We have turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. We would go get a tree Thanksgiving weekend. We didn't put up the tree until after my birthday when I was younger, but that was lost when we got older cuz I didn't mind. We make a gingerbread house with candy every year. We go out for dinner on our birthdays. And I think that's it.

What did you do on Valentine's Day? Did you make your own valentines? How did you deliever them? Did you have valentine box at school?
My dad would bring home flowers for us and mom. We would buy our valentine cards for everybody in our class. We usually had a homemade box at school and a party.

What did you do on Easter? Did you dye eggs and hide baskets?
We would have the Easter bunny visit us. The baskets were on the kitchen table with bunny prints around them. My parents would hide the dyed eggs around the house. We would usually dye them a few days before with friends and family.

What did you do on the Fourth of July? Did you set off your own fireworkds? Did you have a barbecue or picnic?
We usually celebrated the fourth with Dad's birthday, which is the fifth. So we would have friends and family over, or we'd go over to someone's house. For a few years it was my parent's friend's house, Lacy Elaine. We would buy fireworks and set them off in the street. A few years we got on the roof and watched a few from there. When we moved to the big house, we could see the fireworks in Everett from the upper deck.

On Halloween, did you play tricks on anyone? Did you go trick or treating?
We didn't play tricks on each other. I didn't even know that was part of Halloween until I was 20. We did go trick or treating every year until I was about 16. It was so fun to dress up and go door to door. We knew most people in our neighborhood so it was safe. I wouldn't do that now though.

What did you do on thanksgiving? Who came to visit? Where did you go to eat?
When I was little we used to drive to Grandma and Grandpa Carlson's house. We did this a few years because we didn't want Santa to miss our house. When we stayed home, Unka (Uncle Kelly) and sometimes Uncle David would come over. Everyone was invited and some years it was just us, others we had lots of people.

What did you do on Christmas? Did Santa visit your home? Did you ever see or talk to him? Did you hang stockings? What did Santa leave in them?
We opened presents early in the morning. I would wake up first and then wake everyone else up. Usually around 5am! Santa would visit in the night. He usually gave us our big gifts like the Nintendo or bikes or computer. We would see Santa at the mall but we knew they weren't real. One year we wrote him a letter and HE WROTE US BACK!! We got stickers and everything!! We hung stockings but that's where we got toothbrushes and pencils and socks and candy.

Did you have a Christmas tree? Buy it? Cut it? What were the decorations like? Tell about your most memorable Christmas.
We did have a Christmas tree. We would go cut our tree at Mr. Doshel's tree farm for along time. Then we got Grandma's fake tree....boo!! But mom liked it better so that's what we got. Our ornaments were all different. Some were homemade, some were from Grandma Slattery, some were gifts. All different and all fun!

What did you do on New Year's Eve? Were you allowed to stay up until midnight? Did you do anything special at midnight?
New Year's wasn't a big thing for us. Some years would stayed up, others we didn't. We would watch the ball on tv and that was it. When I was 16, I would go to church dances and celebrate there. The balloons would drop. We'd go home after. Nothing big. Sometimes would make goals but most of the time, not.

How is the world different now from what it was like when you were a child?
I'm not sure if it's changed a whole lot from when I was a kid. I know that there seems to be more scary people. Or maybe it's just me getting older and realizing it. We have better movies. Some people teach their kids sign language. We have better medicines. We have different beliefs on child raising and better ultrasound machines. Other than that, not much is different.

K that's enough for today! Thanks for reading!