When my sister and I were little we would "lay-out" all summer long. When I say "lay-out", I mean literally lay out in the backyard, the city pool, the Amarillo Town Club (remember those days Sarah - that's a whole 'nother post!!).... even the pool in Gruver, Texas (that is the "new" pool that probably is quite old now but when we were little they had an indoor pool and that was the old pool - at the high school - how swanky is that? - but then when we were in jr high or high school they got a new pool that was totally outside... ) We would go outside in the backyard and take drinks, chips, sandwiches, our boom boxes - you know the ones with the D size batteries... geesh - those batteries were expensive (and half the time we would just use an extension cord and plug in the radio - ya know.. po') because you couldn't be going inside all the time and missing the sun and letting all the cool air from the swamp cooler leak out of the house (do you know what a swamp cooler is? my kids probably don't know what they are... it's an evaporative cooler, you know the ones with the pads that you had to run water over in order for the fan to spin and cool the air - and when it was really hot someone would have to go outside with the hose and spray more water on it....geesh! how ghetto is that!!!) and lay outside for HOURS....HOURS I tell you. Sarah and I had given the topic of tanning many, many thoughts. (at just a side note - Sarah grew up to marry Shawn - a total tan-orexic who goes to the tanning bed EVERY day.... hmmm.... and he just thought it was his charming personality, mullet and mustache that hooked her!)
Since we tanned pretty easy and we were poor... as in po'.... we couldn't buy the expensive tanning lotions that smelled like coconut (hello hawaiian tropics - I would wear that as perfume if I could!!!) no, no we had to improvise.... only now that I look back at what all we did, does it seem really, really ridiculous.... especially since I was out in the backyard today tanning.... sorry Sharla.... watching the boys play in the water when I decided I needed some sort of oil to really get me good and tan so I asked Scout to get me the canola oil out of the pantry and when I did... he stood there for half a second and stared at me like I had spoken swahili.... then and only then did I realize... I have a little problem.... When my sister and I were in our prime tanning years, we would get baby oil and put iodine in it for a really nice tan - anyone know where that came from? If someone is reading this and knows the origin of the baby oil, iodine concoction, I would love to know! We also used crisco, laid on aluminum foil, pooled money together and went in for a baby pool to lay in so it was like we were at the pool, (because everyone knew that the reflection of the water off your skin was necessary for optimum skin damage...) we did the sprinkler with the lawn chairs, you name it we tried it...
Those were the days.... I smile at the idea that as long as I was tan, I was beautiful.... how simple....I had a friend named Jennifer Carroll who got a tan and didn't want it to peel and she took her big ole' bottle of lotion to jr. high school (because everyone knew that you must keep your skin properly hydrated so your tan wouldn't fade....) clearly it wasn't just my sister and I who wanted to be tan.... anyhoo...I'm off to watch baseball and try to sit in the sun... just kidding...I'm just kidding.... sort of.... I have a sickness - you people shouldn't judge me!!!
7 comments:
I love it....I also loved to sit in front of the swamp cooler and smell the water and the wet pads.
I so remember the swamp cooler. I remember getting the leaves and pine cone needles out of the bottom so it could drain. I remember covering it with that shrink plastic in the winter so air wouldn't come in. I remember the iodine and baby oil. It was supposed to give you a deep dark tan. We also tanned on the trampoline with the sprinkler. Remember those silver tanning mats?? I wanted one so bad!! My mom worked at a beauty shop and I remember the day the tanning bed came. I thought I was really special cause i got to lay in it. I hate tanning beds. I get too bored and too hot to lay in them. I would rather be splashing around in the pool!!
Bennie - I always got stuck going out to squirt the pads with the hose!!!! no fun! Especially since as soon as I moved out - my mom got central heat and air!!
Stephanie - we should have been neighbors!!! I really liked the tanning bed until I got second degree burns right before prom!!! geesh!!
I have been working on my skin damage this week...and my hubby isn't too happy!! I got a little red on my back and he told me I should wear a shirt when I went to the pool today...I just said nope..I'll wear a different swim suit..like that really matters! Anywho...I used to climb on top of my parents tin barn..the silver tin, not red or any other color and lay on top of it for hours! On the roof of the barn you are closer to the sun!! My mom would yell at me to come down after I'd only been up there maybe 15 minutes..what a bummer!
Melissa - tin roof!! you lucky girl! I would have totally done that!! and Robbie sounds like Brandon - everytime we go to the lake he gives me the " you better not get sunburned this time!" speech - and I get sunburned every time - duh!!!
Ha....this was too funny! When I was a kid and I am older than you...we laid on our roof. Got a ladder and climbed right on up. It was so dang hot but the hotter the better. We used cooking oil too! Only had to sneak it out of my mom's kitchen before she realized it was gone and of course I was oblivious the next time she went to use it and it was all gone. Tried putting the sprinkler on a friends roof one time (she had a two story and we could climb out the window onto the carport) but her dad had a fit because all the runoff fell right into the driveway and into her mom's open car window! Good grief didn't he understand? Now that I am 45 heading to 46 I am going to a tanning bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate the heat but sick of the fat white arms and legs. There are parts of my body that have never seen the sun, but hey, they are adjusting fairly well to the bed...LOL I have a better "teen experience": my friend and I were trying to lose weight and tone up our thighs before the big rodeo. Had to look good in those skin tight jeans you know. So I bought the "Thinner Thighs in 30 Days" book. We did all the exercises and measuring. Couldn't see the results fast enough so I swiped the plastic wrap from mom's kitchen and we wrapped ourselves up tight!!!! Made it even better by wearing panty hose! Oh my....the torture we put ourselves through to look good!
Well Kim - you need to comment on my post more often! After I quit laughing about your comment - I totally came up with another post topic!! TIGHT JEANS!!! oh girl.... get ready for it!!!
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