Selected Memories From the Past: Where Bloggers Live
When the theme came up for memories from the past places we have lived for our Where Bloggers Live collaboration, I immediately went scouring my photo boxes to see what I could find. What I noticed was how many of the photos reminded me of a certain incident. And that’s what I’ll share with you today.
Quote of the day: “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.” Mother Teresa
Welcome to the house I grew up in from age 6 until I went off to college. Looking through these photos sure brings up many memories from the past. The house was a ranch-style house in Sylvania, Ohio at the end of a dead-end street. We didn’t call it a cul de sac because there weren’t houses at the end of it. The photo below shows what was at the end of it. A ravine with the cutest bridge. Man, if I’d been a fashion blogger then, that bridge would have been perfect for photos, haha.
Just a little more info about the house before I share all of the “incidents” that came up during my search through the photos boxes.
We moved into the house when my mom married my stepdad and I was in kindergarten. It was a 2 bedroom house with 1 and a half baths and a den (which had a pullout sofa we used as our guest bedroom). When my mom and Jack divorced, she kept the house and stayed there until she moved out to Denver in 1996.
The Ravine
So this was at the end of the street and on the other side of the bridge was a small pond that froze over in the winter. We even would go ice skating on it occasionally in the winter months.
Our street was a short dead-end street with no lights or anything. When I was young, there was a time that a car flew down the street and crashed into the ravine. Those were the days when I slept through anything, so I only heard about it when I woke up the next morning even though there were sirens and police lights that evening.
It was also a great place for my “dates” to park when dropping me off for the night to say a little goodbye (shhhhh, don’t tell my mom).
The Last House on the Left
That’s where we lived: the last house on the left. I’ve always heard that is the name of a horror film, but trust me, it’s not a movie I would watch (I’m a scaredy-cat).
You can see behind my mom the street down to our house. Where you see the light coming through is the main street which was a busy street. In fact, we lost one of our cats on that street. We were heading out for the weekend to visit my mom’s parents in Indiana, and as we pulled out to the main street, there was our cat lying dead in the middle of the street. I cried, and mom said if he was still there when we came home, we would bury him.
And he was still there. So we marched down with a garbage bag and shovel to get him and then buried him in our back forest.
Our Back Forest
This was the area behind our house which until I was in high school was all trees and forest. Of course, the land was sold and developed into large houses (which you can also see in the photo at the top of this post, behind our ranch house).
As a kid, my friends and I would go and “explore” through the woods and have a blast playing back there. Granted it seemed so big and never-ending.
One time my friend and I stepped on a hornet nest in a log. We must have been about 12 years old. They swarmed around us and kept stinging us. We were screaming and flailing around and immediately ran back to my house. My mom quarantined us in my room where we stripped and she applied baking soda and water as a paste to our stings.
There was a lone hornet stuck in our clothes that got loose and was flying around my room, and both of us were frantic. Of course, my mom rescued us by killing it. (Her famous words, “You’re bigger than it is.”)
Memories from the Past
Doesn’t everyone have a photo like this in their album? Well, maybe not the kids who grew up in Florida or Arizona, haha!! But this was the Blizzard of 1978 (so says the back of the photo).
I was trying to remember why the car would be in the driveway because we always had it in the garage. And then I remembered, my mom had taken me to see “Annie” the night before it started snowing. On the way home, it was raining and starting to ice up. So by the time we got home, the garage was frozen shut and we had to go in the front door.
Needless to say, the rain turned into snow and we had quite the blizzard with 4-foot drifts and everything.
I remember bundling up to go out to play in the snow, and my mom wrapping plastic sandwich bags around my feet to keep them dry and warm. Not that it really worked, because my feet would always be so cold by the time I’d come inside. Some things never change, LOL!
The Front Door
Who even knows why I was taking this photo? But the memories of the past that flooded me with this photo are about the storm door. I was playing tag with my friend in the house. Of course, I was running and in the lead and ended up going right through the glass door. Glass flew everywhere and I’m sure there was some screaming involved. (It makes you realize that the adage to not run in the house is a good one).
What’s incredible is how I was hardly hurt. Maybe a small cut here and there, but no trip to the emergency room.
Speaking of the Emergency Room
Here is the living room. And look at Charlotte in shorts!! Anyways, behind my mother is a stone fireplace. One day I decided I should hide from my mom as she was coming through the house and I raced to the fireplace to then hide behind the striped couch on the left. Needless to say, I tripped and hit my head on the stone base.
Of course, I didn’t stay hidden for long because the blood started rushing down my head, and I called for my mom to help me. She took me into the bathroom and started cleaning it up while I became pale and nauseated. Yep, the emergency room was in my future this day, when I received 3 stitches in my head.
The funny thing is they must have healed up wonderfully because I couldn’t tell you where the scar is located.
Welcome to the Kitchen Eating Area
Now there’s a face on my mom, LOL!! And meet my friend, Sarai who lived on the street adjacent to us.
This part of the kitchen was where my mom and I would eat ordinary meals on a daily basis. Doesn’t the kitchen and eating always have the best memories from the past?
For me, I always think back to this little black and white tv on the shelf. My mom still has that shelf in her place now. You can see it when I showcased parts of Charlotte’s and Lesley’s places. Charlotte keeps a bunch of her owl collections on this shelf.
What I remember most is having the tv on before and during dinner time and watching “What’s My Line.” For some reason, Soupy Sales was my favorite on the show!! Have you looked back at the YouTube videos from those times? OMG, how funny!!
The Dining Room
This area used to be the back porch until my mother decided to wall it up and create a dining room instead. Then they built onto the other side of this room so we would still have a screened-in back porch. The funniest thing about this dining room is the wall across from where I’m standing here (on my 18th birthday), was carpeted. Yes, that was my mom’s idea.
What that meant is occasionally we would find the cat climbing the wall. Gosh, I wish I had a photo of that! But it made for a great story.
Thanks for joining me on these memories from the past with the house from my childhood!!
Where Bloggers Live
What is Where Bloggers Live? It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, minds and life? I hope you pop over to the other 5 women to hear about their past homes.
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
The Series
Inside Our Home
My Community
Holiday Lights in Phoenix
Things to do in Phoenix
Valentines Day–The 3 Important People in my Life
Arizona Facts That May Surprise You
My Home Office
A Day in My Life
Our Front and Back Patio
Our Kitchen
Vacation Memories
Closet Tour
My Favorite Things
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
The Guest Room and Murphy Bed
The Remarkable Evolution Inspiration for Life
Help Me Figure Out How to Decorate My Entry way
DIY and Life Lessons
Home Away from Home
Can’t Let Go
Organizing Ideas
Books
Bathroom
Past Home Memories
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