April 22, 2022

Friday Night Photos

Remember I said I was "digitizing" photos the other day? That just meant taking pictures of pictures because I'm technological like that ;)  Anyway, the sunlight was causing glares and reflections on the pictures, which was frustrating, so I came up with this ridiculous jig for my phone--and it actually helped a lot!

I just cut out a piece of cardboard and glued white paper on one side. I cut out a hole big enough for the lens of the camera on my phone. Then I used double stick tape to tape my phone on the cardboard side with the lens lined up to the hole. That way, when I held it over the picture, the reflection of my camera wasn't on the photo. Hahaha! Hillbilly picture taking, right there. (The picture on the left is a picture of me actually using it to take a photo. 


Moving on...
Back in the days when I was young I'm not a kid anymore
But some days I sit and wish I was a kid again
Anyone remember those lyrics? They are from a 1994 song called Back in the Day by Ahmad. The good old days of nostalgic hip hop! Here is the video on YouTube, if you're curious! (Or if you just want some nostalgia on a Friday night.)

I only had a couple of pictures on my camera roll this week, so I thought I'd post some of the old school photos that I recently went through and took pictures of. There are some oldies but goodies in here! I was thinking I should do a post about all my old horrendous hair styles (what was my mom thinking?!) but I realized I already did that post last year, hahaha.

So, here are some (hopefully) never before seen photos from my childhood...

This one made me laugh for so many reasons. This is Brian (my older brother) and my dad on the roof of our shed. First, I noticed the horrific caulking job around the windows of the shed. Then the fact that my dad painted the "chimney" to look like bricks. And I had to ask my mom what the heck the whole thing was--she told me it was a bird house. She was so embarrassed!



I have no idea what this mess is, but clearly I enjoyed eating it. Cookie dough? But how gross is that with all those hands in there! 



How creepy is that mask my sister is wearing (on the left)?! Hahaha, remember when Halloween costumes had plastic masks and some sort of plastic gown you wore over your clothes? I just thought this makes was hilarious. That's my dad and Brian with her.



I have to admit, I was a very creative kid. I was always coming up with new ideas to play, usually involving my best friend, Sarah, and our little brothers. On this particular day, we were playing barber shop. The boys had to sit on their booster seats (milk cartons) while we styled their hair.



This picture is so embarrassing I don't even know where to start. First, I decided to dress like a McDonald's worker for Halloween because my sister worked there (that was the uniform back then). Second, those glasses. And those teeth. But worst of all, the hem of my pants. 

When my sister was in high school, it was cool to "french roll" your pants--you would pinch excess fabric so that it was tight around your ankle, and then fold the extra fabric over. Then you would roll it up 2-3 times so that it stayed like that. I remember sometimes people used rubber bands to get them to stay rolled tighter, so I had to be like my sister, of course. I just used rubber bands to tighten the hems against my ankles. Clearly, I had no idea how to do it correctly. And as for Nathan--I have no idea what the deal is with his shoes!



I like this picture a lot and I can remember when it was taken. My dad was in rehab for alcoholism and it was my birthday. My family got to go visit him and there was a bedsheet covering "something" in the shape of a bike. When I pulled it off, I found this pink and aqua bike for my birthday gift. I loved that bike! (My dad has been sober ever since.)



This picture cracked me up. I'm pretty sure taking a bath in the sink was fairly common(?) but how many parents left knives stuck to a magnet right next to the sink while their kids were in there? Hahaha!



Oh, man, all you can see in this picture are rolls. My arms and legs look like they had rubber bands around them!


I had completely forgotten about this--does anyone remember when McDonald's used to have a playground like this outside? Do they still have these?



I have no idea what I was pouting about here (second person from the right). Maybe because Nathan got to hold a gun for the picture and I didn't? Haha!



I don't know if tetanus shots were required for babies back then, but from the looks of our swing set, they certainly should have been ;)



Everything about this picture is so funny! The wallpaper (yes, it was popular then, so I'll discount that); the random gun hanging above the mantle (my mom must have let my dad decorate), and the random "Happy Birthday Sue" sign that my cousin and my brother made.


Again with my glasses! My mom always let me pick out my own glasses.



How many of you recognize this couch? I swear, every single person I know had a couch like this at some point! (This is Nathan, Lance, Spence, and me. Spence is the friend of mine who passed away from brain cancer a couple of years ago.)



The neighborhood kids before trick-or-treating. I always picked the most embarrassing costumes! On this particular year, I wore Brian's Red Wings stuff. I'm not sure which player was on the back of it. I think maybe Bob Probert? 


I had to ask my mom what in the heck we were playing with and it turns out that it was a scope that obstetricians used to listen to a baby's heartbeat. The doctor would put the ear pieces in and then press the other part to the woman's abdomen. I believe Jeanie and I were at the birthing center where Nathan was about to be born.



At first I just thought this was a cute family Christmas picture, but then I noticed I was holding a hot water bottle. What the heck--?! I'll have to ask my mom about this one.


And there you have it--some fun family photos ;)

And this news is just in... my new nephew was born today! Remember when I went with my sister-in-law to her embryo transfer back in August? Well, the embryo transfer took and now I have another nephew! His name is Hunter and he was born at 2:11 PM today; he was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches long. I'm excited to see him!


Well, I spent all evening at Eli's baseball game and I'm starving, so I'm going to make some dinner. Have a great weekend! xo

(Here is the post with a bunch of the awful hairstyles I've had through the years...)

5 comments:

  1. Yes, everyone within 10 years of our ages owned that couch, LOL. It's weird... like, did they ONLY make that ONE pattern??

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  2. Yep to that couch. Was yours as itchy as yours. I love your costumes, expressions, and stories. Seriously though, I do want to know what's up with the hot water bottle. ;-)

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  3. Congratulations on the birth of Hunter!

    I'm 8 years older than you, Katie, and I have so many photos from when I was young that are so similar to yours - I was really chuckling at them. I had awful glasses very much like yours. I was allowed to choose the frames - my eyes were so bad, I needed new glasses every year. Also, I was allowed to choose one tiny decal to put down in the corner of one lens - was that a fad for you, too? I remember rolling the pant legs of jeans, but I was in junior high doing that, LOL. We also had to have multiple pairs of socks that bunched up along your ankles, in different colors to match your outfit. Why are some fashion trends so horrible?

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  4. Our couch was similar colors, but more fruit than floral. My mom was too cheap to buy a new couch in later years (because we almost never sat on the fruit couch since it was in the "formal" living room with no TV in there) so she had it recovered in the late 80's or early 90's in this like french blue color that was popular at that time. LOL

    And I'm sure there are some freakish plastic Halloween mask pics from my youth somewhere. I specifically remember this really hideous hobo one I had when I was maybe 3 or 4.

    Congrats on the new nephew!

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  5. This post is fantastic! You had me in tears at these photos. I think I'm 2-3 years older than you, so I related to this completely. My favorites: horrifying Halloween masks, silly activities to entertain ourselves (I had a school set up in our dining room), goofy glasses (I had my own). The printed birthday sign! I love this one a lot. I remember how SLOW printing those was and how EXCITING they were - haha! And, yes, my friend's mom had that couch!

    I see on a more recent post you are having photo woes - good luck getting everything back!!!

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