It was while living in this house that we had all kinds of crazy fun. Some of our Shenanigans included:
1) Toilet Papering. These days you can get sent to jail for it. Back then, when the concept was new, it was a fun prank that you played on people you loved. And then you went back in the morning and helped them clean it up. At least, that's the way we always saw it. In fact, my mom herself is the one who provided the toilet paper, and even took us out and helped throw the rolls around! We had a lot of fun. We went toilet papering every time we had sleep overs. Like I said, we always showed up in the morning to help clean it up. Then one day, somehow my mom found out that it was against the law, or at least a very socially unacceptable, hooliganish thing to do, so that was the end of that. Because we really didn't mean for it to be rude.
2) We had this tree in front of our house that was great for climbing. The coolest thing about it was that you could climb right up and onto the roof. I don't remember doing that a lot, but definitely a handful of times. One day my best friend Karie and I climbed up, and walked over to the top of the carport, which was lower and allowed us to hide under the eave of the roof to the house. We went there to talk and plan, and to be away from all our siblings while we were at it. (Karie lived at the other end of Meadow Drive, so we always had siblings around, no matter whose house we went to). This rooftop spot is where we planned our Parent Trap campout, and various other sleep overs, that always included movie rentals and junk food.
3) This one is a not so funny shenanigan. One day this girl came over when my parents weren't home. I don't remember at all who she was. She could have been a neighbor kid that I didn't really ever play with, or she could have been a girl that followed me home from school or something. Either way, we had not made plans to play, and my parents weren't home so I did not let her in. Well, somehow she got in, and I didn't know it until crazy things started happening. I heard noise from my parents' bedroom, whooping and hollering, so I ran in there. When I got there, I saw raw egg running down the wall, and broken shells on the floor, but no sign of anyone. Then I'd hear a noise from somewhere else, and find a similar situation. Finally I guess she left, but I really had no idea what in the world was going on or how it was even happening, because I never actually saw her in my house. It was pretty bad business when my parents got home. I think that they believed me that I hadn't done it, and helped me piece together what had happened. I was so glad to not be the kind of kid that people would believe capable of that kind of mischief.
4) Not that I was perfect or anything. There was that time our parents weren't home and someone dared me to see if butter would stick to the ceiling. I'm pretty sure it was Sam, but I can't say for sure because I honestly don't remember. I didn't think it would, because butter is greasy. Looking back, it's unbelievable how it just absolutely didn't occur to me that throwing butter at the ceiling was a bad idea. Ugh! So I threw it. And it stuck. Let's just say that Mom and Dad were not happy with the situation. What made it worse is that it was one of those popcorn ceilings, so when my mom wiped the butter off, it took the popcorn with it, so we had a couple of glaring smooth spots on a ceiling that was not supposed to be smooth. Smooth and greasy spots.
5) This story goes that one day, when Dawn was really small, she climbed up the shelves of the pantry and found a number 10 can full of honey. For some reason, there was no lid on the can, but it was higher than her, so how did she know? Plus, she was little enough to not really care about a lid anyway. She ended up grabbing the can with both hands, and turning it upside down to see what was inside. Boy oh boy, did she see what was inside! Not only did she see it, she wore it!
6) Last but not least, this was Utah, so it would get cold and snowy in the winter. In our front yard, we had these hedges that bordered the front where the yard met the street. Oh, the number of things that got tossed into the hedges and lost forever more! In the winter, the snow would fill the hedges, and it would all freeze. So, great adventurers that we were, we would climb up and walk all along the hedges. It was awesome, because it felt like every winter we got to get the best of those darned sticker bushes!
Thursday, May 30, 1985
Saturday, May 18, 1985
Throwing Papers
My best friend Karie had an after school paper route. I think she only delivered them once a week, I don't think it was an every day thing. She would take the stack of papers, fold them, put a rubber band around each one, load them into her paper carrying bag, and hang the bag onto her bike. Then she would ride around tossing the papers onto people's porches.
Every once in a while, she would have to go to the doors of the people she took papers to, and collect payment for their subscription. This was called "going collecting."
I took my bike and went with her a few times, tossing papers. Once I went collecting with her. Nothing earth shattering, just something I remember doing.
Every once in a while, she would have to go to the doors of the people she took papers to, and collect payment for their subscription. This was called "going collecting."
I took my bike and went with her a few times, tossing papers. Once I went collecting with her. Nothing earth shattering, just something I remember doing.
Saturday, May 11, 1985
Fifth Grade Class
Here is my 5th Grade Class. Let's see whose names I remember...
There is Mr. Grant on one side, Mrs. Nishimoto on the other side.
Top Row: Lana, ?, ?, Nestor, ? Noelle
Third Row: ?, ?, Karie Hadley, Brandon, ?, Brian, Me
Second Row: ?, Alisha, ?, ?, Carma, David, ?
First Row: Jacquelyn, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
There are a lot of question marks, but I think I did fairly well remembering some of these random kids! =)
Ten Things About T.O. Smith School
When I moved to Ogden, one quarter or so into my Kindergarten year, I started going to a school called T.O. Smith. (The T stood for Thomas, no idea about the O). The school was within walking distance of our house, and about halfway between the two was the meetinghouse where we went to church, so we usually cut through the parking lot. We had two spots along the walk where we had a crossing guard. Here are the tidbits I can remember about going to school at T.O. Smith.
1) Teachers. Kindergarten: I can't remember her name, but I do remember that every time she introduced a new letter of the alphabet, she had an inflatable character she would bring out, who had a name that started with that letter. I remember how I loved that, I always looked forward to seeing who in the world the next character would be. Ha ha! First Grade: Miss Binney. I remember learning about fish. Maybe because for a long time, even into my adulthood, there was a book about fish that I had made in first grade, that my mom had kept. Miss Binney was pretty old, with short, curly grey hair and a very tiny nose. (We really do remember the strangest things!) Second Grade: Mrs. Gunnarson. She was also older, but younger than Miss Binney. I liked Mrs. Gunnarson, and that is the only thing at all that I remember about second grade. Unless it was in her class that we did the Pac Man reading challenge. Hmmm. Third Grade: Mrs. Rhode (pronounced road-ee). Oh, I adored her. She had a ukulele and she taught us all kinds of songs. I can still see her standing there playing the ukulele, and all of us singing, "Kukabura sits on the old gum tree..." She also drilled us on multiplication. I guess in her mind, the 7s were the hardest (maybe that's what most of us struggled with) so we spent extra time on those. Ever since then I have been a speed counter of the 7s, and they are my easiest multiplication facts. (After 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, of course). Fourth Grade: Mrs. Layton. In her class we studied the State of Utah, and we spent weeks making this cumulative book that had all the facts about Utah. You know, state flower, state bird, state song, founders and people in Utah history who made a difference, trappers and fur traders, all the counties, all that kind of stuff. It was a huge deal! I also remember that one day I whispered in Mrs. Layton's ear that I had memorized all the Articles of Faith, and I was so thrilled that she knew exactly what I was talking about, and she told me good job. Fifth Grade: Mrs. Nishimoto. She taught us how to sing Silent Night in Japaneses, and she ran out of time at the end of the year to make us learn all the states and capitals, so I never did ever learn them. And all my friends who had had a different 5th grade teacher could spout them off like rock stars. And our principal was Mr. Grant. I can still picture his face, but that's as far as it goes. So there you have it!
2) While I was in 4th grade, my mom had learned how to make a really cool Christmas tree by hot gluing baby food jars together, spraying them with fake snow, and working colored Christmas lights into the jars. They were really cool! And then she came to my class and taught us how to make them.
3) One year we all (as in, probably the 4th and 5th grades) learned how to do Bamboo dancing. For the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but we used these really long bamboo sticks. There were two sticks, and one person sat at each end of the sticks, and held one stick in each hand. Then they had to clap the sticks together and then on the floor to a certain rhythm, while people danced in and out of the moving poles. I actually had a LOT of fun with this.
4) At this school they wanted us to climb the rope and touch the ceiling. I never was able to do it.
5) Our school cafeteria had real, honest to goodness, made right there in the kitchen food. I remember seeing gigantic mixing bowls where they would make mashed potatoes, huge ovens, giant pots on giant stoves. Our cafeteria ladies were fantastic. Every week, they would choose two students (4th or 5th graders only) to help prepare and serve food. It was fun. We had to wear hair nets, and then we to use big scoops to put the food on the trays. There were no choices. What they were serving is what you got, and you didn't get to refuse anything. And then other cafeteria ladies would walk around making sure you took at least one bite of each thing. (The big trick was to use your spoon to make a hole in your pile of green beans, or whatever it was you didn't want to have a bite of, so it looked like you took a bite). At the end of the week, if you had been a cafeteria helper, you got to go down to the cafeteria after lunch was all said and done, to pull taffy. And then, as payment for your services, you got to take home a long rope of twisted, pulled taffy. It was the coolest thing in the entire world.
6) We had a spelling bee in 5th grade. Typical spelling bee--lots of pages of words to study, and all that. I was smart. But other people were smart, too. My best friend Karie Hadley was smart, and probably the smartest kid of all was Jeremy Richards. We were all in the same primary class, and we were all in the 5th grade at T.O. Smith. One day Karie told me that a bunch of people were saying that it didn't matter how many people were in the spelling bee, it was really only down to two people. Her, and Jeremy. I didn't really understand what she was getting at, but I didn't really care. I didn't stress about the spelling test, and I don't think I really studied for it. I was never really the studying kind of girl. But the day of the bee came, and kid after kid was eliminated. Finally there were only three of us left up on the stage--me, Karie, and Jeremy. I ended up getting 3rd place, Karie got 2nd, and Jeremy got 1st. I don't think it really mattered to me. Honestly, I had no concept of competition back then. It sounds crazy, maybe, but it was years before I realized that it really did end up being between Karie and Jeremy. I had a lot of fun with that spelling bee, and I think it was the only spelling bee any of my schools ever had.
7) Pac Man Reading. I don't know if it was just my class, or if it was the whole school, but each student got a Pac Man with our name on it, and they all hung in the hall. We had to take home these reading logs and record what we read. I don't remember if they tracked it by pages or books, but every time you read to the milestone marker, you got a ghost to hang on your Pac Man. Different colored ghosts represented different numbers of books (or pages, whatever it was). I had a lot of fun with that. I don't know where I ranked among the super readers, but I read my little heart out. It was something I loved to do and it was so fun to watch my string of ghosts get longer, and longer, and longer.
8) Out in the back there was an obstacle course that we got to run at recess if we wanted. We probably also used it during PE sometimes, but I don't remember that. There was a big field where we used to play Steal the Flag (which is now called Capture the Flag). But my favorite thing of all was the tetherball. I was so, so so so good at tetherball. I couldn't run super fast, and I couldn't climb the rope, but I could play tetherball like a champ. I played tetherball all recess, every recess. I loved it so much that at one point, my mom and dad bought me a tetherball for the back yard and it was the best present I ever got.
9) I was in 3rd grade when I decided I wanted to change my name to Katie. But not yet being strong in the conventions of spelling, I spelled it Kattie. (Because I thought two ts looks way better than one t). I was adamant that people call me Katie. Mrs. Rhode was so understanding and kind, that she did it. Even to t he point that when I got a certificate for something in class, she wrote my name as Katie Chandler. (I don't think I had ever mentioned how I was spelling it in my mind, LOL). I'll never forget what a kind thing it was for my teacher to be so understanding of the notions that can come into kids' heads sometimes. It wasn't too long before I got over that, and just went back to being Nyla.
10) Like any good elementary school, in 4th grade they started teaching us the recorder. We had music class on the stage, with the curtains closed off so we couldn't see the gym. I have no idea if our classroom teacher taught us music, or if there was a specific music teacher for the job. I do know that we played recorder for our school, and probably for our parents at one point. One time, when we were all there on the risers, someone in the back fainted from having had locked her knees. That was so crazy to me, I had never heard fainting because of locking your knees. In fact, I had no idea what locking your knees even meant.
1) Teachers. Kindergarten: I can't remember her name, but I do remember that every time she introduced a new letter of the alphabet, she had an inflatable character she would bring out, who had a name that started with that letter. I remember how I loved that, I always looked forward to seeing who in the world the next character would be. Ha ha! First Grade: Miss Binney. I remember learning about fish. Maybe because for a long time, even into my adulthood, there was a book about fish that I had made in first grade, that my mom had kept. Miss Binney was pretty old, with short, curly grey hair and a very tiny nose. (We really do remember the strangest things!) Second Grade: Mrs. Gunnarson. She was also older, but younger than Miss Binney. I liked Mrs. Gunnarson, and that is the only thing at all that I remember about second grade. Unless it was in her class that we did the Pac Man reading challenge. Hmmm. Third Grade: Mrs. Rhode (pronounced road-ee). Oh, I adored her. She had a ukulele and she taught us all kinds of songs. I can still see her standing there playing the ukulele, and all of us singing, "Kukabura sits on the old gum tree..." She also drilled us on multiplication. I guess in her mind, the 7s were the hardest (maybe that's what most of us struggled with) so we spent extra time on those. Ever since then I have been a speed counter of the 7s, and they are my easiest multiplication facts. (After 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, of course). Fourth Grade: Mrs. Layton. In her class we studied the State of Utah, and we spent weeks making this cumulative book that had all the facts about Utah. You know, state flower, state bird, state song, founders and people in Utah history who made a difference, trappers and fur traders, all the counties, all that kind of stuff. It was a huge deal! I also remember that one day I whispered in Mrs. Layton's ear that I had memorized all the Articles of Faith, and I was so thrilled that she knew exactly what I was talking about, and she told me good job. Fifth Grade: Mrs. Nishimoto. She taught us how to sing Silent Night in Japaneses, and she ran out of time at the end of the year to make us learn all the states and capitals, so I never did ever learn them. And all my friends who had had a different 5th grade teacher could spout them off like rock stars. And our principal was Mr. Grant. I can still picture his face, but that's as far as it goes. So there you have it!
2) While I was in 4th grade, my mom had learned how to make a really cool Christmas tree by hot gluing baby food jars together, spraying them with fake snow, and working colored Christmas lights into the jars. They were really cool! And then she came to my class and taught us how to make them.
3) One year we all (as in, probably the 4th and 5th grades) learned how to do Bamboo dancing. For the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but we used these really long bamboo sticks. There were two sticks, and one person sat at each end of the sticks, and held one stick in each hand. Then they had to clap the sticks together and then on the floor to a certain rhythm, while people danced in and out of the moving poles. I actually had a LOT of fun with this.
4) At this school they wanted us to climb the rope and touch the ceiling. I never was able to do it.
5) Our school cafeteria had real, honest to goodness, made right there in the kitchen food. I remember seeing gigantic mixing bowls where they would make mashed potatoes, huge ovens, giant pots on giant stoves. Our cafeteria ladies were fantastic. Every week, they would choose two students (4th or 5th graders only) to help prepare and serve food. It was fun. We had to wear hair nets, and then we to use big scoops to put the food on the trays. There were no choices. What they were serving is what you got, and you didn't get to refuse anything. And then other cafeteria ladies would walk around making sure you took at least one bite of each thing. (The big trick was to use your spoon to make a hole in your pile of green beans, or whatever it was you didn't want to have a bite of, so it looked like you took a bite). At the end of the week, if you had been a cafeteria helper, you got to go down to the cafeteria after lunch was all said and done, to pull taffy. And then, as payment for your services, you got to take home a long rope of twisted, pulled taffy. It was the coolest thing in the entire world.
6) We had a spelling bee in 5th grade. Typical spelling bee--lots of pages of words to study, and all that. I was smart. But other people were smart, too. My best friend Karie Hadley was smart, and probably the smartest kid of all was Jeremy Richards. We were all in the same primary class, and we were all in the 5th grade at T.O. Smith. One day Karie told me that a bunch of people were saying that it didn't matter how many people were in the spelling bee, it was really only down to two people. Her, and Jeremy. I didn't really understand what she was getting at, but I didn't really care. I didn't stress about the spelling test, and I don't think I really studied for it. I was never really the studying kind of girl. But the day of the bee came, and kid after kid was eliminated. Finally there were only three of us left up on the stage--me, Karie, and Jeremy. I ended up getting 3rd place, Karie got 2nd, and Jeremy got 1st. I don't think it really mattered to me. Honestly, I had no concept of competition back then. It sounds crazy, maybe, but it was years before I realized that it really did end up being between Karie and Jeremy. I had a lot of fun with that spelling bee, and I think it was the only spelling bee any of my schools ever had.
7) Pac Man Reading. I don't know if it was just my class, or if it was the whole school, but each student got a Pac Man with our name on it, and they all hung in the hall. We had to take home these reading logs and record what we read. I don't remember if they tracked it by pages or books, but every time you read to the milestone marker, you got a ghost to hang on your Pac Man. Different colored ghosts represented different numbers of books (or pages, whatever it was). I had a lot of fun with that. I don't know where I ranked among the super readers, but I read my little heart out. It was something I loved to do and it was so fun to watch my string of ghosts get longer, and longer, and longer.
8) Out in the back there was an obstacle course that we got to run at recess if we wanted. We probably also used it during PE sometimes, but I don't remember that. There was a big field where we used to play Steal the Flag (which is now called Capture the Flag). But my favorite thing of all was the tetherball. I was so, so so so good at tetherball. I couldn't run super fast, and I couldn't climb the rope, but I could play tetherball like a champ. I played tetherball all recess, every recess. I loved it so much that at one point, my mom and dad bought me a tetherball for the back yard and it was the best present I ever got.
9) I was in 3rd grade when I decided I wanted to change my name to Katie. But not yet being strong in the conventions of spelling, I spelled it Kattie. (Because I thought two ts looks way better than one t). I was adamant that people call me Katie. Mrs. Rhode was so understanding and kind, that she did it. Even to t he point that when I got a certificate for something in class, she wrote my name as Katie Chandler. (I don't think I had ever mentioned how I was spelling it in my mind, LOL). I'll never forget what a kind thing it was for my teacher to be so understanding of the notions that can come into kids' heads sometimes. It wasn't too long before I got over that, and just went back to being Nyla.
10) Like any good elementary school, in 4th grade they started teaching us the recorder. We had music class on the stage, with the curtains closed off so we couldn't see the gym. I have no idea if our classroom teacher taught us music, or if there was a specific music teacher for the job. I do know that we played recorder for our school, and probably for our parents at one point. One time, when we were all there on the risers, someone in the back fainted from having had locked her knees. That was so crazy to me, I had never heard fainting because of locking your knees. In fact, I had no idea what locking your knees even meant.
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