Puffed Sleeves

When I was about 7 or 8 I called garbage, rubbish.

My entire vocabulary when I was a kid was shaped by Road to Avonlea, The Little House books, Anne of Green Gables and when I was slightly older the Narnia series (which sadly I have never finished this series, I have read The Horse and His Boy far too many times however)

My aunt often comments that I have been an adult since I was a baby.  This is true, my mom started reading the Little House series to me when I was three.  Anne of Green Gables is one of my earliest movie memories.  My TV diet when I was a kid was a steady supply of taped from TV, Road to Avonlea and the Waltons.

When I played with Barbies as a kid I always had this revolving story of them being pioneers.  Come on, I pretended my Barbies were pioneers!

I was one of those kids that could sit still and be read to for hours on end.  My mom and I spent a day when I was 5 or 6 reading A Christmas Carol, no kid that age knows any original interpretation of that tale, but I did.  We also read an entire Little House book in a day, it was one of the fake ones about Laura's great-grandmother (also I can remember what book it was) 

I took up Nancy Drew, being a stickler for the old hardcovers, I don't think I have ever read a soft cover Nancy Drew.  The smell just wouldn't be the same.  And I read the Bobbsey Twins, the Bobbsey twins.  I can almost guarantee that no one under the age of 45, and that is pushing it, has read the Bobbsey Twins, but I have.  Funny story I think I still owe late fees on a Bobbsey twins book because I was using it to construct some piece of furniture for my pioneer barbies.

My mom also read me The BFG more times that I can count.

When I was 9 I took up Harry Potter and it was like finding a new nook of home.  It was a world where garbage was called rubbish and sweaters were jumpers. ( Harry Potter is set in the 90's, wrapping up in '98 I believe)

I knew the synopsis of Romeo and Juliet when I was 4. ( I use the word Synopsis for goodness sake!)

In this long convoluted post I am not trying to show off my vast knowledge but trying to justify the reason that sometimes I call garbage, rubbish, or why I still mix cornbread by hand or why I am drawn to calico and know that the Kings only had sheep for one episode (it's the one when Aunt Eliza comes to live with them)  Why I shipped Felix and Izzy and Gilbert and Anne before I knew what a date was.   I should be embarrassed of this post because it shows how truly dorky I am.  Can I blame my dorkiness on my parents?  Aren't I as a child of this generation allowed to blame whatever I want on my parents?  

(also major dork confession, there was this cooking show hosted by an old man with a beard that would come on before Road to Avonlea and I watched it like crazy when I was 5… it's the reason I know that most commercial breaks are 2 minutes. I can't make it any worse but, we had a collection of gardening VHSs when I was a kid and I think I watched them every 2 weeks, 3 years old watching gardening tapes..)