Childhood | Somber Scribbler

NaBloPoMo Blog Her prompt: What was the one toy that a friend had that you wished you had when you were little?

I met Melissa the very first day of kindergarten. We were best buddies through grade school. We are still friends today. I see her every time I go back to Toronto for a visit.

Growing up, she had everything. We would play in her basement playroom where one wall was floor to ceiling shelves of toys and games. She had an older brother, I have no idea where his toys were kept because these shelves were all Melissa’s things.

Melissa was the first to have the baby dolls that you could actually feed and have to change the diaper. She had the cool board games that incorporated VHS tapes. She also had Barbie Fashion Designer. She was the only one of us who had it, so of course we all wanted to play whenever we were over at her house. She must have been getting sick of it.

I have always liked designing clothes. Just the drawing part though, I couldn’t sew a bag if my life depended on it. I loved to draw and I would draw characters in all sorts of outfits.

Barbie Fashion Designer was a computer program that came out right around the same time as CD-ROM. It was great because you got to pick the type of clothes, you got to design the fabric and then Barbie would model the outfit you created in 3D. That was my favourite part, seeing what it looked like on Barbie. The software even went a step further and allowed you to print the outfit on specialized fabric-paper so one of your own Barbies could wear your creation.

Melissa let me print one once. It was kind of flimsy. It kept falling off and didn’t fit my Barbie nearly as well as it did the digital Barbie. That part was a little disappointing, but I didn’t care. It was all about the design and seeing digital Barbie wear it for me.

My parents never bought the computer program for me. I was getting to the age where Barbies were no longer considered cool. They figured there was no sense in buying it and then having me lose interest. Little did they know, I was the type of kid who didn’t pay attention to what wasn’t cool!

In fact, I am so uncool that I got a brand new Barbie just this week! Hubby did the groceries and came back with this for me. She is still in the box because I haven’t decided if I should keep her, or give her to one of my nieces.

Yup, that is Scientist Barbie! The back of the box says “Scientists study oceans, space, the Earth & even animals!”. She comes fully equipped with her lab coat, lab safety goggles and a microscope.

Although it is very cool that Barbie is showing an interest in science now, she’s not quite there yet.

Those legs! Those Shoes! Clearly a safety code violation!

Good job Barbie, you’ll get there one day.

Share Your World 2015 – Week 11

It’s Share Your World again! Here are Cee’s questions for this week…

List 2 things you have to be happy about?

I’m feeling better than I was. At this time last year, my mental state was getting pretty bad. Now, I can still feel the darkness with me. I know it is there, just out of my line of sight, waiting for any sign of weakness. I am trying to fight it. It’s hard, but I have some hope. Hope that things will be better one day. I don’t know when, or how. I just have hope. That keeps the darkness at bay, for now.
I am enjoying my artsy stuff. At this time last year, I was forcing myself to draw because I needed to find something to enjoy and do something besides work. Now, it comes naturally. I look forward to getting my supplies out and creating something, however good or bad it may be.

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard or mayonnaise?

It depends what I’m putting it on. Ketchup is for regular french fries and tourtiere (meat pie…a Canadian thing). Mustard is for sausages and deli sandwiches (I like honey mustard or Dijon). Both can go on hamburgers. Mayo is just ick. I’m not sure if it is the taste, or the colour I don’t like. Maybe both.

If you were to paint a picture of your childhood, what colors would you use?

I would use basic colours, the kind that would come in a kid’s finger paint set. Probably red, blue, yellow and green. I had a good childhood, an innocent one. I had my family and friends. I learned to read, tie my shoes and ride my bike. I coloured on the walls, scrapped my knees and got sent to my room for being bad. I had a typical childhood, I did everything a kid was supposed to do. For that, I will be forever grateful. I was a serious kid and often had to be reminded to smile. I’m not sure why. I don’t remember what went on in my head as a kid. That’s just the way I was.

Do you prefer a bath or shower?

Shower! It is fastest. There are so many other things I need to do/would rather do.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last Week: My sister was in town, a bunch of us went out to the Ritz for afternoon tea. It was to celebrate her getting engaged. It was fun to dress up a bit and do something out of the ordinary. The Ritz was quite fancy. They had beautiful chandeliers and a Cinderella staircase. Even the tea nibbles were fancy.

This Week: I am having a really hard time thinking of anything. All I can think of is all the work I have to get done in the next few days. Let’s go with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The parade is this coming weekend and my family, cousins and all, usually go together to watch.