Memory Monday: Neighbors pt. 2

(Continued from last week)

The Kid: (Not to be confused with "The Kid That We Stalk.") This kid gave us the creeps. He was friends with our neighbors directly behind us, we'd sometimes talk to him from behind the fence. He liked to give a soul-sucking stare that gave us the creeps. Aside from that, our typical conversations would go like this:

"Hey... I got a new sticky bug!"

"Can I have it?"

"We're playing with Littlest Pet Shops!"

"Can I have it?"

"Um..."

Sir Gluteus Maximus, Knight of Indecent Exposure: (Ok, so we've never actually called him that... but do I get points for creativity?) He was a relative of one of the neighbors behind our house. This guy was creepy, weird, totally inappropriate, and he flashed my mom. O_O Needless to say, we called the police, and he didn't stay long after that.

Rude Lady On The Corner With a Scotty Dog: Last year I was going door to door, getting sponsors for the annual walk for our pregnancy resource center. This is how she got her reputation:

"Hello! My name is Kaylee, and this Saturday I'll be participating in a walk to raise money for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Would you be interested in sponsoring me?"

"Are you the house with all the... kids?"

"Uh... yes."

"No, I'm not interested."

Ok. Seriously. If she didn't have the money, the time, or heck! Even if she didn't support the cause, I would've at least understood. But that's just DISCRIMINATION! *huffs* Calming down.

Fezwick and Sherman Glumpkin: Oh, the joyous memories of such quaint little children. I remember how Fezwick would torture our dog with his yard tools through our fence. The joy on his face was just a sight to behold! And he was such an observant boy! Why, he was always looking through our windows with his binoculars. He even made sure to tell us about the things he saw. "Hey... you guys were watching a movie earlier. What movie was that?"

And who can forget Sherman? Such a lovely little girl. Always complimenting us on how long and unkempt our lawn was, and asking me if I had the chicken pox (wait a few years, Sherman, and puberty will give you the chicken pox, too!)

Thank you, Sherman and Fezwick!

The Jones: The Jones were your typical, perfectly average American family. They had 2 teenage daughters. I think one of them was a cheerleader. They had an awesome clubhouse in their back yard that I always dreamed of going in. There were always rumors about what was inside. Somebody said they had a TV, Gamecube and a mini fridge in there. O_O I doubt they were telling the truth, but to this day I wonder what might have been in there...

Mikayla and Lauren: About a ten-minute walk from our house lived Mikayla and Lauren. They were sisters, but they were total opposites. Mikayla was friendly and energetic, and had fiery red hair to match her personality; Lauren was quiet, shy, and didn't really say more than one sentence at a time. Both of them were closer to Kyla and Khloe's ages (at the time, about 5 and 3 years old), but I still had fun going to their house, playing on their swingset, dancing to Shakira, playing games with them, and occasionally sitting in on conversations between my mom and theirs. Their mom was Irish and their dad was Scottish, so I always loved hearing them talk. :)

Memory Monday: Neighbors pt. 1

I remember growing up in 4 different houses at different points of my childhood. There was the house that used to belong to my Auntie Gayle, my grandma and grandpa's house in Gladstone, our house in Banks, and our current house, where we've lived for the last 9 years.

In my 17 years, I've had the opportunity to be both a country mouse and a city mouse. (Ok... where I live isn't exactly the "city"... Suburban Mouse, maybe?) Our house in the country was on 1 1/2 acres. It had a good size orchard, with trees the perfect size for a 7-year-old to climb. We'd spend more time outside than we did inside. It was awesome.

I remember moving into our neighborhood and realizing how different it was. The houses were so close together, the people weren't as friendly, and -- terror of terrors -- there were no trees to climb! I remember actually crying over that.

We live in a neighborhood where people are constantly moving in and out, so in the 9 years we've been here, we've seen our share of neighbors. Some of them were awesome, some were strange, and some were just plain scary. Here, let me show you! (Note... some of the names have been changed)

The Snodgrasses: Two houses down on the corner lived Harriet Snodgrass, with her older sister, Bertha. The Snodgrasses were the first people to welcome us into the neighborhood. I played with Bertha for only a short while until she became a teenager and decided she was too old to play with me. :P After that point, I'd go to their house with Karissa and we'd play with Harriet. She had a really cool room with a loft and HUNDREDS of "Littlest Pet Shop" toys. The only problem was that she... um... liked to play a little rough. She liked to pretend she was a cat, so she used to jump on me and scratch me sometimes. She also tried to kill me once.

Maybe the years have eroded my memory a bit, but I distinctly remember gasping for air under her comforter as she sat on it, laughing maniacally. But... I could be wrong. :P

The Yegermanjensens: Jenny Yegermanjensen was a cute little girl around Kyla's age who we sort of adopted by accident. The second we met her, she stuck to us like glue. She sort of stalked us a little bit. She was at our house every day and went with us everywhere for a while. Eventually they moved out, and the Watsons moved in.

The Watsons: We were a little bummed after Jenny moved (although she was a bit of a stalker), but our feelings of grief were soon replaced with the excitement of new neighbors. The Watsons moved in next door, and they were great. They had 3 little kids around my sisters' ages. I have a lot of fun memories with these guys. We caught frogs with them, went to the park with them (I mentioned one outing here), and they were my first babysitting gig. *sighsnostalgically*

We were all sad when they moved away, but luckily we've kept in touch. :D

The Kid That We Stalk: Yes, this sounds creepy. There's this kid in our neighborhood. He has a bowl haircut with fire engine red hair, he's really cute and chubby as heck, and he only wears striped polo shirts. Plus, we see him everywhere. Like... wherever we turn, there he is. So it sort of feels like we're stalking him, but we're not. Hence the name.

Popcorn Boy: I remember the day I met Popcorn Boy. We were playing with Harriet and Bertha in our backyard, and Bertha started talking to him from behind the fence. I think he was pushing his sister around in a wheelbarrow, and he was all excited about his bag of popcorn because he put vanilla in it. I introduced myself and told him we just moved in. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, and gave us a bag of popcorn. He's been Popcorn Boy ever since. His brother soon came to be known as "Cheeser guy" because we'd hear him yelling at his dog, Cheeser (Ginger? Chopper? We could never tell what he was really saying).

To be continued next week...