Mother's Rules

When I was I kid I never got what I wanted.  For Christmas I asked for a Barbie Dream House or an Easybake Oven like Ally had, but I always got something different.  Hence, the Barbie Camping equipment Ally mentioned yesterday.  And my sister always got the exact same thing for fear one of us (my sister) would be jealous.

One year we both got that creepy life-size Barbie head that came with make-up and pink rollers for her hair.  The commercial showed all the amazing hairdos you could create with a little shampoo and set.  I couldn't wait to dunk my plastic Barbie head under the sink and get started on her makeover, but my mom wouldn't allow us.  She also didn't even like us to brush Barbie's hair because it left long, blond hairs on our green carpet.

As for the camping equipment, the rafts were never allowed to touch actual water, no matter how much we pleaded to put just "a little" water in the bathtub.  And when we were done playing, everything had to be put back in its original box.

Before you start feeling sorry for my horrible childhood, don't.  Remember I had my BFF Ally to play with and borrow her cool toys.  And not having my own Dream House forced me to make my own out of cardboard boxes.  That may sound lame to you girls that had the real thing, but it forced me to be creative and use my imagination.

Was my mom crazy?  You bet!  And the teenage rules weren't any better.  We were not allowed to spray hairsrpay in the bathroom because it made the mirror sticky.  My sister and I had to go on the front porch to lacquer our permed hair with Rave and Final Net.

But I survived.  My son is allowed to "play" with his toys and they are mostly stored on his filthy bedroom floor, not the original boxes.  As for my bathroom mirror, it is usually covered with expensive hairspray.  Every once in a while I clean it off with a little Windex.

-Lela