Memories of Miss Bev's

The other day I was doing a little shopping for Miles's upcoming birthday and I came upon these Toy Story 3 figurines.  Of course, the child in me just had to purchase them so now they sit on my desk at work and smile at me.  A quick google search finds the chatter telephone and Woody on the movie's webpage where I discover I can download a pic of them to make into wallpaper for my iphone.  I am such a play nerd I just may do that!

As soon as I saw the chatter telephone figurine I was immediately taken back to the playroom at Miss Bev's house.  Miss Bev was the "babysitter."  She was a good friend of my parents who watched my sister and I while they were at work along with a handful of other kids.  I have such fond memories of my time there; I believe I was somewhere between 4 and 7 as this was my age when we lived in this small town of 500 people in Iowa. 

Miss Bev had a time for play, a time for lunch, and a time for nap.  And a time for the "thinking chair" if necessary.  I can only remember one time I had to sit there.  I was the type of kid who was so guilt prone I rarely needed much punishment.

Lunch was things like mac-n-cheese, pb&j, and chicken noodle soup with milk in a small, pastel Tupperware cup and a wafer cookie for dessert.  Miss Bev made the best chicken noodle soup from the can because she knew just how many saltines to add.  To this day I can't make it like she did.

I don't remember the toys themselves, but I do remember playing and playing with Sesame Street in the background on a small black and white TV.  When I outgrew naptime I was so proud to sit with Miss Bev as she ate her salad for lunch and watched Days of Our Lives on TV.

Miss Bev and her husband had 3 sons, the youngest of which was about 4 years older than me.  One time they had a refrigerator box that their two youngest sons turned into some sort of puppet theater.  Incidentally, the youngest son now is a thespian (35 years later I know this partly due to the wonders of Facebook) and my sister also studied drama in college.  Another time Bev was expecting to start watching a new baby.  I can remember helping to clean their old navy blue baby carriage.  The baby's name was Lori.  Bev's middle son made up a song about her.  I have the strangest memory as I still know the words and the tune. 

There was an old Lori who lived in a shoe.

She had so many brothers she didn't know what to do.

She made them some broth and sent them to bed

And then she sat down on her Papa's head.

Kerplop!

God bless you Miss Bev!