primitives discuss surprises in other people's houses

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101851132

Oh my.

Manifestor_of_Light (13,675 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

What did you see in other peoples' houses that surprised you?

When you were a kid.

In my case: Stairs, wall to wall carpet, and central air conditioning, which is a necessity in Texas. I had no idea you could be comfortable in your own house in the summer, because we were suffering horribly in the heat and humidity.

Populist_Prole (1,004 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. Dens, sitting rooms other than the living room, multiple bathrooms

Growing up, 6 of us, our house must have had all of 1500 square feet, if that. Bedrooms, a living room with, eat-in kitchen/dinette, one bathroom which was always the source of battles as everyone frantically jockeyed for their turn for their time in int he morning for shower and whatnot.

When I got invited to a wealthier schoolmate's house I thought I was in a museum and expected to see rooms roped off. Never saw a place with 2 or 3 living rooms ( as I saw it ) and bathrooms with just a toilet, and so much finery in knick-knacks and such. I felt humbled, but at the same time it all seemed too sterile to me: I got to wondering where they go to just plop down and let it all hang out?

grasswire (32,824 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

2. went home with a friend in grade school....

...and was surprised to see dozens of dresses hanging up on a rod in her room. As one of three kids, I had dresses, but not dozens of them hanging up. That girl later married my brother, and was still very fussy about wardrobe as an adult.

Manifestor_of_Light (13,675 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

3. Two bathrooms was unimaginably luxurious.

I grew up in post-war suburbia in a dump. Hardwood floors with all the varnish worn off of them. The only carpet was the bath mat.

No central air and only inadequate window units. There were many summer nights when it was 90 degrees and 100% humidity and I could not sleep.

No carpets or rugs, let alone wall to wall carpet.

Dirt, dust, pollution and animal hair blew through. I spent my entire childhood blowing my nose and trying to breathe. I still have bad allergies--so much for that "if you grow up in a dirty house you will have a robust immune system" theory.

One bedroom was unusable because it was full of Mom's junk which she refused to get rid of.

I never learned how to swim. My mother would not take us to the city pool, because I'm sure she knew what kids did in it. I told her that's what chlorine was for, but she did not listen.

She also threatened me with a bamboo switch for "running off". What was running off? Going outside to play with the neighbor kids, like a normal kid. She would barge down the sidewalk in heels, screeching like a banshee with a bamboo switch. My friends and I (I'm amazed I had any friends since she was a jailer) would hide behind a house and laugh at her.

She and dad did a good job of terrorizing me, down the sidewalk with a bamboo switch, although I could run a lot faster than they could.

limpyhobbler (1,067 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

4. swimming pool,pool table,water bed, mirrors on ceiling, all terrain vehicles, drugs, guns & animals.

pitohui (20,343 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

25. sounds like their neighbor was the 1970s

even regular people had some excess in relatively small houses, like entire "rec rooms" with bars and pool tables...remember people didn't have computers, plasma TVs or such to spend money on, it was even the pre-VHS era

Neoma (6,507 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

5. A girl I knew didn't have any dolls or toys.

Just a computer. We excluded her for this oddity... Who's laughing now? Talk about regretting your past...

Phentex (5,835 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

6. Food...

I saw pantries with cans and boxes (some like the very exotic pop tarts and Beefaroni) and refrigerators where you had to move stuff to get something out.

I never stole from anyone but I never declined lunch or dinner at a friend's house.

hunter (13,190 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

14. Our house was like that.

The only "instant" food was in-season fruit, eggs, bulk-bought cornflakes and powdered milk. Instant milk was yucky because our water was yucky.

A good day would be sourdough bread from the "day-old" (more like "week old") store, toasted, with butter.

The chest freezer was full of fish, game, and farm animals we knew when they were alive.

Normally, if you wanted to eat something besides cornflakes, eggs, fruit, or toast you were committing yourself to at least half an hour of prep, and half an hour of cleanup. If you wanted meat then you had to remember to take it out of the freezer to defrost. No microwave.

The other thing was heating and cooling. Other people had warm houses. Or cool houses. Nature had her way with us. We didn't have air-conditioning. The thermostat was "no touch!" It was only there to keep the pipes from freezing.

But we never froze because there were plenty of dogs to sleep with.

hunter (13,190 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

48. Yum! Nothing better than the smell of real food cooking.

Especially bread. (My mom saw no reason to bake bread. The bakery outlet was her candy store. So many different kinds of bread, all sliced and neatly packaged! And it could be frozen!)

But when I was a kid going to friends' houses after school it was always the food I noticed first. My friends' moms would give us Oreo Cookies and a glass of milk from a carton. Or small bags of potato chips. Or soup from a can. Or soda pop. Or Oscar Mayer bologna on Wonder Bread sandwiches. All the foods we saw on television...

Those foods simply didn't exist in our house.

LeftinOH (3,769 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

7. Color television (long after color TV became the norm). I was amazed to see familiar shows & images in brilliant color. Not only that, some homes had more than one TV set; some kids even had their own!. We had one black & white tv set with a rabbit ear antenna...complete with wadded tin-foil on the tips.

My folks insisted that TV was a ridiculous waste of time. In hindsight, they were right.

Glorfindel (2,846 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

8. Photographs of dead people in their caskets hanging on the walls

Sometimes bereaved family members would also be in the photos, standing around the casket.

MorningGlow (15,633 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

39. OMG OMG that reminds me

When I was 11, my mom, brother, and I went to California. One night we visited my mom's cousin. With all the grownups talking, I was bored, so my mom said I could sit in the living room and read. I went in there, sat on the couch...and looked up...there were a ton of photos on the wall, including this weird one from the 1800s of a guy with a white beard and white hair all over the place and bizarre, staring eyes that seemed to follow you. I got all weirded out, so I snuck back into the kitchen. My mom asked what was the matter, and I told her. Our cousin said that was a picture of her grandfather, taken in the casket.

What boggled me--and still does--is that these cousins of ours thought nothing of sitting in their living room every night, watching TV or whatever, with that photo on the wall staring down at them!

livetohike (12,758 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

11. An intercom system so the parents could call their children up in their bedrooms (or other rooms)

This was at the home of a distant cousin of my Dad's who had his own tool and die business. Their home was huge and the intercom system was something I had never seen before.

csziggy (11,260 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

28. Hubby's parents' house had an intercom system

His Dad was an electrical engineer and when their house was being built in the late 50s he wired the intercoms himself. He also ran wires so every bedroom could have a TV. They were ready for cable before cable was run in their brand new neighborhood.

LiberalEsto (13,273 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

15. Plastic furniture covers

A couple of houses up the street from us was a family that more or less lived in a museum. Their living room furniture had clear plastic covers, and nobody was allowed into it. Mrs. M. blocked the way into the living room with those velvet ropes on stanchions like the ones used in theaters.

The kids were allowed to used their bedrooms for sleeping only. The rest of the time the rooms were supposed to look perfect, Early American style. The kids were only allowed to play in one section of the basement. This was not a big fancy house, , just a little Cape Cod in a working-class, lower-middle-class housing development.

When Mrs. M. did her cleaning, she kicked the kids out of the house and locked the doors, even if it was raining.
My mom always took pity on them and invited them in. We had a great time bouncing up and down on the old Salvation Army sofa, watching tv and making a mess with toys. I felt so sorry for those kids.

Mopar151 (4,415 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

40. Houses that looked like Home Beautiful magazine

Like nobody really lived there. Big, showy, and soulless. No books, magazines, newspapers - anathema to my hyper-literate parents! No hobbies/crafts or tools visible, inside or out???? We were country folk, with a big garden, Mom's rugs (braided and hooked) and sewing, Dad's tinkering filtering down to me, my sister's art, 4-H projects. And our neighbors were more variations on the same theme.

My aunt had the sealed living room thing going on - but she lived in another state.

Nikia (10,894 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

17. A double stair case

That seemed pretty cool at the time. I think that it is pretty rare too. Other than that, I seemed to accept things as normal whether they were luxurious, like huge crystal chandeliers or primitive, like a coal burning stove with coal stacked nearby.

alphafemale (11,709 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

19. A trash can for toilet paper.

They had a septic tank and like 8 kids.

2ndAmForComputers (240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

20. In the bathroom.

At a friend's house. The toilet paper roll was in a... thing... that played music when you pulled it, like a musical box.

He said his Dad bought it on an overseas trip. I didn't even ask where.

JitterbugPerfume (17,558 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

21. well___

one of my friends has two full grown Great Danes in her house . I think she is pretty strange. It is a small house.

JoePhilly (10,763 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

22. I have a list ...

A walk in closet.

A bathroom with a shower AND a separate bath tub, and 2 sinks, with a "water closet", with a door for the toilet.

Hard wood floors.

An office.

One friend's dad was the pastor of the church, and so their house had a walkway on the 2nd floor that went from their house INTO the church (like a habitrail for a hamster).

Ceiling fans.

A game room.

Kitchen island counters.

Dog door.

A 2 story entry way (they had a 20+ foot Christmas tree in it).

A wall that was also a "secret door", that went to a utility room.

When I was about 18, my grandmother remarried, and the guy she married was very wealthy ... and he added pool room to his hours ... a swimming pool room. In ground pool, about 12ftx20ft, reaching about 8 ft in depth. The room also had a bar and a tanning bed, and 3 of the walls around the room had sliding glass doors. The 4th wall had large windows so that when you were in the main house, you could look down into the pool room.

I grew up in a small Philly row-home and so all of these things blew me away.

pitohui (20,343 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

23. dishes with candy in them

i suppose carb/candy addiction was not a reality in those families, a dish of candy would have lasted about 90 seconds in our home, even a HUGE bag of halloween candy lasted only a day or two

what most amazed me was the friend's house were they kept candy on display, and her brother was a type 1 diabetic, i could never understand why they would put temptation all over the house like that every day of his life but apparently it didn't bother him

as far as other stuff ... i was not "amazed" that other kids' family's had more money/stuff than ours, because it seems i knew from earliest memory that we were not as well to do as the other kids/families in the neighborhoods we lived in

but the dishes of candy, just sitting around, and nobody eats 'em all! that did astound me

bigwillq (57,559 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

24. The amount of folks that live in filth.

Like dusty, dirty, cluttered homes.

I guess having a OCD clean freak of a mother will do that to you!

Manifestor_of_Light (13,675 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

42. Filth caused by too many cats/too many animals.

People who have houses that stink like cat pee. I can't go in their houses. They seem to act like it's no big deal. Even if they have a housekeeper, it is still not clean and will set off my allergies.

I cannot handle it.

I am not the world's best housekeeper, but the clothes, the food and the sheets and towels are clean. I can't deal with people who think that electric dishwashers are against their religion, either. Their dishes are not going to be sterilized.

KatyaR (2,374 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

29. Flocked, satiny wallpaper.

We lived in a brand-new house, heat and air, carpet, garage, showers, etc., but I never saw anyone with flocked, satiny wallpaper in their house until I was 16 years old (1974-ish). It was in a friend's house that was built a few years before ours, and they had a lot more money than we did. They also had a basement--never saw one of those before (they're not all that common in Oklahoma).

Of course, I had one set of grandparents who never had a toliet until they moved away from the farm in their late 70s, and another one who didn't get a bathroom in their house until they were at least that old. Never bothered me that much until the one time I got locked in the outhouse and no one could hear me to get me out!

siligut (5,618 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

30. Butter just left out on the kitchen table

A whole stick of butter, just left at room temperature.

hunter (13,190 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

49. In my childhood home "room temperature" was a refrigerator most of the year.

But if we left the butter out the dogs would steal it.

siligut (5,618 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

50. I like the description of your childhood home.

Especially all the dogs. My dad was an engineer and very practical and frugal. Our house was always cold and to this day my own thermostat never goes above 62 F.

About the butter, I was mostly concerned a fly would land on it, flies have very dirty feet.

XemaSab (53,934 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

32. I couldn't think of anything too weird at other people's houses, then it hit me

My house was the weird one.

The bathroom door didn't close properly and there were mushrooms growing in the shower.

The kitchen had ants. LOTS of ants. Like I actually had a friend LEAVE once because she was grossed out.

We had two elderly, incontinent dogs.

There was a neighbor's house below us, and the big activity was throwing oranges on his roof.

My room was tiny and had a door to the outside. I think it was originally intended to be a closet.

The whole thing was a basement apartment built into a hillside, and the room up against the hillside was seriously scary. The furnace and washing machine were in there. One time I had a friend over and one of us opened the door and there was a cat in there. It had found a hole over by the gas meter and was just in there hanging out.

hunter (13,190 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

55. We used to throw oranges on the neighbor's roof too!

Silly neighbors, to build a house with a flat roof at the foot of a steep hill with citrus trees growing on top.

There were dozens of oranges drying on his rooftop until I accidentally lobbed one square through his daughter's bedroom window.

He came running out of his house like this:

I ran away, but alas he'd seen me. For punishment he and my parents had me pulling weeds for a very long time.

femmocrat (11,330 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

33. The neighbors never invited us in! LOL

Children were meant to be left outdoors, especially other people's children. We were such ragamuffin tomboys that no one would want us in their houses.

Odin2005 (41,175 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

34. A computer and internet (this was the mid 90s)

MorningGlow (15,633 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

35. A hidden half-door to the master bedroom

The only way you could tell it was there was if you noticed the ring-pull or the seam in the wallpaper. It hid a half-height, really narrow hallway that was about six or seven feet long; that opened into a tiny, TINY "bedroom" that only had enough space for a cot and a light sconce with a pull chain. There was a door to the main hallway opposite the bed-space. I think it was for a maid--so she could scoot to her mistress's bedside in the middle of the night if said mistress rang a bell or whatever.

I saw it in an old home that was up for auction--we checked it out during the "open house" a week or so before it went under the hammer. I loved the place, but it was so, SO run down I couldn't justify going for it. I hope whoever got the house treated her right. In any case, that hidden room fascinated me so much I put it in my novel. I still remember the forget-me-not wallpaper in that claustrophobia-inducing hamster run.

ScreamingMeemie (57,428 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

36. In 1982, at my "best" friend's...

A cordless phone. It was AMAZING!!! You could walk, like, 10 whole feet away from the cradle. And it had a really huge antenna.

Chan790 (11,443 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

41. Well, I wasn't a kid, but...

I have a cousin by marriage (my stepfather is her uncle) that the first time I visited her house I did a double-take because stuck right in the center of the glass coffee-table was a suction-cup dildo. What's more, it stayed there the entire time I was visiting as if this were the most normal thing in the world, that the coffee table be erect... no effort was made to hide it.

I respect and envy that level of shamelessness. I mean I'm 32 years old and I blushed when my mother found my gf's BC pills and condom-stash over Christmas.

Lydia Leftcoast (44,629 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

43. When i was five years old, I went with my parents to the wedding of one of my mother's friends.

The bride's parents were quite wealthy, and we stayed with them.

I was astonished to find out that their house had THREE stories.

Another time, I went home with a school classmate (I think I was in third grade) and saw that her family had three maids and a French governess.

Brickbat (10,957 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

45. Nazi paraphernalia and a framed picture of Hitler on the wall.

I was about 10; it was scary.

Burma Jones (11,365 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

47. Color TVs, Dishwashers, Butter, Bagels, Cold Cuts besides Bologna

My Dad started undergrad work in college right after I was born and we were low income but living on four different campuses in the 1960's while my Dad earned his BS, MS and PhD. So, we didn't own much, but we had access to so many incredible things for a kid to do. Once dad finished school and we joined the Professional Class out in the Suburbs, sure, we had more shit, but a lot less fun stuff to do.

Arugula Latte (35,145 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

51. In California, basements

We all had basements (in our two-storey houses) in Ohio, but when I was a kid we moved to California. Nobody had basements, and in our neighborhood, most people (like us) had one-storey "ranch" houses, which I absolutely hated. Having everything on one level seemed so boring to me. I never grew fond of that house (although looking back of course I know I was lucky to have a comfortable place to live and grow up). Frankly I still don't like ranch houses very much, but I can see why people with mobility issues do like them.

HappyMe (2,777 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

54. A Harley Davidson right there in the middle of the living room.

My boyfriend's buddy moved into one of the downstairs apartments in our complex. He invited us down for pizza & beer. The dude said that he couldn't afford to store it anywhere else for the winter and that he wanted to work on it 'til spring. So there it was, sitting on plywood covered with newspapers.

[jukin]

The DUches were born hateful and envious and they have continued to work on those traits their whole lives.

[JohnnyReb]

What!!!!!! All the DUmmies had friends that lived in houses?

[vesta111]

Strangest thing for me as a kid visiting a friend was the smell.   Seems they raised goats and unfortunately had a Billy on the property.

The family drank goats milk, cooked with it same as cows milk, even made cookies with the milk.

The intire home smelled like billy goat.   Now I have been around goats and the females have no odor, I can drink goats milk with no problem as long as a billy is no where in the area.

Oh I forgot about the Owl, I was dating a tree downer and he came across a baby owl from a tree he had taken down.   He brought it home, hand raised it, placed part of a tree in his livingroom and made a place for the owl.

When I met the man he forgot to tell me about his pet, now fully grown and had talons 4-5 inches long.  The sob had run of the apartment, my date waved a raw shrimp in the air and the bird took off to get it in a split second.

Problem was I as a stranger to the bird, it sat on the top or the sofa and made these clicking sounds, and the darn beak was just inches over my head.   And the talons were nothing to fool with.  The darn bird was potty trained, really, when it wanted to poop it headed for a trash can in the kitchen.     Now I hear of people that potty train birds to do this but I never saw anything like this.

 

[Freeper]

siligut (5,618 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

30. Butter just left out on the kitchen table

A whole stick of butter, just left at room temperature.

When I was a kid every house had that.

[thundley4]

When I was a kid every house had that.

My aunt still leaves butter out in a covered butter dish.  Way back when it was common. People didn't have margarine that was soft to spread as soon as it came out of the refrigerator.  I think there is enough salt in regular butter to keep safe for awhile.

[catsmtrods]

Mushrooms growing in the shower!

[Carl]

I grew up on a dirt farm and was as poor as they come for this area.
Very much remember as a kid being places with a color TV and seeing other kids with all kinds of toys I never would have.
Sure,at that age I wished I had the same things but you know what DUmbasses?
No matter how much I wished I had something I never once wished that the other person didn`t so I could.

That is the difference between normal people and you demented half wits.

[BEG]

Strange, we were poor growing up but I didn't know it. I had a happy childhood.

[vesta111]

I grew up on a dirt farm and was as poor as they come for this area.
Very much remember as a kid being places with a color TV and seeing other kids with all kinds of toys I never would have.
Sure,at that age I wished I had the same things but you know what DUmbasses?
No matter how much I wished I had something I never once wished that the other person didn`t so I could.

That is the difference between normal people and you demented half wits.

When I came home I got an apartment and had to furnish it with  patio chairs and tables.   Big deal took awhile to get real furniture but I remember having more fun with the patio stuff then when I got real furniture.  

Outlook on life , I was happy with patio stuff and the people that came to visit me and party---Later when I bought good stuff, I was worried some one would burn a hole in it , get drunk and vomit on it or worse case piss their pants on my furniture.  

Sometimes less is more, so your neighbor has a $20,000 dollar speed boat that he runs about for no purpose but to be out there.     You have a Kayak and spend your time heading into the banks to watch the shore life with out disturbing them, take awesome pictrues of  wild life.   Your cost for the Kayak is used $200.    

So while you are in your Kayak photographing nature, your neighbor has spent $90.00 in gas to just go no where.  

So I do not have this big boat , Yippie, I would not trade my Kayak for anything that has a motor. my Kayak, that is transportation, emergency get away, and  an experience of the greatest realixion and peace just 2 inches above the water.

I cruse about the marinas and check out the huge boats, wow what fun for them or is it. My guss is the owners are just so-so,   big party  that will beforgotten tomorrow, and I paddle off to watch some baby chicks hatch. 

[franksolich]

When I was in college, and shortly thereafter, I oftentimes "house-sat" for affluent people who were off on a long trip somewhere.  It was cheaper to pay me $10 a day to live there, than it was to board the dog at $14 a day and the cats at $12 a day each, at the veterinary.  And besides, having a person there was good security.

(Not to mention the pets were less discombobulated.)

I recall the first time I saw a bidet in a bathroom.  I had no idea such a thing existed.

And then there was another time I saw heated bath-towel racks.

This is off-topic, but when out walking the dog in its neighborhood during election years, I took especial care to ensure that the dog did its business on lawns exhibiting campaign signs for candidates of the other party.

[Evil_Conservative]

Strange, we were poor growing up but I didn't know it. I had a happy childhood.

Same here.  My parent's lived paycheck to paycheck, but I never knew until I grew up.  I was too busy grabbing all of the neighbor's and playing hide & seek, kick the can, cops & robbers, etc.  We didn't spend much time indoors, unless there was a blizzard or the tornado sirens were blaring.

[Skul]

Just another class-warfare type of post
DUmmies lie in comments to the OP.
Other DUmmies attempt to "out poor" the previuos commentor.
Really pathetic.

[GOBUCKS]

I really enjoy these DUmp poverty contests.

Of course, DUmpmonkeys lie, all the time, so nearly none of it's true, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

They still run a poverty contest every few months, but they've completely abandoned picture threads.

I wish they'd bring them back, they were great.

[catsmtrods]

Yeah we were poor. Didn't have a shower and only took baths on Sunday night. I got the used bathwater after my mother. I never noticed what was in other peoples houses cause I never went in them. I grew up in a little development that had about 250 tiny bottom of the line houses. 3 bedrooms 1 bath on a slab. Come to think of it that may be the reason we all left home. There was lots of kids and we all stayed out all the time and didn't know we were poor, we were happy.

[JohnnyReb]

No bathroom, we had an outhouse....but we did have running water, "Here boy. Take this and run get us a bucket of water."

[longview]

Only surprise I had visiting others was seeing people sit and stare at the TV when it was still nice out and daylight.

When I was in college, and shortly thereafter, I oftentimes "house-sat" for affluent people who were off on a long trip somewhere.

I still do that!  It's great!  I get to stay on prime real estate, in luxury, get paid to do it, and all I have to do is keep the high dollar horses and sometimes cattle fed and clean the place before I leave.  I usually fix a meal or bake something for the owners to have when they return.  

When I was raising my kids we summered in cow camps.  Haul in your water and food.  Solar showers.  Outhouses.  We had company often, and they often commented they couldn't believe I got paid to live in those places.  Heck, yeah.  I remember when family was visiting a nephew spouted, "Dad, I though you said Aunt (longview) was poor.  She's got everything!"  lol  But, I've had others gasp at the thought of raising kids without plumbing unless they were camping.

We didn't have a lot of money, but it was a great way to work and still get to be with my children.  We got to live where others could only vacation.  Even our winter quarters, though still basic, were in great country with good schools and communities.  They have wonderful memories and developed some neat skills.

but we did have running water, "Here boy. Take this and run get us a bucket of water."

   I gotta use that line.

[franksolich]

No bathroom, we had an outhouse....but we did have running water, "Here boy. Take this and run get us a bucket of water."

Good one.  Awesome.

I should perhaps be embarrassed to admit this, but I grew up in a house without a television, not even one of those little black-and-white portable sets.  I'm sure that for the 1960s and 1970s that was rather singular.

I had no idea why we never had one, and the parents died before I even thought about asking.

They never seemed to have anything "against" television; it was just that we never had one.

For obvious reasons, I myself never felt an "absence," and for reasons unknown to me, the older brothers and sisters apparently didn't either.  They were always hanging around with friends and neighbors who of course had television, but I really can't recall that they ever went to those homes to watch television.

Everything I know about television comes from.....reading about it in books. 

[Karin]

I really enjoy these DUmp poverty contests.

Yeah, I didn't read any more than 2 lines and I knew where this was going.  Trying to outdo each other in poverty.  They love to do this in pain and other general misery categories.  Who won the 40-mile-uphill-each-way contest?  

At any rate, I'll play the game.  What surprised me in other people's homes?  This one girl I knew, her mother would allow her and her sister to keep the dirtiest, messiest rooms I've ever seen.  You couldn't see the floor, it was shin deep in toys and belongings.  Unfreakingbelievable.  This mother was our HomeEc teacher.  Surprising. 

[ExGeeEye]

I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

And we were happy!

(Thanks, Pythons)