Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A Halloween/school memory

First off let me say that W's Sept 6th post made me remember the following. So thanks W.

I so wish I had a picture to go along with this but I don't.

My grade school every year would have a Halloween costume competition. From 1st grade all the way through 5th I was either a clown or witch; I'd flip flop every year. There were 1st - 3rd place winners for each grade and every year I came in either 1st or 2nd.

But when 6th grade came along I told my mom I didn't want to be either of those anymore, I wanted to be something a little more grown up. She came up with THE BEST COSTUME EVER!

I was Dolly Parton.

Let me repeat that, at the young age of 11 I was DOLLY PARTON.

Mom had a blond wig that we teased to make it as big as we could but still look good. For about 3 nights straight she taught me how to apply the makeup since I'd have to do it by myself on the day of the competition. I got pretty damn good with that eye liner.

She bought me some funky boots and slim fitting pants from Sallys (Salvation Army). I believe I already had a sweater that was a little small for me so it fit nice and snug. Then the piece de la resistance (bad I know) was an oval pillow we had. We wrapped a rubberband around the middle and I put on one of my mom's bras (she's a big breasted woman) and fit the pillow inside. It was a little snug but under the sweater you couldn't tell it was a pillow at all.

At lunch time I ran home (I lived only a block from school and was able to go home for lunch every day) and changed into Dolly Parton.

I had every teacher laughing and a lot of the boys drooling! I didn't win a best costume prize but they created a unique costume prize just for me.

The rest of the day was spent partying in our classrooms. Those of us who walked home were not supposed to trick or treat yet. It didn't officially start until 3pm. But every year we all always did. At one lady's home when she opened the door she almost fell over laughing so hard. It took her awhile to get it out but she said I looked just like her mother. When she calmed down she asked who I was supposed to be so I told her and she said that made perfect sense since her mother loved Dolly Parton and wanted to be just like her.

Media quotes of the day: I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.

I look just like the girl next door...if you happen to live next to an amusement park.

I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.

The one and only Dolly Parton

6 comments:

dirk.mancuso said...

Oh, Halloween.

Good times.

No pics of you as the country queen? Those would make for an awesome October 31st post!

Katrina said...

I know, but I don't believe there were any pictures taken. I'll double check with my mom but I really don't think there are any.

Which is a total shame, I had it going on!

"W" said...

Moi? An inspiration for a post? I feel so giddy.

How funny? I never thought of dressing up as Dolly. I think i may have feared the woman parts. Intrigued by the doll yes, scared of the real thing.

Like our pal Dirk, I would love to see pics.

Katrina said...

Yeah, as soon as I read your post I immediately thought of that halloween. I had the best time as her I don't know why I never did it again.

I so hope there's one around that I just forgot about. I really do.

Foofa said...

My school didn't have a contest but we had a parade in the gym with a catwalk. It was great fun. I tended to dress as very strange things that had no congruity (Voltron, a Barmaid, A giraffe). I wish I could pull off those costumes these days and not get laughed out of bars. Now it's all about T&A (well I guess the barmaid would have worked). Looks like you were ahead on that one.

Katrina said...

The school I went to for kindergarten did the parade thing, it was a lot of fun. I was Little Bow Peep then and I know I've got a picture of that one somewhere.

Hmmm, Dirk I think you hit it on the head, I'll try to find pictures of Halloweens past and put them up on the 31st. Thanks for the idea.