Words that end in “urple”November 8th, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
I may have mentioned before that there are six of us in my family (not including the numerous aunts and uncles that also lived with us). I may have also mentioned that all of our names begin with the same damn letter. Yes, even my parent’s names begin with “J”.
Since there were so many of us, like most moms, my mom would write our names on everything. Eventually we didn’t want our names written on the insides of our underwear or our socks. Shocking, I know. And since we all had the exact same initials she couldn’t go that route. Which meant she had to come up with a code to represent each of us.
From the time I was about seven or eight I had an “X” on the toe of every sock I owned and on the inside of my coats and jackets. I can’t seem to remember what the other codes were. And frankly, that wasn’t important. I only needed to know my own code.
(I do recall that my mom was “J”. Which I never thought was fair. I guess since she was the one that came up with the codes, she got to choose.)
(Now that I think about it I’m pretty sure my dad was “D”. You know, for “dad”. It was all a very advanced coding system.)
(And my little sister was “L” since she had an “L” in her name. Again, very advanced. Dan Brown has nothing on my mom.)
Since there were so many different toothbrushes and, Heaven forbid, someone would use a toothbrush that wasn’t their own, my mom also came up with a very advanced system for assigning ownership of toothbrushes.
It went like this: I was purple.
Yes, every toothbrush I ever owned was purple. When I went to the dentist for a cleaning I automatically asked for a purple toothbrush to take home. When we got new toothbrushes in our Christmas stockings mine was always purple. (What, you mean everyone doesn’t get new toothbrushes for Christmas?)
When I first moved out to my freshman dorm I went with a purple toothbrush in tow. When my first husband and I were married I was the one sporting the purple toothbrush in our all pink bathroom. After my divorce I moved back in with my folks and brought the purpleness with me. Even though I had my own bathroom I took no chances at getting my toothbrush confused with another one.
At this very second I own no less then five toothbrushes. (Pretty teeth are very important to me.) Every single one of them is purple. And not only are my toothbrushes purple, but my toothbrush cases are also purple.
I was programmed young. And apparently the programming was so successful that I still am all about the purple.
(For the record, I don’t even really like the color purple.)
Let me present you with picture proof.
My everyday toothbrush:
Okay, so it’s technically white. But look, the cover is purple. And just in case The King mistakes it for his own, I have used a small dot of purple(!) fingernail polish to color code it (the fingernail polish is also an old trick taught to me by my mom).
My work toothbrush:
Purple. And with a purple case!
My backup home toothbrush:
Purple!
My travel toothbrush:
Yes, it’s purple. I bought this toothbrush to keep in my hospital bag before Babboo was born. Not only is it purple, but I wrote “J” on it. You know, so The King wouldn’t accidentally use it.
What has my mother done to me? And more importantly how can I stop it?
(I wish I had taken a picture of the toothbrush I found at my parents house this last weekend. It was purple. And upon further investigation I noticed that my mom had written my name on it with fingernail polish.)
—————-
Want to see pictures and hear all about Babboo’s first hair cut? It’s my latest New Thing.
Want to hear about how my boss told me my career was headed for the toilet because I’m a mom? I tell you all about it over at SeattleMomBlogs.
Want to read Eve’s review of our night spent at the Ben Lee concert on Monday?! She blogs about it HERE. She also posted pictures of us meeting Ben Lee (at which point he called us MILFS, awesome!). He’s cute!
And you know you want to read Carrisa, SillyHily and I talk about TV all the damn time. So don’t forget to check out WeHeartTV.
Back in the Day · Me · They're just my family
heidikins
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Haha! My fam was the same way! Four people, one bathroom, my toothbrush was always always always green. You know that seafoam-green toothbrush color? Yeah, that was me. Every now and again I’ll branch out and get a blue toothbrush, and once I picked up a pink one… but at heart I am still a green toothbrush kind of girl.
Tv Reviews » Words that end in “urple”
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:39 pm
[...] hola, isabel wrote an interesting post today on Words that end in â??urpleâ??Here’s a quick excerpt I may have mentioned before that there are six of us in my family (not including the numerous aunts and uncles that also lived with us). I may have also mentioned that all of our names begin with the same damn letter. Yes, even my parent’s names begin with “J”. Since there were so many of us, like most moms, my mom would write our names on everything. Eventually we didn’t want our names written on the insides of our underwear or our socks. Shocking, I know. And since we all had the exact same [...]
David McNelis
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Awesome. You are NOT the only one to get toothbrushes for Christmas in our stockings. We also got toothpaste, a tangerine, chapstic, deodorant, and when we finally hit puberty, razor blades and shaving cream! (Yes, we STILL get stockings at my parents house for Christmas).
My color was always blue though, not purple, purple is a girls color! Ewww, cooties!
Oh, and total congrats on having Ben call you guys Milfs, I’m sure you were super excited to here that!
Laurel
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:49 pm
My mom sewed an “x” in the toe of her socks, my sister’s socks and my socks in a different color. I can’t remember what the toothbrush situation was… perhaps because there were only two kids, it was easy enough to pick out two distinctive toothbrushes every 6 months.
Dirka
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:50 pm
The family across the street from my parents house growing up all had J first names. In order from oldest to youngest: Julie, Jeff, Jennel, Josh, Joey, John, James
Also? My parents have friends named Julie and Jeff and they have 3 kids, Jayleen, Joleen, and JD. I think J is a favorite for the same first letter families. The http://www.duggarfamily.com all the kids start with J, too. Interesting…
Keri
said,
November 8, 2007 at 5:52 pm
We always got toothbrushes & now my girls do too. I was creating my spreadsheet of Christmas gifts (don’t ask - its color coded & all!) and toothbrush is included under the “Stocking section” for both kids
My husband is one of 4. They all had assigned colors for cups they used. Now, when we’re all together, they still try to use the same system/cups. My MIL even bought a cup for me so I dont use someone else’s!
Operation Pink Herring
said,
November 8, 2007 at 6:14 pm
My mom had it easy since we all three had different initials. J,K,M on everything, and she was L. (I always thought it was funny that our initials are all together in the alphabet).
Living with another J has posed a problem. I have to use our full initials on lunches, and if the container is not markable I have a complicated system. If it’s a day where I’ll be leaving first, my lunch goes on top. If Joel will be leaving first, his goes on top. If I’m not sure, his goes in the front of the fridge and mine gets hidden so he doesn’t take it by accident. Hasn’t failed me yet!
Danielle
said,
November 8, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I don’t think I ever got a toothbrush for Christmas but I did get navel oranges in my stocking one year. Oranges! Of course looking back I can see why, but at the time I was not too thrilled about it.
Jana
said,
November 8, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Don’t feel bad, all of my brothers and sisters (and I) have J names. My mom’s name starts with a J, too. I bet we have at least one name in common!
Kim
said,
November 8, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I got an orange every year, too. It was always at the toe of my stocking. I give them to my kids now. (I mean, Santa does.) And I always give them socks and underwear as one of their presents, like my mom did for us.
My mom taught me the nail polish trick. My deadbolt key has pink nail polish so I can tell it from the handset key.
Procrastamom
said,
November 8, 2007 at 7:53 pm
My three kids all have “A” names, so when I’m writing on something that belongs to them I write either their whole initials: ARB, AMB, ABB or just their middle initials: R, M, B.
It’s easy once you get a system and it looks like your Mom had hers down to a science. And that you passed her course with an A+.
Cindy
said,
November 8, 2007 at 10:11 pm
My sisters and I are all “C” names. We all had colors too, mine was blue! I guess when you have more than one kid and they’re close in age, you have to have a system.
Janssen
said,
November 8, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I am the same way about blue. I was ALWAYS blue and my sister was always purple/pink and my other sister was whatever was left. It wasn’t nearly as an advanced system, obviously.
SJ
said,
November 8, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Ahhh, Ben Lee. Awake is the New Sleep. I’m so jealous that you guys MET him for one and he was right on when he called you MILFS. How awesome is that?!
Purple is one of my favorite colors. I always try to find purple toothbrushes for me. I think your mother’s logic was great!
Brie
said,
November 9, 2007 at 12:59 am
We didn’t have a color system. But we did always get toothbrushes in our stockings. Along with underwear. And socks.
HollowSquirrel
said,
November 9, 2007 at 1:49 am
dude. that’s freaky deaky.
bananas
said,
November 9, 2007 at 2:17 am
you are ill my friend. next time I see you I’m hooking you up with a NOT PURPLE toothbrush.
metalia
said,
November 9, 2007 at 5:05 am
I’m giggling at the (very successful) purple toothbrush indoctrination. And that you got a new Christmas toothbrush every year. Your family stories are the best.
Amity
said,
November 9, 2007 at 1:15 pm
That was hilarious. Thank you for starting my Friday off right.
Rachel
said,
November 9, 2007 at 4:43 pm
You mom trained you well! Can she write a book, please!
Christar
said,
November 9, 2007 at 7:55 pm
My mom has always color coded our toothbrushes as well. I’m the same EXACT way. My color is Pink, and I still always have to get a pink toothbrush.
I guess it also helps that my favorite color is pink.
Oh, and I thought I should let you know that I’m going to start using my bleaching kit for my teeth that I told you about and I’m gonna do a plog post with before and after pics. I can’t wait!
ali
said,
November 9, 2007 at 7:59 pm
my sister and i haven’t lived in the same place since 1992. but yet we both have the exact same toothbrush AND the same travel toothbrush. i guess we’ve been trained too!
moosh in indy.
said,
November 9, 2007 at 8:20 pm
The rabbits. The names. The coding. THE COLOR CODING.
What are you? Part of some cult or something?
Heh.
Kidding.
velocibadgergirl
said,
November 11, 2007 at 3:56 am
I spent most of my waking childhood moments in the company of my three older cousins. To keep all of our varied kid accoutrements separate, our moms devised a system–they bought everything in primary colors and gave Crystal the red, Robby the blue, Mikey the green, and me the yellow. Set of four kids’ cups? Easy. Need to paint little plaster handprint plaques? Red, blue, green, and yellow. Our other aunt even made each of us a quilt in our assigned color–Strawberry Shortcake on red for Crystal, blue trains for Robby, green frogs for Mikey, and Care Bears on yellow for me. I still love yellow.
Lisa B
said,
November 11, 2007 at 5:15 pm
This post makes me love you all the more, Mz “X”.
We used to get toothbrushes in our stocking for Christmas too. heehee.
(Did you get a new pair of underwear in your Easter basket? We did.)
Audrey
said,
November 13, 2007 at 6:05 pm
All of my toothbrushes are purple, but that’s just because it’s my favorite color. We had better never be hotel roommates — who knows whose teeth would get brushed with whose toothbrush!
janet
said,
November 14, 2007 at 2:37 am
my toothbrush is purple too! no wonder I like you so much!!