10 on Tues.day: jobs

1. Babysitting
With four younger brothers and a sister, I was babysitting before I knew it had a name. I did so much of it during high school that I was able to pay for my wants and many of my needs, including my white gold and amethyst class ring. I got jobs through a babysitting agency and ward members. At home, my regular assigned job was the laundry.

2. Velvet Freeze in BrentwoodI was hired here for the summer after I turned 16. Velvet Freeze was THE St. Louis area ice cream parlor through the 50's and 60's. They rotated over 70 flavors and we hand packed take-out cartons (the profit was in the air pockets) or filled cones with ice cream. Only one store remains today. I don't remember ever actually tasting Velvet Freeze ice cream but I'm not a big fan of ice cream.

3. Hartford Insurance in HartfordA high school girlfriend invited me to work for her father with her during Christmas break senior year. We set up a filing system and filed papers. It was good money and easy work.

3. Chilton in PhiliThe Chilton Publishing Company was founded in 1922 in West Philadelphia as a publisher of automotive repair manuals. The company expanded into providing market research services to a wide variety of industries. I did data entry for the market research division. Pure monotony.

4. Thin beets, mow & rake hay, shovel sunshine, cultivate & chop corn, feed cattle.During the summer before I was married and the summer right after, Jim wanted me to be with him as he did his farm chores and he taught me to do them too. His motivating phrase was, "You've never worked until you've ________(fill in the blank)." Thinning beets was one extreme job I did and learned it was back breaking work. Shoveling manure was another job he challenged me to do. That stuff is heavy, but at least you can stand up or adjust the amount you lift. Mowing, raking, discing, cultivating and chopping were done on a tractor and that was fun. Feeding cattle grain and hay was easy. I watched him milk cows, irrigate, and tromp chopped hay into haystacks but I never did those things myself.

5. CalPac in Franklin, Idaho (DelMonte)CalPac is short for The California Packing Co., later renamed DelMonte. I was hired one summer to work on the conveyor belt sorting green beans. I was expecting and fainted across the belt one day. It was against the rules for pregnant women to work there so I had to resign.

6. CES curriculum writers' typist in Provo
This was a fun job. I loved the people I worked for and with. One of the writers I worked for at that time was Elder Jay Jensen. His wife was expecting the same time that I was. Her baby was born two days before mine and our babies grew up to be friends.

7. BYU preschool teacher
This was required for my major and was a wonderful experience. The BYU preschool is top notch so when I had children of my own, I had them attend. They loved it too.

8. PTA PresThis was a great experience. I got to know the teachers and administrators well and worked with the students, which was fun. I also wrote for a national publication and received honors for that. It was time intensive work but very rewarding.

9. MVHS biology, history, English sub
I did this for five years until I was expecting Haley. It required study and hard work to prepare to teach the classes, but I enjoyed learning. Interacting with students who are motivated to learn was a lot of fun.

10. BYU religion class
I substituted for one day at a teacher's request. His son had a terminal illness and the Make A Wish Foundation sent his family to Disneyland. It was like teaching high school, in fact, one of my former MVHS students was in the class. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

NEXT WEEK: 10 Things I Do in a Day