Chasing the Ice Cream Truck
- May 18th, 2008 9:24 pm
This evening I was sitting in the floor playing Super Mario, when out of nowhere, I heard a happy and familiar tune. It was the ice cream truck. I jumped to my feet and literally sprinted out my door toward the truck sans shoes. (I know. Trust me, I know.)
As a kid, the ice cream truck was always hard to catch. For some reason, it drove through my neighborhood at around 35 mph. And you had to chase it like a bat out of hell and hoped you reached him in time for a watered down snowcone. If you ask me, this was not the best pitch for business, making your customers run in order to procure a melting commodity. But I suppose it was funny for him to watch kids chase him. Anyway, apparently, I was under the impression that this was still the case, and was pretty serious about receiving a soft-serve cone.
So, like I said, I RAN. It was so Pavlovian, hear the ice cream truck–run to the truck.
When I arrived at the truck following the brief stint of my barefeet beating against the pavement, there was quiet a line and I got in the back. (There was a line, because it had been sitting and there was no need for me to run.) At 5′3, I was the tallest. Of course, that is normally the case when all of the rest of the people in line are children under the age of 10.
After standing there for a moment, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was.
It was my husband, holding our 3 year old.
"You think you might need some money? You ran out here pretty fast and didn’t take your purse…or our child." he asked eyeing me and resisting the urge to laugh ridiculously hard.
"Oh, " I said, as embarrassed as you could manage to be in front of someone who had watched you give birth vaginally, ‘Yeah, I guess I do need some cash.’
‘Seriously, Amanda, you don’t even have shoes on your feet, and you chased a parked truck. That’s pretty hood.’
‘Agreed. In my defense, I thought he might pull off, and I was channeling my inner seven year old.’
‘I bet our neighbors think you’re hood for sprinting down the road shoeless and full speed like that you’re running from the cops or on fire.’
I thought about it for a minute.
‘Listen , I could careless what the man next door who mows his yard in nuthuggers thinks about me being shoeless and chasing a truck.’
Because it’s the honest to goodness truth, my neighbor mows his yard in nuthuggers , and I’m pretty sure I’m coming out on top in this situation if there was to be a ‘who is more hood’ show off.
Anyway, the ice cream was fabulous, and it is well worth the blisters on my feet from sprinting on the hot pavement. Do you have any fond ice cream truck stories? Did the ice cream truck even run in your neighborhood? What is your favorite flavor? Have you ever chased one? Do any of your neighbors wear nuthuggers?
May 18th, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
I think I just died of laughter! This is definitely the best post I have read all day and I thought the post about my mom being kicked out of a tupperware party was hysterical.This denfinetley beats that!
May 18th, 2008 @ 10:21 pm
My neighbor waters her yard in a tank top with her cordless phone tucked in between her sagging bosom. Nice…
May 18th, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
Why is it that the men in nuthuggers are never the men that SHOULD be seen in nuthuggers (i.e. David Beckam?)
The ice cream truck DID come to my neighborhood when I was a kid, but alas, I didn’t catch it. My mom thought the ice cream truck would give me cooties.
Tranny Heads last blog post..Whacked Out Weekends: Name Tattoos
May 18th, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
When I was a kid, the truck didn’t make us run, the real work was getting the parental units to part with the cash.
witchypoos last blog post..Brainfreeze
May 18th, 2008 @ 10:39 pm
I don’t wear nuthuggers - I wear camel-toe shorties.
A Whole Lot of Nothings last blog post..Brand New Good for the Kids - VISIT AND BUY, DAMMIT
May 18th, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
I’m such a fat kid and I loved the ice cream truck. I followed the tune so hard once when I was about 7, that I literally got lost. My mom was in hysterics by the time I got home. I never did find the ice cream truck….
Brittanys last blog post..With 22 Candles On My Cake
May 18th, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
Do not come between a woman and her ice cream truck. She will take you down! I, for one, am proud of you. Hot pavement, bare feet, those kids should’ve let you to the front of the line.
Dingos last blog post..Mullet Over
May 19th, 2008 @ 1:35 am
Every time you post you definitely win the award for funniest thing I’ve read all day. Can’t say I’ve chased after the ice cream truck here recently…but that might have something to do with the fact that one ice cream man down here was just busted for selling drugs from his ice cream warehouse/storage container thing…and while he wasn’t caught for, I’m willing to bet he was selling them from the truck too!
And when I saw the link on the word nuthuggers I got pretty excited thinking it was linking back to a post about said neighbor. I guess I can only dream about such a post….
May 19th, 2008 @ 3:42 am
Lol.. Oh man..
No ice cream truck in the boonies.
Nuthuggers in a new word for me. Love it.
darcis last blog post..Miss A…. (#8)
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:45 am
The ice cream truck was all about the neighborhoods I lived in as a kid. It would come at the same time everyday and we would just wait outside our driveways and when we’d hear the bell we’d jump up and down with our hands in the air full of money.
I’ve only seen an ice cream truck ONCE since I lived here. I stopped it and got myself a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Popsicle. Yum!
Madisons last blog post..When You Don’t Want To Mess Up A Good Thing
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:51 am
Thanks! My Little Dude loves to have photos taken of him, so he makes it easy to get good ones!
Miches last blog post..Mother’s Day Pictures
May 19th, 2008 @ 8:28 am
I was 14 years old and I was wearing a pair of nuthuggers. All the thugs in the neighborhood started whistling at me. I went home and gave the shorts to my sister. Then i told my Mom that I would prefer that, in the future, clothing decisions made for me, would be made by me. “‘Cause I’m not a queer, Mom, even though half the neighborhood would give you an argument about that, right now.” It is now 48 years, two marriages and five kids (that we know of) later. I still won’t wear shorts.
lceels last blog post..Where did the day go?
May 19th, 2008 @ 8:35 am
I must say….haven’t chased an Ice Cream truck interrupted Super Mario, in like, maybe 15 years.
Now a Cheeto or Funyuns truck-GAME ON!
tracis last blog post..I’ve Got Nothing, So I Leave You WIth This….
May 19th, 2008 @ 9:11 am
I lived in a quaint little neighborhood growing up that would’ve been any icecream truck driveres wet dream…kids every where! But alas, the ice cream truck man only ever drove down my street one time, on my 9th birthday. He told me that he didn’t know kids lived here and he would for sure come back, but it was a dirty lie.
Also, the icecream truck that drives around my neighborhood now plays a little song followed by a really obnoxious womans voice screaming “HELLO??!!”, wash, rinse, repeat.
May 19th, 2008 @ 9:46 am
Funny, I just made my first EVER purhcase from the ice-cream-truck on Saturday. And didn’t get the kids anything.
Koris last blog post..Flashback Friday-My 17th Birthday
May 19th, 2008 @ 10:03 am
OMGosh! yes. This killed me. When I was about 12 years old, my dad gets the brite idea that he wanted ice cream. Alas…the indy 500 was apparently my neighborhood. So, I go hauling major booty after said ice cream truck, jumped a fence, almost got bit by rabid animal…namely fence owners doberman, jumped another fence, tore my shorts, and STILL ended up missing the ice cream truck. Seriously…there were about 15 kids chasing this man. *sigh*
Funny how now-a-days, they drive about 3 miles per hour, and there are like 3 of them driving around at the same time. I am suddenly not fond of the “How Much is that Doggy” song….nor the “Pop goes the Weasel”. Seriously.
As for nuthuggers….ROFLMBO!!!! That’s about as good as the oddly rotund lady I have as a neighbore mowing in a string bikini….it’s really not cute…nor is it cute that her 18 year old daughter attempts the same thing. *sighs*
May 19th, 2008 @ 10:44 am
I used to send my kids blocks away to find the truck. Then the driver got arrested for showing pix of himself to girls. He was arrested one street away. That pretty much ended our ice cream truck experience. Golly, that sounds sad!
Cautions last blog post..The Pot Calls the Kettle Black and the Kettle Boils Over
May 19th, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Hilarious! The ice cream truck comes around here everyday right after school and parks his truck right smack in the middle of the Sac because we have like a bajillion kids on our street and he always makes big bucks here. In fact we might be his only stop.
amys last blog post..Peace and Quiet
May 19th, 2008 @ 11:56 am
That story was totally cute. Made me LOL.
Grey Streets last blog post..Could this day go any slower?
May 19th, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
The ice cream truck on our block growing up used to drive at 50 mph.. seriously it was crazy. We never had money as kids to get it so we would forever yell stop just to see the truck stop and then see no one coming and drive away.. we would giggle for about 10 minutes EVERYDAY. hahaha..
Now in my neighborhood we have about 15 icecream trucks that circle our area every ten minutes.. it is really annoying..
Kims last blog post..Sunday Snapshots
May 19th, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Laughing hysterically over here darlin’
Push pops used to be the bomb back in the day 
I love drumsticks. I only eat them from the ice cream truck, too
rachels last blog post..The day the vagina nearly wrecked the car
May 19th, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
This is a funny story. I love that you ditched the kid.
NO, I don’t have any funny ice cream truck stories because my mom told me it was the Music Box Truck because she didn’t want my brother and me begging her for ice cream all the time. I don’t know how long I believed her (which, hindsight is I shouldn’t have believed a lot of crap my mom told me), but it was long enough that when I found out I was old enough to not care about getting ice cream from the ice cream truck anymore.
Dear Lord, thank you for creating therapy. Love, Me.
RubiaLalas last blog post..Working Like a Team
May 19th, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
I don’t have any stories of my own but I had heard a story about one person being told by their brother that every time the music played on the ice cream truck, it meant that they were all out of ice cream - hahaha! For the longest time she thought this was true and would be so disappointed when she’d hear the music play!
SherE1s last blog post..Puppy Love
May 19th, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Bomb Pops for sure! But, they cost like $3.50 now…so I just buy a whole box and keep it in the freezer!
May 19th, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
OK: NOW I usually make my husband run. We live on a CT and he usually pauses..but not always so running is neccessary. Now why would I laugh, I think any woman/man blogger who thinks you are silly if full of themselves and a liar. We all run! I prefer to get a fudgeickle (that is the way I pronouce it) and my step son gets a bombpop.. and we call him the Bombpop man, not the ice cream man. Yesterday while on the highway there was a Bombpop man driving the van besides us and hubby and I tried to get him to stop, but it wasn’t a him, it was a her.. WTF? We also realized it’s hard to figure that there are bombpop men that don’t like little kids in a bad way, unless they get paid alot of money… then hubby said he thought it would be a fun job if he could get a bombpop girl to drive with him.. SO yes, all this happened yesterday..
mps last blog post..I need a twitter badge that won’t drive me crazy
May 19th, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
If you could see where I live… you would laugh. There are no sidewalks. But years ago.. the ice cream truck came driving by our house with the music playing. We jumped into our truck and flagged him down. When he stopped– there were three other vehicles pulling over in a line right behind us!
Beth from the Funny Farms last blog post..Picture This
May 19th, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
My neighbors are whacked. I wish they wore nuthuggers, it would be easier!
No ice cream truck around here. But I can totally remember Mr. Softee from when I was a kid in NYC. It always came around my grandmother’s house the same time each night but it parked across the street and I wasn’t allowed to cross the street. I would race outside, stop at the curb and wait for some random adult that was related to me and had the cash to come and join me. I would watch as every child on the block got their double dipped cone and I waited and waited. Finally said adult would come out just in time for Mr. Softee driver to get settled back into the driver’s seat and then get pissed to get back up and pull me a half assed cone!
Alisons last blog post..Faith Base
May 19th, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
I loved the ice cream man. I so could’ve done this same thing. I was wondering if you managed to bring money as I was reading it. See, Adam proves his worth. He followed closely on your heels.
Anglophile Football Fanatics last blog post..Breaking News at 9
May 19th, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
I was wondering about the money thing too. I would have done the same thing, but we never have cash at the house, so I would have just been a dumbass for nothing. And, my kids would have been pissed.
Rachels last blog post..Reasons why sometimes I just shouldn’t be allowed to speak
May 19th, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
I would still run for the ice cream man, if I ever saw him. But here in SoCal all we got is the guy with a bunch of ice and flavored syrups which is not as fun as cartoon character with bubble gum eyes.
Don’t worry about being barefoot. I used run varefoot with food stamps. You didn’t know the ice cream man took food stamps did you?
Lisas last blog post..The After party
May 19th, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
OMG! The memories you sparked with this post! I had an old neighbor who did all of his yard work in nuthuggers! Nuthuggers with the American flag all over them! Like an American gladiator
*shudders*
Growing up we knew precisely what time that darn ice cream truck came barreling down our street. We tied a pillow case to a stick to flag down the driver and stood in the middle of the road in protest to stop him. My personal favs- Cigarette chewing gum sticks and screwdrivers (that gum at the bottom were so gross).
Sandy (Momisodes)s last blog post..What’s in the Bag
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:08 pm
Our ice cream man drives through our neighborhood SO quickly–Girl, I feel your pain–if we want ice cream, I have to haul. . .Hilarious post!
This Southern Belles last blog post..Finally
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
I was definitely the kid who heard the ice cream truck somewhere in the neighborhood and could never figure out where it was or if it was coming my way and sat out on the porch staring at an empty street hoping he wouldn’t leave, go on break, or finish his shift before he got to my house.
When he did finally get to my house, my favorite was the “Bomb Pop.” A glorious, rocket-shaped popsicle of red, white, and blue yumminess.
Robyns last blog post..Chivalry Takes a Leak
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
ROFL I love that you took off without shoes, money or child. Priceless moment! Thank you for sharing!
And, the neighbor who mows in nuthuggers…wow, I need a photo, although I have a feeling there is nothing sexy about it…just grossness. ewwww
Rheas last blog post..Mystery Photo Revealed
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Heee! This post made me laugh SO hard. I hope you don’t mind, but I linked this particular post from my site as this week’s “Dish of the Week”. It’s a new feature on my blog, and you’re my first Dish-Victim. I’m excited about spreading the word of good blogs!
May 19th, 2008 @ 7:59 pm
That is hilarious and awesome! We didn’t have an ice cream man in my neighborhood growing up (because a log cabin on a dirt road doesn’t really constitute a “neighborhood”), so I never got to experience the joy of the ice cream man. Sigh…
Jens last blog post..Day 22 of Month 359
May 19th, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
Thats good! No money, no kid, no shoes! While reading I was remembering the commercials for the Jose Ole man, did you see those? It was all adults running after the big yellow truck, falling down, knocking eachother over. Hilarious.
May 19th, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
lol! I could just picture it. I remember doing that as a kid myself. Now my kids are doing it. Now I know why my mom never gave up the money for it. We try to persuade them that the ice cream is better from our freezer. Sometimes that doesn’t work. Dang it.
Danas last blog post..Big Bro
May 19th, 2008 @ 11:19 pm
Oh my GOD, you’re hilarious, woman!
Yes. I have a memory of the ice cream truck. It isn’t fond. I hauled ass out of A MOVING WAGON when I heard the tinkling music and I did a face-plant on the sidewalk. And they need to re-name Butterfly Bandages to something a little more honest, like:
Girl Done Busted Up Her Chin & She’s Too Big of a Pansy for Stitches, So Here’s a “Flesh”-Colored Piece of Fabric That Will Do the Trick and Exacerbate the Propensity of a Huge Frickin’ Infection.
I am stuck on Band-Aid Brand cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me….
The Over-Thinkers last blog post..Come Fly with Me, Let’s Fly, Let’s Fly Away…ILOVEYOUMICHAELBUBLE
May 20th, 2008 @ 1:37 am
The ice cream truck here doesn’t play music. But man, you still know when it arrives… Every adult to child is out there circling it. I am just sad that it always seems to come when I have no Euros. Our ice cream truck is filled with Italian Ice Cream. Wonderful thing about living in Germany… The access to Italian Ice Cream on every corner lol. And a few of us run out without shoes, having left poor Mario sitting without the safety of the pause button….
shameless.. « nectarville!
May 20th, 2008 @ 10:06 am
[...] Shamelesslysassy and laugh your freaking ass off you are a complete waste of space..just trust me this post: is proof she is the funniest woman alive!! I read her blog whenever I have an overwhelming urge [...]
May 20th, 2008 @ 10:08 am
You are the funniest woman ever born love! I think I love you. Mint Chocolate Ice Cream..in case you wondered.
May 20th, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Did he really say “hood” I cracked up when I read that.
I unfortunately grew up ice cream truck-less, unless I was down at the shore (in Jersey, we don’t have beaches). I grew up in a very small town my entire childhood and then in college I moved from apartment complex to a horse farm and now downtown. I feel cheated!
Mandis last blog post..kind of blank
May 20th, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
I wonder if the ice cream man takes debit cards yet? If he doesn’t, you know he will soon!
I was never one for the ice cream, I spent all of my ice cream man money on the candy necklaces. Yum! I can almost taste them now…..
Friglets last blog post..21
May 20th, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
My neighbors are like 104 years old. Nuthuggers? I hope not. Then again…his knee socks do look awfully lumpy…
Lunaniks last blog post..Terrible Tuesday - Envy
May 20th, 2008 @ 9:15 pm
Ha! What a hoot. Anything that ends with ice cream is aces in my book. I have ALWAYS wanted an ice cream man. ALWAYS!
MamaGeeks last blog post..Cat-n-tonic State
May 20th, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
I LOVE the word nuthugger!!!!!! I have never heard it before, but it is priceless. Too funny and unfortunately I have a couple in my neighborhood as well.
I also get very excited when I hear the ice cream truck. It doesn’t matter that we usually have much better ice cream treats in the freezer, there is something about the thrill of buying it from a singing truck.
Jennifers last blog post..Movin’ On Up
May 20th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
I started laughing out loud when your husband called you hood. To top it off that Dj Khaled song, “So hood” went through my mind. That’s hilarious. Now I guess I’ll go rad about those nuthuggers. I used to like those popsicles that had a cartoon characters face with bubble gum eyes or the sherbert cones with the gum at the tip.
tiffanys last blog post..Life is good!
May 21st, 2008 @ 11:32 am
man…we never had an ice cream truck! i grew up in the middle of nowhere. our road wasn’t even paved until i was almost in high school..it was gravel up till that point.
we did every so often run into one of those little ice cream carts that’s like half cart half bike when we went to town in the summer. that was a huge deal!
wow…that’s just sad.
cates last blog post..Pink Eye waiting to happen
May 22nd, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
I grew up out in the country, so no ice cream trucks in my memory.
And nuthuggers? Thank god we lived out in the country if that’s the kind of stuff they did in the ‘burbs!
Queen of Shake Shakes last blog post..Thing One & Thing Two
May 23rd, 2008 @ 11:28 am
My old neighbor mowed his lawn and walked his weiner dog (no pun intended) in NUTHUGGERS. Not a pretty sight!
Life Love and Lolas last blog post..Yesterday…
May 25th, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
I’m the youngest of seven and whenever the ice cream truck would come in to our neighborhood, my mother would tell us that it was the man that took the bad children away and we needed to RUN! and HIDE!
Which we did. And that little tactic saved my mother at least $14.00 a week on ice cream.
Jen @ amazingtripss last blog post..sweet stuff
May 31st, 2008 @ 10:22 am
*wipes away tears of laughter* You rock. Of course you must chase the ice cream truck.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately–we live out in the country, w/ no neighbors, nutty or otherwise, neighborhood, nuthuggers or ice cream truck!
Which means I can go down to get my mail in my nightgown. If I wanted.
Jessicas last blog post..Saturday
reason #164578 why i might be a dumbass « kitty concerto
June 2nd, 2008 @ 2:57 am
[...] I quickly grab my keys (our front door likes to lock itself at random times. I’m convinced there is a secret club bouncer in it determining whether or not you are hot enough to enter.), put on my flip flops and run out the door like a gazelle in the wild. Not too different from my friend Amanda over at shamelessly sassy and her love of all things ice cream. [...]