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grandmapoo

Let's reminisce! 18 - 80 What 's your nostalgic memories?

grandmapoo
17 years ago

Let's have some fun and talk about our favorite things of the past; gadgets, inventions, places, bands, people, etc.

When I was around 6 yrs old, I remember playing for hrs with my spinning top, the small kind that you wrap the string around and sort of throw it, keeping it low to the floor. That thing would spin for the longest time! Finally it would start to slow and wobble, then fall over. Then the process starts all over, wrap the string and...

Well, I LOVED my old top! The closest thing to this that's still around is the yo-yo. A couple of yrs later, I remember having a larger top that had a sort of plunger on the top of it and you'd have to pump up and down to get it spinning, but it took no skill whatsoever! Boy, when I was a kid, we had to work for our entertainment! LOL

So, what's some of your favorite things of the past?

Comments (58)

  • sockmonkeyz6
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yeah, Fairy! I think it WAS a creepy crawler thing, but you could get plates to make people (Creeple peeple) with hair and stuff. I loved that thing. The monkees, I loved too,Grandmapoo! Only I wanted to be Micky's girlfriend, not sister!! "Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station." Herman's Hermits too."Sillouettes on the shade" The strap on roller skates that would slip off and you'd twist your ankle...yep,Jeanner. My mom would not let me watch Peyton Place, I'd hear her friends and her talking about it real low. Lite Brite, they came back and my kids have had the little push in things all over the place,still find them in the registers Crayons are a necessity. Makes pretty doggie poop when they are eaten! Rubiks cube!! Stickers were always coming off cause the DB would peel and move them to make people think he did it.

  • grandmapoo
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sockmonkey, I slept with a picture of Peter Noone (Herman) once, and my mother had a cow! I wanted to be HIS girlfriend. I memorized his full name and still remember it. Peter Blair Dennis Bernard Noone
    LOL @ "pretty doggie poop"

    Bunches of lightening bugs in a jar...pure magic!

  • fairy_toadmother
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ha! you didn't have to peel them. i just took it apart and put it back together like i won :)
    i never saw the people. oh, and sandy, i loved my hula hoop. i also lived off route 66 for several years.

    how about those little buckets tied to a rope? you put them on your feet upside down, held the rope, and walked. i also had those plastic strap on roller skates.

    things were so much simpler! heck, i was happy to play a 3 game tv thing. handball, jai lai, and tennis. we did eventually get an atari 64 years later.

    speaking of plates, i liked my fashion plates. you put these plates on a case, adn ran your colored pencils over it. it came out as a lady wearing whatever clothing was there, it may have been outlined body, face and all, in whatever color you picked for a pencil adn whatever pattern plate you put under it.

    the beegees, and playing my mom's record..walk like a man, talk like a man....and sheeeerrrrrrriiiiie, sherrie baby, shee-er-rie...come out tonight, come come, come out tonight...

    "shave cream" bath soap! indiana jones and the temple of doom, and falling asleep watching the original texas chainsaw massacre. now, this is a story. hilarious- had to be there! i was sitting next to my "best" cousin's chair, slightly behind with my foot on the underneath of her chair. i was falling asleep. right at one of those "extremely tense moments" my foot slipped off her chair. scared the living daylights out of her!

  • okpondlady
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Remember how good the ice cream tasted from the Ice Creame Man?? Have you tasted it lately? Is it because we are old and it just was yucky all along.. or is it yucky now? Lickem sticks that ya dipped into the powder packets. Skip-Its, a ball thingy on a plastic line that had a hole in it for your foot and you swung it around and jumped with the other foot.. kinda like jumping rope alone hahahaha. My cousin had clackers too and omg I wanted a pair but my mom thought they were tooo dangerious so I couldn't have any. I wanted to wrap hers around her neck and strangle her, how bad is that? But then again my mom was into what was good for us and her mom was into what was fun for her. We didn't get nearly as much junk as she did, but it ended good in the end :) I remember my first store bought dress, purchased for a kids birthday party I was supposed to go to in 3rd grade. Until then Mama made all my clothes. I was in love with Fonzie and Scott Baio and I wanted to be Wonder Woman or Belle Starr... Can you guess I am from Oklahoma?? hahahahaha. Had to get up to change the channel, then there was only three. ABC,CBS, & NBC. Don Woods was our weather man and he drew a cartoon named "Gusty" every night and it was given away in a drawing. I got one when I was 10. :)

    Have fun,
    Karen

  • youreit
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ohhh, this is SUCH a great thread, 'Poo!

    Pop Rocks (ouch!), and the urban legend about the kid that ate them while drinking 7-UP and proceeded to keel over!

    Cinnamon sticks - toothpicks dipped in pure cinnamon oil, and the terrible mouth ulcers we'd all get!

    Paper dolls - when I was home sick from school, Mom would go to the store and get me a 7-UP and a book of paper dolls. :D

    TV show "Emergency" (Rampart! Rampart! and Randolph Mantooth...yummy!)

    Bugs Bunny Saturday morning cartoons; Gerald Ford falling down all the time...and playing fetch with Liberty; AM stations and the comforting sound of static in the background; my brother's Big Wheel always parked on the walkway so as to trip either or both parents; homemade clothes from Mom that I now find extremely sweet (I wore the first pair of culottes in 7th grade!), but at the time, embarrassed me....ohhh, the BeeGees, but especially the other brother, Andy! And Shawn Cassidy...*sigh*

    Brenda

  • grandmapoo
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Brenda, speaking of paper dolls. I found one of mine in our family bible about 6 yrs ago. I was flipping thu the pages when suddenly there it was. It had been in there since I was about 5 yrs. old. I cried when I saw it!

    Does anyone remember those suckers with the penny inside it? Speaking of dangerous toys...how dangerous was that!?

  • pjtexgirl
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had the hots for Shawn Cassidy's brother. I think his name was David?
    Yep, the ole pop rocks and soda will blow up your stomach and kill you! LOL!
    Ice Cream man stuff is ghastly. I thought it was Manna from Heaven when I was a kid!
    I could have the Clackers but nothing with a heat element(creepy crawlies or magic bake oven) Mom was more worried about fire than us getting knocked out! PJ

  • fairy_toadmother
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    skip it! that is what that lemon thing was. how could i forget emergency...and starsky and hutch. hillstreet blues took over easily from there :)

    we had some older guy in the neighborhood. he rode a 3 wheel bike and carried/sold sno-cone fixings on it. sometimes we hunted him down at home! i liked barry gibb, myself.

  • koijoyii
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Snoopy Snow Cone Machine. Silly Sand. That little glass bird that would drink from a glass of water (I still want one). Elephant pants. I had a pair of white ones with big black and brown swirls on them with a black sash around the waist. I thought I was so cool.

    I had a Fizzie Fountain I got for Christmas. Used all the Fizzies in an hour. My Uncle Norm took me out looking for more. Never did find them. :(

    My brother had a VacuuForm. You took a little square of plastic, heated it up in the machine then flipped it over onto a plastic cast. Smelled like burning plastic, but we had some fun with it.

    Strange change machine. You put a plastic square into a heating chamber and watched it turn into an animal or dinosaur.

    Clams you dropped into the water and it would open and a flower would come out. Balsam airplanes we would fly for hours until the tip or a wing got broke. Little men with parachutes. You would stuff them in a plastic tube and blow the end to launch them. They had like a cloth parachute that was attached to the little cardboard man by little straws. Flying kites. Playing outside till the streetlights came on. We had to be home within five minutes after the street lites came on or else.............

    Remember the paddle with the little rubber ball on it. We would make the rubber string shorter and have contests who could hit the ball the longest. My mom always won this one. I could remember not being able to move my wrist the next day.

    Magic rocks. Sea monkeys. Lincoln Logs. The little plastic building blocks you could build a house out of. It came with plastic windows and doors your could open. Remember the submarines that took baking soda to make them sink and surface. You got them free in cereal.

    You could buy a 16 oz bottle of coke or pepsi for 15 cents. Collecting pop bottles and returning them for money. Then spending it on penny candy. Remember the little paper flying saucers filled with beads. We thought we were eating fish food. Then there was the blue satellite bubble gum balls. Red gummy candy money. Lik-m-Aid. The wax bottles with syrup in them. We have a store around her that sells all the nostalgic candy: MaryJanes, BB Bat suckers, etc. The wax lips, tongues and moustaches. Licorice shoestrings.

    I remember the Monkees. I won a Monkee's hat calling WIXY 1260 Contest. As a matter of fact between me, my sister and our best friend we won Monkee hats for my whole class. I just loved Peter Tork. We would buy 16 magazines and all the other ones and had our bedroom wall's plastered with their pix. My sister just loved Dino, Desi and Billy, David Cassidy. LOL

    The amazing thing is with all these dangerous toys we are still alive. I could go on and on. Think I'm showing my age now. LOL

  • hnladue
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I miss my Shrinky-dinks!!

    And the 'Buried Treasure" Ice cream the 'Skippy' used to deliver!!

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hnladue, Shrinky Dinks haven't disappeared, they've just gone up-market. Check your local craft dept. for a staggering array of choices. Leggos building blocks are still out there with their own up-market choices. Anything to up the price. The Peyton Place I referred to was the original book, written in the 50's by Grace Metalious that was made into a movie shortly thereafter. I went to it escorted by my Army Chaplain BIL, who offered to answer any questions I might have. LOL! I remember an interview Metalious gave. She said she was inspired to write the book by a really bad hair day.(That's a new phrase by the way). She was out of eggs for the kiddies breakfast, but she had dry cereal (not considered a good breakfast back then). No sugar. They would have to do without. Then she had run out of milk but she had planned ahead!! She had powdered milk in the cupboard. Started to make it only to discover the water had been turned off. I think it went downhill from there.
    How about The Green Hornet, Red Rider, Gene Autry, Superman, The Cisco Kid, Sky King and so many others. The kind of heros we haven't seen after the anti-hero was introduced. Now we have Spiderman and a new Superman. The 4th I think. Of course there was Howdy Doody and the original Micky Mouse Club. No purple dinosaurs or sponges yet. LOL!
    Halloween was still fun. Crinolines were standard for the girls in the 50's. Girls 'swooned' over the current hot singer and Rock and Roll was sent by Satan. Cotillion was acceptable. Table manners and 'Beauty' classes were sponsored by the big Department stores. Math and science were not subjects that girls were supposed to be good at and Home Economics was required with crochet, embroidery, machine sewing and cooking required subjects for girls. Boys all took shop. There were trade schools for those who weren't going on to college. Every girl who graduated from high school got a little cedar chest from the big manufacturer who made Hope Chests. I missed out on one by only one year but I found one later at a garage sale (also a new idea). Sandy

  • ademink
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!! I'm so excited reading this! LOL Shrinky dinks!!!! I loved them! I was obsessed w/ Magic Rocks and Sea Monkeys (never got the SMs). I loved pickup sticks too!

    Did I miss anyone mentioning Leif Garrett???? HOTTIE when I was young. LOL

    Brenda, it was Mikey that supposedly died from the Pop Rocks and coke. The Life cereal kid.

  • fairy_toadmother
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    know what i really miss? the hamms beer commercials!

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I remember being totally shocked the first time I saw an ad for liquor on TV. It never would have aired at home in W.VA We were in a motel in White Plains, N.Y. and I was about 12 years old. LOL! For ads though, the most memorable had to be the Speedy Alka Seltzer, "Whatever shape your stomachs in" ads. Sandy

  • grandmapoo
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Stoney Burke, he was my guy! The way he walked with tht saddle over his shoulder...pure manhood!

    I loved the electric Gillette Razor w/Santa riding it thru the snow. We hardly ever get snow in Texas, and seeing that commercial, I knew Christmas was almost here!

    Recently, on Mythbusters, they did an experiment to disprove the myth that pop rocks will blow up your stomach!
    LOL

  • youreit
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ohhh, yeah, Mikey liked those Pop Rocks and soda! LOL

    Carpenter pants...oh, man. And those cloths made out of that satiny fabric (disco, baby!). Leif Garrett! How could I forget!? Saw him recently, and he kinda scared me.

    Near Beer - rumor was that kids could buy it. I must have stood in the beer aisle of Smith's Food King (Meridian, Idaho) for a half hour before deciding I was too chicken to buy it.

    Brenda

  • grandmapoo
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Baseball in the vacant lot with all the neighborhood kids, making our own rules; across the street=automatic out!
    We'd drink from the water hose and stayed outside most of the day. We didn't have a/c anyway. HOw'd we do it? lol
    Swimming in the ditches after a hard rain. No one I knew ever got sick from it either!

  • youreit
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yeah, flooded irrigation canals in summer! There was a big, square, cement irrigation "confluence" type of thing set in the ground in front of the neighbor's house in Idaho. Nothing like taking a dip in that on a hot day - almost like a natural Jacuzzi! :D

    I also remember visiting my little brother in the hospital after he contracted one of the first cases of Lyme disease back in the 70s (didn't know what it was at the TIME, though). Well, I tried to visit him, anyway. Mom & Dad were able to get me as far as the viewing window to his room in the ICU before we were busted.

    But that's the only serious childhood illness we had to deal with, and it wasn't from swimming in canals! :D

    Brenda

  • newdawn1895
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, let's see, there are so many.

    The drive-in movie, cokes for a dime, hula hoops, skates w/key, red wax lips, licorice (black & red. Pink sponge rollers, ratted hair, greasers, teen magazines, Marylin Monroe, french twist, peppermint twist, Chubby Checker, Ben Casey.

    The day John Kennedy was shot. Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. The day the Beatle's appeared on Ed Sullivan.

    Going to my first concert called the "Motown Review". Featuring Little Steven Wonder and The Supreme's, Martha Vandella, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Edwin Starr just to name a few.

    Fake eye lashes, Twiggy, mini skirts, see through blouse's, Mod Sguad, Kojak, Columbo, Sasoon haircut, shag haircut, platform shoes, hippies.

    The last day of school for summer vacation.

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So many good memories but sometimes some really bad ones as well. The first and thankfully last case of polio in our neighborhood. Suddenly I was not supposed to go near the last house on the block. I remember standing by their new chain link fence near her bedroom window wondering how I could attract her attention. I hadn't been told she was in a hospital in another state in an iron lung. I never saw her again. Public swimming pools were forbidden pleasures that summer. Mother and Daddy both accompanied me to the new hospital where the vaccine was being dispensed. I knew my parents were worried sick about getting it for me. There had been loud discussions about it when I was supposed to be asleep. We were not quite as protected from the world as children seem to be now, but this was one case where it was kept from us and that scared me and my friends more than anything. Bless Salk and Sabin.
    I remember getting my Smallpox vaccination when I was 6. An older sister took me to our doctor who worked out of his home only two blocks away. It left a huge shiny white scar on my left leg. He told me he was putting it on my leg so I wouldn't have a scar showing when I wore strapless evening gowns. Often when I notice it now, I wonder what my face would have looked like if I had gotten the disease or if I would have survived. Chicken pox left several scars that bothered me and they were tiny. Measles were so common then. Children ran terrible fevers and were often changed forever by them.
    Children with chronic illness or disabilities did not go to the public schools, but then there were not nearly so many of them. They didn't survive to become a problem.
    I don't mean to make this such a sad post. It is a good thing that so many of the worst killers of body or soul are gone. Sandy

  • pikecoe
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think the most memorable time was when we got electricity. Then we got a refrigerator. Mama made ice cream. Some kind of mix that she poured into ice trays, the ones with the lever you pulled up and would release the ice. She would freeze it until it was almost frozen and beat it with an egg beater to make it fluffy. My cousin stuck her tongue to the freezer and really got stuck. And then she swallowed a piece of ice and ran around screaming because she thought she was going to choke to death. We lived out in the country and had a "rolling store" that came one day a week and mama bought groceries and a piece of candy for each of us. You could buy a small Baby Ruth for 10 cents or one twice as big with 2 pieces of candy in it for 5 cents. We also had a man that came around selling oranges and grapefruit each week. Mama would buy a bushel of each at $3.00 a bushel and we would sit around the fire place eating oranges. The orange peels smelled good when they would burn. And my first job there was a Coke machine that you had to put a nickle and a penny in to get a coke. Somehow it was harder to find the penny than it was for the nickle when you wanted to buy a coke. All the things you all are talking about were during my childrens childhoods. Makes me feel kinda ancient. And I got a long way to go to 80. Glenda

  • youreit
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This thread reminds me of that Statler Brothers song, Do You Remember These? :)

    I really love reading all of the stories on this thread!

    Brenda

  • catherinet
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Anyone remember pop beads?
    I loved orange push-ups, and banana popsicles. Remember watching for Sputnik?
    Remember jiffy pop popcorn? (I guess that's still around!)
    I remember my mom keeping the clothes to iron rolled up in the fridge.
    We never locked our doors.....even at night.
    Remember "One-eyed, one-horn, flying purple people eater"?
    Or "Red Sails in the Sunset", or "Buffalo Gals won't you come out tonight", or "Tell me a Story"?
    When it got really cold out, the girls would wear "leggins" under their dresses to school. We would pay about 4 cents for little glass bottles of milk for lunch at school.
    Remember those little waxed boxes that were used for prescriptions?
    Anyone remember when chocolate covered bees and ants started showing up at the store?? That was about 1957.
    Anyone get radium treatments to their sinuses?? I did.
    Remember how painful getting cavities filled was with those huge slow drills?
    Remember all those torture rollers we would put our hair into all night? Anyone remember rolling your hair up in bobby pins all over your head?
    How about those stupid little white hats we used to wear with things like "1-2-3 Cha Cha Cha" and "Life is just a bowl of cherries" written on them.
    I thought I was so special when I got to buy Beatle boots to wear to school. I wore hose with them (with seams up the backs), and the Beatle boots snagged the heck out of them. haha
    Remember how big the colored lights on Christmas trees used to be, and we would make those construction paper chains for the tree too?
    Its fun remembering back.

  • semper_fi
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Completely off topic here....

    Poo3, I hope you and yours are safe and well out of harms way of Ike since it appears to be coming right towards your area.

    Let us know your status as soon as you are able.

  • youreit
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Me, 2, Poo! I hope you're all hunkered down and safe somewhere....and your little bench, too!

    Brenda

  • pikecoe
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, please let us hear from you as soon as you can. We are praying for you and everyone that is in the path of Ike. Glnda

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My prayers are with you poo. Hope all is well and you and yours are all safe.

    Just reading everyone's memories, brings back more.

    I can remember when my mom called the "city doctor" when we were sick. They made house calls. If we weren't the one who was sick we hoped our sisters or brother had to get a shot. If they did the doctor would throw the hypodermic needle in the garbage. We took turns taking it out and playing with it.

    I remember my sisters never went to school and the truant officer would come to the house. I had perfect attendance, but the first time I was actually sick the truant officer came out to the house. Took my temperature and it wasn't high enough. She waited till I got dressed and drove me to school. Her name was Mrs. Surpass. You were allowed three absences in a half-semester then you were suspended.

    Hi, ho, cherry-o game, ant farms, pogo sticks, stilts, Golden Books, Lassie. My mom saved Cambell's soup (Lassie's sponsor) labels and sent them in and we got free Lassie wallets. It was made out of plastic and had a color picture of Lassie inserted in the front cover.

    Crying when Old Yeller died. National Velvet. I wanted a horse just like her. Sound of Music (I still love that movie). Bambi. The movies where you had to wear the glasses that had one eye blue and one eye red so you could see it in 3-D. I think one of them was "The Thirteen Ghosts." My brother poked out the color lenses.

    My mom would make Rice Krispie candy when we watched the Wizard of Oz. It was a big day for us. We prepared weeks in advance when we knew it was going to be on. The same for Peter Pan and Cinderella.

    I remember my sister getting her heel stuck in the sidewalk crack waiting in line to get our polio vaccine at the nearest high school. I cried cause I wanted more than one sugar cube.

    I would walk a mile and a half to high school in my shiny white go-go boots, wearing fishnet stockings and mini skirt. (If you didn't get the fishnet stockings just right you could amputate your toes). With a little teeny tiny jacket in sub-zero weather. Didn't have bussing back then, and my mom couldn't afford the "carfare".Wish I would have listened to my mom back then when she warned me that I would have trouble with my legs and feet when I got older.

    I remember rolling my long hair with orange juice cans to keep it straight. When that didn't work I would iron it between two towels.

    Making cracked marble jewelry. You would heat the marbles in a cast iron frying pan. When they got hot enough you dropped them into a bowl of ice water. That's what made them crack.

    Those plastic bubbles you blew on a staw. They smelled nasty, but the bubbles lasted till my brother found them and stepped on them.

    Playing red-rover in my neighbors yard. I ran so hard and fast when I broke the chain I knocked the wind out of myself and ended up with cracked ribs.

    My sister tied our American Flyer wagon to the back of her light blue girls bike and was pulling us up and down the street. She hit a manhole cover that was tilted up and I fell out of the wagon and hit my head on it. I ran home and laid down on the top bunkbed. I woke up in the hospital flat on my back with a fractured skull. I was in the hospital for 10 days flat on my back. I was 10-years old, and I remember my b-i-l saying it cost my mom $50 for a 10 day hospital stay for our "horsing-around." They thought that was highway robbery. lol

    My sister and I still remember a lot of the jump rope jingles and campfire songs. Especially the jump rope jingle:

    My mother, your mother hanging out clothes.
    My mother punched your mother right in the nose.
    What color blood came out?

    That would probably be banned in schools today because of the violence.

    The Rolling Stones. Does anyone remember the series "Maya" about the boy that rode the elephant? I had the biggest crush on him. Then they cancelled the series. Lost in Space. I was madly in love with Will Robinson.

    My brother and sisters broke open an etch-a-sketch once, took the silver sand and put it on our faces, hands and arms. We pretended we were robots. And we didn't die.

    OMG, I could go on and on and on.

    Jenny

  • catherinet
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh Jenny.........please DO go on and on! I loved reading all your stuff!
    How about
    "Mable, Mable, set the table
    Don't forget the red hot pepper!" (and you'd make the jumprope go really fast.
    Do you remember the campfire song "John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt"?
    I'm glad you did okay after getting whacked in the head!
    I think I got dozens of polio shots AND sugar cubes. I remember those shots as having a HUGE needle!
    I had never heard of a truancy officer. What a drag!
    I still remember the smell of the little rubber swimming pools we had in the yard.
    We would throw blankets over the clothesline and hold the ends down in the ground with clothes pins and it made great tents.
    Oh man........I had forgotten about those plastic bubbles you blew out of the straw........I can remember that smell!
    Tell us some more Jenny!

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Catherine:

    I do remember the campfire son "John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt." How about these campfile songs: The Little Chickie, The Cannibal King, Dynamite, The Man Named Bill. I know everyone has to remember Kumbaya (sp). My little sister and I went to Camp Herrick and whenever we started singing Kumbaya she would start crying. She would get hysterical and I would have to spend the night with her in the cabin with the little kids.

    I remember going to my best friend, Dottie's grandma's house for a sleep-over and to attend a "come-as-you-are party". Whatever you looked like when the person knocked on your door is how you went to the party. Both my grandparents died before I was born so I thought it was so neat to have a grandma and grandpa. I remember her grandma would come in to tuck us in at night and throw fairy dust around to help us sleep and chase away the ghosts (it was just glitter, but it worked for me). They lived in the country where it was pitch black at night, and didn't use nightlights. I remember catching frogs in the sewer drains early in the morning.

    I can remember Dottie's brother junior built a huge igloo in the backyard under the weeping willow tree and we stayed in it for hours and never got cold. I remember taking my mom's lid to her wringer washer and using it for a sled. I put it back after I was done like she wouldn't see the dents. We used to leave to go sled riding at 10 a.m. and stay out all day. When we got home in the evening my mom would make us hot chocolate and toast.

    When you talk about those backyard pools. We had a square one. It had a metal frame that you had to slide through a pocket in the liner. It was only a foot deep. It was my bright idea to pull a table over to the pool and take turns jumping in. Of course I was the first since it was my idea. I jumped in slid on the liner and pulled every ligament in my ankle. I was on crutches and off my foot that summer. I was the tomboy in the family in case you couldn't tell. Someone bought me a blowup frog you could sit on in the pool and my mom made me let my brother have it (he was the only boy, he got everything) I have a picture of me pouting with my foot on the side of the pool. If I can find it I will post it.

    In the summer we would go swimming at the neighborhood pool. Once again we would leave when the pool opened at noon and stay till it closed at 9:00 p.m. When we got home my mom would have spaghetti and pizza ready. We looked like lobsters. One time we stayed so late either someone stole our towels, or the lifeguards threw them out.

    I remember going to daycamp and making a red apple plaque for my mom to hang on her wall. I couldn't wait for the end of the day to go to the cabin where they were drying all day only to find someone had taken mine. I cried all the way home on the bus.

    I remember going to vacation bible school in the summer and making baskets. I remember my older sister made a rock garden out of charcoal with Jesus kneeling down by the rock praying. Somehow the rocks were all different colors of the rainbow. I couldn't wait till I was old enough to be in her class. When I was they didn't have that craft anymore.

    I remember walking to Woolworths to look at the pets in the pet department. They had a talking Myna bird that would wolf whistle whenever a lady walked into the store. We used to make a day of it. We would have lunch at the counter. It was always bbq beef, fries and a coke. We used our babysitting money. If it wasn't Woolworths it was Royal Castle for a birch beer, burger and fries for under a dollar. Sometimes I would get two birch beers if I had enough money. We walked about four miles to get there. I had a sun newspaper route I would deliver. It took me 4 hours. I got paid $1.25 a month. It took me all day Saturday to collect.

    I remember my mom sending in questions to the "Tell me why column" in The Cleveland Press. She would buy 100 postcards once a month and just think of questions. Since there were four of us she sent 25 postcards in for each. My question "What makes a volcano erupt?" was picked and my picture was in the paper and I won a set of Encyclopedia Brittanicas.

    I remember coming home from Sunday School and church on Sunday and smelling chicken my mom had roasting in the oven. Whenever I smell chicken today I think of coming home from church and Sunday School. I remember my mom's hat she always wore to church. It was a black velvet tammy with the net that she alway wore over her face. Once church was over she lifted the net up so we could kiss her. We only had one meal on Sunday that was prepared on Saturday (you only had to cook it). Sitting on the table leaf set upon two chairs because there weren't enough chairs for all us kids. Stores weren't open on Sunday, nor were gas stations. We didn't watch TV on Sunday either. There were a lot of things we couldn't do on Sunday because it was the Lord's Day. On Good Friday we had to sit with our hands folded from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. My mom told us that was the time Jesus died on the cross and she wanted us to sit there and try not to talk, itch or laugh. She told us to imagine Jesus hanging on the cross and if he had an itch he couldn't itch like we could. My older sister, Ruth, got palm leaves at church on Palm Sunday and laid them on the dining room table. I didn't know what they were. I thought they were switches so I took them and dragged them through the mud. I couldn't sit down for a week after that. Me and my little sister, Debbie, never had to laugh till we were in church. One Sunday at our church picnic we laughed through the whole service. When church was over we had to sit and laugh at each other for two hours. But we couldn't find anything funny then. We didn't get to compete in any of the games like waterballoon toss, three legged race, etc.

    Family picnics at Cascade Park where they had bears in cages. The screw sliding board. The firetruck where you could pretend to drive. The little concrete wading pool. Euclid Beach Park on nickel day. My mom would borrow money and we would have to take two buses and a rapid to get there. Falling asleep on the bus or rapid on the way home with a helium balloon tied to our wrists. Saving tickets to get a frozen custard, candy kisses or a popcorn ball. Waiting to pass the upsidedown ice cream cone stand. Riding the little train that went past little villages and goldfish ponds. My sister swears that's where we got the idea of ponding. OMG, it feels so good to remember the good old days.

    My mom raised five of us by herself. My dad died when I was 6-years-old from stomach cancer. She worked part-time and received social security for us kids, so we didn't have much. We would wait till Christmas Eve to go get a Christmas tree because they were dirt cheap and she could afford it. I remember walking from 6 p.m. to midnight to find the right tree. Then the five of us would carry it home. We had to stand it in the living room so it could "fall". Then my uncle Norm would come over Christmas Day and cut it and put it in the stand for us.

    Going fishing with my uncle Norm. We would fish till midnight with our bamboo poles. I was horsing around with my cousins and not watching my pole. The next thing I knew my uncle was yelling at me that my pole was in the water. We followed the pole with his lantern and he managed to cast out with his pole and snag mine. I ended up with a huge carp that we had to throw back because they aren't good eating. I was the only one that caught a fish that day.

    See what you did Catherine? I told you I could go on and on. lol

    Jenny

  • catherinet
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love reading your stories Jenny! More! More!

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh yes! More stories!!!!

    Remember Franz the Toymaker and Mr. Jing-a-ling? How about Barnaby? :-) I was frightened of Mr. Jing-a-ling but got an autographed picture of Franz!

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, yes, C3D I do remember Franz the Toymaker. Do you still have your picture? And I used to love Barnaby's invisible parrot, Long John. My mom used to take us downtown during the Christmas season to see the windows at Higbee's and May Company. Just like in the Christmas Story we would go down the slide after we seen Santa. We watch the Christmas Story all day when it's on during the holidays. I just love that movie. We never got to go farther than Woolworths so we didn't get to see mr Jing-a-Ling, but I remember him. He was at Higbees. All my classmates would go and they would get a cardboard key. I wanted one so bad. Wasn't he on the Captain Penny Show. I remember Jungle Larry on the Captain Penny Show. We would walk home for lunch and watch him as we ate. Remember Captain Kangaroo? I can vaguely remember was it Mr. Clock? Something about a grandfather clock. Help me out here. Do you remember H & R Puff & Stuff. I used to love Witchiepoo. I remember when the Flintstones first came out and we would go over to my sister and b-i-l's to watch them because we didn't have color TV. Lost In Space was on the same time Batman was on so we never told my brother about Batman. That we we didn't miss one single episode of Lost In Space.

    Remember the free toys you used to get in cereal? We used to dump the whole box in a bowl to get the toy. My mom would get mad because we could never get the cereal to fit back in the box and it would get stale. The prizes you got in Cracker Jacks were real prizes not just a paper tattoo or a book. My sister and I used to save the charms in a glass jar. One year we bought sailor hats and wore them like Gilligan. Only we sewed the charms around the edge of the hats so the charms dangled. We got lots of offers for those hats, but we worked so hard to save our pennies to buy all those Cracker Jacks we wouldn't part with our hats. My b-i-l told us we were nuts.

    We had a double garage and would cover the windows with newspapers around Halloween. We would turn the garage into a funhouse. We would string thread from the rafters and let it dangle to feel like spider webs. We would make a bowl of jello and have the kids put their hands in it and told them it was human brains. We changed everyone a nickle to go through it. If it wasn't halloween we made a stage out of planks and sawhorses and put on talent shows. We changed everyone a nickel for that too. Sometimes the parents would come to see our shows. If not a talent show then a play we would make up.

    At Halloween we didn't have money for costumes we made them. I remember one year my older sister, Ruth, was a lion and I accidentally stepped on her tail and it came off. One year when I was in the third grade at Halle school our class had a costume contest. I won it. My oldest sister, Marilyn, dressed me up as Zorro. I wore black tights, a black turtle neck, black boots, a black cowboy hat and a sword she made out of tree branch and cardboard covered with aluminum foil. My mask was just one of those black halloween masks you could buy at any corner store for five cents. One year I was a hobo. I remember my mom would burn a cork and rub in on my face to make it look dirty. One year we dressed my brother, Tim, as a mummy. We took all my mom's ace bandages and wrapped every part of his body. He could hardly walk. We wrapped him so tight.

    I remember we had what we called the paper/rags man. He would collect paper and rags. He would drive a cart that was pulled by a horse. He would shout "paper/rags." If you had any you would bring them out to his cart. We used to take turns petting the horse. Then there was the umbrella/scissors man. He would repair umbrellas and sharpen scissor and knives. He had what looked like a barrel on wheels. He would pick your umbrellas, knives, scissors up on a Wednesday, take them home, sharpen them, and bring them back the next Wednesday. We had a milkman who would sneak us chunks of ice on a hot summer day. We had a juice man that delivered all kinds of fruit juice as well as an eggman that delivered eggs. We had the baker man who would deliver bread. He had what looked like a suitcase he would carry into the house. He would open it up and it had shelves of pastry. Sometimes my mom would treat us to custard puffs. They were huge puffed pastry filled with real custard covered in chocolate. I remember I would turn mine upsidedown and press on the bottom. It felt like something in a horror movie. It was all spongy. After a while I would poke my finger through and suck out the custard. I didn't like chocolate when I was little. When my dad was alive he used to take us to pick up a neighbor who worked at the West Side Market. She would always give us little chocolate umbrellas as a treat. Whenever I ate the chocolate while sitting in the back seat I would get carsick. I would see the streetcar lines going by the window and it would make me dizzy. To this day I don't care for chocolate. My mom would buy me the pink and white chocolate. It seemed to me that we could never go anywhere because we were always waiting for someone to deliver something.

    I can remember sneaking behind the marble factory at the top of our street to smoke cigarettes. My mom was onto us so she made my little brother tag along to spy. We told him they were the fake cigarettes. Remember the cigarettes that were like a tube and when you blew on them powder sugar came out like smoke? They had a red foil tip that resembled burning embers. That lasted for a day or two, then we were grounded.

    I remember when they were building an apartment building at the other end of our street and we played in the trenches all day. Making houses out of the stove and refrigerator boxes after they installed the new applicances. We made little shelves out of the styrofoam inserts. My b-i-l stopped by to tell us it was time to go home for dinner. We thought we were so cool. After he left we went back into the boxes. Dinner could wait. We didn't know he drove around the block to see if we really did go home. We blew it that day. My mom walked up to talk to the construction manager and we weren't allowed to play there anymore.

    I remember walking to the butcher shop with my mom. Since there were five of us only one could go at a time. While we waited we would watch through the glass to see what meat he was going to pick for her. Then we would watch as he wrapped it in that white paper and tied it with string. Then he would weigh it and mark the price on the paper with a big black crayon. I wanted one of those big crayons so bad. Remember Laddie pencils? Whoever's turn it was to go to the butcher shop got two pennies to put in the gumball machine. If you got a gumball with stripes on it you turned it in for a prize. The best prize I ever won was a foxtail. I won two of them and my older sister found a way to fix them to my handlebar grips. Everyone else had streamers, I was the only one who had foxtails. I felt so special. I always wondered what that striped gumball would taste like if I ever ate it. You never got to eat it though you had to turn it in to get your prize. My mom bought us used bikes at Friderich's bicycle store on Lorain Avenue. Mine was green with white trim. It had one of those racks on the front that you could clamp things onto. My brother and I used to ride along the railroad tracks off of W. 25th Street to the back of the Animal Protective League to feed the pony they kept in the back. We would carry sacks of apples we picked up from the ground and throw them over the fence. Sometimes we would sit down and cry when we heard all the dogs barking and cats crying. If we stayed long enough we would see the truck drive out full of dead cats and dogs. My mom wouldn't let us go anymore after Tim told her about that.

    But on the flip side of the coin we were allowed to go to the slaughter house on W. 65th and Storer and watch them slaughter cows. They would hang them upside down from huge hooks in the ceiling and cut their throats. One time one of the guys came over with a cup of cow's blood and asked us if we wanted a drink. I don't think we ever went back after that.

    She would take us to Laub's Bakery on W. 58th and Lorain Avenue and we would see how bread was made. You could smell the bread blocks before you got there. We watched it come down the conveyor belt, get sliced and then bagged. After our tour we would go to the thrift store. You could buy a box of six chocolate covered donuts for a nickel. I remember me and my little sister, Debbie, laughed so hard when we seen a lady carrying a loaf of french bread. We had never seen a long skinny loaf of bread before.

    My mom would also take us to the Cookie House next to the Salvation Army on W. 25th and Carroll where you could buy a pound of broken cookies for a nickel. Then we would go shopping at the A&P right next door. After that we would head to the West Side Market. She would always "Park us" somewhere to wait while she did the running around through the market. I was so short and the vegetable stalls were so tall I was afraid I was going to get lost. Sometimes we would go to the chicken house. You would pick the chicken you wanted and got to watch as they wrung it's neck, parboiled it and plucked it. If you didn't want to watch you picked the chicken you wanted and they prepared it while you shopped. I would never go into the chicken house with her. Across the street from the market house they had stands where you could buy different kinds of eggs. They had goose, duck and chicken eggs. They even had ostrich eggs. I saved all my money over one summer to buy an ostrich egg. I wanted an ostrich so bad. I got the egg, it never hatched, it rotted. I remember one time someone gave my brother a rooster and I built a coop for it at the side of the house. Of course we thought it was a chicken till it woke the neighborhood up crowing at 4 a.m. Someone called the city and the inspector made us give it to the garbage men.

    I remember having chicken pox, mumps and measles. I got scarlet fever at Christmas time one year and we were under quarantine. They hung a big red sign on our door and relatives left our presents on the steps. I would sit on the floor and peel the skin off the soles of my feet and palms of my hands. My mom would yell at me to stop. If I pulled just right under my nails the skin would just peel like it was a banana. I was so sick when we all got chicken pox at the same time I had to stay in my room. My sisters and brother got to sleep in the living room and watch cartoons.

    I can remember having a track garden. You paid money for a plot of land and then got to pick what you wanted to grow. You would have to take a peck basket with you on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Your garden was assigned a number and all the tools were numbered. You had to pick the tools that coincided with your plot number. It just blew my mind to see how brussel's sprouts grew. My mom never heard of swiss chard and didn't know how to cook it. She bunched it up and sent us out selling it door-to-door. It didn't take us long. We thought people were weird to buy it cause we didn't know what it was.

    We used to sit for hours making pot holders with that little loom. You used to get a hug bag of loops at Woolworths. We were so diligent at it we got blisters on the tips of our fingers. We would then go out and sell them door-to-door too. If I remember correctly we sold them for 15 cents each or 2 for a quarter. We sold every one we made. That's how we got our spending money. We may have been poor, but we were creative.

    I didn't have a chance to look for that picture last night cause my daughter came over, but I didn't forget about it. Hopefully I can get to it tonight.

    Sure wish we would hear from poo. I know there is no power in Texas, but the longer we don't hear from her, the more worried I get.

    Jenny

  • catherinet
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Your stories are amazing Jenny. You should write a book! I can't believe the detail that you remember.
    May I ask......where did you grow up? How old are you now?
    It sounds like you led a very rich life. It sounds like your mom had her hands full, but did a very good job.
    I sure wish I could remember my childhood as well as you do! Your childhood was so rich.......you didn't just sit at the computer and play games all the time. Oh how I wish we could all go back to more of that kind of living.
    Keep them coming!

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Catherine:

    Born and raised in good ole' Cleveland, Ohio. We lived on the near west side. From W. 73rd to W. 44th and everywhere in between. My mom owned a house on W. 73rd & Brinsmade Ave. after my dad died, but couldn't afford the mortgage payments so she sold it and we moved to W. 44th & Bridge Avenue. I wouldn't live anywhere else. To me Cleveland is the best location in the nation. I will be 56-years-young next month. I was more interested in boy stuff than girls. While my sisters played with dolls I would run around with my younger brother, Tim. I liked the cowboy indian games, playing with army men, tool boxes, etc. The few times I did play house with my sisters we let our brother be the mailman, baker man, milkman, etc. Man, all this reminiscing takes me back years. I lost my younger brother, Tim, to suicide in 1994. He and I were so close it almost killed me too. But my sisters got me into group therapy and I am still around today. There is a saying that goes what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. I lost my mom on Easter Sunday in 1997. She died of congestive heart failure. I lost my sister, Ruth, it will be a year ago October 16, this year to lupus. Ruth was the "creative" one in our family and boy did we get into trouble. It was her idea to smoke behind the marble factory. She made a tent out of a blanket and card table and brought a 5# box of butter squares in the tent and we ate them till we were sick. That was before my dad died and boy did we ever get spanked. They were butter squares for his lunch. She dared me that she could drink more water than I could. We both ended up with the dry heaves. We had one of those old fashioned pencil sharpeners on the wall in our kitchen too high for us kids to reach (my dad was a carpenter and needed to sharpen his pencils all the time). She told me if I put my finger in the pencil sharpener she would not, she promised, turn the crank. Well I did and she turned the crank and I had stripes that bled all over the kitchen floor. When my dad asked her why she did it she told him she wanted to see if it made the same stripes on my finger as it did on the pencil when she sharpened it. I can remember my bandaged finger throbbed for days afterwards. We weren't able to leave the table till we ate everything on our plates. We had stuffed cabbage rolls for dinner that day. Not my favorite. I remember we were still sitting at the table when it got dark out. I fell asleep on the makeshift table board bench. She woke me up with a bright idea. My mom wrapped cabbage rolls with string instead of using toothpicks. Ruth's bright idea was to drag the strings through the tomato sauce and throw them up against the wall to see who could make the prettiest designs. We didn't sit down for a week after that one. My dad showed no mercy. We got it with the belt on our bare bottoms.

    We almost lost Ruth on Chirstmas in 2006. Her whole body went septic and she ended up in ICU for six weeks. When she was released from the hospital, she went into a nursing home for three months. I would visit her every day and we would reminisce about our childhood. She was at home when she died. She had a doctor's appointment at 3 and asked her daughter if she had time to take a nap with her grandson. She fell asleep with him in her arms and never woke up. Her heart have out. She never let me forget the time we lived on Brinsmade Avenue and our neighbor, Victor, had a mini-zoo in his garage. He had snakes, flying squirrels, raccoons, skunks and ferrets. My mom said we could all get hampsters (99 cents each at Woolworths) if Victor would let us borrow a cage. The cage he let us borrow was home made. It had a lid that lifted up like a treasure chest and little doors in the bottom for the hampsters to climb through. One afternoon after I played with my hampster I put it back in the bottom of the cage through the lid that lifted up. I didn't notice her hampster had climbed up to the top and was in the process of going over the side when I closed the lid on it. I pressed down on the lid cause it wouldn't lock and then seen it's little head sticking out under the lid. I started screaming and didn't stop. I was hysterical. I remember our neighbor heard me screaming and came over and took the hampster and tried to give it mouth to mouth with a straw, but it was gone. We buried it under the grapevine in our yard. I tried to give her mine, but she wouldn't take it. We joked about it all the time, but I don't think I ever got over killing that little hampster.

    I can remember our yard on Brinsmade was full of flowers and I always felt like I was in Heaven. There were daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, poppies in bunches grew down the driveway, peonies and grapevines growing on an arbor. Every Easter Sunday my mom would make us coursages to wear to church out of twigs in the shape of a cross decorated with flowers grown in our yard. We always got so many compliments from everyone. My mom didn't drive so we walked everywhere we went. It took us 30-45 mins to walk one way to church on W. 73rd and Elton & Dudley. St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church. We had a huge cherry tree in our backyard that I carved my initials into. My b-i-l said because I carved my initials into the tree I killed it. He had it cut down when my mom was in the hospital having gall bladder surgery. The whole neighborhood was in our yard crying. Everyone used to come to our yard to see it in bloom in the spring, and later to pick cherries to make pies. They were the bright red cherries that were real tart. I remember when the limbs were so heavy with cherries we had to prop them up with 2 X 4's. My mom cried for three days after she got home from the hospital when she seen the tree was gone. When one of our neighbor's boys cut off all my mom's daffodils one spring I returned the favor by cutting all his mom's peonys off. Only difference: Michael didn't get caught, I did. I spent a week in my bedroom and I remember my little sister, Debbie, sneaked me half of her cherry popsicle through the bedroom window she felt so bad for me. I spent a lot of time in that bedroom. I remember she also sneaked me my Top Cat colorforms so I at least had something to do.

    I remember playing paper dolls on the front porch. Walking to Lawsons for 1# of chopped ham and half gallon jugs of milk. If I was lucky I would be able to carry one of the jugs home. One time I dropped it and broke it, but if you took the handle in you still got your deposit back. One time my mom sent me to the store for a jar of instant coffee. I wanted to ride my bike cause it was faster. She told me I couldn't ride my bike and carry a jar of coffee too. I told her I could just trust me. She told me OK and off I went. Half way home steering one handed I hit a curb and the jar went flying, and I went to the bedroom again. There was a bakery on the corner of our street with the shiny obsidian front. If we stood at the corner we could raise our arms and legs and look like we were someone in the circus. There was a little girl that rode a tricycle that lived there and she had the biggest crush on my brother.

    I wasn't allowed to have long hair like my sisters because I would cry and scream when my mom tried to brush it into pony or pigtails. We would walk to the show on Madison Avenue for the Sunday matinee if my mom had the money. Or we would go to what we called the Little Lorain (better known as the "rathole" there was a story that while you were watching the movies rats would run across your feet). If it was a show we weren't interested in we would roll Boston Baked Beans down the aisle to see whose would roll the farthest.

    I remember walking to the Lorain Branch of the public library and joining the book club. When I got my library card you also got a "worry bird". It was a bird cut out of cardboard. You taped a penny to each of it's outstreched wings and balanced it on your index finger. If the bird moved back and forth it would mean you were worrying too much. That brings to mind the fortune telling fish you used to get in Cracker Jacks. Remember it was a red fish and if it flipped over it meant you were jealous. If the head rolled up it meant you were fickle. If the tail rolled up it meant something else. Not sure if that's how it went, but I remember the fish.

    I remember my mom had a yes and no doll she kept on her bed we weren't allowed to play with. I had a Patty Play Pal doll I got for Christmas one year. If you held her hands she would walk with you. My little sister, Debbie, got a Chatty Cathy doll from her godmother when she went into the hospital to have her tonsils out. She used to get nosebleeds a lot and when my mom came back from metro hospital and I ran up the street to meet them I started crying cause I thought she got a mask. Here she got her nose packed because of the bleeding.

    When my dad died we lived on 49th & Detroit and watched them build Max Hayes High School. My little sister, Debbie, was playing out in the yard under a ladder and it slipped and fell on her head. From that day her eye would go into the corner. She had to have surgery to correct it when she was 8-years-old. She always got the neatest gifts from her godmother when she was in the hospital. I got mad at my mom for not having Debbie's godmother instead of the one I had.

    When we lived on Brinsmade Avenue I played with stick matches behind our garage and lit an old couch on fire. I almost burned the garage down. Think I spent a month in my room for that.

    I didn't know about McDonald's until I graduated from high school in 1970 (I was the only one in my family who didn't quit school). When the McDonalds opened on 73rd & Detroit they sent my mom a postcard for a free combo meal which was a Big Mac, Fries and a coke. I walked down with my friend, Frieda. I thought I had died and went to Heaven. Whenever my mom had pizza it was Chef-Boy-R-Dee pizza out of the box. The kind with the crust that was like crackers. I didn't experience pizzaria pizza till my friend, Frieda, treated me one night. After that we spent Friday and Saturday nights at Cici's Pizza on W. 58th & Lorain.

    OMG, I am doing it again. It just seems like the more I reminisce, the more I remember. Didn't believe me when I said I could go on and on did ya! lol

    Jenny

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I *LOVE* how you recall things, Jenny!

    Yes, I have the Franz photo. I switched printers a while ago and the one I have now doesn't have a scanner. When we get a scanner again, I'll post the Franz the Toy Maker picture. :-) My kindergarten was a half day long and when we went to register I remember my Mom asking if I wanted to go in the morning or afternoon. Ohh! Afternoon! Franz the Toy Maker was on the TV in the morning!

    In kindergarten, we'd get milk and graham crackers for a snack. I ~always~ puked up my snack because I was so nervous about being in school! I did win a goldfish in a random drawing though but had to play "Happy Birthday" on the piano any time someone had a birthday throughout grade school!

    I remember Jungle Larry. He had all the neato animals! Later he had a section of Cedar Point but I think there were issues with how the animals were cared for and that was shut down. I did not like Captain Kangaroo and his clock any more than I like the lady on Romper Room! She NEVER saw me in her mirror. LOL!

    Didn't Mr. Jing-a-ling have his own show too? I'm not sure but I think he was at Halle's at Christmas time. There were a lot of kids lined up to sit on his lap. For some un-godly reason my parents thought this would be good for me to meet him and get a gift / key. All I remember was that I was screaming in fright and crying. My brother went up the long isle and got the gift that was for me. No doubt my whole family were embarassed by my panic attack! LOL!

    My father loved the Flintstones so we always watched it! We watched Big Time Wrestling too. Remember Hoolihan the Weather Man? And Super Host and his horrible monster movies on Saturday afternoon? I lived for 1:00 in the afternoon the see The Spider or Tarantula.

    West Side Market was a rare treat for us. The fresh fruits and veggies were one thing but the smoked turkey from ..... oh crap! I can't remember their name. Baker's Meat, I think? We once had a smoked turkey arrive by Greyhound Bus from the West Side Market.

    The Greek Food people were always very nice. The Polish vendors with their home made sausages were great!The Lorain Creamery used to deliver milk, eggs, cottage cheese every week. Teddy, the St. Bernard once snatched the cottage cheese container and ate the whole thing within seconds of delivery. There isn't home delivery of stuff like that any more, is there? Nor pick-up and delivery of dry cleaning.

    Mmmmmmmm. Woolworths. I was always in the pet department trying to get some anoles (lizards) or fish. If I wasn't there then I was buying stamps for my stamp collection. I know. BORING!!!!!!

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You are right C3D. Mr. Jing-a-ling was at Halle's. Duh, I should remember that my son has the biggest crush on Halle Berry.

    My kindergarten was 1/2 day too, but I can't remember if I went in the morning or afternoon. I remember we had a teeter-totter that was painted to look like a big banana. I never got a chance to ride on it though. I was small for my age. The school suggested I be held back for a year, (with my birthday being in October and school starting in September I wasn't really 5, but in those days I guess they didn't care) but my mom wouldn't hear of it. The bigger kids used to push me around. I remember they took a class picture of our class around the Easter egg tree. We got to paint eggs and hang them on the tree. When the pictures came I was sent to my room again because I stood behind the tree instead of in front of it. My mom paid for the pic and couldn't even see me. That is the only place the bigger kids would let me stand.

    My oldest sister was in high school at William Dean Howells, and I attended kindergaten at Kentucky Elementary. They had what was called a corral in the parking lot between the schools where all kindergartners had to wait for their parents or older sisters and brothers to pick them up. We all waited ther till Marilyn got out of school, and then walked home together. One day it was Ruth's bright idea to collect me from the corral to wade in the mud in front of the school. The mud was so deep and sticky I lost my brand new yellow boots (the kind that go over your shoes). Once my shoe came out of the boot of course my shoe got stuck in the mud, then my sock, then my bare foot. It was cold out and by the time we walked home (me in my barefeet) I was shivering. When we got home Ruth got sent to her room cause it was her bright idea. My mom dried me off, gave me a mug of hot chocolate then sent me back with Marilyn, to retrieve my boots, shoes and socks. We found both boots, both shoes but only one sock.

    Didn't Woolworths have the neatest pet department? I remember buying my mom a canary for 99 cents. And that little yellow bird sang it's heart out. We had the little painted turtles in that little bowl that looked like it had an island in the middle. The island had a ramp that looked like little stairs going up to the middle where you inserted a plastic palm tree. If you didn't clean it every day it would stink to high heaven. Then there were newts. We all got hampsters and didn't know they shouldn't be kept together and ended up with babies out the wazoo. We had rabbits. I remember mine was gray and I named it Thumper after the rabbit in Bambi. Whenever I tried to hold him he would scratch me with his hind legs.

    I do remember Hoolihan the weatherman. OMG and Super Host. How about Ghoulardi. I was scared to watch him because it would just show his face with that fire like border. He always wore that weird hat and had that goatee. I remember when that little girl (think her name was Donna Adkins) was kidnapped and he did a fund raiser for her.

    I remember when I went to Orchard Elementary School they had a class called handicrafts. You got to make stuff out of wood and plastic. I made my mom a breadboard in the shape of a pig, and a napkin holder. At the end of the year they had drawings for stuff students made and didn't want. They had this neat rocking horse made out of pink and white plastic. I wanted to win it so bad. When your name was drawn you got to get out of your seat and select the one you wanted. By the time they called my name the only thing left were keychains. In science class I was amazed that there were rocks (pumice) that would float. I wanted so bad to take one home and show my mom (she never went to our open houses). And they day we got to see and feel mylar I was in awe. I went home and got a Nestle's Crunch candy bar, unwrapped the foil praying it would be Mylar. It wasn't. My science teacher's name was Ms. Peterjohn. She took a lot of ribbing for that one. Then there was the day we all walked into the room as she was taking a frog under a glass lid out of the refrigerator. 20 minutes into the class she removed the lid and left the frog hop around the class. I had one of those plastic pencil cases that had the three ring holes in it so you could put it in you notebook. I had some redhots in there and was trying to sneak and eat them in class. When the frog jumped it scared the daylights out of me and redhots went flying all over the floor. I think that was my first detention. My mom wasn't too happy about that. Mr's Petejohn also had one of those things where the static electricity would make your hair stand on end. If you touched the globe and then someone else you would get a shock.

    I remember being in fourth grade at Orchard School when the principal came into our class and whispered something into Mrs. Cipra's ear. She started crying. Then she made the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot and we were all to go home immediately. She told us not to talk to anyone. We were to leave silently and walk straight home. My mom was at a doctor's appointment so we had to wait outside till she got home. My mom heard on the radio in the waiting room that he had died. She was crying when we met her at the front gate. That was a very sad day.

    Oh, no! Here I go again.

    Last night I looked for the picture of my temper tantrum at the wading pool to post but I couldn't find it. I e-mailed Debbie and she said I gave it to her last year (senior moment. Isn't it ironic as you get older you have no short term memory, but can remember what happened fifty years ago like it was yesterday. Sometimes I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast, or if I even ate breakfast. I get in the car and start driving and can't remember where I was supposed to go. lol) Hopefully, she is going to send it to me via e-mail so I can post it. I do have the picture of me standing behind the Easter egg tree that I will try to locate and post if I find it. It won't be till next week though, because we upgraded our computer at home and no longer have a scanner.

    Jenny

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hoolihan and Big Chuck! Then it was Big Chuck and Little John. I didn't like Ghoulardi either. Not so much because of him but because he'd interrupt his monster movies with Hey ...Heyyy ... Heyyyy! voice overs.

    We had the turtle island too. I wanted a gerbil but Woolworths had three. A family of Mom, Dad and a baby they said was too young to be alone. So my Mom bought the whole family. Before you knew it I had 40 FORTY gerbils in my room! My brother made a huge enclosure out of plexiglass that fit perfectly on a shelf and was about 1/2 the length of that wall. We called it Rat Village. LOL!

    I *loved* the teeter-totter. :-)

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, man, C3D that rat village sounds just like my style. We had hampsters in cages, stacked on cages, and sawdust was everywhere. Can't remember whatever happened to them.

    Jenny

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One of the gerbils I had was a midget! He was about 1/4 the size of all the others. What the heck? For some reason I checked his urine with a glucose test strip. OMG! I had a diabetic gerbil when I was ~maybe~ in 3rd grade. Our vet verified that he was diabetic but because he was sooo tiny, he didn't advise giving insulin injections. Junior lived for about 3 years.

    Our cats used to be inside/outside kitties and sometimes at night I'd hear the familiar cry of a bunny that was caught. I'd run outside in the pitch blackness of the night in my jammies through the neighbours yards following the sound of the screaming bunny to save him. Sometimes I got them when they were alive and sometimes it was too late.

    Our neighbour was the sweetest neighbour anyone could ask for. He had 22 cats and kittens. I was in Heaven when I was at his house. I'd climb over our 4 ft. chain link fence or crawl under to get into his yard and play with the kitties. One week all his cats were getting seriously ill and dying. They had feline distemper (panleukopenia). Our one and only kitty had it too and it is 99.9999% fatal.

    My father called our vet and told him what's going on and the vet didn't hold out much hope for any of the cats but ... if he wanted to try to give them supportive therapy and antibiotics and whatever ... he told my father what to do. (He was a people doctor.) My father treated our cat and then would go over and treat the neighbours kitties. Our kitty survived and three of the neighbours kitties lived.

    Mr. Lester's kitchen light was on very late one early morning and the police went to check on him. They came to our house and asked my father to check on Mr. Lester and he was pronounced dead in his kitchen. That was the first death of a person I had experienced. We were all sooo sad. We continued to care for his cats for years until they too passed away from old age.

    Years later .... the third owner of Mr. Lester's house called us and said she's throwing stuff away from the attic and cleaning it out ... could we come and help? We found a treasure trove of old family photographs, love letters, high school diplomas of Mr. Lester, his Mrs. and their children. There were so many things there! Ancient Christmas ornaments made of such delicate thin glass, jigsaw puzzles galore, old airplane magazines, a book / program from the Indianapolis 500, postcards with the race cars and a checkered flag. I think it was dated 1931? I know it was REALLY early.

    We needed to return this to the family and tried writing to business addresses that were on letter heads explaining we were in search of Mr. Lester's son and why. Somehow we got very lucky and contacted his son. About three months later he came from California and broke down in tears of joy as he looked through his family pictures and papers. He thought they had been lost forever.

    That was probably the best thing we ever did! :-)

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mr. Lester's story is bittersweet, but at least it had a happy ending. Those are the kind of stories I love to hear.

    When I was around 8-years-old I had a long haired tabby I named Christopher. He was strictly an outside cat. My eyes kept swelling up and getting all red and they itched real bad. After a visit to the doctor it was decided that I was allergic to cats. As soon as I came in from school the next day I searched and searched for Christopher. My mom told me he ran away. I cried for days. My mom felt so bad she bought me a parakeet. My sister, Marilyn, couldn't stand the noise he made. She used to get migraine headaches. One day I hung it's cage on the back porch before I left for school. When I got home the bottom was slid open and the parakeet was gone. I think that's why I always have an animal, or two or three in the house. My eyes do still burn and itch, but I won't give up my kittys. Think I do it subconsciously in Christopher's memory. lol

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Awww. How sad about Christopher and your parakeet.

    I had one parakeet, Eve. She had belonged to my Grandmother and I got her after she had died. Eve was green and very tame. After months of living in my bedroom she started to imitate the cuckoo clock to perfection. It might be 2:00 but there's 15 calls of Cuckoo! Cuckoo! ... One night she started to fly in a frenzy around her cage. I turned on the lights, opened the door and wanted to hold her so she would calm down. She flew out and straight into the mouth of Woody, the cat! It was the first and only bird he had ever caught. She died instantly. :*(

    My Mom wanted me to be dressed nicely and tried repeatedly to have me wear dresses. GAG ME! I *HATED* to wear a dress! You can't climb trees or play in the sand with a dress on! I wanted to go next door to visit Mr. Lester and his kitties but could go ONLY if I wore a new dress my Mom got for me.

    Ohhhhhhh! That was soooooooooooooooo unfair! OK. I'll give in and wear the lite yellow foofy dress with lace and little flowers on it. FINE!

    But ... Heee heee heee! I'll outsmart her! Once my brother and I were outside and walking across the lawn I started to tuck my foofy dress into my underwear. I was sooo pleased that I outsmarted my Mom but could still visit my neighbour.

    My brother grabbed my arm and said I couldn't go ANY WHERE looking like that! My underwear was bulging out all over and over flowing from the dress being stuffed inside them. I saw nothing wrong with how I looked AND I was ~technically~ wearing the dress. But dang! He wouldn't let me move until I pulled the dress out from the underwear and it looked like a dress again.

    He just didn't understand that I hated dresses! LOL! Then we went to Mr. Lester's house and I was throwing myself down his laundry chute ... down a narrow chute from the first floor to the basement and landing on a huge table of dirty laundry. Get up and do it again! :-)

  • catherinet
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    LOLOL........these stories are great!
    Tucking your dress into your undies! hahahaha
    We had a parakeet that got away, when my mother put his cage on the porch. I had mice and hamsters too.
    We had a woolworths (or Kresge's...or Murphy's.....can't remember for sure), and they seemed to always have a monkey in the pet department. We loved visiting him.
    I went to an elementary school that just had 4 classrooms....first grade through 4th. I loved that chocolate milk in the little bottles. I think it cost something like 3 cents.
    We had Christmas plays in the basement on the stage, and those of us waiting in the wings would sit on little benches in the boiler room.
    I can remember Sharon Moskowitz, Tommy Frank and Tommy Jullian being the lucky ones who got to play the 3 chipmunks and sing the Christmas song (ALVIN!!!). They were all Jewish......I wonder if that was the least religious skit of the show?
    We didn't have kindergarten. I started 1st grade when I was 5. It took me until about 11th grade to catch up!
    In that little gradeschool, we would have a flower show every Fall. Everyone would bring flowers from their gardens and yards. They'd be in glass canning jars. It was cool.
    When I was in 3rd grade, I had Mrs. Keggy.......the teacher from hell. But at least I could sit at my desk and look out the windows. That room was on the side of the school that had a picket fence beside it with ivy all over it and trees.
    Mr. Sigler was the janitor and also the crossing guard.
    In the spring we always had the ice cream social in the parking lot. That was so much fun.
    We used to have neighborhood parties too, and watched people's home movies outside. One time I told everyone that my brother couldn't come because he had poison ivy all over his bummy. Everybody laughed, and I didn't know why.
    Wish I could tell stories better.
    Keep those stories coming everyone!

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ROTFLMAO at the foofy dress tucked in underwear story. I can just picture that C3D.

    I just knew ya all had stories in there somewhere just dying to get out.

    At the end of track garden season they had an awards ceremony and all gardeners had to make a charicature out of what they grew in their gardens. There was some pretty neat stuff. I remember someone made a praying mantis out of vegetables. I can't remember what I made.

    OMG I forgot all about Kresges. My aunt Ruth bought me a stuffed Lassie dog from there for my birthday one year. My mom got mad. We weren't allowed to have stuffed animals. To this day I don't know why.

    We used to have a parakeet named Messy. He could say pretty boy. That's all he said though. It got old after a while. He died of old age at 16.

    Jenny

  • pikecoe
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Catherine, We didn't have kindergarten either and we had 4 classes in one room being taught by 1 teacher. The teacher had also taught my father and he had only gone thru 3rd grade. Yet he was one of the smartest men I ever knew. I can remember when I was in 3rd grade there was only 1 student in 4th grade. A boy who had muscular distrophy and was in a wheel chair. I was chosen to call his spelling words out to him for his tests. It sort of made me feel proud to be "teachers assistant". It's amazing, but if my nieces and nephews had lived in the same community they would have had the same teacher for 1st grade. I think she was about 16 or so when she taught my father in first grade. And ancient when she stopped teaching. I never got a spanking in school, but I remember getting pinched by her one time when I was talking when I was supposed to be quiet. The pinch was a pinch and twist at the same time. She never had to do that again. I thought she had the neatest handwriting. I tried so hard to write like her and one time I actually wrote my name exactly the way she wrote it and you couldn't tell the difference. I felt like I had really accomplished something. We used to go out into the pine trees in the school yard and gather little sticks. She would bundle them up into little packs of 5 with a little rubber band to teach us to count by 5s and then 10s. When we went to lunch, she would make us try at least a bite of everything on our plate. We had something yellow one day and I tried everything I could think of not to take that bite because I thought it was squash. She finally got me to take the bite and it was creamed corn instead and I loved it. I remember someone gave her a big box of great big ole Bartlett Pears and her sitting there peeling one for each of us. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Never in my life had I tasted anything so heavenly. I'm not a very good storyteller either but these stories are stirring up memories for me also. Glenda

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Come on Glenda. More, more, more. These are the kind of stories I love to hear. This is history. Do you remember the teacher's name? I was the middle kid in a family of 5. Unfortunately my two older sisters didn't have a very good track record in school (truant, failing grades, getting detentions) so by the time I came along all the teacher they had before me expected the same from me. I had to work extra hard to prove myself, but I did it.
    I'll bet to this day you never had a pear taste that good! Lol

    Jenny

  • koijoyii
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I looked all weekend for the pic of me behind the Easter egg tree. Can't find the darn thing. But I'm not done with my seach yet. When I get on a mission I complete it. My sister sent me a copy of her pic via e-mail, but it's not the one I'm thinking of. I'm not mad in this pic, but I think this pic let up to me being mad. I think my mom made me give my brother, Tim, the frog to take the pic and he wouldn't give it back.

    I am on the left. My sister, Debbie, is on the right. Of course Tim is in the middle. You can see the wading pool was a metal frame and the liner had a pocket you slid the metal rails through. Then there were the seats that snapped over the corners. You can see the side starting to sag on the left. This was from us hanging onto it and kicking like we were really swimming. It was a hand-me-down from my aunt Doris when my cousins got a 3ft deep round pool. You can see my mom's clothes line behind us. I used to love sleeping on sheets that were crisp off the clothes line. She would even hang them out in the winter. They would freeze solid. She would bring them in and iron them. I loved to watch the steam rising from them.

    C3D. Do you have a picture of you wearing your foofy dress? I would love to see it if you do.

    {{gwi:170972}}

    Jenny

  • pikecoe
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, I'll never forget her, her name was Lois Raulerson. I grew up in the country, but the school was in a little town about 15 miles away. She lived in town. Later on when I was in Junior high, her husband had to go to a TB sanitarium in Orlando Florida and my sister that was 2 years older than I and I would ride with her some weekends so she wouldn't have to go alone. We had an aunt that worked at the sanitarium. Our aunt had never married. And I got into trouble once trying to tell someone about her. I said she was an Old Maid and tried to correct myself by saying she was just a maid and that still came out all wrong. We would stay with her in the dormitory and she would buy all kinds of candy and junk for us and take us to fancy restaurants. I'll never forget the Duck Inn. I remember we had fried shrimp and Strawberry Shortcake. It was delicious. My sister was Wanda, and I don't think mother ever saw Wizard of Oz as we had no television. I think it's coincedence that we were named for the witches in Oz. But all the way through school I was called Wanda because of my sister. Then after I was out of school and had various jobs, I was still called Wanda by a lot of people that didn't even know I had a sister called Wanda. And to this day I occasionally get called Wanda. Like I said we did not have televisions, telephones or indoor bathrooms. Never had any of these until after I got married. We used to go to town with our mother every Sat. and she would let us go to the movie theatre while she bought groceries. Sometimes we would get to go to the museum while she shopped. My first job was at Woolworths while in high school. I worked behind the counter where records and sewing notions were sold. And sometimes behind the candy counter. When I got into 7th grade we moved into a brand new high school. So a couple of years ago they had a 50 year reunion for all the grades that started school there that year. My Home Economics teacher was there and I was amazed how well she has aged. She still goes to the gym everyday there at the country club where she lives. Her name is Evalena Cates and I loved her. The summer between 11th and 12th grade my parents divorced. I used to dream that if my daddy remarried it would be to her. At the reunion I got to sit down and reminisce with her. She is as sharp as a tack!! Got a kick out of me telling her I used to dream of her as my step-mother. In Biology class my teacher was Mr. Jones. I really liked him and loved Biology. Used to play a game called Zoology, like Bingo. Had cards with definition of biological terms and he would call out the words. First one to get them all won. Of course if you didn't know the meaning of the words it was hard. I won everytime and never had to take any tests. I even liked disecting the bull frog even though I felt bad about killing the frog. And my English teacher was Mr. Emory and I really liked him and did very well in his class. Straight A's. Then there was Miss Robarts for history, American and World and I did well there. Don't even ask me about Math. Don't even remember the teachers names in math classes. It's a good thing I never had to take Algebra, Geometry or any foreign languages back then, I would have flunked out. I remember the Air Force coming out one time and testing us to see what our abilities were. They suggested that I was qualified to be an "Air Traffic Controller."LOL When I graduated I got my first real job at the University of Fla as a filing clerk in the On Campus Housing office. I stayed there a year, got married and then left there to go to work for the telpehone company as a long distance operator. Did that for about 13 years and then worked in the Switch and Data Administration office for another 9 years and left there to go to work with my husband. Been doing that ever since. Glenda

  • chickadeedeedee
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great stories! *LOVE* 'em! :-)

    Me? Pictured in a foofy dress? There's LOTS of those. Red dress, yellow, blue... There's one of me in a white *ultra* foofy dress ... and me wearing skirts.

    Me? Post such evidence on the Internet? Not a chance! I have good reason, sorry. :-)

  • Zyperiris
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just found this forum. I have laughed and cried reading the stories.

    I used to cry at the end of the Mickey Mouse Club show...LOL. It was SOOO sad...It was over till tomorrow! I remember Sunday nights when the Wide World Of Disney show would come on. I remember Disneyland the first time I went would have been about 1963. My cousin Stan would was born two days before me screamed on the rides more than I did. He was my best friend. Later on we LOVED the Monkees as well. Stan died of Aids. I still miss him and I feel bad his family never understood that he was born that way and couldn't help it. I know..I was THERE. He played dolls with me.

    I remember Felix the cat cartoons and Casper. I remember the first time the Beatles were on TV.

    I remember Roasted Marshmallows at my friend Lisa's house..she had a pool...

    I remember the Watts riots and being afraid of you know..the N word. Ignorant times for sure.

    I remember my Mama telling me that if I was good and took my nap she would bring me a treat from the grocery store. When I woke up she was cooking dinner..and I ran into the living room and she had a bowl full of those Halloween candies that look like orange pumpkins? I thought that was the best candy of all time. I remember going trick or treating and taking a grocery sized bag with me.

    My Bio-Dad and my Mom did not stay together and my Mom was stressed out...So I guess my male role model was Grandpa. I loved him so much. I wanted to follow him around..I can still feel the love that he and Grandma gave me. I can see his face and he died when I was 8.

    I remember my step-dad who in all ways became my Dad making me pancakes..only he called them Mousecakes..and he worked real hard to make them in the shape of a mouse.

    I remember all the beach movies..Beach Blanket Bingo. I remember it costs $1.00 to go to the show. .25 to get in, .25 for popcorn, .25 for a coke and .25 for a candy. A double feature.

    My Mom is gone now.. 5 years. The only thing that makes it bearable is that I now understand how important I am to my kid and my first and most likely only grandchild..Wyatt..now 6 months old.

    I remember Hamms beer commercials too!

    You know what? I truly truly really miss Johnny Carson.

  • catherinet
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    good stuff zyperiris!

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