DAMmit! I had this whole post complete with photos ready to go. Then something, somewhere, someHOW will not let me upload ’em!
So now, I got nothin’. Plus, you know me. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIX IT, OF COURSE!!
Eh. I’m too tired.
Soooo ….. um … doodoodoodoot ….. eh …
All riighty. I just made up a meme for Y’ALL to do. Or a youyou, if you prefer. (Or not. Bleh. Look, I’m tired, okay?)
Anyhoo, it’s short, but I want details, people. Answer in comments section, please.
Oh, let’s call it “Obsessions 5 to 10.”
Answer these questions, thinking back to when you were anywhere from 5 to 10 years old:
1) Toy you were most obsessed with:
2) Activity you were most obsessed with:
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas:
4) Food obsession:
5) Book or story obsession:
6) Candy obsession:
7) TV show obsession:
I’m waiting … with popcorn and Goobers in hand.
Oh, I’ve killed so many brain cells since then, but . . .
1) The toy that I was most obsessed with was Derry Daring. With Women’s Lib in full swing, we little girls needed a blonde badass cycle-jumping counterpart to Evel Knievel. She wore this bright pink flare-legged suit and her motorcycle had this crank launcher that, if you wound it up really good, would send Derry into a wheelie. Being the kind of little girl I was, my favorite thing to do was send Derry careening dangerously close to the legs of the adults. As they were walking. Later, after I’d worn out the launcher, Derry enjoyed a career as the “bad girl” in my Barbie scenarios.
2) Because my grandmother was an awesome seamstress, we had needles and fabric and notions stuffed into every cabinet in our house. I was obsessed with sewing for a while, and I’d take pretty scraps of fabric and sew rick-rack and sparkly buttons onto them. Sometimes, I’d even embroider flowers on them. My grandmother died three years ago, and when my mom and I were cleaning her dresser, we found one of my creations. It was yellow satin, and I’d embroidered a very iffy cat face on it, with aqua blue shirt buttons for the eyes. I hadn’t really cried much about her passing until then.
3) I was obsessed with getting a bicycle for Christmas. I’d ask every year — now that I’m grown up, I understand that my mom just plain didn’t have the money. But then, when I was 8, Santa brought it: pink, with a white basket, tassels on the handlebars and a flowered banana seat. I promptly began jumping it off the sidewalks and engaging in high-speed chases during the neighborhood games of “Charlie’s Angels.”
4) Food has always been an obsession. The biggest was roast beef. Because I absolutely, totally hated it. Those Sundays when that brown lump of steaming beef was brought to the table were the worst part of my week. The Sunday roast was always leathery and dusty and impossible to chew. Every Sunday, my mother would stubbornly load my plate with those greying meat planks while I (equally stubbornly) refused to eat it. I can’t count how many Sunday nights I was left sitting at the table because I wasn’t allowed to get up until I ate the stuff.
5) The “Little House On The Prairie” books were my very favorites. I read them all, over and over again. I was so obsessed that in the second grade, I was Laura Ingalls for Halloween. My grandmother (the incredible seamstress) made a calico dress and sunbonnet, and my mom braided my hair and used her eyebrow pencil to draw freckles across my nose. To this day, I think that’s one of the best costumes I ever wore.
6) Oh, my . . . the Mounds bar. Dark chocolate and coconut. So creamy, so coconutty, so exotic. Hm. I still may be a little obsessed.
7) Every Saturday morning, I’d be planted in front of Channel 13 waiting for “Superfriends.” I was obsessed with Superman . . . and, in a weird way, the Legion of Doom. My favorite episodes featured the sinister machinations of Lex Luthor, because those were the most dramatic — the Superfriends were never closer to annihilation than when Lex laid his evil, hand-wringing plans. Of course, I HATE HATE HATED those stupid Wonder Twins. “Wonder Twin powers, ACTIVATE! Form of . . . a Gila monster. Shape of . . . an Italian soda!” I mean, really! They were useless! And with those dumb purple spandex hero suits, they looked like “Donny and Marie in the 25th Century.”
And so, Tracey, this wraps up this edition of “Obsessions of a child of the 70s.”
1) Toy you were most obsessed with:
2) Activity you were most obsessed with:
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: The Fisher Price castle
4) Food obsession: These barbecued meatballs my mom made. I still make them today as an adult.
5) Book or story obsession: Oh boy, how much time you got. I was OBSESSED with “Ballet Shoes” by Noel Streatfield. I was OBSESSED with a book called “Diamond in the Window” by jane Langton. I recently re-read it and it is as good as I remembered. I was OBSESSED with any book that had to do with ORPHANS living by their wits. I loved orphans.
6) Candy obsession: Lik-mAid. Does anyone remember these? It was basically 3 packets of different flavored powdered Kool aid – and you had a big vanilla stick that you would dip into the powder. OBSESSED.
7) TV show obsession: Oh boy. Well, first and foremost: Sesame Street. I still haven’t gotten over that one. Other obsessions: Kimba, the White Lion. OBSESSED. Also Underdog. I had a crush on Underdog. I was also obsessed (this was a bit later – in the 9 or 10 years of age range) Sha Na Na.
//Shape of … an Italian soda//
Seriously, I cannot stop laughing!!!!
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: Barbie. No other dolls had boobs. Or soooo many clothes.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: cards, the game Hearts, actually. Mary and Angie and I used to play at our kitchen tables (we rotated houses) after dinner almost every night.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: a typewriter. I wrote so many stories. I wonder what happened to them all?
4) Food obsession: desert
5) Book or story obsession: I loved the Happy Hollisters when I was little. They had so many cool adventures, and their parents would take them anywhere to solve a mystery. Amsterdam? No problem…
6) Candy obsession: Yes, Mounds bars… Mmmmm.
7) TV show obsession: Night Gallery, Twilight Zone, Night Stalker–
Also Kimba and Speed Racer–
Also in kindergarten I loved Nanny and The Professor, The Brady Bunch, and The Partridge Family.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: From 5 – 10, probably my Evel Kenievel stunt cycle. You pulled a zip string and it shot off along the ground. Pretty awesome toy. Wish I knew what happened because it was so awesome that my son would love it.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: According to my parents, it was leaving my big wheel all over the neighborhood and having them go track it down.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: Underoos.
4) Food obsession: It would be easier to list what food I wasn’t obsessed with.
5) Book or story obsession: From 5 – 10? Bible stories. Probably Samson and Delilah. I loved the super strong dude putting the smack down.
6) Candy obsession: Nothing in particular. I have always preferred baked goods.
7) TV show obsession: The Incredible Hulk, of course.
Okay, please remember that I’m way-assed older than all of you:
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: my Mde. Alexander Ginny doll. Mine was brunette, my sister’s was auburn. We had Barbies, but back then Barbie wasn’t all perky and smiling. She looked sort of sullen and pouty, like a secretary whose boss had decided to go back to his wife. Loved the clothes- how great was the little catalog of the outfits that came with the new ensemble?- didn’t like her much.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: any type of sewing/handwork. I made dolls of all sorts of materials – I remember one of nylon stocking and foam stuffing, that looking back, was a monster of deformity, but I was so impressed. It was dressed in scraps of a yellow nightie my mom was throwing away. My mom did not sew- she tried very hard and my sister still has her Singer from 1959, but it was a no-go. All my fabrics came from the rag bag, or from a sewing neighbor.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: Pitiful Pearl. Can’t remember if I got her for my B-day or Christmas. They’re very close together, so it’s moot.
4) Food obsession: my mom made the best meatloaf in the world. And the next day, if she restrained my dad – sometimes she made two loaves- I could have a meatloaf sandwich for my lunch box. Cold meatloaf on white bread with mustard – can’t beat that with a stick. In my red plaid metal Alladin lunch box.
5) Book or story obsession: Mancy Drew. Which I read from any source, including the neighbor across they street who still had her old first editions. I thought she was a real person, for a while. Couldn’t figure out why, if her dad was so well-known, he wasn’t in the World Book.
Also Mary Poppins. And a series called “Childhood of Famous Americans”, which have, I think, been banned from the public schools.
I was a voracious reader, with a book in my lap under the desk.
6) Candy obsession: Bit O’Honey. “It’s the chewy candy you don’t have to chew – just pop it in your mouth ’til the lumps come through.”
Oh – and SweetTarts, which were a sensation when they first came out. The Little League concession stand couldn’t keep them in stock.
7) TV show obsession: Popeye cartoons on the afternoon kid’s show with the live host and sidekick. In Austin, it was Uncle Jay and his gold-miner buddy, Packer Jack.
Any of the Hanna-Barberra series: Yogi, Quickdraw McGraw, Top Cat.
Total obsesssion: Dobie Gillis. Loved that show with an everlasting love.
What is my problem – my first 2 answers did not show up.
Here:
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: I had a stick horse that my mom made that – well. We went everywhere together. He was alive. Do not tell me that that stick horse was not alive.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: Make-believe games. I would lose myself in the land of make-believe for hours on end. I guess I still do.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: I absolutely loved dolls – Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake and her posse, Madame Alexander. I was more interested in creating stories for the dolls than, say, combing their hair and making them fashionable. I remember blissful hours creating elaborate “sets” and storylines for them.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: I’ll give you three obsessions: trading stickers (we used to stick them on ziploc bags and trade them at recess), hopscotch with my friend Tracey (hee hee), and coloring.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: I don’t remember one item. One year it was roller skates, one year it was a bike. We were, um, (blush), very spoiled by our grandparents so our Christmases were always big.
4) Food obsession: Twinkies. We weren’t allowed to have that kind of thing and I remember seeing kids at school pull them out of their lunchboxes as if they were rabbits in a magician’s hat. I LUSTED after Twinkies. And Pop Rocks … Mom said if we ate them we would die (or some such urban legend) and so I used to have beg and score off my friends. 🙂
5) Book or story obsession: The Little House on the Prairie series. I used to pretend my bed was a conestoga-ish wagon. I also liked the TV show, but unlike most everyone else, I always wanted to be Mary (pretty and blond) and not Laura (I already had me a nice set of buck teeth).
6) Candy obsession: Grape Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum in all its soft, acidy-grape goodness!
7) TV show obsession: Gopher on The Love Boat. Yes, I was a dork.
1) Toy(s) you were most obsessed with (sorry, can’t pin it down to just one): Hot Wheels, Barbie, my Big Wheel, my bike. (And the Easy Bake Oven, Lite Brite, and Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine THAT I NEVER GOT!!!!!)
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: Combing and styling anything that faintly resembled hair; Barbies, pom-pons, string mops, ribbons. And twirling around in circle skirts to watch the material flow.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: A puppy. Finally got one in 6th grade. She was the best dog — EVER.
4) Food obsession: Halloween candy; and the mother of all contest days. Oh, to still be able to Trick or Treat…
5) Book or story obsession: “The Yearling” by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Each week, the student who scored the most points at one of our after-school Literature Team practices would get to pick a book from a big box. I’d been eyeing it for weeks but was afraid to take it because it was so thick. It looked expensive; like the grand-prize, big-brother of all the other books. Finally my teacher gave it to me right before we went to regionals. I guess she’d noticed I wanted it… I’ve read it about 100 times. I still have it under lock and key in a little chest my grandmother gave me. *great, now I’m getting all weepy… what a fantastic memory*
6) Candy obsession: Reese’s Cups. Lord.
7) TV show obsession: Knight Rider. I’m thinking of getting the theme song as a ring tone.
STICKERS!!!! YESSS!!! I had, like a million! Do you remember the sticker company that used to print the collector albums? Where all the stickers were in the back and you would fill in the scenes with them? The trademark was a hot air baloon. *What was the name of that damned company?*
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: I loved my Donny and Marie Dolls and my Star Wars figures. I guess there’s always been two sides to me.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: I also had a large Barbie head that you could put makeup on her or style her hair. I spent hours trying to get her hair just right. I would wash it, roll it and then dry it on top of the floor vent.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: I really can’t remember one item that I really wanted. I do remember going through the JC Penney Christmas catalog each year and drooling over the toy selection. I would circle the ones that I really liked.
4) Food obsession: The only time my mom bought sugared cereal was when my step-brothers and step-sister had their weekend at our house. Oh how I loved breakfast on those weekends!
5) Book or story obsession: I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books. There was always something new and I never completed all of the adventures, but I sure tried!
6) Candy obsession: Then: My grandmother lived in a very small town where you could go to the little store down the street and with just a little change in your pocket come out with all sorts of yummy “penny” candies. Current: Dove Dark Chocolate. Mmmmm.
7) TV show obsession: I had too many when I was a kid. I grew up on TV – I loved when MTV first came on. My current fall lineup is: Lost, The Office, CSI (Las Vegas), and The Amazing Race. I recently had to make the hard choice to leave Survivor. I’ve watched since it first started, but I love The Office more! Plus, Survivor’s all the same now.
I think this is the most awesome thing I have ever read!!!!
HERE, you guys, TAKE my blog, PLEASE! I LOVE THIS!
I have so many questions and comments about your answers and I have to leave in like, 5 minutes. Okay. Well, I’ll start, anyway:
Shannon — Love those answers. Um:
/I HATE HATE HATED those stupid Wonder Twins. “Wonder Twin powers, ACTIVATE! Form of . . . a Gila monster. Shape of . . . an Italian soda!â€/
HAhahahahaha!!
red — Never had that Lik-Maid thing. Yum.
Missy — You were obsessed with getting a typewriter as a kid? Wow. You were a litttle worker already. I mean, that is just so cute to me, that image of little Missy at her typewriter, writing, writing.
CULLEN — I HAVE ONE QUESTION: UNDEROOS?? UM, WHAT? I MEAN, I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, BUT WHAT?? AND YES, I AM SHOUTING!
Okay. Gottan run. More questions to come later.
You people are NOT off the hook with me! Hahahahaha!!
LOVE the answers. Keep ’em coming.
Underoos. I loved them so much as a kid. I mean, toys came and went, but with Underoos … you put on a pair of Superman undies and you were Superman. I mean, you’re wearing his undies, right?
This was the logic of my 5 or 6-year-old mind.
Wonder Twins – I loved them! Though, I always wondered why the guy got to change into cool things while the girl would turn into a blender or a pail – Wait a minute!!! It was really to make us girls know where our places were? Right?!
That brought back memories of turning the TV when my grandpa would fall asleep watching the Cubs game – I’d wait till he was snoring than turn it to watch Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, Felix the Cat, Mighty Mouse or some other silly cartoon. He’d always wake back up, laugh, and turn back on the game. I just waited till he fell asleep again. You had to turn the dial (yes, the dial!) quietly because it was pretty noisy.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: Any and all things Barbie.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: Basketball (this just demonstrates my amazing versatility…from Barbie to Basketball in .5 seconds)
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas:
4) Food obsession: I only ate like 5 things…mac & cheese, grilled cheese, cereal, toast, and sugar.
5) Book or story obsession: Where the Red Fern Grows
6) Candy obsession: The only thing I can remember eating were gum drops
7) TV show obsession: Charlies Angels
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: it’s a tie between Major Matt Mason (see #2) and G.I. Joe (always wanted the Marine dress blues, but could never afford them)
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: THe Apollo space program. I still remember, during a programmed hold in the countdown, CBS went from Walter Cronkite to a *Tom Jones* music video. I was scarred for life, but would still go up in a heartbeat.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: Whatever was in the Sears Wish Book. (usually electric trains)
4) Food obsession: Anything my mother made
5) Book or story obsession: I devoured Hardy Boys books, and National Geographics; especially issues about the space program (see #2)
6) Candy obsession: Candy Corn. ALWYAS Candy Corn
7) TV show obsession: Gilligan’s Island and I dream of Jeannie. They always came on right after I got home from school. Star Trek came later, in my early teens.
This comments on this post are absolutely priceless. I feel like I KNOW these people and they just invited me into their childhood.
One question for Red – is Lik-m-aid the same as Fun Dip? Just curious.
Anyways, here’s mine, for posterity’s sake…
1) Toy you were most obsessed with:
Stuffed bears. I got one every year for camp. Every Christmas, and every birthday. I became so accustomed to having a stuffed bear next to my neck that to this day I can’t sleep without it! For years my wrists killed me b/c I would contort them so that they rested under my head and against my neck. I finally gave up and used the two stuffed dogs my husband had given me as a gag gift and now sleep with them. He thinks I’m ridiculous, but I’ve got to save my wrists if I want to be a sign language interpreter. So yeah, hands down stuffed animals. I HATED dolls. I had one Barbie but never played with her. One Cabbage Patch but I hit myself in the head with it one night and that was the end of that.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: Reading. I was a shy, quiet person. But I choose summer camp as a close runner up.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: A Computer. An Apple IIC was my first computer. wowza.
4) Food obsession: Jello.
5) Book or story obsession: Either Nancy Drew or Little House on the Prairie. I have my Little House series on my bookshelf and the bindings are all worn out. They are well loved. And my grandfather (now deceased) gave them to me and it’s signed by him. I’m grabbing them if my house ever burns down. I checked-out Nancy Drew from the library every week. After I finished them, my dad would read them. To this day I don’t know why.
6) Candy obsession: Nerds.
7) TV show obsession: Scooby Doo.
“Where all the stickers were in the back and you would fill in the scenes with them? The trademark was a hot air baloon. *What was the name of that damned company?* ”
Was it Mrs. Goldman? My daughter went through the stickers phase, too.
Tracey, this was inspired.
Candy–I also used to love laffy taffy. I would buy it every Saturday from the Woolworths candy counter on the way to the matinee with Angie.
Also, reading was a major obsession. We would stop at the library on the way home from the theatre on Saturday’s.
Mrs. Marion (the librarian) would always have something cool for me to read. Yes, I read all of the little house books, Nancy Drew, Beverly Cleary… Does anyone remember a book called The Green Poodles? I can’t find it on Amazon…
red — I am crying because you had a stick horse. That is just the sweetest thing. Little red on a stick horse. Oh, man …
Jeannine — Your mom trying to convince you you’d die if you ate Pop Rocks. Hahahaha! What was THAT urban legend?? I never heard it. Do you remember what it was?
Sal — ENOUGH with the whole “way-assed older” thing! Please. You are cool and we all know it. You’re killing me with this about Barbie:
/She looked sort of sullen and pouty, like a secretary whose boss had decided to go back to his wife. /
Hahahahaha!
Also: Pitiful Pearl? Who was she? What did she look like? That name!! A classic.
WG — We could have been great twirling pals. And I still love you in spite of the whole Knight Rider dealio.
Kathi — Oh, I remember those large, creepy Barbie heads!! Hahaha! How weird. Like the guys at Mattel sat around and said, “Oh! How ’bout this? Let’s enlarge Barbie’s head, chop it off, and make it TOY!” But the hair WAS great.
Shannon C. — Mac ‘n’ cheese, baby! I love it to this day.
Scott — I’m dying:
/I still remember, during a programmed hold in the countdown, CBS went from Walter Cronkite to a *Tom Jones* music video. I was scarred for life …./
Just …. that mental picture. Poor little Scott.
ASM — Do you have any theory as to *why* your dad read the Nancy Drew books after you? I mean, was he checking up on your reading material, did he just want to share it with you, did you ever talk about the books later? It’s just so cute to me.
Missy — Okay. Mrs. “Marion the Librarian.” Really? REALLY? Hahaha!
I don’t remember The Green Poodles, though.
Oh, and — LITTLE CULLEN AS UNDEROO-MAN!! THAT IS SO SO AWESOME!! I thought you were kinda kidding about the Underoos. But you liked them — you REALLY liked them. Priceless.
This whole thing just feels like a party. To paraphrase ASM — like we’ve all been invited into one another’s childhood.
Such precious snapshots into ALL your lives. Thank you SO much. I’m going to read this again and again. I can’t stop! I’m laughing; I’m crying. You’re killing me!
Hey. Underoo-Man is my trademarked superhero name. Watch out. 😉
Oh, the Pop Rocks myth is that if you eat Pop Rocks and drink soda, your stomach could explode. And may variations of that.
This myth was soundly busted on the first episode/pilot of the greatest show on TV: Mythbusters.
I explain Pop Rocks in a comment awaiting moderation (’cause I used an evil link). 🙂
Oh, oops! Sorry, Cullen. I’ll go fix that!
Oh the fun of it all. I hate to be in so late… damn job keeps me from the fun stuff.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: four letters – LEGO – No doubt the greatest toy ever made… NO DOUBT!!! I challenge anyone to name a better one. I’ll make you answer to my five year old who agrees with me – good boy! On a side note Barbie heads work great in sling shots 😉
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: It’s a tie between climbing anything and everything and making forts in the house using chairs, desk, blankets, and empty boxes and then using the red and white polka-dotted Toss-a-cross beanbags as bombs to blow up my brothers sad little fort.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: Star Wars toys. Any and all. Yes “all” includes the Hoth Princess Leah and the cantina characters.
4) Food obsession: Breakfast food anytime of the day. Pancakes for dinner? You bet. That is why Denny’s and Sambo’s were my faves – you could eat breakfast 24/7. mmmm blackberry syrup.
5) Book or story obsession: I read and re-read all of the Encyclopedia Brown books a million times. That boy was sooo smart.
6) Candy obsession: Hot Tamales – still are.
7) TV show obsession: This time five letters – C.H.I.P.’s. Okay and AirWolf, Star Trek, Knight Rider and the soft side of me liked Little House on the Prairie. It was my pleasure to hold Nellie and her punk-a.. brother in total hate and disdain.
Tracey, thanks for dredging up the cool memories.
Brian — Mmmmmmm! Blackberry syrup!
You know, I have never understood why it seems to take a back seat to its kinda ordinary mapley cousin. Why is maple the default choice? Why? Look, which would you rather have: Syrup from a plump, luscious berry or syrup from a sappy ol’ tree??
And please don’t anyone tell me it doesn’t come from “real” berries. Sh! Shh! That is beside the point and totally ruins my illogical rant.
Blackberry syrup should be offered at all breakfast joints nationwide as a viable alternative to maple.
First candidate who makes this LAW has my vote.
Sorry, Brian. I did not realize my passions ran so deep on this syrup issue ….
But yes — BLACKBERRY SYRUP! I WANT SOME RIGHT NOW!
Oh, and Shannon? I cannot get over the leathery and dusty roast beef. I’ve HAD that roast beef.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with: When I was a wee Cub Scout, I sold 630 dollar candy bars to win an Atari 2600. For the next several years, I was a slavering thrall to that pixellated monster.
2) Activity you were most obsessed with: Besides the Monster, I read anything that stood still for five minutes – books, comics, newspapers, encyclopedia, food packaging… I read the PENNYSAVER. Forty pages of ADS. My parents let me go because nobody had invented Paxil yet.
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas: Games for the Monster. I was a sick little boy. I also loved (and still own) lego bricks.
4) Food obsession: Believe it or not? Spinach. I used to eat the stuff constantly – cooked, with a little butter and grated cheese. (We’re Italians, we put grated cheese in everything – veggies, soup, entrees. I think we put it in our oatmeal.)
5) Book or story obsession: I loved the Tom Swift books. I wanted to be just like Victor Appleton II. Many years afterward I learned that Vic was actually a lady who wrote several such series, each under a different name.
6) Candy obsession: Pop Rocks, Nerds, Lik-m-aid, SweeTarts – you guys took all my stuff! But congrats on having excellent taste in sweets. I’ll add two originals… First, Goldberg’s Peanut Chews. Second, Funny Bones: those “peanut butter” filled cakes with a shelf-life of 8.2 years.
7) TV show obsession:
[punka-plinka, punka-plinka, punka-plinka…]
Just the good ole boys!
Never meaning no harm
Beats all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
Straightnin’ the curves!
Flattnin’ the hills!
Someday the mountain might git ’em
But the law never will
[harmony]
Making their wayyyyyyy
The only way they know how
And that’s just a little bit more
Than the law will allow
[/harmony]
Just the good ole boys
Wouldn’t change if they could
Fightin’ the system like
Two modern-day Robin Hoods
YEEEEEEEEE-HAW!
And, early anime (Speed Racer, Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets). A lifelong obsession, now – you don’t really want to know how many soundtracks I own.
NF — / I read the PENNYSAVER. Forty pages of ADS. My parents let me go because nobody had invented Paxil yet./
That is hysterical.
I hate that I forgot to comment on Sal’s “She looked sort of sullen and pouty, like a secretary whose boss had decided to go back to his wife.” Because I was LOL on that one. Just ask my husband.
Yeah, I would ask my dad about the whole Nancy Drew thing, but that means that he’d have to make conversation and he doesn’t normally do so. I think he was reading my books because my mother grounded him from his TV. No more T.J. Hooker for him. And no, I’m not bitter. Why would you say that?
Oh, and the sticker albums! YEA! I had to have them “just so”. Don’t want to mess them up.
And how could I forget Beverly Cleary!??!!? Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Henry and Beezus. Ribsy. Oh how I loved them.
Missy- The Green Poodles! Yes! I loved that book, partly b/c it was set in TX and because it was a mystery. All the dogs had Shakesperian names, remember? Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt.
Pitiful Pearl? She was a vinyl doll with very long light brown hair and a wistful expression.
She came dressed in a patched calico dress with a red babushka. Also included was a lovely light blue dotted organza party dress with black velvet ribbon trim and a petticoat and some black party shoes. (Okay, I’m scaring myself with the amount of detail I remember about this.) You dressed her up and she wasn’t pitiful anymore, see?
For some reason, I think she was designed by the author/illustrator who did Shrek.
Google her on Ebay to get a look.
Tracey —
Many a Sunday has come and gone since I was an adult and I’ve NEVER served up the roast beef. Strangely enough, tonight I did a wonderful dish of mac & cheese.
Red —
That stick horse thing really stayed with me . . . how adorable!
Please, Amstaff, let us know what you did to the Cabbage Patch kid after you got bonked in the noggin!
Nightfly —
GO Speed Racer!
I hope this post never dies. I just want to stay here forever and ever.
Dukes of Hazard — YESSSS!!!!
I totally forgot about “A Wrinkle In Time” like, the best book — EVER.
The Barbie head… *sigh* They’re back in stores now and I’m soooo tempted.
Dear Jesus:
Please give me patience as I wait for my nieces to get old enough for the Barbie styling head to be purchased appropriately. Because now, right now, Jesus, I really think if I bought my three-year-old niece one, I’d steal it from her.
And I had a CHiPS motorcyle that I ran over the linoleum in the kitchen floor constantly.
And LEGOS! SWEET LEGOS!
Oh, I was SuperGirl and my sister was WonderWoman. We ran around in our underoos all summer long.
What a great post, T.
WG:
/Dear Jesus:
Please give me patience as I wait for my nieces to get old enough for the Barbie styling head to be purchased appropriately. Because now, right now, Jesus, I really think if I bought my three-year-old niece one, I’d steal it from her./
Hahahahahaha!
That old urge to style fake hair just never dies.
I have quite a few pics of me in my underroos. I WAS Wonder Woman. She was just WOWZA.
Shannon- The Cabbage Patch Doll lost all privileges of the bed and was banished to a shelf and then back to the “original box”.
Boo. hiss.
ASM in underoos??? Oh, please, oh, please! POST them!!
Gimme a few days. I’ll see what I can do.
Oooo, dark and scary in these cob-webby corners of my memory. But let’s see if I can blow the dust off this ol’ tome…
1) G.I Joe ACTION FIGURE (not a doll, thank you) with the Kung-Fu grip no less.
2) Searching for garter snakes in the fields behind our house. And exploring the woods for dinosaur bones.
3) More G.I Joe Action Figure accessories and/or rocks and fossils.
4) Fried fish fillets and Grandma’s waffles! Mmmmmm. (Not at the same time of course!)
5) Science Fiction space stories; Encyclopedia Brown boy detective stories; Hardy Boys mysteries; and another series of crime-fighting kids (the name escapes me…) whose main character was a lad named “Jupiter Jones”.
Can anybody help me with that?? anybody??!
6) Chocolate M&Ms and Bazooka Joe bubble gum
7) Howdy Doody show and any Warner Brother’s cartoons: Bug’s Bunny, Road Runner and Popeye (the older B&W ones are the best!)
I don’t think I have any pics of me in Underoos, but I’ll see if I have any photos of me at that age.
Sorry to be so late to the party. From a 60’s girl:
1. Toy – Liddle Kiddles! Yes, I spelled that right. Had DOZENS, Lucky Locket, Sweet Treats,Anamiddles, Storybook, and even the tiny Jewelry Kiddles. Can’t believe I threw them away. Ebay’s loss. On my non-girlie side I also loved my chemistry set, and my Mattel Creepy Crawler set. I could make bugs!!
2. Activity – Reading, in my room, by myself. My mom would yell at me and make me go outside and play.
3. For Christmas – Never obsessed. My dad always went way overboard and my little bro and I got a ridiculous amount of stuff!
4. Food – Sunflower seeds, by the bagful. David & Sons. I would eat them while reading in my room until my lips turned white from the salt. When budget was bigger we went up the street to Kmart and bought those red pistachios from the rotating wheel in the hot nut display. Then my fingers and my lips were red.
5. Book – If I had to pick one from the many it had to be Christy by Katherine Marshall. I read this book about once every month until I was in high school. Each time I would change my mind whether Christy should pick the preacher or the doctor. Yes, obsessed with this one. Just re-read last year.
6. Candy – Milk Duds and Black Cows. Two versions of the same candy!
7. TV Show – Figuring out how to convince my parents to let me stay up past nine to watch Laugh-In.
I have a picture of me at about 11, with my brother, who is just short of three, on Christmas day. It’s pretty darn cool. (It also goes with my most recent post, sonofagun, so I may just update and link, if nobody minds.)
Chick Voice — Hahaha! Liddle Kiddles! I think I inherited some of those from my sister. Weren’t they in, like, little perfume bottles or something?
The image of you with lips and fingers all red from pistachios is just priceless. So cute.
Capt. — I don’t know the Jupiter Jones one! Sorry!
OK got it… Jupiter Jones and the Three Investigators. The tales of three youthful investigators; Jupiter Jones (the brains of the outfit) and his friends Bob and Pete.
Amazing what a little Yahoo! search will do.
1) Toy you were most obsessed with:
G.I. Joe
2) Activity you were most obsessed with:
Football
3) Item you were most obsessed with getting for Christmas:
G.I. Joe Stuff
4) Food obsession:
Anything with sugar
5) Book or story obsession:
Curious George
6) Candy obsession:
Candy Cigarettes
7) TV show obsession:
Kaptain Kangaroo