Do you remember when...?

[Pink Elephant]

Wow! I feel like a youngster! Pretty soon you ladies will be yelling at me to get off your lawn!

I do, actually remember a lot of those things, but more because we were poor and rural, not because of the age. I was firmly in the disco generation. LOL No greasers in my school - Just the poor kids and the "rich kids" and really, the rich kids weren't that rich. Joy of a small rural school was you knew everyone and had to hang out with them. Problem with a small rural school was you knew everyone and there was no one else to hang out with!

So I remember rotary phones on the wall, party lines, learning cursive, manual typewriters - and mimeograph machines! We did our school newspaper on one! Anyone remember that smell?

Do home perms smell better now? I haven't done one since the 1980's.

I remember clackers - but I never had any. I couldn't make a hula hoop stay up - even as a kid.

My mom owned a ringer washer and we hung clothes on a line - but that's because we were poor, not because of the year. We also only had a black and white TV until I was at least in high school...and we got 2 channels - CBS and NBC. ABC was on UHF, and our TV only went to channel 13.

I do remember Nixon resigning. I was 10 or 11. I remember that as the first time I saw something on TV and thought, "This is important. This is history."



That's where Dad hung his belt!

Speaking of belts - I do remember sanitary belts. Granted, they were on the way out and there were already adhesive ones, but I liked them better because I wore those granny panties that got mentioned on another thread and they weren't as secure. Then again, I had the kind of periods that made you miss 3 days of school every month. Ugh! I remember when you had to get one from a machine, they were still that kind and came with safety pins!



I LOVED Lawn Darts! I hated when they stopped selling them! I remember thinking, "Who is stupid enough to stand at both ends and throw darts at each other? This isn't rocket science!"



OHHHHHHH!

Yes, I do remember the smell of mimeograph paper! The entire school office always smelled of it!

Gee, I haven't been around a home perm since the 70's, so have no idea what sort of odour they have today, but pee-ew, stinky, stinky, stinky the old ones were! So bad!

ROFL! I think the combination of the old sanitary pads (fastened with pins) and worn under granny panties is as close of an equal to old-fashioned babies cloth diapers with rubber pants as it gets! At least that's how I always felt about wearing the two together.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Fun thread SWOT.


I remember doing this when babysitting.


Oh how I hated those things!!

I remember pay phones that were a dime

Our TV only got three channels. Every Sunday night we would watch Lawrence Welk.

We had a party line phone for a while. My sister and I would get in trouble for listening to our neighbor's conversations.

How about when you would buy a box of laundry soap and there was a towel in it.

S&H greenstamps.

Going to the gas station where an attendant not only filled up the car with gas but checked the oil and washed the windshield.

Going to the movies on Saturday afternoon for $50 cents. Our movie theater had an organ up front and a man played it until it was time for the cartoon before the movie.

A big treat was going to Woolworth's and getting a grilled cheese sandwich at the lunch counter.

Riding in the back seat of our old Buick that didn't have seat belts.

Having our milk delivered.

Tanya. Regarding rinsing cloth diapers in the toilet after changing when babysitting, what sort of time-frame are we talking about? 1960's? 1970's? 1980's?

As a kid, visiting Woolworth's and being lucky enough to enjoy a plate of French fries with a vanilla milkshake was the world to me! We were so poor... I still get emotional at times thinking how mom tried to always do her best and still spoil us kids every now and then when she could.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Lil, a lot of this is rich or poor, not age related although I am at least ten years your senior. But in Richer America, where we lived although not rich, we always had a washer and dryer, for example. I dont remember my mother ever hanging clothes on a laundry line nor anyone else in our neighborhood. My parents were middle class, my father a pharmacist and we didnt have to struggle, although my parents were very tight with a buck.

Spanking with a belt was probably going on in some homes, but I never saw belts or switches anywhere. I lived in a 95% Jewish neighborhood and dont think Jewish parents did that. Many spoiled kids around, although I wasnt. Some kids had all Marshall Field clothes and looked down at me and teased me because Mother sewed my clothes. After developing a big mouth and becoming very pretty, the kids stopped teasing me, but we never wanted to interact with one another. I dressed down protesting the rich kid's materialistic values. I still do.

The rich kids in my suburb had access to or nice cars. I got to drive a car, but couldnt call it a nice car. I remember kids laughing at me, calling me poor because my parents car was older.

Our richer kids, who really were rich, were the preps but also the worst drug using hippies. They had money for drugs. The poorer kids, who were more middle class thsn poor, were greasers. I disliked labels and cliques and did my own thing, staying very quiet. I never went to school functions, not even prom, although I was not short of boys who would have taken me.

Our school smoking lounge was inside where the kids could smoke!! I hated cigarette smell back then too and didnt like the smoke in the school. I cant believe they built a smoking lounge for brat kids...lol. on the pot front, many kids walked across the parking lot to the grassy hill to smoke weed. Yep, the boomers started all this.

There were fights sometimes between hippies and greasers and the greasers usually won. I would quietly be cheering for the greasers, slthough I didnt like them either.

The radical hippies ran the school, belittled teachers and our principal...i liked the greasers more than the radical hippies. They had causes and pulled the fire alarms in protest and interferred with all of our school life.

My graduating class had almost 900 kids. They dont call us babyboomers for nothing.

Anyhow, life in the 60s and 70s was way different in my wealthy suburb than in rural U.S.

I disliked my home town so badly that I totally distanced myself from it forever and am now part of semi rural America. I like if MUCH better.

Lil, i voted against Nixon as my very first vote. Long time ago. I was happy when he resigned.

I graduated in 1971.

I remember helping my mom hang diapers on the clothesline often, and when I got older, I did the hanging by myself. Was good practice for when I started doing it as a wife and mother!

 

[ksm]

Putting aluminum foil on the rabbit ear antennae and then positioning it multiple ways to try and get better reception...

 

[Pink Elephant]

I am a little younger, but when they talked to us about periods in sixth grade, in the very early 80s, the nuns told us we would need belts to attach our sanitary pads to. We could not figure out what they were talking about. I don't even think you could buy them in stores at that time. But they somehow managed to give every girl a belt and a package of six pads to hook onto it for your first period. I don't know a single girl who tried it. I know one girl who's little brother made the belt into a slingshot. He took it to school. it was a big deal.

In my high school you could have your gun in your car as long as it was in your gun rack. We have a lot of farm kids. Sometimes they have to shoot snakes to protect the herds or themselves. They only changed the rule after Columbine happened.

I remember those plastic lemons on black plastic things you put on your ankles and hopped over. I have no idea what they were called. I loved mine mostly because it drove my brother crazy. He couldn't figure out why I wanted to do that, what I was accomplishing.

I also remember hopscotch. No one plays that any more. My house was the cool house because my dad painted a hopscotch board on the driveway in the front yard. We often came home to find kids playing hopscotch in our driveway without us. Or woke up to it if we slept late in the summer.

What about Four Square? We also played a lot of that. My dad painted that on the driveway too. Another thing we would find kids playing without us if we were not around. It never bothered us.

ROFL, about the slingshot sanitary pad belt! Kids have such wild and creative imaginations and no shame!

 

[Pink Elephant]

Anyone else remember the crazy plastic fruit (bananas, oranges, grapes, etc) that used to grace everyone's kitchen or dining room tables? I haven't seen plastic fruit in years!

 

[Pink Elephant]

This conversation is so much fun! So many great memories I had totally forgotten about until everyone started mentioning them.

 

[BusynMember]

Jocks===Preps

I didnt like any groups and was not a fan of groups in general

How could I have forgotten the nerds???

 

[Pink Elephant]

Jocks===Preps

I didnt like any groups and was not a fan of groups in general

How could I have forgotten the nerds???

ROFL! Yes, I remember "nerds", too!

 

[Pink Elephant]

I am a little younger, but when they talked to us about periods in sixth grade, in the very early 80s, the nuns told us we would need belts to attach our sanitary pads to. We could not figure out what they were talking about. I don't even think you could buy them in stores at that time. But they somehow managed to give every girl a belt and a package of six pads to hook onto it for your first period. I don't know a single girl who tried it. I know one girl who's little brother made the belt into a slingshot. He took it to school. it was a big deal.

In my high school you could have your gun in your car as long as it was in your gun rack. We have a lot of farm kids. Sometimes they have to shoot snakes to protect the herds or themselves. They only changed the rule after Columbine happened.

I remember those plastic lemons on black plastic things you put on your ankles and hopped over. I have no idea what they were called. I loved mine mostly because it drove my brother crazy. He couldn't figure out why I wanted to do that, what I was accomplishing.

I also remember hopscotch. No one plays that any more. My house was the cool house because my dad painted a hopscotch board on the driveway in the front yard. We often came home to find kids playing hopscotch in our driveway without us. Or woke up to it if we slept late in the summer.

What about Four Square? We also played a lot of that. My dad painted that on the driveway too. Another thing we would find kids playing without us if we were not around. It never bothered us.

Yes, we played Four Square lots! Gosh, would have totally forgot about that one.

 

[BusynMember]

Do they play jumprope anymore? Remember Chinese jumprope? Marbles? I remember I loved puree marbles. Do kids even still play tag?

I remember when there was no sport teams for girls, only boys. Girls could only be cheerleaders.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Do they play jumprope anymore? Remember Chinese jumprope? Marbles? I remember I loved puree marbles. Do kids even still play tag?

I remember when there was no sport teams for girls, only boys. Girls could only be cheerleaders.

Oh, wow! We jumped-rope every day when we were younger, and I remember the boys played marbles!

Tag, kick-the-bucket, hide-and-seek, Cowboys & Indians, we played them all!

Also remember us playing crochet, too! We used to have so much fun playing that!

And board-games were the best! Monopoly, Game of Life, and so many more...

 

[Nomad]

Haven't thought of Dippity Do or sanitary napkins with the safety pins in a very long time. My guess is that most young women today would have trouble even believing you if you described the latter.

My husband is a little older than myself and he recalls having to go to his college football team game's wearing a nice shirt and tie! WTH?

I have two rather positive "old timey" memories from my youth. One is watching Star Trek on Friday nights and my mother usually made blue berry turnovers that came frozen in a box and she would put it in the oven and it was delicious!

The other was for a big birthday, I think 13, my parents bought me a hair dryer kind of like the ones you would see at the salons, but portable. It came in a giant case and out from the case came the top hood part in heavy plastic that you would sit under, usually with curlers in your hair.

We also had a clothesline as someone mentioned...I barely recall when my mom used it for everything. When I was rather young, we got a dryer. However, she still used the clothesline for sheets and towels...but the towels would end up stiff as a board!

Do you remember wearing bathing caps in the pool or ocean? Usually white with a strap under the chin? If you were lucky, your cap had a pink rubber flower on it or something.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Haven't thought of Dippity Do or sanitary napkins with the safety pins in a very long time. My guess is that most young women today would have trouble even believing you if you described the latter.

My husband is a little older than myself and he recalls having to go to his college football team game's wearing a nice shirt and tie! WTH?

I have two rather positive "old timey" memories from my youth. One is watching Star Trek on Friday nights and my mother usually made blue berry turnovers that came frozen in a box and she would put it in the oven and it was delicious!

The other was for a big birthday, I think 13, my parents bought me a hair dryer kind of like the ones you would see at the salons, but portable. It came in a giant case and out from the case came the top hood part in heavy plastic that you would sit under, usually with curlers in your hair.

We also had a clothesline as someone mentioned...I barely recall when my mom used it for everything. When I was rather young, we got a dryer. However, she still used the clothesline for sheets and towels...but the towels would end up stiff as a board!

Do you remember wearing bathing caps in the pool or ocean? Usually white with a strap under the chin? If you were lucky, your cap had a pink rubber flower on it or something.

LOL, about the sanitary pads and pins! So true!

I 100%, absolutely remember the puffy vinyl bonnet hairdryer in a case! LOL! One of my aunts still has one from when my cousins were growing up! The one that looks like you were wearing a pair of baby rubber pants on your head!

The old rubber bathing caps! Yes! I remember! If you took the cap and swished it back and forth in the water quickly, you could stretch it out to many times it's size!

Yep, stiff laundry fresh off the clothesline! I still line-dry to this day!

Great memories, Nomad!

 

[GoingNorth]

And jocks!

Freaks, preps and jocks. Jocks and freaks were at perpetual war with each other.

Freaks were basically hippies who might just have a switchblade secreted on their person somewhere (and knew how to use it.)

I was a freak.

Carried a Gerber dirk in my knee-high lace up moccasin (left boot for a right handed draw. My father taught me the basics and later, my boyfriend (husband to be) taught me the finer points.

Never had to stick anyone, but coming up with edged steel saved my hide a couple of times. Our jocks were violent and could do no evil.

 

[BusynMember]

GN, our similar roots are showing as we grew up in close and similar places.

I dont think our freaks had weapons. They were very poor fighters. The greasers always won. I dont recall them using any weapons either. However, I was not a member of either group, so I dont really know.

In our high school the preps were the jocks and too "good" to bother fighting. They ran all the school functions, like sports, Homecoming and Prom. Things I didnt really care about. I never went to one football game, dance or even my own graduation in high school. Very disinterested in school affairs. I went to prom once at fifteen at another high shool but no interest in my own.

 

[Pink Elephant]

How about starching shirts? Starching, used to be so popular way back when.

 

[pigless in VA]

I want you to know that I saw a bag of plastic lemons at Dollar General on sale last week.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I want you to know that I saw a bag of plastic lemons at Dollar General on sale last week.

For goodness sakes! And here I thought those days were over.

 

[Tanya M]

Tanya. Regarding rinsing cloth diapers in the toilet after changing when babysitting, what sort of time-frame are we talking about? 1960's? 1970's? 1980's?

This was in the early 70's. I would babysit my nieces and have to rinse the diapers in the toilet.