I remember when.....

[sam_gordon]

I remember when bumping two year old threads would get you publicly shamed.

OK, not really, but I can dream.

 

[Jedana]

When cable first made it to our house, there was a "remote control"...connected with a cord. There were 3 rows of channels, and you flipped a switch to change rows. HBO, MTV and the Playboy channel were all on one button.

I remember the day MTV started.

Small tvs, no remotes. I remember black and white stations.

CB radios. EVERYONE had one, not just truck drivers. Used to frustrate my parents to no end (truck drivers)--trying to get information about speed traps and there were women having discussions about periods on the same channel.

No cordless phones. Rotary dials. I still have never figured out how to change lines on that thing.

Playing outside and my parents had no clue what we were doing. I try to give my kids the same freedom, but I HAVE to know where they are.

Glass soda bottles. They were big and heavy and I could buy a 4 pack of those and return them at the 7-11 by myself--would pay $1 less for the next pack thanks to the recycling. Soda Pop Shoppe sodas!

 

[Thumper_Man]

I remember when DW first started this thread.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

I remember learning to type on a royal typewriter in high school!

I didn't even realize this thread was still in existence. Thanks for bumping GP!

I think they were called Knockers. Two heavy glass balls on strings that you would swing and knock together. Noisy little things that would bruise the heck out of your forearms. It's a wonder I never broke a bone.

I loved my Mrs. Beasley doll until she lost her legs in an unfortunate bike accident (getting caught in the spokes).

We were recently playing Taboo with DH's 30-ish kids and their SO's. My word was Tang and neither of the girls and one of the boys had no idea what I was describing. Should've passed, but I was determined someone, other than DH'S would get it.

Great thread.

I remember knockers. And i remember the bruises even better!

Regarding Tang...A few years ago, after I started the job I am in now, I was looking up cookie recipes, in hopes of finding something new and exciting to make for christmas gifts for the office, and came across a creamsicle cookie, One if the main ingredients was Tang. It took me forever to find the stuff, and finally finding the biggest jar ever at Sams club. That stuff was in our pantry for ages!

Thanks! i'm so glad this thread got a second chance!

Film. Having to drop it off and waiting days to see the pictures. And worrying the whole time, not knowing if or how many were out of focus. Also having to make each shot count because you only had a certain number of frames on each roll (no memory cards that can hold 100s!)

I was laughing at this, only because i still have a ton of film from one of our very first trips to WDW that i have not yet taken to get developed. I'm afraid they will look at me like I'm an alien for taking it to them.

TV Diners. Looked like a microwaveable meal, but it was heated in the oven.

I do remember these. And for the most part they weren't too bad. I would have loved something like this when i was in college and had my own apartment. i wasn't too keen on some of the micro meals they provided at that time.

Cereals that came with toys inside.

My brother would practically pour out the whole container of cereal to find the toy. After a while, my mom decided it was easier to just dump the cereal in a tupperware container, when we got it home from the store, instead of waiting to clean up after my brother.

When Mtv only played music videos. A major artist's new video release was a big deal.

Me and DH still reminisce about this. I used to love to watch MTV and VH1 for their music videos and now, I don't think I watch either one. In my job, i am doing presentations to middle and high school kids about Teen Dating Violence and in our slides we have information on a certain person from the MTV show Teen Mom and the first time it came up I had no clue who it was or who they were talking about. It's sad that these reality shows have taken over!

Grandmom putting all the seats down in the wagon and driving fast in sharp turns so we little ones would fling around.

I'll go a step further on this. One year, the family was going to my uncle's cabin for part of the summer, and the whole way, us kids were packed in the truck bed, no camper shell, no seat belts. The truck had a a gate that wrapped around the bed from the cab. The actual part that would close over the tailgate was detachable, and so of course we took it off before heading out. The tailgate area had a bar that went across where the gate would attach. At some point during the trip, one of the cousins got the bright idea to swing from said bar as we are rolling at 60 mph down the road. And somehow, this didn't seem bad, or wrong, or weird in any way to our family, or passing cars. I think all the kids took a turn. Nowadays, that would not even cross someone's mind, let along be OK.

Haven't read all the thread, but it was so much fun you could go to the movie theater and hang out all day. I remember going to all night skates. You get tired and you and your friend would sleep back to back in the chairs. I remember the soda fountain and mixing suicide drinks...

Suicide drinks were a favorite in my family. It was a treat when we went out to a fast food place like Taco Bell which had the do it yourself drink fountains and we would go crazy!

I remember when bumping two year old threads would get you publicly shamed.

OK, not really, but I can dream.

I remember when DW first started this thread.

I love that people are bringing it back! If 80's fashion can come back, so can this thread!

 

[Pollyanna Poppins]

I had to smile when I saw the CB radios. My cousins and I loved loved to play on his Dad's. We thought we were so cool until we got in big time trouble for playing on his official work radio (I think it was a marine he worked on huge war ships). I remember putting a hanger on the T.V. and giving it rabbit ears. Everyone at school went on about the new channel you could pick up with them giving us a total of 4. This was the first time I'd seen The Three Stooges. I still like to watch them.
I remember having to sit at home with Momma to wait for certain phone calls and you couldn't touch the phone because call waiting did not exist.
My mother can tell you lots of outhouse stories and walking to the water pump to get bath water. My Dad still cusses about the apple butter sandwiches he was forced to eat during the depression. Don't mention having to milk the dairy cows before school to him either.
I think the things I remember and miss most were the family get togethers. We didn't vacation you just went to relatives houses and visited. The world seemed much slower and connected. No one was in a rush to go anywhere we just sat around and enjoyed each others company. I miss letters in the mail. My favorite things to look at are heart-felt letters from loved ones. You just don't get this kind of mail anymore. Progress isn't always progress.

 

[focusondisney]

I remember when bumping two year old threads would get you publicly shamed.

OK, not really, but I can dream.

Ahhh, those were the days!

 

[AlaskaBigMomma]

Anyone remember:

transistor radios? I bought one with my first pay when I was 16. I only made 85 cents an hour too but felt oh so rich!

no city pickup of tons of leaves in the fall. we were allowed to burn them in the gutter.

having to stay inside for a few hours after the city sprayed for bugs in the summer.

going to the beach & greasing up with baby oil to get a good tan. no bikinis either; all girl swimsuits were 1 piece.

walking to save our bus fare for candy money.

no road rage; at least I don't remember road rage & there wasn't as much traffic either because cities were much much smaller.

the only thing that hasn't changed much is there's 2 seasons--winter & road construction!

Even in Alaska, we used to grease ourselves up with baby oil -- and when we didn't have any one of my friends said that you could use Crisco!!!! She probably read it in TigerBeat!

I totally remember walking everywhere so we could find change for candy!! That's when Pixie Sticks were 3 feet of pure sugar heaven!!!

 

[PeterPanic]

I can't remember a thread that has made me feel older than this one has. I feel like I should be remembering when they built the pyramids.

In my childhood...I remember:

Having no television. We went to the neighbors or friends that had one to watch Uncle Milty or Sid Caesar.

In the area I grew up in, Upper New York State, near the Canadian border we could get three stations. NBC, CBS and one french speaking station from Montreal.

Cars had no seatbelts. I used to sleep laying across the shelf between the rear seat and the rear window.

Someone mentioned the child seats w/the plastic steering wheel that consisted of a seat hung over the "front" seat of the car by metal hooks draped over the seat. If you had a two door then the seats backs didn't lock in place so if you stopped fast the seat back would move forward, child seat and all.

We had a neighborhood movie theater just for kids. It used to show Saturday matinee's and cartoons. 25 cent admission.

I remember a small neighborhood grocery store owned by a man named Mr. Eckermont. We would go and buy penny candy. He was always nice to us. My parents would do their weekly shopping there as well and he always ran a tab for them. Remember those little dots of candy on a paper strip. You ate as much paper as candy. Oh, and the wax bottles with sugar syrup in them.

A big trip was to the next town, usually no further than 15 miles away. Almost every night we would go for a short "ride" get a frozen custard and usually dad would drive by the house of someone he knew and if he saw them he would always stop and visit. And they seemed genuinely happy that he did.

I had a kids savings account at our local bank and it paid 6% interest. (would kill for that now)

We played outdoors from morning to night. Made believe we had a store or would use our wagons and pretend that we were driving on a long trip. Cowboys and Indians were a big thing what with our cap pistols and western getup. My, my how we did love our Coon Skin Hats worn Davy Crockett style.

In the winter we would climb snow banks and slide down or play King of the hill on them.

Each classroom had, at least, 35 kids and 1 teacher...there were no aides.

No hot lunches...you brown bagged it.

Emphasis in school was on learning, not ego massaging. Contrary to popular belief, we did learn and became pretty stable older people. We knew that not everyone was able to win every time. We were taught that we could win but we needed to apply the energy to do so. It wasn't going to be given to us.

We, like kids today, couldn't wait for summer vacation. But we had it to ourselves. No huge amounts of organized activities. We played baseball with our friends, rode bikes, jumped through the water sprinklers and if we got lucky we had a small wading pool that we felt was as big as an Olympic pool.

I could go on and on but right now I feel the need to go take some Geritol. I'm feeling mighty old.