# Back in My Day, We Had To Walk Barefoot in the Snow ...



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Leslie said:


> Back in the old days, when TVs had only less than 10 channels (growing up in the suburbs of NYC, we had 7; I know plenty of people who had only 3), it made sense that there would be absolutely nothing decent to watch on TV--although I don't recall it happening all that often. Now, we have over 250 channels and there is absolutely nothing decent to watch--ALL THE TIME. Why?
> 
> (This is a large part of the reason why I quit watching TV.)


(from a different thread ... )

Remember all that stuff that was so much better when we were young? Children were more respectable, food was tastier and ice was colder? Whether you're a 20-something technogeek, a silver fox, a 35yo fashion plate or a hip granny, we all have opinions about stuff going downhill ... Now is the time and here is the place to indulge your inner grump and grouse about how horrible things are compared to the good old days.

(If you want to talk about how stuff's better today, that's a different thread)

I'll start .... Well, Leslie started, but I'll start again ....

Music today is so light and fluffy. It's all pre-fabricated groups of corporately cleansed pretty but un-talented children. What happened to the good stuff? Back in my day - the late 70's and the 80's - the hair and the clothing may have been silly but the music was Great! Talking Heads, Blondie, The Smiths, Depeche Mode .... now that was a brilliant time for music! And before that there was Ike & Tina, Janis Joplin, the Stones ..... now its all just Justin Bieber and Mylee Cyrus being cutsie ... makes me want to hurl.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Cartoons were better when I was a kid, you had to EARN them.  You had to wait all week and then get up early on Saturday morning to see them.  There wasnt any of this entire TV channels just for kids with cartoons running all day long everyday.


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## akagriff (Sep 8, 2009)

Computers were room sized and when desk top computers came out I wondered why anyone would actually want one in their house.


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## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

The tv season actually ran from September to June.


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## akagriff (Sep 8, 2009)

Drive in movie theaters


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## Kindled Spirit (Oct 27, 2008)

Feeling safe going out alone.


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

I read this recently in Southern Living and love it. Did a search to try and find an online version

Our Sunday Best
Will the last church hostess to leave the powder room please grab the Aqua Net?

By Valerie Fraser Luesse

A friend of mine visited a college campus recently and was aghast to see coeds walking to class in shorts and tank tops best suited to the gym. “My grandmother used to put on lipstick to go to the mailbox”, she said wistfully. Our transformation from church-hostess Southern to lost-my-kid-gloves modern sort of slipped up on us. First came panty hose {no need to wrestle those nylons} and hot rollers {so long, bonnet hair dryer}, then pantsuits – in church! With the wave of an unmanicured hand, we had abandoned our half-slips, misplaced our Revlon “Love That Red,” tossed out our teasing combs, and taken up with sensible shoes.

Some icons of our feminine past won’t be missed at all. To that bonney hair dryer and clear-to-here girdle, we say good riddance. To the teasing comb, we offer a more reverent farewell. Together with Aqua Net hair spray, it gave generations of pageant hair the strength to bear a tiara, and that ought to mean something.

But as we boldly march forward, let us remember that “Mama’n’em” knew a thing or two about style. And I can name three blasts from our past that deserve a comeback.

1. The Easter Dress

We used to start shopping for our Easter dresses before the Valentine’s candy was even stale. An Easter dress was your prettiest, dressiest Sunday-go-to-meetin’ ensemble of the year. It screamed spring: floaty fabrics in pastel colors; short sleeves, puff sleeves, or no sleeves; store-bought or handmade. Pearls required. Hat and glove optional after 1960. If you were under 12, you wore pastel dotted Swiss, patent leather Mary Janes, and maybe a color-coordinated hat with a little elastic band that hooked under your chin. No matter what your age, the biggest challenge was trying not to shiver, since even the Deep South tends to have a mysterious cold snap on Easter (perhaps as a divine reminder that this is a worship experience, not a fashion show).

2. The Mother’s Day Corsage

When I was a kid, if a mother came to church without a corsage from her children, the whole family went on everybody’s prayer list. Now almost nobody buys one, and that’s a shame. Here’s how it works. You choose the flowers for your mother’s corsage based on whether her mother is living or dead. If her mother’s living, she wears roses or carnations in pink or red. If her mother has crossed over, she wears white or yellow roses or an orchid. Everybody gets baby’s breath. Its just the right thing to do.

3. The Hostess Apron

“When you saw my grandmother’s mint-green organza apron, you knew some cucumber sandwiches were coming out,” my friend Rebecca says. Back in the day, Southern women wore kitchen aprons, which they actually wiped their hands on while they cooked, and hostess aprons, which adorned and protected their good dresses while they served guests. Hostess aprons are all over the Web, so this would be a fairly simple charge to lead if we all work together.

Take the Pledge

Preserving our heritage takes commitment. We have to band together. So ladies, wherever you are, stand up, raise your right hand, and repeat after me: I (your name here), pledge to do my part to bring back the Easter dress. I pledge to order corsages right this minute, before the florist runs out of the good stuff. As for the hostess apron… I pledge to tie one on.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

austenfiend said:


> The tv season actually ran from September to June.


I know, right? This stuff with a season being 6 episodes then an 8 week delay followed by another 5 or 6 episodes is ridiculous ... gotta save a buck...


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I miss dressing up for special occasions. It felt good and made events seem more special.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Rasputina, that reminded me of my mom. She never left the house without lipstick and her hair in a chignon or french roll.

My mom is the lady in the brown and I am the little girl closest to the open car door...


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

What a lovely family, thanks for posting the pic. Oh I just noticed the date, 1972


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Chocolate and sweets always tasted nicer.  I had a red Mr. Freeze coolapop today and it was horrible.  I lived on those whenever I had money as a kid.  So disappointed now.


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## DenverRalphy (Mar 24, 2010)

Back in the day...

Chuck Taylors were shoes for those with a very humble income.

Our music collections were held sacred. Our vinyl lp's required meticulous care to ensure survivability. To listen to our music, we had to delicately clean the album's surface, fine tune the speed of our turn-tables, and never expose them to the sun or heat.

Disney didn't make sex symbols out of children.


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

Penny candy was a penny!


And I kind of miss boys with feathered hair, lol.


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

DenverRalphy said:


> Back in the day...
> 
> Chuck Taylors were shoes for those with a very humble income.


You reminded me how much I loved my Earth shoes in the 70s. Ugly as all get out, but cooooomfy!


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

back in my day snack cakes (and other kid/sugar filled goodies) were larger.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

... uphill both ways. And maybe I shouldn't admit this  but I remember when New Zealand got its _second_ television channel.

Appliances were made to last Back In My Day. Our microwave is over twenty years old, and is still going strong. Our electric jug must be close to thirty years old, as is our toaster.


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

What's an electric jug?


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I'm guessing it's an electric kettle.

I have to agree on the cartoons.  I remember the first day we got Cable and I was shocked that there were cartoons on at 4pm on a weekday, but that was it... you got an hour every day at 4pm.  Before that (and after) all the good cartoons came on Saturday morning.  Cartoons really started going downhill with Nickelodeon in terms of quality too.  Nickelodeon (because it wasn't Nick or Nick Jr. then) used to just be kids shows like Pinwheel and Today's Special (which were both great) then they started doing the whole slime thing with You Can't Do That on Television and things went downhill fast.

I think toys are a lot worse now too.  I am really thankful to have grown up when I did... now all of the toys do the playing for you.  There's no imagination.  I could be kept entertained for hours with a couple toys and a comforter on a bed and none of them had batteries.

I also miss the Specials they had on at night that were an excuse to stay up past 8 o'clock on a weeknight.  Do children still have bedtimes?  Cuz I know the neighbors have their kids out at all hours of the night.  They're constantly in and out of the house even at 3am.  I remember how exciting it was to see that spinning technicolor SPECIAL with the weird techno drums heralding its arrival to the television screen.  It was so rare to see cartoons on TV that seeing them on at night was like catching a meteor shower or something.

I can appreciate where technology has taken us, but the whole attitude that you should be able to have anything whenever you want it has sort of taken away how special those things can be when you had to wait for them or they were just rare and sometimes surprise occurrences.  Kids these days complain about the load time of their blu-ray discs in their PS3s and XBox 360s... I had an Atari 400 with a tape deck that took 20-30 minutes to load a game of Frogger (actually it wasn't even Frogger, it was a Frogger clone called Pacific Coast Highway with a tortoise and hare).  And there were no multiple inputs on TVs back then, so the whole family had to sit and watch the blue Atari BASIC screen with the flashing cursor while this game loaded to a litany of computerized beeps reminiscent of what you hear when you connect a call on your phone.  Yes, we only had one TV in the entire house back then too... and it had knobs!  Our cable had a big box with a row of 12 buttons and a switch that allowed you to tune in up to 36 channels, but it was a sight better than the 4 or 5 you had without it.

Okay, end rant.


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

I can remember a time when the milkman, the breadman, the drycleaning man, and the Charles Chips Man all made deliveries to the house.  Stores were closed on Sundays and holidays.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Oh yes, I remember the Sunday Blue Laws, only grocery stores were open.  I used to hate it, now with places open 24/7 I almost wish we could go back to it.  It's pretty hard to find the streets empty anymore.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Cat said:


> What's an electric jug?


An electric kettle. Sorry for the mysterious use of language


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Margaret said:


> I can remember a time when the milkman, the breadman, the drycleaning man, and the Charles Chips Man all made deliveries to the house. Stores were closed on Sundays and holidays.


It was well into the 1980s before milkmen stopped household deliveries here in New Zealand. In my childhood, in our small town the butcher still did deliveries. And stores were closed on Saturdays and Sundays.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Gotta go with the toys. They are SOOO not as good today. Every time I go to Toys R Us or similar, all the toys are themed. They are either some TV or movie tie in or they're a pre-determined design that can be played just one way. For example, my legos were interlocking blocks that came in different sizes and different colors.










They didn't come in spaceship/cowboy/construction worker/Star Wars/Indiana Jones/etc. themes. We used to build entire cities and space stations and whatever .... now its already decided for you what you're going to make based on whichever box you buy.


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## HelenSmith (Mar 17, 2010)

Hey Rasputina and KindleChickie have you seen this site: http://momstyleicons.blogspot.com

It's called My Mom The Style Icon and it's really cute - people send in photos of their mothers all dolled up in the fashions of the day. Your posts made me think of it. And KindleChickie, I really like your photo - looks like quite some outing!

(Sorry Geoffrey, straying off-topic a bit...)


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> Gotta go with the toys. They are SOOO not as good today. Every time I go to Toys R Us or similar, all the toys are themed. They are either some TV or movie tie in or they're a pre-determined design that can be played just one way. For example, my legos were interlocking blocks that came in different sizes and different colors.
> I have to go with you on this one. I could NOT find a box of Legos even at Legoland. I have a little girl who wanted to play with them and they all had boy themed kits except for one castle kit. It only cam with about 45 pieces. What a total rip off. You really couldn't make anything except that castle. I ended up buying them in bulk there at the theme park. Can you say arm and a leg?
> 
> Also what ever happened to letting little girls be little girls not future sex kittens. Even Disney has gotten into the sultry looks and suggestive glances with their teen and younger shows. Not to mention the clothes.
> ...


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

back in the day, not only was tweens NOT a word, but they were satisfied w/ used toys.  I remember on Christmas, my 10 and 8 yr old brothers were THRILLED when Dad got a deal on used He-Man toys (a co worker's son's out grew them).  The box had 2 Castle Greysculls! 2!  The hours of enjoyment that one huge box gave us (and the hours of not breaking up fights that gave my mom).  Bliss.


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## Blanche (Jan 4, 2010)

I miss coffee cans... THE REAL CANS!  I have a stash of them in the basement and I hoard them like gold.  How am I going to paint?  How am I going to carry grain to the horses?  How am I going to store "stuff?"  The future is uncertain... My poor husband thought I kept them so we could use them and he made the mistake of trying to recycle oil in one of them.  ARGH!!!  Not my cans!


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

I remember having only a black & white TV and watching the men walk on the moon.

I remember life without video games and vcr's.  

I remember going outside to PLAY.

I remember taking off on my bicycle in the morning and not coming back home until it was time for dinner.

I remember walking to grade school by myself and going home for lunch - again walking by myself.

I remember listening to vinyl records with the whole family - hello Best of Bill Cosby!!!  Old Weird Harold knew where it was at!!!

Sigh.... I'm glad I grew up when I did.  Its too restricting to be a kid these days.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I don't miss the rotary phone and cursing the people with numbers higher than 8 in their phone number.  The two people I called the most were almost all 8s, 9s and 0s... I think maybe 2 weren't.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> It was well into the 1980s before milkmen stopped household deliveries here in New Zealand. In my childhood, in our small town the butcher still did deliveries. And stores were closed on Saturdays and Sundays.


We had milk delivery in England when we lived there. . . .'93 to '96. . . .


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Magenta said:


> I remember going outside to PLAY.
> 
> I remember taking off on my bicycle in the morning and not coming back home until it was time for dinner.
> 
> I remember walking to grade school by myself and going home for lunch - again walking by myself.


I am shocked! How in the world did you survive?


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

HelenSmith said:


> Hey Rasputina and KindleChickie have you seen this site: http://momstyleicons.blogspot.com
> 
> It's called My Mom The Style Icon and it's really cute - people send in photos of their mothers all dolled up in the fashions of the day. Your posts made me think of it. And KindleChickie, I really like your photo - looks like quite some outing!
> 
> (Sorry Geoffrey, straying off-topic a bit...)


Great blog! Thanks for the post.


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

KindleChickie said:


> I am shocked! How in the world did you survive?


LMAO..... Who knows? I guess I'm lucky to be alive. And... I grew up in a boro of NYC no less!


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> We had milk delivery in England when we lived there. . . .'93 to '96. . . .


Yes! Yes! Yes! We had a millkbox!!!! But that goes back to the 60's. I do remember that too!!!!


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Margaret said:


> I can remember a time when the milkman, the breadman, the drycleaning man, and the Charles Chips Man all made deliveries to the house. Stores were closed on Sundays and holidays.


oh I miss the milk man, in fact one of my friends dads was a milk man LOL


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

HelenSmith said:


> Hey Rasputina and KindleChickie have you seen this site: http://momstyleicons.blogspot.com
> 
> It's called My Mom The Style Icon and it's really cute - people send in photos of their mothers all dolled up in the fashions of the day. Your posts made me think of it. And KindleChickie, I really like your photo - looks like quite some outing!
> 
> (Sorry Geoffrey, straying off-topic a bit...)


LOL I have pics of me as a kid when my parents dressed me up in beatnik clothes. And I have plenty of big hair and matching homemade dresses pics too. Thank God none of them are on digital format so you all can't force me to post them HAHA


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> An electric kettle. Sorry for the mysterious use of language


Electric frying pan?


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

Margaret said:


> I can remember a time when the milkman, the breadman, the drycleaning man, and the Charles Chips Man all made deliveries to the house. Stores were closed on Sundays and holidays.


ACK!!! THE CHARLES CHIPS MAN!!! Yes!!! I remember that too!!!


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Magenta said:


> Yes! Yes! Yes! We had a millkbox!!!! But that goes back to the 60's. I do remember that too!!!!


I vaguely remember the milkman ... it was in the house we moved to when I was 2 and I think the milkman came after one of my brothers was born, so .... it was some time after 1970 that it came to an end .... but I can't really grouse about no milkmen as I was too young to really care ... I was probably 5 or 6 when it came to an end.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Saturday morning was Fury and Sky King. Sunday evening we all ate in the living room (the only night we were not at the dining table) for You Are There and Lassie. EVERYONE walked to school, until we were old enough to ride our bikes. Party shoes with a strap that cold be twisted back to be STRAPLESS! Rushing home after school to watch Cartoon Carousel and "what was that dance show?" Test patterns on TV (OK, I am pretty old!). Air raid drills at school.....whoever even thought of fire drills? Watching Sputnik in the sky at night. Conversations among our parent....how can a CATHOLIC be President? Wearing a dress to school everday....pants weren't even an option we would question.
Huntley and Brinkley. Cronkite.  The horrible day Kennedy was killed...I was in my 3rd year Spanish class....who doesn't remember exactly where they were when the announcement was made. Toilet papering your friend's house. Drive in movies. Reading 1984 in junior high. First junior high dance!


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

4Katie said:


> Electric frying pan?


Oh, dear, nations divided by a common language 

Ours is somewhere between this and this


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm glad that my children and their children don't have to practice duck and cover drills. In grade-school we used to ask: "What are you going to be if you grow up?"


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

A few more things I remember:
- Black-and-white TV
- The moon landing
- Our first washing machine
- Our first car
- A manual telephone exchange, and "party lines" shared by up to a dozen households
- Glass milk bottles
- School  milk (yuck - it was warm and often lumpy)


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> - School milk (yuck - it was warm and often lumpy)


That's because they stored it on the radiator.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

I actually did walk to school uphill both ways, House was on one side of the hill, school on the other.


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

The anticipation felt for Christmas when I was a child is hard to find now.  Seeing Christmas displays and hearing Christmas carols in stores so far ahead of the holiday just seem to make it feel not as special.

I remember dressing up to go grocery shopping.  Even though pants or shorts might be worn as play clothes after school and on Saturdays, you changed your clothes before going to the store.   Your Mother was also wearing something besides the house dress worn for doing household cores.  Dressing as casually as is now done for almost any activity takes away some of the specialness of a lot of occasions.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

My experiences are pretty much the same as everyone else.

I do remember there were no snow days.  You walked to the bus stop and waited.  
If the bus showed up, you better be on it.  Our bus always got stuck on a particularly
bad hill.  But we had to sit there and wait to be pulled out, and then on to 
school.  

We had one of the first colored TV sets.  My sister was born not too long after that, 
and I remember my grandparents saying that the colored TV caused her spina bifida.    

I remember our school lunches being homemade and prepared fresh daily.

We had an antennae, and I spent many an evening yelling out to my dad, not yet, not yet,
it's a little better, that was it, go back a little, as my dad would be out manually twisting it
to get better reception.

deb


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I still have a milkman. He comes every Tuesday and I order milk, eggs, and orange juice. No butter or cottage cheese anymore, though.

While it is great to reminisce, I do think things have improved in many ways, especially diversity and being more accepting of people who are "not like us." I went to a lily-white HS school with one black student and that was it...and he was ostracized. I look at my childrens' schools now (and the colleges I am visiting with my daughter) and I see the range of students from all over the world and all different ethnic backgrounds and I realize what an improvement this is in terms of understanding and having a much more broader worldview.

L


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

loonlover said:


> The anticipation felt for Christmas when I was a child is hard to find now. Seeing Christmas displays and hearing Christmas carols in stores so far ahead of the holiday just seem to make it feel not as special.
> 
> I remember dressing up to go grocery shopping. Even though pants or shorts might be worn as play clothes after school and on Saturdays, you changed your clothes before going to the store. Your Mother was also wearing something besides the house dress worn for doing household cores. Dressing as casually as is now done for almost any activity takes away some of the specialness of a lot of occasions.


LOL I never thought about it but I do basically wear a house dress when home and I always change before going out. It's just something I grew up with so I never thought about it before.

I remember when I was a kid that any adult that caught you doing something you shouldn't have been got you in trouble. Now days people are afraid to say anything to anyone regardless of age. Probably why our morals are in the toilet. When I was a kid you needed to behave or some teacher or neighbor lady would tell your mom. And she wouldn't get mad at them and tell them to mind their own business either.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Jeff said:


> That's because they stored it on the radiator.


 Actually they stored it in a wooden box on legs, in a particularly sunny part of the playground. And left it there for hours.

What with that and the contaminated water supply, no wonder I now have such a cast-iron digestion.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Leslie said:


> While it is great to reminisce, I do think things have improved in many ways, especially diversity and being more accepting of people who are "not like us." I went to a lily-white HS school with one black student and that was it...and he was ostracized. I look at my childrens' schools now (and the colleges I am visiting with my daughter) and I see the range of students from all over the world and all different ethnic backgrounds and I realize what an improvement this is in terms of understanding and having a much more broader worldview.
> 
> L


Good points Leslie.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Leslie said:


> I still have a milkman. He comes every Tuesday and I order milk, eggs, and orange juice. No butter or cottage cheese anymore, though.
> 
> While it is great to reminisce, I do think things have improved in many ways, especially diversity and being more accepting of people who are "not like us." I went to a lily-white HS school with one black student and that was it...and he was ostracized. I look at my childrens' schools now (and the colleges I am visiting with my daughter) and I see the range of students from all over the world and all different ethnic backgrounds and I realize what an improvement this is in terms of understanding and having a much more broader worldview.
> 
> L


I agree, Leslie. The Mr and I often reminisce about how amazingly intolerant of diversity our small town was when we were growing up - and I mean diversity in tiny things. Anyone who had hair shorter/longer than "the fashion"; anyone who wore clothes too formal/informal; any married woman who kept her maiden name: all were categorised as "unusual". And that was considered a bad thing.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

When I was little (even into high school), there were only three tv channels, yet somehow there was always something to watch!

Space launches were exciting, not boring. Of course, going to theMoon was in the exciting future, not something abunch of old men did years ago.

I remember Kennedy's assassination, not because his death shocked me, but because his funeral procession coverage preempted the cartoon show I liked to watch midday!

At least in our town , they had cartoons on in late afternoon weekdays, as well as all morning Saturday. Only half an hour though.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Does anyone remember what was the first TV show they watched in color?
Mine was Wizard of Oz. I was so blown away with the rich colors, I just could not get enough!


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

Ok, I'm only in my mid-30's, but I remember only 3 networks because my parents refused to get cable, but even then, Saturday morning cartoons were still cool(Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Transformers, GI Joe, etc) and "un-educational" with the exception of the Schoolhouse Rock commercials. Those were cool!  Now, you watch Saturday morning TV, it's like WTF?  Good thing I have cable, because I watch Boomerang a lot! lol  Did any of your parents use you as a remote control? Every half an hour or an hour, my dad told me to get up and change the channel for him. When I finally got a well paying job, I bought my parents a TV with a remote! lol

Last year, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought an Atari 5200 and 2600 off of E-bay because I originally had a 5200, which happened to be the year Atari went out of business. My parents had such perfect timing    Anyway, with the exception of Pac-Man and a couple other games, I had forgotten how horrible the graphics were and how short in playing time those games are. Now, people zoom through games and complain there isn't enough downloadable content and its too easy and they're being ripped off.

I think when the Challenger blew up in 1986, which I remember vividly since I turned 12 that day, is when NASA started its downhill slide, it really hasn't been the same since. I miss typewriters, no cell phones, Walkmans with cassettes, and toys made out of metal instead of plastic!


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Oh how I don't miss typewriters.  But they were fun to use at home when I was in high school.  They were awful to work with (for me, from 1975 - 1987 -- usually IBM Selectric).  I had a typing class in high school with manual typewriter!  Had a class in 1975 (post- masters degree) with IBM Selectric.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> Oh how I don't miss typewriters. But they were fun to use at home when I was in high school. They were awful to work with (for me, from 1975 - 1987 -- usually IBM Selectric). I had a typing class in high school with manual typewriter! Had a class in 1975 (post- masters degree) with IBM Selectric.


But some papers that must be filled out would do best on a typewriter even today


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## Kindled Spirit (Oct 27, 2008)

sherylb said:


> Does anyone remember what was the first TV show they watched in color?
> Mine was Wizard of Oz. I was so blown away with the rich colors, I just could not get enough!


Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color...Something I was mesmerized by and looked forward to every week.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> When I was little (even into high school), there were only three tv channels, yet somehow there was always something to watch!


Yes, on our 7 channels, they always had something: some sort of old movie, a cartoon, or I could always tune in "Educational TV" on channel 13 (PBS) and watch some bizarre documentary from the Film Corporation of Canada.



> Space launches were exciting, not boring. Of course, going to theMoon was in the exciting future, not something abunch of old men did years ago.


They brought a TV into my first grade classroom so we could watch the Mercury launch with Alan Shephard.



> I remember Kennedy's assassination, not because his death shocked me, but because his funeral procession coverage preempted the cartoon show I liked to watch midday!


I had the exact same reaction. They also preempted all the cartoons on Saturday morning.



> At least in our town , they had cartoons on in late afternoon weekdays, as well as all morning Saturday. Only half an hour though.


We also had the 4:30 movie on Channel 7 which usually was very heavily edited so that it fit into a 90 minute time slot complete with commercials.

One old habit that I haven't given up is that I think of the channels by the their numbers rather than their letters:

Channel 2 - CBS
Channel 4 - NBC
Channel 5- WNEW
Channel 7 - ABC
Channel 9 -  (Lots of movies on this channel, and the Loretta Young show)
Channel 11 - WPIX
Channel 13 - PBS, educational TV (Billy Joel has a reference to this in his song Pressure. You can tell he's a New Yorker, too...)


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> Oh, dear, nations divided by a common language
> 
> Ours is somewhere between this and this


Oh! A tea kettle!!!


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Scheherazade said:


> I don't miss the rotary phone and cursing the people with numbers higher than 8 in their phone number. The two people I called the most were almost all 8s, 9s and 0s... I think maybe 2 weren't.


I used to work for a company that had a phone number made up of all 1's, 2's and 3's. On Saturday mornings we always got a lot of calls from little kids playing with the phone!


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

lol - My kids totally cracked up when I told them our bomb drills consisted of hiding under our desks.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

How about:
I remember when MTV & VH1 started, and they ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC!


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> How about:
> I remember when MTV & VH1 started, and they ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC!


Yeah ... I watched the startup of MTV and the first video. It was the coolest thing in my young life.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

sherylb said:


> Does anyone remember what was the first TV show they watched in color?
> Mine was Wizard of Oz. I was so blown away with the rich colors, I just could not get enough!


Mine was Star Trek, the original series. It was actually the show that caused me to beg my parents daily for a color televion.

Earliest Back in My Day? Walking out past Grandma's garden to the... yep! Outhouse.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> How about:
> I remember when MTV & VH1 started, and they ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC!


We got MTV right around the time my first child was born. I spent many nights nursing my son while watching music videos.

This thread is gonna make me cry.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> How about:
> I remember when MTV & VH1 started, and they ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC!


That was part of the reason my parents didn't want cable, they thought MTV would corrupt my brother and I, so we stuck with basic TV. If only I could go back in time and show them MTV now....


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## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

-I definitely remember the respect/fear we had for adults when we were growing up.  I would no more thinking of talking to an adult the way that I hear kids do today than fly!  Respect if one thing that I'm a stickler for with my son.  He's actually mentioned to me how he can't believe how some of his friends talk to their parents.  When they are with us, I expect respect and don't pull any punches if they say/do things that I consider unacceptable.  They are always surprised if I call them on something, but they always apologize.  My son is 13 and it's amazing how many adults have approached me to tell me how much they enjoy talking to him and how respectful he is.  He actually makes conversation with adults that includes eye contact!


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## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

Ooohhhh, does anybody remember the Helm's Bakery truck?  I used to LOVE the day each week that it came to our street and they'd pull out those long trays of breads, doughnuts and pastries.  The smell was heavenly!


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

cliffball said:


> Ok, I'm only in my mid-30's, but I remember only 3 networks because my parents refused to get cable, but even then, Saturday morning cartoons were still cool(Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Transformers, GI Joe, etc) and "un-educational" with the exception of the Schoolhouse Rock commercials. Those were cool!


Sing along with me, You know the words:

Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.

Lolly's Lolly's Lolly's
Get Your Adverb's Here

I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill. 
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.


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## leslieray (Mar 16, 2010)

KindleChickie said:


> Rasputina, that reminded me of my mom. She never left the house without lipstick and her hair in a chignon or french roll.
> 
> My mom is the lady in the brown and I am the little girl closest to the open car door...


This reminds me of my family growing up being the youngest of seven children. How did our mothers do it?

Oh, and also, you were so right about the Saturday morning cartoons, being soooooo much better than what's on now.

Leslie


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## leslieray (Mar 16, 2010)

Geoffrey said:


> Sing along with me, You know the words:
> 
> Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
> Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
> ...


Hey, loved these on Saturday morning too! Kept your young mind on good things! Thanks for bringing back memories!

Leslie


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## Veronica (Jan 23, 2009)

cliffball said:


> Did any of your parents use you as a remote control?


Yes! I am also in my mid-30's, and am so disappointed in Saturday morning cartoons nowadays.

Okay, mine is fairly recent. I remember being in grad school, and being grateful for getting an unpaid internship. Seems like these days the interns seem to think THEY are doing US a favor...


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Speaking of cartoons, my husband bought the dvd's from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. LOL man that was some memories. Although I love the old Disney ones.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

leslieray said:


> This reminds me of my family growing up being the youngest of seven children. How did our mothers do it?
> 
> Oh, and also, you were so right about the Saturday morning cartoons, being soooooo much better than what's on now.
> 
> Leslie


I don't know how our parents dealt w/ so many children (3 of 5). I just found out yesterday my oldest cousin is pregnant w/ twins. This will make #11 and #12. I would go nuts if it were me


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I remember feeling free.  I knew that the neighborhood moms were all home and I could knock on any door and get help if I needed it.  We were only expected home at dinner.  My mom would call various neighbors to look out their windows to find us if we were needed home.  Now my kids don't have that luxury. Nobody is home in the day.  I have recently given my kids use of the walkie talkies and they can rome, in pairs or groups, as long as they answer my call before I count to 60, and they tell me where they are.  It's the best compromise that I could come up with to give them that sense of independence. There is also a limited range of about 2 blocks so I know that they can't roam far.  I know that they are outside much more because of that.  Their TV time is almost nonexistent now.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

That's true I remember roaming all over the neighborhood and I don't think my son gets to that nearly as much


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> That's true I remember roaming all over the neighborhood and I don't think my son gets to that nearly as much


In my current neighborhood, children play up and down the street with games crossing many different lawns. In a way it's amazing to me both because we're inside Dallas proper and because I didn't think kids could do that any longer.


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## leslieray (Mar 16, 2010)

You are bringing me back to my own childhood. Growing up in a neighborhood where all houses were filled with my aunts, uncles and many  cousins. It allowed us the freedom to play outside from dawn til dusk if we liked. Safe hasn't felt as good since those days. I feel so blessed to have had such a large, loving family surrounding me. 

The world is so different now. It's a little disheartening realizing the differences my two daughters have grown up with. They missed out on so much because of it. 

Leslie


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Some random thoughts about when I was a kid, probably duplicating some previous responses:

When the weather was nice, we spent most of our free time playing outside with the neighborhood kids, not indoors watching the tube or on computer or video games -- especially since neither of the latter two existed.
We played with toy guns all the time, and no one worried that they were politically incorrect. (I'm not saying that was necessarily a good thing, just the way it was.)
There was no such thing as a shopping mall, though some of those new-fangled shopping centers were springing up.
Summers lasted a l-o-n-g time.
If you needed to talk to somebody who was driving somewhere that you didn't know the phone number for, you simply had to wait until they got home.
You did not call Dad at work unless it was an emergency.
First class postage for letters went up from 4 cents to 5 cents, and we were unhappy about it.
MacDonald's burgers tasted great, and we considered them a treat instead of a convenience.
Men wore suits and ties and women wore one of their better dresses when flying. Of course, there were essentially no security measures then.
Every time someone launched into space, _everyone_ was glued to the TV.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> There was no such thing as a shopping mall, though some of those new-fangled shopping centers were springing up.


And the stores in those new-fangled shopping centers were closed on Sunday, so we had someplace to learn to drive!

Actually, I wish stores were still closed on Sundays. It was such a neat day.


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## maryannaevans (Apr 10, 2010)

Coke was made with cane sugar and came in those cool little glass bottles.  

You can get cane sugar Coke in 2-liter bottles during Passover (you can tell it by the yellow caps, but it gets flat fast.  I recently had a glass bottle of Coke from Mexico that was made with cane sugar and it was pretty darn good.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

4Katie said:


> And the stores in those new-fangled shopping centers were closed on Sunday, so we had someplace to learn to drive!
> 
> Actually, I wish stores were still closed on Sundays. It was such a neat day.


This is so funny. I was one of those that learned to drive in a mall parking lot. Mission Valley, San Diego.


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## WilliamM (Feb 10, 2009)

didnt come home until the street lights came on..


Magenta said:


> I remember having only a black & white TV and watching the men walk on the moon.
> 
> I remember life without video games and vcr's.
> 
> ...


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I remember that when I was in college, I interviewed for a job selling pagers.  I had to turn the job down.  At the time, I couldn't think of a darn good reason, unless you were a doctor on call, why you would possibly need to be in constant contact with ANYONE!  What would happen if people thought that they could reach you at any time? How would you get any peace?  Now I have a cell phone and wouldn't consider leaving the house without it.  I think that I was still right.  Now the bosses can reach me at all times.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

Marguerite said:


> I remember that when I was in college, I interviewed for a job selling pagers. I had to turn the job down. At the time, I couldn't think of a darn good reason, unless you were a doctor on call, why you would possibly need to be in constant contact with ANYONE! What would happen if people thought that they could reach you at any time? How would you get any peace? Now I have a cell phone and wouldn't consider leaving the house without it. I think that I was still right. Now the bosses can reach me at all times.


I don't bother with my cell phone, I still consider it to be an annoyance, it stays at home unless I'm going out of town. If people call me, they can always leave a voice mail message. I'll get back to them.... eventually

Now, if someone e-mails me, I'll get back to them in less than an hour. Weird? Probably.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Geoffrey said:


> I vaguely remember the milkman ... it was in the house we moved to when I was 2 and I think the milkman came after one of my brothers was born,


At least it wasn't before your brother was born!!


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> At least it wasn't before your brother was born!!


I'm #3 of 5, but the 1st one to have red hair (my youngest bro has red hair as well). Mom used to say that when she walked down the street w/ me and my 2 older, brunette brothers (mom is brunette as well) strangers would ask her who my father was. Mom finally got tired of having to say it was her husband, my dad, and told them it was the milk man


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

My younger sister, the 4th of 5 kids, looked nothing like the rest of us. People used to joke about her being the mailman's child.

Many years later, my mother married our former mailman.

I'm sure it was just a coincidence.


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## sheltiemom (Dec 28, 2008)

sherylb said:


> Does anyone remember what was the first TV show they watched in color?
> Mine was Wizard of Oz. I was so blown away with the rich colors, I just could not get enough!


A special treat for our youth group after church on Sunday evenings was to go to the leader's house to watch Bonanza in color. No one else had a color TV.

My mom worked and there was no day care in the town so I was on my own starting at 7. I had a horse and would make a lunch and disappear for the day. I started driving at 12 and had a driver's license at 14.

I grew up in the town that was the background for the movie "The Great Debaters". That was a few decades before my time, but when I watched the movie it reminded me of the separate entrances, bathrooms, water fountains that were the rule when I was young. Rather than integrate the community swimming pool they closed it. So, some things do improve.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> At least it wasn't before your brother was born!!


I bet there are people on this board young enough to not even have a connection to the meaning of this statement!  Not me! I remember the milkman delivering the milk right to the refrigerator (in bottles of course). In later years the milk was left in a box on the porch.


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## OliviaD (Jul 21, 2009)

Oh, there are so many things that have gone by the wayside. Most of them will not be missed.  I remember having to take a 'tonic' every spring... yuck!! They had to hold me down and pour this stuff down my throat.  I don't even know what it was, but it was black and tasted like asphalt smells.  I don't know if it did any good, but I guess it didn't kill me.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Earliest TV memory - The Life of Riley. Walked up to my grandparent's house to watch it every Friday evening.

Best memory - walking barefoot in the woods as the grass cooled down in the evening. That and going out about a week before Christmas to get the Christmas tree - from our woods. Oh, and the sledding parties - lots of snow and friends, a big bonfire with a large pot of cocoa at the edge of it, staying hot.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

FearNot said:


> Best memory - walking barefoot in the woods as the grass cooled down in the evening. That and going out about a week before Christmas to get the Christmas tree - from our woods. Oh, and the sledding parties - lots of snow and friends, a big bonfire with a large pot of cocoa at the edge of it, staying hot.


I'm gonna guess that you haven't always lived in Florida.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

cliffball said:


> I don't bother with my cell phone, I still consider it to be an annoyance, it stays at home unless I'm going out of town. If people call me, they can always leave a voice mail message. I'll get back to them.... eventually
> 
> Now, if someone e-mails me, I'll get back to them in less than an hour. Weird? Probably.


My rant about these money-wasting time-wasting cell phones:

I identify completely. I do stick it in my bag when I go out, but often it stays there until the noise that indicates it needs to be charged comes on. I've been a little better about it since I'm doing temp work and the agencies try the cell first (even though I told them I get my messages sooner on my landline). I find checking voice-mail a real nuisance time waster. Why do I have to make a phone call to find out if there are messages I need? I hate all the voice prompts and it doesn't even tell me the date and time of the call unless I request it with a number prompt well after I've heard the message. Hate hate hate cell phones.

Even if I have the cell phone out at home, I usually don't get to it quickly enough, and I can't screen the call as I do with the landline.

I bought mine when I started working in a job in 2003 where I didn't have my own direct line. All office calls had to go through the supervisor.


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## OliviaD (Jul 21, 2009)

Hey... does anyone rememer those big fat cookies they used to sell from behind the counter in little stores.  They were kept on shelves in maybe 5 or even 10 gallon glass jars?  Those were scrumpctious and they cost like 2 or 3 cents apiece... anyone?


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

OliviaD said:


> Hey... does anyone rememer those big fat cookies they used to sell from behind the counter in little stores. They were kept on shelves in maybe 5 or even 10 gallon glass jars? Those were scrumpctious and they cost like 2 or 3 cents apiece... anyone?


Not sure which cookies you mean. At the bakery they sold big linzer tarts and black-and-white cookies (the icing was chocolate and white).

There is a pie store on W. 43rd St. that has their big cookies stored in glass jars.


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## tessa (Nov 1, 2008)

I remenber the ice man coming to my grandmother's apartment in Brooklyn.

(I was very very young)

tessa


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## sjc (Oct 29, 2008)

_Back in my day_ we had to clean flooded basements...
Oh...wait; that was last month; my mistake.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

We had an ice box in our garage.  It wasn't used by the time I was born.  Our house went so far back that we owned antique chamber pots and once had an out-house.  There was also a hen house behind the garage.  I never saw any hens, but before my time, my great grandmother's family got their eggs from the hens in that little shack.

During the 1950s we had a coal furnace in the kitchen.  I remember that.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Jeff said:


> I'm gonna guess that you haven't always lived in Florida.


Correct - I grew up on the cold, snowy shore of Lake Ontario.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

mlewis78 said:


> There was also a hen house behind the garage. I never saw any hens, but before my time, my great grandmother's family got their eggs from the hens in that little shack.


We had a hen house with hens in it 

Our house had a food safe built into a wall on the cold side of the house, from the days before electricity.


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