When I was a kid...

[Sundrop]

My friend Brian and I liked to go up to the train tracks and put pennies on the rails and watch the freights flatten them. An older boy, Lundy, whose claim to fame in the neighborhood was having a tick on his di__ frozen off, ratted us out to the school gym teacher of all people. Said you could derail the trains. We then moved on to putting the pennies onto Rte. 17 and watching the trucks run over them. Not the same results to be sure and we soon stopped after a few near misses with traffic. We were two of the smarter boys in school, don't you think?

I read that as your friend Brain.....

 

[Sundrop]

Listening to Mellencamp and Elton John and Springsteen on our boom box, summer sound of push mowers coming alive. My little kid's mind noticing everything as if time had become elastic. The bees bobbing in the thick clover, the pine woods blushing with white dogwoods and telephone poles festooned with wisteria.
The neighborhood kids would wait for my uncle who'd show up in his black Chevy and give us Garbage Pail Kids cards, sour candy, and jelly bracelets. Then we'd roam the streets on our bikes until we heard our parents whistle and could smell the Kingsford charcoal and lighter fluid.
Frivolous games, silly jokes, foot races and sitting silently on the porch swing because we were too hot to talk. Grape Kool-aid tasted like a chilled wine from heaven. Panting for breath we thought those summers would never end.

Sometimes, grape kool aid is still heavenly......

 

[no bounce no play]

My very first skates clamped onto the bottom of my shoes and had said skate key.

Did you wear saddle shoes? Saddle shoe soles were the best for clamping skates to. I learned the hard way that skates would not stay clamped to penny loafers lol.

 

[arista]

I had these they were like little bean bag people.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Hey good lookin'!

A friend got me a ton of these. I have kids that don't like to read but love horror. I hook them up! Yay! (Heck. If I can get ONE kid to read...read anything? Maybe they'll go on to read other stuff as well.)

Bit OT, but, my oldest son had a lot of difficulty learning to read. In grade three we finally got him started....with booklets and pamphlets donated from The Canadian Cancer Society. (Weird choice, but it worked.) But the idea of reading for pleasure....he just did not get that.

I finally bribed him. He wanted to see a movie based on a King novel....so quick thinker that I am...I told him no. Not until her could read a King novel. Then I gave him Eyes of the Dragon. As an adult, he reads. And he strongly encourages reading with his son.

 

[Bardo]

When I was a kid, we couldn't afford legs. We had to crawl 23 miles through snow every day of the year to get to school and back. Our day started at 4 am when Daddy whooped our arses outta bed and got us doin' the chores before'n we could crawl to school. We weren't allowed to have legs until the late '70s; that's when we got our first wireless. I'd heard of a new fandagled thang called tellervision, but never seen it 'caus all the folks around us was just as dirt poor an' savin' up for legs of their own.

You had it easy!
There were 150 of us living in a small box in the middle of the road!
Bruce!!
(Monty Python)

 

[carrie's younger brother]

View attachment 14503

Another trip down memory lane... I loved these things.

Yes, I loved these!
In a sort of related way, does anyone remember a kit where you used powdered velvet to sprinkle on a sticky background to create a picture? I loved these as a kid and can vividly remember one that had a Munsters theme! It was sort of like paint by numbers, but you used the powdered velvet to create the picture instead of paint. I have tried every which way to google this but have yet to find what I am looking for.

 

[doowopgirl]

Did you wear saddle shoes? Saddle shoe soles were the best for clamping skates to. I learned the hard way that skates would not stay clamped to penny loafers lol.
View attachment 14534

I did and I think that is why I liked them.

 

[not_nadine]

Yes, I loved these!
In a sort of related way, does anyone remember a kit where you used powdered velvet to sprinkle on a sticky background to create a picture? I loved these as a kid and can vividly remember one that had a Munsters theme! It was sort of like paint by numbers, but you used the powdered velvet to create the picture instead of paint. I have tried every which way to google this but have yet to find what I am looking for.

Found this? I don't remember, though.

 

[carrie's younger brother]

Found this? I don't remember, though.

THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shoesalesman]

Last night on ME TV, they played the very first episode of The Incredible Hulk and I watched it with my daughter! Next show was Wonder Woman which I have already gotten her addicted to. It is so great reliving my childhood memories with her!

I love it!! My kids love Lavern & Shirley, Happy Days, Sanford and Son... etc. They seem to prefer the 70s/80s shows better than the ones they have today. Speaking of... I just picked up a few seasons of Cheers at a discount store for five bucks each, new condition.

 

[Sundrop]

I wish. My father put that thing in my hands when I was 11 and told me to go at it. I did find out early on good leather boots were a must. That thing sliced through Keds like butter.

There were several of them in the barn at Grandpa's house. No one ever put one in my hand, though......

 

[mcpon14]

I remember Now and Laters, Recess (the show), Hey Arnold (the show) and $2.99 combos at Taco Bell.

 

[Arkay Lynchpin]

You had it easy!
There were 150 of us living in a small box in the middle of the road!
Bruce!!
(Monty Python)

Is that all? Daddy had 18 wives that produced 28 twins, 17 triplets, 12 quads and 38 singles... that's like a whole barnload o' legless tykes scootin' aroun' tryin't make the world a brighter place even though they was legless.

 

[Arkay Lynchpin]

On a serious note, who remembers string art, treads (tire tread soles with leather strap uppers) and the ubiquitous skateboard-because you wanted to be just like Leif.

 

[DiO'Bolic]

There were several of them in the barn at Grandpa's house. No one ever put one in my hand, though......

Your family was fond of life and limb I take it.

 

[carrie's younger brother]

On a serious note, who remembers string art, treads (tire tread soles with leather strap uppers) and the ubiquitous skateboard-because you wanted to be just like Leif.

View attachment 14539

I loved string are!

 

[do1you9love?]

I love it!! My kids love Lavern & Shirley, Happy Days, Sanford and Son... etc. They seem to prefer the 70s/80s shows better than the ones they have today. Speaking of... I just picked up a few seasons of Cheers at a discount store for five bucks each, new condition.

Yeay! Enjoy those! These will be our kids' childhood memories.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Easy Bake Oven. Best toy I ever had.

I was given one used and I never knew there were packaged cake mixes available. It had a recipe book.

 

[AnnaMarie]