Things that so remind me of growing up in the 80's

I opened a jar of Goober Grape the other day and the smell instantly took me back to being a child. You know before bills, and jobs, and kids, back when you were the kid, and had nothing to worry about. Ah those were the carefree days, I miss them so. Yeah, all that from a jar of Goober Grape. It started me thinking about some of the really great things that remind me of being a kid. Funny how just one smell can take you back to a completely different time in your life. That wonderful jar off Goober Grape inspired this wonderful blog. Some of the things that I instantly thought of may not be things everyone thinks of, like Tiger Balm, that one comes from having a dad seriously into Eastern medicine. Boy does that stuff stink, but it definitly reminds me of growing up with dad. Not that growing up there stunk just that stuff was insane strong, i'm sure dad still has some in the cubbard. Speaking of smells, I came across a container of Vicks vapo rub in my medicine cabinet, which looks like its a 100 yrs old ok, not 100 but maybe 10-20, I was like I said cleaning, and trowing away a ton of expired stuff, and wondered since there was no expiration date-not a good sign that it was recent, if it was still good, and so I opened it up and damn, got a huge wiff of well ya know the smell but that definitly took me back to being 10 yrs old and sleeping w/ the stuff on my chest, and it sure did clean up my stuffy sinuses too.

So lets start with the tasty Goober Grape that started it all, I saw this in my head more as a picture blog w/ captions, b/c the pictures are just too fun. Goober Grape (what a silly name) was one of those things my parents actually bought that I would consider junk food, we were not allowed Chef Boyardee, Doritos, Cheetos, or any of those other tasty MSG filled treats. Looking back, and being a mom now, one who understands healthy from junk, I'm glad we didnt eat Dorito's and McD's everyday. But that yummy Goober Grape was always a special treat.

It was so fun to be the first person to open it and see that fun swirl. I don't remember ever eating it on bread or even toast, the prefered method, not only for me but for everyone in the house I believe was to just dig in with a spoon. What could be better than Saturday morning cartoons and a jar of Goober Grape. Not that we got Saturday morning cartoons very often, that was Kung Fu lessons day. There were however donuts after class, funny donuts but not Cheetos. My kids would be tramatized to here this. John and I still mourn the loss of Saturday morning cartoons.....( i have some great pics for this that will take ya all back to the day, but later, food first!)

Our occasional PB&J treat reminded me of one of my favorite foods as a kid, probably the most favorite. Mac and Cheese. We didnt however by Kraft mac and cheese which is what i prefer these days, and my children eat. We had the generic Mac and Cheese, its just not the same, but back then I sure didn't know the difference, I gobbled it up. Even when dad was around and we only got to put in half the cheese packet. I still till this day do not know what he did, if anything with the other half of the cheese packet. John? Any ideas. I'd hate to think they are still lurking around the kitchen on Taylor St. Watch out Bev! When I googled generic mac and cheese I didnt get what I wanted, I guess we never get exactly what we want anyway right. So what I did find was a picture way too orange, ours was closer to yellow. Yummm, pictures are making me hungry!
I also could not find a picture of Government Cheese! What the heck-I guess I just don't know where to look-I found lots of really weird stuff when I googled government cheese, even some not so PG-13 things. And this really old picture of cheese-which is as close as I could get. I'm not sure I totally remember what it looks like anyway, a big ass block of cheese, and I sure do remember standing in line for it. And i'm not ashamed of that, I sure could use some free cheese, which led me to this pic ha!












Who couldn't use a little free cheese?
Not sure I want the 1950's kind or the kind that comes out of a fountain though.
Now for some really fun stuff, I spent alot of time on google, doing lets say research for this blog...... the I love the 80's website was not as helpful as I thought it would be, however I sure do love that show! The first thing I came across was Now and Later candy, we sure did love these, however I do remember them being a pain in the ass to unwrap they had way too many pieces of paper/plastic in they way of me enjoying sugary, fruity goodness ( I really didnt weigh 300 lbs when I was young, you'd think so from this blog about candy, and govt. cheese, ha!) ( yeah I know i'm a dork, it makes me happy though :)
wow that sure is alot of candy ------------->
I have some Sunburst here, its just not the same, I like Sunburst, just doesnt take me back to hot summer days with bags full of penny candy from Weiser's (or as we called it the little store) up the hill from our house, yes it was up the hill, a good thing too, b/c if we were too lazy to walk up the hill then no candy! The thing I remember the most about Now and Laters was that they seriously stuck to your teeth, it was like dental impressions, ha, i know Ana not really and i'm sure so totally not good for the teeth but oh so important to my childhood. Now Tootsie Roll may just have to be my favorite childhood candy, those commercials sure did get me evertime. With the 'How many licks does it take?" owl and the tootsie train, those were awesome!
I did love those tasty little treats, and they were so easy to unwrap. I like the longer ones were the best. I did however not like the really long ones with the perferations on them, they always hurt my teeth to bite through. I like my candy easy to eat obviously. Now I know you all remember Bubble tape, with all that damn powder and sure didn't seem like the flavor lasted too long. It was the coolest thing though. Seemed like we went through it within an hour of buying it. How about Hubba Bubba, and Bubble Yum, those were some damn suggary gums!! We always had the craziest flavors, like strawberry kiwi. I sure did get boring, I stick to mint for the most these days, maybe a little Mint Mojito Orbit. We loved it! Wow look at the duck with the nose ring!








Smarties were awesome, I could've eaten them all day, probably still could, I actually found some jumbo ones at the store, they just were not the same. Did kids actually crush them up and try to snort them, that had to hurt. Much better when the taste buds get to enjoy, not the nose hairs. Nerds they were the bomb, yeah I said it, I said 'The bomb", now thats old stuff there, anyway, they came in the coolest box, two different flavors, with different layers of flavors, pure sugar! I really loved those boxes, and we use to shake them, there ya go, candy and music!
The only other one I found-not that i couldnt go on all day about candy like snickers bars-yum!-anyway off track again, my last kid candy that totally reminds me of 'the little store' was runts, i really didnt like them so much, but they so are a childhood candy for me, i hatted the bananas but I sure do remember eating them.

Moving on to some fun toys that just arnt the same as those they have today, like the good ol' slinky-I remember spending so much time in the sprinkler, or throwing water ballons, or on the neighbors slip and slide. Those were the summers!
Wow that kid could be John-its not-its some randome kid I got when I googled sprinkler. And the girl on the slip and slide looks kinda like me, bonus. I probably could find a couple pics of us throwing water ballons, but its getting late and the kids are impatient with me trying to finish this, and they'd probably be down right embarrasing to those involved, especially fashion wise.

Ok, how about cartoons-as much as John and I say we were deprived of Saturday morning cartoons, we caught a few. Smurfs being my all time favorite, I so wanted to be a smurf. I still want blue hair. I found the most amazing smurf house on google of coarse (how many times can i use that silly word in my blog). One you can go inside of in the Netherlands, and one that you can buy online for $43, that is insane, I dont love the Smurfs that much. But I sure did think there mushroom houses were cool as hell. Don't be surprised if I ever win the lottery that you find one of these houses in my backyard, he he.


I am kinda drawing a blank on the cartoon front, even though they sure do have all them back (except, i havent seen enough smurfs) but Strawberry shortcake-I had one, they smelled so good, and my little pony! Us girls would brush their hair like all day long, until they got left in the tub w/ the barbies and their hair was all ratty, then they were neglected. And I love, love, love carebears, but don't think I remember a show, but I do remember mom or an aunt making me a cake one year for a b-day with carebears around it, I actually still have one of them-the grumpy/rainy one I think. I did see a new show on tv recently and it just couldnt match my memories. Mighty Mouse however, I loved that song! I remember it being on cable and us having cable for like a minute and it was so exciting for us! Cabbage Patch Kids (remember there butts said Xavier Roberts, that was odd, but the carebears had hearts on theres, so it could be worse, I actually saw a tattoo online when I tried to find out how to spell Xavier, you know where that tat was) and Raggedy Ann were there of coarse too, toy wise. I remember Garbage Pale Kids stickers on our back door forever! Wow I forgot how gross they were. Gummybears, I probably wouldnt have said I remember if John hadnt gotten me the first couple seasons on dvd one year for my b-day-or was it Christmas? but watching them with Tyler (who loves! them) brings it all back, that was a really awesome show!
Ok, I actually saw gift cards somewhere the other day that were slap braclettes! crazy! I dont remember were, but I do remember the braclettes, and I remember when the fabric came off and they were just metal. Those things were too fun! Oh yeah, i had the animal print ones! Ha!!! I couldn't resist sharing this cartoon I found!! More fun toys-Slinky-down the stairs at grandmas-the metal ones not those lame plastic ones they have these days-that the kids always break. Simon Says I remember john being so much better at this than me! That was like hightech back then right? Almost as cool as Ninetendo, I cant think of the good ol days with out picturing john in front of the tv with controller in hand, with his legs bent in a way I never could, i dont even know what to call it. Mario Brothers and Zelda were the two that I remember the most, and I loved Dr. Mario too! I remember dad getting really into wanting to draw the maps for the Zelda game out, with graph paper and different colored pens and all, I wonder what ever happen to those maps, they could be hidden among the treasures on taylor st, next to those cheese packets. I never was any good at Zelda, or Mario, I just didnt log enough hours I guess.
Movie time. The first movie I ever remember watching(other than Barbarian Queen, when we got our fancy VCR player, was Legend with Tom Cruise when he was oh so young, and not so crazy yet, pre Katie Holmes, preprozac. Still love that movie. My daughter, Lily, was named after that lady in the movie. Dirty Dancing, I think Brook and I watched that movie like a million and one times one summer-and even tried to do some of the dance steps in the living room. Who doesnt know the all time best line 'No one puts baby in the corner'. Big Trouble Little China-that movie was crazy! And that one guy super creapy! One other I know we watched more than once was some crazy Throw Mama From The Train movie. It was totally weird and had that short guy-Danny Devito in it.
Neverending Story-can't beat that-not for a fantasy buff like myself, Who didn't want a luck dragon after watching that movie! The second one just wasn't the same, I think there is even a 3rd and I havent seen it if there is. Can't beat rock eaters, and flying dragons, and the pretty little helpless princess, and of coarse the cute Indian looking fella w/ the horse and how sad he was when the horse sunk in the mudd, that sucked but him w/ the sneezing turtle hill, was too funny! By the way I know most of you grew up with the phrase "Indian style" for crossing your legs when you sit on the floor. My daughter has informed me they do not use this phrase anymore in school, I guess its not PC, they say 'Chris Cross Applesauce' WHATEVER! Reminds me of a book I read in highschool "10 little Indians" also titled "And then there were none" Some of us got books w/ the old title some with the new it was the weirdest thing. I remember having a black woman who was like 80! for english class that year and her explaining the who situation and why it was changed.

Ok the only other thing I actually have in my photo blog ( b/c I could probably keep going on and on but my back is actually starting to hurt from sitting at the desk and typing and i'm getting tired. Gots to get up and get those kiddos to school tomorrow. But ALF is my last pic, you remember the Alien Life Form, right, he was always trying to eat the damn cat! He sure was a funny looking thing!

So send me some notes and or pics on some of the stuff I know I missed b/c if there is one thing I like its memories and thinking back on quiter more simple times, or at least when I wasnt so damn stressed out, yes it is time for more yoga!