Saturday, April 12, 2008

Flash Back-Baby Boomers' Memories

If you are a baby boomer , like me (I am on the late end of the group), you will remember these things and maybe have a little smile upon your face. A friend sent me an email with these images and the text at the end of this post that I will type in orange.

S&H Green Stamps
My brother and I always argued over who would put these little postage stamp-like stickers in the booklets. After the taste of licking them got too yucky,
we would get a wet rag or just give up.
I remember going to the redemption store and getting free stuff when the booklets were full.
Over the years, we got a toaster oven (which was VERY modern then), some lamps, pillows, log holder for the hearth, and some other stuff that lasted, as I recall, for years and years.


metal ice cube trays
I always hated how the handle was so hard to lift, and by the time it finally broke loose you usually lost some skin off your knuckles.


popcorn on top of the stove
The saddest thing is that my kids didn't even realize you COULD make popcorn other than in the microwave!


45 rpm record centers for the turntable/record player
One of my kids found one of these in my box of random stuff from high school days and said, "What the heck is this thingy?"

flash bubs for the camera
I actually made ornaments out of some of these for the Christmas tree and A. thinks they're pretty neat looking.

hand made gum wrapper chains
My friend and I had a competition going in school days- who could make one to go all the way around their bedroom! It helped with the litter problem when we were looking on the ground in search of more wrappers everywhere we went. This method was put into use when Mom wouldn't budget more gum again this week into the grocery bill!!

good ol' family friendly TV shows
My brother (a lot older than I) used to tease me saying, "Tonight, this is the episode when Lassie dies, you know!!"
I would cry and Mom would yell at him.

Here's the text that was sent to me in an email...

1. We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
2. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets
3. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, seat belts or airbags.
4. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
5.We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-aid made with real white sugar. We weren't overweight, WHY? Because we were always outside, playing...that's why!
6. We would leave home in the morning and play all day
7. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet
8. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
9. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

13 comments:

The Feathered Nest said...

AMY!!! This is SO my childhood!!! My mom and dad used to collect green stamps!!!! Our money was always tight so they did everything they could to get free stuff!!! And those flash bulbs....they would get hot! And I can remember being about five years old and watching Dick Van Dyke trip over that footstool every evening!!! xxoo, Dawn

a portland granny said...

I just came upon your website from another one and read your current blog. I could so identify with what you wrote and the message in orange!! I have one more on you though!! No TV when I was growing up. I saw my first one in 1950 on my way to college. We had an hour train layover and walked around Oakland, Cal. Saw a small black and white TV in a shop window and almost lost our teeth!! We stood in front of it as long as we dared and were dumbstruck over this new invention.

Well, a lot of years have come and gone and I'm not nearly as awestruck with TV as I was at eighteen!!

I'm most anxious to delve into your blog. I think I'm going to love it!

Mary Isabella and Kiley too! said...

I remember all of it. I really liked those ice trays. So much easier to get the ice out for me anyway. I wish I had one now....Mary

Cathy said...

Oh, Amy! Thanks for the walk down "memory lane". I so remember each and every one of those items! What I really miss is those colored aluminum tumblers. They kept whatever you were drinking so cold! My grandma's cupboards were full of them. I saw some somewhere awhile ago, but couldn't justify the $3.99 price tag! I'm hoping to come across some at a flea market or an estate sale --- at a much better price. And what I wouldn't give to own my grandmother's collection of Fiesta ware and Currier and Ives dishes now.

Pam said...

Oh Amy!!!!
Memories of home!
Oh those metal ice trays- I can still remember getting my finger tips stuck to them!
All of those pics brought back all kinds of memories of growing up and things that I miss; the home that's not there anymore.
Thanks for posting this, Amy; so much fun to see.
Pam

Laura said...

I love this!!! Not only did I drink Kool-aid, but I always put in WAAAYYYYY more sugar than required....yum. and I remember my mom collecting those stamps and they seemed to breed inside of an old fondue pot..good times.

cindy said...

i remember all those things too! those ice trays always bit my fingers...owie. and i was always fascinated by that stuff that was inside the flash bulbs...weird!

Lori said...

Amy, You just made me sigh!! I feel so sorry for the children of today who must have toys with endless cords and batteries!!! We were the lucky generation, we really, really were!! Take care pal! Love,Lori

Sharon said...

I am just pass the age of the baby boomer but I sure did live through all your memories. Such fun to look back and I did forget those stamps. Thanks for sharing a little bit of yesterday.

Betty said...

I remember green stamps. I still have a step stool that I bought with mine way back when. Don't you wish they would do something like that again?

Simply Shelley said...

Thanks for the memories,Amy. I remember all those things. The green stamps were like Christmas to me...my Mom would let me save them and pick something special,just for me..did you ever stick your tounge to one of those old metal ice trays? I did ,wasn't that cazy? Such a doofus...

Blessings,Shelley

Veronica said...

oh my gosh, I remember all those and then some. I never knew how to make the gum wrappers everyone else knew how to do it but I never did. Wow....

sister sheri said...

loving these memories!