<p>The other night, at a dinner dance a man came up to me and said, Hey, how are you its been YEARS!!</p>
<p>The good news was that after 18 years he recognized me (I aged well?) the bad news is I had no clue at the time who he was…</p>
<p>sigh</p>
<p>Cap’n Crunch was, I believe, sweeter than plain sugar because it was (I believe) one of the very first cereals to use corn syrup–which contains fructose, which is sweeter than sucrose (cane sugar).</p>
<p>Personally I loved both Tang and Cap’n Crunch, because they were both forbidden in our house. My mother was a follower of Adelle Davis.</p>
<p>My gosh - you people are old…just kidding! </p>
<p>I hate to join in this conversation but since I have been laughing my head off - especially about those stupid goldfish shoes - my sister had a hand me down pair…</p>
<p>Yes, I remember candy cigarettes - loved them! We didn’t have all the ‘fancy’ foods like sugar cereals, twinkies, or coke - mostly because it was SOOO expensive (or so my mother told us so). We used to beg my mother for sugar smacks and TV dinners - I didn’t have a frozen dinner until I was away at college and I was quite shocked at how horrible it tasted. </p>
<p>When I was very young I remember getting a bottle of coke at the gas station - sharing it with my sisters - and just around the corner seeing the sign for the colored drinking fountain. </p>
<p>After coming to our house and seeing pink lemonade in the fidge - we learned from my grandmother that we should throw it out because it had communist overtones!!</p>
<p>I remember going to Latin mass.</p>
<p>Yes, I remember the Latin Mass and the Baltimore Catechism (I still have mine!) And, eating fish sticks on EVERY Friday. (Are they really food?)</p>
<p>cgm:</p>
<p>I can relate to your dinner dance story. I went to my class reunion (5 years ago) and I didn’t recognize my old boyfriend who I had dated for 2 years!!! He came up to me to say, “Hi”, but I had to ask who he was! How weird is that!</p>
<p>Was your dinner dance work related? school related? church related?</p>
<p>jlauer, our doctor does make house calls. Actually, several docs in our town do. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing. ;)</p>
<p>You remember when tissue paper flowers were an artform</p>
<p>alwaysamom</p>
<p>Wow!!! I haven’t heard of any doctors that that do this in the states – but maybe it happens in very small rural towns.</p>
<p>Remember when laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?</p>
<p>the long strips of paper with the candy dots…I believe we called that wampum.</p>
<p>How about wax lips? Lost their sweetness in about 10 seconds, then you had this giant lump of pink wax to spit out.</p>
<p>Or smoking “punks” which were reeds that were supposed to keep bugs away (this may have been a regional shore thing)…speaking of bugs, how about following the mosquito spray truck on our bikes…how are we still alive?!?</p>
<p>My husband often tells about following the mosquito bug spray truck… what was in that stuff??? So many adults today grew up being sprayed by those trucks! You’d think that would’ve ended up sterile or with cancer.</p>
<p>We didn’t have them in Southern Cal.</p>
<p>When you could get “free” barbie clothes from laundry degertant labels…waiting for weeks for it to arrive…and when it did>>>it was heaven</p>
<p>I still have the english china my mom collected from gas stations, one week a tea cup, next the matching saucer</p>
<p>really pretty stuff</p>
<p>Mosquito trucks?!?!?! I remember those - when I asked my mother about them a few years ago - she said they came around and told everyone that it was totally safe - but did tell her if we had in small pets to keep them inside! It is a wonder we are alive! </p>
<p>House calls are back in vogue now - they have just renamed it to concierge medicine.</p>
<p>duck and cover</p>
<p>hiding under ours desks to save us from the bomb…yeah, that would have worked</p>
<p>2331clk, I remember punks and following the mosquito trucks on bikes! Did you grow up in Jersey?</p>
<p>We had punks in Ohio, and we sprayed ourselves for mosquitoes all summer long, in between the spray trucks coming around. Yeah, DEET! I loved our elementary playgrounds. Acres and acres of hard asphalt with nary a sprig of grass or any soft surface. All huge swings, jungle gyms, teeter-totters, hangs bars - all over hard, hard asphalt. Amazing! One of my most favorite outfits as a ten-year-old - a one-piece shiny blue, stretchy long-sleeve bell-bottom pantsuit with a huge zipper and a big circle zipper pull. (wish I had a picture!)</p>
<p>Oh… I just remembered a popular summer clothing item – the sunsuit. I lived in them – as my parents home movies will attest.</p>
<p>Remember those. multi colored cotton one piece numbers with ties at the shoulders.</p>
<p>remember the S&H green stamps!!! We’d get them at the grocery stores and save them in “books” and trade them in for stuff.</p>
<p>I remember those wonderful sun-suits that tied at the shoulder! So cool and comfortable. But I also remember going potty and sometimes having the shoulder ties fall into the water—ewwww! </p>
<p>I remember the Christmas I got my oh-so-modern Panasonic “Pana-pet” transister radio. a bright blue orb on a silver chain (wish I still had that thing. I loved it!). I use to sit up with the little ear-plug in my ear, scanning the dial late into the night, listening for Dereck and The Dominos, “Layla” and Elton John’s, “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer”. I could listen to those songs over and over again. From my little house in Williamsburg, Va., I could get stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana (WOWO), Chicago (WLS), New York City (WABC), and even stations in Canada and Mexico. It felt sorta like traveling the world :p.</p>
<p>OMG, these are bringing back some ooold memories!!!</p>
<p>How about:</p>
<p>Sizzler dresses with the matching panty-shorts</p>
<p>Going to the army-navy store to get pea coats. </p>
<p>White carpenter pants. </p>
<p>Wolfman Jack on “The Midnight Special”.</p>
<p>Being sent out to the store to buy cigarettes for the parents (at age 9)</p>
<p>Getting the measles and mumps</p>
<p>Keeping a dime in your loafers for an emergency phone call.</p>
<p>Bass shoes.</p>
<p>Thick corduroy pants that swished when you walked.</p>