bits and bobs: A random assortment of things; small remaining pieces and things
Ja left this comment on the blog in early January: “My husband’s leg lamp is used in our bedroom year round. I have never thought of it as a Christmas decoration.”
I don’t even know what to say to that. 😉
I’m not a sentimental person, and I don’t keep things just because I made them. Because for me, the joy of making something is in the actual process, not the final product.
So when OHAM reader Susan found the sampler I made for our last house {and later donated when we moved} on Facebook, I just had to laugh. I’m pretty sure if I had picked up a sampler at an estate sale and it was made in 1722, I’d be asking a heck of a lot more than $15 for it. But hey, maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of the Antiques Roadshow.
******************
******************
The same way I store thousands of pictures on my phone to remind myself to make / write / do something later, the same goes for my inbox. I am constantly emailing myself things so I don’t forget them. I’m sure there’s some sort of notepad app or something like that on my phone, but who needs/has time for that?
Yada Yada Yada, Mrs. HB I were talking a while back {I have no idea about what} and then out of the blue she said the phrase who chee mama clothes and it stopped me in my tracks. WHEN was the last time you heard that phrase? High school? It made me laugh so hard I didn’t want to forget it so I sent myself a quick email.
Wine flavored cotton candy in the kid’s Valentine candy section at Target. I was annoyed.
Another disappointment. A taco Valentine’s box. Do schools even let kids decorate their own shoe boxes and pass out candy and valentines anymore? I’m so glad I grew up in the time of innocent Charlie Brown specials and being able to wear my Halloween costume to school on HALLOWEEN. And for Valentine’s Day parties that were held at the end of the day and filled with glorious amounts of sugar. And for making sure I had to remember to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day so I didn’t get pinched.
When playing on the playground {rain or shine} meant climbing the monkey bars, playing tetherball or even nobody’s favorite game, red rover, and hoping that the meany boy didn’t run towards you and break your arm. Or making cootie catchers with your friends and writing the names of boys you liked on them and giggling as you found out if you lived in a mansion, apartment, shack or a house and how many kids you’d have and what kind of car you’d drive. And that being on a team sport meant there were winners and losers and you didn’t get a participant ribbon just for trying.
Or things like riding your banana bike to the grocery store totally unsupervised to buy a Big Hunk and paying for it with pennies. And Normandy Rose jeans. Those were the best. THOSE WERE THE DAYS.
A taco box schmock-o-box from Target. No thanks. Kids these days, they don’t know what they’re missing.
Kim Lewis says
What’s a Big Hunk? I bought either giant Sweet Tarts or Turkish Taffy. We would freeze them and then hit them against the counter to break them into pieces so we could eat them.
Danni says
Well I just got an email from my child’s kindergarten teacher tell me to send in a decorated shoe box. “Must have a removable lid”, now I’m scrambling because I do not have shoe boxes. Wish I would have thought about this at Christmas. Everything went straight to recycle. Yikes!
Mel says
I wonder if you could stop by a shoe store and see if they have an extra box.
Diane says
When I need is a shoebox for my kids, I usually had good luck asking the shoe department at Walmart or Target.
Bren says
If all else fails, maybe a decorated cardboard photobox?
Jennifer says
Isn’t it “hoochie mama”? Lol.
Eileen says
Thank you for the smiles and laughs this morning! Hoochie mama!! lol! Haven’t heard that in a long time! And the photo of the chair by your husband’s leg lamp–the room looked so cozy and I thought about how many people smiled as they walked/drove by and saw the lamp.
Tamara says
AMEN, SISTER! (Although I am a good bit older than you.)
Kelly says
Hi Mavis! I work in kindergarten and yes they totally decorate their own Valentine holder! Creativity needs to be encouraged nowadays.
Michelle says
I agree ! Kids are missing out with their eyes glued to a phone.
Paula says
Hootchie Mama
Alli Aplet says
What about the fact that when we wanted to talk to our friends we had to stand or sit in one place and talk on our corded phone …and if they were talking to someone else you had to wait to talk to them later when the phone wasn’t busy! Also, I remember walking to Thrifty’s to buy a chocolate malted crunch scoop of ice cream with a dime!!
Nancy D says
Wow! That’s an amazing find about your sampler!!!
Teri says
Amazing that one of your readers found the sampler!! It’s a small world after all! Great find 🙂
Cindy says
I didn’t buy a Big Hunk, but I rode my pink bike with the white banana seat with flowers and bought Bubs Daddy bubble gum for a nickel and then try to shove the whole thing in my mouth ~ so classy!!!!
Sherry in Sumner says
I’m a bit older than you, Mavis, but if we weren’t playing teatherball at lunch or recess, it was hopscotch or playing jacks, preferably with a golf ball. I imagine a golf ball would be too dangerous to take to school nowadays. And I’ve been wondering lately that if the news is accurate showing all these kids demonstrating and protesting about one thing or another, if all those kids involved will one day look back and think those were the best days of their lives. I guess the good old days are just relative.
KC says
I’m not sure. I’m a smidge younger than Mavis (jacks were with a red bouncy ball, and now I’m really curious as to how golf balls behave when bounced against the pavement – but I didn’t have any source for golf balls when I Was a kid). My “best memories” are split between things that were “wow” moments (discovery, amazement, meteors!), things that were puttery moments (feeding the guinea pig, watching ants, dressing up stuffed animals), and the times that I stood up for what I thought was right. Only one of those involved an official protest-y protest, in my mid teens, but it was very worthwhile, whether it did any good or not. Knowing that you do not have to go along with the flow and that you have a responsibility to others in your community (and in the world) is a valuable thing for kids and for adults.
Denise says
Yep! Golf balls all the way. And for hopscotch I use one of thos small key chains made with little balls that would hook into the other piece. Ooohhh! Nostalgia!
Kaia says
The sampler post is TOO hilarious! “We can’t be sure,” and the ending, “we really like it.” Hahahaha! Thanks for sharing that golden post!
Jill K says
I thought the part about ‘found at an estate sale’ weird, as Mavis stated she donated it. Did the sellers on Facebook try to make it sound possibly older? than hey, we picked it up at Goodwill…just saying.
Jill K says
Oh Mavis, you sure got my hubsand and I talking about our younger days.
Banana seat, monkey bars and a few cards on the wheel spokes…just to sound cool. Candy bars for a dime, Bazooka gum for a penny. It may have been a So. CA thing but you were cool if you wore Ditto jeans…bought at the local swap meet. Went to the one in Orange, CA. Even better if you could wear the Ditto jeans saddleback style. Pee-Chee folders were so cool too. Reminding mom to save the paper bags to wrap up your schoolbooks with them.
Riding our bikes along the Santa Ana River bed to the beach because in the late 70’s it was safe to do that or hanging out that the local roller rink…way before roller blades were the thing.
Catherine says
I grew up in Anaheim and we rode our bikes everywhere, even to the beach. You always knew whose house all the kids were at because there would be a pile of bikes in the front yard. Swap meets were the best, the big one was at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds.
Nancy E. says
Hey Catherine,
I grew up in Costa Mesa!! Didn’t go to the swap meet too often, but spent our summers at Newport and Huntington Beach!
Denise says
Pomona swap meet tocked. I lived in San Gabriel, went to Huntington Beach almost every day in the summer.
Robin in SoCal says
Ditto jeans 🙂 grew up in SoCal as well. Good times. Beach days the best.
E in Upstate NY says
We didn’t waste our baseball cards on our bikes. But we did take metal orange juice cans with a tiny hole in the bottom, mount them on the rear wheel frame and played gas station. Water would work to fill the container or if we were lucky, sand from the sand box. Would see who could ride the farthest and back before needing a “fill-up.”
Oh and “lucky” stones found in the driveway -pre paved of course were a great toy.
Kristina Zack says
Can’t blame these kids, though. They aren’t the ones buying and distributing the participation ribbons, making the rules, etc. (My daughter pointed this out in exasperation one day recently, and I have to agree.) Point one finger, four pointed back at me, right there.
Tracy T says
Hoochie —- LOL
Gina says
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Katie says
I think you’re looking for the phrase “hoochie mama” 😉
Katie says
I’m dying about the sampler LOL
Jennifer says
If it makes you feel better, I teach Kindergarten and although we can’t dress up for Halloween anymore, we do make Valentine’s Day bags! White paper lunch bags, lots of cut out hearts, stickers, markers, you name it! Then lots of valentines and candy to take home. And yes, I miss all the other things you named so we must be about the same age!!!
Patti says
The “good ole days” were something else compared to today’s standards. I spent one whole summer with my neighbor (all children) in a brand new VW Bug (probably 1962?) pretending we were driving to California from NC. We also would climb up in a tree and play (in our imagination) tv shows like “Gilligan’s Island”. My mama would kick us out the door by 8 AM and we were not to return until lunch or dinner time. And when we went to the beach, we could walk anywhere and our parents would call down to “Big Daddy’s” restaurant to ask where we were because they knew everything. I feel sorry for the kids today who have helicopter parents. While I know it is not safe anymore for kids to roam, I think kids need some room to breathe and parents need to let them get bored and create stuff.
Nancy says
I’m a first grade teacher and I just assigned the Valentine box for homework like I do about this time every year. But they don’t always come back with pink doilies and hearts. Often they are things like a dragon or shark made out of LEGO or a minion themed box. Often not very Valentine-y.
Cass says
Penny Candy. I miss it. So many choices, so many tastes.
When I taught/guided preschoolers their FAVORITE place in the room was the odds and ends cart next to the BIG table (cuz the small one was for puzzles. ) I put anything and everything in the odds and ends cart. 4 inches of red yarn? Yup. Strips of paper left over from a project? Yes. The extra ears I cut by mistake for last week’s project? Sure. Add a few new paper plates, paper bags and 1/2 case of dot matrix paper (anyone remember the paper with the feeder strips on the sides?) and WOW!! the projects they made. The puppets and puppet shows. The masks and hiding in the coat closet to scare mom at the end of the day. Kids are missing so much by our constant recycling….Reduce REUSE Recycle. Reuse comes first. Let the kids, big and small, find a way to repurpose items and watch their imagination grow.
tia in boise says
5th grade teacher here: some classrooms have students cover and decorate cereal or tissue boxes. I always use the white paper bags and let them do whatever. I’ve never seen anyone (in 26 years) bring in a purchased Valentine container.
Ha! The sampler–tee heee!
Linda Practical Parsimony says
My brother made a knife, learning from Daddy. Years later, now a grown man with children, he sold it at a yard sale. Then, as he was at the Nashville Flea Market, he saw his knife and went to look at it. The guy at the booth told him it had been found in an old Civil War cabin. He never told the man he made it.
Mavis Butterfield says
That is awesome!! 🙂
MK says
My kids get tons of free play time with neighbor buddies and absolutely love painting and coloring and creating … and last year they excitedly bought pre-made Valentine box kits for themselves with their own money from Target. My daughter got a mermaid and my son got a pizza, and I got to not have to supervise big feelings over them not being able to create precisely what they had envisioned and we all called it a win. (The year before that, my son covered a Cascade pod box in green construction paper … and then stuck a post-it note in it that said, “Valentine Box” so I really felt like the premade box was a big step up!)
Kris says
Normandy Rose jeans…. sigh
Staying out summer nights until the streetlights came on.
Too funny about your sampler!!!
Candice says
‘Morning Mavis!
Thanks for the laughs today! Your blog makes me smile on a regular basis! I totally agree that I am glad I grew up around the same time as you (maybe I am a little older) but my husband and I talk about that all the time. I think things were just more innocent back then only because we didn’t have constant media in our faces like our kids do today. Have a great day!
Staci says
Oh wow!!! Thanks for the memory trip. I sometimes think I’m the only one that feels that way about modern childhood. 😀 The world has changed sooo much and obviously, not all for the better. But on most days, I think it’s still pretty good.
My candy bar preference was a Marathon bar!
Now, it’s time to start creating some good old valentines to send off to some friends!
Melissa says
I rode my banana seat bike down to the store to buy Charleston Chews for 25 cents. It was the biggest candy bar you could buy. I rode my bike everywhere. Upgraded to a 10 speed when I got older & got to all of my activities that way—even into high school.