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Respected Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: The good ole days

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Angel Puppy you were not alone on how you life was back in those years. We were lucky the old house my parents bought before we kids were born the first thing they did was put a bathroom in. but plenty of neighbors had the out houses. Our first home is still in our family of coarse it has been gutted and completely remodeled and it is actually a beautiful home. I would say it is safe to say it is almost 90 or more years old. We had the ringer washers also and so did I when I first got married. My Mom got to be queen of the neighbor hood because my Dad bought her the "Easy Spin" washer that instead of the ringer it spinned the water out of the clothes.

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Registered: ‎06-02-2014

I think the good ole days had some drawbacks for many people:

Latinos, African-Americans, Gay people, etc.

I remember a relative of mine who was a generation older than me

told me there was a Mexican-American girl in her class who was

"brilliant".  She ended up working in a bank and managed to

rise in that position.  But my older (college educated) relative

said she "could have gone anywhere" (meaning colleges).  I always

remembered this story.  I am glad to see people having greater

opportunities, not just my own race.

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My Mom was accepted into college and was all set to start but WW11 came along and put an end to that. She was working for the summer at her real estate job where she had worked for the last few years when the owner was drafted and the only other person working there quit to join the army leaving only her to keep the man's business open. She was only 19 and totally ran this man's business for the next few years so when he came home it was there for him. She was unable to get into college after that because they were filled with ex GIs going to college on the GI Bill. 

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Re: The good ole days

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   Of course all era's had their problems and every era will.  Some of us just like to remember the good times when we were kids.  It wasn't until we got a little older that we had to deal with adult things.  We're not trying to cover over anything.....just have a little fun and share things we had in common in our more carefree childhood days.  Especially in times like this and in view of what has happened this past week....it could just be a way of talking about what has been good in our lives.  It kind of relieves some of the tension.  We are not ignoring problems....we are embracing thoughts that bring a little light back into our lives.  How is that a bad thing?

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Some people seem to be unable to ever see the good be it a current event or something in their past, they are not able to ever be positive.Not that their life was any worse or someone else's any better than most other folks, but it is just their perception of events. My one brother is like this. He perceives every memory differently than the rest of us, and he is always unhappy, feeling he has had a terrible life, and the entire world owes him something.Basically my other brothers and I just roll our eyes. You'll never change a person like this.

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Interesting reading !
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Re: The good ole days

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This has been a lovely thread.  It has gotten me thinking about things that were weekly or frequent occurences in our family that may not be frequent today.

 

Singalongs with my mother playing piano: she could play by ear, make things up, or read the score.  We did this almost every night around Christmastime. 

 

Making taffy with my dad, and also fudge from the recipe on the cocoa can.  I still make cocoa fudge once at Christmastime, usually when I am due at a dinner or party and can have a little but give the rest away.  Family cooking is a hoot.  Fights break out over which child is in line for testing the "soft" stage of fudge creation.  Fights break out over who fetches the fearsome candy caldron.  No fight over who did the clean-up--it was my mother or me.

 

Making things for Christmas instead of buying them. 

 

Treasure hunts or egg hunts in Springtime.

 

Comic books at 10 or 12 cents.  My favorites were Little Lulu and Lois Lane. I used to think that Lois needed more earrings.  She had one pair in pearl.  (Future QVC shopper.)

 

I didn't care for paper dolls, but my little sister loved them--she also had a whole troll-doll environment in the bottom of our shared closet.  I am so glad we did not have separate rooms; we would not have as many memories to share today.

 

I would say the big difference for a family like ours is that we made things, and made our fun.  (Those treasure hunts were designed by older siblings or our parents.)  We made our own music.  It was not Grammy quality, but it filled the house with joy.

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Just watched an old Bob Hope movie last week, and when he pulled into a grocery store parking lot, a little girl was sitting in the car with the window open. She hopped out and helped him do his grocery shopping. I think they ran into the mom inside the store and she said something like, "I'll meet you over in produce when you are done." DH and I just laughed because in those days, that was perfectly acceptable.
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Registered: ‎11-25-2011

Re: The good ole days

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@cater wrote:

Well this will tell on my age I still have about 20 books that are filled up with S&H green stamps. Probably should just throw them away.


@cater

I did a quick Google search & found this website.  Said you could trade your books to points & redeem for items.  HTH!

 

http://w3.greenpoints.com/greenpoints/redemption.php

 

#SundayPositivePostChallenge

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Registered: ‎06-17-2015

@151949 wrote:

DH & i are just sitting here talking about the years when we were growing up in the 50s and 60s- so much more common sense.  For instance - a family had one car.Usually the Mom stayed home but even those Mom's who worked rode the bus. That was ok - most of the businesses were in downtown and it was a simple bus ride. Then all the companies moved out to the suburbs and most women went to work so now everyone needed 2 cars.DH & I recently got rid of our second vehicle and went down to one car - the financial savings is phenominal, and we rarely miss having a second car.

And remember taking back bottles - you paid a deposit when you bought beer or pop and then when you returned the bottles you got the money back. Built in recycling. The milk, eggs and butter were delivered to your door and you recycled those bottles as well.

We still do this where I live in Florida. Several of us all buy one magazine - read it and pass it to our next door neighbor. Everyone gets to read several magazines each month but only has to pay for one.

And riding the bus - we rode the bus everywhere. My high school we had to ride public transportation to school.We purchased a bus pass each month and with it we could ride any bus in the county for free at any time. We went everywhere, I bet when I was in High school I knew almost every bus route in the county.We thought nothing of it - rode the buses at night, in the heat and the cold. That bus pass gave us freedom.It saved me a lot of money when I got a job after school I could ride the bus to work and then home from work all for free.I thought having a bus pass and some cash to spend was just about as good as things could get. 

 


You and your Dh are retired so you don't need 2 cars, really. 

Recycling magazines is wonderful now but it would have been better to have done that a long time ago.

Busses back then were noisy and gave off mega-emissions. 

 

The 50's and 60's may have seemed like better days, but minorities had very little civil rights; women were considered "deserving" of assault in all manner;  services for the mentally ill entailed institutions as well as for children with special needs.

 

While I will concede that enviornmentally we are sinking faster than we can recover, advances have been made in other very important  arenas of life.

 

I wouldn't go back.

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh