Having just enjoyed answering 2nd cup of coffee's question about my favorite 60's vintage commercial...(which was the "slinky" commercial...everyone loves a slinky)
My mind was going back to the days accompanying my Mother to the "Big Apple" every two weeks to load up our cart. This was a big deal--getting to go to the store...today it's not such an event, but back then it was to me (obviously I was a very sheltered child). Hey, I even wore a dress and my church shoes to the grocery store and my mom often wore her heels...go figure. You have to understand that was still in the day of wearing a pillbox hat and white gloves to church every Sunday morning.
Any way, every new aisle brought my quick eyes to seek out the neatest "kid" thing...a cereal I hadn't tasted, that I just HAD to have, 'cause Linda's mommy bought 'em! "Too much sugar", she'd say...and I'd cross my arms...then she'd grab the plain Cheerios. Turning the corner, we came to the freezer section, and I remember frozen dinners being the "new thing"...yum, Salisbury steak in brown jelly (supposed to be gravy), peas tasted like dirt and the fried chicken was more like fried fat with some chicken...wow, something you could put in the oven without having to fully cook it yourself!
I wasn't too into the baking aisle at that point in my life other than being intrigued by the latest kitchen gadgets and always wanting a set of measuring spoons of my own...don't ask me what that was about?!!
On the snack aisle I would always beg for "Jiffy Pop" in the little aluminum foil pan with the wire handle...we loved watching the circular aluminum cover expand with the heat on the stove as you rubbed it furiously on top of the eye so the kernels didn't burn for 5 or so minutes...no ease of a 3-minute cycle in the microwave back then. Most of the time Mom wouldn't let us buy the Jiffy Pop since we already had a big jar of loose popcorn for us to cook the "old fashioned way,... in a pot with a tablespoon of Crisco".
It was fun checking out the pet food aisle seeing what toys were on the market for my doggie...he was part German shepherd and loved to chase anything I threw. I especially loved the little plastic, squeaky hamburgers...they were easy to find in the yard and didn't roll if I overshot my target. I also remember we didn't have dry dog food then...it was the nasty, wet, slimy canned food like corned beef hash that slid out of the can after you opened it with the "manual" can opener...eeeeeewwww, I can still smell the pungent beef stench!
Naturally, being a Georgia girl, we would budget so we could have Cokes in the house...we got one a week...we thought they were horribly expensive when they made it to $.50 a bottle...what was the world coming to? Every once in a while we'd get RC Cola, my granddaddy sold those in his gas station store along with moon pies, one of my favorites. You see there weren't any store derivatives then and some times my Mom would buy Dr. Pepper. Another eeeewwww,I've never been able to swallow and enjoy Dr. P...it reminds me of cough syrup.
Being a child who never sat still, I always wanted to push the cart...which
meant I often ran into the back of my Mom's heels...even when I had been forewarned before I even got into the store (Could I help it that whatever was intriguing me on the aisle would cause me to look away, and she was the one who stopped!) How many times did I promise not to do it again?! Then I would inevitably get into trouble for running with the cart and jumping onto the back foot bar as I wheeled down through the toilet paper aisle...at least it was cushioned when I hit it! Jeez, it could have been the Coke aisle, and there was no plastic then.
But, bar none, my favorite part of the grocery store was the checkout lane...where ALL the good stuff was...Juicy Fruit gum, ChickStix, Animal Crackers and CRACKER JACKS (my favorite). I was always big on getting a treat in the box, the fun of working your way to the bottom or just dumping it out in a bowl as soon as I got home so I could "see what I got"! About the only thing I never liked about Cracker Jacks was when you'd get a stray kernel and about break your molars...I can still hear their commercial playing...if you've never heard or seen it, look below my post...I pulled it off YOUTUBE.com.
What mundane things did you do with your parents that you enjoy thinking back on now? What are some of your special memories about those times?
Cracker Jack, anybody?
Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
My mind was going back to the days accompanying my Mother to the "Big Apple" every two weeks to load up our cart. This was a big deal--getting to go to the store...today it's not such an event, but back then it was to me (obviously I was a very sheltered child). Hey, I even wore a dress and my church shoes to the grocery store and my mom often wore her heels...go figure. You have to understand that was still in the day of wearing a pillbox hat and white gloves to church every Sunday morning.
Any way, every new aisle brought my quick eyes to seek out the neatest "kid" thing...a cereal I hadn't tasted, that I just HAD to have, 'cause Linda's mommy bought 'em! "Too much sugar", she'd say...and I'd cross my arms...then she'd grab the plain Cheerios. Turning the corner, we came to the freezer section, and I remember frozen dinners being the "new thing"...yum, Salisbury steak in brown jelly (supposed to be gravy), peas tasted like dirt and the fried chicken was more like fried fat with some chicken...wow, something you could put in the oven without having to fully cook it yourself!
I wasn't too into the baking aisle at that point in my life other than being intrigued by the latest kitchen gadgets and always wanting a set of measuring spoons of my own...don't ask me what that was about?!!
On the snack aisle I would always beg for "Jiffy Pop" in the little aluminum foil pan with the wire handle...we loved watching the circular aluminum cover expand with the heat on the stove as you rubbed it furiously on top of the eye so the kernels didn't burn for 5 or so minutes...no ease of a 3-minute cycle in the microwave back then. Most of the time Mom wouldn't let us buy the Jiffy Pop since we already had a big jar of loose popcorn for us to cook the "old fashioned way,... in a pot with a tablespoon of Crisco".
It was fun checking out the pet food aisle seeing what toys were on the market for my doggie...he was part German shepherd and loved to chase anything I threw. I especially loved the little plastic, squeaky hamburgers...they were easy to find in the yard and didn't roll if I overshot my target. I also remember we didn't have dry dog food then...it was the nasty, wet, slimy canned food like corned beef hash that slid out of the can after you opened it with the "manual" can opener...eeeeeewwww, I can still smell the pungent beef stench!
Naturally, being a Georgia girl, we would budget so we could have Cokes in the house...we got one a week...we thought they were horribly expensive when they made it to $.50 a bottle...what was the world coming to? Every once in a while we'd get RC Cola, my granddaddy sold those in his gas station store along with moon pies, one of my favorites. You see there weren't any store derivatives then and some times my Mom would buy Dr. Pepper. Another eeeewwww,I've never been able to swallow and enjoy Dr. P...it reminds me of cough syrup.
Being a child who never sat still, I always wanted to push the cart...which
meant I often ran into the back of my Mom's heels...even when I had been forewarned before I even got into the store (Could I help it that whatever was intriguing me on the aisle would cause me to look away, and she was the one who stopped!) How many times did I promise not to do it again?! Then I would inevitably get into trouble for running with the cart and jumping onto the back foot bar as I wheeled down through the toilet paper aisle...at least it was cushioned when I hit it! Jeez, it could have been the Coke aisle, and there was no plastic then.But, bar none, my favorite part of the grocery store was the checkout lane...where ALL the good stuff was...Juicy Fruit gum, ChickStix, Animal Crackers and CRACKER JACKS (my favorite). I was always big on getting a treat in the box, the fun of working your way to the bottom or just dumping it out in a bowl as soon as I got home so I could "see what I got"! About the only thing I never liked about Cracker Jacks was when you'd get a stray kernel and about break your molars...I can still hear their commercial playing...if you've never heard or seen it, look below my post...I pulled it off YOUTUBE.com.
What mundane things did you do with your parents that you enjoy thinking back on now? What are some of your special memories about those times?
Cracker Jack, anybody?
Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
