Saw on the net that Barbie has dumped Ken for a new beau. The slut. Altho, he was pretty much a preppy dweeb now that I think of it... My Barbies always dated GI Joe ( "oh baby, those muscles" - she says with fluttering eyelashes!)

Oh Jeez - I'm in another one of those nostalgia moods - we were talking at work last night about toys of our childhoods; blame Kyra and Keith for getting me started! What were some of the toys that you remember the best from your youth? I remember my Creepy Crawler maker - you could get this special goop to make Incredible Edibles with it - kind of like todays gummy worms. Wonder how many lethal toxins I ate, going from plastic spiders to edible ones?! And then, of course, there was my Schwinn bike with the hi-rise handle bars and banana seat...

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2004

Answers

My Barbie always dated GI Joe too! I would put some water in the bathtub and they would "go to the lake". :)

I liked my EZ-Bake Oven, although I moved up to a real oven pretty quickly. I had a big chalkboard with a map of the United States on it, I used to stand in front of it and pretend that I was the weathergirl from the Channel 7 news (her name was Marilyn and she eventually worked her way up to being an anchor).

I think that I had more books than toys...Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Meg, Little Women, King of the Wind, No Flying in the House (my favorite, although it always made me cry), all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books....

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2004

Favorite toys were those little plastic toys of farm animals, barns, fences, etc. Hmmm...

I did have one of those bubble haircut Barbies (with the black and white striped 1-piece swimsuit), but no Ken. I also had some roller skates (the 4-wheel kind complete with skate key) that I used a lot. As I recall, the other things we played with frequently were dress-up clothes, a big rubber ball for 4-square in the street, a football, bat and ball, etc. Oh yeah, and tennis racquets and tennis balls!

Of course my fat-tire Schwinn bike was my best friend! It meant freedom for me. I still rode a bike almost exclusively (besides begging rides off friends and taking buses, and walking everywhere else) until I was 24 (10-speed by then...woo hoo!). I had a 1-mile walk to a rural bus stop to catch a bus into Bellingham for college. That was too much time when I was so busy, so I got a driver's license finally! If I lived somewhere with sidewalks still and no idiot drivers, I'd probably still ride my bike to a lot of places. I have a mountain bike now but never ride it.

My favorite toy these days seems to be the sprinkler.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2004

Never really had any toys to speak of.My mother was a cheapass (um, I mean frugal) from the getgo, so all I remember having was one baby doll that my little sister tore the head off (I remember the poor sad thing's head held on with a whole lot of tape). I had a few books and my dearest treasure was a phonograph and a few records. My sister (6 yrs younger) had quite a bit more stuff, but not compared with most kids. I remember the Barbie thing annoying me, refused to have one, but then I bought a Ken doll in high school, just to be different I guess. It sat in its case and I'm pretty sure I still have it!

I did have a bike of course, but in Junior High mine got stolen and my folks refused to replace it cuz they said it was my fault it was taken (sorta was) so I didnt get another until I was about 17 and paid for it myself. I remember in elementary school I played just as much with the boys as the girls,(whose games were often boring to me) and would spend hours shooting marbles. Why I didnt find that monotonous I have no idea, unless it was just again cuz I always like to be different. Oh, and I had my own softball equipment well into young adulthood; I loved softball and was quite good.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2004

I got my Barbie at my 9th birthday party. (Now imagine 9-year-olds today...what do they get? total makeovers? or home theater systems?). Anyway, my parents got me Barbie, plus had a regular birthday party with kids, cake, ice cream and stuff. I think that was the last *normal* thing in my life, although why they bought me a Barbie must have been some kind of peer thing for *them*. I never really played with dolls, and Barbie was weird now that I recall...I never had clothes for her other than one dress. Hmm.

I did have a really cool china head doll (with china feet and arms) that my gramma gave me. She had a cloth body, and my gramma made a paisely dress for her with hand-tatted trim. I didn't really play with the doll, but she did sit on my bed for years (along with the cocker spaniel stuffed toy). This is trippy, remembering all this stuff...anyway, I still have the doll. I think she was called a Jenny June doll...any of you folks doll people? Maybe I'll head over to eBay...

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2004

What's really sad is getting one of those "nostalgia" catalogs, and seeing your old toys in there. I had a "Patty Playpal" doll, who was as tall as I was; she head butted me once (okay, so she fell over and whomped me in the head with her head) and I put her in the closet and didn't like her at all after that. I think my favorite thing tho, was the child's sewing machine I got for Christmas when I was 4; I still love to sew!

How about clothing from the past? I wore matching sets of Winnie the Pooh (Sears? Montgomery Ward?) shorts and shells every summer for what seemed like years. Look at our vacation pictures, there they are! They had a small embroidered Pooh on the chest, not big pictures like nowadays. I remember throwing a fit and refusing to wear the tops to high school - I was so scrawny that I was still in a child's size 10 when I hit my freshman year. One of my very favorite things was a circle skirt Mama made me - she made it out of striped fabric, cut so that it looked like a series of squares from the waist down. I used to sit on the playground for what seemed like hours with my skirt spread out around me to admire it; and to try to figure out how she made squares in a circle! Wonder how long it took her to cut that out?!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2004

I think my baby doll was a Betsy-Wetsy! Too funny! Oh and my folks tell me they gave me a regular old fashioned black and white Teddy Bear but I was terrified of it. I also got a "POP" doll by collecting Rice Krispie boxtops, and had a Hopalong Cassidy outfit: Skirt, holster/capgun, hat and vest. Don't remember who gave me that. This is fun!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2004

I seem to be the only one that remembers this but I used to use a real potato for Mr Potato Head. I remember my mom saying I couldn't play with it because I ruined her potatoes and had to wait until she was going to make mashed potatoes for dinner.

My brother used to steal my Barbies and tie them up for his GI Joe. I got one back with it's leg broken (it was the bendable legs that had just come out) EM, your Ken is probably worth alot of money if you still have him.

I didn't like dolls, just stuffed animals. Used to pretend they were real. Still like stuffed animals and have them all over my house. A few of my favorites watch TV with me (okay, I sit on them while watching TV but close enough)

The only doll I ever wanted was a Newborn Tumblina that when you pulled a string behind her neck, her head would move, making her seem to move like a real live baby. My sister wanted it so my mother made me give it to her saying she would buy me another then never did. When I reminder her months later, she told me to take back my doll since my sister didn't want it anymore....It was naked and hair was mashed from her sleeping (and peeing?) on it.

Glenn has all the Hot Wheels from the late 60's to early 70's. Someone offered him a few thousand dollars for them sight unseen but he won't sell them. Keeps looking at a book in the store showing me which ones he has. So are worth a few hundred dollars each!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2004

I was never a "doll-type" little girl, although I do remember getting the occasional one...including Betsy Wetsy and Chatty Cathy!! They spent most of the time waaaayyyy buried in my closet. My absolute favorite toys were animals, especially horses. I also loved the Lincoln Log sets were you could set up your own western "outpost" and the bad guys (usually Indians!) would attack you. How PC was that :-)!!!?? Now, with my grandaughter, I still tend to enjoy playing with animal-type toys with her...dogs, horses and dinosaurs are her favorites!! Much more fun than video games.

BTW...I also loved comic books (funny ones) and to this day I have no idea whatever happened to the 300+ I had collected by the time I left home in '69!! My mom is very tight-lipped about it :-)!!!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2004

My skillcraft chemistry lab set. They had some cool chemicals in them back then. I remember one stink bomb experiment that put us in a motel for 2 weeks. Three years an acid spill and the resulting reaction and fire in our basement put an end to my home based science endeavors. :>)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

Are you sure its not just a new and improved Ken? I saw one while shopping for a birthday gift and it was something like California Ken or something. I was a Barbie player..I had several and a pile of clothes plus I used to fashion outfits from scraps of cloth. The boy next door had GI Joe and he and Barbie used to get it on. I also had the jeep and pop up trailer..cheesy..broke easily. Most of the clothes I had for her were hand made. I remember this gorgeous knitted robe..white with cables and tied with a blue satin ribbon. I wanted one so I could be gorgeous too!! I had dolls that I styled their hair with my mom's perm rods and talked to them like a hair dresser. Some got hair cuts too. My girlfriend and I used to lipsync in her rec room to Donny and Marie and Johnny Mathis. That was always fun!!! Also had and easy bake oven and a sewing machine but it wouldn't work right for me. I did embroidery with my friend too as well as alone and read a lot once I got old enough. Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery, ghost stories, etc etc etc. Also played war games with the guys next door.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

Can someone tell me how to change my email address so it sticks?

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

There's a way to make your e-mail addy stick?! Um, no; don't think I can help, since I didn't even know it could be done!

No, Barbie's new beau is named Blaine, and he is Austrailian. International slut. Oh hell, what do we know? Ken probably dumped Barbie for the 20 something bimbo in mergers and acquisitions (you just KNOW someone that looked like Ken became an attorney, don't you?) and now she's looking for a boy-toy.

Jay, the fact that you had a chemistry set does not surprize me at all. I have to admit tho, that everytime I think of an engineer, I think of that guy on Animal House who used to stand in front of the mirror and practice with his slide rule... (And isn't it amazing that some parts of a movie from that long ago will actually stick in your mind?!) (Or what passes for a mind?)

Did anyone else read the "Happy Hollister" series? It was a family of kids who solved mysteries; must have been a billion of them in the series. So, we all read Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon, huh? Buncha amateur detectives?! I also loved comic books; most of mine were Archie comics. Mama used to stock up on them and books for when we'd go on vacation; she'd just toss one over the backseat every once in a while....that, and Granny Leone's (who always went with us) bag of candy kept me quiet!

Does anyone else remeber lying in the back window of the car while going down the road at 80 mph? Amazing that we lived, isn't it?!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

The Potato...anyone remember the potato????

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

Don't forget about that Mr. Potato Head... I need answers!!!!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

Okay!!!!

I didn't have a Mr. Potato Head myself (but I confess, I coveted one!). That was a cool toy...agriculture and commerce and play all rolled up into one spudsation!

My clothes were a) hand-me-downs, b) home-sewns, c) home knits. Just like I like today (and absolutely HATED as a child! Of course I *appreciated* all the work that everyone did for me, just like a good girl!).

I had a Betsy Wetsy doll too. There's 8-mm film of me crying on Christmas morning b/c I dropped BW on her head (gee, sleep deprivation reigns still). Oops. I meant Tiny Tears! Sheesh, who made up those names??? NOT Besty Wetsy, Tiny Tears...

I did have a little microscope with slides (which, yeah, I broke). I also liked Lincoln logs. They were more sensible (and easier) than Erector Sets (which looked dangerous and hi tech to me as a kid). Tinker toys were sorta fun, but mostly lame. My brother and I had a home-made set of building blocks that were pretty cool.

You know, I really think the huge sheets of paper that my dad scored from some office project were the best! My brother and I would lie on the floor, one on each side of those big sheets, and armed with pencils would come up with some great drawings! Fun

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2004

No Mr. Potato Head for me; but Jessie had a Mrs. Potato head - it's still around somewhere. It wasn't a real potato, just a plastic one.

Did any of you folks play board or other types of games - We played "Cootie" (you built a bug), Scrabble, Bump (a marble game resembling aggravation), Monopoly (of course!), and Memory (played with a deck of cards).

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2004

Okay, Dee. I had a Mr. Potato Head too!!! My son had a Mr. & Mrs. I wonder why they didn't come out with a Ms. Potato Head...or did they??!! Never used a real potato, though.

Polly...we played Chinese checkers alot when I was a kid and a few other board games. I usually spent most of my time outside. Except on Sat. mornings when it was "cartoon time"! Nowadays watching cartoons on a Sat. is no big deal 'cause kids can watch cartoons 24/7 on a half dozen channels or so! Morgan has a Memory game that she beats me at EVERY time!!

Maybe I shouldn't admit this...but, as a "grownup" (??), I love the plastic bubble wrap (big bubbles!) that lots of our auto body parts come wrapped up in. I'm addicted to popping that stuff!!!! Wonder if I need "help" :-)!!??

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2004

Love bubblewrap myself.

What about Spirograph? You would put the pen in the different holes of the gears and spin it to make different designs.

I had lite brite but was afraid to use it because once I did, I wouldn't get new paper from my parents.

Oh, that reminds me of one great gift they got me. It was a pizza making machine like easy bake....never made any pizza because my parents never took the time to help me do it. Then the kit expired. I got to look at it. Kinda sad, huh? My Mom gave it to me when she moved. Said some guy wanted to buy it because it was still in the box. Surprised she didn't sell it. Maybe it's worth millions? How would you find out what something is worth? Anyone know any good searches?

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2004

You guys are jogging my dusty memory banks! I do remember when I was older having pick-up stix and tinker toys and potato heads in the house; musta been bought for my sister. And we had a few board games. Always played a lot of scrabble; my mom and I were quite competitive with that one, still are when we're speaking. :) I still love scrabble, but can only rarely get anyone around here to play it with me cuz I ususally win! :)

I remember one of the best things about going to my paternal grandparents' place on the lake was they had a cabinet full of toys and games there for their numerous grandchildren to play with. (I have about 45 first cousins). And a wonderful pump organ. My mom's folks had no toys (they were always dirt poor anyway) but we didnt mind cuz it was a farm and there were endless wonders there.

Lotus loves bubble wrap too........in her room on the farm she had an entire wall covered with it! (yeah, she's weird; her room now has the ceiling covered in aluminum foil).

Some of the stuff you people are mentioning make me feel very old: toys we bought for OUR kids, weren't even around back in the day! I got to play with them when my kids were little,which was great fun.

Dee, did you check ebay for your pizza machine?

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2004

EM...we have an old pump organ here that Morgan just loves to try to play!! When she was really small, she would sit on my lap and press the keys as I pumped. Great exercise for the calf muscles :-)!! Now she's just about tall enough to sit on the stool and pump and press keys, but can't quite build up all the "umph" that the organ needs to sound good. All in good time, though...I'm sure. She's growing up so fast!!!

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2004

Marcia, does your son have custody now? Is she staying with you? Need an update!

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2004

I'll try to gve you all an "abreviated" update on the situation here....

No, EM. Mike does not have custody of Morgan at this time. What's happened is that since Morgan was with her mother (at Amy's mother's house) at the beginning of all this, possession is truly 9/10th's of the law!!! Mike served Amy with divorce papers on the grounds of desertion and irreconcilable differences, but Amy's lawyer drew up the temporary visitation...with Amy's input! Mike has Morgan one day a week and every other weekend. Since grandparent's rights are somewhat vague in this state, we only see Morgan when she's home with her dad. Sometimes she'll spend the night here, but Harry and I try not to take time with Morgan away from Mike. Mediation...which will be a waste of time, IMO, ('cause Amy wont "mediate" anything!) is supposed to take place the first week of August and divorce shortly thereafter. Amy was allowed to come home to their house only once (Mike's and her's) to pick up her and the kid's personal stuff. She showed up with her parents, one of her daughters (the 11 yr. old) and Amy's ex-husband...who supposedly beat and raped her in her last marriage. Now they're good "friends"!! Anyways, since Mike was apprehensive about a confrontation, Harry was there keeping an eye on the situation. But they all pretty much trashed Mike's house anyways...pulling pictures off the wall, tearing apart the bathroom while getting Amy's personal stuff and, in general, acting like a bunch of jerks! Even the 11 yr. old swore at Mike and called him all kinds of names! The actual "joint" property was off limits to Amy til the divorce is settled.

So, all in all, we're in a sort of limbo just waiting for this to be over with. The best thing to come out of all this so far is that when Morgan is home with her dad, Amy has absolutely NOTHING to say about where Mike goes with her...so for the first time in Morgan's life she and Mike went out on our boat on the 4th of July, had a barbecue and watched the fireworks with us!!!! It was fantastic! They were never allowed to do this before!!

Once the divorce is final, Mike's lawyer is sure he will have 50% custody, but the big thing is where Morgan will go to school...in Bucksort where her mother is now or here in Penobscot where she's been going to school for the last two years!

How's that for "abbreviated" :-)??!! Thanks for asking, EM, but sometimes I think that I'm boring you all with Mike's situation here. I know you all have your own problems, too. But thanks, everyone, for listening!!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2004

geez, Marcia, boring? As awful as it is, this is probably the most interesting stuff we've ever read about on this site! :)

But wait a minute, what about the pedophile brother?? Isn't Morgan in danger living there? Why can't that be considered an emergency situation to get her the hell outa there? Registered child molesters arent allowed to live in that sort of situation (DUH)! And how could Amy get even temporary custody having put that precious child in harm's way like that?? I don't get it! I didn't know she had another child either, and a abusive past.Good grief, what pain you must have gone through watching your son marry this piece of work. Hugs to you big time!

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2004

Yup, EM...not boring at all around here. Sometimes I think to myself why should I bother to watch a soap opera on TV when I feel as though I've been living my own right here in lil' ol' Penobscot for the past seven years :-)!!

Anyways, Amy's pedophile brother's "physical" address is not where Amy and the kids are staying right now. Another piece of "legal mumbo jumbo" as far as I can see! He's living in an 8x20 ft. camper on another piece of property...right next door!! He's actually a stone's throw away and spends alot of time at his parents house (where Morgan is living). We know this for a fact 'cause when Morgan does come to visit she tells her daddy about all the arguing and fighting that goes on between Rick and his folks in the house. Lots of "bad" words are yelled...so Morgan says!! Heck of a situation for her to be dealing with along with not being able to see her dad as much as she wants to. Luckily, Amy's oldest daughter, Alexandra, (and yes, Amy has two daughters from her first marriage: Alex is 13 and Paige is 11.) tries to stay very close to Morgan during the tough times there and really helps her through them. Alex and Mike were always very close during the past 7 yrs. as they're both baseball fanatics and Mike taught Alex all she knows about Little League which he coached while she was a member. Now Amy wont let Mike have any contact with Alex AT ALL and Alex is very resentful of her mother for this!

So, you see...it just gets more and more involved. I often wish that I had written a journal about Amy and what she and her folks have down over the past 7 yrs. Are ya sorry you asked yet :-)??!!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2004

No,I ain't sorry, but I still do not get why this woman is allowed to have current custody of this child while putting her in harm's way like this.How can this be acceptable to your son, and why cannot his attorney put a stop to it? I don't mean to increase your stress, but it doesn't take but once to ruin a kid's life forever. She needs to be outa there now!

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Marcia, you folks are in our thoughts. I'm hoping for the best possible resolution to everything that is going on.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

Sorry I haven't gotten back here sooner!!

Yeah, I know EM! We'd all love it if Morgan was out of that situation...NOW!!! But the lawyers have to follow legal protocal from what we've been told. Mike has a mediation hearing coming up on Aug. 18th. At this meeting, Mike, Amy and their lawyers get together to "talk" and Mike will be able to enter evidence at that time of Morgan's miserable living arrangements. And he's accumulated lots of evidence!!! We're all keeping our fingers crossed. If the courts wont do anything we're contacting child welfare...but that would be a last resort since sometimes kids are placed in foster homes til things are straightened out.

Thanks Polly!!

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2004