FRIDAY FLASHBACK - The 80's

You Know You Grew Up In The 80s When...
You know what "Sike" means.
(Yeah...)

You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off."
(Yeah)

You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".
(Yep)

You can sing the McDonald's Big Mac, Filet-o-fish, quarter pounder and French fry song.
(I know the Big Mac song even though I never liked them!)

You know who Mr. T is.
(Yeah)

You know who Fat Albert is. And who was the old boy with the pink mask?
(Hey, it's Fat Albert. Pink mask? Not sure on that one.)

You ever wore fluorescent, neon clothing.
(I still do...hello!)

You could breakdance, or wish you could.
(um....no but we had a performance at an 8th grade mixer. I thought those boys were sooo cool!)

You wanted to be The Hulk for Halloween.
(Um...no.)

You Believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
(Nope...)

Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
(Totally!!)

You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
(I wasn't into them.)

You knew that knowing is half the battle.
(?)

You wanted to be on Star Search.
(Nope...those people seemed odd to me.)

You can remember Michael Jackson when he was black.
(Who's Michael Jackson?? Yes, of course I remember.)

You wore a banana clip at some point during your youth.
(Yes, yes, I did.)

You remember the garbage pail kids, and owned some.
(Nope.)

You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
(I sure did.)

You knew "Rut row raggy" and "Zoinks."
(Um...yeah...and it's still on for the kids.)

You HAD to have your MTV.
(It was just around the time we got cable when MTV came on. Miss the old MTV.)

"The Breakfast Club" become an instant classic.
(Yes. I adore Molly Ringwald.)

You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.
(We had one, but my neighbor's Intellivision was better.)

You owned only cassettes.
(I had lots, but albums and 45's too.)

You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
(No, I couldn't imagine the world at 2000.)

You remember and/or owned any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut or the Muppets glasses from McDonalds.
(Nope, but I had the Smurfs glasses from McDonalds)

Poltergeist freaked you out.
(Still does....)

You knew who Ben Stein was before you could win his money, "Bueller?"
(No.)

You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins, ET, Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider, Strawberry Shortcake or A-Team lunch box.
(I don't remember...probably!)

You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female Smurf.
(That never occurred to me!)

You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair.
(Yes...is that bad?)

You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
(I don't think so.)

You wore your Izod shirt with the collar up.
(No.)

You had a Swatch Watch with the Swatch Guard.
(No, only the cool, rich kids could afford a Swatch watch.)

Your Legos collection started with the free sets in a Happy Meal.
(Nope.)

You remember when Happy Meals came in a box, not a paper bag.
(Sure do, with cool toys too!)

You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
(No, never watched late night TV.)

You had Wonder Woman or Superman underoos.
(No...)

You know what a "Push Up" ice cream is.
(Yes....don't they still make those??)

You had to come in the house when the street lights came on.
(We didn't have street lights in the country.)

You had to change into play clothes after school.
(Not sure.)

You owned or knew somebody with a Commodore 64.
(Yes.)

You hated Scrappy Doo.
(No.)

You recorded songs off the radio with your boom box.
(Yes!!)

You wish you had a light saber.
(No.)

Somehow you still know all the words to songs played on VH1's "Big 80's" ("it's been 7 hours & 15 days...")
(No.)

Your arm was full of rubber bracelets.
(Like totally! Don't forget Jelly (sp?) shoes too!)

You have ever said, "Gag me with a spoon."
(I still say that.)

You have ever wondered what happened to Saturday morning cartoons.
(No, only the kind of cartoons they show these days.)

You had to get up to change the channel.
(Yes...)

You can still sing 1 to 12 from the Pinball machine on Sesame Street.
(?)

You thought the "Thriller" video was pretty cool.
(Yes.)

You remember the first time you went into a video store to rent a movie.
(No.)

You wore those wide, colorful shoelaces.
(No.)

Quiet Riot's "Come on feel the noise" was the best song - ever.
(It still is.)

You know where "I want my two dollars" came from.
(No)

You still cannot go in to the water because of that damn movie - Jaws.
(duh, dum, dah, dum....)

El Debarge's "Get a beat to the Rhythm of the night" plagued the radio every hour.
(OMG...I don't want to hear that song in my head...wiping memory!)

You remember life before minivans and SUVs.
(And seatbelts too!)

FRIDAY FLASHBACK - Brat Stop

One of my first jobs was at the Brat Stop in Kenosha, WI. My sister was a server there and got me a job at their ice cream counter/take out area. It was such a fun time for me because I'd get to spend a couple of days with my sister and her friends. She was 8 years older than me so probably not always a good influence but I looked forward to it.

A little bit off to the right of the entryway I stood in wait for customers wanting ice cream or to place a take out order. I remember how frightening the cash register was. Buttons, buttons and more buttons. I can't believe I maintained my composure as well as I did. I mean, I'm all alone here and my sister wasn't around a lot because she'd be really hustling to wait tables.

I especially hated the take out orders because I had to leave my post and go to the food pick up area *gasp* which was a counter much taller than I and with my limited vision I couldn't always tell which order was for take out. I mean we're talking brats in every order here people, not always easy to distinguish them, ya know? Not only that but I had to walk into the kitchen and pick up coleslaw, plastic ware and napkins and put them all in a bag. This was really frightening for me.

Thankfully, most of the time I received ice cream orders.* I had about 12 different ice cream flavors to deal with. One scoop or two? Cone or dish? I mean, this is really complicated stuff here people! The worst was the Peppermint Bark ice cream. I could NOT scoop it. It was the one flavor that was frozen very solid. I'd have to grab a waitress to help out on this so I always dreaded that a customer would request it.

Even though my sister was always very busy she'd check up on me and often help out if I needed it. It really was the start of my adult relationship with my sister (even though I was only 15 or 16 at the time). She always treated me with respect and care. That's just the way she was with everyone and one of the great attributes we heard expressed over and over again at her funeral.

What a great memory to have!

*I claim no proficiency in scooping ice cream, only eating it.

FRIDAY FLASHBACK - Journey

This week I am starting a new feature called "Friday Flashback." Every Friday I will blog about something from my past. You can reminisce with me or learn some more about me. It was a few weeks ago that I read one of those "remember when" emails and realized how different my kids' lives are from my own...I had even forgotten about some of the things listed! So, that is where this feature came into mind. I hope you enjoy it!
This week I pulled out Journey's Greatest Hits CD. Journey was a big part of my life in the early to mid 80's and listening to them again brought back a lot of memories.

Some of my favorites include "Faithfully" (a song which I find almost impossible not to sing along with), Open Arms (so sad to me right now) and "Who's Crying Now" (a song I cried to after a breakup...ironic a bit, no?).

Music has always been a HUGE part of my life and emotions and Journey was definitely involved at the crucial juncture in my life from high school into adult hood.