Flashback Friday, Volume 5

I love writing these posts for three reasons.

1) I spend hours laughing out loud at my desk while taking a walk down memory lane, remembering some of my favorite childhood things.

2) I get such a kick out of your comments as you share your own childhood memories and faves with me! (I'm glad I'm not the only crazy kid who loved Punky Brewster, Pop Rocks and The Sylvanian Families!)

3) Whenever it's time to sit down and write these posts, I know the weekend is right around the corner! And it does't get much better than that!

Here's this week's edition of Flashback Friday!

There's so much to say about this computer game, I don't even know where to start!

I can't decide if I had more fun shopping for supplies at the General Store before even setting foot on the Orgeon Trail or deciding whether or not to suck it up and "forge the river!" (Let's be honest, your oxen were either going to drown or fall ill anway!) Who remembers talking to the Indians? Hunting for bear? (As they were the slowest moving targets and the easiest to hit!) Or perhaps, pausing for a moment to pay your respects at a trailside funeral for your family member that died of a snakebite? Or dysentery? Or typhoid fever? I can't even tell you how excited I'm getting just typing this post- I want to go home and immediately download a free version of this game! Weird? Probably. Awesome? Definitely.

Jelly shoes. *Sigh*
I was never allowed to own a pair of these growing up. Can you tell that it has scarred me for life? All of my friends had them and I can remember just dying on the inside to try them on and run around in them! I think my mother thought I was going to hurt myself if I wore them. She was probably right.

How could I continue posting Flashback Fridays without including one of these fashionable accessories? T-shirt clips were a must-have in the 80's! Rhinestone-studded, puffy-painted, and scads of bright neon colors.. Could you even imagine wearing them these days?

Love, love loved these bracelets. As per Wikipedia, "A slap bracelet (or snap bracelet) is a bracelet consisting of layered, flexible stainless steel bistable bands sealed within a fabric cover. The bracelet can be straightened out, creating tension within the springy metal bands. The straightened bracelet is then slapped against the wearer's forearm, causing the bands to spring back into a curve that wraps around the wrist, securing the bracelet to the wearer." These were the original slap bracelets circa the late 1980's. After these bracelets were banned from schools for "improper use," companies created a less dangerous prototype with plastic bands.

If you were to open the top right-hand drawer of the desk that sits in my childhood bedroom back home in New Jersey, you would find my absolute favorite slap bracelet. A black fabric band with a crazy zig-zag pattern stitched in neon green and day-glo orange. I can totally remember trading these bracelets with my friends!

Popples. What more do I even have to say? Little stuffed animals that had a pouch on their back that you could invert so that they were then inside the pouch! Genius!

and last but not least, one of my all-time favorite TV shows:

Doozer sticks, anyone? Maybe a tasty radish? How much did I love watching Gobo, Red and Mokey carry on with their silly, carefree antics? Um, SO MUCH! Did you have a favorite Fraggle?

"Dance your cares away, Worry's for another day. Let the music play, Down at Fraggle Rock."

Happy Friday!! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!