'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.
'All the food was slow.'

'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. !
'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis, never set foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck.
Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow)
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people.

I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.'
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had..

I never had a telephone in my room.
The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.
On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea.. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.
1.. Blackjack chewing gum
2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines on the telephone
8 Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11.. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S& H greenstamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You' re older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.

I'm not even older that dirt old (54), but I fell into that category. Oh, my! I remember my grandmother having a wringer washer, too.

I am older than dirt too as I remembered most of them. It used to spook me when the channel went off at night and played the national anthym first then went to the Twilight zone sounds. This was fun trip down memory lane. I sitl have my 45's, 78's, and 33's. I still have a working 8 track plater and tapes, and no telling what else. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's test score. They still sell the wax bottles with soda. I still have a few ice trays with that handel that pinches me, adn those wire stands for putting jeans and pnats on. Remeber the long aluminum curlers that you could curl your hair with to look like shirley temple. I ahev about 20 of those that my mom used on me. What fun.

Now I have special permission not to tell my age. That was close... Good thing we raised our own cows so we didn't have to have milk delivered.(Therefore I don't kow how it was delivered.) If not, I might have gone over...HeHeHe

Whew...I'm just not allowed to tell my age. Wolfkitty, I think some of it has more to do with how much money folks had than age. For example, I am 45 but my grandmother was very poor so I remember, wringer washers, peddle sewing machines, filling the big metal tub outside EARLY on summer days so that the well water would be warm from the sun come time for my evening bath (you did NOT want to have to bathe in water straight from the well!). She even had a party line when I was little....the phone would make a buzzz sound and several ladies would all pick up...LOL. Truth is, those were some of my GREATEST memories!

I'm older than dirt too. The only ones I didn't remember were the US ones that didn't make it to the UK!

I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane! I guess @ 57 I am older than dirt because I remembered all of them. LOL I always hated the smell of freshly Mimeographed Paper! LOL

Now I know I am not older then dirt, but studebakers were still around and driving roads when I was young. I can relate and remember all of that. I also remember gas being 25 cents a gallon at the age of eighteen. I am only 52, tho some young rascals may call me older then dirt, I think I 've got a while togo. Today the way things are the kids are lucky to see the age of 18 or 21. Because they are so busy out there doing stuff our parents would have beat us half to death for, had we been doing that.Back when I was a kid, getting your butt whooped with a razor strap was not considered child abuse. Nor was taking a big old switch fron a tree., and disiplinning your kid. Today everything is child abuse.

Oh, reminds me too the wringer washers! I can remember more then once getting my hair caught in the wringer. First time I screamed so loud my mom thought I was being attack by some child killer. Boy did I scare the it out of her! But I thought it would chew me up to peices. I got spanked for playing with her waher when she finally got me unraveled from that thing. I was 16 before we finally got a a newer model with no wringer. Now I actually miss tho old wringers!!

I remember all of them and I am older than dirt......and getting older daily!
Aren't all those memores just great?

I guess I must have stood on the deck and watched the mud dry because I remember every one of them. When I read "mimeograph paper" I could actually smell that toxic fluid. Loved the smell of that stuff. Anyone else able to "smell" it just now? I remember the very first McDonalds in our area. It was the only place you could get fast food and there was no seating. You went in, got your order, and ate in your car. Every few month dad would sell a hog or a cow, have a little money left over and take us to McDonalds where the only things on the menu were hamburgers (the kind that come in the Happy Meals now), fries, coke, orange drink, and coffee. All 8 of us had room to eat in the car without making a mess. It was such a treat!

I'm only 42 and I remembered 17 of these things. I thought the metal ice trays were so cool. I remember most things from my childhood.

I'm so old I remember that gas was 19 cents a gallon when I was a senior in high school, and the cute guy at the gas station (you weren't allowed to pump your own gas back then) would wink when I'd check him out in the rearview mirror!

I SO enjoyed reading this thread - thanks for posting, CarolTee. It seems sometimes there isn't one person left that has the same memories. My daughter is dating someone who is 41 years old. He was born in 1969--wasn't that just last week??It is amazing to hear of adults (?) that were BORN in the '80's. Did I blink - did I sleep and wake up old?? what the ------- is going on? DH and I do not understand all the electronics - we still don't get the blueberry, blackberry, or any other berry. Why do they call it that anyway?
A phone that takes pictures? texting. etc?? WHY?? I remember the Brownie cameras. Do we need all that?
The news? Do we live in a foreign land now? The tv programs?? How in the world do they allow that on tv?? Clothing? boys pants down to their knees, girls boobs hanging out? Tradition?? When did THAT go out the window? Family values?? remember those?..barely..
When was it that when I looked in the mirror and saw my mother? Exactly when was it that I grew old?? I must have missed something along the way - I just don't remember getting here.

I only remembered 3!

When was it that when I looked in the mirror and saw my mother? Exactly when was it that I grew old?? I must have missed something along the way - I just don't remember getting here.[/quote]

I know what you mean. I posted a pix on here that had me in it and when I looked at it Momma was looking back at me.

Well, I am older than dirt.

We had a wringer washer till I was in high school. Popped a lot of buttons off my dad's shirts. My parents still have my old Brownie camera somewhere. Getting up early on Saturday to watch cartoons because that was the only time they were on. Oh, the good old days.

Well, I never considered myself older then dirt but I guess I am getting there. I remember a lot of these things too, especially milk delivery. I remember my mom putting the note in the top of an empty milk bottle with what she wanted delivered and licking the heavy cream from the bottom of the bottle stopper.

Our fast food treat was A&W drive in. I remember they had the burgers named Papa burger (a double patty with the works) Mama burger, brother burger and sister burger. We ate in the car with that little tray thingy the carhop stuck on the window. Wow.

That was fun, and I remember the "good old days". I have children that remember some of those things! I am older than dirt, and have been married since the beginning of recorded history. Just ask my kids, ages 46, 51, and 53!

Anyone remember the drinking water sitting in a bucket on the cabinet with a dipper hanging on the side? A dipper that EVERYONE drank out of? My grandma and grandpa had that. Our milk came in a bucket---straight from Grandpa's cow. And cream so thick it would heap up on the spoon!

I remember ALL those things!
I learned to drive in a Packard and remember dating in a Studebaker......and a Nash....before I even put pennies in the slots of my "weejun" loafers, LOL
But, darn, I AM NOT older than dirt even though I passed the half-century mark ages ago, saw my mother's face looking back at me before my last child was born, and still can't speak techie...
WHY do printers ask if you want "landscape or portrait"??? Lansdscape is what's outside my window and portrait is what hangs over the fireplace mantel, what do THEY have to do with printing a document?? Up or sideways, big choice. :lol:

Jan in VA

older than dirt........

Remember the radio programs that we would listen to… The shadow the Screeching door Amos and Andy. H. Cassidy Roy Rogers and all those great 15 min. programs?

3 - just how young are you????

I am lol at all these memories I forgot about. Man, the winger washer and then we had to hang them on the clothes line outside. In school, the girls could only wear skirts or a dress, pants were not allowed, only blue jeans during physical ed and the boys HAD to wear some form of tie, bow-tie, string-tie etc. We had a man selling fish from a open truck filled with chipped ice blocks. Oh yeah, there was the watermelon man, we had allies in the back of our houses and he'll drive though the ally "singing" Come get your cold watermelon, I got ice cold watermelon. He would also cut a triangle and let you taste it.

Geez...thanks for making me feel good with memories one minute, then telling me I am older then dirt the next!! I'm not sure how I am supposed to feel. Well I can still remember, so that is good!!! :D

Were your ears burning about an hour ago? Your name came up with your funnies with a few quilters at our group. Keep it up.

LOL... I'm not that dusty but can remember most of these things from childhood, at different familys homes, including the auntie that didn't get an inside bathroom till the 80's, no we didn't spend much time there past a couple of hours (sure you can imagine why) Sad what all younger are missing !! :)

Older than dirt here. How about hula-hoops and reel-to-reel tape recorders and having music classes and art classes in public schools and a school nurse on duty all the time? How fortunate our generation has been. I feel sorry for the kids growing up today.

Guess I'm older than dirt too, although I don't feel like it (most days, haha). I remembered most all of them. Things sure have changed. I like the improvements in the "things" we use, but sure lament the changes in values and integrity and parenting, none of which are for the better. I'm tired of seeing everyone's underwear!

oh my goodness - i remember them all!!!!! in fact my mother sold milk from our own cow and used the card board stoppers. we delivered it for 10 cents a quart.

Another old dirt bomb here. I've been seeing my mother's face in the mirror for so long that I've begun addressing that image as Mom, LOL!

Seriously thanks for getting us to remember the Good Times because we all had some really bad times growing up but have managed to survive and not wallow in misery. I think quilting helps us to keep our sense of perspective, we're always thinking of others instead of ourselves. May in Jersey
!

How about pea coats? Dog collars? B-1 Bomber bras? Girdles?
Tight skirts and even tighter sweaters? Wearing someones letter sweater? getting pinned? Penny loafers? White buck shoes? black & white saddle shoes? Kukla, Fran & Ollie? Oh dear, now I am getting teary....

I know what you mean. I posted a pix on here that had me in it and when I looked at it Momma was looking back at me.[/quote]

I think we must all have the same make mirror!!! The one that makes you look just like your Mum!! Mine does too :D :D

I am also seeing my mother's face in the mirror. But I also got to agree. Seeing guys underwear with their pants down around there knees, thant just makes me want to puke!! That is not sexy at all I don't care how old they are ot young!! Iiiiiiick!!

I am also older than dirt. I remember all but the milk bottles. We never could afford milk delivered. We got commodities with the powder milk and eggs and canned peanut butter. I remember my mother breaking her arm with the wringer of the the washer it just grabbed her and boy did she cuss a blue streak. I remember we were taught to repect all elders and knew better than to tell them our opinion when they were 'discussing" politics or what ever. We had an outside toilet until I was 7 and I felt rich when me moved to a house with gas heat not a coal stove and a water heater and public water. We appreiciate all our conveiniences when we reminisce of the olden times.
Thanks for the trip back in time.
Karen

another older than dirt......but some good memories!

I was going to mention the outhouse too, and my grandpa had a crank tractor. I have the milk box on my porch that we used when I was young, funny I don't remember the bottles. I did receive 2 of the cardboard capped bottles from my brother. One of the caps says Keep our forest green, use your ashtray.
Hand me down clothes. Wood stove and kerosene heater. Or riding in the backseat of the car and freezing your feet because the heat wouldn't quite make it there. Having to wear layers of clothes to play out in the snow because we didn't have snow suits, the smell of gloves drying on the radiator.

You forgot the rootbeer! We used to go the the first McD's in Chicago when I was a kid. M & D only took us there about 4 times a year, so it was really a treat.
;-)

When I was getting married, I received from one of my Nana's best friends a box full of books of S&H greenstamps...I remember going thru the catalog to see what I had enough stamps to get. I was about 1 1/2 books short to get a folding card table and 4 chairs, so Nana got on the phone and called a couple of other friends and by the next week I had enough stamps to redeem...Still have the table and chairs, nearly 35 years later.
BTW...I'm older than dirt, too.