Remember this?

Hola. I don't know why I just wrote that, but I have a suspicion it's because I just finished reading the same Dora the Explorer book five times. They almost always start out "Hola, I'm Dora." Just like Curious George almost always starts out "This is George. He is a good little monkey and always very curious." Reading books to kids is such a fun way to relive your favorite childhood books. Now, of course, Dora wasn't around when I was a kid. But I did know the word "agua" and could maybe count to five in Spanish thanks to Sesame Street. Now with the influence of Dora the 'super-mega-latino-backpack-totin'-star' to the 4 and under crowd, my kids are bilingual. Ok, not really. But my 2 year old daughter does count to ten in Spanish and astonishes the older ladies at the grocery store. It's one of her more impressive tricks.

That Sesame Street reference though made me want to write about nostalgic stuff. FUN nostalgic stuff. So I'm just gonna start spewing some things that will bring me, and perhaps you, on a little trip down memory lane. Just like those emails you get, right? But these are MY memories, so some of them may be weird. I don't know yet...I'll be thinking them up as I go.

From Sesame Street:
The little girl cruising down the street repeating the list her mother gave her of things to buy at the store: "Loaf 'a bread. Quart 'a milk. Stick 'a butter." I wish I could send my kids to the store like that, but their list would be different: "Loaf 'a multigrain. Quart 'a organic, no hormone added skim milk. Tub 'a Smart Balance."

The guy dying for some water pleading for "Agua!" I can't remember the whole scene, just the voice sounding like he was dying in the desert or something. Is that ok for 3 year olds to watch?

The parrot exasperating the plumber. This one still cracks me up when I think of it. Maybe I can get a video clip of it...I'll try when I'm done writing this.
scene: A plumber is knocking at the door. Inside is a parrot.
parrot: "Whoooo is it?"
plumber: "It's the plumber. I've come to fix the sink."
repeat a bunch of times.
The old woman comes home and sees the passed out plumber on the floor. (or maybe he's dead. Remember the dying desert guy??).
woman: "Who is it?"
parrot: "It's the plumber. He's come to fix the sink."
See...I just laughed. Still funny! Ok I'm going to look for the clip now. I can't wait.....(time passing as I look)...........Ok, just looked. It was Electric Company I guess. And it's been removed from youtube because of copyright stuff. But you know it. Why is that so damn funny?

Schoolhouse Rock:
"Conjunction junction, what's your function?" (sing it!)
The bill sitting on the steps of Capitol Hill, depressed, until he gets passed.

Commercials:
"I'm Kukoo for Cocoa Puffs!"
"Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids!"
Boo Berry, Frankenpuffs & Count Chocula
Toucan Sam & Fruit Loops
Wow...didn't they advertise anything healthy? These are the ones that I remember most. Advertising doesn't work on kids at all. Nah.

The Indian crying at the polluted world. Well, that's not really funny or fun I guess. Made an impression though!

Toys:
Slinky. Play-doh. (love the smell still) Cabbage Patch Dolls. (U-G-L-Y. except the babies weren't too bad I guess) Strawberry Shortcake. The big Barbie head. I never had one, but wanted it so much! Now I can't do my daughter's hair because I never learned to braid or do anything on the big Barbie head! Maybe THAT'S why I never wore make-up all these years. It's YOUR own fault mom! (just kidding mommy. love you anyway.) Smurfs! (Smurfette was my fav of course) The Barbie Dreamhouse & Corvette. Of course I didn't have those either. But I really, really wanted them! However the big boxes with windows and doors cut out, hand decorated by moi, did well enough. It probably sparked my interest in interior design, so thanks mom on that one.

Events:
The advent of cable, microwaves, home computers, MTV (I remember rushing home from school to see the first music video...whatever it was. I can't remember! ;-), watching the premier of the Thriller video like it was a movie, cordless phones (remember PRE-cordless phones when you had to pull the cord really far until it was all stretched out so you could talk in privacy in the bathroom?), and the first space shuttle launch.

Oh there are probably so many more things I could reminisce about, but it's late and my memory is bad now that I'm a 'grown-up'. Hope that was fun for you too. (that sounded a little sleazy. Don't take it that way...you and your filthy mind!)

Oh I almost forgot. The thought/fact of the day is:
It's fun to reminisce!

It makes you feel young again. But then it makes you feel old because you realize these things happened MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO!!! Hello?! Whaat? Well, what the hell. Kids these days don't know what they missed.

Check this out and have fun poking around. I know you will! Which reminds me, we didn't have these fancy things like the internet & blogs either. We had to go to the library, and write with pens, and open a dictionary to spell things like 'reminisce'! And we didn't have snow days unless there was 20 feet of snow. And another thing......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3q-zwvqBq8&feature=related