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  1. You must have been a cool mom, mine NEVER bought koolaid :). I am 41 and had the best childhood. You described those days perfectly. I lived on an army base and no moms worked. In my mind's eye, it was an idyllic time. Wish my kids could have experienced life before social media.

  2. Such a sweet nostalgic post! Maurie and I were reminiscing last week about the early days when our block was full of other young couples, how we would all help each other with our yards and houses, and how simple it all was then. My friend Cheryl and I would scrimp and save all week so we could hit the yard sales on Saturdays to decorate our houses. Now our neighborhood is becoming $1M homes and most of these people don't do yard work or go to yard sales 🙁 But it is fun to have those sweet memories isn't it?! And hahaha we are still driving Maurie's mom's 2001 Buick that we inherited, I'm thrilled to have it, and not the $800 lease payment that all my neighbors have for their expensive cars! Thank you for a fun post! xo, Andrea

  3. I remember those days. When I grew up my mother didn't drive until she was thirty-five. So she was home all the time and the neighbor would come over often and she would do my mother's hair. I remember being at my grandparent home and every day after lunch the Days of Our Lives would come on. "Like sands through the hourglass and so are the days of our lives." If I happened to hear it I was immediately transported right back to their house.

  4. Hi Brenda, thanks for bringing back such good memories that I have somehow forgotten about, Koolaide was such fun we would save all the little points on the back and redeem them for fun prizes…it was like getting a million dollars when the mailman brought them. We even had a Koolaide Pitcher. Well we are still making Koolaide and they have come out with some really cool flavors. But no more points to clip they did away with that. When the children are out at the pool I bring my popcorn maker out and serve Koolaide and popcorn they love it! A really nice post I enjoyed it! Lisa@ Sweet Tea N' Salty Air

    1. Are you too young to remember green stamps? That was my mother's and grandmother's generation.

    2. I do remember green stamps I used to sit with my gram and help stick them into books, I believe they used to be redeemable at the A&P grocery store. Not too sure what she got for prizes though. Too bad all the fun has been eaten up by electronics those were the days. Have you ever read the magazine Reminisce? Its a fun read !

  5. I can remember standing next to my mom at the kitchen sink as she made Kool-Aid. We drank it in Tupperware cups. Sometimes we made Kool-Aid popsicles in Tupperware popsicle molds. Not sure how we could have gotten through summer without Kool-Aid and Tupperware!

  6. What a sweet post and precious memories! I can relate to many of them … the "small" but cozy childhood home, big glass of cold iced Koolaid, big cars, perms, frosting our hair … Thanks for the wonderful reminder!

    1. If we told the younger generation we "frosted" our hair, they'd think it had something to do with the freezer.

  7. What a coincidence to read this today about Koolaid. I bought some tonight to fix snow cones for my grandkids. I was amazed that they cost 4/$1. My children are 35 and 38, but they didn't have a stay at home mom as I taught school after their dad and I were divorced.

  8. Loved this post! My late husband and I bought a house just months into our marriage….925 sq. ft! We were 19 and 20. We started raising our daughters in this home. Yes, I remember sitting on the front steps drinking coffee with my next door neighbor, having coffee get together's once a week with the neighbor gals, sharing our lives, recipes, and gripes…. I remember it as if it was yesterday!

    1. And we remember those times fondly and with a smile. No one seems to have time now.

  9. Brenda. I so remember those days. Things were so much easier. ANd I think kids and parents were happier…
    The kids of today are so busy , they don't have time to enjoy summers.. They are in one camp/dance class/ball practice every day.. Always in a run. so sad.
    That is so sad, that your hubby did not get stuff for your stocking.
    Hope you have a wonderful july 4th.. Judy

    1. Well, the thing with the empty stocking is a funny family story now! I think my grandchildren as well as most children are far too "scheduled." I once asked my oldest daughter if they ever had time to just dig in the mud.

  10. Ah..Brenda. A true walk down memory lane for many of us….except we lived out in the country with no neighbors nearby. But we drank Kool-aid and sat in front of a rotary fan on really hot days. We rode our bikes from early morning until late afternoon. My first car was a 1961 Pontiac convertible that came complete with a husband. lol xo Diana

  11. Brenda, I read this post this afternoon on my phone while outside with Otis & Milo and was enthralled. Had to come back tonight and say very well done. Southern Living should use you for the last page of their magazine sometime!

    1. Sometimes I just want to share simpler times. Imagine, we didn't even have cell phones! And somehow we lived to tell the tale!

  12. Kool aid and iced tea, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, taking my boys to the beach in our Pinto station wagon, and afternoon naps. Ahh … summertime way back when in Florida.

  13. I do so miss the slower pace of those days! All was not perfect back then, but I sure have some good memories….

  14. I like how you bring back good memories for us Brenda..I had so many female problems through my teens and young adulthood that it was quite a surprise when I found out that I was pregnant..My son wasn't born until two months before I turned 36 in 1989 but we still did the Kool-Aid thing and the fun of sending for free gifts with the packets..I guess they don't do that anymore..to bad..it was such fun..I learned to drive when he was about 5 or 6..Then we could go wherever we wanted and didn't have to wait to be invited somewhere..

  15. You brought back lots of memories of my growing up. I began marriage as a young teacher and continued to teach until a couple of years after having babies and found I could not do it all…so I became a stay at home mom. We started in a small ranch then built a large house…and now, downsized to a ranch again since the kids flew the nest. Ha! Life has circles.

  16. Sweet days, for sure.

    I wonder what today's children will remember most about their childhoods. Somehow I don't think their memories, or those of their parents, will be quite as simple.

  17. What an amazing trip down memory lane, Brenda! Those truly were the days, weren't they? Things were much simpler then.

  18. I remember those days well. Mom didn't work and we lived in a 1,200 sq. ft. bungalow that had a one-car detached garage. We had one used car (never a new one), and if mom needed the car, she took dad to work and brought the car back home for the day. No air conditioning – just window fans, and 7 people sharing one full bath and a creepy half bath in the basement. We had 30+ people at holidays and set up folding tables and chairs in the rec room in the basement to accommodate the crowds. And I won't even mention how small the kitchen was! Nothing fancy – just simple living and the best memories of my life. I've lived in the "McMansion" and found it cold and not at all cozy. I wish I would have placed more value on the simple life and not chased "the American dream" that is, in my opinion, actually quite hollow. Hope you are having a wonderful day.

  19. Your memories sound familiar to me. However, I was a kid during those times (not an adult). I remember after only seeing great big cars everywhere, the new smaller compact cars made their debut. My neighbors got one (while my mom still drove her huge oldsmobile) and I was jealous! I thought they were so hip. Isn't it funny what memories you have? I remember not fitting in with my natural curly hair and being so thin. Then, the 80's came and everyone suddenly wanted hair like me and wished they didn't have to diet. Ha! Karma I guess.

  20. Brenda, I get nostalgic remembering all the "good old days" and simple pleasures when I
    grew up in the 50's. Mom stayed home and dad worked very hard and we had little. But
    what we did have was appreciated and treasured. I treasure the memories and instilled
    some of the "simple" pleasures into my kids in the 80's and 90's. I still think they
    missed out though.

  21. My dad would never allow Kool-Aid into our house. He always said we've got no idea what all of those "chemicals" would do to us. But at my friend's house, such magic! Plain water transformed before our very eyes into a delicious beverage. I haven't had it in years but, just thinking about it, i bet the old thrill may still be there.

    1. He was probably right. But just imagine what we put in our bodies now in terms of food, much less what we have to breathe!

  22. Brenda, I could have written this posting myself, you sure brought back memories. Those were the days before women worked outside the home, our job was to be housewives and mothers and we were proud of it. And I think our children grew up to be better individuals. I feel sorry for all the kids who come home from school to an empty house. My daughter likes to tell about how she loved coming home from school and I was there with fresh baked cookies and hot chocolate in the winter months. It made her feel good that I was there when she got home. I briefly had a retail job and she hated coming home to an empty house.

    1. I don't think my kids stop to realize that they always had someone there to come home to. My girls both have to have a career. They want it all.

  23. Brenda, I remember those days well! My son was born in 1985, and yes I made lots of Kool-Aid. I remember getting my hair frosted the first time with a rubber cap with holes that my friend used a crochet needle to pull my hair through. Yes, those were the days! And yes, I saw Luke and Laura's wedding!!

  24. So many sweet memories, Brenda! I remember it all, Kool Aid, perms, frosted hair, General Hospital and big cars. I was a teen during those years. As far as school supplies go, yes. We get a list and in my neck of the woods it's a big one. They aren't cheap, it's a trip to Staples and I usually walk out a few hundred dollars in the hole…and my taxes are some of the highest in the country to boot. That certainly makes me long for the simpler days!! Ha!! 😉

  25. I had forgotten about home perms! My mom always did that and I can still smell that horrible odor from the perms solutuon….yuck! Kool aid was 10 cents a pack so they were so affordable. I used to make Kool aid for my kids too.

    1. I can't even get anything but a haircut now. I'd cough myself silly with all those chemicals!

  26. I remember the Kool Aid days, we didn't have soda either, sometimes we'd go to A&W drive in for baby burgers and rootbeers with the tray on the window. I remember some of the moms hanging out.. we just ran the streets in or little neighborhood. It was great. Of course there were far less people everywhere so you could. I remember my mom making me go outside instead of laying on my bed reading all day.

  27. Brenda, a fun look back. My life was much like that growing up and my kids had neighbors they played with and summer was KoolAid and fun. My daughter tries to make much the same kind of fun summer for her kids. So all is not lost I hope!

  28. Brenda, I love this post and I do remember those days. I have to say, I do miss that time! Now days, it is kind of lonely because I don't have those other mothers to talk to or share with. My first car, as a mom, was a 1972 Buick Electra – metallic brown with white interior! I was huge but I never had a problem fitting three boys and all their gear in that backseat. And the trunk!!! Oh that big, wonderful abyss that would hold all the groceries, feed for the animals, and various sports equipment! My car, now, will barely hold the few bags of groceries I buy for just me and my husband! Never will I be able to fit a bike in the trunk of this car, like I did that big old hoopty! Thanks for the memories!

    PS…I still wear "thongs"! I have them in lots of colors! LoL

    Grace & Peace
    Pam

    1. A friend and I used to go to an adjacent town for groceries twice per month. We had that huge trunk to put several dozen big sacks in!

  29. I was one of those working moms, but we still didn't have the big house. I do remember tons of kool-aid. It is still a favorite around here and I still buy those little packets.

  30. Yes…it was a simpler time! My kids weren't born til the early 80's….but I remember a lot of what you mentioned. And I too, drove a big Buick…blue….and yes…it was a dream to drive! 😉

  31. Oh what happiness this all was! Speaking of Kool-Aid-I have a story to share.
    I must have been somewhere around 6-8 and I entered a Kool-Aid contest to pick a name for one of their new flavors.
    Well, I won a awesome cardboard Kool-Aid stand! It was shipped to my darling red brick house and Momma put it altogether and there I sat waiting for customers. That was the challenge as the nearest neighbor was a mile away!
    Great memories, Brenda:)
    J.

  32. Oh wow !! all your posts are awesome! This was super-dooper-awesome! My great-grandma, grandma and mom watched General Hospital and I stayed home from school the day the wedding was on LOL. We drank Kool-Aid and I remember so many things you said in the 70s and 80s. You're right – those WERE the days! The fantastic days. My Dad kinda lives in the 70s……….he won't touch a computer!! But he does have a cell phone. Thanks for posting this. PERFECT summer post. PS LOVE your new living room. have a great summer day–stay in and stay cool in this heat.

    1. I have read that more watched that wedding than that of Princess Diana's wedding.

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