Pure awesome:

Yes there's nothing like spending the last day of the year sick. Yeah.

A 1974 Christmas gift. Or was is '75....

I'm not sure of the exact date, but then again this wasn't really a fave of mine. Why my folks kept getting me toys requiring 2 people, with me being an only child at the time, is beyond me. But whatever.

Misc. Remembrance:

In the very early '70s my folks had a Dodge Hornet. What I liked most about it was the hornet logo, which was red, white and blue (the logo pictured here is faded, but it is red white and blue). I believe our Hornet was more of a maroon-brown color, but I'm not 100% certain because it was over 40 years ago and the only photograph I have is a black-and-white. I don't think my folks had it for more than a couple of years. I'm pretty sure they're not collectors' items, because I haven't seen any since.

The Creature Double Feature:

This was a Saturday favorite, although I didn't get a chance to watch it every Saturday because usually by 1:00 pm my folks would decide I'd watched enough TV and would make me go outside and play. It was all basically b-list movies at their cheesiest. I loved the old Vampire movies the best. The Man With The X-Ray Eyes and The Brain That Wouldn't Die were also faves. Eventually I stopped watching it altogether when all they showed were Godzilla flicks. The above ad was dated May 5, 1976 in the image description.

Some things just can't be improved:

As if Toughskins weren't ugly enough, Plaid Toughskins takes it to a whole new level. And not in a good way. At all.

Can't say I blame them:

I guess if I wasn't able to afford shoes, I wouldn't be smiling either.

Question:

So how many times have you seen anybody walking down the street holding a flag, dressed in red white and blue??? Anyone?? Yeah, didn't think so.

L'eggs, the pantyhose that came in an egg. Seriously.

 

Didn't know what to do with those leftover L'eggs eggs? Apparently Alexandra Eames can help you out...

Had it. Once.

Back in the day I begged my folks for a can of this stuff. I wanted to have a silly string fight with them but they didn't want any part of it, so instead I just covered the front bushes of the house with Silly String 'til the can was empty. I never asked for it again. To be honest, it was always kind of hard to have fun with those two...

Not quite what I was looking for:

I was doing a random image search for Silly String and found the above in the search results. The formal jacket and bow tie really adds a lot of class to the whole thing...

Stuff I had:

I guess it was around '76. It was probably one of the last lunchboxes I had. As I recall, something happened to it and it got destroyed, so mom replaced it with a blue one since yellow was sold out. I always brought my lunch to school because I hated the school lunches, plus I was really into lunch boxes. There was always one kid in school who had one of those boring red-plaid lunch boxes, and as I recall they were always eating alone. I'm not sure exactly how much my lunchboxes would be worth on today's collector's market, but I bet they'd fetch a few hundred dollars total if I sold them all, especially since half of them were metal. I've thought about maybe snagging one off eBay for sentimental value, but I have a hard time spending 50 bucks on something that cost 2 bucks back in the day. I'm so damn cheap..

Random:

When I was a kid, I never really got into the concept of sitting on Santa's lap. It always made me a little uncomfortable. I mean, how well did I really know this guy..

The good old days weren't always good:

This is how Lego people looked back in '74. I remembered they sucked but I just didn't realize how bad they really were.

If you ask me...

... back in the day, some people took the Frisbee a little too seriously..

Happy Thanksgiving:

A Thanksgiving history lesson from the Bradys.

Stuff I had:

The Wham-O Moonlighter Frisbee. Think I got it around '77 for Christmas. Nobody questioned the concept of a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee since you don't play Frisbee in the dark. Unless you're stoned. But whatever.

Misc. Remembrance:

In the early '70s when I watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, I thought it was really cool that he had a traffic light in his apartment (which, when you think about it, if you're going to have a traffic light for private use you pretty much have to steal one because you just can't buy them in stores). I asked my folks if we could install one in our home and of course they said "no". I told myself that when I got older I'd have one in my place, but now that I'm old enough to make that call, for some reason it just doesn't seem that important as it used to be..

As I recall...

... back in the day, digital watches were very expensive. And most, in retrospect, were extremely ugly. I'm not sure if they make them any more, but then again not many people these days wear watches except as a fashion accessory. The list of common everyday staples of life from back in the day that are becoming (or have become) obsolete is steadily growing: watches, rotary and land line phones, black-and-white televisions, typewriters, record players, newspapers (even magazines are on the decline). And to be honest I don't recall the last time I've seen an ash tray being for sale in a store. I can't really say that I miss them though. Especially the ash trays.

Onset Beach:

 

Back in the day my grandparents used to take us to Onset Beach in Wareham. It was a lot closer than the beaches on Cape Cod. I haven't been there since around '79, but back then it was always packed with people. As I recall the Kayak Center used to be a restaurant / snack shop, and my grandmother used to give me 45 cents to buy a frozen Milky Way bar. I don't know if you've ever tried eating a frozen Milky Way bar, but basically they were so hard it was like gnawing on a block of plywood. To this day I have no idea why I never decided to buy something else, but she told me to get a frozen Milky Way bar, and I figured she was paying for it so what the hell....

It's getting harder and harder to come up with stuff...

... but I just remembered how, in the late '70s (ca. '77), dad thought he was going to get rich selling Amway products. I don't think he sold anything except maybe some breath freshener spray and some cleaning agents (to his girlfriend), and I don't think his Amway career lasted more than 3 months. I still remember riding in his truck and in the center console were the Gordon Lightfoot 8-track tapes and the breath spray. Sorry it didn't work out for him but at least I got some free breath spray out of the deal...

Random fact:

Some girls will fall for anyone who can play a guitar, if the above pic is any indication...

Maybe I'm alone on this one...

... but while I like James Taylor, all his music basically sounds the same to me.

Why pay for something when you can get it for free:

I didn't have the above album, but my neighbors did (I have to say my least favorite song was the title song). Of course, I didn't really need to buy the album because the radio station I listened to played it over and over. And over. And over. And over. And over...

Judging from the pic you'd never know he'd been in a fight:

Okay so 1978 wasn't a great year for everybody....

EVERYONE got it wrong:

Like the lady above, back in the day mom used to spray Lysol disinfectant spray into the air in our home after she finished cleaning. For the record, Lysol was not an "air freshener". It was meant to be sprayed onto surfaces to disinfect them, i.e. countertops, toilets, etc. Not an air freshener, people. I wonder if there's anyone out there who actually used it for what it was intended for....

I don't know if I'm alone on this one...

 

 

... but even back in its day the above ad campaign was annoying.

The "How To Launch A Dream" poster:

 

 

I think these were more of an '80s relic. I believe a lot of people had them, but it's taken me years to find a pic on the 'net. I had one, and my neighbor had one. Even though they were popular, it's impossible to find one on eBay, not that there's any way I'd buy one now, although you never know...

Misc.:

1974 was a great year, but obviously not for everyone...

Just sayin':

 

In 1974, if it wasn't covered in pepperoni, it just wasn't a pizza.

1977 Bounty commercial ad:

If you ask me, they guy's acting is a bit over-the-top, but that's just my opinion.

Saturday Night Disco:

"MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer. And after all these years I'm still trying to make sense of the lyrics.

Stuff I had:

The Cap'n Crunch puzzle. The description about the pic dated it to be '71, which seems to be around when I had it. I seem to remember using the puzzle pieces as action figures. Not only would the figures pop out, but I believe the wood background did as well; although it's hard to remember for sure - 1971 was a long time ago.

Like I've said before...

... I'm not really a fan of Shakespeare, but I am if it's done in the right way.

To be honest....

... except for I Dream Of Jeannie, I don't think I could sit through an entire episode of the above shows.

For the record:

Just a few pics of The Match Game for Steve to prove that I did like the show, and that I'm not a Communist.

Brady Clips:

In 1975 and '76 when I'd come home from school, starting at 3:00 I used to watch back-to-back Brady Bunch re-runs on Channel 56. After the Bradys would be Gilligan's Island then The Flintstones. I never missed a day. Although I have to admit I'm a little fuzzy on the order of episodes and the times, but then again my memory isn't quite what it used to be.

Soul Train Saturday

"Ooh Child" by The Five Stairsteps

Proud to be an American:

Give me liberty, or kiss my @$$.

Random observance:

Some people can find the humor in any situation, and some people are just whiners. In the above pic I think we know which is which..

Two of the best scenes ever:

Back in the day when I first saw the above 2 episodes, I laughed my @$$ off. I wanted to see if the washing machine scenario would really work, but I wasn't allowed to go anywhere near the washing machine. I guess my folks knew me too well, and there was absolutely no way my folks would have helped me make an explosive mud volcano. Some times they were just no fun.

Live the dream:

He's got this dream about buying some land
He's gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he'll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about everything.

Saturday Night Disco:

Young man, there's no need to feel down. I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground. I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town there's no need to be unhappy.

Random fact:

I went to 2 separate high schools, and not once did we ever break out in song and start dancing. Nobody was in their 30s either...

Just sayin':

In '75, even though Cher may have been clothed, she was still basically naked. I mean why even bother..

They gave it their best shot:

In the mid to latter part of the decade, people tried to make soccer mainstream, to be on par with, say, baseball or basketball. Never happened.

Late '70s / early '80s decor:

I remember the above from the Sears catalog, but I forget the year. Back then, rainbows weren't a gay pride symbol and they were quite popular. I don't know how many people had the above, but I'm sure there were quite a few who did. I wonder if any still exist.