Information wars, getting messy
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Do you remember the paper dolls that had plastic clothes that would stick to the coated cardboard dolls? I can't remember what they were called. We had those too. I never had a Raggedy Ann but I had a Betsy Wetsy, remember those? She had "real" hair and came with a bottle and diaper because she would wet her diaper when you gave her water. I still have that little doll, bald because I wore all her hair off combing it.
I shop at Amazon all the time because I live 25 miles from the nearest town and about 9 times out of 10 when I drive 25-45 miles one way to get something I need, they don't have it. I drove 45 miles yesterday because Walmart website said something I had to have was in stock there, drove past two other Walmarts because it said it was only at this other store. Guess what wasn't in stock? Can't call ahead because they don't answer the phone any more. I've tried ordering for pickup but twice I got there and it was an opened box with a broken item that had been returned. So I had to wait in line to pick it up and then wait in another line to return it.
I think most people would rather shop in person and see what they're buying, but the stores make it hard to do that. I don't think Amazon destroyed them as much as they destroyed themselves.
Growing up in my then little home town we drove into the city to do things like Christmas and back to school. No McDonalds, we got a bag of little burgers from White Tower, what a treat! The city we went to is now a hellhole. What I miss is driving to DC and that other city to see the Christmas windows at the department stores. Seeing mechanical elves and sparkly angels was magical.
P.S. No I don't remember those dolls. I don't think I had any. My sister (2nd Oldest) had a Betsy Wetsy. I had a doll that just cried "mama" when you turned her over. I also had another doll that didn't do anything but had some lovely hair until I cut it. Then I cried for my Momma to put it back on, not realizing that once it's cut; it's cut. Haah
My younger sister had some dolls that I was too old for by the time they came out. Barbie, for example.
Me too. However I did get a Barbie later and played with it for a little while (maybe 2 or 3 times), then passed it down to her.
There was 8 of us kids. 4 boys and 4 girls. My daddy worked on the L&N railroad as did his brothers, father and grandfather did. So he made good money and could afford to raise that many "baby boom" kids.
We lived on the outskirts of town about 5 miles or less, so we could afford to go to what was once called Big K, Grants, JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth and Kress. We got new school clothes, 3 outfits a pieces, underwear, socks, slips and shoes. The oldest sister and brother got 5 new outfits. All us younger ones got their hand me downs. Our elementary school only allowed the girls to wear dresses year round, but my brothers usually got a few new long sleeved shirts for winter. Coats were also passed down; except for the oldest.
Our table was black oak with 6 chairs, a china cabinet and a side table (bureau) or something like that. It was handed to my father when his mother died. I wish I had it because they don't make them like that anymore. My mother always had a new baby every couple years as I can remember; so there was usually 2 highchairs sitting round the table. I remember her getting up while it was still dark outside to cook our breakfast before we went to school. You could smell her coffee pot perking on the stove with the smell of bacon or sausage sizzling and wafting through the air. What a way to wake up.
We too didn't get McDonalds or Burger King or such. There were 3 little "Dairy Dips" between our home and my grandmothers. Once in a blue moon, my daddy would stop at one of them to get us an ice cream cone. Those were the days.
Only three of us and Daddy came back from WWII and worked with his father as a custom home builder. He later took over that company when Granddaddy retired. No babies - we were all within four years of each other. I was the oldest but the one who got hand me downs because my sister was bigger than me. We went to Penneys in the city for dresses - green or brown for me because I had red hair and blue or pink for my sister who had blonde hair. Same here, never allowed to wear anything but dresses or skirts all through school. I remember what a big deal it was for me to get a pants suit in 1969.
Daddy built our house and Mom had him take out the dining room and incorporate it into the kitchen in the early '60s. We had one of those big formica topped tables with a metal skirt around it. Later he replaced the back porch with a big family room and we had a round wooden table with ladderback chairs for people to sit around if they didn't want to sit in the upholstered chairs or sofa.
We lived in town next door to our paternal grandparents. Mom's family lived in another part of the state. We walked to school, downtown was about four blocks away and the shopping center built in the late '50s was a half block away. It had a Peeble's Dept. Store, Woolworths, a shoe store, and so on. That was the first chain stores in town other than Western Auto.
We lived around the corner from a big dairy farm which had a store and grill where all the teenagers hung out and played the jukebox. We went there to buy ice cream cones and Double Bubble bubblegum.
And we had a little restaurant that was about 10 houses down called "The Donut Shop." However they did NOT sell donuts. They had a delivery truck that supplied a few of the factories with burgers, fries, pop and milkshakes. We used to go on a daily basis for their ice cream cones and shakes if we had the money.
Also the Double Bubble bubblegum; do you remember Double Cola? We used to drink those too.
Sorry to be so slow replying. We've had a death in the family and my guy is the executor and we're run ragged. I would much rather have a burger and fries than donuts! My ex bought me a Wimpy doll one time because I love burgers so much. I don't think we had Double Cola. We didn't have sodas very much. Kool Aid or milk but iced tea with every single meal other than breakfast, brewed from scratch. One of our jobs at dinner was often to cram every glass full of ice so the still hot tea would be cold.
Gosh! It sounds like we could have been sisters. My father added a bedroom, a dining room and an enclosed back porch for my mother to do laundry (wringer washer/wash tub for rinsing) and a clothes line out back. My daddy bought her an automatic washer and dryer and she REFUSED to use it. So he took it back. I guess that's where I get my (stick with the old ways) attitude. If it works great; why change it.
My daddy bought a lot of things from Western Auto. He had a (charge account) no credit cards then; at Western Auto, Mongomery Wards, Firestone, a family owned Grocery Store GOFFS and a furniture store KEACHS here in town when we needed new mattresses, stove and such. This way if we needed something and he didn't have cash at hand, he would charge it. Most times he paid for our school clothes up front, but there were a few times he would charge our clothes at Montgomery Ward.
My father once worked in Louisville KY where he would leave out at about 4 AM on a Monday and would be gone until about 5 PM on Friday night. He would stay on the so-called (railroad camp cars) during the week. This is why he kept an account at the Grocery Store. All my mother had to do was call GOFF's up and they would deliver the groceries to our house. With a lot of kids/ she quit driving after me; we needed a lot of milk for the little ones, so my daddy knew when he was gone every week that she would have to be able to supply milk.
I remember on his paydays/ he got paid every 2 weeks, that he would sit at that black walnut (did I say Oak before? If I did, I meant walnut) table and figure out his bills. He tabulated everything by pencil and paper, unlike we do today. He would probably not have used a calculator if we had of had them then. He too was a simple man.
Mom drove mainly because Daddy was in the Navy reserves and was called back up for Korea when I was a baby so she learned to drive. When I was about five, Daddy got her this monster station wagon for kid hauling and ended up taking it back to the dealership because it got about five miles per gallon. Even at 1950s prices, that was awful. LOL That thing must have had one heck of an engine.
Mom loved the good old days, but she grew up on a tobacco farm with no running water or electricity, so you would have had to pry her modern appliances out of her cold dead hand.
Daddy was like a human calculator. He could do any math you could think of in his head, never on paper. One gene I missed that I wish I had instead of his arthritic feet and spine. Thanks, Daddy. sigh
My parents never had a credit card, even paid cash for things like new cars.