Middle Aged Memories

Stanzie

Oh My!!!! NM - you are toooooo good!!! wow oh wow! Love all this....

Meece

This was writen quite cleverly:  Happy Birthday Ken   

I'll admit I had one that accidently lost his hair, and boy did that give my sister fuel for her insults to my dolls.

elimar86861

"As for facial and body hair, it's always been applied with either paint or magic marker."

Meece,  the Ken article was hilarious.  ROFLOLWTEITM (that's ROFLOL Way Too Early In The Morning!)

Meece

I have one collectible Barbie (Peruvian with a baby) and DS and FDIL were at dinner last night and asked where she came from.  We had so much fun making up the story how Ken went on a missions trip and brought her back because she told him the baby was his (Ken is so naive), and how things will change when her green card arrives.

elimar86861

Kind of opposite of Barbie...I remember there were some Flatsy Dolls, made by Mattel.  They had a song that went, "Flatsies, flatsies, they're flat and that's that." 

                              

If you were a late blooming junior high school girl, this was the kind of product that could inspire some teasing.  Boys are mean.

Meece

I had a Flatsie.  And I was one.  VERY late bloomer. Who would have thought back then that I would have boobie issues?

karen1956

Never heard of a Flatsie doll.....

but I remember getting a Francie doll....and her knees and arms bent!!!! I was 9 or 10 when I got her.....

Meece

I bent my Francie's legs so much one broke off at the knee.  I used a lot of pins and masking tape.  She was so self conscience about the scar she only wanted to wear long dresses, and she refused to use GI Joe's crutch!

Stanzie

I have never heard of a Flatsy doll ....hmmmm?

Meece - so sorry about your poor Fancie doll - isn't it interesting you still remember!

Meece

Having my sister taunt my Francie was probably as traumatic as when she taunted me directly.  I still remember trying to re-attached her leg with a Band-Aid, but it idn't last, and the sticky residue was really annoying!

dutchgirl6

My Scooter doll had a broken leg, too.  It didn't break off, but just snapped internally from too much bending it back and forth, I guess.  Poor thing, she couldn't participate in all the fun activities that Skipper and Barbie did. 

Meece

My Scooter was a non-bendable edition.  Between her and Midge it gave my sister even more to Gossip about. We used Sewing pins, the type with glass bead heads, and poked them into Barbie's head so she could have colored earrings.

My sister had Casey, Francie's friend and she came with one triangular earrring. and a gold lame swimsuit similar to Francie's rain bow one.

Meece

elimar86861

Didn't that Francie's suit change color if you used either vinegar or water on it?  Or was that something Barbie had?

Meece

That swimsuit didn't change, but I seem to remember something like that.

Usually when they did something for Barbie, Ken, Francie, and Skipper were in on it, too.

elimar86861

I'm probably thinking of this because it is April Fool's Day, but remember when Schaeffer Fountain Pens made a comeback?  I was in elementary school.  Remember invisible ink?  Well, yes, I pranked my fourth grade teacher and his nice white shirt.  He had a habit of getting very red in the face when he was angry so, of course, that was the objective.  Mission accomplished.

Besides the fountain pens and their colorful cartridges of ink, we also liked the multi-color ball point pens that housed 3+ pens in one fat barrel.  I actually had one with 10 colors!!!

A few years later, those disposable pens in all the many colors came out.  They came in the long and mini sizes.  What brand were they?  (NativeMainer...can you find a picture?)  I think I wrote exclusively in purple and turquoise for a year.  

Meece

I had a ten colored pen I got at Disneyland.  It got me punched in the stomach by a guy who tried to take it from me.

NativeMainer

elimar86861

Keep looking, NM.  The pens I can't quite remember the name of were disposable stick pens that had a rounded end and a rounded cap and the barrels were always the color of the ink inside.  There must have been about 30 colors.  And like I mentioned, they had a mini version of them too.  I tried to find a pic, but haven't come across one yet.

Meece

Oh, I remember exactly what you are thinking of.  I liked the pink, purple and turquoise.

Meece

We used them with our Spirographs.

elimar86861

What WAS the name of that pen??????  They were popular for a few years.

Meece

Didn't they have the little pocket clip on them, too?  The lids were maybe 3/4" long, and the whole pen maybe 3 1/2 to 4".

What was the brand name?

Meece

HERE THEY ARE!

Meece

LINDY!!!!

Stanzie

Oh I remembered the pen NM found don't remember the Lindy ones. And I remember Spirograph. I'm so disgusted with buying toys and games now for my kids. Many are the same games but they are made so poorly and cheaply they fall apart. So wish I had kept my wonderful board games and such....

What other pranks did anyone do to you all for April Fool's Day. I remember one when a good friend of mine called up and was so upset her brother had gone off and joined some "in fashion" cult at the time and she went into so much detail and it was so awful and nope just a joke - totally fell for it! Still have never been able to get her back either.

elimar86861

LINDY!!!  I could not come up with that name for the life of me.  Thanks, Meece!!!!   They were just "the rage" to write notes to pass to your friends in class.

I didn't Fool people that often.  I have to admit my kids Fooled me two years in the row with a similar "story" of getting in trouble on the school bus.  (It was so believable!)

karen1956

One year my son and his bf played a big April's Fools Joke on my DH and me.....I got the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for an apology....and he got in big trouble with his family....many years later its still a topic of conversation.......

Meece

Dh and I played a small Joke on a friend Friday and he pouted for two days!

elimar86861

I'm so glad that "self-cleaning" ovens were invented in the 60's.  Before that, there was Easy-Off Oven Cleaner.  It takes more than one lifetime to forget that smell!  Nowadays, the formula probably qualifies as hazardous waste.