Way Back Whenesday: Care Bears

I remember watching the Care Bears battle Wizard No Heart his assistant Beastly and niece Shreeky. The ten original Care Bears consisted of Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear, and Wish Bear. Later on, additional bears joined them, as well as the Cousins. I had Care Bears bed sheets when I as younger and I think the pillow case followed me to university for a little while as a novelty thing (also because I didn’t want to buy a new pillow case). Though I don’t know if I could sit through an entire Care Bear episode and know I would never make it through one of their movies, I do enjoy seeing Care Bear items (shirt, etc) for sale in stores.

Way Back Whenesday: Classic Mortal Kombat

My brother and I used to play Mortal Kombat. No, he played Mortal Kombat with his friends and I would mash buttons against the computer when he would let me use his systems.
The Mortal Kombat movie is one of my guilty pleasure movies and I love the theme song, especially the techno version that is at the end of the movie.

I am mentioning this now because Dave just recently bought the new Mortal Kombat video game for PS3 for Justin’s birthday (it was an early present) and the two of them have been playing it in their spare time ever since.

Way Back Whenesday: Pocket Organizer

I remember when I was younger and loved the idea of electronic gizmos and the assumed importance of people who had them (and even more so of people who actually needed them). I got a little pocket diary and I loved it. I used it as an address book and calculator and of course diary as that was its original purpose. I used to make up stories and pretend to chat with people online (this was before this was a common thing for children to do). It was a great source of entertainment for me. Every so often the little watch battery that ran it would die and I would have to start all over again. Sometimes I would lose it and by the time I found it, it was dead and needed a restart. Eventually it lost its appeal as chatting because an everyday thing and as I really didn’t have a need for the other features, I stopped using it. I haven’t seen it in a very long time, though I suspect that it it sitting in a Rubbermaid container in my parents’ shed back home.

(photo from http://www.canstockphoto.com/)

Way Back Whenesday: The Munsters

For Christmas we got my dad the complete series of The Munsters.

Similarly to the Adams Family, The Munsters was a sitcom about a monster family. There was the Frankenstein dad (Herman), the bride of Frankenstein wife (Lily), a vampire Grandpa, a werewolf son (Eddie) and a human neice (Marilyn). They of course didn’t see themselves as different but rather worried that their normal neice Marilyn would never find a man. Great show that I remember watching with my Dad.

Way Back Whenesday: Ice Ice baby

Vanilla Ice–Ice Ice Baby

You know you know the words and you know this song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. I actually seem to remember having a Vanilla Ice nightgown – is that the same as having Justin Beiber pajamas today?!

Way Back Whenesday: Tetris

Now I realize Tetris is still around, but the Tetris I am talking about is the one for the original Nintendo game system (NES).

I remember the system being hooked up to the television in my parents room (the television that was in a wooden case) and my dad playing for several hours. Come to think of it, it was one of the only games my dad really played. Later on, we got Tetris for the Nintendo Gameboy and I played it a great deal on that system. I do believe the Gameboy and Tetris are sitting upstairs right now…perhaps I will go play some classic Nintendo.

(photo found through Google)

Way Back Whenesday: The Original Five

The original group – From left to right, Top row: Christine and Mark, Bottom row: Justin, Stephanie and Emily. We grew pretty quickly as the year progressed, but this is how it started.

Way Back Whenesday: Goosebump Novels

I know Goosebumps novels are still around today and can be seen in book stores and catalogues on a regular basis, but I remember when these novels first became popular and I especially remember sitting in front of the bookshelf at the Brockville Mall trying to pick out which Goosebumps novel I would buy next. I would save up my money and once I got the roughly 10 dollars they cost I would lay out the options and spend way too long determining which one I was going to purchase this time. R.L. Stine definitely hit the nail on the head when he started this series.

Way Back Whenesday: Beverly Hills 90210

I do not understand for the life of me, how I was allowed to watch this show. But to be honest, I don’t really care because I loved it – and still love it to this day.
Beverly Hills 90210 started out as a less dramatic sort of show than what it is remembered for. The first three seasons were much more after-school special-like in that Brenda and Brandon or one of their friends, would get into some sort of troubling situation. Someone would make a bad decision but it wasn’t likely to be either of the twins. The Walshes would come to rescue of whomever was in trouble and everything would be solved by the end of the episode. Later one, shortly before Shannon Doherty left the show started to get much more dramatic and much more mature.
I remember being in love with Dylan (played by Luke Perry). I had legging and a shirt with 90210 on them which I actually wore during our family trip to Disney in 1992 (that’s right, I wore the shirt and watched the show when I was in grade 2!).
The show ended in 2000 but a new version of it has since started and is similar to the later, more mature version of the show. I haven’t watched too much of the new series, not because I don’t like it but because I don’t really watch television. The ones I have seen though, give me happy memories of watching the original series.

Way Back Whenesday: JTT

There were several boys who adorned the walls of my bedroom when I was growing up and JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) was definitely one of them.

He started out in Home Improvement and then started into movies such as The Lion King and Wild America. Such a good, boy-next door kind of guy who eventually started acting less to concentrate on his academics. Seriously, if your young daughter was going to get into teen-heart-throbs then this is the one you want her to like the most.

Way Back Whenesday: Glitter Pencils

Even though they covered everything in glitter, everything in my pencil case and my desk, all of my clothes and anything I touched with my hands, I loved glitter pencils – well for a time. I remember when they were the coolest thing and having them was a big deal. I even had to buy them with my own money because my mom said that they weren’t essential school items to have and not very practical either. In hindsight, I agree with her. The actually quality of the pencil was quite poor as was the eraser. But I still had to have them in grade school.
The above photo, found through Google, is actually of glitter pencil crayons rather than pencils and since I do not believe these were available when I was in grade school, I think these impractical school items are still available and probably just as desired now as they were several years ago.

Way Back Whenesday: Popples

Anyone remember these toys? Not only are Popples adorable, but they are also neat. They could be adorable toys with hearts for ears or you could roll them into themselves and toss them around.

Way Back Whenesday: Pink Panther

During the summers when I was younger, my mom would make me a pita sandwich with lettuce, cheese and alfalfa sprouts and I would watch the Pink Panther cartoon show with my delicious lunch. Those are good memories.

Way Back Whenesday: Reading Rainbow

 

 

This show was where I was first introduced to Geordi La Forge. Mind you this clip doesn’t show him in his non-Star Trek glory.
The show promoted reading (and writing) for children. I believe Geordi would read a couple books and some kids would review some others that they had read. Cute little show really.

Way Back Whenesday: Carmen Sandiego

 

 

Does anyone else remember this show? I used to watch it all the time on TVO. I also played the video game on our home computer – the game came on 12 3 1/2” floppy disks. Now there’s a memory!

Way Back Whenesday: Don't Put it in Your Mouth

I still sing the song from this commercial now and then. Watching it now, it seems a little creepy, but it definitely worked! Anyone else know this song by heart?

Way Back Whenesday: Mr Dressup

Mr. Dressup is a classic children's show. It was wonderful and definitely part on my childhood.
The show aired from 1967 to 1996. Mr. Dressup was actually Ernie Coombs and this happened to be one of the very first names I knew (of actors).
When I first started watching the show, Casie and Finnegan lived in the treehouse in the backyard, but later on these characters were dropped from the show as the puppeteer retired. They were replaced by some other characters such as Chester the Crow and Granny, but they weren't as good. Or perhaps I had just grown up enough to not be as interested in them as I was the previous puppets.

Way Back Whenesday: Ace of Base

Ah Ace of Base. She saw the sign and it was all that she wanted.
I remember not only listening to this band constantly, but also doing dance routines to it for class. In Ms. Veltkamp's grade 4 class she had us do a song and dance routine. She had fake guitars, keyboard, etc and you would lip synch to any song you wanted. My group of 4 or 5 girls chose Ace of Base The Sign as our song and it was fabulous. I can remember some of the steps we did while we sang (that is what my role was - dancing and 'singing'), but unforunately can't describe them well enough for this post.
I also remember the rehearsal I skipped to hang out with my boyfriend. During the rehearsal Crystal fell and hit her head on the corner of the keyboard and cracked it open. She had to go to the emergency room and have stitched put in.

Way Back Whenesday: Mr Rogers Neighbourhood

Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood was a children's television show that aired from February 19, 1968 to February 20, 1976 and then again from August 27, 1979 to August 31, 2001.
The show was simple and calm, unlike a lot of children's shows nowadays and always started with Fred Rogers coming into the home, taking off his outdoor sweater and putting on his indoor sweater. He would then remove his outdoor sneakers and put on indoor sneakers.

Way Back Whenesday: Looney Tunes

"Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shatterin KABOOM!"

Every Sunday evening Dad and I would watch Looney Toons, The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. We would watch it so regularly that I can hear the announcer saying the title in my head right now. One of my favourite characters was Marvin the Martian. As a matter of fact, he is still one of my favourite cartoon characters.My dad however, liked Duck Dodgers (in the 24 1/2 century!).