Memory Lane part 2

Here’s the second part of the “remember when” things I miss from times long past:

Paper cutter

My grandpa had one of these in the back of the general store he and grandma had. The back of the store was where he had his butcher shop. The cutter had butcher paper that he would use to wrap up the various cuts of meat. I was fascinated by this thing, but forbidden to touch it. I think we had this somewhere in the garage when we moved out to California. Don’t know what happened to it. It would really have come in handy when the kids were little and we were up til midnight on Christmas Eve wrapping tons of presents.

Pick-up sticks

These were the real deal. Made of wood and pointed at both ends. HOW DID I SURVIVE CHILDHOOD WITHOUT POKING MYSELF OR MY LITTLE BROTHER IN THE EYE??

Maybe it was because we were taught to use the brains God gave us. Anyhow, loved this game. Played it a lot with my brother. Last time I looked for this with Lia in mind, they were made of plastic with knobs at both ends. Bleh.

Slacks stretcher

O..M..G..did I use these a LOT!! My mom and grandma must have had tons of these, and every laundry day, there would be many pairs of slacks with these things through the legs, hanging on the line to dry so you wouldn’t have to iron them so much. As I got older and was doing my own laundry and helping with the other, I used them as well. (BTW, this was before permanent press. Hard to imagine, I know) There have been times when I’ve had a pair of pants that still require ironing a bit and have wished I had a couple sets of these.

Transistor radio

I don’t remember how old I was when I was given a small transistor radio of my very own. I do know it was grade school. I loved my radio like it was my best friend. It had an ear bud, too. I could listen to any music I wanted at any time I wanted. In the summer, I would go to the little airstream trailer parked in the driveway and hide out there and read and listen to my radio. I especially remember ‘Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club from high atop the Morrison hotel’ which is a pretty weird program for a young kid. But I loved it. It was like being part of a grown-up party. 

Of those 4 things, the one I would most like to have again is my little transistor radio. I know, there are all sorts of high-tech, new-fangled gadgets that have all the music you’d ever want to listen to at hand. But then you can’t scroll around and see how far away you could make your radio reach.