I Miss My Plastic Charm Necklace.

01 February 2010
Once, when Lyndsey and I were little, she shoved American cheese into my Strawberry Shortcake Blow Kiss doll.  You have no idea what I am talking about?  Strawberry Shortcake had baby dolls that, when you squeezed them, would blow fruit scented air into your face.  It was our favorite activity while dancing around in our Wonder Woman underoos watching Saturday morning cartoons.  I believe these days, they call it huffing, but whatevs. We had Lemon Meringue and Strawberry.  And Lyndsey had shoved the american cheese into her mouth which put the end to the strawberry scented goodness until one day, the cheese dried out enough to be dislodged just so.  When we pushed on her belly, she shot cheese out of her mouth at such a great speed that I'm pretty sure Rainbow Brite and Christina Marie were scared.  Christina Marie was my Cabbage Patch... she had a normal name because she was one of the first edition, procured by some miracle the Christmas I was seven  by my Meme from a friend of hers in New York.  Don't tell anyone, but she still lives in my house.

Lynds and I were children of the eighties.  We walked to the drugstore to buy giant flourescent pink triangle earrings.  We wore jelly shoes until our feet blistered.  We had every color of embroidery floss imaginable and would spend hours making friendship bracelets.  That was after the beaded friendship pin craze had died off a bit.  The Christmas that I was in sixth grade, my aunt took me to the Limited to buy an Outback Red shirt, I was in seventh heaven.  It was just about as awesome as my friends renting a white limo for my thirteenth birthday.  We rode around and drank two liters of soda.  How cool can you get?

My aunt also worked for Apple and got a IIe for us.  My mom probably had a $400 phone bill every month in 1987 when we were introduced to Prodigy by my Uncle Jim.  "Mom, we can meet someone in Oklahoma or Maine or New Hampshire!  You just use the phone line!  It is sooooo cool."  It lived in our bedroom, that we somehow convinced my mother to let us paint with bright white walls and black trim.  I can't even fathom the kind of "cool mom" factor it takes to let your pre-teens paint that hideousness with your blessing. 

Of course, it wasn't all Funshine & Cheer Bears, there were bad things too.  It is still the bane of my existance that I lost the tape of Lyndsey falling on her butt captured on my PXL-2000.  I was sure that was my ticket to Bob Sagett and his Funny Videos.  We ran out of cake mix & light bulbs burnt out of our Easy Bake Ovens.  My cousin John had all of his action figures stolen right out of the back of my Meme's Pacer in the parking lot of the grocery store.  And we do have photographic evidence of me only wearing pink and white, mostly flashdance-esque sweatshirts, for about two years of my life.  And the shoulder pads, the shoulder pads.  Who would let a fourth grader wear a turquoise blazer with shoulder pads to school?  That's right.  My mother. 

And the charm necklace.  Ohhhhh the sweet sweet plastic charm necklace.  Filled with clip on charms like a baby bottle, a tennis racket, and an abacus, because in 1985, you never knew when you might need a miniature plastic abacus.  To do your counting of Hello Kitty items or Garbage Pail Kid cards or ummm whatever?  If I had that pink plastic goodness today, I would be forced to wear it AND pretend I was putting on the plastic lipstick charm, the awesomeness was just that powerful.  There is no point in denying it.

This post is really for my awesome friend Merrily, who introduced me to this book, modeled by the gorgeous Christina Marie herself...


It's a book, it's a Trapper, there are images of smelly stickers, it's totally RAD.  I read this and laughed hysterically.  And now, I'm passing it on to one of you.  {Full disclosure, I totally paid for this sucker & already read it.} Leave a comment with YOUR favorite and thing about the eighties.  I will choose a winner on Friday, February 5.

Gotta go.  Digrassi Junior High is on and my crimper is done heating up. 

{UPDATE:  Thank you to all the entries!  The winner, chosen very democratically by writing everyone's name on paper and having Finnegan choose one, is GEORGIE!  Congrats!  I need your address to get your book to you!}

20 comments:

Kristin said...

Oh, my god. I remember getting tons of those smelly stickers in elementary school. I used to line them up by type on the backs of my notebooks. :) I still have a soft spot for my Care Bears and Rainbow Brite. One of these days I'm going to track down the rest of the Color Kids and buy them on eBay. :D

Grace said...

First of all, I read your blog frequently. One word.....MULTIPLES. A clothing brand we got them at Hudsons at Franklin Park Mall. They consisted of leggings, a slightly baggy top, and then these tube top looking things which doubled as a scarf, belt, and headband. And yes I would rock all 3 at the same time. Oh and in yellow, green,pink, and black I wore all those colors together. Perhaps I have a pic at home I may scan and send to you for your "poking fun at the fun one with the fro" enjoyment.

Michelle said...

I looooved multiples! HA! I had totally forgotten about those.

Elise said...

Its spelled DeGrassi. And my favorite part of the eighties was....oh wait. :)

Lori said...

Do you even have to ask what my favorite part was?!? The Caboodle of course, filled with Wet-N-Wild makeup!!!

Karen said...

Michelle, you crack me up! This totally brings back so many memories! I was SO cool in the eighties. I would wear a turqoise sock, and a pink sock scrunched on my left foot and then reversed it on my right foot (under my peg-legged stone-washed jeans). My favorite sweatshirt had little bears ALL OVER it that were roller-skating. My friend had one with the same bears but they were all doing each other's hair. (? I know.) To complete the look, double scrunchies of the same color. Of course you had to look sweet when you were going to Pizza Hut to drink out of the care bear collector's glasses while eating your book-it pizza. (While showing off your pin with the star stickers on it.) Yeah, we were pretty awesome.

Amy said...

It's Degrassi, and if you had cable, you could still be enjoying it!

Anonymous said...

swatch watches with smelly bands, guess jeans, coca cola rugby shirt...I could go on and on. I had a giggle with your 80's flashbacks. Too cute. ~Heather R.

Unknown said...

OMgosh you just brought back a ton a of memories for me...I for one happen to love strawberry shortcake and I had the metal lunch pail to prove it...I will not go into the other 80's diasters that i was lol

Anonymous said...

Ahhh FUN times. I still remember my jelly bracelets, completely yearning for an acid wash guns n' roses just like my oh-so-cool babysitter had and of course my HUGE crush on Kirk Cameron. And then there was ♥ Ryan Daniels ♥ (whose name was coincidentally all over my trapper keeper folders) if you knew him you know exactly what I'm talking about, he was incredibly foxy!- Nikki

Amy said...

It wasn't my favorite, but apparently it was my sister's (because she still hasn't forgiven me for drinking hers)...the Burple!

Someone else already mentioned Swatch watches, but how about those metal bracelets that you slapped on your wrist?

And although we'd all like to, who could forget Skidz?! Pegged and worn with your Keds or K-Swiss of course. :)

Stephanie said...

Liz Claiborne perfume in the oh so colorful triangles and of course Exclamation perfume!!!!

Marianne Kaliel said...

Michelle thanks so much for the ride in the way back mobile! I love your sense of humor. I'd have to say what I remember most about the 80s is my mall bangs ... regulation size ... one hand with high and secured with an ozone depleting blast of hairspray. Those babies wouldn't move for anything ... of course you wouldn't want to stand too close to an open flame. I just like can't get enough of that book ... a Trapper Keeper .... like OMG fer sure.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

SOOO many memories with my Apple IIe. *love*

Janine said...

Oh those charm necklaces! They were the best. I had that exact strawberry shortcake doll. The disturbing thing is that I found it in a box probably 20 years later, and you know what? Yup, still smelled like fake strawberry when you pushed the tummy. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I found your blog through your ad on "whatever".

Amy Stough said...

Michelle--this is hilarious. My mom just took out MY charm necklace full of all of the clip-on charms. (she seriously kept way too many things!) Baby bottle, bear, lipstick, little sewing maching, skiis...you name it. I think my kids thought they were in heaven when she handed it over to them! Ah...80s toys. Can't get much better! Thanks for a walk down memory lane.

Anonymous said...

I just dug out my necklace and gave it to my kids! I had the bottle, pill bottle, skis etc...love it!

Anonymous said...

Great 80's flashback! I was born in 1976 so I literally grew up in the 80's myself,I was trying to show my 13 year old some of the toys & trends that were big way back when...I loved the nostalgia of remembering some little things I've forgotten over the years that were so important to me at the time! Time flies & kids today have so many outlets,gadgets and things to occupy their time that we would've never even dreamed of! To put it bluntly she wasn't impressed with much of anything I was excited about introducing her to...lol.

Anonymous said...

I meant to comment on the book your Cabbage Patch Kid is holding! I'll have to Google it and check it out it looks interesting and I LOVE the Trapper Keeper cover! Brilliant!

Anonymous said...

I loved Care Bears! I have friends that are 6-8 years younger than me, and they don't know what Garbage Pail Kids were. Such a shame. I had the charm necklace and jelly bracelets.

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