Middle Aged Memories

My favourite car was an 1981 Honda Civic station wagon (Hondamatic?) It had no clutch but you changed gears and it had a choke. It went everywhere, was a sure footed as a mountain goat and carried everything, including a full sized clothes washing machine in its box!! I got it second hand in the late 1990's. Mechanics loved it. You didn't need a computer to fix anything. When it was on its last legs my mechanic tried EVERY place he could think of to get a replacement part. He was sad. I was sad. Now I have a 2006 Nissan Sentra - and it seems to be working just fine. But I don't love it like I loved my Honda.

Sometimes getting lost can be a blessing. I have discovered places and things I never would have had I had a GPS.

I tried straightening my bangs with Dippity-Doo and tape. It didn't work. I have a cowlick that cannot be controlled. In the mid-60's I wanted that "flip" with just the ends turned up and a small teased crown. My hair just won't be teased. It knotted and lay down like a cringing cur.

Even before my hair got even thinner (thank cancer drugs) , even when it as long - it was pretty much wash and go. By the time I got dressed it was mostly dry. I was happy with its parted in the middle,just to the shoulders, still looking like a flower child hairdo even when I was 50. When I see photos of friends and relatives with their frizzy bangs, poofy dos; huge padded shoulders sitting with me I am the only person NOT embarrassed by my hair looking at the photos now.

Oh Maggie & Three Tree - we are all going to be in so much trouble when we finally have to upgrade our cars. I can't play tapes, but I can still play CDs. I totally agree about paper maps. I plan my route which is often much better than than Siri or ALexa or whoever talks from the cloud.

Elderberry - sorry I didn't see your post. But you are obviously in our same group.

My Dad taught all his children to change a tire & change the oil. Even with my 2003 car, there's just too much under the hood for me to be comfortable except for wind shield washer fluid and topping up the antifreeze or the brake reservoir.

I had neither straight or curly hair - it was just sort of wavy in one place and straight in another. I just let it be. I stopped with anything other than shampoo in 1968 - the year I graduated. I moved on to adding conditioner and detanglers later.

My DH has his favourite music on a flash drive and uses an USB port on his Outlander.

There is an expression "Death by GPS" Stories of people who are on the road and the GPS says proceed "X yards/meters" and they keep on going right past a sign that says "STOP! BRIDGE WASHED OUT"

I can't remember when/where I saw a sign once here that said "Do not rely on GPS" …it must have been some major road work or something

NM - are you still monitoring this thread?

I was thinking about Clorox the other night. In the past, I always did a Clorox load of wash every week - as did my Mother. It's been years since I've done that. In fact since my swimming pool was filled in - 1994 - and I had loads of towels. I do soak my dishcloth in Clorox in the kitchen sink every week, but I just put my one towel in with the "light" or "dark" load as appropriate.

I can’t use bleach. I break out in hives from it.

It's amazing how things come back. Teens now use Clorox to keep their sneakers (including Converse) spotless white.

I remember homemade tie-dyed t-shirts

Neither have I Maggie. The first time I ever did tie-dye t-shirts was at a Girl Scout day camp.

I tie-dyed my sheets in my parents' bathtub. I think it was when I was in Jr. High. Did a t-shirt too if I remember. RIT dye, do they even make it anymore?

It now just comes in liquid form rather than the powder that had to be dissolved.

Who remembers "Twenty Mule Team Borax"? Read in my newspaper today that it was an alternative to Clorox. Hmmmm.

And quiz time…. What about "Use….the foaming cleanser…"

My mom and her mom used Borax. I use Baking Soda in the wash.

I remember the Twenty Mule Team Borax adds on TV. If I remember, Ronald Reagan did them before he became a politician. Lol.

Borax is banned because it can irritate the skin, eyes and lungs if vapors are inhaled. And to think that we wore clothes and used towels washed in it.

I didn't know that Reagan was the driver but I did like the mule team. When I finally rode a mule I was pleasantly surprised how well she went and how much more sensible than a horse she was.

Does anyone remember Murphy's oil soap? My mother used it on floors. I used it rather than saddle soap to clean horse tack. I never brought it home from the barn, though.

Minus, I had saddle shoes for school. It was a pain because you needed two different colors of shoe polish for them. White is not a good color for shoes IMO, even for nurses.