P for...

POSTERS:

Many people had a poster or more of some sort on their bedroom walls, whether it was of bands/musicians, movies and TV or movie stars or something random. Most stores would display posters like this. One would flip through the display on top and then try to locate the poster they wanted, rolled up in the bin below. We could also order posters from our monthly book order forms.

A poster that I had was one I found in a mall store called International Imports. I really liked this poster, it was so funny! I was disappointed not to see Elton John or the Eagles punned, however. And no ZZ Top (not really a fan, but still...) I only wonder what happened to it! (Click here to see a larger image.)

Now people seem to be making posters out of album covers from different decades, like these for sale on Etsy.

PHONES:

As someone who grew up in the 1980s, I was around when phones looked like this:

And when we were away from home, we to rely on these things. I can remember when it cost a dime, and then when it was raised to a quarter. 

And before the cellphone:

I was not a big phone user, as I was more of a loner who didn't socialize very much. As such I did not ask for my now private phone line, and I likely could not have afforded it. If anyone needed or wanted to call me for whatever reason, I would use our house phone.

It wouldn't be long before my house had a cordless phone, with an answering machine, in the 1990s. One of the first we had was something like this:

Looking through the phonebook was one thing I did when bored. I remember the perpetual calendar in the back of the book where you could look up a date in the past or future.

And, of course we all know what happened in the 2000s and beyond. Our house still has a landline, though, along with our individual cell phones. The home phone may be on its way out our house though....

PHOTOS:

Having to buy film for the camera, struggling to find something to take a picture of to use the last few exposures on the roll, and dropping the film roll off at the photo-developing lab at the nearest drugstore. And taking them home a week or two later in an envelope, with the negatives, enclosed in a larger envelope. There was also a time when we needed the things below, in darkened areas. If the cubes didn't work or you forgot to put one on, the picture would not turn out.

Not having to buy film and take it to be developed is the only advantage I have seen to taking pictures digitally. But there are times when I miss a printed photo. ...

PINS:

Something that seemed to be everywhere were some sort of pins worn on one's clothing. Music, and TV star pins were especially popular. Some pins came from the stores, some were homemade.

Many people would have pins on their jackets, like this:

There were pins (and other items, like pencils, cups and keychains) with people's names on them. I did not like this idea because I almost never found my name on these things. If you were one of the ubiquitous Jennifers, Michelles, Elizabeth, Lisa to Karens, you had no problem, unless you had an unusual spelling. I know someone who spells it Jennefer. 

PAPER DOLLS:

I had some of these, both store-bought and homemade. Some from cutting pictures from magazines and newspapers or making my own out of construction paper. Some were included in coloring books. It was always fun making the clothes with tabs.  I would even make my own clothes for the pre-made paper dolls.

I once had a toy called Dolly Pops, which were like a three-dimensional paper dolls. They came with plastic pop-on outfits and accessories.

PLAYGROUND:

Having played on a playground many times as a child, things like these never seemed to occur to me until now:

I don't know how I did it all then. I guess it as all about the fun. Though I'm sure some kids did get hurt once in a while. But we are still here today. We were obviously tough. And I don't think there were very many of the plastic-tunnel slides where I lived.

But if we weren't playing on the equipment, we would be playing hide-and-seek or hopscotch, jumping rope, or playing ball.

PLAY DOH:

Almost everyone played with Play Dough at some point. One of the play sets I had was the Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop.

And something I did not know until now: Play Doh was an accidental invention.

PUZZLES:

Almost everyone put together a puzzle once in a while. The number of days it took to complete varied for everyone.

 

And crossword puzzles. I like doing the ones in TV Guide.

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PLEASED to have you come by today. See what's QUEUED up for tomorrow.