What Was Your Movie?

One childhood memory most people can relate to is being easily captivated by many things, especially TV shows and movies. We would watch them over and over again, much to the dismay of our parents.

I don't know about you, but I can't really explain why I felt the need to repeatedly watch certain shows or movies. I think a lot of the time I probably just enjoyed seeing a specific scene or character.
The movie I watched to excess was the Wizard of Oz. Something about the transition from black and white to color was so magical to me. The singing was delightful too.

 I would always get scared when the Wicked Witch of the West would appear, so naturally I would look away from the TV while she was on. Most of the time I would lose interest a little over halfway through, but that didn't stop me from dressing up as Dorothy for Halloween nearly three years in a row.

   Now that I've shared mine, what was the movie of your childhood?

Fur Baby Appreciation

Growing up, I had the pleasure of living with many different animals. Most of them were mine because of how much I loved and enjoyed taking care of them.

Short Tailed Opossum

 My first pet was a hamster I received for my 5th birthday. Since then I have owned everything from lizards to birds. I even had a short tailed opossum at one point. 

Every time I entered a pet store I wanted something new. As I've gotten older my love for animals has remained the same, but I have my animal buying habits under control. I always look forward to going home for breaks since I currently have 2 rabbits and a parrot waiting for me.

Happy National Pet!

Easter Egg Dying

One of the many traditions that I remember around Easter time is dying Easter eggs with my family. We started this tradition when I was old enough to dye eggs, and it has continued ever since. My egg dying skills have definitely changed throughout the years though. 

When I was younger I used to just drop my egg in all of the colors and just hope for the best. They would always turn out funky colors and not so pretty. As I got older, I put a little more thought into them and started using wax crayons to write on them before dipping them in the dye, and even putting rubber bands in patterns around the egg. I thought I was really being creative using these techniques that I had discovered. 

Well, this year I decided to try something totally different. This year I bought a tub of Cool Whip and some neon food coloring. I spread the Cool Whip in an aluminum tray and then added drops of food coloring on the top. I swirled the food coloring with a toothpick to create a marble looking design. I then rolled my hard boiled eggs in the surface of the Cool Whip and the food coloring, creating a marble design on the egg. I let them sit and soak the color in and then rinsed them off, and I had vibrant colored marble eggs! It was such a cool and different twist on the normal Easter egg dying event that we do every year. We were all impressed with how the eggs turned out and definitely look forward to using this technique again next year!

If any of you have some Easter egg dying memories or techniques to share, please share with us in the comments. 

Happy Easter everyone!

Snow Days!

Having my first real snow day in college brought me back to the childhood joy of getting the day off school due to winter weather. All winter I would perform my ritual to encourage snowfall by wearing my pajamas inside out and asking (begging) God to make it snow. I heard that putting a spoon in the freezer or under your pillow would do the trick, but I never tried it out.

Most mornings were met with disappointment when I was awoken by my mom at the usual time to get ready for school. Having a delay was cool, but never good enough for me. There was nothing quite like looking out the window to a blanket of snow and no where to be.

Barbie vs Bratz

Were you team Barbie or Bratz? I was a mixture of both, even though I probably have far more Bratz dolls currently flooding my basement with all the other old neglected toys

I remember I used to go hard when playing with dolls. They would have complex personalities and relationships full of drama. A lot of the time I would have multiple characters going at once, meaning I would select about 5 different dolls and assign them each their own names and characteristics. Then I would connect them all together somehow as sisters, friends, enemies, etc.

I usually didn't do all of this alone, of course. I would have a friend or two to liven things up with their dolls and add to the drama. I even had a Bratz house, car, and party bus with functioning lights and radio.

Sometimes I would mix a Barbie in with the Bratz dolls and pretend like she was the eclectic stepsister. However, Polly Pockets had to be played separately because the size difference was just too weird.

Quick Facts on Adolescent Experience and Development

Your Most Epic Childhood Memories!

This post was curated from The Top 50 Most Common Childhood Memories by Maiana Lima on Scribd.com

https://www.scribd.com/document/356002477/the-top-50-most-common-childhood-memories

According to Srcribd.com, a poll revealed that for about 73% of people the most potent memories tend to have occurred in the summertime. What’s more is that the beach specifically played a large part in their childhood memories. This comes as no surprise seeing as childhood summers are usually laid back and full of fun, playful activities designed to beat the heat and eliminate boredom. Below is list included some of the glorious things (big and small) that made our childhoods worth remembering.

21 Summer Based Memories

1.    Going on vacation

2.    Swimming

3.    Watching your favorite shows all day

4.    Popsicles and snowballs

5.    Playing on the playground

6.    Going to the arcade

7.    Collecting rocks

8.    Playing tag

9.    Rope swings

10. Hide and Seek

11. Going to the park

12. Hearing the ice cream truck and scrambling for money

13. Playing in the sprinkler

14. Drawing on the sidewalk with chalk

15. Staying up late

16. Road trips

17. Playing with friends until dark

18. Catching lightening bugs

19. Building sandcastles

20. Sparklers on the Fourth of July

21. Running around barefoot

What Our Old Memories Reveal About Us

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/longing-nostalgia/201504/what-your-oldest-memories-reveal-about-you

"The childhood memories we choose to hold on to reveal aspects of what we consider important."

The memories we dig out of our cognitive map have some kind of meaning to all of us, differently. We hold on to these memories because we feel some kind of connection to the situation/experience we're thinking of. 

"How that individual understands the meaning of those experiences contributes to their sense of self."

For some, memories create an understanding of who they are. It doesn't matter how big or small the memory is; it brings some sense of identity to the true self.

Question for you: How would you describe your deepest memories? Do you think they formulate a perception of who you are today?

Sweet Memories

It is pretty much a universal childhood experience to ask your parents for candy in line at check out and be met with disappointment when they tell you to put it back. On certain occasions, however, I would get lucky and one of my parents (usually my dad) would say yes! I loved Push Pops, Pop Rocks, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Gummy Worms, Jolly Ranchers, and Kit Kats to name a few.

Many of us have fond memories from the past associated with candy or other sweet treats. I assume this is because it was how we were rewarded and often bribed. When you went to the doctors, you got a lollipop. When you got dressed up, rang someone's doorbell and said Trick or Treat, you got a handful of sweet stuff.

I even remember when my dad would go to the gas station he would come out with Tootsie Rolls for my brother and me. For that reason I actually associate the smell of gasoline with Tootsie Rolls. I also loved visiting my grandmother at work, even more so because she kept a jar of Jolly Rancher's on her desk.

Looking back, sugar was our drug of choice and there is little we wouldn't do to access it. Perhaps one of the most elusive candies to get our hands on were those strawberry ones that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Only '90s Kids Remember"

As a millennial, the rapid advancement of technology throughout my childhood was an incredible thing to witness. However, some believe that the whirlwind of social media and smart phones are actually what leaves young people aching for how things used to be a short time ago. For this reason, we hold onto childhood memories tightly and take every opportunity to cherish things that remind us of it, like movies, songs, games, and trends. It is not necessarily that these things were uniquely special or revolutionary, but when you're a kid everything is wonderful and those things were ours.
Ironically, we often use the internet to induce nostalgia and escape our comparatively stressful, dull everyday lives. Personally, waves of nostalgia can wash over me at any time, and for a second I am transported back to the simplicity and warmth of childhood. It can be comforting to look back on how things were when the world was new to you, so this blog will reflect that sentiment.
Hope you enjoy!