My home page is back! Now you can keep up with all of my blogs, websites and places on the web in one place. Click here to go to the blog, where you can follow via Blogger, Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, my new Facebook Fan Page or through RSS feed via your favorite reader or email. You can also follow me on Twitter where all my blog posts are automatically tweeted.
For my Adgitize and Entrecard blogging friends . . . within the next couple of days, I will be setting up Adgitize and Entrecard . . . so you will have one more place to click!
My apologies for not being around as much . . . there are not enough hours in the day for everything I have been working on, but I should be back to "normal" soon.
Marilyn Monroe's story reads like a best selling novel complete with the glamour of Hollywood, romantic ties to sports figures, leading men and politicians . . . and one of the greatest controversial mysteries of our time.
I created this video as a tribute to Marilyn
Playboy's first centerfold died at the age of 36 on August 5, 1962 . . . the reported cause of death is an overdose of sleeping pills, but to this day, her death remains a mystery with the controversial rumors that she was murdered.
Did she commit suicide, was she murdered because of her involvement with the Kennedy family . . . or was it accidental death?
Was Marilyn Monroe a suicide blonde?
What do you think?
Candle in the Wind
Written by Elton John/Bernie Taupin
in memory of Marilyn Monroe
Lyrics
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name
chorus
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hollywood created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude
[repeat chorus]
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
Goodbye Norma Jean
From the young man in the 22nd row
Who sees you as something more than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe
Share your memories of Marilyn Monroe . . .
her life, her loves, her movies . . . and the controversy surrounding her death.
Old postcards take me back to childhood days of vacationing at the Gulf beaches and spending a lot of time in the tourist traps, where the racks of postcards were lined up . . . an art gallery of sorts that would fascinate me and draw me like a magnet. My mom is a shopaholic and loves to linger in any type of store, and I loved it when she took us to the tourist traps so I could check out the colorful treasures on those spinner racks.
The vintage postcards on this post are from back in the 1910 - 1920 era . . . The Tampa Bay Hotel, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Among its many distinguished visitors . . . Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders . . . the hotel was used as a base of operations when the Spanish-American War broke out.
I'll be writing a post about this gorgeous landmark that is just as beautiful as I imagine it was back in the day. It is now the home of the University of Tampa and the Henry Plant Museum . . . with beautiful grounds what wind along the Hillsborough River. It will be posted on my other blog My Florida Paradise.
This post is being linked to one of the most
awesome blog discoveries I have
made in quite some time . . .
It is a blog hop/meme of people who love vintage stuff . . . seems like I have been lost in Colorado Lady's blog forever . . . back and forth to the participants in her weekly event and checking out everyone's vintage thingie posts. I hope to make a weekly visit to the Vintage Thingie Thursday a regular feature of this blog!
Even if you don't have a blog post to link, it is so cool to check out everyone else's posts and discover some new blogs. I've recently found some that are dedicated to collecting vintage kitchen stuff . . . that post is coming soon . . . I'll share links for those of you who also love that kind of vintage stuff :)
Do you collect nostalgic items from your childhood?
I remember the day my husband proudly announced that he had thrown away all those boxes of junk magazines and "all those 8 tracks that we don't listen to anymore" that were cluttering up the storage shed.
Thank God my 45's and my mom and nana's 78's were safe and secure in the house! I still have them.
I still have my quadrophonic stereo system! Music and anything related to music is special to me.
The "junk magazines" were from way back in the day of the British invasion . . . those teen magazines and "special edition magazines" that featured The Beatles, Herman's Hermits all the way through the breakup of The Beatles, tons of those special magazines of The Monkees . . . and on and on and on.
Then there were the fashion magazines that were the beginning of the supermodels featuring Twiggy . . . OMG . . . you can imagine my horror. I even had all the magazines that featured Ali McGraw, who started her career as a model . . . she was one of my favorite role models. I'm a big time pack rat and so nostalgic for things from my past that I loved.
I even saved some of my favorite outfits from way back . . . every once in a while I like to look at them . . . at least the ones that made it through "the cut" . . .
One of the things I love to do is go to antique shops that have the old kitchenware my nana used in our kitchen as I learned to cook by her side. I have a lot of that stuff and guard them like the treasures they are, but I use them everyday. In particular, I love those old clay bread bowls.
Red enamelware is my favorite!
Although practical kitchen stuff is what I love to pick up at flea markets and antique stores, I also collect Disney stuff. There is something about Tinkerbell that takes me back to my childhood! I love my collection of Tinkerbell figurines . . . and the Christmas ornaments.
I still have my first dolly . . . and many of the stuffed animals from my childhood. Yes . . . I am a terrible pack rat!
I can guess that many of you guys still have the comic books from your childhood . . . many of you ladies still have your first Barbie. If you didn't save them from your childhood and then ended up in the trash like much of my stuff, have you tried to replace them?
What are some of the nostalgic items you still have?
Writing the post on Atari Games brought back memories of a time before computers, cell phones, Ipods and that new technology has brought us since the days before computers were a common item in our homes.
As a child, I was happy with my dolls, board games, playing cards, dominoes . . . and playing outdoors getting exercise. We entertained ourselves by riding our bikes around the neighborhood, having hula hoop contests, jumping rope, playing badmitton, catch the ball, dodge ball.
It is sad that mothers in present time have to be afraid to let the kids play even in the front yard with all the weirdos out there grabbing children in plain sight . . . daylight.
The days gone by were so innocent . . . we didn't have to worry about that kind of weirdness . . . what has happened to our society?
Anyway, I digressed . . . I wanted to talk about how babyboomers entertained themselves without all the fancy stuff the kids of today have. I'm jealous, although I didn't miss what I didn't know I didn't have :)
As a younger child I loved Cootie and Potato Head . . . I would spend hours on the floor playing jacks, pick up sticks or building odd objects with my Tinker Toys.
How about the Slinky? It fascinated me . . . so did the Etch-A-Sketch.
My nana played cards with us all the time. My favorite card game was Old Maid, although I really took it serious and get really mad if I got stuck with the Old Maid card. I am still a sore loser! She taught us how to play all types of rummy, poker and I loved to play war . . . I still do.
When I think back at my favorite board games, my number one would have to be Monopoly . . . the game that never seems to end . . . and we loved it that way. There was a board game we played that I'm not even sure was popular, but my brother and I sure loved it . . . it was called Careers . . . cool game, I still have it.
Even as a child I loved music. I still have my nana's collection of 78's . . . Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney were her favorites. My collection of 45's are still in those funky colored 45 holders that hold stacked records and have the handle on the top. I thought about selling them on eBay, but I couldn't part with them even though I haven't played them in years. Yes, I'm a pack rat!
I still have my quadrophonic stereo that was my prized possession of later days . . . I really thought I was something with a speaker in every corner of my room . . . although my parents hated how I HAD to play it so loud. It just didn't sound right unless it was super loud :)
One of my favorite pastimes was playing my guitar and making up songs . . . something I continued to do through my adult life. Some things don't change with age and I guess we all have that inner child within us. Don't we?
The games we played and those things we did to entertain ourselves were pretty cool, in my opinion. Although I am jealous that we didn't have computers, in a way I am glad we didn't . . . don't know if that makes sense to anyone. We had interaction and activity with friends and family . . . the computer tends to isolate.
What do you think?
What are some of your recollections of your childhood and the games you played?
This image represents the 1970's from a 1996 Kmart calendar
tracing the history of Kmart through the decades.
The image is being used for fair use purposes only. All rights reserved byKaizenVerdant
Does anyone remember the original blue light specials at K-Mart?
When least expected, the blue light (a mobile police light) would light up at a specific section of the store where a discount was being offered. Simultaneously, the speakers would be blaring "attention Kmart shoppers" . . . announcing what the special was, directing customers to the flashing blue light.
Actually, the phrase "attention Kmart shoppers" is part of American pop culture history. Did you know it was included in the movies Troop Beverly Hills, Six Days Seven Nights and Beetlejuice?
The original marketing plan of the Blue Light Special was first introduced in 1965 and was retired in 1991. Various marketing campaigns using the phrase have come and gone, but none of the revivals had the excitement of the original concept at the peak of Kmart's success.
Who's The Boss was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1980's,
winning multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards.
The sitcom broadcast from 1984-1992
with the same cast . . .
Tony Danza, Judith Light, Alyssa Milano,
Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond
We loved watching the perils of the male housekeeper and
the workaholic woman he was employed by. Together, along with
her mom Mona, they struggled with the difficulties of raising
children, dealing with everyday ups and downs of life, death
and of course my favorite part, romance.
Tony Micelli, a widower and retired professional baseball second baseman, wanted a better life for his daughter Samantha . . . away from Brooklyn.
They ended up in the yuppie community of Fairfield, Connecticut where Tony accepts a job as a live-in housekeeper for Angela Bower, a divorced advertising executive with a son Jonathan.
Her mother Mona could have possibly been the first "cougar woman" portrayed on television . . . quite unusual for those times. The powers that be took much liberty and sexual innuendo with this character and her men friends who ranged from preppy college age hotties to silver haired foxes.
Mona was my favorite character!
Throughout the course of the eight seasons, there were hints of mutual attraction between Tony and Angela, although they dated others and denied their feelings for each other for many years. What developed through the years was an awesome friendship . . . they were best friends and relied on each other for emotional support. In my opinion, it was a wonderful message of the "friends first" mentality.
In the final season, they enjoy a whirlwind romance that continued until the close of the sitcom . . . leaving the audience to wonder . . . and possibly open the door for another sitcom at another time.
The Nanny's theme song, "The Nanny Named Fran", which was written and performed by Ann Hampton Callaway, replaced the former theme song in syndicated reruns of the pilot episode.
"The Nanny" Promo Video
The Nanny is an American television sitcom first aired from November 3, 1993, to May 12, 1999, and starred Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish Queens native who becomes the nanny of three children from the New York/British upper class.
Fran Drescher created and was executive producer, taking much of its inspiration from her personal life, involving characteristics based on friends and friends, including Fran Fine's parents, Sylvia and Morty, and grandmother Yetta, who all were named after their real-life counterparts.
The show earned a Rose d'Or and one Emmy Award, out of a total of thirteen nominations, and Fran Drescher was twice nominated for a Golden Globe as well as for an Emmy. The sitcom has also served as inspiration for several foreign adaptations.
Funny moments from "The Nanny"
During it's six-season run, The Nanny maintained the same core characters, although a large number of guest stars and recurring characters were introduced through the years.
Early The Nanny episodes were shot in front of a live studio audience on Stage 6 at the Culver Studios, however, during later seasons the taping was no longer performed before an audience.
My favorite running gag of the show was Fran lying about her age . . . followed by Maxwell's rivalry with Broadway producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sylvia's obsession with food and Fran's obsession with Barbra Streisand.
In my opinion, the best storyline was the season 3 finale where Maxwell tells Fran he loves her, but takes it back in the Season 4 premiere.
The sitcom is currently in syndication on TV Land.
