It's a wonder to me how happy I can get just by looking at my old toys. Like Snoopy Sniffer. With his felt ears. How I loved those felt ears.
This post all started when I couldn't stand how messy my office was (okay, I admit it-- I was really procrastinating rather than working on a difficult chapter in my new book) so I decided to tackle the junk piling up.
In the junk I discovered some old pictures!
Yey, old pictures! I abandoned my cleaning straight away and sat down for a look- see.
It's Christmas of 1969. Look, I'm pulling the string of our See and Say. And there's my Barbie case! With it's plastic-y smell. I LOVED that plastic-y smell!
And look! There's my plastic-y smelling doll house on the right side of the picture, the one that had a little elevator and a wall that could be snapped shut for easy carrying around my house! I carried that thing everywhere!
Since I wasn't ready to get back to my writing, I started thinking more about that doll house. Here are the questions I pondered:
1. The house was too small for my tall Barbies. What kind of dolls lived in that house?
2. How did that elevator work? Did the elevator door snap shut? Or not?
3. Wasn't there a patio on the back from a little part of the wall that flipped open?
4. Why did all my favorite toys emit a strong plastic-y/vinyl-ish smell, and just what were those chemicals doing to my brain?
So I decided to do some research.
GUESS WHAT I FOUND ON EBAY?!!!!!
See! It's the same one in my Christmas picture! OH, the memories. I could smell the plastic-y/vinyl-ish heavenly aroma! I could see the little yellow crank that moved the elevator up and down. And the faux fireplace and the faux pond and faux walkway. And the bed that folded down! I LOVED that bed! (Here I go with the exclamation points again. Sorry. I'll try to calm myself.)
They even had a back view!! (I can't help it.)
There's the latch that you twist to let down the patio floor! And that cat in the tree and the dog in the window!
I felt such satisfaction. Such joy!
But what about the dolls that went with it? It's a Liddle Kiddle House. They must be Liddle Kiddles.
"I could get back to work," I thought, "but I will probably blog about this. I must find the dolls. For my readers' sake." (See how much I think about you people?)
Look what I found.
Liddle Kiddles!
!!!
I remember these Kologne Liddle Kiddles. (I am aware that I misspelled cologne, but that is how they spelled it. These toy makers have no respect for spelling. After all, they named it Liddle Kiddles.)
They're Kologne Liddle Kiddles because they had a scent. This one was honeysuckle, I believe.
Honeysuckle! I just blogged about honeysuckle!
I love when things come full circle. It fills some need that I have.
On my way out ebay's front door, I happened to see this beauty.
Our old chime ball for the bathtub. Do you know I still beg Sam to take a bath in the tub any time we go to my parents' house, just so I can bounce that chime ball around in the water and listen to the tinkly sounds before he gets in? (He's too big to let me stay in the bathroom while he bathes, but he does let me get the water ready. While I'm in there I play with the ball and the plastic purple cat that my mother still has that I used to bathe with. Steve, I want that cat someday. I'll fight you for it. Maybe when all the grandchildren are in their twenties Mom will let me take it home.)
The thought just occurred to me that perhaps I shouldn't reveal all this to you. That I still like to play with my old bath toys.
I'm forty three.
Oh well.
Here's something else that I probably shouldn't admit that I LOVE.
I will not explain myself.
And this.
Except I think we had a slightly older version.
Oh my gosh. I just remembered...do you know what song this teaching clock played when you wound it up?
MY GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK!
Ah, once again, I've come full circle.
(If you missed the blog on clocks and this song, you must click HERE. Otherwise you'll never see a Japanese man play the song on the slide-radish and that would be a tragedy.)
So there you have it. Happiness through old toys.
Did you have any of my same toys? Which toys were your favorites? Was your mother nice enough to give them to you, or did she hog them up for those darn grandchildren? (Grandchildren get all the fun!)
Tell me, tell me your toy stories.
(But before you do, take a look at this video. You won't believe it. The first minute is the best!)
Have a wonder-full Friday everybody!
Love, Becky
23 comments:
Becky, you can have that cat if I get the tinkly bathtub ball.
Loved the commercials - I guess we just used gravity a lot in our games - spill the beans, don't blow your top, London Bridge, last straw. And I remember thinking that your liddle kiddle house was pretty cool, especially the patio thing in back. But I wouldn't have told anyone about that - had to keep my street cred, you know.
I guess it was the whole Cold War thing. Once false move,and that's it!
I suppose I'd let you have the tinkly bathtub ball, if I get the cat. As long as I could have some supervised visitation once in a while.
Don't worry about your envy of my kiddle house. I liked your GI Joe with his fuzzy head and jointed limbs. He was tough.
Hey guys, I loved your toys too, they were so much cooler than mine. I distinctly remember hiding Steve's Pooh Bear, hoping it would be left behind for me, but oh drat! Your mom found it! Oh, the memories!!!!
OH MY! I just came from my friend Colette's blog! heh. I love your blog!@ I love France ! I live in Charleston, SC! Where are you from! This is great !
Patricia! My Tricia! I'm so glad to hear from you! I had no idea you had such fond memories of our toys and Steve's ratty Pooh bear (No offense Steve, but you loved that thing to death. Didn't it have just one eye?) Our toys were fine, but you had the best board games! Pink Panther, Clue, and most of all...Operation! I tried to buy that for Sarah (and me) one year but she said operating on people made her nauseous!
Love you!
Pam, it's great to meet you! It's wonderful to find another fan of SC, Charleston, and Colette. I love all three!
Ratty? Well, yeah. What can I say, loyalty runs deep genetically in our family, you know. I remember getting that Pooh bear out of the trash can once when Mom tried to throw him away.(The crazy loyalty thing is a Skaggs genetic trait, I guess)
Patricia, I can imagine that Mom made quite an intensive search before getting in the car for a 10 hour trip without the Pooh bear. I might have gotten just a tad cranky.
Just for you two, "all aboard for skeleton town!" You don't need toys when you've got a strange imagination.
Wow Becky,
I remember those, and the commercial.
I had a Mary Poppins doll, and a Bewitched Samantha doll, as well as the original Barbies. Wish I still had them.
Have a great weekend Becky.
Rosemary
I will never forget the Christmas joy when I got the Barbie Dream House, the Barbie sports car and the Barbie airplane. That was a good day.;-)
Hi Becky
Glad you stopped in..love the old toys too ..so cute~!!
Sniffer doggy is wonderful
hugs Patty
I had that bathtub ball! I remember a 7up truck I used to play with...it was awesome
First off - My 2-yr-old daughter took one look at the beginning of your post today (she was in my lap) and said, "I like that doggy! I want that doggy!"
Second - I was cracking up all through the post because, about three weeks ago, my sister and I were actually searching out some of our old toys on ebay while we talked on the phone to each other (we live 200 miles apart).
I had a Drowsy Doll and a Sweet April doll. One of our favorites was the HoneyHill Bunch gang, which my mom gave away, and my sister has just recently been re-buying on ebay for my daughter (the only girl out of the five children between us). I also had various Breyer horses, as well as a big black horse that we actually found by typing "big black toy horse" into ebay's search function. I'd forgotten he came with saddlebags!
Thanks for the great laugh. I'm going to email my sister a link to your blog; I know she'll appreciate it, too. Have a great weekend!
Oh Becky, what a trip down memory lane! I amd in my early 50's and never had a Barbie or doll house, but the cute Snopy Sniffer looks really familiar!
Penny
You have really posted exclusive collection of toys. Loved these!
oh, simply delightful! I had a toy clock like that too.
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment.
blessings,
Missy
You totally brought back soooo many memories for me here with your post. I had all of these except the Liddle Kiddle Kologne, but I did have other Liddle Kiddle things.
Thanks for the trip back Memory Lane!
Oh, and speaking of bath toys, did you also have "Three Men in a Tub"?
That was my ultimate fave bathtub toy! :)
xxx
Raven
no sentences or no words i get to write after i saw your blog , nice blog , i suppose are you very busy with your work ,these lines is saying by your work , nice work you have done.
keep it up in forward direction
god bless you
take care
have a good day
sweet dreams
god bless you
ypky
Steve, skeleton town was fun. We let you come along whenever we weren't sending you on wild goose chases, didn't we?
Rosemary, a Bewitched Samantha doll? How did I miss out on that? It's the best show ever!
La Belette, no fair. How did you get all three? I got the case and some barbies. I had to make my own house out of an old box. (Don't you hear my little violin?)
Patti, glad you like my sniffer dog. Much better behaved than the real one, who has at this moment a tummy ache from eating something that shouldn't be eaten. I won't go into details for your sake.
f.o.t., you have tinkly bathtub ball memories too? How wonderful!
lizr, the honeyhill bunch gang? That sounds familiar. Ah, another reason to waste time on ebay. I must investigate.
Hey Penny, nilz, Missy, and rohit! Thanks for stopping by! Glad you enjoyed the toys.
Raven, I will check out Three Men in a Tub. Yey! Thank goodness for ebay.
Wow--so many of the toys you show were ones that I not only had, but were among my favorites!!
I did a post on old toys on my art blog a few weeks ago -- as part of a toy party. So many great memories..and that plastic-y smell -- I can still smell it too!!!
Hey Becky, thanks for visiting my blog. Yours is more awesomer than mine is. I really dig the little fisher price girl on the toilet too. Cool weird toy accessories rock. You rock.
I still have my clock like that somewhere. I loved the tune it played. I also had a Liddle Kiddle, and I still love Little People! :)
Thanks for your kind visits & comments to my blog!
I'm 41 and had a lot of the same toys as you did. My parents kept a lot of my toys.
I had a couple of Liddle Kiddles and a Flatsy doll. I think that was part of the Liddle Kiddles line. She looked like a flat Liddle Kiddle. Anybody remember those?
I also had the ball, but it was never in the bathtub at my house. I had no idea it was supposed to go in the bathtub. That thing lasted until I had my first child. I remember him playing with that toy. After that, it lost it's chime.
I still have the same clock. It's really heavy! My grandson did play with it, but I remembered the lead paint thing and made him stop. It's still going strong, although you have to hit it a little to make it go. :)
Great toys, by the way! Love your post!
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