The Retro Dad

Friends, family, and acquaintances know that I absolutely love bratwurst and sausages.  That being said, I wonder if they know I love it so much.. that Johnsonville sends me holiday greeting cards, showers me with gifts like coupons for free meats and sausages, and considers me part of their "Sausage Family"? Thank you Johnsonville.  It's an honor to be taken into your fold!   Here's to another great year of barbecues, snacks, and meals with you guys! 

What a blast from the past!  I came across these rubber coin purses at the souvenir shop at Mount Rushmore recently.. I haven't seen (or noticed) these things in stores since I was a kid.  I along with many of my friends used to carry these around in the 70s and 80s.  I personally liked how they kept all of my change as well as various boyhood items like firecrackers, arcade tokens, and Cracker Jack toys neatly contained.  For us kids, these coin purses were a Godsend, because change wouldn't fall out of our pockets when we were running, biking, or sitting down. The coin purse was created back in 1951, and was quite popular for the next three or four decades.  They were handed out as freebies by supermarkets, liquor stores, restaurants, banks, and many other types of businesses.  My prized coin purse had print on it which made it look like an orange football.  My dentist gave me one once that was red with a set of white teeth printed on it, w...

I saw some great stuff during my last retro treasure hunt in the local thrift stores and flea markets.  A lot of it brought back some great memories.  Behold..  GIZMO! Pure 80s pop culture goodness Vintage Pluto Drinking glass   I've always liked the old style shabbier looking Pluto Men's Grooming set There was a time when just about every male owned one of these. Mid 80s TV Guide Hey.. that cat in the middle looks like MARIO Muffet the Daggit Battlestar Galactica action figure I had one of these little guys back in 1978 Reba McEntire album Dig that perm! Harper Valley P.T.A. was a mega hit back in 1968.  There was also a follow up song made in 1981 that didn't do much on the charts.  The original song was the inspiration for a 1978 movie, as well as a 1981 television series starring Barbara Eden. This reminds me of a time when about all of my friends had cookie jars in their ...