Up Your Nose, This Song Really Blows

A couple weeks ago I featured an album by John Travolta. It seems fitting I would find this 45 a week later.

Paint by Blunder

I was a fairly good artist as a kid, or at least I thought so.  I did a lot of pencil drawing, mainly of superheroes like Spider-man or my own cartoon creations. So you'd think a paint by number kit would be a cinch, even an insult to my artistic abilities.  I received one of Snoopy and Woodstock for my birthday when I was about 11.  I recall the painting had them sitting on a bench, wrapped in a  red blanket holding a flag that said "Rah".  Doing a quick Google search, I was able to identify the exact kit.

Courtesy of collectpeanuts.com

Classic Osterizer

We had a blender growing up, but I could probably count the number of times we used it on one hand.  It's always seemed like a very job-specific appliance, and of course, it is. It chops things. Or gooifies them, depending on the setting.  I've always done my chopping manually.

My wife and daughter, however, like smoothies, something we'd never heard of in my family growing up.  So we've picked up modern blenders from the store and garage sales in the past.  None survive.  The blenders made today are mostly plastic and utilize cheaply-made motors.

I came across this 1960's Osterizer Classic VIII at an estate sale a few months ago.  It was in rough condition and the motor was locked, but I liked its looks.  And when I picked it up, it weighed a ton.

Flair Fi Fo Fum

Sometimes I buy things at estate sales just because of the graphics on a package or because they trigger a particular memory. These pens had both.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

I recall seeing this toy in the Sears and J. C. Penney's Christmas catalogs of my youth. I'd always assumed it was a G. I. Joe toy made by Hasbro.

Knock Off Wars

Trips to grocery stores in my youth always included a visit to the toy aisle, pathetic limited as they were.  There you could always find cheap throwaway toys which sometimes featured non-licensed knockoffs of popular intellectual properties.  And there was no bigger target for knockoffs than Star Wars.

"Alias" Barbarino

I decided the cure for the winter doldrums was to do some gleaning of my past finds that laid dormant and push some content through (lucky you).

First up is actually a recent find from this past weekend.  I admit I bought it strictly for the sticker alone.