Breakfast with Captain Kangaroo

Children's programming has changed a lot since the '50's and '60's when Captain Kangaroo made a peaceful visit to our home each morning via television. Now it seems as though children's programs have to be packed with adventure raising the anxiety level of all in the room.

Captain Kangaroo was a calm, easy-going program. The "Kangaroo" part of the name came from those large pockets in his Captain's suit. The actor, Bob Keeshan, was only 28 years old when he started to co-produce the show. The show began it's run in 1955, when I was only a few years old, and continued into the 1980's...when I was in my 20's. So it kept not only me entertained as a child, but my brothers and sister.

In later years Sesame Street would come along and be THE show to encourage your children to watch. Other characters on Captain Kangaroo included Mr. Green Jeans; the puppet, Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose with his knock-knock jokes and ping-pong ball shower. The Magic Drawing Board and many other features made the show what it was, quiet entertainment to watch with breakfast and get the day started on a peaceful note.

When Moms Had Time to Make Upside Down Cake

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Private Selection. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember the first time we had an upside down cake when I was a girl.  Just the idea of such a cake sounded fun, and easy to make.  You arranged the topping for the cake on the bottom of the pan before pouring on the batter.  After baking, you carefully turned the pan upside down, and voila, you had a delicious and hopefully attractive cake!  Probably the most popular upside down cake we ate was Pineapple Upside Down Cake. 

I'm not very fond of baking, so most of my cake memories were those prepared by my mom and relatives in the past who spent lots of time in the kitchen.  So being able to purchase a cake, whether for dessert for our family, or for a special occasion or pot-luck dinner at our church is always a treat...not only for me, but for the poor folks who might have to eat a cake by a non-baker like myself.
So, that leads us to a nice source for upside down cakes, and a way to get a Private Selection Upside Down Cakes coupon to buy a cake for your next dessert for special occasions.  You'll want to get ahold of a coupon at the previous link, and now I have to give you a disclaimer that will also provide information about use of the coupon:

Coupon ends 6/2/13. Official Rules. In order to load these coupons to your card, you will need to sign into your Kroger account or set up a Kroger account and enter your card number. Limit one use per digital coupon. Digital offers are not eligible on Manager's Specials, cannot be combined with manufacturer paper coupons on the purchase of a single item, and do not double. Not all items are available in all stores. A limit of 150 coupons can be loaded per household at one time.

It's easy to sign up for a Kroger account at the links provided, and the pictures of the cakes look simply delicious. There are 3 flavors, the prices are great, and friends who are unaware of the brand will think they are home-made. Look at the store locator in the left margin at the site or copy and past the following link into your browser - http://www.privateselection.com/store-locator/  Cakes are available in other stores that are part of the Kroger family as well.

Private Selection Upside Down Cakes are premium quality and taste like they are homemade because they contain the best ingredients, but you don't pay a premium price. Learn even more by visiting and liking Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Facebook, then head over to Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Pinterest.  You'll learn more at both these locations.

Some Moms are Just Amazing

It is Mother's Day again, and we spent yesterday enjoying time with my Mom to start her weekend of visits from her children.  It was a beautiful sunny day so we spent it enjoying lunch I had made and brought with me.  Then with the help of her cane and my arm we walked outside and spent some time sitting in the sun.  I haven't spent personal time with my Mom in the past year nearly as much as I used to, she is a gentle, precious, sweet woman.

I want to introduce her to you, and have done two previous writings about her.  

The first shares 7 Things I Learned to Love from Mom.  I wrote this for her for Mother's Day a couple years ago, and left it with her with a flowering plant.  

Between 4 and 5 years ago, we remembered her 80th birthday, and I wrote a recollection of events that happened the year she was born, and shared some special things about her in A Tribute To My Mom.

May I wish all those who are Moms, Grandmoms, Aunts, Woman who have cared for children in any way, a blessed Mother's Day.  I will be enjoying the day with my son, daughter and husband, and look forward to it. 

Remembering Dad and Mom in the Lawn and Gardens

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.

In the 50's and early 60's during my first years of life, we lived in a development that was typical for the time.  Cookie-cutter ranch houses with lawns and property borders marked by driveways and sidewalks.  Our front yard was 2 "squares" of green lawn surrounded by sidewalk, an invisible border between our house and the house on the right, and a strip of grass between driveways showing the property line between ours and the house on the left.  Men took care of the lawns and property, woman took care of the household. 

I recently came across an old Scotts lawn care manual that my Dad used when my parents first moved to that home just before I was born in 1951, with his hand drawn diagram of the lawn, and how the gardens would be placed.  I still have it and admit to having a tear in my eye right now at the memory...I do miss my Dad. 

When Dad did his shopping for lawn and  gardening supplies, his list might have included a very neat selection of rakes, hoes, and shovels, a seed and plant food spreader, small hand tools for the gardens and if he were alive today, I'm sure it would include Scotts Florida Select Mulch as he loved Scotts brand products.  Back then I remember him using Scotts Turf Builder and other lawn products to keep away "crab grass", as he called it.

The term "sustainable gardening" wasn't used much back then, but my family did make compost and Mom had a wonderful vegetable garden and a few flower gardens.

I wonder what my Dad would have thought of something like  Scotts Florida Select Natural Eucalyptus Mulch.  It is a sustainable product of Florida and favored over using Cypress to make the mulch as Eucalyotus re-grows much more quickly.  It is amazing how far we have come in the variety of mulches that are now available.

For example, the Scotts Nature Scapes mulch products are wonderful for gardens because they keep down weeds and provide moisture which cuts down on water usage which is so beneficial ecologically and during seasons of dought.  The Nature Scapes mulches also come in pretty colors, such as Sierra Red, Deep Forest Brown, and Classic Black for pretty landscaping.  I'm sure my Dad would have loved these things.

Image Info: Photos above were taken by me and are copyrighted, and yes, you are seeing 3 bear cubs walking past the gardens on my front lawn following Momma bear who is ahead of them crossing the road to the woods...the photos are humble but copyrighted, if you choose to use any, make sure to leave a link back to this post.  Thanks!

Vintage Tin Lunch Boxes

I can remember the square, metal lunchbox that I carried to school as a child with whatever cartoon or movie character was popular at the time decorating the outside, as well as the thermos inside. 


I remember how important it was to carry that lunch box and handle the thermos with care.   If you dropped it, the glass-lined thermos would break and little pieces of glass would spoil the milk inside.  Heaven forbid a child would ever carry one of those today, but somehow we survived.  Every child was encouraged to drink milk, as it built strong bones.  Between milk and Wonder Bread used to make my sandwiches which claimed to build "strong bodies in 12 ways", I am sure my Mom thought she was doing wonders for me when she made sandwiches and filled my thermos each day.

When you opened the lunch box, the thermos was held in place by a metal clasp, if it hadn't broken off, holding the thermos in place so that it didn't crush your sandwich that was wrapped in waxed paper or foil, or bruise your apple or banana.

Some days, opening the box would bring forth delicious smells, like when my Mom would make me one of my favorite sandwiches, bologna and mustard.  Peanut Butter and Jelly, I can distinctly remember that smell, but it wasn't one of my favorites because it was such a common lunch.  Tuna sandwiches, that's a smell I could do without. But after a long time of use, the smells seemed to blend together and become one with the lunch box, and it was about then that it was time to get a new one.

And the thermos, do you remember screwing off the first top, which would serve as your cup, and then the little stopper top that screwed off?  And if you hadn't dropped your lunchbox or thermos, you could safely drink whatever was inside.   When the thermos was clean, the glass inside looked shiny and had a mirror-like surface, remember?  I can't tell you how many of these I broke! Too many, so happy that my children had plastic when I raised them.

You can find some vintage and vintage style tin lunch boxes at this link.

Image Credit: Someone was selling the item pictured on ebay at one time. It's from 1959, I guess I would have been in about 2nd grade when it was made? Gunsmoke was so popular then, that I wouldn't be surprised if I was sitting next to students who carried this vintage metal lunch box.

How to Download VIPRE Anti-Virus Software

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Vipre. All opinions are 100% mine.

In the past month, I've come through what I thought would be a major computer disaster.  The hard drive in my computer died, and I lost everything as far as I know.  I'm happy to say that I'm typing on that same laptop right now, and being not very techie, feel proud of myself because I fixed my computer myself.  Rather than purchasing a new laptop, I decided to first try buying a refurbished hard drive for under $40, install it, and then use the restore disc that came with my laptop over 6 years ago to set it to what it was when first purchased.  It worked!

In the midst of all of this, which involves a lot of uploading programs and updating, I was introduced to a Vipre Internet Security program at vipreantivirus.com. This is a anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall etc., program, but the thing that interested me most was the fact that it automatically patches out of date software, a common cause of computer viruses. 

The program is very easy to install, first you have to visit the VIPRE Internet Security site, and go to the download tab along the top of the page, and when you do you'll reach a page like the following:

Follow the instructions which are the same as you see above to save the file in a folder on your computer, or on the desktop as I often do if I'm not sure whether I'll be keeping a file.

Next you will be clicking on the file as pictured above if you are using Firefox, or at the location where you have saved the file on your computer. You will probably receive a prompt like the one below, just do what is instructed to proceed.

Then you will take the following steps:

That is all there is too it! 

If you take the opportunity to try this award-winning program, let us know how it's working for you in a comment.

Remembering Boston Now and Then

Our hearts go out to the people of the City of Boston after yesterdays tragedy.  Is a special place to our family as it was a very short drive from my Grandparents home where we vacationed each summer as children.  It was a favorite place to visit all of my life until my Grandfather passed away and the home full of memories changed hands.  Now it has been remodeled and hardly looks like it did when we were children, but we have pictures, both tangible and in our minds, that will never be erased. 

We loved visiting Boston as children, visiting the Museum of Science with my grandfather is a very clear memory.  In my teen years I still loved spending time with my grandparents, and visiting a friend that lived down the road from them.  She knew her way around the City using buses and subways, and knew the shops, so we had fun.  

So seeing the images of explosions and injuries so shortly after they happened yesterday on the news, on a very special day celebrated annually in Boston, Massachusetts, Patriots Day, on which the Boston Marathon is run and and a Red Sox game is played, was heart wrenching and difficult.  We pray for those affected by this tragedy.

Somewhat Related Posts:

Massachusetts Only a Memory...Almost

A Family of Caregivers

Grandma's Apron

First Reel-to-Reel Tape Player and Grammy Tapes