Reminiscing About Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving doesn't hold a special place in my heart anymore and that's really sad. I really try to make things special for my kids but I just don't have the heart to do it anymore. I still try though every year and I force myself that nothing is going to be the way is was again. I hate the fact that I'm a depressing person but I try to make the best of things. The Holidays are kind of rough around here because the Holidays was my grandma's "thing" and she's been gone for years now. My Gran loved and breathed Christmas. We always had almost every Holiday there was at my Gran's house. Although she had rheumatoid arthritis and had crooked feet from it, some how a miracle occurred on the Holidays, (Especially Christmas), and she moved around like an Olympic gold metalist. Every Holiday all the family would meet up at my grandma's house. Boy, I miss that lady. She wasn't the half of it though. Back then, the Holidays were special every where. The Thanksgiving sprite seemed like it was all November long in school.(Well, the elementary school anyway.) We would trace our hands and then color to transform them to turkeys. In art class we would draw full face pilgrims with pastels that would later be hung on the hallway walls so we would pass them in our line to lunch and point out which one was ours. We even did a Thanksgiving play one year when half the class was pilgrims and the other half was Indians. I, of course, protested against being a Pilgrim when I was nominated one by our teacher. Being a Pilgrim meant you had to wear a cut out top hat that we made in class and you had to be all boring. Indians, on the other hand, were the fun, crazy bunch that got to wear a cardboard head band that was stapled together with colored feathers glued on. I was one spoiled little bitch so I was able to convince the teacher to let me be a Pilgrim. At home my mom would start to hang up paper Thanksgiving window clings in the shapes of turkeys, Pilgrims, and fruit baskets. Usually the night before Thanksgiving was a great night for TV for us kids because they always had some kind of Thanksgiving special on. One I remember was Bugs Bunny Thanksgiving Diet that always had those "Bugs Bunny Thanksgiving Diet is brought to by Mcdonald's.." voice overs. Even those commercials are something that sticks to my memory. Almost every commercial during intermission was Christmas related just adding to the excitement that the Holiday that counted most was right around the corner now! Another Holiday favorite of mine was Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Charlie Brown invites his crew over for dinner but they end up bashing the old blockhead because his dog made a ghetto Thanksgiving dinner that consisted of sandwiches, popcorn, pretzels, and these round colorful things. I didn't understand what everyone's problem was? I thought Snoopy made a awesome meal. It was those colorful round things in the dish that caught my young. I wasn't exactly sure that they were but I figured they had to be jelly beans. Then the day of Thanksgiving came upon us.  If we would get there early the whole house would smell like cooking food and the Macy's Day parade would be on some where in the house. I remember walking in one year and telling my Aunt that my eyes hurt because I had just got done playing 99 straight rounds of Bubble Bobble that morning. My eyes were very painful and I still to this day can't beat that damn game. Although Thanksgiving was a great excuse to get a few days off from school for me but I have to admit that I loved going to my Gran's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I say "dinner" but it was more like lunch really. We always started eating around one o' clock I think. My Gran's feast was so big though that you really didn't have to eat for the rest of the week if you didn't want to. Gran was my mom's mother and my mom's whole side of the family is Italian, (That's where I got my disgustedly love for food at I guess.), so we had to have ravioli's before the turkey. My dad was Irish and German leaving me only half Italian and I am far from being a "Maria." I completely take after my dad's side even with the light hair and green eyes. Maybe that's why I never cared for Italian food then. Every one at the table every year used to look at me like I just grew another nose just because I didn't want to eat my ravioli's . I couldn't resist the turkey though. Even as a four year old kid I had to have the drumstick. It reminded of some cartoon where they were sitting around a table eating chicken legs and ripping the meat right off the bone. {I think it was from a scene in "Sword in the Stone"}  Some how even after the "dinner" we managed to eat dessert. I miss those times. Today as I sat and looked at my children I saw me in each one of their little faces. Although the Holidays don't feel as special to me anymore, especially since my Gran died, I try to make it special for them. Who knows, maybe when they are in their thirties they will reminisce back on when they were little on their online blogs just as I am doing now.  

McRib For The First Time!

  There's a lot of things I used to love as a kid but grew out of a long time ago. I replaced my love for Debbie Gibson and New Kids On The Block with Nicki Minaj or Sublime. I used to be a very shy and quiet kid where as now I am big mouth that cusses like a sailor. I may not be twirling in circles until I fall down anymore like I used to but there's one thing that will never change, my love for Mcdonald's. I always adored Mcdonald's. Grant it though I wish Mcdonald's was still the same as years ago with fun birthday parties and dangerous playground equipment, but I will forever be okay with the fact that their food no matter how ghetto thick my ass gets. I recall seeing the commercials for the McRib when it first came out. At first I could care less because I was still in my "Gimme my happy meal already so I can go play in the giant Big Mac head" phase.(Remember those giant Big Mac Climbers in the playground?) As I got older though I began to see the McRib in a new light and thought, "Damn, that looks pretty good." This was during the time when that McRib and Mcdonald's was tied together to that stupid "Flintstones" movie. Then it disappeared for a really long time with me still never tasting it. Supposedly McRib came back every once in a while but I never seen it. It was probably because I really don't watch T.V anymore except for Law and Order here and there. Just last week though as I watched my Discovery I.D channel, (Okay, I admit I'm hooked on the gore), and I seen a commercial for the return of the McRib. The commercial itself actually made me nauseous as it showed different people eating their McRib sandwiches which BBQ sauce dripping off their faces. Call me picky but I don't find people licking barbecue sauce off their finger tips appetizing. Either way I did manage to sit through the whole thing and was able to heard over my gagging "McRib is back for a limited time." I had to get one and today was my lucky day. I ordered my McRib but I didn't eat it until thirty minutes later when I got back home. I was all excited until I opened it and since there was onions and pickles. I had never seen the inside of a McRib unless it was many years ago on a commercial that I blocked from my memory. Every time I get a Mcdonald's sandwich the first thing I do is remove the pickle. I just don't like the taste nor the crunching noise while I'm eating my Cheeseburger. Onions in their sandwiches are okay as long as they are diced like the ones inside double cheeseburgers. Those long ones they throw inside the Quarter Pounder are a big no, no for me. They're just too fat and big and remind me of worms, so they get scrapped right out of my Quarter Pounder as well. After disposing of the onions and pickles it was now the moment of truth and the McRib was ready to be eaten. All and all it was pretty good! The only disappointment for me was that the sandwich still had a pickle taste to it but it was my own fault for letting the pickle saturate into the meat for so long.
 My only regret is that I hadn't tried it sooner. I think it's going to be a very McRiby week though because they are only selling them until December 5th, leaving me about a week of McRib sandwiches for lunch. Maybe for Thanksgiving tomorrow I can replace the turkey with McRib sandwiches. Oh shit, Mcdonald's is closed tomorrow for the holiday. Damn, there goes that idea. I guess I'll just have to get them whenever I can while they're still around. Here's to McRib! Long live the BBQ pork!

{My McRib with my bite mark in it}

 The sandwich itself was pretty big for $1.99 and was covered with it's tangy barbecue sauce.

Did It Happen Or Not?-(things I remember happening as kid,but not so sure it did)

{orginally posted on my "myspace #3 in Sept. of 2010}

Did you ever have something you remember happening when you were a kid but now that you're grow up you question if it really happened or not? Lately I've been having this problem & for most of these innicidents, the truth may not be ever known. See, I was an extreme daydreamer. I would constantly be stuck in a fanasty world and would be totally caught up in my mind. My daydreaming was so over the edge at times though I would get excited and lose control of my body. Without realizing it I would rock back and forth twirling my fingers while moving my lips at the same time. My mom laughs at me now remembering seeing me do this all the time while I was on the swing set. She says, "What the hell were you doing anyway?" My 1st grade teacher was frightened by it because during the parent/teacher conference he recommended I be evaluated by the child study team because as he quoted, "She does this weird thing with her hands." I can laugh on this now but back then it was really embarrassing when I was seen doing this. So now that I am some what of a normal adult I think back on things I remember seeing or happening but I wonder if it was just a figment of my ?....Or did it imagination really happen?

Incident One: "The Easter Bunny"
    To this day, I swear that I seen this. At the time it happened I only told my mom right after I seen it, but I haven't spoke on this until a few years ago. My mom still thinks I crazy for saying that I seen the Easter bunny. It probably was just a really vivid dream but god damn I'm telling you it seemed as real as day. Even now! I'm starting to convince myself that it was someone dressed in a bunny costume & was terrorizing the neighborhood. I started thinking that maybe someone was trying to break into my house, but then why the hell would they do that wearing a bunny costume? I really think I did see it & the only explanation I can come up with is that it was a teenager dressed in a costume doing it for laughs. I remember like it was yesterday. Back then, our living room is where my bedroom is now. Our green couch is exactly where my bed is now. That one night before Easter I was laying on that green couch watching TV like I normally did in those days. I'm pretty sure it was the Bugs Bunny Easter Special that was on. I laid there in all of our television set while my mother stood in the next room talking on the phone most likely to my grandmother. I don't know why I got up to look but I did. The living room had all these big windows around it including the two located behind the couch I was laying on. When got up I just pulled open the blind & looked down for some reason. That's when I saw it. Big white rabbit feet. I moved my eyes up to see the rest, ...the white bunny body and stopping at the neck where there was a blue bow tie around it. I jumped back down on the couch. I was too scared to look at the rabbits face but I was sure it was the Easter bunny. Now only was it right outside the window but it was standing a half a foot away from the window & staring directly at me. I screamed for my mom who poked her head around the corner still yapping away on the phone. I told her the that the Easter bunny was right out the window & she told me it was a dream & no one was there. She went back to her phone call but I remember the terror as I laid there & wondering if that rabbit was still there watching me. My mom still says it was a dream though it could have been I really don't think so. And unless a burglar in a bunny costume steps forward, I may never know the truth.





Incident #2: "The Magic Priest"
This I must admit, I believed for years until I realized it was impossible. Sometimes as children we perceive things wrong & I think that's what I must have done in this case.  I used to be some what of a catholic back in the day & one that was forced to go to Sunday School & Church. Once again it was the Easter Holiday, Holy Saturday the day before Easter to be exact, & I was dragged to St. Joes Church by mom on that religious day. (Now a days my mom's a bigger agnostic then me by the way) I was real little at this time, probably about 4 or so, because I remember my brother being an infant in my mom's arms. I was bored out of my mind & couldn't keep my attention on the priest who was wearing a white robe. I drew my attention to the floor when suddenly I heard the entire congregation laughing. I looked up & saw the priest coming out of a cloud of smoke with a designed purple robe on now. He had a huge smile on his face & he had his arms open wide, almost like that "tah-dah" pose. I thought what I saw was the priest do a magic trick, coming out of a proof of smoke now in a brand new fancy robe & the audience laughed at the priest's magic "joke." For years I believed this & when I brought it up to my mom she said, "That never happened." What I really believe was I must have been staring at the floor longer then what I thought & while I was admiring the tiles the priest must have changed robes. Technically what the priest wears is called a "vestment" & the purple robe is normally worn during lent which I just learned. The priest had probably been swinging a thurible burning incense or myrrh inside which is a normal ceremony in catholic church on Easter. That would explain the smoke and the robe change but what about the laughter? He had most likely just got done adding a little humor to his sermon, that's all. That's what I believe happened now. It's just funny how real it seemed when I remember it.


Incident Three:(TK from Philly 57)
My final questioned memory for this time lies with something I know I saw & not just once, but a many of times. Growing in NJ we had a TV station WGBS-TV called "Philly 57", now known as The CW. The station used to play all kinds of old reruns but after school was the time when the cartoons would come playing. They had some great shows like Dennis the Menace, Dinosaucers, Smurfs, ....all the great ones. They also played endless hours of black & white craziness on the Twilight zone marathons) Anyway, during one of the kids commercial breaks there used to be this talking creature,( is the best way to describe him I guess), puppet named T.K. He was a grayish blue color and had big ears, antennas, but he kind of looked like a monkey. One thing I remember clearly is he would come on once a day & would sing a happy birthday song as the names ,ages, locations, and birthdays of boys & girls would roll up on the screen. I always wanted to send my name in so T.K could sing that birthday song to me & show my name for a split second but for some reason T.K didn't hang around for two long. I still remember the birthday song he sang that went, "Happy happy birthday, are you happy it's your birthday? WE ARE! That's why we're singin' happy birthday to you" The same lyrics would repeat over & over again until the last kid's name would rise off the screen & then there would be a close up on T.K who would giggle & blink his eyes until the picture faded off. I want to remember T.K being some sort of Philly 57 mascot for kids & doing more on that station then just the birthday wishes but I can't remember much more. I've searched on youtube from time to time for any sign of T.K & surfed the web to end up empty handed when it comes to that blue furry puppet. Was it all my imagination? This one wasn't, ...I'm sure of it. I know at one time I even had the ending of the birthday wishes recorded on a VHS tape that ended up getting lost or recorded over. I know it was real but it would have just been nice to have some kind of proof.


Many more things that I question are in my head...I'll have to save them for next time.

80's child in South Jersey Wonderland-{Toni's Custard,Hagerty's xmas Display,Tom's Garden World}

Some people who know me are totally in shock that I still live in the same old house in the same old place  but I do. The same old state of New Jersey, the same old freaking boring as hell town of Hammonton, and our same old red house that is started to fall apart with help of my three children who are busting down the walls from the inside out. I don't mind it much anymore but it has been a sad sight to see some of my favorite places from my childhood disappear one at a time and reappear with a brand new space. I really hate change but hey, it's a part of life. Here's a few memories from the dirty South,(South Jersey that is), that I love to remember and wish were still here.

"Toni's Custard"

Toni's outside sign facing the road

inside Toni's

 When we were kids, if we talked our mom into taking us to go get custard, we knew that Toni's Custard is where we would end up at. We usually never went inside Toni's which was a little restaurant, we normally went to the outside walk up window & ordered ice cream. There is where I would wait for my ice cream on round white cement tables that were always cold which helped out my ass on hot summer days. When we went on the weekdays it was almost always right before dark since we had to wait for my mom to get home from her job. During those late days we would sit next to a big bug zapper and get to watch moths being fired right before our eyes with that eery electricity snap noise that came with their death. Adding to the eeriness was the only neighbor's house just up about 100 feet more or less.

{overview of Toni's-the "Freddy" bus was a little to the back right in the grass}


I went to school with the girl who lived in that house. She was one of the popular kids and made my school life a torment on some days. However, one summer as we road the bus home from our daytime summer camp the bus started to stop to let the girl off at that house and all the other kids noticed a white, abandoned, broken down bus off to the back in her back yard. Before getting off the bus she gladly informed us all that Freddy Kruger lived inside that scary as all hell bus which remained a true rumor from therefore. I think that it had used to be the bus for the blueberry pickers since they owned a blueberry farm. (Our town was and still is famous for it's blueberries. I mean, how stupid is that?) Back then though Freddy Kruger was real and I truly believed he lived in that bus. The bus itself was so creepy with it's broken windows, not to mention school buses where supposed to be yellow not white! There was no way in hell that Freddy wouldn't have passed up on that opportunity to settle in such creepiness. Even after we got our cones we would try to tip toe as close as we could to get a better glance inside the bus. Another thing I loved about Toni's was the sign on the top of their roof that bared a little cartoon man with a sombrero holding a giant chicken leg. The place itself was awesome and was the best place to get my chocolate ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. Unfortunately though after years of Toni's Custard and the freaky bus next door remaining they faded away. Eventually the bus was removed first, then Toni's disappeared and is now some other resturant probably with their new owners.
 

"Hagerty's Xmas Display in NJ"

Do you remember how magical Christmas was when you were a kid? I sure as hell do! Almost everything that had to do with Christmas was pure magic. This one attraction that I saw every year had such a profound impact on me that I still remember it to this day. My dad,(who was the coolest dad in the world), took me to this place every Holiday season even after he and my mom divorced. We would get into his car, which was most likely filled with second hand smoke clouds, and we would drive about forty minutes away. When we got there and seen this place it was like a kid's winter wonderland come true. The house, walk way, and yard was filled with Christmas lights and displays.There was a pathway that led toward the back of the house to a garage. This was my favorite part because I thought the pathway had lollipop lights on the edge of the sidewalk. Absolutely awesomeness isn't the word. (Actually it isn't a word!) Inside the garage was this huge collage display that you could stare at for hours and you still wouldn't catch every detail within. The theme I believe was manager where Jesus was born and it involved every mini piece of whatever that they could find to put in it. I know there was a lot of animals stuffed into the display from what memory serves. But now the greatest part. I did a little research and I believe I found my magical winter wonderland and from the looks of it, it may still be there! From the online article I read, the home is located in Pitman. N.J. and the family is known as "The Hagerty's". From the photos I found, this has to be the spot! I even found the lollipop lights that I thought I dreamt up on the site! The really great news is the post was from 2009 only a year ago. I'm hoping that the Hagerty's will do the display tradition again this year, making it a new tradition for me to bring my children to see and show them just how magical the holidays can be.

"Tom's Garden World"
Okay, so the last one put me in a Christmasy mood and got me to remember Tom's Garden World during Christmas time. Tom's always had an awesome Christmas display. Their front doors would be showered with white twinkle lights.  I can't even begin to describe the inside of the store. During Christmas they had every kind of yard display imaginable for the holiday. I believe they had a section that had all kinds of movable displays, like a waving Santa and a rocking Mrs. Claus, and they were fairly new back in those days giving everyone something to point at. I can't remember each and every detail but I do know that they're set up was off the hiz-ook! Tom's went under a few years back and now there's some kind of bullshit offices or something boring there in it's place. Change should be a four letter word sometimes.


At least I had an opportunity to get to be at these places though and that I am grateful for.


What Tom's looks like now



Big League Chew Is Alive and Well!(and it didn't even go anywhere!)

Big League Chew was a must for kids back in the 80's. I stand guilty on forgetting all about that childhood necessary. I have Peter Griffen from Family Guy to thank for the reminder as on an episode of the show, after Brian has a maniac outburst due to cocaine use, the family grows quiet until Peter replies, "You know what I haven't had in a while? Big League Chew." Not only do I owe the show for making me laugh again until it hurts, I have Peter to thank for ignoring Brian's drug drama and bringing up the gum, allowing me to say to myself, "Oh yeah...Big League Chew!" I had no idea if Big League Chew was still around or if it was buried along side of Gatorade Gum mainly because I was not paying attention for one, and for two I had put that memory on the back burner. Shortly after watching that rerun of Family Guy, I ended up in the liquor store blocks from my home with my husband. I watched him run to his Smirnoff and vodka that he dedicates his daily routine too. I have to admit I am some what jealous of him since some days I would love to drink myself into next week but due to my medication alcohol gets me severely sick. It's such a shame because I could always slam 3 pints of Kaiser Vodka straight like it was nothing and I am not bluffing either. I just always over did things when it came to chemicals. Besides a couple first shots and vodka was like drinking water to me. Though now there are days when I can't even drink half of a Mike's Hard lemonade and that's really sad. So I turned away from the alcohol on the shelves in shame and went up to the front counter waiting for my husband, admitting my defeat. Of course my head was down during that dark moment which is how I seen Big League Chew on the bottom of a small shelve of candy display that was  attached to the front register I picked it up it all it's glory and flashed it in front of my husband who could care less about it unless it was laced with Yukon Jack. I hurried up and bought it just in fear that it was only a short comeback and that it would be disappeared from shelves soon. Well, I'm not only a retired drinker but I'm also stupid. After doing a little online research I found out that Big League Chew never went any where! Maybe I was just too busy before with buying Kaiser's vodka to have the time to look for BLC. That fault was mine but at least now I know it's still here; and to know that another aspect of my childhood is still around is way better than any alcohol buzz I could ever get. (Well....maybe.) 

My Favorite 80's Toys* {Kuddlee Uglies}

Back in the 80's all the way up until around 1992 or so, I loved my toys. Like most kids though, I had my favorites like the ones I am going to tell you about now.

"Kuddlee Uglies"

Me, my brother, & my cat oreo with a Kuddlee Uglie

Up until now I never knew these guys had a "real" name. I ended up with a little collection after I went over one of my Bff's house and seen she had one of them. Of course I had to over do things and one would just not do, so I got as many as I could. I probably had my poor mother run out to Jamesway that same day to buy me a few. They each came with a plastic chain around their necks. Once I had a few of them, I decided that the girl monsters needed boyfriends, so I would pair them in couples.
Then they each got their own outrageous name, which explaining why I named them what I did is a story within itself. My favorite monster happened to be the first one I got. She was blue with one eye and a little pink lop sided bow. Her name was Grinjetta which I cannot take credit for giving her. That same Bff who had the monsters originally named her. (Some days I wish me and her remained friends. It's sad how some friends drift away.) Not only did my imagination allow the monster's to receive some pretty unusual names but I also gave each one their own personality. Grinjetta was a loud big mouth, out going type of girl. (Little did I know that her personality is what I grew up to become.) Now, Grinjetta's boyfriend sidekick was a pink and blue monster with horns; a shy little monster known as Wallster. I'm not quite sure on how his name was invented but I'd stretch out on a limb to say that it was reinvented from the name "Webster." Then there was the boy and girl monster pair ChimeSlimedom,(a green boy monster), and ChimeChaindom, (a purple girl monster.) Now it just seems like a bunch of mumbled ridiculous words to me but back then I had a pretty good reason to name them this. I like wind chimes, (hence the "Chime" at the beginning of their names), I liked Slime, (thank you Nickelodeon!), and they came with a chain.(that's were the "Chain" came in on the girl's name.) Those two were like Siamese twins and would get into trouble together. My brother also had a green monster identical to Chimeslimedom that we called "Slimeball." I made my brother put this little Hawiian shirt on Slimeball so he wouldn't get mixed up with my monster. I always thought that Slimeball was like my brother, kind of like someone who thinks farting is funny. I always thought as Slimeball as crude and a terror, just like my little brother. Then there was Gretan. Gretan was purple with yellow fuzzy hair that felt horrible and itchy with her bow wrapped around it. Her personality was best described as Claire from the Breakfast Club. Gretan was the monster my Bff owned which was named the same thing. So technically, yes, I stole the name. Her boyfriend was a class clown wacky monster with big ears that went by the name Tango. He got his name when I was eating Sweethearts, (you know, those heart shaped candies with sweet messages on them.) and I picked a heart that read "Take Two To Tango."  I loved Tango too because I pretended that he could fly using his big ears as wings. The final monster was a tough guy with orange fur and purple horns that I named Lighting Spark. I loved the name "Sparky" because it was the name of a villain from Mario Brothers 2  but I resorted to "Lighting Spark" because I had already named my dog "Sparky." I made Lighting Spark the leader out of the crew. The Jamesway in my town, (Hammonton, N.J.), didn't have a large quantity of merchandise so the only Kuddlee Uglies in the store I had already bought thought Lighting Spark didn't have a girlfriend. So, I added a few more "non Kuddlee Uglies" to their crew. Lighting Spark received golden Retriever for his girlfriend that had a blue ribbon and originally came in a dog house. (I guess Lighting Spark had a dog fetish.) I named the girl dog "Golden Winner" since she had a blue ribbon and she acted like a pageant model in my eyes. I'm almost sure now that Golden Winner was a "Kennel Kuddlee" which I had a few of also. I added some hard plastic monsters to my collection to when I bought two Milton Bradley T.H.I.N.G.S games. The one was a Game called Eggzilla in which there's a Godzilla looking monster and you have to put his egg back together with him inside before the timer stops, and Eggzilla pops up destroying the shell. I kept him the name of "Eggzilla" and added him to the monster family. The other T.H.I.N.G.S game was called Astro-nots and it came with a blue monster that had a small monster inside it's mouth. It kind of looked like those aliens from the movies "Aliens" and it was budattached to the side of the game. It didn't care for the game to much so I cut it free giving Eggzilla a girlfriend and a baby.(The monster inside her mouth.) I named her Deepens because I saw her coming her from "deep" within space.  It's so funny how kid's minds worked, especially mine. It amazes me even more than after a few pictures I was able to remember these things now as an adult. My collection of monsters was complete and I referred lovingly to them as "The Gang" as a whole group. I took each and every one of them everywhere with me. I loved them to death. They were my buddies and were always there for me each day. As I entered my teen years my gang was stored away into a trash barrel in our cellar which recently would flood. I believe it was during my rebellion teenage years when downers was all that mattered when my mom threw out all my childhood toys including my beloved gang. All I had left was a few pictures that I had took myself as a little girl of them posing in various poses. I had even wrote captions for each picture to try to explain them on the back of the photo. Most of the pictures came out fuzzy since I was only like an eight year old kid trying to be a photographer. I miss my little monster gang. You can imagine my surprise when my oldest came home with a Gretan monster. She found her at Goodwill and gave her to me. She was lonely so I had to find a Tango for her again. That's all I have now is the two but I'm glad I have them. Maybe one day I'll have my whole monster gang back again.


the caption on the back reads "After- "Burp!"- There was a before picture too, that I can't find,
which shows the same monsters with their drinks & food before they ate it.



Caption on the back reads "The Gang but where's Deepens?" I probably couldn't find her in time for the picture.

The Caption on the back reads "Maybe we can climb to the top of this things to reach the V.C.R! Cowabunga!"
(as if I was making the monsters speak & my grammer was bad....this should've been these) Cowabunga...there's
one I haven't heard in a while.

Caption on the back reads "The whole gang!"

Caption on the back reads "Fools in Love". I don't know understand the caption for this pic
at all now. Maybe it would have helped if I knew how to use the flash back then so I could have
actually seen the picture!

The Caption reads "Slimeball! Don't do that!" "Hee hee hee!" & there's a circle with the words snacks in it with a line through it.
I finally remembered why I wrote this. I wrote those words as if one monster is yelling at Slimeball because he put a cross through
the snacks sign, (which you can't see but do see the pen in his hands) which he did because they ate all the snacks at the snack bar...
leaving "no snacks".

Caption on the back reads "Ok now we need Robbi to pour the coffee." (the caption
was supposed to be a monster talking. I am Robbi by the way)

The picture is of my Kuddlee Uglie Tango and he's giving a (fake) flower
to my mom. The caption on the back reads "Thanks Tango" as if it were my mom
saying it. (my poor mom for having to pose for these silly pictures for me)

The picture is of Tango laying on my pillow with a Kleenex, Pepto Bismol, & some other medication things around him
including a container of "Pearle Drops" because I ran out of medication things to use. The caption on the back reads
"I knew this was going to be a bad day. I'm sick! Too much pizza at the party last night!" (what a weirdo kid I was!)

I didn't include a caption on the back of this one probably because I got really mad when I seen that it didn't
turn out at all. It was supposed to be a picture of the whole monster gang sitting on my porch, blowing bubbles. I had even
propped the monsters to hold the bubble blowers & I blew a few bubbles in the air, ran, & took the picture.

No caption on the back. Just another picture of all my monsters except for the one named Deepens. Maybe
I hadn't bought her yet?

Me,my brother, & my kitty oreo with the monster gang, including Slimeball

This was a picture of Eggzilla floating around on a tube. That green swamp was our pool believe it or not. We had those
cheap plastic pools that the water would turn green after a few weeks.