Random questions: a let's-distract-MercyA poll

[Shoeless]

Yes to candy and bubblegum cigarettes! My grandmother used to buy them for me, which infuriated my mother.

[LucyStoner]

I don’t know that I have anything that is tie dyed anymore.  My sons have periodically had to the dye stuff for school or scouts so that’s where anything I have had tends to come from.  
 

I definitely pretended to smoke candy cigarettes and chewed Big League chew when I was a kid.  I’m pretty sure they stopped making candy cigarettes when I was a kid.  There was a little corner store named VitaDels that my friend and I used to walk to and they always had candy cigarettes until one day they didn’t.  Now VitaDels is gone and the space is a Barre fitness studio.  

[Junie]

I have started to read Watership Down several times but I just can't seem to get into it.

[Wheres Toto]

5 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

In Japan our candy cigarettes were chocolate, not bubblegum. Apparently they are still sold. 

These sound like they would be tastier. 

4 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

I remember the tiny wax cola bottles with different colored sweet liquid inside. And big red wax lips. And the yummy orange slices with sugar that no longer taste anything like the vintage ones.

I had these too.  And I did chew the wax, but not for very long, it got kind of gross. 

 

I wondered if that was from Watership Down.  I read it years and years ago.  

I do wear tie-dye but not a ton.  

[Spy Car]

5 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Oh my. 

They were pure sugar. The shape and packaging made them "fun."

Just the thing for impressionable kiddos who wanted to appear as sophisticated as the adults did.

Bill

[Spy Car]

I happen to be a fan of Grateful Dead music, so when Mrs Spy Car found a tie-dyed t-shirt with a band logo in my size in a thrift shore she could not resist.

Bill

[Indigo Blue]

Does anyone remember the Astro Pops? It was a lollipop that was cone/shaped, pointy on the end, and had a layer of green, red, and yellow color. They were super sticky on your teeth. There was a layer of white wax at the base. I am quite sure those were super dangerous, but they didn’t seem to think of that then. There was something about them. I loved  those things. Oh, I found it. Here it is:

 

 

 

[Guest]

Literally am wearing tie dye right this moment. 

[Emba]

7 hours ago, wathe said:

They never went away, just got less popular. We used to get them in our Hallowe'en candy.  The tips were coloured red, to look like they were lit.

I do remember the chatter about the name change.

And though they’ve changed the name, the last ones I saw still had the red tips.

[Swimmer1112]

I have a huge stack of tie dye t-shirts from my dd, her swim team has tie dye parties before every big championship meet. 

[MercyA]

4 hours ago, Junie said:

I have started to read Watership Down several times but I just can't seem to get into it.

I understand! Not everyone's cup of tea, for sure. 🙂 

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Does anyone remember the Astro Pops? It was a lollipop that was cone/shaped, pointy on the end, and had a layer of green, red, and yellow color. They were super sticky on your teeth. There was a layer of white wax at the base. I am quite sure those were super dangerous, but they didn’t seem to think of that then. There was something about them. I loved  those things. Oh, I found it. Here it is:

Yes! I have a vague memory of liking the yellow flavor best. I googled it and apparently it was pineapple. 🙂 

I really liked these:

[MercyA]

And if I was flush with cash:

[kbutton]

8 hours ago, Farrar said:

They were weirdly not tasty at all. Just sticks of sugar essentially.

They are plain but delicious. The next closest taste is the Fun Dip sticks, but the texture is not the same.

We just bought candy sticks (no longer dyed like cigarettes) a week and a half ago. And some for my SIL. 

[MercyA]

Other dime store favorites:

 

[kbutton]

Bottle caps come in rolls now. 

[MercyA]

5 hours ago, LucyStoner said:

I definitely pretended to smoke candy cigarettes and chewed Big League chew when I was a kid.  I’m pretty sure they stopped making candy cigarettes when I was a kid.  There was a little corner store named VitaDels that my friend and I used to walk to and they always had candy cigarettes until one day they didn’t.  Now VitaDels is gone and the space is a Barre fitness studio.  

My corner store was called The News Stand and we rode our bikes there. They sold candy, cigarettes, newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, and a few adult mags of which my parents heartily disapproved. 

There was a nice little diner there before the pandemic, but they've gone out of business. 😞

[MercyA]

4 minutes ago, kbutton said:

We just bought candy sticks (no longer dyed like cigarettes) a week and a half ago. And some for my SIL. 

The last time I had them, I thought they tasted a bit like bananas. Maybe it's just me. 🙂 

[MercyA]

9 hours ago, Amy in NH said:

Can you send someone to the health-food store for some red raspberry leaf tea?  Must be real leaf, and not flavored.  It works like a charm to cure cramps.  It will curdle milk, but you can add sweetener (although it's already pretty sweet on its own).

I bought some Traditional Medicinals raspberry leaf tea (100% raspberry leaf, nothing else added) and it really seemed to help! Thanks! 

It did not curdle my almond milk creamer, which is interesting, because other teas do curdle it.

[Serenade]

8 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

And now I apparently have to re-read Watership Down since I didn't remember that at all. I think I read that book when I was 10ish.

 

I read it the summer after 6th grade.  My mom read it, too, and we had all kinds of inside jokes from that book.  I have not read it since, but it's on my shelf, and maybe this is the summer to re-read it. 

[Toocrazy!!]

I saw candy cigarettes last week in Texas. Thought it was just a Texas thing, because I haven’t seen them anywhere else in years. 
Totally had big league chew. My grandpa even made me try the real stuff once. And learn to spit it off the porch. Gross!

[Indigo Blue]

@MercyA...the gold nugget gum! I had forgotten those!

[prairiewindmomma]

10 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

And now I apparently have to re-read Watership Down since I didn't remember that at all. I think I read that book when I was 10ish.

 

I handed the book to dd12 a few weeks ago, and she handed it back a day later, refusing to read any more. *sigh*

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, MercyA said:

I bought some Traditional Medicinals raspberry leaf tea (100% raspberry leaf, nothing else added) and it really seemed to help! Thanks! 

It did not curdle my almond milk creamer, which is interesting, because other teas do curdle it.

I do really well with RRL too.  It has high amounts of magnesium and calcium and other minerals. If I were to guess, the magnesium is what gave you ease. You might try some epsom salts in a bath as well.

[klmama]

Someone mentioned pop rocks.  What made them sizzle like that?

[Wheres Toto]

9 hours ago, MercyA said:

And if I was flush with cash:

 

9 hours ago, MercyA said:

Other dime store favorites:

 

I LOVE Bottle Caps and Fun Dip, which you can still find, and Wacky Wafers, which you generally can't.   Pure sugar goodness.  (that makes my bones and joints ache these days).    Gold nugget gum was something we bought from rest stops on road trips. 

9 hours ago, kbutton said:

Bottle caps come in rolls now. 

And just aren't the same. 

5 hours ago, klmama said:

Someone mentioned pop rocks.  What made them sizzle like that?

Citric Acid and baking soda. 

[wintermom]

We had Popeye candy 'sticks' in Canada so at least the package didn't look exactly like a cigarette pack. They tasted horrible - not 'tasty' as the label suggests. 😉   Anyone remember the gross tasting licorice pipes?

Edited May 24, 2021 by wintermom

[Danae]

5 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

 

I LOVE Bottle Caps and Fun Dip, which you can still find, and Wacky Wafers, which you generally can't.   Pure sugar goodness.  (that makes my bones and joints ache these days).    Gold nugget gum was something we bought from rest stops on road trips. 

And just aren't the same. 

Citric Acid and baking soda. 

I saw Wacky Wafers at a retro candy store about a year ago.  I bought ten packs.  My kids thought I was nuts.  

[Terabith]

15 hours ago, MercyA said:

And if I was flush with cash:

My 16 year old loves Fun Dip!  It's definitely still around!

[Lady Florida.]

I didn't see this yesterday so I hope you're not still having cramps today @MercyA. That's one thing I don't miss now that I'm on the other side of that time of life. 

No to tie dye - not even in the 70s when it first was a thing.

I have no idea what silflay is. Had to google it. Apparently the word means "to eat outdoors". Um, that's al fresco. 😄

Yes to candy cigarettes. the stick kind named below. First we "smoked" them, they we just gobbled them up. Sugar sticks. Yum!!

Sadly, I was an actual smoker for a portion of my adulthood, though it's been more than 20 years since I quit. When I was in college trying to stay awake studying for exams, my roommate said when her boyfriend felt sleepy he smoked a cigarette. We tried that (along with buckets of ice tea since neither of us liked coffee back then). After exams were over, we were smokers. We didn't realize what we were doing. 😞 

On 5/23/2021 at 1:13 PM, Amy in NH said:

 The other was a thin candy stick that was pink in the middle with a white outer layer, and they came in boxes like cigarettes.

[MercyA]

Still feeling pretty terrible. The weird thing is I've had no bleeding at all. But they are definitely uterine cramps. Is this a menopause thing?

Everything helps a little--ibuprofen, red raspberry tea, etc., but nothing really totally knocks it out for long.

Thanks, all, for humoring and distracting me!

[Corraleno]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

Still feeling pretty terrible. The weird thing is I've had no bleeding at all. But they are definitely uterine cramps. Is this a menopause thing?

Everything helps a little--ibuprofen, red raspberry tea, etc., but nothing really totally knocks it out for long.

Thanks, all, for humoring and distracting me!

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this, Mercy.

FWIW, naproxen (Aleve) is much more effective for menstrual cramps than ibuprofen or tylenol. It works best if you start taking it at the very first sign of cramps, but if you wait until the cramps are pretty bad, you can safely combine it with tylenol to get ahead of the pain, and then go back to just Aleve. When I was younger I had such severe cramps that I would miss a day or two of school every month, all through HS and college. Then in grad school a female doctor gave me a prescription for naproxen (which was not available OTC at the time) and it literally changed my life. Nothing else came close for effectiveness, and not only did it work for cramps, it worked against the whole package of symptoms (nausea, cold sweats, GI issues, dizziness, etc).

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this, Mercy.

FWIW, naproxen (Aleve) is much more effective for menstrual cramps than ibuprofen or tylenol. It works best if you start taking it at the very first sign of cramps, but if you wait until the cramps are pretty bad, you can safely combine it with tylenol to get ahead of the pain, and then go back to just Aleve. When I was younger I had such severe cramps that I would miss a day or two of school every month, all through HS and college. Then in grad school a female doctor gave me a prescription for naproxen (which was not available OTC at the time) and it literally changed my life. Nothing else came close for effectiveness, and not only did it work for cramps, it worked against the whole package of symptoms (nausea, cold sweats, GI issues, dizziness, etc).

Thank you! I had my husband run out and get some naproxen last night because I remembered someone here saying it was more effective than ibuprofen. 

Definitely feels just like the endo pain I had in my 20's. Vomiting, too, from the pain, just like back then (sorry if TMI). Yay perimenopause. 😉 I will double up on painkillers tonight.

[HSmomof2]

My sister, cousins and I ‘smoked’ candy cigarettes—both the gum and white sticks types, chewed Big League Chew, ate the ‘tobacco’ beef jerky, had the wax lips. These were all very popular in the early/mid 1980’s. We also had bubble gum cigars. None of us ever became smokers or tobacco chewers.😂
 

The candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigars are still available at a little candy store in Seaside, OR. My kids have ‘smoked’ them every time we go there.....and I always buy myself a couple boxes as well. 

[bookbard]

We had them in Australia too, they were called 'fags' and you can still get them, but now they're called 'fads' and the coloured tip that made them look like cigarettes has been removed, so it's just a hard sugar stick.