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When I was growing up Winter holiday decorations and Christmas music weren’t seen or heard until the day after Thanksgiving. Between Halloween and Turkey Day there was a calm before the holiday season that created a feeling of excitement when the first fake snowflake was spotted on the local store window.

These days we can see department store workers putting up their holiday displays the same day they’re moving the Halloween items to Clearance. This makes perfect sense from a marketing perspective but from what I’ve gathered from family and friends it’s a bit annoying to the consumer.

Back in the day before DVD, YouTube, Hulu and Netflix we actually had to wait until the appropriate season to see holiday specials. These specials aren’t so special anymore because we can watch The Grinch at Halloween or The Great Pumpkin on Christmas Day.

The latest pop culture tradition might be holding out to put up the tinsel until after we’ve cleaned off the Thanksgiving table, or waiting until the week before Christmas to watch Rudolph. I’m going to break tradition with my HIH holiday image above because I’m going on a holiday hiatus. I need some time to hibernate offline.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with or without decorations. It’s a time to get ready for the New Year, to reflect on memories, and spread love in the form of hugs, gifts and even a dollop of Cool Whip.

Happy Holidays!

Click here to learn more about one of my holiday favorites, The Snowman.

For classic Christmas specials on DVD click here.

Halloween is almost here and I’m still searching for a costume. This year I’m contemplating the idea of being myself. What will you be for Halloween? Maybe these videos will give us some ideas.

How about something retro in plastic and polyester?

There’s always the outer space theme?

Maybe 80′s Flashback Fashion? Let’s listen to Mr. T’s advice on this one.

For all you Star Trek fans out there Klingon never goes out of Halloween style, especially if you add a little hip hop.

Alright, how about something scary? A werewolf or a vampire?

Any other ideas?

I’ve had a bit of information and household chore overload lately. If I’m not reading informative twitter updates and online articles, I’m writing blog posts or washing dishes, dusting and sorting laundry. I do these things daily but for some reason in the last month I’ve wanted to put it all aside and sit alone in a hammock on the beach for a week.

This got me saying aloud, “Calgon, take me away!”

I’d love to lose myself in luxury but I’m really not a bubble bath kind of gal. Ever since my 5 minute showers in Army training I get in and out of the shower before the coffee’s been percolated. Maybe a nice lounge in the tub would be the best thing for me. I doubt I’ll be on a tropical beach for a week any time soon.

Here’s one of the infamous Calgon water softener ads. I wonder what the difference is between Calgon for the bath and Calgon water softener? Maybe it’s an “ancient Chinese secret, huh?”

Calgon’s slogans like “Ancient Chinese secret, huh” and “Take me away” have been used and reused throughout the years in TV shows, music and movies.

I’ll try some luxurious bath beads and see how it goes. Maybe a Foo Foo Drink with a mini umbrella will help. How do you take yourself away when you feel overloaded by everyday routines?

I know what you’re saying.

 “Housewife in Hollywood what’s wrong with you? Hula Hoops are circles and circles don’t have sides!”

I say, “Let’s try to think out of the hoop just a bit.”

Plastic Hula Hoops have been around since the late 50′s and in that time people have found many ways to express different sides of the hula hoop.

A twitter friend of mine specializes in fitness. She turned me on to the fit side of the hula hoop telling me that hula hooping is one of the best fitness toys you can buy. I decided to look up this favorite pastime and found out that hooping has many sides. Watch all 5 and tell me which one is your favorite.

5 Sides of the Hula Hoop:

1. Vintage

2. Retro

3. Sexy

4. Serious

5. Goofy

Stop by World Hoop Play  a charity dedicated to bringing toy and dance hoops to underprivileged children living in extreme poverty and underdeveloped neighborhoods of our world.

1. Winner of Most Memorable goes to this classic Coke commercial:

2. Michael J. Fox shows how far he’d go for a Diet Pepsi in this retro ad:

3. SoBe Life Water  featured Naomi Campbell and Michael Jackson’s Thriller in this ad from 2008:

4. Another from last year shows Richard Simmons, Alice Cooper and a deer almost getting hit by this distracted driver. Thank goodness they had Bridgestone Tires:

5. Here’s a banned ad from godaddy.com. You be the judge, did it really need to go into the banned vault?

You can vote for your favorite Superbowl commercial by visiting http://www.youtube.com/adblitz

My kiddo’s first day of school is Monday, August 19th. Even though the summer sun is still shining down on us, it will be less time in the pool and more time in school. I got to thinking about school supplies and with my retro tendencies I decided to get a bit nostalgic with 5 Back to Old School Favorites:

1. Pee Chee Folder

Nothing was more fun in History class than doodling a mustache on the girl playing tennis, and writing “I heart” whoever he was at the time, helped to break up the lectures.

2. Trapper Keeper

This was a novel idea wasn’t it? The newest in binder technology, folders trapped by Velcro! Nothing says retro better than Velcro, except maybe legwarmers. Also an old school favorite but you really didn’t need those for class unless you were a character on Fame.

3. Lunchbox

Two things made lunch great, Twinkies and themed lunchboxes. My favorite was Snoopy and Friends but I would have loved to sport this one around the lunch tables.

4. Back to School Clothes

Shopping for a new school wardrobe was what I looked forward to the most, it almost made leaving behind all the summertime fun manageable.

How exciting it was to try on all new reversible parkas, with matching pleated pants!

5. Lip Balm

Alright so this wasn’t on everyones school supply list, but it was on mine. When I was a kid I was teased at school for two things. Okay maybe more than two, but I’ll only list two here.
One, a few of my classmates changed my name from Suzanne to Suzy Q, which I wasn’t too keen about. Remember Suzy Q snack treats?

Take the AOL snack treat quiz here.

Two, a few of my classmates had a great time making fun of my lips. People pay big money these days for big lips but in the 70′s this wasn’t the case, especially in 5th grade. I decided on combining the Suzy nickname with the lip idea by using the Olympic Skier, Suzy Chaffee’s “Suzy Chapstick” to my advantage and start a chapstick collection in my desk. I had everything from regular Chapstick to Dr.Pepper flavored lip balm. Remember Suzy Chapstick?

So what about you? What’s on your favorite back to old school list?

I was a kid in the 70’s and although I don’t miss the rabbit ears on my parents TV, getting up to change one of our 5 channels or polyester pants and shirts with starched collars, I do miss a few things. Here are five of the things I miss most from the 1970’s.

Marathon Bars

Whenever I got a chance and a few coins in my pocket I’d get on my bike and ride to the nearest corner store to pick up this delectable candy treat. These days, I’d have to go to the United Kingdom or Australia for a Curly Wurly which has the same braided chocolate caramel but I’d miss the cool ruler on the side of the wrapper.

The Marathon Bar I’m talking about should not be confused with the Marathon Bar that is what’s now named Snickers. Love the Mork suspenders on this UK ad for Snickers when it was called Marathon.

Gum Without Artificial Sweeteners

My favorite gum was always Fruit Stripe. The sweet burst of flavor, the bright striped colors, and of course the cute zebra, made this the perfect gum for kids. Luckily you can still chew Fruit Stripe and it’s really one of the only gums that doesn’t have an artificial sweetener. Next time you stand at the check out line browse through the gum ingredients and even if you see sugar on the label you most likely will find phenalynaline, sucralose or aspartame.

I know Jack LaLanne would say no to gum all together but I say no to gum with artificial ingredients. It’s a start anyway.

Glass Coca Cola Bottles

Alright I know first sugar in gum and now sugar in Coca Cola. The sugar is the least of my worries, ever since my first taste of Sweet Tea I’ve loved that bold caffeine flavor, not to mention the slightly hyper effect it gives me.

There was something so wonderful about carrying around a big glass Coca Cola bottle, especially on a hot summer day. I consumed enough of these to stunt my growth at least a couple inches.

I saw the old school bottles being sold at Costco but they were imports from Mexico made with pure cane sugar and were very expensive. What the world needs now is Coke in a glass bottle, and more apple trees and honey bees.

Rollerskate Rinks

Oh how I loved my roller skates. I’m not a great roller skater now but I could roll with the best of them back in the day. I watched The Facts of Life just so I could live vicariously through Tootie being allowed to skate inside the house. Check out this great 8mm clip from YouTube user alecwally23. His sister made it in the 70’s for a class project in high school.

Disco

Ahh how I loved doing the hustle in my bedroom lip synching to my K-Tel records. I really believed I would grow up to disco the night away at Studio 54 with the Solid Gold dancers and Miss Piggy. Unfortunately by the time I was 18 disco was dead and I couldn’t afford a ticket to NY anyway. Instead I was in Tijuana, Mexico dancing to Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.

For those of you who don’t think you can dance disco, feel free to practice at home along with this video: