Top 10 Music Videos From My Childhood

   As a child of the 1980’s, MTV was a huge part of my childhood. My parents never really censored or limited what I watched, so even at a very young age I watched A LOT of music videos. I remember being 3 or 4 and watching MTV all morning until my siblings would get home from school. I was hooked and I’m sure my mother was thrilled with having this new free babysitter to keep me occupied. I loved watching the stories that went along with my favorite songs from the radio. Looking back, it’s funny to me what things stuck in my memory about these videos. As a child, I didn’t necessarily follow the storyline, but became fixated on other aspects of the video. I’m going to share with you the Top 10 Videos (with pictures!) from my childhood and why they stood out to me. I apologize for the blurry video stills, it’s the best I could do. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these videos or songs. I make no money from talking about these videos or using images from them.

1. Big Love-Fleetwood Mac, released 1987.

I’m not a Fleetwood Mac fan at all, but this video was very memorable for me. The viewer gets to go backwards through all of these various scenes, through doors, windows, television screens, etc. Each scene sort of fits in to the next scene in a very fluid way. Then, a little after the 3 minute marker, you get to go forwards through each scene you passed through, only much faster. I loved that fast part! I would anxiously sit through the whole video just to get to the ending.

2. Land of Confusion-Genesis, released 1986.

What can I say, this video was super creepy to watch as a child! It was one of the first I had ever seen (and possibly the only?) that involved puppets. In general, I really had no clue what was going on in the video, but strangely I understood that the lyrics. I knew they were telling adults to be careful of what they do because the children were the ones who would inherit the earth. Even as a small child, I recognized the celebrities that most of the puppets were supposed to resemble and I understood that they were making fun of them (although I didn’t know why). One of the most memorable scenes for me was when the big puppet hands held the little real baby hands inside of them. I remember thinking, “Wow. Those are real baby hands and they need to take care of them.” The directors did a good job of getting the message across to all of the generations watching this video.

3. Material Girl-Madonna, released 1984.

 

What little girl in the 80’s didn’t love this video? The pink dress, the jewelry, the furs, the men carrying you around, it looked like fun! I already wanted to be Madonna (see video number 4 description) but this video just really solidified how cool it must be to be Madonna. My mother always used to remind me when I would watch it, that it was basically a remake of Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I think she wanted to make it known that this was not an original idea and that she felt as though Madonna was simply a cheaper, modern version knockoff of Marilyn Monroe..but she was so wrong because Madonna was WAY COOLER.

4. Open Your Heart-Madonna, released 1986. 

This is the first Madonna video that really made me say, “Wow, I want to be just like Madonna when I grow up.”. When I was 4 years old, I insisted that my mom chop off all of my hair (which she did) so that it was short, just like Madonna’s and buy me a black bustier with silver nipples (which she did NOT buy). I remember her describing in horror to my grandmother on the phone the silver nipple outfit that I insisted she purchase.

 
Unfortunately and luckily, I was never able to complete my full Madonna look. Another reason this video also stood out to me was because I thought it was so cool that Madonna blew off all of the sleazy guys at the peep show to befriend an adorable little boy and dance down the street with him into the night.

Awe, see? She WAS a good role model after all! It all looked like an absolutely perfect night to me.



5. Sara-Starship, released 1985.

I remembered this video and knew I had to add it to the list when I was writing this, but needed to see the video again. Looking back on this video as an adult was...interesting. It was SO CHEESY! As a child, only two things stood out to me: 1) It involved tornadoes. Growing up in Michigan, tornadoes were very much a part of my life. Once we knew a storm was coming, my sister, brother and I would sit at the window and watch the skies get darker and the clouds circle. Once the sirens would go off, we’d pack up all of our “important” belongings in our pillow cases and trot down to the basement. My dad had a “Ham Radio” in the basement that he would use to track the storm’s location. My dad would then give us a play-by-play from the reports on his radio of where the twisters touched down until the storm passed over us and it was safe to go upstairs. Then we would all pile into the car, pick up ice cream cones, and drive around surveying the damage from the storm. Weird Michigan activities, right? That’s just life as a Michigander. I was shocked when I moved to Massachusetts and realized that they didn’t have a siren system here. Anyhow, anything involving twisters fascinated me so that’s mainly what stood out to me about this video.

2) The only other thing that really stood out to me was that they released the horses to outrun the storm. As an adult, I now understand why they would have done that. But as a child, I was horrified. I didn’t understand when they didn’t bring the horses into the cellar to protect them. It made me sad. On a side note, the song was catchy and easy to sing so it was a favorite in my household.
 
6. Got My Mind Set On You-George Harrison, released 1987.

  
My dad was a HUGE Beatles fan. I probably knew all of the words to all of the songs on Abbey Road by the time I was 5. When George Harrison decided to go solo and release this video, my dad just ate it up (although he didn’t necessarily love George’s solo career). I never understood the song or lyrics as a child, but I thought the video was funny. As George Harrison sat in the chair and sang, all of the objects in the room started to come to life and do all sorts of crazy things, which I found hilarious. My favorite part was the squirrel playing the saxophone! That part cracked me up!

Every time we’d watch the video, my dad would point out that it wasn’t really George Harrison who did the dance and the flip into the chair, it was a body double. I think it made him feel smart to point that out, that the video directors didn’t fool him! He knew the truth! Ah, dad...
 


7. Legs-ZZ Top, released 1984.

When I was little, the guys from ZZ Top fascinated me. I had never seen men with such long beards! They just seemed so mysterious and cool, especially when they spun their fuzzy guitars around while playing them! Nothing was cooler than that.

But that’s not the part of this video that really stuck in my little brain. Of all the things is this video that could have been memorable, for me it was the pink high heels and ruffle socks. I wanted those high heels and socks SO BADLY. I remember going in to my kindergarten interview and telling the woman interviewing me about how I wanted pink high heels when I grew up. It’s all I could talk about! I never did get those pink heels...

8. Sledgehammer-Peter Gabriel, released 1986.

This video had all kinds of crazy things going on! Claymation, stop motion animation, this video was definitely an original for the mid 1980’s! The two most memorable scenes were the raw chickens dancing and the light suit that Mr. Gabriel wore at the end. Those two scenes stuck with me over the years.

What’s most funny to me about the song is that the lyrics completely went over my head. It wasn’t until my mid 20’s when I pulled out the CD and gave it a good listen that I realized that the lyrics were jam packed with sexual innuendos. Mr. Gabriel was a dirty man, but I love it! This is still one of my most favorite songs of all time.

9. Take On Me-A-ha, released 1985.

Another animated video. MTV was amazing because it was the first time I got to see the songs that I heard on the radio come to life and some of the videos produced stories I wouldn’t have otherwise thought about when listening to the song. Those early videos were like short movies. They really gave the listener/watcher a vivid image of what the song could be about. In this video, I loved the love story between the man in the comics and the girl at the diner. I got worried and upset when there was that moment at the end when we weren’t sure if the comic man was going to be able to escape into the real world. Luckily, all ended well, but the video really took me on a journey with those two. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one taken with this video for it won 6 awards at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

10. Thriller-Michael Jackson, released 1983. (I had to really lighten the images because the video is SO dark.)

Everyone knows this song and video so I won’t spend too much time on this one, but I can’t discuss memorable videos from the 1980’s without mentioning it. First of all, the video aside, the song scared the crap out of me. My parents had the album on a vinyl record and used to play it frequently. Every time it got to the end where Vincent Price started laughing, I would cover my ears and go hide in the bedroom. When the video came out, I was in awe. My siblings and I had a thing for scary movies and my parents let us watch them from a very early age (which I don’t recommend) so it didn’t scare me as much as you would think it would. I found some parts to be quite humorous while others were very eerie.

I was mostly impressed with the dancing and sheer length of the video. Talk about mini-movies, this video takes the cake! This is one of those videos that will live on for decades. My son is just as fascinated with it today as I was back then. I know it gets a lot of credit for being memorable, but it really deserves it. Since it came out, I really don’t think there has been a story in a music video that has quite caught my attention like this one (well, “November Rain” was pretty captivating but there’s still no comparison).

So there you have it. If you want to take a trip down memory lane or familiarize yourself with pop culture, I highly recommend you take the time to watch each of these videos. Their stories, characters and images will live on in my memories forever.  


 



 

Puffer's Pond

   I first heard about Puffer’s Pond in Amherst back in 2008. Some friends of mine had taken their children swimming there and told me that it was a very popular swimming hole in the Amherst area. I never had a chance to visit it (mostly because I’m never really out in that area on the weekends) but was still curious about it all of these years later.

   I finally got around to visiting it last week with a friend of mine who had been there before. There is no fee to enter the pond and the entrance we used only had a little tiny sign and looked like this:

   (I say “the entrance we used” because I am assuming that there are multiple entrances, but we couldn’t find where the other entrances were.) 

   We parked the car and walked up to a large grassy area where (mostly) college students were laying in the sun. There were trails going along both the left and right of the pond, however, I didn’t wear appropriate shoes for the trip so we didn’t walk very far.

   The part of the pond that we happened to be at had no beach, just a little ledge. The water below looked to be about 3 feet deep and had some people walking around in it. We could see a small beach across the pond but we could NOT figure out how to get to it!! 

   After doing some research online, I found an article from the Daily Hampshire Gazette that state that the pond is slated to have $36K in renovations this year. It also read,

“Other people who use the pond’s two beaches and nearby walking trails may notice that the wooden cribbing, used to hold sand in place and stabilize the pathways, are sagging.”

   Clearly, there were two beaches somewhere but we had no idea how to find them. I don’t feel as though I can give a fair review of this well-known swimming hole because I feel like there are many parts of it I didn’t get a chance to see. Perhaps I’ll take another adventure out there soon. Until then, enjoy a couple of images from my trip. 

To learn more about Puffer’s Pond, visit: http://www.amherstma.gov/index.aspx?NID=1316.

St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Mint Cookie Bark

   I stumbled across this yummy recipe for chocolate mint cookie bark and thought it would be fun to make with my son. We always bake something festive together for St. Patrick's Day and this recipe combined all of my favorite things! It's a great recipe to involve your child in because of all of the little jobs you can give them while you're melting the chocolate (like sorting the M & M's, crushing the Oreos, etc.). I hope you'll enjoy it!

St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Mint Cookie Bark

Ingredients
    •    12 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
    •    12 ounces white chocolate chips
    •    2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (like Crisco), divided
    •    20 chocolate sandwich cookies (I used regular Oreos)
    •    1 cup Andes mints broken into bits
    •    1 cup green M&Ms (I used regular)
    •    Green sprinkles
 
    1.    Line a large jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with wax paper. Roughly chop sandwich cookies into quarters.
    2.    Pour semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon shortening into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute; stir chocolate well. Microwave for another 30 seconds; stir until chocolate is smooth. (If necessary, microwave in additional 15-second increments, stirring between each one, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.)
    3.    Spread melted chocolate in a thin layer onto wax paper. Sprinkle with chopped cookies and Andes pieces, pressing them down into melted chocolate in a single layer.
    4.    Melt white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon shortening in a clean bowl by repeating the above process, but microwave for only 15 seconds after the initial 1 minute since white chocolate melts more quickly than regular chocolate.
    5.    Carefully drizzle white chocolate over cookie layer and spread in an even layer. Sprinkle with M&Ms, pressing them down into the white chocolate, and then fill in any bare areas with green sprinkles.
    6.    Refrigerate until chocolate is hard. Carefully break into large chunks and enjoy!

Everything ready to go in the refrigerator!

Once the bark has cooled, break it apart into pieces.

We put some in a little bag and attached the recipe as a gift for my son's teacher.

Lego Party

   We decided to throw a birthday party for my son and his cousins while visiting our home state of Michigan this year. Seeing as how we were traveling, we weren't going to do anything big and crazy, so my sister graciously offered to host a "home" birthday party at her house. I let my son pick whatever theme he wanted and this year he chose a Lego themed birthday party. When I went to the local party store to check out what kind of decorations were available in that theme however, I was disappointed with my options. So what did I do? I logged on to good ol' Pinterest for inspiration!

   The first thing I wanted to tackle were the goody bags. I had decided that in each bag I would put a small Lego set (like the kind you see by the cash register at Target) and a small bag of Lego brick candy that they sell at my local bulk candy store. I already had some clear plastic candy bags, so I purchased a large bag of the brick candy and divided it up. I scooped some of the bricks into each bag and weighed them with a food scale that we had to make sure that each bag had the same amount of candy.

    To make the bags, I purchased some paper bags with handles from Michael's, a package of card stock that matched each bag, a 2 inch hole punch and some double-sided foam mounting tape. 

   I punched the holes out of the card stock and attached them to each bag with the mounting tape, measuring with a rule to make sure that the circles were roughly an equal distance from each other. The result was a Lego brick looking bag.

    For the decorations, I purchased square plates from Target, and napkins, cups, plastic tablecloths, balloons and streamers in the same colors as the bags (red, blue, green, yellow, orange) from the Dollar Tree (my favorite place for party supplies!). I happened to already have a "Happy Birthday" banner from last year so I used that as well. I put everything out on the table and scattered Lego pieces down the middle of the table. To create the Lego figure guys that I put on the windows and in various locations around the house, I Googled "Lego Coloring Page" and found a template that I copied into a Word document and then printed onto yellow paper. I then cut each guy out (in stacks of 3-4 at a time) and taped him around the house. 

   I wanted to keep the party simple, so I only arranged for two games. The first one was "Guess how many Lego pieces are in the jar?" I had my sister put Lego bricks into a jar and count them so that we would know how many were in there. Each child took a turn guessing how many bricks were in the jar by writing their name and number on a piece of paper. The child with the closest number without going over was the winner. The second game we played was "See how many Lego bricks you can move with chop sticks in one minute." I put out two plates, one with Lego pieces and an empty plate. I then gave the child a set of chop sticks and made them put their other hand behind their back. They had one minute to see how many Lego pieces they could move over to the other plate with the chop sticks (I timed them with my phone). The game was a lot of fun for all of the different ages we had at the party (ages 5-11) and it was interesting to see the strategy each child used to move the pieces. The kids all seemed to have a great time!

  

   For the cake, I ordered a "Lego brick cake" at a local bakery. I wasn't sure what I would end up with, but I thought they did a good job. I then purchased a small Lego set for the top and Lego brick candles from Target. I was happy with the end result.

    The small party was very easy to throw together and my son was very happy with the results. Overall, I think the way that I decided to create the decorations was significantly cheaper than if I would have purchased the Lego themed party supplies from the party store. The most expensive part of the party was the goody bags, but I thought they were worth it! What kinds of things did you do at your Lego party? Let me know!   

Cinnamon Cut Out Ornaments

   One of my favorite things to do with my son during the holiday season is to make homemade ornaments for the tree. They're fun, creative, and make great gifts! If you haven't seen my other post about homemade salt dough ornaments, you can find it by clicking here. Cinnamon Cut Out Ornaments are one of my favorite kinds of ornaments to make because they're really easy to make, smell delicious and look adorable. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Cut Out Ornaments 

(For decoration only! DO NOT EAT!)

1 Cup Ground Cinnamon
2/3 Cup Applesauce
1 Tbs White Glue

1. Mix all of the ingredients (the cinnamon, applesauce and glue) together.

 

2. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick on a surface sprinkled with extra cinnamon. Cut shapes with cookie cutters and lay flat on wax paper. Use a straw to make a hole at the top for the string.

3. Turn over frequently for the next 2-3 days. Let them dry completely. 

4. Once completely dry, you can decorate with fabric paints or glitter glue, or just leave them as they are!

Don't forget to share with someone you love!

Hot Mummies

This is a fun, festive Halloween meal I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago and was very excited to make for my son (he's very into zombies and mummies right now). It was super easy and turned out great!

Hot Mummies (or Mummy Dogs)

Preheat the oven to 375.

You'll need:

Hot Dogs
One can of crescent dough

1. Slice the hot dogs using 3 cuts to look like little people (see picture).
2. Unroll the can of dough. With a knife, cut each rectangle lengthwise, into 7-10 long pieces.
3. Wrap the strips of dough around each hot dog to look like "bandages," stretching dough slightly to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog shows through for the "face."

4. On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped hot dogs; spray dough lightly with cooking spray.
5. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw features on "face" (I didn't do this part because we don't care for mustard).

 

Made In Flint

My grandmother riding in a wagon being pulled by a goat (?) on Dayton Street in Flint, Michigan. This image is hard to imagine (and particularly humorous) if you are at all familiar with the present day Dayton Street. 

  
  There are, surprisingly, a large number of Michigan transplants living in Massachusetts. Nearly every week, I encounter a new person with a Michigan connection of some sort. Because of this, I frequently get asked (from both former Michiganders and my Massachusetts coworkers and friends) what it’s like to be from Flint. Flint fascinates people! Saying you’re from Flint is like telling people you survived living in the jungle. People are incredibly curious how someone can come from such a violent, infamous city and turn out “normal” (apparently they don’t know me THAT well!). They’re curious how someone can get so nostalgic for a place that they appear to both love and hate. For lack of better explanation, I tell them this...
 
  Flint is an abusive relationship that I will never escape. We have a history together and a lot of good memories, but we just couldn’t stay together. As much as I tried to hold it close to me and make it better, it beat me down and pushed me away. I will always have a mad, crazy love for Flint, but it will never show me any love in return.
 
  OK, maybe that’s not totally true. I’ve gotten quite a bit of love from Flint; after all my roots are there. My grandparents were raised in Flint. My mother and father grew up in Flint. I was born in Flint. I attended both elementary and high school in Flint. I graduated from college in Flint. I met my husband (who was also raised in Flint), fell in love, and got married in Flint. My son was born in Flint. I had a very happy childhood and young adulthood living in Flint and created some very happy memories there over the years. 

My great aunt Ellen (on the left) and friends at a high school dance in Flint.

  
  But I also have some not-so-happy memories. I have memories of scary situations,  of danger and crime. I have memories of bikes being stolen, friends and neighbors’ houses being broken into, my car being stolen (twice!), my purse being stolen, drugs being dealt next door, guns being pulled on people, all kinds of real, scary events that one can potentially witness when they’re from a city like Flint. Flint is mixed bag of memories.
 
  However, those of us who were born and raised there wear that baggage like a badge of honor, and to outsiders it’s like a neon sign flashing, “I survived Flint.” For some strange reason, we are proud! I will never escape Flint’s presence in my blood, nor do I necessarily want too. But what I’ve learned in the past 10 years is that you can take the girl out of Flint, but you can’t take the Flint out of the girl. It’s a big world and I think deep down I always knew that Flint wouldn’t hold me back forever. I knew eventually I would spread my wings and break free.
 
  Although I’ve always been appreciative of my experiences there (good and bad), I know breaking up with Flint was the best decision for my family. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally reminisce about my time in Flint or wonder what it would have been like if I would have stayed. I know it wouldn’t have ever worked out, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t keep it in a special place in my heart. That doesn’t mean that I never have deep, painful urges to go running back. That doesn’t mean that I don’t miss all of the wonderful, smart, talented people that I met while living there. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate all of the good things that it has done for me. It’s a conflicting set of emotions.

  Flint will always be my hometown. It will always be both the good AND the bad. It will always make me feel happy AND cause me pain. It will always be bittersweet memories.

This is what it’s like to be from Flint.