Where were you in the 90's?

    Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, bottled water, Tamagotchis, Saturday morning cartoons, music CD's, portable CD players, Blockbuster, AOL dialup, slap bracelets, pencil thin eyebrows. 

    Where were you in the 90's?  Life sure was different then wasn't it?  If you're my age, you were likely in the thick of raising littles.  To be honest, my memories of this time in my life are a little blurry.   Sometimes my kids will recall things that I had completely forgotten about!  Their perspective, looking back, is so fun to hear.

    I recently heard someone recalling the way things were in the 90's and it got me thinking. We were living in northern Maine in 1990 and our son was born in 1991.  We moved  to Abilene, Texas in 1993. 

   I was homeschooling our oldest two when we moved to Abilene but quickly decided to put them into public school.  Abilene was one of those towns that you thought was a throwback to the Mayberry RFD (remember that?) kind of place.  The school we put our kids in still had a paddle hanging in the principles office!  PTA meetings were opened with prayer. I don't mean the kind of rote prayer that someone reads.  It was prayer that clearly told you that the person praying had a relationship with Jesus Christ!  I remember watching my father's face during one such prayer.  His shock was undeniable.  Such things would never have been allowed in the liberal northeast where I grew up.

Abilene was a town where there was a sense of community that we were quickly invited in to.  We loved our time in Abilene and will always look back on those sweet years with fondness.  We made so many lifelong friends that we will cherish forever.  

    We bought our first home in Abilene.  Funny story.  We had looked at over 30 houses and had, in the process, run our realtor ragged.  I think she was really ready to give up the day we found our home.  After looking at a home she said, "I have one LAST house for you to look at if you can get past the "Spanish" style and are willing to put in some sweat equity?"  Well, the minute we walked through the front door I knew this one was "it".    Brian looked at me like I had 3 eyes!  "Are you serious?' he asked.  Yep!  I was serious!  It had great bones and a lovely layout.  Yes, it was "Spanish" style and yes it sure did require some sweat equity!  Ive never been one to shy away from an ugly duckling of a house as long as the bones are good.  In fact, it's the stuff my dreams are made of!  😁.   Fortunately, Brian trusted me and we bought the ugly duckling.   

    We were just the second owners of this home. The original owner built it for his wife who wanted to live "in town. Sadly she didn't get to live very long in the house.  Just a couple of years after they moved in she passed away.  He never really wanted to live "in town" and so, closed it up and left it to sit.   At some point he rented it for awhile but when we looked at it it had been vacant for quite some time.  Windows had been broken and gone unprepared which allowed several species of wild animals to move into it.  To say it was in disrepair was an understatement but, the price was right and I loved it!

    The decor was soooo 70's!  The kitchen sported harvest gold appliances, countertops and adhesive back tiles on the kitchen floor. Most of the tiles were cracked.   The dishwasher was actually completely rusted out in the bottom.   The living room was sunken and had dark brown shag carpeting.  One of the bedrooms actually had mauve felt like carpet.  It was a true marvel, to be sure!

    We got to work!  By the time we left the entire house had been made over.  (In the 90's country style of course!!) 🤣.  We loved that house!  There were things we would have changed had we stayed in Abilene, but that house held and holds so many memories for us.  I've since been in touch with the current owners who sent me pictures of what they have done to the home since they bought it.  They've done exactly what we had said we would do! They raised the sunken living room and took down a couple of walls.  Both were things that we talked about wanting to do if we had stayed in Abilene. Coincidentally there is piano music being played daily as the two little girls who live there take piano lessons!  How fun is that?

 Before she died, the original owners  planted roses, a peach tree, a plum tree and an apple tree.   Not long after we moved in the apple tree came down with a blight that completely killed it.  That was such a disappointment for me as I was so looking forward to making all the apple things!   The peach tree got borers and so we got very few peaches.  I found out after a couple of years that the plum tree was just an  ornamental so we enjoyed its flowers every spring but alas, no plums.    The roses were my first experience in caring for rose bushes.  It was a learning curve but oh how I loved cutting the beautiful tea roses to enjoy inside our home.   

We lived in that home for eleven and a half years.  There were a lot of happy times and some real struggles that we went through in the 90's.  I'll save those memories for another blog.

  Things in the 90's were simpler.  (Although, the older generations always refer to their childhood/early adulthood days as being simpler. 😉)  Social media wasn't a "thing".  Home computers were just starting to show up.  There were actually check out people at the grocery store!  There was no Door Dash, Instacart, Amazon or Uber.  Kids played outside until it got dark out.  No-one had a cell phone permanently glued to their hands.  We weren't quite to the point of being instantly connected to all the news from anywhere in the world.  Ah yes, life was less complicated.  

    Where were you in the 90's?  What were you doing?  Is there anything you miss from that decade?  What are you glad is gone?  

Until Next Time!

~Sue