fads that shaped my childhood

Today I received my first Silly Band. I'm not sure if that's the proper way to say it, if one is asilly band and many are silly bandz? Or is just one also a silly bandz? I don't know, but I hopethat the letter Z is slowly replacing S to make thingz plural.

This sudden fad of random crap rubber bracelets got me thinking about all the [material] thingsthat shaped my childhood, like these Silly Bandz are affecting kids today. So here's my list:

1. Beanie Babies

Beanie babies are great! I mean, they're an actual toy that you can play with. However, I think it's a bit obsessive to have about 200 (what were my parents thinking?!) My brother, sister and I had extensive lists where we determined which beanie babies were married to each other, and every once and a while there was a mass divorce and everyone got new spouses. I distinctly remember being fond of throwing them against the wall because I liked the sound the "beans" made. Some of them had those special plastic cases around the little cardboard heart nametag thing, to "protect" it.... how else would you remember its original name (Pinkie the flamingo, Quackers the duck, etc).

2. Crazy Bones

Who doesn't love little bits of plastic with weird faces?! I'm not sure what exactly I did with them, but I remember I had a prized glittery one, and my brother had one that was a whistle.

3. Pokemon

I know it's a game or whatever, but I just collected pokemon cards because I liked the pictures. Yes, I had the plastic pages to store them in. Favorites included Jigglypuff, Eevee, Vulpix, and my halographic Nidoqueen.

4. Power beads

Pretty much normal bracelets, but each of them had different meanings and characteristics that you were magically embued with when worn. I still have some, if you want any "courage", "love", or "friendship".

5. Slap bracelets

Pretty simple concept: you slap them on your arm and they wrap around it like a bracelet. Mine was zebra print. I remember I got yelled at and put in the "hot seat" during band in 6th grade because I slapped Andy Nadel with one. Clearly the band teacher didn't know that this was proper usage. It was very embarrassing.

There's so many more things I can think of, which might have to wait until a later date. I'm going peach picking tomorrow... aka making a peach pie tomorrow. So I need my beauty sleep.