Fun in the mid 90's

I have no idea where last week went! I checked under the couch, my bed, and even in some cute animal videos on youtube, but all I found were a few stale popcorn  bits, some lone socks, and the utter bliss a cat loaded up on catnip and then taunted by a laser pointer can bring. If any of you happen to find last week, please let me know as I'd like to know what I did last Tuesday...if I can't remember then it must have been good!

After last week's reminiscing about reading with my mom (or as I call her "Ma" in a grating New York accent for reasons I have no idea why) my dad reminded me about one of our special memories. My dad was a Pepsi nut. He used to keep a can next to his bed so he could crack one open when he woke up in the morning. So when Pepsi came out with Pepsi Points back in the mid 90's, dad was excited. We collected Pepsi points like a single woman in her 70s collected cats and those creepy snow baby figurines. There were lots of different things you could buy with your points, and we got at least 2 of everything...including the Fila bike (which was 1700 points).

So how on earth did we manage to get so many points you ask? Dad's Pepsi 'addiction' helped a bit, but dad and I would also go 'hunting' for points. On the weekends we would drive around in his truck, scouring the ditches for Pepsi bottles. Since I was on the passenger side, the side of the ditch, I would usually spot them, yell, "Pepsi Point!", and then wait for dad to slow down enough for me not to break my legs when I jumped out. I'd throw the bottle in the bed of the pickup and we'd carry on down the road! Sometimes the bottles were filled with 'mysterious' yellow liquid so I had to grab carefully, but we had loads of fun driving all over, listening to Classic Rock on the radio, and searching for those coveted points.

Ok, so that may not have been the only way we collected points. I did grow up in a very small town after all, so road scouring couldn't have produced all the points we needed to get all the stuff we did. Dad made friends with the guys at the dump! With the dump's permission, they let us sift through the plastic bottle bin and cardboard bin. Dad put a long hook-like thing on the end of a long pole so we could fish out the Pepsi bottles and then we used a pocket knife to cut the label off and get the points. For the cardboard bin, Dad hoisted me inside and I sorted through the flattened boxes, cutting off any points I found. As a kid, it was a blast! Ok, I'd probably still have fun...but I'd just wear latex gloves.

Dad and I had a lot of fun. I was his hunting and fishing partner anyway, so this was just a way for us to go hunting on the off season! When I was back in the States and driving with my dad, whenever we'd see someone pulled onto the side of the road, we both say, "Pepsi Point!" and laugh.  Dad may not have a Pepsi 'addiction' anymore, but we have great memories from our Pepsi days.

Now for something completely different. A friend posted this video on his facebook page and it was too amazing not to share! These kids are incredible and beyond talented! I love this song anyway but this just made it even better. I hope you all enjoy it as much as Branden and I did.