It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

 2/4/2021

After the snow, which was actually very little, today, the sky is blue and we're having sunshine. Makes me feel very optimistic about today.

Yesterday, a neighbor across the street, that I've never met, came to the house to visit with me. Our visit mostly consisted of usual questions: what did you do, how many children, and stuff like that. She's coming back next week, and Jeff has bought me a Scrabble game as well as a Family Feud brain game book. On one side of the page is the question, for instance, "What do you see in every house in America". You write down your answer, and then there is a word search for you to do yourself. I'm pretty good at word search. While I was in the hospital, I only had one word search book with me. I searched for all the required words, and after that, just searched for words. It was a lot of fun, but then again, I'm easily amused!

My latest "Marie Kundo" exercise, is to take out all the plastic boxes, lids, bowls, etc. and get them organized. I have a large number of plastic boxes, that were mostly used for lunches, when I worked. The suggestion is that you keep more than five. But, I'd feel better if I saved seven. And, then of course, you have to find the appropriate lid. This could take me some time to get this cleaning out process completed. My reward for doing this, means there will likely be more room in the cupboards.

For Christmas, I was given a "1949 Yearbook", and I love it. Some of my followers, were born around the same time, while others of you will not. I loved the statistics. The show Lone Ranger, ran for five seasons, and 221 episodes. I remember watching this show, likely because my brother liked it. Unlike today, houses in 1949, generally only had one television. And, there was no remote, so if you wanted to change the channel, you had to get up to do so. Walking to the television was some sort of exercise. 

Best picture in 1949 was, "All the King's Men", a movie I've never seen. The winner of the U.S. Open received prize money of $10,000. Second prize was $10,000. Today, the winner received a $3,000,000 prize, oh and least I forget, the sought after green jacket.

Ticket price to watch a baseball game was a nickel. And, the cost of food, when you think of today's prices, were really low. For instance, a dozen eggs cost just fifty-two cents, and today the average cost is $4.00, up to $7.00 per dozen. There were advertisements, including one with Ronald Reagan, for the cigarette brand "Lucky Strikes". This is the cigarette that my Dad smoked.

So, there you have it. I know the average salary in 1949 was $3,100. And, the average salary now is $87,000. I know that there are many people, who earn approximately $22,464 a year. Based on the prices of everything today, it would be difficult to pay for things like: rent, food, car and house payments, etc. It gives you ideas of yesterday and current amounts of money.

Have a good day everyone. Until tomorrow.

P