No, today is not official Pancake Day, it's supposedly February 5. At least according to IHOP. It's up to you when you want to declare a Day, and what kind of a Day to declare.

I'm declaring this I'm Going to Learn How do Paint with Oils Day.

The observance of it involves watching How To videos on YouTube.

I found this Sears catalog page from the 1950s:



I am trying to remember which of my friends had the Coca Cola dispenser. I think it was Lizzie Wolverton. Remember the real dispensers like that in the drugstore? I wonder what the supply inside was - maybe a box of the beverage, or maybe just the syrup and the fizzy water got added somewhere along the line. The toys used a bottle of pop inside, and the glasses were really small.

We never had an Easy Bake Oven, but we did have the refill like you see here, with the cake mixes, and we baked the little cakes in my mother's oven. I think they bought the set for us so we'd have the pans and things to use with our stove and cupboard set that she had someone make for us. I still have some of those little pans and cookie cutters.

Note how that kitchen set allows for real water action: fill a reservoir on the back, and water comes out the faucet, and the refrigerator light comes on. We had a battery-operated refrigerator with circular shelves that rotated when the door was opened. I wish I still had that.