The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict: Murder She Wrote

*insert a picture of a desktop computer with me sitting at it and some catchy theme music*

It was sometime in the 1990's and I was on one of my school vacations and about ready to spend time quality time with Grammy. Yes, I spent a good portion of my weekends at my grandmothers as I thought she was the coolest.

We would go out for the occasional breakfast at the local doughnut shop which would be a special treat or would have peanut butter sandwiches with butterscotch pudding as a special supper. She would occasionally make her homemade "ice cream" which was honestly just milk, salt, and vanilla extract that she would stick into the freezer until it became frozen on top. Still was tasty though.

And then there were the real rare occasions when I would be able to pick myself out a candy treat when we walked a mile to the grocery store. She was a diabetic, so candy wasn't allowed most of the time, but once in great while I got the green light to do so. And when I was allowed to, I had a lot of candy standbys at the time. I ate M&M's, Snickers and Butterfingers. So when Butterfinger put out these BB's, a mini ball version of itself, I was all over 'em. They weren't too bad, except the chocolate melted easily and when you reached in your hands would be covered in it.

I know most of these things may not seem like much to you or maybe even close to something worthy of your childhood, but they meant the world to me. You see, my grandmother lived off from Social Security so she didn't have a lot of money so I learned to enjoy the simple pleasures in life instead.
 
Another thing I enjoyed doing at my grandmothers is watching some of her TV shows with her. She was a stickler when it came to kids watching TV, but when it came to putting her shows on, I was allowed to watch them alongside. Not all of her shows interested me though as some were a little boring, sorry grammy, but there was one we watched every Sunday Night I stayed over for.

It involved a professional writer named Jessica Fletcher who used her amateur detective skills with her intellect and charm, to get to the bottom of every murder mystery in Cabot Cove, Maine. That show was known as Murder She Wrote!

Murder She Wrote came on CBS on Sunday Nights and was it's staple there for 12 years. The show ran from 1984 (I was only one at the time so I wasn't watching it at that point) til 1996. There were 264 episodes total along with four TV movies.

The star of the show was Angela Lansbury who was nominated for ten Golden Globes and twelve Emmy Awards for her work on the show. She also starred and voiced in other movies over the years.

When I recently saw Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown post something about Angela, the memories clicked in my mind so thought it was time I tried to acquire an autograph of her for my childhood keepsakes. So I contacted my TTM autograph address guy and he hooked me up again with an address for the star.

So I mailed out my request and within two weeks I got an envelope back. I realized after I had sent out the request I forgot to include the index card I normally do and was beyond disappointed thinking she wouldn't sign anything for me.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up to find this. A signed piece of notepaper she had. I guess you can consider it a piece of memorabilia as well. I wished I knew how to do photos and could afford to do or at least remember to include my index card but I will take this.

Thanks Angela for signing for me. It will be preserved in my childhood tote I have built.

My grandmother has long since passed, back in 2004, so I can't share this great piece with her but I know she is looking down on me smiling that I have it and keeping the fun memories we had together.

Murder She Wrote is still being played on TV on the Hallmark Movie Channel almost daily and most likely even today. I don't watch it anymore but may occasionally scroll by it when channel flipping and make myself smile. 

 

My grandmother was an amazing person. Through her many teachings and just by my observations of how she was and treated others, it made me who I am today. Treat others how you would like to be treated and remember you don't need all of the newest stuff. It's just stuff. Can't take it with you. Enjoy the simple pleasures of life. That's what she taught me.  

The one thing she didn't teach me was how to share my occasional candy bar. Because when it comes to my Butterfinger, "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger"