What happens when you're traveling in space with your whole family and your ship flies off course? When you're saddled with evil saboteur Dr. Zachary Smith and his robot? Television magic!

Lost In Space followed the misadventures of the Robinson family and Dr. Smith, their incompetent and comic obstructionist who gets them into trouble every time. I followed the misadventures of the Smith family on television for the entire 3-year run of the series. First in black-and-white and later in color, the show gave us a first look at what it would be like to actually get lost in the vastness of space.

I liked young Will Robinson because he was smart and good at science, but my favorite character was the robot. A "Class M-3 Model B9, General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot", he could also sing and play guitar, and feel happy or sad. For a robot, he also had a great wit — particularly for sarcasm and mockery and especially when it came to Dr. Smith.

The robot only said his famous catchphrase "Danger, Will Robinson!" one time (season 3, episode 11: "The Deadliest of the Species"), but it was never forgotten. It's made its way into pop culture, casual conversation and was even used as the tagline for the 1998 movie, making the lovable robot truly immortal.

Puzzles have always been some of my favorite "toys". I used to love sitting around the folding card table with my friends and piecing together pictures of landscapes, cars, animals, etc. And it was always a thrill to fit the final piece into place to finally see the complete picture.

Puzzling has also been adult hobby for years, tracing its American roots to the Great Depression. For people struggling with the day-to-day challenge of life back then, puzzles offered not only an escape, but a chance to achieve a sense of accomplishment. They were also inexpensive and easy to get, which made puzzles great for people who wanted to save money by occupying themselves at home.

But did you know that the jigsaw puzzle actually started as a "dissected map" way back in the 1760s?  Map makers glued maps to wood and then cut them into pieces to make educational toys. Since then, puzzles have also been used to celebrate and advertise everything from soda pop and soap to movies and celebrities. No matter what you puzzle together, it's still a fun teaching tool — and a great pastime!

Sock monkeys turn 65 this year. But they show no signs that they're ready to be retired. In fact, they're as popular today as they were back then. I've always loved the cuddly little monkeys, so I got a lot of them as gifts when I was growing up. And I still have most of them! The very oldest in my collection were homemade. Their contemporary companions are of the mass produced variety.

I love all of them equally.

The story of the sock monkey starts during the Great Depression. Without much money for the necessities of life, people had to make do. But that didn't mean their kids had to go without toys!  "Making do", as people had to do back then, parents started using worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks to make stuffed toys for their kids.

The Nelson Knitting Company, maker of the Red Heel Socks, discovered the new invention born out of their worn out socks in 1951. The company got a patent on their unique sock pattern and by 1955, they incorporated the pattern in every pair of socks they made. With the publication of "How To Make Sock Toys," which some claim is the most popular book ever, the monkeys and their sock toy pals became a permanent part of American culture.

130 years ago pharmacist John S. Pemberton invented a "nerve tonic" to "relieve exhaustion". His bookkeeper, Frank Robinson came up with the name Coca~Cola and also created the flowing script for its now globally recognizable logo.

Of course, I didn't know any of that when I started drinking frosty cold Cokes. I just knew they were sweet, fizzy and the perfect thirst quencher for a hot summer day. Here are 3 more fun facts that I just discovered about my favorite soft drink. Did you know...

• If you filled the original 8-oz bottles with every drop of Coke ever made and laid them end to end, they would reach to the moon and back — over 2000 times!  
• Drinking one product per day, it would take over 9 years to try every single beverage that Coke makes today —including its energy drinks, juices, etc.
• Coke is the most widely distributed brand on the planet. People drink about 2 billion servings of Coke brand beverages every day. 

Over the years, Coke has changed its formula, its advertising, and more. But somehow it always circles back to the original soft drink we grew up on. So raise your glass to Coca~Cola — still refreshing and delicious after all these years.