Day 1 of the 50s Housewife Experiment Take 2

This morning started out fairly well. I got up, showered, did my hair and makeup and proceeded to make coffee and breakfast. Promptly after breakfast I got to work. Now, while most housewives of that time generally cleaned about 3 hours (their homes were also smaller than ours) they cleaned every day. Since I've let some of my household chores slide a little this cleaning is taking me all damn day. Did I mention I have three teenagers home from school today and tomorrow?

While I originally started out cleaning the basement to some fabulous Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett records, that eventually ended when the first child decided they wanted to watch TV. Okay, cool. Whatever.  I just proceeded to clean, and finally moved upstairs. Have you ever heard the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I think that title works perfectly for mothers. I seriously can not tell you how many times I cleaned the exact same mess, the exact same room, until I finally exploded. The oldest boy had the audacity to ask me why I was mad. I just glared at him, sweating rolling down my forehead, while he munched away on pizza and dropped crumbs all over the table I had just wiped down and the floor I had just swept.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. I broke my own rule at one point and popped onto Facebook to vent. Mothers who lived in that time assured me it was nothing new. However, my best friend's theory is that mothers were able to beat their kids back then. Either way, I can't see my grandma allowing my mom and uncles to constantly make a mess as she cleaned.

Now, on top of trying to be the perfect vintage housewife around three kids I'm also dealing with a now three-legged cat. She was originally a stray who appeared one day and refused to leave. I really didn't want twenty more barn cats so I had her spayed. Well, either some kind of a predator got a hold of her, or she got into the engine of a car and the car was started. Either way, this is Grace now.

*Grace the Wonder Cat has her own Facebook page if you'd like to keep up with her recovery.*

I don't know if you can tell by this pic but she has massive damage to her right hip and rear end, damage to the left side of her face, cuts along her back, and had her right front leg amputated. So, on top of dealing with my normal day to day life, and attempting to live life as close to the genuine 1950s housewife, I've had to play nurse to this little girl. In case you haven't guessed yet, she will now be an inside cat.

I've tried several times to download the pics I've taken through out the day, including pics of my homemade chicken and dumplings I made from my 1954 Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook.

Sorry for the horrible pic. Took it with my phone,

I had my doubts as not only was this my first attempt at making chicken and dumplings, but it was from an old cookbook. There were so few ingredients for the dumplings, yet they were delicious since they were boiled in the broth made from stewing the chicken.

Sorry I can't post a pic of the actual meal. Stupid laptop! When I figure out where I'm going wrong I'll post, I promise.

Now, on to the rest of the day...I'm freaking exhausted! I swear I'm limping and my back is so sore! The only time I sat today was to fold laundry. Other than that I was on the go non stop. Oh wait, that's not true. I had to sit while driving to find a police officer to unlock my daughter's handcuffs. Yes, you read that correctly. My darling daughter threw her key in a huff, and her brother didn't know that when he locked her wrists in those damn metal contraptions, We were able to get one wrist out with soapy water, but the other was way too tight.

So there's my first day in a nut shell. Not really a failure, but not exactly a success...not in my eyes anyway. My makeup is smeared, and my hair went crazy hours ago. Tomorrow I'm babysitting my nephews for a few hours so I'll just pretend I'm going to my bridge club or whatever they did with the other ladies back then.

Night, y'all. My poor booty needs rest!

The Rules For The 1950s Housewife Experiment

Let's lay down some ground rules, shall we? First of all, I have promised to get up, get dressed including my hair and makeup. As much as I'd love to actually flit around the house in a vintage house dress, I don't have one. *sniff sob* But I will someday. I have a pattern for just such a dress, I just need to squeeze it in with everything else I do every day....which is a lot! lol

So, we've got the hair and makeup thing covered. I WILL be donning the traditional 50s makeup and I will attempt the hair the best I can. Believe it or not, those styles are crazy hard to perfect.

     

                                        

On to the food part. I own a few vintage cookbooks from the 50s and 60s I will be using. Each day I will incorporate at least one item from one of the cookbooks. One day I might try a gelatin mold

 and on another maybe one of those decorative tomato thingies they used to do.

Each day will include at least one thing, but I promise you it will never be liver and onions or brain sandwich. Yep, those are both in two of my cookbooks!

If you haven't seen the cleaning schedule head over here and read through. Unlike the extreme lists that have been floating around lately, the housewife's daily chore list was extremely manageable and was usually completed in about 3 hours. The rest of the day was filled with cooking for the family (usually two sometimes three meals a day), sewing, gardening, canning, marketing (they were lucky to have one car. Most homes didn't have two and the wife would walk to the various specialty shops for groceries), walking the kids to and from school, and laundry. At this point more and more households had washers and dryers, but so many wives still ironed their family's clothes.

I will not be walking around saying gee whiz, golly, and swell, but I will be listening to my fabulous collection of vintage records. As we speak (I mean type) I'm listening to Andy Williams. Before this was Frank Sinatra. *sigh* Is there anything more beautiful than the old crooners on vinyl?

Oh, because my kids will be home Monday and Tuesday I will treat it as if I had small kids and actually prepare breakfast and lunch for them. (they absolutely refuse to eat breakfast before they get on the bus in the morning, but I don't know many teenagers who want to eat at six am). And my cat had her leg amputated this week and just came home today. I have to treat her wounds throughout the day and give her antibiotics. Yeah, I know, I kind of left you hanging with that story, but I promise to tell you the full thing in another post. AFTER the experiment! lol

So, there you have you it. I hope you stick around for all my successes and failures as a vintage housewife. I can't promise it'll be pretty, but if it's anything like last time it should be awfully funny!