Day 1 - 1950s 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!

Day 1 - Crappy first day...sort of

Started out at 5:50 instead of 5:30 this morning. I set my hair in foam rollers after my shower last night but my hair was still wet this morning, so no Doris Day curls. No dress for cleaning this morning; unlike popular belief, women didn't wear pearls and heels when cleaning their home. Those who did don dresses in the home wore what is referred to as a day dress or house dress.

Not exactly sexy.

However, a majority of women cleaned their homes and worked their gardens in trousers. I'm in search of a good pattern for a pair of traditional trousers, but as of right now I only have jeans. (Refuse to wear my good slacks to clean this house!) Because I only have tennis shoes or heels I chose the former to clean in. Normally, on my day to day ritual, I prefer to be barefoot. Shoes collect and drag dirt through the house so it bugs me when my family clomps through in their shoes.

Having said all that, I did make the face and hair presentable:

Complete with updo, liquid liner, and red lips!

However, ummm, yeah.....not so much with the clothes:

Not exactly June Cleaver (if you look behind my right elbow you'll see I laid out my husband's change of clothes for after work, just like a good wife is supposed to *wink*)

Okay, so I got up early, made breakfast, did my face and hair, and...well, got dressed. Hey, at least I got out of my pajamas before noon. After the kids were out the door (which I did the good mommy thing and walked them to the door and waved them goodbye. They asked me not to do that again.) I proceeded to do the dishes and off to clean I went. I seriously cleaned for nine hours straight. I found dirt in places there shouldn't be dirt. How in the world do you get walls so dirty? I mean, really? I have teenagers, so it's not like they're coloring on the walls. There were actually streaks going down the walls where someone walked down the hallway dragging their hands along my beautiful butter cream paint! WHAT?! Why? *sigh* And why in the world can kids (and men) not know how to change a toilet paper roll? AND, if the trash can is right beside you throw the trash in the can, not beside it. Oh, oh, and did I mention I found candy wrappers ON TOP of the entertainment center? I am exhausted! 

Okay, I'm okay, I got it together. About noon I decided to make myself some coffee (hello caffeine withdrawal) and of course used my percolator. I put the grinds in the canister, filled the pot with water and turned on the burner. Last time I was out at the chicken coop one of my hens was laying so I went back out to retrieve the egg.

Here's what I came back in to find:

I don't know when but apparently something fell below the burner and caught fire while I was outside. Luckily it went out on its own instead of me walking in to a kitchen fire! Emergency avoided, on to the coffee...right? Ha! It turns out I don't remember how to use a percolator.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to look like this:

Ummm, isn't the coffee supposed to stay inside the pot?

After a few minutes of looking at this bubbling mess and scratching my head I gave up and poured myself a cup. There was more grinds than coffee. At that point all I could do was chuckle, pour the mess into the sink (the same sink I had diligently and dutifully scrubbed out, mind you) and went to my trusty back up:





 Notice the red lips on the mug?

*sigh* I have to admit, today did not go the way I had hoped. Tomorrow WILL be better, dammit! I can say my house looks and smells great, but after a while I had to actually return to the 21st century and sit down after dinner and rest of my feet. They were damaged months ago and were really killing me after hours on them. Dinner has been made, dishes are done, laundry is COMPLETELY caught up (seriously! There isn't a single piece of clothing in the laundry room! Happy dance!) and now I'm here talking to you. There is my disaster of the first day of my version of the 1950s housewife experiment. Not exactly June Cleaver, but I tried. Honestly, the hardest thing today was fighting the temptation to get on Facebook and update everyone with the failures and successes of the day. I really didn't miss television, and I loved that I didn't get many calls or texts today. My phone usually goes nonstop, so the quiet was great! Oh, how I miss you all!


*I almost forgot, everyone knows I'm terrified of spider, right? Well, I was at the front door cleaning my hardwood floors and something above my head caught my attention...a spider! I grabbed my handy can of spray and sprayed the demon spawn. FOUR MORE came crawling from the doorway and the jam! I have a theory - they were all waiting for me to walk below them and they would all jump on me at the same time, causing a heart attack. They would then rule the house! That's my theory, anyway.*