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.*

Finally getting into a routine!

Today is Monday, and I'm finally getting into a good routine now that the kids are back in school. Thursday and Friday I made sure to put on makeup, styled my hair, and wore decent clothes. I refuse to wear junkie clothes into public ever again. A shopping trip yesterday confirmed my feeling of that. Everyone seemed to be wearing sweats, pajamas, or really low cut and saggy pants. It was almost as if they had given up. I, on the other hand, felt like I was walking a little taller. I didn't have anything more than mascara and lipstick, and my hair was twisted into a bun, but I looked pulled together. I had planned on posting pics of my look this weekend but I just acquired a new phone and haven't had all of my pics transferred over yet.

On to another part of my new routine. I've always made my bed when the family left in the morning (husband is still stirring in bed when I climb out), but I've added more to my ritual. Every morning, once I've made my bed, applied my makeup, and done my hair I collect the laundry throughout the house and get a load going. This has kept me from being swamped by the ever breeding dirty clothes. I also make sure to do all the dinner dishes and shine my sink per the Flying Lady's method before I go to bed. When I wake up there is no mess to get in my way while I make my morning coffee. If I didn't fix husband's lunch while making dinner I make it while the kids are getting ready for school. I'm getting ready to add to my routine, and I'm really feeling confidant and motivated!

On a side note, I went shopping today. I bought a couple of vintage items to add to my collection and can't wait to wear them! There's only a couple of dresses, a handbag, some scarves, etc, but they make me feel like such a lady.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great day!!!

Yet another failure at being a vintage housewife!

It's now Sunday, New Years Eve Eve, 12:20pm and I'm still in my pajamas. No, I don't wear nighties, or anything like that, but they're still what I slept in. I have yet to brush my hair or even my teeth. (I know, ew gross!) I keep trying to tell myself it's okay because I'm packing away the Christmas decorations, and will be making several trips in and out of the garage to hoist the boxes into the attic, but we all know this is nothing more than an excuse to avoid doing anything with my appearance. Why are we, as a society, so against spending time on ourselves? What is so wrong with wanting to look nice, even if it's just for your own family?

I aimed to look like this everyday:

And instead, I've looked like this everyday:

Okay, maybe not quite...I don't have a mask on, nor am I carrying around chocolates (only because I don't have any.), but you get the point. Why is it so hard to convince myself it's perfectly fine to look nice while cleaning? It's not like I'm sweeping the chimney or something. Well, at least not today. There's really no cleaning I have to do that would destroy my clothing, even without an apron.

I'm contemplating posting pictures of myself every day as a way to keep myself accountable. But, being as I have no followers, I'm pretty sure I could get away with a lot since no one will see them. lol

I would love to know how the women who are pulled together every day keep themselves motivated. Is it something they had to work at, or a way they were raised? My mom used to never leave the house without lipstick, but I think I'm rubbing off on her. She's been known to go into public without a stitch of makeup quite often lately. Is that a sign of low self-esteem on both of our parts?

Morals, Values, and the Modern World

Okay, so I wore a dress, hose, and heels in public Wednesday. I then had to work Thursday and Friday (washing dogs for a grooming salon), therefore, I wore ratty jeans, an old T-shirt, and my worst tennis shoes. Trust me when I say there's absolutely no way to dress up at that job. However, Friday was my last day. I was only working part-time for the holidays, both for extra money for my family and to help out the owner of the grooming shop who just happens to be my best friend in the whole world.

Today, I'm currently wearing a pair of pants (not jeans, but not slacks either) and an inside out sweatshirt. I have so much "dirty" work to do I just couldn't stomach the thought of ruining any of my nice clothes. I have yet to purchase or make a sturdy day dress to do my housework, so my work clothes will have to do for now. But, when I've finally obtained the sturdy feminine wear, I will be wearing them, even when I'm only writing. (Did I mention I'm an author and work from home?)

Several times now I've attempted the old school hairstyles. I've learned a couple things from these attempts - women kept their hair shorter because it takes forever to style, and women only washed their hair a couple times a week because it takes forever to style! I don't own curlers so I've had to use a curling iron. I recently bought sponge rollers, but after ten hours my damp hair was still damp. I had no desire to sleep in those things, so I rolled my hair and pinned them. Unfortunately, I twisted the hair while rolling it and it came out looking very 80s hair band video. The hair went into a braid for the day, but at least it was more than my daily pony tail. Yep, I wear my hair in a pony tail every day, whether my hair is long or short, or it's hot or cold outside. I don't generally wear makeup because, well frankly, I usually only see the dog, chickens, and iguana throughout the day. My thought process was 'who cares?', but I realized something....I should care. I should care how I look to both myself and my wonderful husband. After he works ten to twelve hours a day doesn't he deserve to come home to a clean house, a hot, home cooked meal, and a beautiful, pulled together wife?

I've seen so many comments on that old Good Housekeeping article, you know the one, where women ridiculed this thought process. Why? Wasn't part of the women's suffrage that we should be able to choose whether we wanted to work or not? Why is my choice to serve my husband and make sure I'm the one raising my kids instead of a daycare considered bad, antiquated, and less of a woman? I'm fully aware it's not always possible for a woman to stay at home, I was one of them after my divorce, but if both parents don't have to work, why shouldn't you have the joy of knowing you instilled your values and your morals into your child instead of letting the world dicate who they'll become?

Okay, so today is Saturday, Christmas is Tuesday. Starting....tomorrow (remember, I have a lot of dirty work today) my face and hair will be done, and I will be wearing clothes not fit for a mechanics shop. I will strive to be more like the 1950s wife we all have read about, and some have ridiculed me. No, this isn't an experiment, rather a way to improve our lives as a family.