Saturday's Vintage Videos

For Saturday's post, I decided instead of vintage commercials, why not a couple tutorials? Here are two of my fave YouTubers! ENJOY!

Joan Hollway makeup tutorial (More 60s than usual)

Lisa Freemont Street has some of the greatest vintage hair tutorials on YouTube!

My Virtual Vintage Dream Board

Since I have no desire to rush out and buy poster board, nor sit around cutting pics out of a magazine, what do you say we build a dream board. I guess I'm strange because there won't be some exotic foreign locations or brand new sports cars on my board.

Oh, how I love these dresses, skirts, and shirts! I can't be the only one who instantly feels confidant, sexy, and strong the second I slip this stuff on! Nothing else feels as natural to me as the vintage look!

 I might just have to do some DIY crafts over the winter! How cute are these glasses??!

 So kitschy, but I've always adored the midcentury poodle statues!

 I NEED a kidney shaped coffee table to go with my adorable vintage couch, chair, side tables, and lamp!

These would be so freaking cute hanging over my reading chair in the living room!

This was so fun! I think I might just do this more often! Definitely has my creative juices going! Just imagine how much of this I could make myself!

Adding to my wardrobe, thrift shopping, and zucchini bread

I registered my kids in high school today. My daughter is a sophomore and my youngest son is a...*gasp*...senior. And to answer your question, yes, I totally got emotional! My babies are growing up way too fast! Where in the world did the time go? What happened to filling cartoon character and superhero backpacks full of all those cutesy school supplies? *sigh*

After registering the monkeys and getting the boy's hair cut, we shot over to Wal-Mart. I've been slowly adding to my wardrobe, but frankly, buying true vintage can get quite expensive. Soooo, I've been making my own. (someday I'll post Outfit Of The Day). Here's the pattern I bought today:

I don't really have any circle skirts (although I have a couple dresses with the fuller skirts), so I decided to remedy that! I haven't bought the fabric yet, but I promise to post as soon as I find what I want. I'll probably make a few at one time so I have a good variety.

Now, I should totally be fabric hunting, but instead, I'm utilizing the last of my zucchinis for the summer. (I got sick for over a week and my squash and zucchini plants died since no one was taking care of them!) I currently have loaves 3 and 4 in the oven.

Yep, four loaves of zucchini bread from one zucchini! Once those are cooled I'll make some more and pop them in the freezer. How awesome will it be on cool autumn days or days when the kids and I are snowed in to run out and grab some comfort food straight from our freezer? Of course, I made these loaves wearing one of my sweet aprons. (Man, I really need to start taking some more pics!)

On another note, my mom and I took the kids thrift store shopping for some school clothes (hate buying a whole new wardrobe because it's hot for the first couple months, and my daughter is growing way too fast to buy anything too far in advance!) Check out this sweet dress I got for about $10!

I know the shoes are hideous, but they're all I have other than black flats, black heels, black knee high boots, and tennis shoes! I REALLY need some flats in different colors and some kitten heels!

That's it for today! I LOVE seeing what you've been adding to your wardrobes! Feel free to share you blogs with me so I can go stalk your pages!

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!

1950s Housewife Experiment - Take 2

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while remember my first 1950s Housewife Experience. Well, guess what? I'm doing it again. This time you can find everything on my other blog, I'd Rather Be Blogging. I will be cross posting so nothing will be missed, and this blog will stay up as I plan on continuing with my housewife posts.

In the meantime, enjoy some fun, vintage commercials:

Putting My Money Where My Red-Painted Mouth Is!

I said I was going to do it, and I have! All last week (with the exception of the day I received news a friend of ours passed) I have put in an effort to wear makeup, do something with my hair and wear decent clothes. I refuse to go into public with ripped clothing, my behind hanging out, or ratty tennis shoes.

This all paid off last night! I decided to go ahead and reveal my look to my husband's band members. I slicked the red lipstick across my lips, and applied eye makeup in the traditional fifties manner. I even curled my hair. I received more compliments last night than I have my entire life...I'm not kidding! Some said I was "glowing", another said I "looked classy", and another said I looked "elegant". Really, they had always seen me where makeup to their gigs, but I put some effort into my appearance.

Today, I volunteered to help my sister with some promo shots for her Valentine's Day pin up specials. Here's me in my interpretation of Rosie the Riveter. (ps. This may or may not be the only pic of my face ever put on this blog).

So, I started writing this days ago, and am now finally finishing the post. For an update, I was out and about several times this week. When I was home I still wore makeup and a decent shirt, but wore jeans when I was home. Yesterday, I left the house with my hair in a forties style complete with victory rolls. I went shopping with my mom, searching for a pencil skirt, and instead came home with a new coat. All the skirts were just too short for the style I'm going for, so I guess I'll be hitting some vintage shops next week.

Have a great day, everyone!

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.