1950s Housewife - On to Day 3

I had some failures yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out why... oh, thankfully, I did sleep without making lists last night, only to be awoken at 5:30 this morning by the boy - seems he wanted to talk things over...

My chief failure yesterday was not freshening up before serving dinner. So Dear Husband had to eat with a whole day's worth of odors and hair and such - I'm sure he was disgraced... BUT, I did manage to make him a strong Vodka Martini, so he may have been unnerved by my appearance at first, but I'm sure once dinner was done, he didn't care so much - about anything anymore! Gee - I hope this two weeks doesn't turn Dear Husband into some sort of lush!

My other failure included just generally running late in the evening due to the kids' lessons. An issue we face again today. I did have dinner ready, and just needed to reheat it... but I used the microwave, which I had initially put on my list of no-nos for the experiment. Today, I'll try a different strategy...

This is what I'm finding as the toughest part of the day - juggling lessons and dinner and the self-grooming that must be involved. Going back to yesterday's comment - a 1950s housewife would not have this issue, as lessons would be done directly after school, and within walking distance for the kids to go to alone - leaving ample time for cooking, making cocktails, and beatification. But the 1950s housewife always deals with what she's got - so here I am, and I have to figure out how to make it work (or just miss lessons next week if I can't figure it out.)

I must note that in the hour and a half between homework and lessons yesterday, my Dear Daughter was able to read half a book - so I think that is a good - no great! - thing.

All this extra careful hygiene is also working my nerves. I'm someone used to my work-at-home mom uniform: t-shirt and shorts. SOMETIMES I take a shower and comb out my hair. RARELY I apply make-up. And I'm lucky to find an unsmelly, unholy bra. Look, its not like I live in squalor, I just usually find other ways to spend my time, rather than on myself. Here, I've spent more time in the last two days cleaning myself than I have doing any one other thing! I'm annoyed by it, but I'm also intrigued. It has me spending time looking at myself in the mirror - and taking stock (mostly in a good way). It also gives me time in the morning to really organize those crazy mid-night mental lists into some sort of schedule for the day.

It has also made me realize that my make-up is two years old... I think this might be yucky, but I have no context, not being a very girly sort of girl. I can't bring myself to spend any budget on anything fresh, so I will make do with blecky make-up for the rest of the experiment.

Soon, I will be adding a slide show on the right. I've found these super-excellent magazines from 1952 and 1954. They are Life and the Saturday Evening Post. I LOVE them, they really tell a story here. I'm going to be scanning and showing things I find interesting, as I have time. Today we will see ads to make my 1950s kitchen more efficient and make my life easier - which falls exactly where my problem currently lies!

Today I need to get off the future-box and get on the ball as I have a luncheon and need to work my daily chores around that appointment. I wonder what I should wear?

- Mrs. P

1950s Housewife - Day One

One laundry load at a time.

I awoke as "Mrs. Porter" for the first time today. I got up before everyone else and changed from my scrappy definition of pajamas and put on the proper pajamas and robe of a 1950s housewife. I DID include the proper undergarmets, including girdle... fat lot of good that did when only my daughter noticed how cute I looked!

I went downstairs only to find that we had a shocking lack of groceries in the house (note to self - don't start experiments the day after returning from a long weekend at the state fair - be more prepared next time, dummy!)

So I scrounged what I could and then went back up to awaken the family. Everyone was quite pleasant to me, and no one gave me dirty looks or too much whining (although the boy did tell me a few times that he was still sleepy, but I think I roused him enough to make it through the day.)

Fed, clothed and out the door - I was able to get laundry going, make Jon's breakfast, and do some straightening up downstairs, as well as make beds and open window shades upstairs. It is such a beautiful day today, that I am airing out the downstairs with all the windows open... the fresh air is glorious!

Then I made myself up for the day, showering, make-up (yes, make-up) and I decided that I must wear a blouse each day, NO T-SHIRTS! I'm trying to avoid my typical mom uniform all together, although I have decided that capri pants are okay until 5 pm, when Husband is scheduled to arrive back home.

So here I sit at my amazing electronic typewriter from the future, and now I will choose dinner and go grocery. All in all, not a terrible start to this silly silly experiment.

More later -
from Mrs. Jon E. Porter, Jr.