My Week As A 1950's Housewife - Wednesday

My goodness, I can't believe Wednesday is already done and over with. This week is just shuffling along and my fears are being realized: I don't want this week to end! Of course I saved one of the scarier recipes (to make that is) for Sunday, so I may be changing my tune before long! Wednesday morning I had a work meeting, so I didn't get started on my day till nearly eleven! Oh well, I was still able to get quite a bit done, though not as much cleaning as I had hoped. But that's the way of things - was it really only yesterday that I felt so organized and on top of things? Oh how quickly the tides change!

By the end of this week you'll know how many polka dot dresses I own, haha! Wednesday I chose to wear a brown polka dot dress, along with a favorite pair of chocolate brown heels and a pink hair ribbon.

 Underneath the dress I wore my very favorite crinoline - it's a soft one with layers and layers of ruffles! I bought it at a garage sale years ago, and my sister Bethany tried to get me to throw it away multiple times. I'm so happy I always talked myself out of it! (As an unrelated story: Bethany once cut up a belt I had decided to throw away - at her insistence - so that I couldn't go back to the garbage can and get it back out. #LifeWithSisters)

But anyway! Doesn't the skirt look lovely with the crinoline? Someday when I'm rich I'll have a crinoline in every color but that will probably be a while!

I had decided to curl my hair again this morning but not until it was too late to have it dry and looking pretty for my work meeting. Not wanting to disappoint you Dear Reader I may have worn my hair in curlers to the meeting (I promise it wasn't a big deal! In case you don't know I am a member of the Alaska String Band and the other members are my husband and his wonderful family - they know I'm weird enough by now that they weren't at all surprised when I came in with my hair in curlers!). It made it look all the nicer later that morning when I did it though! I may have wrestled to get those two victory rolls in (at some point this week I shall have victory with my victory rolls!), but I'm happy with the overall look of the hairstyle.

 I didn't accessorize much Wednesday, just a white belt, a pearl necklace and a pearl bird bracelet (along with the pink ribbon I mentioned already). I don't often wear pink (Yes, mom. I know I look good in it.), but I thought the ribbon was pretty so I wore lipstick to match - though I'm not sure if I liked it all that much. This dress is very comfortable, so it was the perfect thing to wear for the chores I had to do that day!
 
Because of the late start to my day I got right into the housework, tidying upstairs, making the bed, and cleaning up the kitchen after the hurried breakfast (Eggo waffles - they debuted on store shelves in 1953!). On today's schedule was cleaning the windows and organizing the fridge and freezer.

I started with the windows since I thought they wouldn't take very long - my goodness was I wrong! You see, I hardly ever wash our windows. During the summer when there's constant sunlight streaming through them it gets done often, but during the winter (when it's dark almost all day) you don't even notice if the windows are getting a little dirty.

It also wasn't as easy as getting the Windex and a using little elbow grease. There was a very thin layer of oil on the windows (from all the cooking we've been doing this winter) that made it impossible! I was getting my arm workout for the day to only spread streaks across the windows! When I finally realized my problem was oil on the glass I got the dish washing liquid and used that with some warm water - it cleared it right up!

We didn't get very many photos because I was mostly looking rather angry and huffing and puffing about "...these silly windows - why wont they get clean!?" I also did the outside of the windows too (except for the ones I would need a ladder and a death wish to clean) and I can't believe the transformation. Quinn and I sat in the kitchen in awe. There was a whole world out our windows!

 Disclaimer: I promise Dear Reader, I do clean my little barn. I don't want you to think that Quinn and I live in squalor! I promise things do look nice most of the time! Haha! 

I spent so long cleaning the windows that I decided to skip organizing the fridge for the day. My arms were throbbing from all the scrubbing I had been doing and I was ready for a break!

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To give my tired arms a rest I decided to do some sewing. Housewives in the 50's would often be found behind their sewing machine, probably sewing clothes for the little kids running about. I don't have any children yet, but that doesn't mean I can't prepare! 

I decided on a quick little project, a baby's bonnet. I've used this pattern several times to make bonnets for friends who are having a little one (if you'd like to make one as well you can find all the steps and the free pattern here). It was the perfect project as it goes together easy and is all done in a flash.

It's always been my dream to be a housewife and mother. Someday I hope to have children of my own but until then I can dream and make little bonnets, don't you think that's a good plan? I have a little Holly Hobbie tin that I have as a little Hope chest for the day I have a little one. It doesn't have much in it, but I like to pull it out sometimes just to look at the cute baby things. There's a Scandinavian apron dress, a set of hair clips like the ones my mother put in my hair, one of my favorite books as a child, and a little wooden baby spoon that I made as a teenager.

For the bonnet, I decided to use a navy polka dot fabric and a reindeer printed fabric in different shades of blue - I think it could easily be used for a boy or a girl, wouldn't you agree?

  

 I listened to more music from the 50's while I worked. My goodness they liked good music back then! I would much rather have that then the music that plays on today's radio, what do you think?

Well I finished the bonnet lickety-split but I had a problem: no cute little baby to try it on for me! I thought about going over to Melissa's and asking her for a baby doll (she has a lovely collection of vintage dolls) but then I remembered I do have a baby! Greta!

Oh my goodness! Cuteness overload!

 Isn't she the most darling thing you ever laid eyes on!?

Quinn and I were shocked when she let me try the bonnet on her. She usually detests things on her head (Yes, I have tried to put her in bonnets and handkerchiefs before...), but she was so well-mannered! Looking at these pictures just makes me so happy inside!

Oh! And I forgot to mention the best part about this bonnet pattern: it's reversible!

 And reversible means double the cuteness! 

My goodness! How do I follow that up? What I cooked for dinner can't at all compare to a cute corgi in a baby bonnet, ha ha! But on we go!

Above I said I made dinner when in fact Wednesday night was Quinn's night to make dinner! Yes, the only thing the 1950's housewife didn't cook were the things cooked out on the grill (and I was perfectly happy to let him do all the grilling, as it was 9 degrees outside!). I wasn't completely off the hook though, there was dessert to be made and some sides to go with our perfectly grilled burgers!

I started with dessert (the best place to start really): that night it would be apple pie - and in true 50's fashion, it was coming from canned preserves I had made last autumn. These apples were from our own trees, and we had spent quite the busy Sunday putting them up for the larder, what seemed so long ago. 

I like things quick and easy, and I bet the 50's housewife liked it that way too, so it was as simple as pouring the jar into a pie crust and dotting it with butter. Yum!

And of course what's a homemade apple pie without a lattice top? This of course is my favorite part, and I love to try different designs on all the pies I make. Do you have a favorite pattern you like to use? Let me know down in the comments, I'd love to try it out as well!

Into the oven it went, and soon it was filling all of Blueberry Barn with the amazing aroma of apple pie. Quinn and I were both wishing dinner was already over and done with so we could get straight to the pie, but there was still things to do yet...

Before long the pie was done and it was time to get started on dinner! While Quinn braved the friged temperatures (as a true Alaskan Moutain Man would) I stayed in the barn washing dishes and trying my hand at making French "Fries" in the oven.

I realized today that there hasn't been a single photo of me doing the dishes yet - how funny when I feel as though most of my time has been spent in front of the sink! Blueberry Barn does not have a dish washer, but I'm glad we don't have one - it means dishes have to get done right that moment and there isn't all that waiting. After growing up in a house of nine people (my parents and my six siblings and I), I was so happy to have to wash, dry, and put things away all at the same time. It felt like a luxury! Of course doing dishes gets boring at times, but I have several pictures of Quinn and I to look at while I do them! And how lucky I was to find that today my gloves matched my outfit! Ha ha!

When the pie was finished baking I set it up on the counter and wished that I had a windowsill to set it out on. Well, none of my windows open (though they are very clean, thank you for asking), so I thought and pondered on what to do.

Well...it was plenty cold outside to cool an apple pie.

But on second thought I think I would just let it cool inside. 

Can you see my goosebumps? 

Brrrr! Was it ever cold out there!

Quinn was finishing up the burgers on the grill (he even wore an apron of mine - though not a flowery one) and I was heating up some baked beans, the "fries" were just about finished and we were sure ready for dinner!

What you don't see in the photo of Quinn is Greta and Lupin sitting patiently at his feet, 

hoping he'll drop the whole plate so they can feast on hamburgers!

 My, what a lovely table, wouldn't you agree? We decided to bring down our Christmas plates again (even though we put them away before New Years) to have some variety this week - after all, it's still plenty wintery outside!

Quinn had done an amazing job with the burgers, and we both agreed that the French "Fries" had turned out perfectly! We were so hungry that the meal passed and we realized we had hardly said a word, the food was so delicious! I was surprised when Quinn only ate one hamburger, but he reminded me excitedly " Pie!"

 Quinn graciously cleaned up the leftovers while I cleaned off the table, set it with new plates, and grabbed the ice cream (for what is apple pie without some ice cream?).

 *sigh* Doesn't it just look perfect! I was so happy with how the pie turned out, and it was absolutely scrumptious! I wish you could have been with us to enjoy it as well! Quinn did an excellent job of cutting the pieces and we didn't even eat half the pie, which means leftover pie tomorrow (perhaps for breakfast?)!

What is your favorite type of pie? Mine is pumpkin, and I always have it for my birthday in April. My poor Momma has always been kind to me and made it, even though she herself doesn't like pumpkin pie at all!

I think the best way to tell if a meal (or a dessert) was truly wonderful are the plates afterwards, and Quinn's plate was almost licked clean! I guess that's another day of the 50's housewife challenge over and done with - and I think it was a success!

If you'd like to skip to Thursday, click here!