What is it about human beings that makes us such creatures of routine? I never sleep quite as good as I do in my own bed - on my own pillows - and what a relief to get home last night and fall asleep under my own covers! I slept better than I had in several nights. Haven't quite caught up with the jetlag, but I'm feeling glad to be in my own little nest with a few more days before going back to work on Monday.
I used the 1945 instructions on "How to Make a Bed" the last day before my trip - Christmas Eve - and tried 'em out again this morning after eating my first vintage breakfast in a week. It was a blessedly simple menu, thank goodness!
Tomato Juice
Malt-O-Meal
Bedmaking is a decidedly easier task in 2009 it was in 1945 B.F.S. (Before Fitted Sheets). Back in the day, the only kind of sheet you could buy was a flat sheet. They were sold in sets of six and tied up with ribbons. And so the authors of my housekeeping manual tell me to make mitered ("hospital") corners at each corner of the "bottom sheet." The "top sheet" - what we'd call today the "flat sheet" - should be mitered at the foot of the bed only. I did indeed use a ruler to make my hospital corners and discovered that the 15 inches suggested for the fold is about the length from my elbow to the tip of my thumb. The '40s housewife probably wasn't toting a ruler about from bedroom to bedroom, so I should now be able to use my new rule of thumb (pun intended) to decide where to fold up each corner.
I vividly remember my mother teaching me when I was a little girl that the flat sheet should be spread on the bed with the hemmed side facing down. I couldn't understand why the pretty side shouldn't be facing up and protested. So she spread out the blankets and showed me how, when you turned the top of that sheet down over the blanket, the pretty side of was turned over, too - for all the world to admire! I wasn't surprised to see these directions also printed up in the manual. The authors even add italics to make sure that the reader remembers to spread the top sheet right side down before turning it down over the blankets.
It's time for me to make a grocery list and do a little unpacking. Happy New Year, dear readers!
7 comments:
Ahhh, fresh sheets! Happy new year. My new years resolution is to get uber organized and making the bed daily will be one of those. I am also going to change my sheets more frequently than I now do. How often does it say for a 1940's wife to change the sheets?
Welcome Back! Have you gotten your fill of snow?
I have been making my bed every morning for years. Before that I just left it to its own devices. I discovered that making it provided two benefits: The whole room looked neater immediately, and I could straighten out all the layers so that I could get into a bed in which I had enough covers!
I'm looking forward to your regular posting again.
I hope it's OK--I listed you on my blog as one of the ones that I follow. Let me know if it isn't OK, please.
Roxanne
The sheets should be changed once a week - on Thursdays, per the manual. And, yes, there's nothing like a fresh, clean, tightly-made bed. Especially when you're exhausted from traveling!
Roxanne, I'm honored to have you list my blog as one of the blogs you follow!
Alas, I could never get my fill of snow. I miss my winters - and springs and falls. There was snow on the ground the day I arrived and it soon melted away, but the gods treated me to a beautiful snowstorm the day before I left. I took a wonderful walk that morning while the snow was falling and tried to freeze the moment so I can remember it when I'm sweating my tush off here in April. :)
i must be the worst housewife then... we only have a fitted sheet and a doona.... but very easy to make the bed every morning
What's a doona?
umm, a doona is a duvet or a comforter... let me have a look at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doona
"a soft flat bag traditionally filled with down or feathers, or a combination of both and used on a bed as a blanket."
Neat! It's a word I've never used before. The ladies over at "Before Our Time" did a post last week on bedmaking and referred several times to a doona. I was pleased as punch to know what they were talking about.
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