What a Difference 67 Years Makes!

A few days ago, the Yahoo home page featured an article from GQ.com written for men looking for "gifts women will flip for." It makes for kind of a neat snapshot of the kinds of Christmas gifts popularly suggested for women in this day and age:

1. Glassybaby Votive Candles
Handblown glass votives made in Seattle.

2. Envirosax
Reusable shopping bags.

3. Sarah Horowitz Parfums Online Journey
Custom-designed fragrance.

4. Smythson of Bond Street Notebook
Leather-bound notebook.

5. Kodak Zi8
Digital camcorder.

6. Club Monaco Cashmere Scarf

7. Ultimate Ears 700 Earphones

8. A.P.C. Madras Shoulder Bag

9. Leather Jacket, Jimmy Choo for H&M

10. David Yurman Four-Row Baby Box Chain
Sterling silver necklace.

But what about the '40s? How does this list from 2009 compare to a similar article from a 1942 newspaper. The gift suggestions for 1942 certainly sound a lot more practical. Gifts better designed to benefit the household as a whole than most of the gifts recommended in 2009. Take a look...

1. Ration Card Holder
"They're going like all get-out in Fifth avenue's already crowded stores. Best seller: a wine leather folder containing a sample of the government coupons which will be required for many things besides sugar in 1943."

2. Bathrobes
"Smartest robes are 'keep her warm' gifts. Rayon fabrics make some pretty special ones. The bright plaid taffeta, knee-length brunch coat that was a popular novelty last Christmas is important this year. Soft crush-resistant velvets, crepes and satins are ankle length under WPB regulations. Newer still are brushed or spun rayons that look soft and delicate, but are warm and wearable. A tasteful example is a pale pink challis with yellow flowers, quilted, fitted, double breasted. Cotton eyelet lace edges revers, cuffs and pockets. Rose velvet ribbon is drawn through the lace and tied in bows."

3. Bedsocks
"...perhaps imported English handmades with drawstrings and ball pompoms..."

4. Electric Blanket
"...for automatically controlled snugness, both as extra bedcovering and as an afghan in the living room..."

5. Sweater
"...wool sweaters, both classics and smart evening sweaters."

6. Scarf
"...say a huge, fringed plaid scarf, or one of those ice-mist ones which look like a wisp of cloud but feel quite cozy when worn about the shoulders or as a hood."

7. Garment Care Accessories
"...a wood stretcher to insure that her home-washed sweaters will look professionally blocked and wear better; mending kits of every description, and a remarkably good-looking and hard-as-iron coverall apron. This has the attached potholder and a pocket big enough for the duster, as well as the furniture glue."

8. Overalls
"Of course, if she's working in industry, overalls are in order, for these would be what stockings were, never-too-many."

9. Handkerchiefs
"Stores expect this will be the biggest 'handkerchief Christmas' in years. The supply of linens varies but many shops have them: Madeira and Swiss and Chinese. Printed handkerchiefs to match or 'make' a costume are particularly popular. Sheer cottons and rayons also are worth attention, being less soft and absorbent but also much more rumple-resistant."

10. American China
"For that so-numerous type, the war bride, the best gift still is something to add to the enduring beauty and comfort of her home... There are good stocks (though not uniformly plentiful) of fine imported and American china, and new ones are being introduced just now. There is one new collection of china with designs contributed by outstanding American artists."

Which list fits you best?

20 + 1 = 21

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. For those of you following my little reducing saga, you'll remember that two weeks ago I had to stop taking the diuretic I'd taken for the last couple years to help control my blood pressure. After losing 20 lbs., my blood pressure had dropped so low that I needed to begin stepping down on the meds, and the diuretic was the first to go. Within four days, I gained 4 lbs. in water weight. During the last 10 days, I've worked my patooty off and managed to lose not only 4 lbs. to compensate for the water weight but 1 more lb. to boot. And all the time I've continued drinking 64 oz. of water per day - the same amount of water I was drinking while I was taking the diuretic and the same amount I drank everyday last week --- so I'm feeling pretty confident that what I've lost this last week has been genuine poundage. At any rate, I weighed in at 173 this morning. We're back on the move, dear readers!

The red Mexican bird of paradise is now in bloom which means our long-winded desert summer is about halfway over --- it also means, unfortunately, that my little apartment is starting to smell very stuffy. I've tried to keep things sealed up in here since it became blazing hot in June. The windows are never opened and the door opened just long enough for me to exit or enter. I'm not sure what the cure for this midsummer stuffiness might be. Is there some secret none of the natives have filled me in on yet? It's too hot even in the middle of the night to crack the windows. Ah well, I guess I can endure the stuffiness for a couple more months.

The Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) has some wonderful suggestions for those seeking to cool their homes - in looks and in temperature - during summers in a pre-air conditioning world. Maybe these'll come in handy for you lucky dames living in a more temperate climate! It's fascinating to me how much more amenable people once seemed to adapting their decor to the season instead of fighting Mother Nature tooth and nail to keep things looking the same year-round. It was almost expected - either when you did your spring cleaning or about the time you put up your window screens - that you would switch out the furnishings, linens, and draperies throughout your home for the summer ahead.

The first few are very practical tips for cooling your home and circulating air:

• Closed windows and drawn blinds throughout the day will prevent sunshine and warm air from penetrating the house, as southerners learned long ago. Wait until the sun has left the horizon before opening windows and raising blinds to welcome any cool air the evening may bring. Opening upstairs windows and keeping the lower ones closed will permit the warm air, which has risen to escape.

• Electric fans put in action in strategic points throughout the house will keep the air in circulation... In front of the fan or fans, place a tray filled with chunks of ice - they will cool the air which is circulated by the fans.

• Evenings will be somewhat cooler if candles are substituted for electric lights.

• Sofas and chairs, which in the winter faced a cheerful fireside, should now be directly or obliquely in the path of any breeze the windows or doors may lure into the room.

These next two have the comfort of the housewife in mind:

• With an eye to relief from the burden of cleaning tasks, many housewives use a blanket cover instead of the traditional bedspread. A dressing table which has good lines can be left unskirted during the warm months.

• Summer is no time for laundering fine damask, babying fine crystal or polishing prized silverware. During the warm season, use only the simplest, most informal luncheon cloths and place mats.

This last series is all about "cooling" your decor:

• Bright slipcovers [examples: white with green ivy print or a floral print in blue, white and a bit of wine] rank high in importance among summer transformations. Not only do they play a part in cooling off the color scheme but they protect upholstery fabrics from the harm to which dust and sunshine streaming through summer-open windows expose them.

• Large rugs - Oriental, velvet broadloom, wool piles, etc. - deserve a professional cleaning annually and it is practical to send them out for cleaning and storage when the warm days arrive. Living room, dining room or bedroom floors left bare by their departure will look much cooler and will have a chance to display their own hardwood beauty.

• Use sheer white fabrics to make cool, filmy summer curtains to replace warm winter draperies.

• In place of the usual kindling wood and logs, pile laurel or pine branches across the andirons and in the woodbasket. For a more dramatic change, store the andirons, etc., and set a big potted plant or basket of greens in their place.

• Wooden bowls... are nice for serving rolls, fruits and vegetables, as well as salads.
  
  
• This is the time to use vegetable-shaped soup bowls, leaf-shaped serving dishes. Hunt out amusing salt and pepper shakers and relish dishes of all kinds. Have pottery vivid in hue - in one solid tone or colors which combine.

Cabbage and Chenille

I did some marketing this evening, but before I start planning the next vintage dinner, I wanted to mention a couple more things about the last one. One of the tips I read online after making the Stuffed Cabbage Leaves is that it's easier to peel whole leaves from the head of cabbage if you blanch it first. The blanched leaves are also supposed to be easier to roll up with the stuffing inside. They don't tear like fresh, dry leaves. Now, of course, this tip might have been more helpful if I'd read up on Stuffed Cabbage Leaves before jumping right into the recipe, but maybe it can still help one or two of you in your cabbage endeavors...

Incidentally, this recipe was included in a chapter of the cookbook titled "French Cooking" - along with a whole mish-mash of recipes like Gnocchi and Eggplant Oriental. The author seems to be using the label "French" as a catch-all for anything European - or frankly anything non-American! Which must have been a great recommendation to some of her more adventurous readers. For 1940s Americans, France was still the capital of style and avant-garde sensibility.

When I was washing up some of Sunday's pots and pans, I spilled a ton of water on my countertop and my microwave did not appreciate it. All that water must have shorted something out, because I haven't been able to use it since. I may be able to get it repaired, but I've been toying around with the idea of not replacing the microwave if it can't be repaired cheaply. Do I really need one? The only thing it truly comes in handy for is reheating leftovers. If I'm mindful about any thawing I need to do and don't mind washing a few extra baking dishes, I might be able to make it without one. There's still a microwave a work for my weekday lunches. Hmmm... Getting that counterspace back would be killer. My microwave easily takes up 50% of my kitchen counter footage.

On a much more exciting note, I finally picked out a vintage chenille bedspread to replace the quilt I've had on my bed for ages. I bought it online, so won't get to see it in person for another few days, but this one has such a lovely homey charm to it. It probably dates to the '40s or '50s, but I don't know chenille well enough to date it any better than that. Are there any chenille aficionados out there? Here are some pictures from eBay. Though the background washes out in the picture, it's supposed to be a super pale green, with the darker leaves for contrast:

Turning a Bedroom into a Guest Room

This week is all about plugging along… After two weeks of illness, I’ve got to push and prod myself every step of the way to get these chores done. That said, I’m starting to feel a bit of the ol’ rhythm when it comes to my morning and evening routines. My ironing got done yesterday - all except for a blouse I forgot about that had been drying in the bathroom - and I did a little marketing this evening. My aunt is in town for a conference, and my sister and I will be making dinner for her tomorrow night. At my sister’s house, thank goodness! I may have made some progress in housekeeping since November, but my home is still far from ready to do any entertaining. At any rate, that means I’ll need to push my weekly bedroom cleaning forward to Friday evening and my new mission to Saturday morning.

It’s been a while now since I cleaned my bedroom, and I’m actually looking forward to putting it back to rights. Since I don’t have all that much in the way of news this evening, I thought I’d share this wonderful description of how the ideal guest room should be furnished from Lily Haxworth Wallace’s New American Etiquette (1941). I think we all deserve to feel as good as we’d try to make a guest feel in our homes. How do your bedrooms measure up to the ideal guest room?

Bedrooms should be liberally equipped with lights. The central bulb should operate from a switch that can easily be reached on entering the room. There should be a bed light, two, if the room has twin beds. A lamp should be above the sofa or chaise longue for reading. The bed and sofa lights should operate on individual switches.

The room should have shutters and shades so that every bit of the early morning sun can be kept out of the room if one likes to sleep late in complete darkness.

The bed or beds should be comfortable and should be well equipped with sheets, blankets (plenty of them), and a quilt. There should be two pillows, one hard and the other soft. There should be a bed light over each bed to satisfy those who like to read themselves to sleep.

Any bells for calling servants should be placed so that they can be sounded without getting out of bed.

There should always be a bedside table on top of which there should be an accurate alarm clock. The table should also hold a small tray with a glass and spoon, a thermos bottle of cold water, and a hot-water bottle or electric pad. A flashlight or candle should be beside the bed for service in the event of a breakdown in the house lighting supply.

The closet should not be the storage space for miscellaneous articles. It should have sufficient shelves and hangers for all the clothes it will hold. There should be hat stands for the women and trouser hangers for the men. Shoe trees should be amply supplied. If riding is a practice, there should be a bootjack.

There should be at least one lounging chair in the room and a sofa with comfortable cushions. They should be so placed that the light from the window is right for reading. A lamp should be near by for night reading.

A dressing table should be so placed that it receives satisfactory light from the window during the day and should have lights properly arranged for use after dark.

In the days of midsummer an electric fan is a welcome addition to the equipment of a hot room.

Mirrors should be in as many places as possible. There should be at least one of full length and the others should be placed so that they are at the proper height and receive good light.

A writing desk should be equipped with note paper, envelopes, ink, pens, pencils, stamps, blotters, and a calendar. Beside it there should be a waste basket.

Sun and Air

My sister is home at last, so my niece is in good hands again - and I'm sick. I think I caught whatever virus Kitten was coping with, so I'm glad it held off until I could be sick on my own time. My routine took a hit on Thursday evening (I didn't get home until 1 a.m.) and again on Friday morning (just barely made it to work), but I'm taking it very easy this weekend. Trying to get lots of rest, but moving slowly through my accustomed chores. Did a little bit of Wednesday's marketing last night and this morning have just begun Thursday's weekly cleaning-of-the-bedroom.

Cleaning the bedroom isn't exactly a fast-paced chore. After stripping the beds and hanging the covers out to air, you tote your bric-a-brac out to wherever you're going to dust or polish it and bring your cleaning equipment and fresh linens into the bedroom. Then it's just a matter of waiting for fresh air to do its part of the job. You see, the mattress and pillows need to be aired, too. Now, if you were cleaning several bedrooms, you could probably work the timing out so that you were getting things started in each of your other rooms while you were waiting for the first room to be properly aired. Here are some guidelines from the manual for putting that fresh air to work:

Mattresses

Innerspring:

Sun and air once a week (strip off the bedding and open the windows wide for at least an hour).

Pillows

Air pillows at least once a month by placing them on chairs near an open window.

Bedding

Bedding should be aired at least once a week. Spread it over two chairs near an open window and leave it there for at least an hour. An occasional airing out of doors over a line is good for it. Choose a day when the weather is fair to warm.

My bedroom window is open and the blinds have been pulled so the mattress and pillows are getting as much fresh air as possible. I've hung my quilt and blanket over the railing outside on my landing, and I'll give them a good shake before bringing them inside. Get all the dust out. Apartment Land is not an ideal place for doing these kinds of chores - what I wouldn't give for an outdoor clothesline!!! - and I live in a city with a lot of crime, so I'm always a little worried my bed covers will disappear while they're airing!

Unless my appetite takes a nosedive, I'm going to try the first of my 1945 dinner menus this evening:

Steamed Rice

Buttered Carrots

Celery Cabbage Salad

Steamed Molasses Pudding

This is a weekday (Monday-Saturday) dinner with a few alterations. I'm omitting the meat course. 1940s home economists believed that each dinner should contain both a starchy vegetable or grain (potatoes, rice, etc.) and a bread. That's way too many carbs for me, so I'm going to have one or the other. Since my dessert is a bready-type dish, I'm going to opt for the Steamed Rice over the Enriched Bread this 'time round. The recommended beverages are Milk and Coffee. Do you drink a full glass of milk with your meals? It's been years since I did so, and though I'm not sure this is a good thing (am I really getting enough calcium?), the thought kind of icks me out after all this time. Coffee at breakfast is more than enough for me, so I think I'll just go with a glass of ice water at dinner. This time, anyway.

My hour is up and it's time to get to work making up the bed. Hey, if I'm going to be feeling under the weather all weekend, there's no place for recuperating like a fresh, clean bed!

Throw Back

Throw back bed covers, including top sheet, on all beds. (This too should be done by the person occupying the room.)

No holds barred, this is my favorite part of the new early morning routine. I uber love getting to "throw back" all those rumply, crumply bed covers and give the sheets an airing... Here's the only problem: what to do with the heap of bed covers? And judging from the list of bedroom linens recommended for the bride by Lily Haxworth Wallace in New American Etiquette (New York: Books, Inc., 1941), it was quite a heap!

For two single beds or twin beds

Six pairs fine percale sheets.

Six pairs percale pillow cases to match.

Six pairs linen sheets (optional).

Six pairs linen pillowcases to match (optional).

Two pair winter blankets.

Two pairs summer blankets.

Two comfortables, wool-filled.

Four bed spreads.

Four mattress protectors.

Two pillows - standard size.

Four night spreads.

I wonder what the difference is between a "bed spread" and a night spread. Any ideas?