29 + 4 = 33

The halfway mark (155 lbs.) is finally in sight! Just close enough that - barring disaster - I can glimpse it at a few weeks' distance. I weighed in at 161 this morning, with a loss of 4 lbs. this past week. I was pretty nervous during those first few days when I'd worked my abs too hard and couldn't do most of my limbering and stretching exercises, but I was super stringent about my eating to try and compensate - and it paid off handsomely. (My abdomen is feeling back to normal again, thank goodness.) Here's to cracking into the 150s when I step on that scale next Saturday morning!

One of the areas in my kitchen that isn't really addressed in The Manual's daily or weekly housekeeping routines is the breakfast table.

Here at Casa Jitterbug, mine is also a lunch and dinner table. I don't have a separate dining room, so my only table sits at one end of my kitchen. It's a round wooden table that seats four --- though the leaves that make it round can be dropped when not in use, making it more of a rectangle. Most of the time I leave a vintage tablecloth on top. It adds such a punch of color to my kitchen! I'd like to purchase a few more of these cloths so that I can rotate them seasonally and give the kitchen a different look from time to time. Since there's usually only one person seated at my table, I have it positioned against one wall with a 1950 Zenith radio opposite my chair. A small blue footed stand holds whatever fruit I've got in the house which doesn't need refrigeration. These days, I leave my vitamins and blood pressure medication sitting right there at the middle of the table. It isn't ideal. I'd love to keep them in the cupboard or something, but it keeps me from forgetting to take 'em if they're right there in front of me when I sit down to eat my breakfast.

It's a lovely spot. A cozy, cheery place for a meal I've worked hard to prepare. But my current kitchen cleaning routines don't include any kind of maintenance for this part of the kitchen. I've been sweeping the floor underneath the table on a weekly basis and washing it on a monthly basis, but what about the table and chairs? What about the tablecloth? How about the items I leave on my table? Every breakfast nook needs a little attention... I took a look at The Manual's routines for care of the dining room, but they were so focused on care of upholstery, furnishings, carpets, and "buffet appointments" that they didn't seem to apply very well to this particular situation.

So let's break it down. My kitchen table, first and foremost, is not just a dining table. It's a work surface. Tuesday evenings find me folding the cloth back so that I can set up my tabletop ironing board and work my way through a basket of clothes. (That table's the perfect height for ironing!) On Fridays or Saturdays, I fold the cloth back while I'm cleaning the kitchen so that I can store small items there while I'm cleaning the range and counter tops. If I have any baking to do that involves kneading or rolling or cutting, my tablecloth is whisked away to a safe place while I use the table as my breadboard.

Well, I guess this answers one of my questions. One of my weekly duties in the kitchen has long been to "Wipe... all work surfaces in need of cleaning." If my kitchen table is just as important a work surface as my counters and range top, it too needs a weekly washing. Here are some instructions on the care of wooden furniture which might be of help:

Make a light lather, using mild soap and lukewarm water. Wring a soft cloth out of this lather and go over a small area. Rinse with a cloth wrung out of clear water. Dry with a soft cloth.

The Manual goes on with instructions on polishing wooden furniture, but I'm not going to use any polish which might damage the tablecloth. The table has a good sturdy finish, so a weekly washing should suffice. I think that'll do for now. I'm headed into the kitchen in a few minutes to begin my work in there for the week. Next week, I'll add another step in the care of my breakfast nook to my housekeeping routine.

Toastmaster

It's Friday night and time to give my kitchen its weekly cleaning. You know, it's lovely when I have social plans that keep me from being able to do this chore at its appointed time, but it's also awfully nice to have it done and out of the way before the weekend really begins. There's nothing like waking up on Saturday morning with the kitchen already under my belt!

One of the various things that doesn't make The Manual's list of daily or weekly tasks in the kitchen is cleaning small appliances. Like the toaster. The icebox and range are covered, but the authors never hit on the toaster. Is it because they weren't yet common enough in American kitchens by 1945? Maybe the authors didn't want their non-toaster owning readers to feel slighted? Not to worry, care of toasters is covered in a chapter near the back of the book titled Small Electrical Equipment --- or "electrical servants" as the authors call them.

1. The metal shell in some toasters may be removed to brush out crumbs.

2. A collection of crumbs in the bottom of the toaster may cause a short circuit. Use a soft brush (a pastry brush does nicely) to brush out crumbs. If it is necessary to shake the toaster, be gentle about it. Violent thumping or shaking damages the fine wires.

3. "Warped" slices of bread are apt to stick to the wires; use even slices for best results.

4. Wipe the outside of the toaster with a soft cloth wrung out of warm soapsuds. Rinse with a cloth wrung out of clear water. Polish with a soft dry cloth.

5. Never immerse the toaster in water.

My own dear toaster is a vintage Toastmaster - an "Automatic Pop-up" model. It's a heavy little piece and awkward to move when I clean the counter underneath it, but it makes a lovely ticking sound as it toasts my whole grain bread in the morning. Sadly, I don't take very good care of it. There's a crumb tray on the bottom which can be unlatched and pulled forward to brush the crumbs away (though I rarely do it). I'll swipe the top or sides of it as I'm cleaning the kitchen --- but only once in a blue moon. Sounds like it's high time that my toaster made it onto my list of chores for the kitchen!

I don't own a pastry brush, but I'll add that to my shopping list so I can do a more thorough job cleaning that crumb tray. For now, I'll tip the toaster on its side, open the crumb tray, and try to clean it out that way. Before I clean the countertop. When the counter is clean and dry, I'll move the toaster back into place and clean off the outside before moving on to my next task.



How are your toast-making skills? Believe it or not, The American Woman's Cook Book (1945) actually includes a recipe for Buttered Toast, presumably for the most inexperienced, young housewives in the group. And Milk Toast, for the housewives who were nursing invalids. Ooh, yes, and a recipe for Cinnamon Toast. How decadent that sounds to this hungry little reducer!

************************************************

Cinnamon Toast

Spread hot toast with butter and sprinkle generously with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Place on the top shelf of the oven or under the broiler just long enough to melt the sugar.

************************************************

Wax On, Wax Off

Now that I've got my housekeeping routines for the bedroom just so, it's time to begin fleshing out my routines for the kitchen. Up 'til this point, it's been just about following the routine in America's Housekeeping Book (1945) to the letter. It's high time I turned my attention to some of the missing pieces in the puzzle.

The floors, for example. Dusting, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, waxing --- floor maintenance is addressed in the "skeleton housekeeping schedule" for every other room of the house, but when it comes to setting forth daily and weekly housekeeping routines for the kitchen, they aren't even mentioned. But for this single clue: just before the housewife finishes her daily chores in the kitchen, she's advised to rinse her mop; "hang outdoors if possible." After the kitchen gets its weekly cleaning, the mop is to be washed, rinsed, and scalded and - again - hung outdoors to dry.

Happily, there's an entire chapter dedicated to floors, though I can't say my no-wax vinyl flooring really fits any of the categories of flooring addressed in the book. I guess linoleum is the closest I'm going to get.

Daily: Dust with an untreated mop. The areas near work surfaces in the kitchen may need to be damp-mopped every day.

Weekly care of a linoleum floor depended on the type of wax you used (paste or liquid vs. self-polishing):

• Women who used a paste or liquid wax on their linoleum were instructed just to use a vacuum cleaner, "soft hair broom," or untreated mop to remove dust. Otherwise, the floor only needed to be washed twice a year after the old coat of wax was removed and before a new coat was applied.
  
  
• Women who used a self-polishing wax on their linoleum were instructed to use a damp mop at least once a week. "Kitchen floors may need to be washed once a week or oftener." Self-polishing wax was presumably a less sturdy product as it needed to be reapplied on a monthly basis.

I know I've been living under a rock when it comes to housekeeping, but I don't think I can get away with washing my kitchen floor once every six months. So I'll follow the instructions for the self-polished waxers. Kinda. The '40s housewife may have had the time to dust and damp mop her kitchen floors on a daily basis, but it's going to be a weekly chore in this household --- and until I invest in a dust mop, my broom will have to do. The floor should probably be thoroughly scrubbed once a month when I give the kitchen its intensive monthly cleaning.

What's your routine when it comes to floor care for the kitchen? I'll bet those old linoleum floors were tough as nails to keep clean. Have you ever lived in a home where you had to wax the kitchen floors?

Sunday, Monday, or Always

"Oh, yeah," I thought to myself this morning when I heard on the radio that today was the big day. The transition from analog to digital television was made today here in the United States. At least, I think it was. I felt the tiniest bit tempted to turn my TV on to see if it was picking up the new signal, but decided against it. This was big doings in the Jitterbug household last winter when they were planning to make "the switch" in February. I'd purchased my converter box, fussed about trying to pick up stations, figured out - finally - that my set would need a digital antenna, set that up and fussed about some more. Everything was in order when I parted ways with my television three weeks ago, so I'm sure it's fine now.

One of the things I'm certainly not missing about TV - analog or digital - is the constant grumbling about weather. Oh, those local newscasts... They'd moan and groan if it was in the 60s ("Too cold!"), they'd moan and groan if it was in the 90s ("It's a sizzler out there!"), they'd gripe about the slightest breeze ("Gusts of up to 40 mph!"), and rain? Forget about it. The softest shower was built up to be some massive rain system moving through the city. As if the griping and groaning and going over it again and again is going to make the slightest difference. It is what it is outdoors. All you have to do is open a window and you can see and feel what's going on out there. If your allergies are acting up - yep, there's pollen on the move. I can see how important forecasts would be if you were a farmer or if you lived in a Northern climate during the winter. I know firsthand how great Doppler radar is when a snowstorm is moving in. I used to get really frustrated hearing all that grumbling from the anchorpeople several times a day. (Not frustrated enough to just turn off the TV, mind you!) But it's an irritant that's gone now. Completely absent. I don't think I've heard a weather report of any kind in three weeks and I'm surviving quite nicely.

Another subtle shift for me is that I think I'm becoming more attentive to things like song lyrics. Music that was once more background for me than foreground is now the main attraction. If I'm sitting here tapping away at the keyboard and listening to big band, I'm really paying attention to the song. And this is probably going to sound goofy, but it's as if the lyrics of ballads and things are beginning to seem more passionate - and sexy at times - than they used to. Frank Sinatra singing "Sunday, Monday, or Always" is all crazy sexy to me now, and I probably would have written it off as a nice tune several weeks ago. It's kinda funny. Today's singers think they need to practically have intercourse on stage in order to elicit the same reaction that Sinatra got just from the way he paced his lyrics. And the catch in his voice. The bobby soxers were swooning in the aisles, but I'll bet there was many a housewife who stopped - iron in mid-air - to close her eyes and listen with a smile...

I'm getting ready to spend a few hours catching up with my kitchen. Because of the changes I've made to my housekeeping routine this week, I just wanted to post the revised list of chores I'll be doing on a weekly basis in the kitchen. These would have been daily tasks for the '40s housewife - and probably still are for many of you!

Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air, or open kitchen ventilator.

Rinse and stack dishes, pots and pans.

Check and reorganize foods; put away.

Collect all refuse and put in garbage can.

Wipe off top of refrigerator and all work surfaces in need of cleaning.

Wash dishes. Dry and put away, if not room to rinse with hot water and leave to dry.

Wipe off surface of range. Clean spilled food from drip pan or oven.

Dry damp work surfaces.

Dust radiator or register.

Take out garbage; put clean lining in garbage can.

Clean sink. Rinse dishcloth or mop; hang outdoors if possible.

Collect soiled towels; wash. Hang fresh towels.

Streamlining Housework

If you haven't noticed me grumbling about cleaning my kitchen lately, it's because I haven't been. (Grumbling, that is!) When I decided a few weeks ago to split up the big jobs into alternate weeks, it made all the difference in the world. Cleaning the kitchen still means a good solid two hours of work once a week, but the work just seems a lot more manageable than it did before.

And there isn't anything I really enjoy about this particular chore. When the job is done, though, my kitchen looks so nice. I catch myself doing a double take or two just to see how lovely it looks with a shiny sink, clean countertops, and a stovetop that positively gleams! If I can find something interesting on the radio, it always makes the work go faster, and I take a few breaks to drink some water and to put on some hand lotion. The good stuff. If I going to baby my hands at some point during the week, this is definitely the time to do so. Working with all that soap and water can be super drying to the skin.

Speaking of cleansers, soap and water aren't the only things at work in my kitchen these days. I use baking soda when cleaning the interior of the refrigerator/freezer and Comet to scour the sink. Cellulose sponges and dishtowels are my tools of choice, with an occasional Brillo Pad on a stubborn drip pan and - once in a great while - a paper towel. It's funny. On the rare occasions that I'd do any kind of cleaning in my kitchen in the past, I would never have set foot in there without a roll of paper towels and a canister of disinfectant wipes. I guess I was just afraid of having to put any kind of elbow grease to work. I thought chemicals could do the work for me. These days, I can go a month before having to change the roll of paper towels in my kitchen. And that's one of the small rolls! Paper towels get used now only for spot cleaning.

As I get accustomed to the mechanics of cleaning the kitchen, I catch myself finding little ways to make the work go faster. Here's my latest discovery: If I remove the drip pans before scrubbing the stovetop down (Is that what those metal trays under the burners are called?), then pop the lid and clean out underneath the stovetop, then wash the drip pans in the sink --- the stovetop and the area underneath it will be practically air-dried by the time I'm ready to reassemble the whole affair. That means my dishtowel will get less wet on that particular job and I can use it longer before having to replace it with another. I love finding little techniques like this to streamline the work!

Sadly, I don't think there's a soul among the women I talk with on a regular basis who could understand my excitement over something like this. Shoes? They could understand. A decorating idea for a dinner party? They'd get it. We just don't talk about housework in this day and age. It's that hidden thing that must be done, but isn't very fashionable to discuss. How are girls supposed to learn how to maintain a home if it's no longer cool even to mention the process? If our mothers hardly have enough time to keep house themselves - never mind teaching their daughters how to do it - and it isn't fashionable to discuss it with your girlfriends, how are we supposed to learn or better our craft? Housework's become the great unmentionable among women, and yet it's getting done is indispensible.

One of the other things that gives this little housekeeper a thrill these days are the ads for Parkay Margarine and Kraft Dinner that have been preserved along with episodes of The Great Gildersleeve from 1941 and 1942. The ads reference a rhythm to housework that must have been completely familiar to listeners of the era... Kraft Dinner - which we now call plain ol' macaroni and cheese - was billed as a fabulous option for dinner on Monday nights. A night when Mother must have been worn to the bone by the wash... As the announcer describes all the perks of using a product like Parkay Margarine, he mentions the baking that would have been done in a Christian household on Saturdays. (The program was aired lived on Sunday evenings):

I wonder how many of you housewives baked a cake or some cookies yesterday for your Sunday dinner today. A lot of you did, I’m sure, because there’s nothing like that real home-baked flavor. Well, here’s a hint for the next time you bake. For luscious, extra flavor in cookies, cakes, and pastries, use delicious Parkay margarine for the shortening...

My own 1945 menu for dinner this evening features a wartime meatless dish:

Peanut Roast
Pennsylvania Cabbage Salad with Sour Cream Dressing

The dessert, Apricot Whip, is made with raw egg whites, so - rather than play around with salmonella - I may substitute a Dried Apricot Cake. Is there any Parkay in the house?

Crushin'

My kitchen and I are becoming friends. I'd never have thought it possible. But as I hoisted my garbage can out from under the sink last Saturday and scrubbed it clean, it became clear that something's shifted in our relationship. I'm not afraid of my kitchen anymore.

Is it the fact that I'm actually learning how the things in my kitchen work? One Saturday, I was cleaning out one of my drawers and rolled the drawer out just a little too far in the process. The little wheel came off its track and, try as I might, I couldn't get it to roll back in properly. For about one minute, I thought I'd just have to leave it sagging there until the landlord could get to it. Something moved me, though, to pull the drawer all the way out, kneel down and poke my head in there so I could figure out how the other drawers operated. Lo and behold, I figured out exactly what I needed to do, and the drawer rolled back into place perfectly! And I had to do some investigating, but I was able to get my microwave functioning again, too.

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm spending so much darn time in there cooking. No longer is my visit to the kitchen just the booty call it takes to reheat a frozen pizza. I'm right in there washing, chopping, peeling, grating, mixing, kneading... doing the stuff it takes to make this relationship work. (I'm not sure I like where this metaphor is going!) I'm not always successful in the kitchen, but I'll not make the same mistake too many times. And all this one-on-one time has really made me notice things I never noticed before. Like that my kitchen sink has a brand name etched into it. Who knew? It's a Kingsford II.

And let's face it, we women like a kitchen that's a little rough around the edges and needs some taming. I've been putting my Saturday cleanings to good use by reorganizing things to make my storage space more efficient. Breakfast cereals are now stored together instead of being mashed into whichever cupboard would have 'em. Likewise with baking staples, canned goods, and dishes that don't get everyday use. Just last weekend, I cleaned out that mysterious fourth drawer I'd forgotten about and put it to use holding my aluminum foil, plastic wrap, freezer bags, cheesecloth, and extra sponges.

Henry Humphrey, the editor of Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948), tells us that beauty trumps even efficiency when it comes to the kitchen. It is vital that a room in which the average homemaker spends more than four hours per day sustain her spirit with vibrant colors, contrasts in texture, and cheery novelty motifs. Some of his advice is surprisingly practical advice, however. Here are some of my favorites:

• Good kitchen color schemes are bright. Since there is generally so much white in the kitchen (sink, stove and refrigerator), it is advisable to stay away from white walls unless the room must have them to reflect light.



• There are many styles from which to choose when decorating a kitchen. Early American, French Provincial, Mexican, South American, Swedish, Polish, Pennsylvania Dutch all have been used successfully. You may add to the list indefinitely, but your kitchen will be much nicer if you pick a style before beginning to re-decorate.



• Wallpaper is a charming finish for the breakfast nook. It offers both texture contrast and eye-interest as a relief from the smooth kitchen walls. Wallpaper also relieves the feeling that meals are eaten in the kitchen, and gives the effect of a separate room.



• Never hang curtains on a window over or near a stove.



• Breakfast nook windows should be treated in accordance with the view outside. If... nothing can be seen but ash cans, a blank brick wall or your neighbor's kitchen windows, Venetian blinds with a fluffy valance and short window sill-length draperies will make your breakfasts pleasanter and more private.



• In the interest of safety and cleanliness, carpets and rugs of any kind should never be used in the working area of the kitchen.

Humphrey suggests several color schemes for the kitchen, each of them grounded in either a dark colored linoleum or wood floor. Which scheme is your favorite?

lemon-yellow/turquoise
pale turquoise/cherry
yellow/shrimp
apricot/pale green
chartreuse/sea-green
lavender/deep blue-violet

Lighting Up

Have you cleaned your lighting fixtures lately?

One of the tasks at hand every week when I clean my bedroom - every other week when cleaning my kitchen - is dusting the lighting fixtures and washing them when necessary. In the bedroom, this is limited to just the single incandescent lighting fixture on my wall. I have two lighting fixtures in the kitchen --- a rectangular flourescent fixture near the sink and an incandescent globe in the ceiling fan. None of the fixtures is very hard to clean (though I could definitely use a sturdy step stool), but I haven't checked my manual yet to review the instructions on this task. Let's take a look...

A coating of dust on light bulbs and globes reduces the amount of light to a considerable degree. It is economical therefore, to keep bulbs and globes clean so that you get the amount of light you are paying for.

Before the fixtures themselves are cleaned, turn off the current and remove shades, bulbs, etc. Then use the dusting tool of the vacuum cleaner or a duster to clean the fixture.

Wipe the bulbs with a damp cloth, being careful not to get the metal section wet. Dry thoroughly. If the bulbs are extremely dirty, hold each one by the metal end and dip the glass in warm soapsuds. Rinse in clear water in the same fashion. Dry carefully with a clean soft cloth. Always be certain that the bulbs are perfectly dry before replacing them.

If the bulbs still look very dark after they have been cleaned, they should be replaced with new ones.

Did the authors of the manual intend that this advice should apply to cleaning flourescent bulbs as well? I leafed through the chapter on lighting in the home and the word "flourescent" is never referenced. They do mention "recessed tubular lighting" being especially handy above the kitchen sink. Flourescents were just becoming available to American consumers, but the manual seems to ignore them - only advising its readers on how to deal with bulbs with a single metal end.

If I could add one bit of advice to the manual, it would be this: be sure the light bulb is thoroughly cooled before you even attempt to remove it from the fixture! I haven't yet cleaned any of my light bulbs, but I touched one by accident while dusting the fixture. Ouch. The light fixture in my bedroom gets dusted with a rag and washed with soap and water once a week. The bulb in this case is not enclosed, so it could probably use a washing itself once a month. I've been dusting the globe in my kitchen ceiling fan, but keep forgetting about the flourescent fixture. The bulbs inside both these fixtures should be virtually free of dust as they're both enclosed. One of these weeks, I would like to clean the blades of the ceiling fan when I'm dusting the globe. They're very dirty. I'm not sure how often that'll have to be done, but I'm sure the maintenance won't be too tough after I clean them the first time.

Transitions

One more pound bites the dust! I weighed in yesterday morning at 192, so that's two pounds gone (for keeps) in two weeks...

And though I wasn't aware of it, I must have been snacking every night after 8:00 - because that mission has kept me every.single.night from nibbling one thing or another. One night last week I was tossing and turning at 2:00 in the morning. I finally got out of bed and found something to do with my insomnia and, sure enough, no sooner was I out of bed then the cravings hit. All I could think about was the leftover pizza in the fridge. I went so far even as to open the fridge and hold the pizza --- and then I caught myself and put it back! I'm very proud that I haven't broken that 8:00 rule even once this week.

We're experiencing full-blown summer here in the Southwest, so I'm making the transition to the summer version of my vintage breakfast menus. The American Woman's Cook Book (1945) contains little footnotes just below each menu with seasonal options. I should start seeing some fresh fruits filling in for the dried fruits and cold cereals occasionally taking the place of the hot cereals. So instead of Stewed Apricots and Oatmeal this morning, it was Fresh Berries (whatever kind might be in season - strawberries, here) and Corn flakes. This should be a nice change of pace!

50s gal mentioned a series of photos on Flickr that I've been poring through during the last couple of weeks - and what a treat! It's a series called Mom's World and the pictures were taken by a Michigan woman, almost all of them during her first marriage (late 1940s and early '50s). She had a full-time job in a doctor's office and continued working even after the birth of their first child several years into the marriage. (It's the child, all grown up, whose been posting the photos. His mom narrates the introductions and actively responds to comments left by viewers.)

As you can probably guess, what intrigued me most was her description of housework. Every other Saturday afternoon (she worked on Saturday mornings), she'd give her kitchen a thorough cleaning. Anything done in between was just regular maintenance. This kept her kitchen quite clean and left her plenty of time to spend rambling through the woods, boating, visiting amusement parks, etc. Genius, I thought! Especially as I realized the other day that I could see my reflection in the inside wall of my refrigerator. Does my fridge really need to be quite that clean? And it would be awfully nice to have some time left over on the weekend for something other than housework. Ever since I added the kitchen to my routine, that's become a real problem.

I've been giving this some serious thought and what I'd like to do is try and break my kitchen routine up a bit. The chores described in the manual as daily chores must be done every week:

Every Saturday...
1. Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air, or open kitchen ventilator.

2. Rinse and stack dishes, pots and pans.

3. Check and reorganize foods; put away.

4. Collect all refuse and put in garbage can.

5. Wipe off top of refrigerator and all work surfaces in need of cleaning.

6. Wash dishes. Dry and put away, if not room to rinse with hot water and leave to dry.

7. Wipe off surface of range. Clean spilled food from drip pan or oven.

8. Dry damp work surfaces.

9. Dust radiator or register.

10. Take out garbage; put clean lining in garbage can.

11. Clean sink. Rinse dishcloth or mop; hang outdoors if possible.

12. Collect soiled towels; wash. Hang fresh towels.

The heavier jobs, the ones described by the manual as weekly chores, are going to be done on alternate weeks:

Week A...
1. Put away all foods except those belonging in refrigerator. Remove all foods from refrigerator. Wash interior of refrigerator. Return food to refrigerator.

2. Wash exterior of refrigerator.

3. Clean range thoroughly.

4. Clean, scald and sun vegetable bins, bread and cake boxes.

Week B...
1. Clean out and wash 1 cupboard or several drawers in rotation weekly.

2. Dust lighting fixtures. Dust window shades or Venetian blinds. Wash wall behind sink, stove and work surfaces, if washable. Wash work surfaces. Wash exterior of cabinet work and shelving to remove fingermarks.

3. Clean garbage container thoroughly.

4. Clean metal fixtures, soap dish, sink strainer, and dish drainer. Wash, rinse and scald dishcloth or mop or send to laundry; hang outdoors if possible.

The kitchen routine is definitely a work in progress, but I must find a way to keep it clean and still have some time left over for, well, even the basics. I've been pushing so hard with this stuff, I haven't had time for things like getting the oil changed in my car, going to the library, etc. Maybe this change will make a difference... And speaking of kitchens, it's time to get started on mine. Off to work!

Week Twenty-two: The Mission

There are few irreparably homely people and all of us owe a duty to ourselves and to everyone who sees us to be just as handsome as possible.

Lily Haxworth Wallace, The New American Etiquette (1941)

I still have some fiddling to do with my kitchen routine. I've been working at it for several weeks now, but it's become apparent that it's just too lengthy a job for a weekday evening after a long day at work - and there are chores still to be added! For whatever reason, the daily and weekly routines laid out in the manual don't attend to kitchen floors, small appliances, or the dining area --- so it's quite plain that my kitchen routine is only going to get longer.

With that in mind, I've been trying to come up with some solutions. There are several things I could try, and what I like to try first is just to move the weekly cleaning of the kitchen from Friday evenings to Saturday afternoons, when I'm fresher and have a little more energy than I do after a long day at the office. Pushing the kitchen routine forward also means I'm pushing the marketing forward from Saturday afternoons to Saturday evenings. Reason being that the manual recommends the refrigerator be thoroughly cleaned just before the housewife does the bulk of her weekly marketing. I was originally planning to give my bathroom its weekly cleaning on Saturday evenings, but I'm eventually going to shift this job to Friday evenings instead.

While I'm thrashing out some of these changes to the work I'm already doing, I'm going to launch another vintage beauty mission. Did I mention I lost 1 pound? Whoo-hoo!!! I weighed in this morning and was very happy to see the scale at 193. So I'm going to step my game up a notch. Here's the new mission for the week ahead:

Fitness
Walk 30 minutes a day, three times during the week.
Walk 35 minutes a day, both days during the weekend.

Diet
No snacking after 8:00 p.m.

Grooming
Here's the next step in the 1946 grooming routine. First thing in the morning - as soon as you get out of bed, go into the bathroom, and drink one big glass of water - you're to "carefully brush your teeth." Well, shoot! I already do that. Though I do wait 'til after breakfast. (Isn't it healthier to brush your teeth after a meal?) I guess I'll just jump forward to #3:

Wash face gently but thoroughly with a clean washcloth, a good mild soap, and plenty of warm water. Splash on cold to tone your skin - and open your eyes!

The exercise was most intimidating last week. This week, it's all about the diet. I was going to make this 7:00 p.m., but I don't want to be so draconian I set myself up for failure. So it's 8:00. For now...

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:

Look What I Found!

One of my tasks when cleaning the kitchen each week is to "clean out and wash 1 cupboard or several drawers in rotation weekly." So I set to work yesterday morning cleaning out the drawer beneath my silverware drawer. This is my catch-all drawer for small kitchen tools. I'm pulling all the tools out and laying them on the kitchen table so that I could get in there with a soapy sponge and clean the insides of the drawer. This isn't that big a drawer - or that deep - and it's not as if I own a ton of kitchen tools. In fact, there's a lot I've been making do without. What should I discover, but that I've owned several items all this time that I'd forgotten about:

1) Cheese slicer
2) Teaspoon
3) Coffee scoop

Here's the kicker --- last week's "discovery" was even stranger.

Somewhere during the last two years that I've been living in this apartment, I'd completely forgotten that I have a fourth kitchen drawer. Yep, that's right. I've been using drawers one, two, and three, but haven't even opened drawer four since moving in. I know I've been in there at least once, because there were a few restaurant ads inside that date to December 2006. Along with two Brita water filters. (I can't even remembering owning a Brita while I lived here!) How a gal could have become so dis-acquainted with her own kitchen, I'm sure I don't know...

Sink or Swim

Let's not forget the sink!

America's Housekeeping Book (1945) recommends that the sink be the last item to receive some attention during the weekly cleaning of the kitchen. But last is not least. The sink played a pivotal role as the housewife cleaned each of the other appliances and - just as she was about to hang up her dishcloth - it deserved a good, thorough scrubbing. The manual includes tips for both the ubiquitous baked enamel sink...

...as well as the (then) much less common stainless steel sink. Mine is stainless steel, so let me take a closer look at those instructions:

Monel or Stainless Steel

1. These metals are acid-resistant.

2. Soap and water or a mild scouring powder will clean the surface. After rinsing, use a clean dry cloth to dry the surface and produce a soft sheen.

3. A patina is built up with use and in consequence these metals are increasingly easy to clean.

You know, I was just thinking I'd like to get a better shine from my sink after washing it. I've been using Comet and a cellulose sponge - and they do the job, but the sink doesn't quite give me that shiny payoff I've been looking for from a kitchen I've spent three hours on! Maybe all I need to do is buff it with a dry dish towel. For those of you (like me) who are curious what "Monel" might be, it was the brand name for a nickel/copper product resembling stainless steel. Monel was introduced in 1906 and, by the early '30s, was being used for kitchen sinks.

The manual also gives some advice on keeping your drain trap as sanitary as possible. (Do we even have drain traps any longer? I have no idea... There are loads of ads in 1940s magazines for methods to defeat those dangerous gases emanating from your drain trap.) There's also a tip or two for cleaning metal fixtures (faucets, "towel bars," soap dish, sink strainer, dish drainer, etc.):

Chromium: Wash with a cloth or sponge wrung out of soapy water. Polish dry with a clean cloth.

Nickel: Wash with soapy water. Apply fine scouring powder or metal polish. Let dry. Polish with a soft cloth. Corrosion may be removed with vinegar or lemon juice.

Oh, dear. I don't think I have any idea what metal my kitchen faucet is made from! Housewives in the '40s had to become very well acquainted with the materials in their homes - the metals, the fabrics, the woods. Without knowing the materials they were dealing with, they couldn't have kept things clean with such a limited range of cleansers and tools. We're not quite so intimate with our own homes today.

Growing Up

I was getting a little worried about my new houseplants this morning. Especially the coleus, which had lost a little of the brightness to its color. So I decided to give them a weekend, too. They spent the afternoon lounging about on my sunny landing. Fresh air, warm sunshine... I hope it did them good! It still gets pretty chilly here at night, so I brought them back in until tomorrow afternoon.

Though I ended up spending the morning with my nieces at a storytime, I cleaned my kitchen this afternoon in about two and a half hours. Mind you, I have lots still to add to this particular routine - floors, small appliances, etc. - but I'm encouraged by being able to do it all "in one sitting." Without having to take an extended break about 2/3 of the way through. Maybe I just need to get things started really early on Friday evenings.

Well, I dashed off to the supermarket while I was still feeling so energized (strangely enough). Reminded myself after picking up the shopping basket that it was time for me to approach grocery shopping again like a grown up and headed back outside to start anew - this time with a shopping cart.

It felt very good coming home to put my groceries away in a clean kitchen. And knowing that, with the exception of some "light marketing" on Wednesday evening, I won't be making any rushed trips to the grocery store to pick up one thing or another that I forgot. I had planned my breakfast menus for the week, planned my vintage dinner for tomorrow night. My shopping list in hand, I felt an unusual sense of control as I wheeled about the supermarket. 50s gal has mentioned this sense of control-over-her-own-destiny in her own blog, and today is the first time I've really experienced that feeling myself. I don't know quite how to describe it yet, but there's something about all those chores I did today - and shopping with a big ol' cart - that makes me feel like a grown up. What is it about housework that makes the difference?

On a shallower note, I was thrilled to spy some chicory in the produce section. That's mentioned time and again in these '40s salad recipes. It's totally not what I thought it would look like! Speaking of salads, here's the menu for tomorrow night's 1945 dinner:

Mashed Potatoes

Boiled Cabbage

Fresh Tomato Salad

Brownie a la Mode

Kitchen Chemistry Redux

I'm baking a batch of Yeast Cinnamon Rolls this evening for tomorrow's breakfast and decided to try the "sponge method" instead of the "straight dough method" I tried last time 'round - unsuccessfully. While I wait to see if the sponge is going to take, I've got lots to post about the weekend...

Friday marked the third week in a row that I've given my kitchen a thorough cleaning. It's hard work - takes me about three hours of good, honest elbow grease - but one thing I've noticed is that I'm finding new hiding places for dirt every week. I guess all those little cracks and niches stand out more now with all that cleanliness around 'em! So the kitchen is getting progressively cleaner every time. The manual recommends that housewives clean one cupboard or several drawers each time they clean the kitchen. By the time they've made their way through each of the kitchen cabinets, it's time to start at the first again. In my own home, the contents of my cupboards have kind of evolved hit or miss since the day I moved in here. I didn't really think through where I ought to store this or that when I started unpacking my belongings and brought home that first bag of groceries. Since I've begun scrubbing out my cupboards, I've collected all my baking ingredients in one place, all my cereals in one place, all my canned vegetables in one place, all my less-used dishes in one place. Things are slowly becoming more efficiently organized.

The thing about the kitchen cleaning that's still a nagging issue for me is that I can't seem to get it all done in one sitting. I can do about 2/3 of it and then I'm just exhausted --- so the rest gets done on Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon. I keep thinking that as I get better at this it'll take less and less time and soon I'll be able to do the whole thing at once, but maybe this is as fast as it's going to get. At any rate, I think I may have to make some adjustments to my routine if the kitchen thing can't be done completely on a weekday evening.

Drat - just checked the sponge. It's not taking. The dough should be all light and bubbly. Okay, I'm going to try that dough saver I used last time. Here's a link to the dough saver recipe:

http://destination1940.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-simple-luxury-it-is-to-make-bed.html

Something else that's vexing me is how much I hate messing up my sparkly clean kitchen by cooking in it afterwards! Just when I've finished cleaning it on Saturdays, I turn around and create a great mess of dishes on Sunday evenings. My countertops are messy, my stovetop spattered, and the sink is full of pots and pans. It doesn't take me all that long to clean it up, but it's never quite as clean as it was 24 hours ago. *sigh* I suppose that's a pain felt by every homemaker since time immemorial. A wonderfully clean kitchen is great to look at, but lasts about as long as the morning dew on a summer's day. A kitchen is one of those spaces, I guess, that just needs to be worked at continually to keep it clean.

Now my dough is finally rising. Thank goodness! I've tried to scrub away all traces of that first batch by running a load of dishes and cleaning the kitchen counters, but my table is still all floury. Can't clean that up yet - I've got more kneading to do.

I was reading an issue of Family Circle during my lunch hour today and found myself snorting out loud at some of their decorating suggestions. I guess they were trying to give some recession-friendly suggestions for perking up the look of your home, but they were the kind of things that make it blatantly clear that modern women's magazines don't have any real interest in improving the efficiency of your home. They don't even recognize that the kitchen is a working environment. To them, the kitchen has become a pretty little backdrop in which you can pour a glass of juice, but had better not even attempt to do any cooking. Oh, maybe you could open one of those tubes of refrigerated cookie dough and slice them neatly out onto a cookie sheet. Heck, you could probably even open up your takeout and divvy it up onto plates. But the kitchens in these magazines are not designed for a woman (or man) preparing three meals a day for a family. Never mind baking a big, messy batch of Cinnamon Rolls!

Tip That Annoys Me #1
"Choose a pretty table lamp for the kitchen counter. It's much more flattering than overhead lighting, and it makes the room more like a living space."

Excuse me - since when was a kitchen supposed to be a living space? It's probably the most intensely busy room in a household where people are actually eating meals they've cooked themselves and dining as a family. There's a photo next to this tip of a tall, stylish table lamp with a tall shade. I'm not sure how on earth you're supposed to get any work done in a room with mood lighting!

Tip That Annoys Me #2 --- here's a non-kitchen tip
"Remove all the pictures hanging above your mantel and lean them against the wall for a more contemporary look. Add a framed sketch or photo to the mix."

Yes, and that is going to make cleaning that room sooooooo much easier. Can you imagine the dust bunnies that'll cling to the bottoms of each of these pictures? And you couldn't possibly have any children or pets in a home like this. How is a person supposed to clean the floors? Artistic? Sure. Functional? Not a smidge. I think these magazines have forgotten that we still have to live in our homes. These tips are for people whose homes are sterile places. I would never had noticed this a few months ago, though.

Update on the Cinnamon Roll Dough: The second rising is done. I'm just waiting for my dishwasher to finish the drying step so I can open it up and get my rolling pin back!

My 1945 dinner menu was surprisingly good last night. Here's the menu:

French Fried Potatoes
Beets
Tossed Greens with Tomato
Chili Dressing
Banana Nut Ice Cream
Soft Molasses Cookies

The French Fried Potatoes came out remarkably good. I couldn't believe it myself! They were cut to the size of what we'd call steak fries today. Parboiled, then fried on the stovetop in a fair bit of canola oil. I was terrified of the hot oil --- especially after my disastrous attempt to fry Corn-meal Mush in January! But I dried out the potatoes as much as possible, held my breath, kept the lid on the pan, and let the oil do its thing. Didn't try to get in there and move the potatoes around with a spatula or anything. And it worked! They were hot and crispy and all soft and potatoe-y on the inside. I'm ridiculously proud of 'em. Canned Beets were much easier to work with than the whole beets, but not nearly as tasty. For the Chili Dressing, I ended up adding a tablespoon of bottled chili sauce to the French Dressing recipe. The balsamic vinegar pretty much neutralized the chili sauce, but there was a bit of a zing there.

My first two sheets of Cinnamon Rolls are now in the oven. It's up to my Kenmore to do the work now.

I didn't think I'd have any luck finding Banana Ice Cream, but there are several varieties for sale - Chunky Monkey, Banana Split Ice Cream, Banana Pudding Ice Cream --- I ended up going with Banana Nut as it seemed more basic than the others. The Soft Molasses Cookies were okay fresh out of the oven, but they're dreadful today. I didn't read all the tips on working with rolled cookie dough until it was too late. Apparently, it's easier to work with dough like that if it's been chilled for 10 minutes or so. Better luck next time!

I'll let you know tomorrow how the Cinnamon Rolls turned out...

Ten Little Leaves and Ten Little Tendrils

I'm going to make this an early post as Earth Hour begins in just two hours and I'm shutting off everything electric here in Casa Jitterbug. I haven't really had a chance to figure out what I'm going to do from 8:30 to 9:30. Shall I just go to bed early? Light some candles and try to do some reading? Sit outdoors on my landing and enjoy seeing the city a little bit darker? Hey, it'd be nice to actually see some stars for once. The city is usually so lit up that the sky is never dark enough at night to stargaze. Maybe tonight will be different.

The stork made a call today - and I'm now the proud mother of two lovely, new houseplants!

I stopped at a nursery this afternoon and spent an hour or so poking around their half-indoor/half-outdoor Houseplants area. They had an incredible selection of potted plants, along with some succulents, and I loved having the chance to match some "faces" to the names of the plants I read about in a vintage magazine article on houseplants. Some of them were familiar, I'd just never heard their names before! Several caught my eye, but I had limited myself to adopting only two and eventually left the nursery with a medium-sized grape ivy and a small "Indian Summer" coleus. The ivy is just big enough that it adds some real oomph to my kitchen. I've popped it in the corner of the room - up on top of the cupboards that line one wall - and laid the longest strand of leaves and tendrils along the top of the cupboards. The coleus has beautiful deep red and geen leaves. A beautiful plant for foliage--- I had a hard time choosing from all the varieties of coleus! This baby found a home just behind my sink.

I've got some studying up to do on caring for my new plants. And they'll definitely need re-potting. It's kind of neat knowing that these were houseplants popular in the kitchens of yesteryear. We usually think that the only way to add vintage flair to our kitchens is with dishes and appliances and curtain fabric, but houseplants are another fun way to do so. Hey, if I'm going to spend this much time cleaning my kitchen, I'd better dress it up a bit!

Bins and Boxes

Both my vintage housekeeping manuals are in agreement. Once a week, the housewife should:

Clean, scald and sun vegetable bins, bread and cake boxes.

At first, I thought they were referring to the vegetable crispers in my refrigerator. But they're not. Though vintage refrigerators also contained a bin for vegetables, the authors of America's Housekeeping Book (1945) recommend that the ideal kitchen include ventilated vegetable bins located near the sink. If I had a scanner, I'd scan the illustration for you - but I don't, so I'll try to describe them. Imagine a sink with a double basin. Under the left basin, is a slim door which opens to reveal two metal drawers with mesh sides that slide out on rollers. I wonder what kinds of vegetables would be stored in bins like these... Were these a holdout from the days when iceboxes didn't have storage space for any but the most perishable of vegetables?

I don't have one myself, but I've seen plenty of bread boxes. Usually the type with the rolling or flip-up top. I've taken to freezing the bread I buy so that it won't go stale before I eat more than a few pieces, but I can certainly see how handy a bread box would have been to a livelier household where all meals were made at home. Here are a couple of darling enamel-coated bread boxes:





I don't think I've ever seen a "cake box," though. Plenty of covered cake trays and cake stands. Do you think that's the kind of thing the manuals are referring to or something completely different? Now, I grew up with a mom at home and a cookie jar always stocked with homemade treats, but even I can't fathom having such a supply of cakes that you needed to keep a separate container for 'em on the countertop at all times! Maybe - like the vegetable bins under the sink - these were found primarily in older homes or rural homes where iceboxes or small refrigerators just didn't have the space to store cakes and other baked goods.

I finished cleaning my kitchen today, so it's full steam ahead for another of my 1945 dinner menus tomorrow night. Here's the plan:

Pie with Carrots, Potatoes, Peas, Potato Crust
Cucumber, Lettuce Salad
Bread Pudding
Lemon Sauce

Fine Tuning

Has it been a week already? It seems like just yesterday I was recovering from all those sore kitchen-cleaning muscles, and now I've got sore muscles and pruny fingertips all over again... I had planned on starting a new weekly mission today, but because this kitchen thing is still quite shaky - I'm giving it a second whirl tonight - I think I'll wait on the new mission for another week. The kitchen is about 2/3 of the way done and that's taken me 1 3/4 hours. Last week, the same amount of work took me about 2 hours. So I'm gaining! I've got more work to do, but it's getting late and I still have some evening chores, so I'll finish the kitchen tomorrow morning.

I'm not quite convinced that the refrigerator really needs a thorough cleaning every week, but I'm trying to stay open to the idea and see if it has any surprises for me. It really is useful to take this opportunity once a week to empty the fridge of leftovers that are past their prime, produce that needs to go, and other items that may have expired. This Friday, I wiped down the exterior as well as the interior and was pretty skeeved to find how dirty the side of the fridge had become. It's one of those surfaces I walk by several dozen times a day and had never really noticed how much it needed cleaning! The refrigerator is shining now, along with the range.

Speaking of the range, did you know some of these appliances come with a little metal thingie under the stovetop which can hold it up as you clean underneath? Just like popping up the hood of a car! I had no idea it was there - but it comes in very handy. So did the steel wool I picked up last weekend to clean the drip pans this time. They're not spotless yet, but much shinier than last time 'round.

You know, it occurs to me that housewives who cleaned the outsides of their refrigerators on a weekly basis would probably find it easier not to keep any magnets or other odds and ends stuck all over it. I've always thought refrigerators with a little decor, shall we say, made a kitchen feel more cozy, but it sure takes a heck of a lot of time to remove all that decor in order to clean what's behind it! Let's just say some of that decor didn't make the cut this week.

Too Tired for Titles

My, oh-me, oh-my... What a day! I spent in total about three hours working on my kitchen. Most of it this morning - then I cut out at noon as I had some place to be - then I was back to work this evening to finish the job. Thus far, cleaning the kitchen has easily been the most physically demanding chore. I took a couple breaks to drink some water and, once, to lay down on my bed and close my eyes for a few minutes.

The basic layout of the routine is organized around the three major appliances. First, the refrigerator. Second, the range. Third, the sink. Which makes sense - as you use the sink so much in cleaning things - from the crisper bins and racks in the refrigerator to the drip trays on the range. By the time you're finished cleaning everything else, the sink gets a final scrub and polish and you're finished. I'm actually not quite finished. My garbage can is airing dry outdoors on my landing. I'll bring it in in a few hours and throw a clean bag inside.

What was interesting was how few cleansers I needed in a room that gets as dirty as the kitchen. Per the manual, I used baking soda dissolved in cool water to clean out the inside of the refrigerator. Scouring powder to clean the drip trays. And lots of hot water, scalding water, and soapsuds. The only tools I needed: a sponge, a few clean dish towels (I put these in the wash as they got soiled), and a nylon scrubby thing. Some steel wool would have done a better job on the drip trays, though, so I picked up a box of those at the grocery store for next week. You really can do an amazing job with just a very few simple tools and cleansers. The disinfectant habit is so ingrained in me that it was tough not to use some of the stronger cleansers I had on hand. For a finishing touch, I guess. We've been so bombarded with ads promoting antibacterial cleansers and disinfectant wipes that it's tough to figure out whether these things are truly important in housekeeping or not. The only time the manual recommends using a disinfectant is occasionally in cleaning the garbage can.

Although I didn't even notice when I typed up the list of chores for the kitchen, there are several major items missing! The floor, for one. Which is strange, as the manual mentions floor care for every other room in the house. They do mention in a chapter on "Floors" that the "kitchen floors may need to be damp-mopped every day" and "may require washing once a week or oftener." They just leave this item out of the daily and weekly routine entirely. The authors of the manual never mention cleaning up smaller appliances. And they neglect entirely any care needed to a breakfast nook or dining alcove in the kitchen. These kinds of things are certainly covered in other chapters, it's just odd that they are aren't mentioned specifically in daily or weekly chores for the kitchen. The authors are usually so detailed!

I'm so tired I can't even think in a straight line, so I'll leave you with my 1945 dinner menu for tomorrow evening and call it a night:

Whipped Potatoes
Buttered Beets
Tossed Greens Salad
Chocolate Pudding

Week Seventeen: The Mission

Today, the bedroom. Tomorrow, the world!

Or at least the kitchen.

Just typing up this week's mission makes me cringe. For a 1940s housewife, the kitchen was a room that had to be cleaned several times a day. Every time a meal was finished, there were dishes that needed to be scraped, rinsed, washed, and dried (or stacked for washing later). There were foods that needed to be put away, refuse for the garbage can. Once a day - preferably about mid-morning, just after giving each of the other rooms in the house their daily once-over - the authors of America's Housekeeping Book (1945) recommended that the housewife give the kitchen its daily cleaning and wash the breakfast dishes. Once a week, ideally "the day before you do the bulk of your weekly food marketing," the kitchen should get its weekly cleaning.

For any of you who've just started reading my blog, I have a full-time job outside the home, so I don't have the time to give every room of my apartment more than a little daily maintenance. Instead, I'm trying to blend most of the daily chores for each room with the weekly chores - so each room gets some intensive attention once a week. That's my plan for the kitchen, too. Obviously, it still needs to get cleaned up after meals, but there are plenty of other tasks I can reserve for the weekly cleaning.

Saturday is the day I plan on doing the bulk of my weekly food marketing, so I'm going to dedicate Friday evenings to the kitchen. (If I do happen to have some social plans on a Friday night, I'll move that cleaning forward to Saturday morning. Everything's pushed forward one day this week as I had plans last night.) The romance! I feel a bit like a wife scheduling dates with a husband she hasn't felt very romantic with lately. My kitchen is now my Friday night date --- and deservedly so. I've paid it very little attention over the years. The only time it really gets cleaned up is if I'm expecting guests or Bob, the apartment maintenance guy.

So here it is. My mission for Week Seventeen. It's a doozy - and I'm properly terrified.

1. Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air, or open kitchen ventilator.

2. Rinse and stack dishes, pots and pans.

3. Check and reorganize foods; put away all foods except those belonging in refrigerator. Remove all foods from refrigerator. Wash interior of refrigerator. Return food to refrigerator.

4. Collect all refuse and put in garbage can.

5. Wipe off top of refrigerator.

6. Wash dishes. Dry and put away, if not room to rinse with hot water and leave to dry.

7. Wipe off surface of range. Clean spilled food from drip pan or oven. Clean range thoroughly.

8. Clean, scald and sun vegetable bins, bread and cake boxes.

9. Clean out and wash 1 cupboard or several drawers in rotation weekly.

10. Dust radiator or register.

11. Dust lighting fixtures. Dust window shades or Venetian blinds. Wash wall behind sink, stove and work surfaces, if washable. Wash work surfaces. Wash exterior of cabinet work and shelving to remove fingermarks.

12. Take out garbage. Clean garbage container thoroughly. Put clean lining in garbage can.

13. Clean metal fixtures, soap dish, sink strainer, dish drainer, and sink. Wash, rinse and scald dishcloth or mop or send to laundry; hang outdoors if possible.

14. Collect soiled towels; wash. Hang fresh towels.

A Room with a View

Better Homes and Gardens extended the idea of an all-efficient kitchen right on into the dooryard in this February 1947 article about the help that a great view could be for the housewife:

What Does Your Wife See From the Kitchen?

Why ignore the kitchen window when planning your garden? Other windows will frame special views, each carefully planned. Yet women spend more than one-third of all their daylight hours in the kitchen, more if they iron there, too. Tho moments to look out are few, even fleeting glances can restore energy and lift spirits. Gay flower colors and graceful foliage of choice plants can offer their cheer. Or yours can be a tiny garden, quiet and peaceful - a place for shadows to play.

Alas, the little kitchen in my little apartment hasn't any windows or views. (I'm so jealous of you homeowners!) I wouldn't say I'm spending one-third of all my daylight hours in the kitchen yet, but I'll soon be adding a vintage dinner to my routine once a week. And when my sister gets home and my niece is happily under her mother's care again, I'll be adding a weekly cleaning o' the kitchen to my routine. Is it time to add some flowering plants or a pot of ivy to my windowless workspace? Any ideas for some houseplants with a '40s flair that'll thrive in the kitchen?