And a Word about Exercise

I was just looking back over some older posts --- way back to when I first started my vintage fitness routine. It may seem like a lifetime - it's actually been just seven weeks - but there have been some positive changes during those seven weeks and not all of them on the scale.

At two weeks, I felt a new spring in my step.

At four weeks, I felt like an old broken-down woman.

At seven weeks, I'm no longer dreading my walks. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to them yet, but they're definitely not the torture they used to be... That probably has a lot to do with the stretching I've been doing after my walks, the water I've been drinking on a daily basis, and that blessed iPod. Having something to keep my mind occupied has made such a difference! No longer am I stuck going over my lengthy mental to-do lists and worrying about this or that. I can listen to new radio, vintage radio, music. It's been such a help - especially during my new fifth lap around the track on my weekend walks.

I bought some new exercise pants yesterday. It's getting hot enough even at 6:30 in the morning that I needed something lighter to wear. They're stretchy and black and flare out a bit at the knees. In fact, they're probably the most fitted item I've worn in public in years. I felt a wee bit self-conscious in them this morning, but that soon gave way to relief that I felt so much cooler than I had the day before in track pants!

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Antoinette Donnelly wrote an article on reducing in October 1940 and stresses how important walking (and water!) can be to the woman who needs to lose any pesky weight gained during summer vacation:

Walk almost as much every day as you did when you were tripping along over mountain roads, through shady woods, along the ocean front. If you can walk all the way, or part way to your office, or if after your evening meal you have to say good-by to family or friends who don't feel like joining you for your evening "constitutional," do it! Walk briskly and take longer than usual steps. A loafing walk does not do you much good.

Include in your diet bran, figs, prunes, fruits with their skins, and use mineral oil to make salad dressings. Drink plenty of water, all you comfortably can. Make it a habit to chew your food slowly so you will not eat so much. Don't eat between meals. If you feel hungry, drink unsweetened fruit juice. Stay away from alcoholic drinks, for there is nothing that puts on pounds quite so quickly. Don't be tempted by the delicious hors d'oeuvres, for they're full of calories.

Miss Donnelly's advice about leaving reluctant family and friends behind is just as valid today as it was in 1940. (I'm not so sure about the mineral oil!) We can't always wait for the people we'd like to exercise with to have the same motivation as we do at the same time. Sometimes you just have to go it alone.

A Little Bit of Everything...

I'm still slogging away at the bathroom. Ran out of Comet partway through the job yesterday and decided to head on out and do my marketing, then finish the bathroom later. Sadly enough, now it's "later." The Comet has been replenished, I've had a good night's rest, my morning walk is finished. I'll patch off some breakfast and then get back to that miserable room.

My mantra while cleaning the bathroom this week: "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." "It will never again be as hard to clean as it is today." That's true, I know. As grimy as it is right now, if I'm cleaning it every week - it will never again be anywhere near this bad. Each week, I'll get it even a little shinier. I'm holding on to that! More on bathroom cleaning in another post...

Alas, the coleus I adopted for a houseplant a couple months ago did not survive. It did okay as long as I was taking it outdoors to my landing on weekends. But once it started getting really hot, I worried about leaving it in the intense heat and kept it inside. The colors faded, it shed some leaves, and one day just crumpled up and died. *sigh* My grape ivy is doing well, although one side isn't very perky looking. (That's the side that doesn't even get much artificial light in the corner of the kitchen where I've kept it.) So out it goes! Maybe the fresh air and sunshine will do it some good. I don't want to lose the grape ivy, too!

A co-worker offered me some bell pepper plants last week. Determined to press on in my quest for some great plants about the house - inside and out - I brought home a tiny seedling and a more mature plant, both in pots. I think they might do okay on my landing, but I'll need to water them more often than the succulents. I also picked up a small sansevieria- commonly called a bowstring hemp in the 1940s - to fill the spot near my sink where the coleus used to sit.

Here's one of the things I'm really looking forward to after this interminable summer is over --- my parents will be in town for the winter! They've been doing the snowbird thing and spend a few months most winters at one of the resorts on the edge of the city. I can't claim to be the reason they're here - it's all about the grandbabies - but I love having them so close. And I can't wait to share these vintage dinners with them! (My mother, God bless her, oohs and aahs every time I tell her what I'm up to in the kitchen.) This was last weekend's 1945 dinner menu:

Boiled Rice
Buttered Beet Greens
Orange Salad
Cherry Batter Pudding

I think I've finally got this non-instant rice thing down pat --- now if I could just remember not to make so much. 1/2 cup dry rice is just enough for me + one serving of leftovers. I've always loved Beet Greens - fresh from Mom's garden with a splash of vinegar - yum! The instructions in my cookbook call for you to work with young beets and to chop the roots right up with the greens after they've been boiled. Unfortunately, my supermarket only carries a few raggedy ol' bunches of grown-up beets. So I chopped the tops off these beets - along with the greens - and used those in lieu of young beets. What's great is that the next dinner menu in my cookbook calls for beets, so I may be able to use what's left of 'em in my next homecooked meal.

The Orange Salad was very simple. Chopped orange segments on a bed of greens with a drizzle of viniagrette --- "French dressing" in '40s lingo. I made a substitution for the dessert course. The menu included a Bread Pudding made with Honey. After my last disastrous attempt at Bread Pudding, I just couldn't face it again this soon. So I picked out another recipe in the chapter on puddings and tried to find some way to use up the bottled cherries in my fridge. The Cherry Batter Pudding came out wonderfully - a light, fluffy cake over a layer of fruit - but, between the heat and my unexpected success on the scale Tuesday morning, I haven't had any desire to eat the rest! (Plus I read a horrifying bit of trivia in a magazine the other day. Did you know one cupcake can undo 115 minutes of walking?) I'm not thrilled about wasting food, but I think I should take this as a warning. If I'm going to continue making the desserts for my vintage dinners, I've got to cut the recipe down as small as I would the rice. And I need to invest in some containers for the freezer. There are some things you just can't wrap up in aluminum foil! Speaking of cutting recipes, do any of you know how to cut a one-egg recipe in half?

I've been listening to lots of vintage radio this week, including the second season of The Great Gildersleeve. The second season (1942-1943) is when the program really came into its own. Gildy got a job as Summerfield water commissioner. Leila Ransom, a flirtatious Southern widow, moved into the house next door and stole Gildy's heart. They became engaged and planned a wedding in June - just in time for the season finale and a wild turn of events on the wedding day! Richard LeGrand joined the cast during the second season as Mr. Peavey, the local druggist ("Well, now, I wouldn't say that.") and Floyd Munson, the local barber, pops up every time Gildy heads downtown for a shave. Marjorie got a war job over the winter and began dating a coworker, Ben. At season's end, Ben joined the Navy. Will Marge see other young men while Ben's away?

Kraft spent much of the second season promoting Pabst-Ett, a product that sounds a heck of a lot like Velveeta. Ads often combined a spot for the product with a public service announcement promoting things that might make marketing on the home front a little easier: menu planning, shopping early in the week, and shopping early in the day. Are you a menu maker? Do you find that planning your meals, say, a week in advance, makes feeding your family easier on the pocketbook - or easier on your waistline? Or do you prefer to stock up on the things you like and wait until mealtime to see what you're in the mood for eating?

Week Twenty-eight: The Mission

It's time to face the music. Or, rather, the bathroom.

There are two areas in my home that I absolutely dread(ed) cleaning: the kitchen and the bathroom. I have to add that little (ed) in there because my kitchen and I are slowly mending fences. The bathroom and I are still on the outs. In fact, I can't honestly remember when I did anything more in there than to clean the toilet. So, while my scale appears to be headed in the right direction again, I'm going to squeeze in a new housekeeping mission.

The Manual lays out both a set of daily chores and a set of weekly chores for the bathroom. Knowing the trouble I had with the kitchen, I'm going to approach this new room the same way. I'll plan on covering all of the daily chores once a week (probably on Saturdays --- moving the kitchen back to Friday nights now that it's a bit more manageable) and splitting the list of weekly bathroom chores between alternating weeks.

Weekly Chores (These were recommended for housewives on a daily basis in 1945!)

1. Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air.

2. Pick up and replace small articles belonging in bathroom.

3. Gather up to take out soiled linen (to hamper, if dry), and articles belonging in other rooms. Collect trash in waste basket. Roll up bath mat or rug.

4. Wipe mirror.

5. Wipe tile behind washbowl and tub.

6. Clean bathtub and metal fixtures (be sure to wipe shower fixtures and clean soap holder).

7. Clean toilet bowl with brush. Wipe outside of bowl and closet with cloth used for that purpose only.

8. Clean washbowl (be sure to wipe base as well as top; also clean soap holder).

9. Straighten towels and wash cloths. Put out clean linen when needed (fresh linen for all on Wednesdays and Saturdays).

10. Sweep floor. Gather up dust in pan. Floor should be washed.

11. Replace bath mat or rug. Close windows in cold or damp weather.

Week A

1. Rug should be cleaned and bathmat changed.

2. Duck shower curtain should be hung out in the sun if weather permits. (Clean curtain should be put up when needed.)

3. Walls should be wiped down with clean cloth or wall brush, washed when necessary.

4. Light fixtures, bulbs and globes should be dusted every week, washed when necessary.

5. Medicine cabinet should be dusted and straightened, washed when necessary.

Week B

1. Mirror should be dusted, washed when necessary.

2. Windows should be dusted inside, washed on both sides when necessary.

3. Curtains should be laundered when necessary.

4. Use special cleanser on toilet bowl.

5. Clothes hamper should be emptied, dried and aired each week, scrubbed and sunned occasionally when weather permits.

Detox

Day One

I'm good. So busy, I didn't even notice.

Day Two

Ditto.

Day Three

Ditto.

Day Four

Serious withdrawals. I was all antsy and jittery on Sunday evening. I felt so out of touch without the TV. Kind of like you feel after a long power outage at home. Which is odd since I can get plenty of news over the radio or in news stories online. Maybe there's something about the visual element to television news that makes me feel like I'm getting the real scoop. I don't know... I definitely felt like I was missing out on things I wouldn't get the chance to see again. Sunday evening was the pits.

Day Five
One of the things I like doing when I have a weekday off - or a sick day - is catching up on one or two of the soap operas I loved as a teenager. And late Monday morning, right on cue, I realized I'd missioned myself right out of my soaps. Eek --- no Newman family Memorial Day barbecue on Y&R! No picnic and fireworks amid mob shootouts in the park on GH! Am I actually going to have to start living my own life? I clung to my vintage radio programs like a lifeline on Monday.

Day Six
I've become accustomed to ironing with American Idol. It's one of those chores that really goes well with television. I'm listening to some music instead tonight. Right now, a May 27, 1936 episode of "Your Hit Parade" is playing. It was the Top 40 of its day. They only featured 15 songs per show, but the songs were covered live by their house orchestra and vocalists. You know, ironing to music isn't half bad. I think I'm actually working a little more quickly. Maybe I'll have to add some more musical programs to my collection...

After announcing my mission last Thursday, I've had to make some additional decisions about what I meant exactly by "no TV." After all, TV is available online now - sometimes in full episodes, sometimes in clips. You can see TV on DVDs, too. I gave it some thought and decided that none of the above would be okay during these seven weeks. Also, no movies on DVD. If I want to see a movie, I've got to get up and leave the house to go see it in a theater. Or watch something with a group of friends. If I'm going to treat myself to a movie, it's got to be something I get out there and exert some energy in order to see.

There's always been a little something off to me about shutting myself up in my home and privately consuming entertainment. And yet that's the outcome of the story of entertainment during the last century. Once upon a time, people went out to vaudeville shows or community theatricals of some sort - maybe a dance at the local Grange hall - to break up the workaday routine. As radio came in and the record industry boomed, they began retreating a bit more to their homes. Hosting parties for friends of their own choosing. Even when television began being broadcast, people would watch it in roadhouses or have viewing parties at home. They still enjoyed being entertained in the company of others. While we haven't closed ourselves off from the world entirely, I know plenty of folks who don't even watch TV or movies with other family members. Couples who share the same Netflix account, but rarely watch the movies together. Our music is wired directly into our earbuds, movies downloaded right to our computer screens, and we can program right through whatever commercials or slow-moving storylines might have interrupted our favorite TV programs and watch a whole day's worth of favorite programs in no time flat.

I'm vastly over-generalizing here, I know - and heaven knows what a boon my iPod has been to me, especially while walking - but there's something very antisocial in the way we keep ourselves entertained in 2009. We can target very precisely the things we want to watch or listen to, but is that quite as good a deal as it sounds? Are we missing out on anything? Maybe in hearing or seeing the reactions of others. Or in discovering something randomly wonderful that we'd never have picked out for ourselves... Just some of the things I'm finding PLENTY of time to think about these days! I'd be interested to know what y'all think. Will unplugging the TV force me out of this cocoon to seek the real thing?

4 + 3 = 7

Three more pounds! Three more pounds!
I have lo-ost three more pounds!

*Sung to the tune of Disney's "Be Our Guest" while dancing around the apartment like an animated candelabra.

Seriously, gals, three pounds in one week. All because I gave ice cream the ol' heave-ho and added a fifth lap onto my weekend walks?!? As I stepped on the scale this morning, I tried so hard to visualize the number 189. Just wanted to crack into the 180s so bad... I practically fell over when 187 appeared, as you can imagine! That's seven pounds lost in all since beginning this fitness and reducing plan. Hooray!!!

Off to celebrate - and to knock on some wood. I'm totally jinxing myself for next week!

From Apple Red to Apple Blossom

I've been continuing my completely unscientific survey of 1940s lipstick colors by reviewing some of the newspaper articles written up on that topic by beauty experts of the day. It's interesting to see how trends in color changed over the decade. A woman's page columnist from the St. Petersburg Times offered up this spring forecast on February 4, 1940:

Evidently, this spring no woman will be well dressed without at least four shades of lipstick: pure red red, a blue red, brown red, and an especially dramatic lipstick to give that "different" look.

There were some bold new colors out there in the spring of 1940 that fit the bill for women seeking a dramatic look. One particularly "heavy, dark red" was so dark the lipstick was named Black! The fascination developing in all things south-of-the-border had also led to a popular new lip color termed "South American red":

Fashions, dances, music–and now makeup–go South American! The makeup is designed to give your face the exotic vibrant quality that’s demanded by the new South American clothes. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 4, 1940)

A March 1941 article in a Florida paper warned women that the methods they used to apply lipstick would be especially important as these dramatic new colors continued to gain in popularity. "Caution in the use of lipstick becomes more important as shades go more South American, Indian and militantly red." The advice on application is strikingly similar to some of the tips women share with each other today!

Mildred Coles, motion picture actress, offers this lipstick fashion formula to check against: Begin by cleaning the lips of lipstick applied previously… Use lipstick before public appearances unless you have become proficient with a lip pencil or brush. If you use a brush for outline, then fill in with lipstick… For lovelier lips, Mildred Coles uses brush to apply lipstick to the corners of her mouth. To achieve a natural effect, blot off excess lipstick by biting piece of cleansing tissue.

Men shopping for St. Valentine's Day gifts in 1942 were urged to choose an "apple red if she’s the fresh out-of-doors type, red velvet if she’s a glamor girl, or any of the other brilliant reds designed to flatter every type of woman." As women began worrying that the war would bring about a shortage in lipsticks - many of the oils and waxes used in these and other cosmetics were imports - Betty Clarke, AP Newsfeatures Beauty Editor, advised them to focus on the four most important colors: "a honey-like yellow-red, a bright red, a dark red and a rosy red with an undertone of blue." And, by all means, learn how to apply your lipstick with a brush:

It lasts longer on you and it looks lovelier. Moreover, it means you can use the last little dab of lipstick in the case and conservation in cosmetics won't do any harm.

According to an article on college coeds, the girls were going in for a "brilliant rascal red lipstick" in September 1942. Two years later, one beauty expert proclaimed a "bright cherry shade" was the most versatile of colors for the lips. By the end of the decade, though, color trends for lipstick were opening up, with rosy pinks creating the greatest buzz. Contrast the early '40s chorus of accolades for red lips to these articles forecasting the latest colors for Spring 1949:

• Typical of new lipstick pinks is one which translates the deepest pink shade of the apple blossom into rouge. Makeup of this soft coloring is designed to accent the pink fashions so prevalent for spring... ("Pink Cosmetics Accent New Togs," The Evening Independent, April 30, 1949)
  


• Spring costume colors such as taupe, beige, gray and navy, amber, copper and spice brown can all be flattered with a warm lipstick shade that borrows its color from the rose geranium or other spring flowers. ("Spring Lipsticks Warm in Color, Not Dark Smears," The Evening-Independent, May 19, 1949)

What I've been finding myself about wearing red lipstick is that it totally ups the ante for the rest of my appearance. It makes me worry about whether my teeth are as white as they should be --- and so the Jitterbug bathroom cabinet is now stocked with an extra whitening toothpaste. Red lipstick also makes me want to do something about my eyebrows. And my eye lashes are positively screaming for some mascara to live up to the red lips! Who knew one cosmetic could be such an engine for change...

It's Eight O'Clock Somewhere

Do you remember when Consumer Reports ranked Eight O'Clock Coffee the best brand of Colombian coffee? I don't make coffee at home very often - it's free at work - but I've been impatiently waiting for my supply to run out so I could try some Eight O'Clock for myself. When I finally reached the bottom of the can, I put coffee on my grocery list and picked up a bag of Eight O'Clock in whole bean form, grinding it at the supermarket. It was priced somewhere in the neighborhood of $7. More than I'd usually pay for coffee, but an affordable luxury if I'm only making coffee at home once or twice a week. There was an air of excitement about the Jitterbug place yesterday morning as I measured the Eight O'Clock into my Drip-O-lator... Well, it turned out to be a great cup o' joe! A very smooth flavor without any of the aftertaste I've gotten used to with store brand coffee. In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post some tips on coffee making from The American Woman's Cook Book (1945). First, the all-important measurement:

For weak coffee, use 1 level tablespoon coffee to 1 cup water.

For medium coffee, use 2 level tablespoons coffee to 1 cup water.

For strong coffee, use 3 level tablespoons coffee to 1 cup water.

There were all kinds of methods for making coffee in the '40s. Drip coffee makers - the ancestors to our modern Mr. Coffee - seem to have been the most popular as the cookbook addresses these first:

FILTERED OR DRIP COFFEE - There are many coffee-pots on the market for making filtered coffee. They all contain some sort of a strainer which allows the water to drip through the coffee very slowly. Pulverized coffee should be used for this method. Place the coffee in the strainer and pour boiling hot water over it. If the infusion is not strong enough, refilter it. Serve immediately. Glass tricolators of oven glass ware are excellent for making filtered coffee, as they hold the heat well.

BOILED COFFEE - Put the coffee into the pot with the white of an egg or some egg-shells and a little cold water and stir all together thoroughly. Pour boiling water over it and place on the stove. Cover the spout of the coffee-pot or stuff it will paper to preserve the aroma. As soon as it boils up, reduce the heat and allow it to settle. A quarter of a cup of cold water poured in will cause the coffee to settle more quickly. Do not allow it to become muddy by careless pouring. To avoid this, decant it into a hot serving-pot.

PERCOLATED COFFEE - Use the correct size percolator for the number to be served. Measure fresh-running cold water into pot to same number of cups. Measure coffee, finely ground or pulverized into the basket, using 1 heaping tablespoonful to cup of water. Use medium hot or flame until percolating begins, then lower flame and continue for 8 to 10 minutes, when the liquid in the glass cap is light brown or deep amber. Serve at once. Prolonged percolating dissipates the fine aroma and flavor.

Has it really been a week since my last vintage dinner? I don't think I've shared the results yet. Here's the menu:

Peanut Roast

Pennsylvania Cabbage Slaw with Sour Cream Dressing

Dried Apricot Cake

The recipe for Peanut Roast was clearly the dream of some well-intentioned person with a misconception that protein can come from a limited variety of sources. Desperate to put some protein on the table during wartime, the author combined a whole mess of chopped peanuts with onions, garlic, bread crumbs, egg, and "pea pulp" (I used a can of condensed green pea soup). They suggested serving it with a cream sauce --- and I can see why. It's a very dry dish. You'd definitely want to smother it with something creamy and flavorful! This one didn't even get turned into leftovers, but I tried to finish my plate and thanked God that we've discovered soy since Peanut Roast was dreamed up.

The Pennsylvania Cabbage Slaw was absolutely lovely! A quick and dirty version of cole slaw, and a cool side dish that'd be perfect for a summer evening. The Dried Apricot Cake was very good as well. I chose it from the cookbook when I realized the Apricot Whip originally on the menu was made with raw egg whites. The Dried Apricot Cake was sweet and moist and pretty easy to make once I'd finished stewing the apricots. It's funny to me still that I can actually leaf through a cookbook now and find any number of recipes where I've already got all the ingredients at hand. The bennies of a well-stocked pantry! I'm going to post the Pennsylvania Cabbage Slaw recipe as it was definitely the star of the show last week. Any Keystone Staters out there who know why this dish is named after Pennsylvania?

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PENNSYLVANIA CABBAGE SLAW

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 green or red pepper, cut fine

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Sour Cream Salad Dressing [see below]

Mix shredded cabbage, pepper and salt; pour dressing over cabbage and mix well. Makes 6 portions.

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SOUR CREAM SALAD DRESSING

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons vinegar [I used apple cider vinegar]

1 cup sour cream

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Makes 1 cup.

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Sweaty, Hungry, Tired --- and Glowing?

As I shave some of the excesses off my lifestyle, one of the loveliest outcomes is feeling things I haven't felt in a long time.

Like how great a good honest sweat feels... Not the kind I get in this part of the world just from going outside for a few minutes on any given day between June and September. The real kind. When I get home from four hard laps at the park and collapse on my bed 'til the air conditioning dries my sweat.

How wonderful it is to feel genuine hunger... When I eat nothing from 7:30 p.m. until I'm sitting at the breakfast table at about 7:00 the next morning, I actually feel hungry as I'm tucking into my meal. It's crazy how long it's been since I truly felt the pangs of a good honest hunger. I became so used to satisfying every passing whim of a craving, that I never had time to feel an empty stomach.

And you just can't beat feeling truly, physically tired at the end of the day... Crawling into those crisp, clean sheets and that tightly made bed feels so good when you've actually earned your rest. Knowing that I've put in a good day's work from sun up to sun down. I swear I used to have days where I'd look back and realize I'd accomplished absolutely nothing. I wouldn't even be tired, but I'd go to bed because - well - it seemed like the thing to do at 10 p.m. How good it feels to find myself yawning at bedtime! And not because I've spent most of my free time that day watching TV or surfing the net, but because I've washed dishes, made beds, cleaned windows, ironed clothes, re-stocked my pantry, scrubbed the vegetable bins in my refrigerator, and put in a good workout. Not all in one day, of course! It is an amazing thing to feel the same sense of accomplishment from each and every one of these seemingly monotonous tasks as somebody might feel in winning some great award or distinction.

A coworker of mine paid me the sweetest compliment yesterday morning. (I guess I should call her Co-worker #5.) We ran into each other on the way into the building and she told me she thought I'd looked "glowing" lately. Glowing? She said she'd been wanting to ask me if I'd been seeing somebody - she thought I looked like a woman in love. Well, no, but cool!!! (It must be those "creamy engagement ring circles" I've been using with the cold cream in the morning!) Who knows? It may be the cold cream, it may be the water, it may be the -4 lbs. And it may just be that rush of success in feeling like I'm finding my way through the woods after all those years of feeling confused and hopeless and out of control.

Cutting the Cord

I'm venturing into the world of 1940s culture this week with a special seven-week mission. For quite some time, I've been thinking about diving into a vintage cultural mission here and there, but - between mastering the weekly kitchen cleaning and making a success of this diet and exercise thing - well, let's just say I haven't been lacking for mission material!

It's time to cut the cord to television. TV plays an outsized, overblown role in my life. And maybe this has a lot to do with living alone... In any event, I've gotten used to turning on the television when I get home from work - and it stays on until bedtime. It's comforting background noise. Especially during the long, long summers here when all my windows are closed tight for the air conditioning and I can't hear a peep from the outer world. Sometimes I see something really exciting that I hadn't planned on watching. But most of the time, I just end up listening to or watching a bunch of tired schlock I didn't get anything out of and don't remember 15 minutes later. Not a wise use of electricity, nor of my time.

What would my world be like if I didn't have that shiny little box to rely on for half-minded entertainment? Would I pick up new hobbies? Would I be a little less interested in celebrities? Would I feel deprived of anything? Would it force me to find some live entertainment instead?

Mind you, I don't think television is the devil incarnate or anything. I just want to put TV back into its proper place. So it's something I turn on specifically to watch a single program - and then turn off when that program is over... The timing isn't any accident. I had to wait until the finale of American Idol aired last night! (Had to see me Krissy boy take that title home like he deserved!!!) My other favorite reality show is Big Brother. (Yes, I'm hanging my head in embarrassment at this one.) Anyway, Big Brother doesn't get underway until July. So there's going to be a seven-week moratorium on TV here at the Jitterbug household. In fact, I think I probably ought to just unplug the thing so I don't turn it on absentmindedly! I'm curious to see what a post-television world holds for me...

Patriot Red

As I got nearer and nearer to this lipstick step in my 1946 grooming routine, I started doing a little research. Here's my question: Was red truly the hottest color of the '40s when it came to lipstick? I mean, I know we see a lot of red lips in modern movies set in that era and on WWII reenactors - but I've always wondered if that was true to reality. So I set forth on a completely unscientific survey using vintage lipstick advertisements for sale on eBay...

My completely unscientific results? Red was hot, hot, hot - it was all over the place! In fact, I think I only came across two or three ads (out of about 40) for non-red lipsticks. And they were in the deep pink family. There were all kinds of reds, from brown reds to clear reds to blue reds. And - most wonderfully - lots of lipsticks christened with names evocative of the times, like Patriot Red, All Clear Red, Furlough Red, Mrs. Miniver Rose, and Victory Red. How could a gal resist?

I embarked on several trips to the cosmetics aisle and came away every time overwhelmed by all the choices. How to pick the right red for me? I may have taken the easy way out, but I finally settled on a shade by Almay called "Red." Plain ol' Red. It's probably what you'd call a true red - without any undertones. And a matching lipliner.

I've had lipstick issues since I was about 22 and worked for a woman who always had some garish color smeared across her lips. (She used to try and match her lipstick to her brightly colored blazers.) Well, the lipstick usually ended up on her teeth --- and I've had an aversion to it ever since. Nothing brighter for me than a shaded lip gloss on special occasions. Needless to say, I had no idea how people would react today to my new lips. Here's the rundown:

Co-worker #1: "Ooh, pretty lipstick!"

Co-worker #2: "You're wearing lipstick? Fancy-schmancy."

Co-worker #3: "Look at your lips!" *kissing sounds*

Co-worker #4: "You've lost weight."

Well, I have lost 4 lbs. That's official as of this morning. I'm back down to 190, and that's after about six days without any ice cream or frozen dairy treats. Connection? You tell me... What's funny is that I could've sworn the lipstick made my face look a little fatter than normal when I left the house this morning. Maybe I was wrong!

Week Twenty-seven: The Mission

It's not entirely a mystery why I lost two lbs. a couple of weeks ago and promptly gained it back. It did take me a few days to sort out what must've happened, but I think I've narrowed things down. The week before last, my freezer was stocked with Drumsticks. You know the kind I'm talking about - those tasty, nutty morsels of chocolatey-caramelly goodness. The week before that, nary a Drumstick in sight. I was trying to be "good" that particular week by buying Fudgsicles instead. The one-stick kind. Could this minor change in frozen dairy treats be the reason my workouts actually had a chance at doing their job? I think so. I can easily eat two or three Drumsticks in a sitting, whereas the Fudgsicles weren't as satisfying so the box was around for awhile.

This is one of the not-so-pretty realities of life 50 lbs. past a healthy body weight. When no holds are barred when it comes to cravings. I've had a Drumstick habit off and on for about two years. Well, no more! NO MORE!!! I declare my independence from ice cream this very day! The ice cream is gone, the Drumsticks are gone, the Fudgsicles are gone, the Blue Bell Chocolate Cherry Bars are gone... This is my July 4, 1776!

Fitness
Walk 30 minutes a day, four times during the week.
Walk 50 minutes a day, both days during the weekend.

Reducing
Ice cream: I love you, but you done me wrong. Ice cream and frozen dairy treats of any kind are herewith banished from the Jitterbug household.

Grooming
Here's the next step in the 1946 morning grooming routine. After drinking a glass of water, brushing your teeth, washing your face, and powdering your nose, you're to dress up your lips with a coat of lipstick.

Put on some bright, pretty lipstick, making the edges neat and blotting away the excess.

The ice cream thing is going to be excruciating, but I'm a bit nervous about the lipstick, too. Can I pull it off without looking like a clown? We'll see...

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?

Again! Again!

My youngest niece (and goddaughter) is one today. Little Poppet was the life of the party in her ivory floral dress - with matching bloomers, of course! We celebrated at one of the quieter parks here in the city. A picnic breakfast and a lovely lemon cake. Her big sister "helped" quite a bit when it came time for opening gifts, but Poppet was blissfully content just to hold her cards and gaze at the pictures. Kitten wore a bright pink plaid sundress and wore Auntie out with her new favorite game, Ring Around the Rosy. "Again!" "Again!" Actually, I think I did spend too much time in the heat and sun. I fell asleep when I got home and didn't wake up until almost 5:00!

The highlight of my morning was the first thing my sister's mother-in-law said to me: "You've lost weight!" Could it be? Is all this work and deprivation paying off --- even though I can't see it in my own mirror??? I scoffed it off and muttered something about "three pounds," but inside I was jumping for joy.

So, I've slept off the party and am working on my water for the day. On to the kitchen...

Displacement

39 ounces down, 25 to go!

You know, one of the side benefits to drinking all this water on a daily basis is that I'm going to be drinking less of the other things I'd normally drink to quench my thirst. Like Vitamin Water. I love this stuff, and - truth be told - it's not nearly as bad for me as some of the other things I used to drink. Like Pepsi or Gatorade or Coffee Coolattas. Vitamin Water contains 125 calories to a 20-ounce bottle, and I'd guess I was drinking about 1 1/2 bottles per day before I started on the water. I haven't sworn off Vitamin Water, but I do have a quota when it comes to the real stuff and that competitive edge in me feels driven to make that quota every day. So it's water first - and by the time I make my quota it's bedtime and I'm not thirsty any longer. That's 185-190 calories a day I'm turning away. Hey, that's gonna add up --- more than 1,300 calories a week, more than 5,200 calories per month. YIKES!!! I'd better stop. I'm freaking myself out!

The weather is really heating up here in the American Southwest and, with it, my routine is adapting a bit. I can only keep the windows open from about 11 p.m. 'til 7:00 a.m. Which puts a crimp on all the fresh air I'm used to putting to work for me when it comes to housework. I can't open the windows to air out my mattress when I'm changing the bed linens on Thursday evenings. I just hung my quilt and blanket and pillows outside to air on the landing, but it's still in the high 80s, so I know they won't feel quite as fresh and crisp afterwards as they used to... On the plus side, if I put a freshly washed garbage can or wet bucket out there on a sizzling Saturday afternoon, it's dry in a flash!

Now I understand how housewives in four-season climates must have felt when after being cooped up indoors all winter they threw open the windows and dragged everything outdoors for a breath of fresh air. Beating the dust out of carpets, cleaning out fireplaces, letting the sun shine in on even the darkest corners of the house. Things just work a little backwards here. Think how happy I'll be come December!

The biggest change with these temperatures is that I've taken part of my weekday walk indoors. There's a basketball stadium about a ten-minute walk from where I work and the building is open during the day to walkers. You can walk laps around the stadium on one of the upper tiers and savor that lovely air conditioning. What it means is that I'm spending about 20 minutes in the broiling hot sun in order to get to and from the stadium - where I only have time to spend about 10 minutes! - but even taking 10 minutes off the time I have to spend in the noonday sun is worth it. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to make this work. Maybe a month. But what matters is getting it done now. I'll let next month worry about itself for a change.

"...one more glass to the good"

You know something I love about the 21st century? We've learned that you don't have to beat your vegetables into submission by boiling them to a pulp and smothering them in white sauce, bread crumbs, and cheese!

Parsley Potatoes
Baked Broccoli
Lettuce and Tomato Salad
Coconut Blanc Mange
Cherry Sauce

I guess the good thing about a dish like Baked Broccoli is that it makes a simpler broccoli recipe look absolutely lovely in comparison. There are so many lighter and more flavorful things you can do with an easygoing veggie like this one. The Parsley Potatoes were tasty as always. The Lettuce and Tomato Salad was a surprise! I had only glanced at the recipe before Sunday and didn't get a full picture of what was in store for me. Very Art Deco... like shiny, little, red domes on the salad plate...

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Lettuce and Tomato Salad

3 Tomatoes
Lettuce leaves
6 tablespoons French dressing

Scald the tomatoes, remove the skins and chill the tomatoes. Just before serving time, cut them in halves, crosswise, and place one piece, with the outside upward, on each serving-plate with one or two leaves of white, crisp lettuce underneath. Pour over each portion a tablespoon of French dressing.

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The Coconut Blanc Mange was, well, meh. Kind of a soft, bland pudding with the coconut doing must of the job at holding it all together. It might've been a little better if made with whole milk. Or maybe a dash of coconut extract. My Cherry Sauce was a miserable failure. It never really thickened and the ingredients didn't meld. Well, it's probably for the best that I'm not discovering fabulous new desserts these days!

Today marks the second day of my new water regime. I set the goal for this mission at eight 8-ounce glasses per day as that seems to be the gold standard when it comes to H2O. Apparently, that rule of thumb has been around for awhile. Dr. Walter H. Eddy, a professor of physiological chemistry, was interviewed for a newspaper article in July 1940 and advised that adults drink two quarts of water per day to maintain optimum health. What do you know, two quarts = 64 ounces!

After using a measuring cup marked with ounces to determine how much water the various glasses in my cabinet held, I figure I was probably drinking about 40 ounces per day before this mission. I downed 64 ounces yesterday without much difficulty, but I'm not there yet today and the day is short. I think I've just got to remind myself --- when I'm thirsty, reach for water first.

The Evening Independent's Alicia Hart weighed in on this very topic in December 1943:

Few of us ever drink the eight glasses of water a day which are recommended for health and a clear complexion. Maybe it's the idea of eight glasses all together that appalls us. But properly spaced throughout the day, eight glasses are not as many as you imagine.

For instance, petal-skinned film star Gene Tierney, who has just kept a date with the stork but will be back at the studios very shortly, makes a habit of having a tall glass of warm water with a half lemon squeezed in it before breakfast each morning.

If you like, add a teaspoonful of mineral honey - clover or alfalfa - to make it more palatable. It's a marvelous morning pick-up and a boon to clearer, smoother complexions.

And when you feel hungry in the middle of the day, yet you know very well that you ate a substantial enough lunch, drink a tumbler of water. It'll fill the void and you'll be just one more glass to the good.

Also, if you've been trying to lose weight, drink a glass before lunch or dinner and you won't want to eat so much. No, actually, eight glasses a day aren't too hard to take at all.

Intervention

The scales giveth and the scales taketh away.

I stepped on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in and found myself right back there at 192. Yep, the same 192 I thought I'd left in the dust a week ago! I'm trying not to panic. That's my first instinct. "You mean to tell me I've been exercising for nothing for the last two weeks!" "OMG, I'll just have to stop eating. Yes, that's it. I'll fast." Fear takes over (followed shortly by quitting the whole thing altogether), but no longer. I don't have the luxury of playing that old routine out once again. This may be a setback, but I know I'm on the right path to success. It just means that it's time for a mid-mission intervention, effective right away.

Fitness
Walk 30 minutes a day, four times during the week. Walk 45 minutes a day, both days during the weekend.

Reducing
This time, I'm adding something: eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Let's see if this - in concert with all of the other guidelines I've placed on my eating - can't help me naturally eat a little less each day.

She's Engaged!

Eek! I think I've been using my cold cream improperly!!!

I've been doing a little research in preparation for my next vintage beauty mission and came across a 1947 magazine advertisement for Pond's. You know the type: She's Engaged! She's Lovely! She uses Pond's! The bride of the moment was Priscilla Thompson, "one of Chicago's fashionable young set" and soon to be the wife of a Navy veteran. Along with a close-up shot of Priscilla's engagment ring, the ad describes in detail her twice-daily cold cream regimen:

Rouse face with warm water. Dip deep into Pond's Cold Cream. Swirl it on your receptively moist, warm skin in little creamy "engagement ring" circles up over your face and throat. Tissue off... Swirl about 25 more creamy Pond's circlets over your face. Tissue well. Tingle with cold water. Blot dry.

How come nobody told me all these years that the secret to landing Mr. Right was swirling cold cream onto my face twice a day in creamy engagement ring circlets?

In all seriousness, I had no idea you were supposed to "tissue off" the cold cream! I've been rinsing it off my face with warm water all this time... All that bridal freshness down the drain.

"Lady, Better Lose Those Hips!"

I wish I could tell you that my workouts leave me energized and full of pep, but they don't. At two weeks, I was feeling a new spring in my step. At four weeks, I'm just feeling all broken down. My lower back aches. My left knee feels a little sore. And I had forgotten just how painful 100-degree weather can be. Going outdoors at noon these days feels like climbing inside an oven. (Those lunchtime walks are going to have to shift indoors next week!) I'm hanging in there because I'm seeing results, but the last week has not been easy. I keep wishing I'll get to this magical point when I look forward to my walks. When I can't wait to get out there and move! Nope, still torture.

There are a few things I've begun doing to try and make these walks a little easier on my body. I have been remembering to wear a baseball cap - even at 7:00 in the morning on the weekends - so at least I don't have to worry any longer about getting my scalp or forehead sunburned. I purchased some SPF 55 sunblock this weekend to protect my neck and arms, particularly on those mid-day walks. My knees and back would probably appreciate my bringing some socks and sneakers to work for the week so those lunchtime workouts can be a little easier on my joints. And I've been putting it off, but I really should be doing some stretching after my walks.

Yesterday, I did some looking about online for tips on stretching. What a surprise to learn that you're not supposed to stretch before a walk! Apparently, you can really injure yourself by stretching cold muscles like that. You're supposed to warm the muscles by walking at an easy pace for awhile before speeding up to a brisk pace. The ideal walk should end by doing another stretch at an easy pace, then some simple stretches for the legs, lower back, and shoulders. I'm no personal trainer, so I'll just refer you to one of many interesting websites on this subject. I tried the first three stretches myself after my walk this morning:

http://www.helium.com/items/455379-best-stretches-before-walking-for-exercise

Alas, I haven't been able to find much in the way of vintage advice on post-walk stretching. Lots of advice on stretching for better posture - and lots and lots of "limbering" exercises - but nothing specific to flexing and relaxing the muscles used in a good, brisk walk. 1940s beauty experts acknowledged that walking was an effective way to trim the figure, but they didn't treat it quite as scientifically as they did most things. Betty Clark had a few recommendations in a women's page article titled "Lady, Better Lose Those Hips!" (St. Petersburg Times, September 24, 1943):

Walking, which is the best hip-slimmer known, is pretty difficult to do by the mile when time is at a premium, especially today - unless you are fortunate enough to walk to and from your daily work. This doesn’t mean strolling. Walking, to be effective, should be at a brisk, steady pace.

It is wise to exercise in the morning upon arising. Otherwise, you may find yourself too tired for exertion in the evening.

In a 1940 column, Miss Clark advised wearing sensible shoes when walking for sport --- and, by all means, put some "knee action" into your walk "for the sake of grace"! Helen Follett, another beauty expert of the era, wrote in 1940:

The thigh bulge comes to women who sit at their desks, typewriters or sewing tables all day. They don't get enough exercise to keep the muscles strong. Fibers grow slack, adipose tissue builds up. Squatting exercises are helpful, so is high kicking. Walking at a brisk pace is recommended.

Something that's been troubling me lately is that so many of my shirts are ending up with grease stains. Just one stain per shirt (always in the chest area), but it's enough to make them unsuitable for anything but wearing at home. I'm not sure why I don't notice it when it happens, but by the time I do - usually at the ironing board - it's too late. The shirt has been through the wash, and the stain is set. And it's not that I've been doing that much cooking with hot oil. I'm not sure why I'm ending up with all the grease stains. I guess it's just that I'm cooking more in general. Even scrambling eggs or making an omelet means I'm working over spattering grease. Several shirts later, it's finally occurred to me that there's a reason women used to wear those full aprons with the placket covering the chest. They weren't just for looks! And the half aprons that I usually wear don't do the job. From now on, it's full aprons for me... I've got two of them, and I'm looking for a place in my kitchen where I can keep them within arms' reach. No excuses. I can't afford to keep buying new shirts!!!

It's Sunday, which means it's time for another 1945 dinner. Here's my menu for tonight:

Parsley Potatoes

Baked Broccoli

Lettuce and Tomato Salad

Coconut Blanc Mange

Cherry Sauce

From everything I've heard about Blanc Mange, I'm a little creeped out. I think I'll make as small a batch of dessert tonight as possible!

Damp Dusting

Since I began giving my bedroom a thorough weekly cleaning, I've been gradually adding more and more of the "if necessary" and "when necessary" tasks to my list of chores. What started out as a barebones type of routine has become quite fleshed out, and these days I'm down to the last few of these optional items. One of the missing pieces to the puzzle was the housekeeping required for my only piece of wooden furniture in the bedroom - a white painted wooden nightstand. The manual recommends that housewives "apply wax or polish when necessary," but should painted furniture be waxed or polished? I didn't think so. I've been dusting it every week --- are there any extra steps I can take to keep it in good condition? It took some hunting, but I finally found a brief passage on the care of painted furniture.

Wood or metal furniture that is finished with good quality washable paint is easy to care for. Of course it must be dusted regularly with a clean, soft untreated duster, and occasionally it will benefit by damp dusting with a soft cloth wrung almost dry of clear lukewarm water.

Excessive soil may be removed with mild scouring powder... or with a good commercial paint cleaner.

I'm not sure how durable the coat of paint on this piece is, but it is flaking off a bit on the drawer knobs. So I'm thinking it's probably not the sturdiest of paint jobs! I think I'll make that "damp dusting" a seasonal job rather than trying to do it on even a monthly basis... Here's another of the chores recommended on an as needed basis for bedroom furnishings:

Polish metal hardware if necessary.

While I tie on an apron and scurry off to work, I'll leave you with some pictures of American bedrooms of the era.





This last is a 1944 photograph of a bedroom in an Indianapolis home lovingly cared for by the mother of a gunner's mate in the Navy, gone to war. How carefully she must have worked as she moved about this one room - dusting, polishing, plumping the pillows...

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

Confessional

Well, today has been a bit of a mixed bag.

It started off with a binge during the wee hours --- the first time I've cheated on my reducing missions. I went to bed with a grumbling tummy and tried to talk myself out of it. Tried to convince myself that I should think of that grumbly feeling as my body mining all those stored fat reserves for energy. That every minute of grumbling equaled one fat cell melting away. That strategy worked at bedtime, but not when I woke up at 1:00 and was still hungry. I'm not sure what possessed me. I was barely even awake. All I know is that I made my way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Foiled! Everything in there these days is either healthy or needs a little work to be table-ready. I rummaged about in the cupboard and ate a few Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits, then it was on to the freezer where - aha! - some Fudgsicles were hiding. Have you seen that TV spot on nicotine addiction where the guy's just typing away at his computer then these black claws come out of nowhere and drag him violently outdoors and only let go of him when he's taking that first puff? That was totally me.

240 calories later... and I felt terrible about it afterward. I knew I'd continue beating myself up over it unless I got a serious boost. See, that's the hitch that's quashed so many of my best intentions over the years. I'd cheat, beat myself up for lack of willpower, and give up. This time, it's got to be different. My nieces need me to get it right. I've got to approach this like the housekeeping. I wouldn't give up the housekeeping just because I'd forgotten to make the bed one morning or because some last minute social plans interrupted my routine. No way! Sometimes I just need to make some adjustments in my schedule for the week. Sometimes I need to take a mis-step as a hint that I need to work at that mission a bit longer before taking on a new one... So I'm going to take this morning's binge as a sign that I need to continue working at this 7:30 cut-off thing. It isn't quite successful yet. I still think it's a good idea. I need to get my feelings of hunger and cravings back into some sort of control again. They've gotten so out of whack during these years of giving in to every grumbling tummy.

I was worried about myself this morning, though. That cycle I mentioned before is so powerful and so subconscious. I was looking for a boost in self-esteem, so I stepped on the scale even though weigh-in day was still three days away. To my great surprise - and relief - I weighed in at 190! That's 2 pounds lost in 4 days --- and a total of 4 pounds in the 3 1/2 weeks since I started the vintage beauty missions. Boost received. And much needed after last Friday's disappointment.

So I forge ahead. One day at a time. One walk at a time. One 7:30 cut-off at a time. One I-will-not-stop-at-the-convenience-store-for-Cool-Ranch-Doritos at a time. One blog at a time. You keep me honest! Thank you, dear readers.

A Minute on the Lips...

Last night's vintage dinner was a super spicy one - from garlic to cloves, I worked that spice rack like never before! All in all, though, it was very good. I'm actually looking forward to the leftovers. Here's the menu, straight from 1945:

Lima-Bean Casserole

California Beets

Mixed Greens Salad (Iceberg, Romaine)

Honey Rice

The cookbook didn't include a recipe for the very casserole it was pushing in the menu section, but - quite by coincidence - I came across one in an article on reducing in the October 1945 issue of Good Housekeeping. A fortunate turn of events, because the casserole was really yummy. Filling and hearty and fairly easy to make --- though it took some planning.

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Lima-Bean Casserole

1 cup dried lima beans

3 1/2 cups cold water

1 cup chopped fresh or canned tomatoes

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

2 tablesp. brown sugar

2 1/2 teasp. salt

1/8 teasp. pepper

Pick over, then wash dried beans. Soak overnight in the cold water in a deep kettle. Then simmer in the same water, covered, over low heat, for 30 min.; drain; return 1 cup of this liquid to beans. Add remaining ingredients; pour into a greased 1 1/2-qt. casserole. Cover; then bake in a slow oven of 300 degrees F. for 2 hrs., or until beans are tender, removing the cover during the last 30 min. Serves 4.

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I substituted garlic here as I'm not a big onion person, but wanted something with equally big flavor. I put the beans on too high a heat during their initial simmer and wish I'd taken my time on this step and let them build to a simmer on a medium heat. The California Beets were a sort of sweet and spicy "pickled" side dish. Small, whole beets - I used canned beets in a nod to commercially-prepared foods - heated in sauce of margarine, lemon juice, cloves, sugar, and pepper. They actually went very nicely with the basic green salad.

The big surprise in last night's menu was the dessert. I had no idea what to expect as I read through the recipe for Honey Rice. Would it turn out like a rice pudding? Nope, no milk or eggs... You should've seen my face as I prepared this dish. I was absolutely sure by the time it was 2/3 done that I wouldn't be able to eat it! What do you know - it wasn't just edible, it was good. Tasted a little like a macaroon or the inside of some delicious chocolate candy. Both the California Beets and Honey Rice are recipes from the special wartime cookery chapter appended to the back of the cookbook. Note: The Honey Rice was very rich. You'll only need a small serving! I cut this recipe in half.

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Honey Rice

1 cup uncooked rice (I used brown basmati rice)

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup raisins

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup chopped nuts

Cinnamon

Wash rice thoroughly and cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. Heat honey in a heavy pan, add rice and raisins and cook about 5 minutes. Pour mixture into a well-buttered shallow baking dish and dot with butter. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) until golden brown [mine took about 20 minutes]. Remove from oven and stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and cinnamon. Serves 8.

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All this talk of food reminds me of a question that came to mind as I was powdering my face this morning. When and where was it proper for women in the '40s to touch up their makeup? I know my dusting of face powder doesn't last out the day, and we've all experienced the need to make a visit to the powder room to touch up our lipstick after a meal - or, in my case, Chapstick! I'd better see what Lily Haxworth Wallace has to say...

It seems useless, and I suppose it is, to tell the girls today that they should not make up in public. That is a duty which should be performed in the privacy of their boudoir or in the semi-privacy of dressing rooms. A girl would be outraged if her escort took out his pocket comb and nail file, smoothing his hair and manicuring his nails at table in a restaurant. However, she does much the same when she ostentatiously applies powder, lipstick, and rouge in the same place. However, some of the persons in the most fashionable sets are guilty of this rudeness - a fact which in no way makes it right. (The New American Etiquette, 1941)

Sounds like she's convinced she's fighting a losing battle. (Oh, dear, what would she have thought of today's women?) Mrs. Wallace also reminds the working girl that "make-up of any kind" should NEVER be applied at any time on the job except when she's in the rest room. Armed with the best vintage advice, I think I'll tuck my new face powder in my purse and take it to work during the week for a little mid-day touch-up in the rest room.

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.

The Show Must Go On

I made the first of my newly extended walks early this morning at the park - four laps around the track instead of three. By the end of the fourth lap, I was sweating like crazy. Partly because it was already getting hot, but partly because I was feeling the burn. By the time my car was in sight, I had to really force myself to move those feet and finish the thing. The whole ordeal took me 52 minutes, so I can check off my 45-minute workout for the day. Whew! That's the most exercise I've gotten in years!

The only thing that truly frustrates me when I'm walking at the park is thinking about all the workout opportunities I've wasted over the years because I was too self-conscious to get out there and walk by myself. I would tell myself things like, "If my sister and I could just figure out a good time of day to get out there and walk together." I'm not sure what made me so self-conscious to begin with, because there are oodles of people working out by themselves and probably an even split between people who are fit and trim and people who really have some work to do - like me! Lots of older folks working hard to maintain their health, lots of people walking dogs, lots of moms (or dads) trying to get back in shape. My super self-conscious self has always been an obstacle when it comes to working out in public, but I gotta tell you - if anybody at the park even gives me a second thought, they're probably thinking, "Good for her. Keep it up!" There's a feeling of camraderie there, even as all of these people propel themselves individually around the track at their own paces. We may be strangers and most of us may be rocking out to one thing or another on our iPods, but it's as if we're all a mutual encouragement to one another by getting out there and fighting the good fight.

One thing I'd really like to find is a great pair of cropped workout pants. Shorts always ride up between my legs as I'm walking and I'm constantly having to pull them down. My longer track pants are fine, but they're starting to feel a little warm for this climate - even at 7:15 in the morning. And though I've never really had a desire for one before this, I'd really like to have an iPod myself. Especially on these longer walks when something interesting to listen to could really make the walk go by a little faster. Hey, maybe I could even upload some of my vintage radio episodes and just replace them with new episodes once I've listened to them!

Speaking of radio, I listened to the episode of The Great Gildersleeve the other day which was originally broadcast on December 7, 1941. The program then aired on NBC Red on Sunday evenings at 6:30 Eastern, 3:30 Pacific. In other words, it's only been about five hours since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began and only four hours since word of the attack first went out over the radio networks. What's striking to me on this momentous day is just how calm the announcer and cast seem as they go on with the show. The network had not cut away to 24-hour coverage, instead they interrupted the program five times to broadcast a bulletin. The program itself was performed in the studio from beginning to end, but the network cut away from the feed several times for just a minute or so at a time.

The program was broadcast from Hollywood, so the cast and studio audience are much closer to the scene of the battle than were folks on the East Coast. And yet they seem so cool and collected, no signs of emotion or anxiety. I guess most Americans had already accepted the fact that they would be entering the war at some point. They'd listened to news of the war in Europe and in China for more than two years now. They'd seen their country mobilizing, neighborhood boys being drafted, and defense bonds being sold. Americans were mentally much better prepared for the war than they would have been had the attack on Pearl Harbor taken place in 1938 or 1939. Then again, maybe the networks weren't reporting just how devastating the attack had been. They certainly don't give any indication of the number of American lives lost and ships destroyed. The news bulletins are striking in their crisp matter-of-factness, but they are guarded. They also report some optimistic developments that later proved to have been rumors, such as a Japanese aircraft carrier being sunk off Honolulu by American forces. I guess most people listening to the news probably pictured a much more evenly matched battle taking place than was the case.

Oh, I almost forgot. Here's that wartime Gingerbread recipe I promised I'd share a few days ago. Tomorrow's vintage dinner has another wartime dessert recipe in store!

Gingerbread

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup molasses

Sift dry ingredients together. Melt shortening in boiling water. Add molasses. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Place in a greased (8-inch) baking pan and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) 30 to 40 minutes.