Eeesh! How did it already get to be Wednesday? I'm sorry for the delay in new posts. Kitten was suffering from a virus and I've been pulling some Auntie overtime. But I'm back in my own little nest this evening and looking forward to some quality time with my iron. So how about a new vintage beauty mission? It's been a few weeks and I'm itching to add something new to my routine...
Fitness
I'm going to add a few more "limbering and stretching exercises" to my pre-bed fitness routine. The first is from a July 1940 edition of the St. Petersburg [Florida] Times and is especially designed for reducing fatty tissue in the hip area:
10. If you are bothered by this special beauty sorrow stand erect, steady yourself by holding to the back of a chair, swing the leg in wide circles. Lift the foot as high as you can. You will be aware of a strong muscle pull from knees to hips…
Two more exercises are from a charming article in a February 1940 edition of The Evening Independent. The author, a syndicated woman's page columnist, suggests that women living in a cold climate go in for skiing or skating to attain the new "stretched look." Tennis and swimming were suggested for women living in a warm climate. If money is tight or time is short, not to fear! Here are some exercises designed to mimic these sports. Anybody up for a game of imaginary tennis?
11. Simply hold a pie pan or other round, shallow pan in your right hand high above your head and look toward the ceiling as if you were watching for a high ball to come across an imaginary net. As the imaginary ball comes closer, jump a foot off the floor and hit it with the pan, driving it back across the imaginary net to an imaginary opponent. Drop arm to side, count to four slowly, then raise arm, jump and strike at the ball again. Repeat 10 times.
Reverse, holding pan in left hand and make believe that you are a left-handed tennis player. Incidentally, since jumping up and down is a simple exercise which reduces the thighs and hips, an imaginary tennis game a day may serve a double purpose.
12. The breast stroke exercise is also recommended. Lie across a single bed so that arms and legs are not supported by the bed. Keeping head up with neck straight, stretch arms forward with palms facing each other. Now fling arms wide apart, turning palms in the opposite direction. Do this slowly and deliberately. Repeat 20 times.
Reducing
In an effort to rev up the protein content in my dinners - and eliminate those late night temptations! - I'm going to continue limiting the portion size of the prepared, pre-packaged foods and add a serving of a bean dish of one sort or another. My dinner plate (and lunch on the weekends) will now look something like this: 1/3 my once-typical serving of prepared foods + 1 serving of vegetables + 1 serving of beans. And since it's summer, I'm all about cold bean dishes. There's a Moroccan lentil salad I used to be nuts about and haven't made in forever. A restaurant here in the city makes a chickpea/tomato/parsley salad that I've been dying to replicate. I think I've found a recipe online that should be close. I'm going to give it a try tonight after my ironing is finished. The flavors should be perfectly meshed by suppertime tomorrow night. I ought to be able to whip up a big dish of one of these salads once a week and having a serving from it every day!
Grooming
Well, this reforming frump has finished the 1946 morning grooming routine and lived to tell the tale... so this week I'm tackling the evening grooming routine:
Out of your clothes and into the tub -
1. Coat yourself thoroughly with a susdy lather, and don't spare the elbow grease. Rinse well, doing face separately with water from the faucet.
It's a good thing I've been cleaning my bathroom on a weekly basis --- my tub is ready for a good, hot bath. Every night, no less! Can I survive the shift from Shower Land?
7 comments:
I should really try some of your limbering and reducing exercises.
Those dishes sound yummy! You should post recipes after you try them out. =)
Good Luck!!
The chickpea salad sounds especially yummy. I'm glad you are adding more protein to your diet. I was rather worried you weren't getting enough of the right kinds of protein. Hope Kitten is feeling much better. And, wow, you are ambitious. Keep up the good work.
I'm a huge fan of a hot bubble bath. You will enjoy them. I use the time to relax and at the end I use a pumice stone on my feet to keep them smooth.
LPM, I will be sure to post the recipes as soon as I get them just right.
Packrat, the chickpea salad is to die for --- at least as it's made by the restaurant. We'll see how my version tastes! Thank for your good wishes to Kitten. She had a good day yesterday (no fever) and I'm hoping that she had a good night. My poor baby! :(
Bonjour Madame, I've always enjoyed a hot bath for relaxing, but it'll be interesting to see how a bath feels when it becomes a functional thing. In any event, bathing in the evening will also allow me the chance to do my hair up in curls at night.
I happen to love chickpeas and add them to everything. I even add them to my tuna salad to bulk it up!
Good luck with your new efforts. Baths can be wonderful! The only problem comes when washing hair. Couldn't do without a shower in the morning. Don't know how else I'd wake up :)
TGH, chickpeas rock. Sadly, my apartment still smells from all the garlic I minced yesterday morning. And every time I open the fridge, the scent just about knocks me over!
Amanda, I've granted myself a little bit of an out for now when it comes to hairwashing and shaving. Both of those items are listed separately in the grooming routine. So for now, I'm using the bath for washing and exfoliating. Then standing up for a quick shower at the end to wash my hair and de-fuzz myself. As for the morning shower, I'm wondering that myself as I type this. Can I have that eyes-wide-open feeling without one? We'll see. Maybe the my morning glass of water and exercises will do the trick.
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