Showing posts with label pride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pride. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Women of America

Another crappy old book

which unfortunately has incomplete citation information.

But what it lacks in citation, it makes up for in preachin'.

I, myself, am confronted with a different problem: lack of bookshelves. The Library in Starkvegas had a sale yesterday.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

I have a question.

This up just a bit ago at Instapundit.com

NEW YORK TIMES: American Women Are Fat Because They Don’t Vacuum Enough. “Women, they found, once had been quite physically active around the house, spending, in 1965, an average of 25.7 hours a week cleaning, cooking and doing laundry. Those activities, whatever their social freight, required the expenditure of considerable energy. . . . Forty-five years later, in 2010, things had changed dramatically. By then, the time-use diaries showed, women were spending an average of 13.3 hours per week on housework. More striking, the diary entries showed, women at home were now spending far more hours sitting in front of a screen. In 1965, women typically had spent about eight hours a week sitting and watching television. (Home computers weren’t invented yet.) By 2010, those hours had more than doubled, to 16.5 hours per week. In essence, women had exchanged time spent in active pursuits, like vacuuming, for time spent being sedentary.”

This’ll be well-received. But hey, it’s science. You can’t argue with science.
[my emphases]

I haven't had time to read the article yet-- I'm vacuuming. No. Really. I am. But I have a question.

Can we infer that houses are not as clean now as they were in 1965?

~~

After I finish vacuuming the upholstered furniture, I'll steam it. (Thankfully, the steamer survived wall paper removal.) After that, I'll dust and then spot polish the floors.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, Miss M. suggested

that I blog about my new lamp. And so tonight I shall.


I got it from Fred's. It's orange.
Fred's can be a great place to shop. I say "can" because some Fred's are better and cleaner than others. Fortunately, the Fred's in my little town turned out to be a great place to shop when I needed a new lamp for the redecorated Comfortable Guest Room.

Overview:


Note the

hints of orange.

Sadly, I didn't snap a shot of the white embroidered pillow cases with hints of orange.
As we all know, overviews do not a Comfortable Guest Room make. Attention to detail will give Comfort to your Guests. (I know because I read about this in a crappy old book.)

The first thing a Comfortable Guest Room needs is a Comfortable Dog


laying on a Comfortable Bed.
And because your Comfortable Guest Room cannot be too Comfortable, the next thing it needs is Comfortable Dog #2


sitting in a Comfortable Chair
along side Comfortable Dog #1 who is sitting Comfortably on a 30-year old something skin rug. 

More detail-- and a glimpse of Miss M. expecting something-- below the fold.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Because you can never have too many copies of the Declaration of Independence,

I bought two more yesterday.

$4.63 to the children; $0.32 to the state
I love The Palmer House Thrift Store where every penny I spend except those that go to the Sovereign State of Mississippi goes to The Palmer Home for Children in Columbus, Mississippi. I buy a lot of books there.
Palmer Home for Children is today an independent institution governed by an unpaid, volunteer Board of Directors. But we are proud of our Presbyterian heritage and maintain close ties with Presbyterian and other churches as well as interested friends concerned about family breakup and the plight of fatherless children.
[Incidentally, according to Off the Beaten Path Mississippi,  Mississippians give more per capital to charity than citizens of any other state. I tried to verify this independently but was not able to do so. It does make sense, though, given Mississippians' acquaintance with tornadoes and hurricanes, and our tendency to go to church. As my father would often say, "There but for the Grace of God go I."

Oh look. It's raining.]

The Palmer Thrift Store was having a 1/2 price sale on books! And yes, that is Ronald Regan who once said,
... On my way to the hall, a fellow recognized me and asked what I was doing in Las Vegas.... I told him what I was here for, and he said, "What are a bunch of farmers doing in Las Vegas?" I couldn't resist. I said, "Buster, they are in a business that makes a Las Vegas crap table look like a guaranteed annual income!" --Remarks to state officers of the Future Farmers of America, July 29, 1987
From The Quotable Ronald Regan compiled and edited by Peter Hannaford, copyright 1998 published by Regnery Publishing, Inc. It's for Mr. Big Food's bookshelf.

Lydia Pickham is Her Name (1949) is not a work of fiction! 

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Stretching the Food Dollar

Meta Givens recommends "memorizing this brief chapter."
From The Modern Family Cookbook (1958).

I think The Shopper's Creed speaks for itself. Give it another read.

The Creed begins a four page chapter devoted to helping "you to become a better manager," because in 1942 (when the book was first published) running a home was a job that a woman was expected to take pride in doing well. There are six tips for stretching the food dollar. 

"Make it yourself!" cautions that 
It is poor economy to buy cooked meats, cakes, cookies, jellies, preserves, pickles and the like.
Not only are you paying for the food, but also for someone else's time and labor.

"Shop around" notes that
By buying each food where it is least expensive and best for the price, you will save pennies every day-- and if you take care of the pennies, the dollars will last much longer.
Thrift.

"Cash-and-carry"-- Well, the days of credit-and delivery grocery stores are long gone. But I'll have you know the fellows at the Piglet still take our groceries to the truck for us! The folks at Supercenter don't do that!

Keep reading for more good advise.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Food Shopper's Creed

From Meta Given's The Modern Family Cookbook, copyright 1942, 1953, 1958, published by J. G. Ferguson Publishing Company, Chicago
So you don't need to click to enlarge...

The Food Shopper's Creed

The health of my family is in my care, therefore--
I will base my market list on meals planned according to the "DIET PATTERN" p. 4

I will choose foods of quality and in quantities that will provide the nutritive elements planned for.
Stretching the food dollar is part of my responsibility, therefore--
I will take advantage of what the seasonal markets offer in variety, quality, and price, to the end that I may exchange my dollar for maximum values.
My family's enjoyment of food is my responsibility, therefore--
I will use the possibilities of the market to provide variety, excellent quality and novelty within the limits of my food budget.
Purchasing food is an important link in the business of feeding my family, therefore--
I will make every effort to weight possibilities offered by various markets, by various foods, and the forms in which they are offered from season to season, to the end that I may take pride in a job well done.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wash day

I made mention of "wash day" in a previous post. Every day is wash day for those of us here on the Farm, except for Mr. Big Food who does his laundry on a schedule. Every so often, he has "shirt-washing days," "pant-washing days," and so on. (He's very disciplined.) But in the crappy olden days, there really was such a thing as wash day-- the one day a week the laundry was done. My neighbors still have wash day. I know this because they hang their clothes out on the line every Wednesday, although Wednesday was not the preferred wash day.

HOME LAUNDERING: Need for cleaning knowledge [full citation at post's end]
Please do take a minute to enlarge and read this. It is delightful! Look carefully at the diagram on the left-hand page. Note the decidedly non-Electric dryer. We have it so hard these days. We should protest. 

Tuesday is preferred over Monday for wash day for the following reasons. (Who does their laundry on Wednesday?) Monday can be used to:
  1. Replenish the larder
  2. Put the house in order after the weekend
  3. Mend tears, etc. that would worsen when the garment was laundered
  4. Remove stains
  5. Prepare food in advance for wash day
  6. Gather, and presumably sort (this is a dig), laundry and prepare laundry apparatus without "infringing on the pleasures or quiet of Sunday"
I say again, we have it so hard these days. Can you imagine what it must have been like for housewives women before the invention of the Electric washer and dryer made it possible for them to escape the drudgery of wash day?? They had to mend clothes so clothes would last longer. They actually had to think things through: cook a day ahead, gather-- and presumably sort-- the laundry, get the "apparatus" ready.

Could they have taken pride in this drudgery?

To be clear, I like Electric stuff just as much as the next guy. In fact, while typing all of this out on my electricity driven laptop, a storm came up and the power flickered a few times. I had to stop what I was doing, go get the flashlights and the oil lamp. I had to quickly think through what else I'd need to do if the power went out for more than a few minutes-- it's after dark already. Trust me, I am a fan of Electricity.

But I wonder how much we've paid for being able to throw a mega-load of unsorted clothes into an Electric washing machine with that new detergent that forgives us for not knowing that black and white make grey?

Citation: Care of Clothing. The Women's Institute Library of Dressmaking, vol. 3. The Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences. Press of International Textbook Company, Scranton, Pa. 1925.

Note: The book in front of me makes no mention of Mary Brooks Picken, but see this.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Crappy old stuff: Mending

Few women appreciate the importance of mending, forgetting entirely the old proverb, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Every housewife should form the habit of doing the weekly mending each week instead of allowing it to accumulate until it becomes a burden. Carefully mended garments denote thrift, industry, and economy; therefore, every woman and every girl should take pride in knowing how to darn a pair of stockings, to patch a worn garment, and mend a tear. Mary Brooks Picken (Woman’s Institute Library of Dressmaking: Sewing Materials, 1923)
Thrift, industry, and economy. Pride.

I must admit I don't think I could darn a pair of socks very well. But I have a set of old books written by Mary Brooks Picken. So if worse come to worst, I can learn.

Moving on to more important matters... .

A protester at Occupy Cincinnati. She has a job.
And an iPhone. Good for her.
Please note that these photos were grabbed from this web site. I've included the citation information in the screen shot itself.

You can learn more about Mary Brooks Picken, a prolific writer on needlework, sewing, textiles, etc., at Wikipedia, Yellow Zeppelin, and Amy Barickman.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

Something to be proud of

Iopride water melon

IO for Iowa Pride.

100 days — The fruits are dark green with darker green stripes. They are oblong and blocky with sweet, bright-red flesh and a high sugar content. Holds long at maturity. Developed at the University of Iowa for upland soils and for resistance to fusarium wilt and anthracnose (race 1). Although once popular, it has become quite rare. Iopride was developed by Lewis Peterson of the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State.1

From my experience growing this melon I think this is one of the easiest melons to grow. In all the years I have grown it, it has never failed to produce a crop. I have had extremely wet as well as dry and hot seasons, and when others failed, this one always came through for me.

Melons average 25 to 30 pounds and normally have a lot of 40 pound ones. It has a good fruit set.
 

Like the Tennessee Sweet Potato Pumpkin squash, I got the seeds from New Hope Seed Company. I don't mean to be plugging these guys exclusively. It's coincidence, really. Another company I like a lot? Botanical Interests. Their seed packets are very pretty.

Crappy old stuff: The Meal Planner's Creed

A dear old friend once commented that we "have a lot of crappy old stuff." True. Our Big Life is filled with crappy old stuff-- especially books. From one old cookbook:


The Meal Planner's Creed from The Modern Family Cookbook by Meta Given 
(J. G. Ferguson Publishing Company, Chicago. 1958. p2)

Question. Why do authors continue to include the word "modern" in book titles-- especially cookbooks, books on decorating, fashion, and so forth? I know here "modern" modifies "family" but what family isn't modern? Oh. Those that have a lot of crappy old stuff.

So there's no need to click to enlarge:

The Meal Planner's Creed


The health of my family is in my care, therefore--
I will spare no effort in planning the right kinds of food in the right amounts.


Spending the food dollar for maximum value is my job, therefore--
I will choose from variously priced foods to save money without sacrificing health.


My family's enjoyment of food is my responsibility, therefore--
I will increase their pleasure by planning for variety, for flavorful dishes, for attractive color, for appetizing combinations.



My family's health, security, and pleasure depend on my skill in planning meals, therefore--
I will treat my job with the respect that is due it.
The first thing I wonder is, why a creed? The Modern Family Cookbook also has creeds for Shoppers and Cooks. What is a creed? According to Webster's New School and Office Dictionary (1962), a creed is a "brief statement of belief."

ASIDE: I have several old dictionaries-- I think if you're going to wonder what I'm wondering, you should make some effort to be in the same time frame. I should have referred to a dictionary older than 1958, but unfortunately, my dictionary collection has gaps. I'll look for a crappy old dictionary from the '40s and '50s next time I'm out. Note that this is not the #1 definition given at dictionary.com. It is decidedly different.

A meal planner believes four things about herself. (I'll not go PC here. It was 1958. Women did the meal planning. End of story.) She believes she is responsible for her family's health, her portion of the family budget, her family's food experiences, and their security and pleasure! That is a lot of responsibility. But it's her job and she's going to respect it. And what's more, when she finishes planning and shopping and gets down to the business of cooking, she's going to

... take pride in doing an outstanding job of cooking.

(My emphasis.)

IMHO, the our county and culture would be a lot better off if we had more "modern" families.*