Sunday, March 29, 2009

30 march 1955 “Academy Awards, Beauty, Food, and Spring Cleaning for your Life”

brando and grace kelly March 30, 1955 Brando and Grace Kelly wind for “On the Waterfront” at the 27th annual Academy Awards.

newyorker march 1955 This New Yorker is actually from the 26 of March 1955, but I forgot to picture it before. I think the image is very telling of the times. The bucolic setting, the innocence of the children, the serenity of an autumn New England day as a jet cuts across the sky. The ideals of antiquity are now being poised to receive modern life.

I know some of you have asked about beauty and personal care in the 1950s. So, I thought I would show some articles and images from some of my magazines.

beginning beauty article This is rather sweet how they encourage you to help and guide your daughter through a good beauty routine. I need to up my game, as I thought I only needed 100 strokes to my hair, but I guess I was wrong. I do know, that hair washed once a week and brushed thoroughly shines wonderfully. I realized another savings I have come upon with my 1955 life. I used to wash my hair alot. I would shower, not everyday, but at least five times a week and my hair is thick and needs conditioner. I now wash and condition my hair once a week. That means I use my shampoo and conditioner only four times a month. I can now get five months use out of what was one months use! I am not sure when the daily showering/hair washing began, but I can bet if we trace it far enough it will lead to some advertising on soaps and shampoo. Your hair does not need to be shampooed that often. Think of all the water, energy, money and waste if we used 1/4 of the bottles of shampoo and conditioner per person per year. Now, I still shower more than once a week, but I use my trusty friend, the shower cap. I do not, however, shower every day. I now have a good wash up on days I don’t show and probably shower three times a week of which one of those days is to shower and shampoo. It might sound disgusting, but I do not feel any dirtier and in fact think my hair looks the better for it. I keep coming upon these little realizations and they are amazing. I just really thought about it the other day, wow, five months of product out of my old one months supply. And the amout of plastic I won’t be throwing out, the amount of money I will save, and the energy costs. Again, something done to be authentic to the 1950s has lead to a green decision without my knowing it. I think it is funny that marketing and advertising follows trends, so as green is now the ‘it’ thing it uses that. So, people can feel green by going out and buying more things. We just respond to change in this way, “Oh, I need a new way of thinking, let me go buy the stuff that goes along with it” when, really, instead of buying green bags, use bags you already have or take some of your old shirts or clothes you don’t want and fasten those into green bags, but now our response is to buy more things. I know we reuse the bags, but do you sort of see where I am going with this. Even green cleaning products, silly. You can make all you need with vinegar, soda, pinesol, bleach and water. Use an old bottle you ALREADY have over and over again. Decorate it, like I and some of my followers did. Just because some product comes out in a new shape bottle with cooler writing you are still buying things that have to be put into plastic bottles. Here is an example of SC Johnsons approach. See, how happy and earth friendly this page is, but you can make your own green products and use the bottles you have.

Now, I was suppose to be talking about beauty, but you see how these rants just come upon me. This is, however, how my days often will unfold. I will be doing something or trying something ‘vintage’ and realize how ‘now’ it really should be.

Here is an article on antiperspirant use. It is scary to me how they point out in this article that the aluminum works well to keep you dry but that it can irritate and ruin your clothing. “However, because they check perspiration so well, they have a faithful following”. I know that many studies have shown that the aluminum in antiperspirants are harmful and can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. I tried to find a woman’s product that did not contain aluminum and had a hard time. The idea of not sweating was so important that good sense was set aside for social stigma. It is odd to me, too, as these women’s grandmothers would certainly have had sweat and the smell as part of their life and thought little of it, save using lemon verbena water or something. I think I found another chemical product that used advertising to promote the need to ‘not be sweaty’. anitperspirants

And, finally, here are some sweet beauty tips:

beauty tips

I am sort of behind in my food discussions here, so I have a couple of meals to cover. I wanted to make a souffle’ with some left over pork shoulder, as I had mentioned in a previous blog, so it would be a ham and cheese souffle’. I could find no recipe for this, so I simply created my own using the basic souffle recipe I had.souffle It turned out lovely, but I used a too large dish. I actually have this dish in the next size down, too, so I could have really made it look spectacular, as I made the ‘paper crown’ for it with wax paper, but as the dish was too large, it did raise properly, but does not look like it in this dish. I was so proud of it, as I served it, it stood so tall and was so light to eat. As I was preparing it, I saw how similar it was to making a cake. The beating of the egg whites, the beating of the egg yolks, folding in the ingredients, and honestly it looked like cake batter as I poured it in. It was heavenly and light. I am really beginning to see the skill set grow in cooking. As I have mentioned before, what used to seem like a random assortment of recipes to follow, are now really displaying the various similar traits. Now, I know when I look at a new cake recipe why it needs this or that and I am now rearing to make my own. I mentioned to Gussie yesterday that I want to make a maple walnut two layer cake with a maple cream cheese frosting decorated with crushed walnuts and topped with a circular halo of whole walnuts. I can see it in my mind. I tried finding a recipe for a maple walnut cake but could not find one in my old books and magazines, so if I can find a maple cake, then I will simply alter it. Although I really want to just try, based on my growing cake knowledge, to make up my own recipe. If it turns out good, of course I will share the recipe with you and pics.

Now, onto another dessert, that is all eat up now, is a blueberry apple pie. blueberryapple pieI mentioned it before that I was going to make it for our Saturday dinner and I did. I had some left over fresh blueberries from jam in my fridge and some apples, I had not enough of either to make a blueberry or an apple pie, so I combined them. This was also really a made up recipe. I used my ‘easy’ crust recipe that I have listed before where you use shortening and add boiling water etc. It really is so simple and this time it was wonderfully flaky. Almost as good as my lard crust. It was not too sweet as I mixed the fruit fresh with one cup sugar and I made a topping of butter and flour to crumble on top. And I squeezed half a fresh lemon on top before I popped it in the oven. It was really good, if I do say so myself, and I do! I know the crust looks a little sloppy, but I liked the rusticity of it. I will try my hand at fancy braided crusts and such in the future. Here is is waiting for coffee and me to devour it.appleblueberry pie slice

Here are my lovely Chicken croquets I made for our chicken croquettesSaturday Vintage Dinner. I was so proud and they were so good.

Here is the recipe:

chicken croquettes recipe You will see it says to serve with Cream sauce. That is simply the plain white sauce recipe I have given in a previous blog, but make it with 1 cup cream instead of milk. I have not tried the sauterne Jelly, but will next time. Sauternes is a French dessert wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially “raisined”, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wines. Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence, due to its climate. It is a sweet dessert wine and it is commonly served with Fois Gras (which I adore!), caviar, and pates. This wine is fairly expensive due to what goes into making it and there are really no domestic versions worth mentioning (however, if you know differently, please let me know as I love a good dessert wine!). I have heard there is a California version, but that it is not very good, I have not had that type. I would, and probably will, use an inexpensive Riesling when I make this sauce. I know it is a German wine and not a French wine, but I think in cooking and wanting to save on budget, the sweetness of a Riesling would work for this recipe. If anyone tries it let me know or if anyone wants to spend the money on a good Sauterne and use it in a recipe, let me know how it tastes. I would probably save the ‘real deal’ for a special occasion, Thanksgiving or something. If you have not heard of this wine and would like to try it, let me know what you think, oh, and for those of you who don’t know it is pronounced “So-Tairn” I know sometimes people feel funny asking for something if they are uncertain of how to ask for it. Anyway, here is the recipe.

sauterene sauce recipe

Okay, so how I actually made my croquettes, which I was so proud of and I really liked how they looked on the table. Was as follows:

I used boneless chicken thighs, as they are less expensive and dark meat is much juicier in a croquette. I think the white meat would be nice, but really liked the more moist quality of a thigh and it the cost can’t be beat! To moisten the ingredients, I did not use the white sauce but used their first recommendation of the 3/4 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cream. So, I took my chicken thighs and boiled them earlier in the day and put in my various spices that I like. I put in about 4 cups of water, let them boil and simmer for a few hours as I was about my day, until it boiled down to about 2 cups. Then I took my 3/4 cup of stock and the rest went into the freezer for future sauces and soups. You could use canned stock in a pinch, but I like making my own stock as it is easy, less expensive and I think much nicer and you can control the sodium more. I also chose to use fresh cut cilantro in lieu of the parsley. I am not sure if cilantro would have been used in 1955, I need to check on that, but I really like the taste and it did add a nice bite to the croquettes. So, I shredded the cooked chicken and mixed the ingredients, adding the above sauce of stock and cream as needed an shaped my little pyramids. Then I rolled them in bread crumbs (if you have any old croutons sitting about, these work great too!) and I popped them in the freezer for about 1/2 hour while I made my cream sauce. Don’t let them freeze, because when you deep fry something you want it to be close to room temperature so it doesn’t cool the oil. For my cream sauce I used the rest of the mixture of stock and cream that didn’t go into my croquettes and added that with the flour to the butter as I made the sauce. I put it in a serving pitcher and set it aside. Before I fried the croquets I dipped them in beaten egg and rolled them again in crumbs, this gives them a nice coating, then into the hot fat. You don’t really need them in there that long, just enough to brown the coating, as the chicken is already cooked from making the stock. I got many raves from these at our dinner and will definitely make them again, next time with the Sauterene sauce (or Riesling sauce). I think they would be a great answer to leftovers. Really any left over meat would be lovely this way and breaks the monotony of leftover predictability.

Now, with this ‘gourmet’ recipe, I used a recipe from my Campbell’s soup book. I like the idea that I am using a book that teaches you ‘high cooking’ and paring it with an advertising book that I would have most likely got as a promotion at my local grocer. That is the joy of cooking. Gourmet does not have to be hard, nor does it have to be exclusive. If you pair things that sound as if they would be good together, most likely they will.

Now, when I used this recipe, I did not make the sauce with Campbell’s chicken and rice soup, as I really don’t buy canned soup and enjoy making my own. However, with that said, I am certain it would be good and easy for a busy mother to use the soup as directed. I used, instead, the same sauce I made for the croquettes. It was lovely and tasted great and so no need to have another type of sauce with the dinner. Oh, and as I used bacon for this recipe, I put the bacon fat into the stuffing with the egg to hold it together. It was lovely and the tomato was just cooked enough.

So, after I prepared the croquettes, I put them in a pan and then I put in the tomatos with the stuffing, but did not cook it. I put the whole thing in the oven and 20 minutes before my guests arrived I turned the oven to 350 and it heated up the already prepared croquets, and cooked the tomatos. Then I just had to reheat the sauce and serve it all. The clean up was easier this week as well, as I am getting more skilled at doing things in stages and thinking ahead to what can be prepared and heated at the last minute. I can see now how women with multiple children ran a home and still put on lovely meals. It is just training and practice. When you approach this type of work as that work, but if you also love it, as I do, then multiple tasks become easier and in the efficiency of it you also garner more pleasure as you test yourself and think, “Oh, I can do one more thing, or Oh, I am going to make the soup from scratch or the cake from scratch etc.”

stuffed tomato recipe stuffed tomato pic

Yesterday, Sunday, was a good day. The three of us, hubby, myself and Gussie (yes, she is sporadically around) had a good lazy but productive day. It was raining. It was that good heavy Spring New England rain. It falls straight down, with purpose and hope, wetting the birds, the ground, those leaves that missed the rake. The light is soft grey shot with moments of bright. The tip-tapping on windows in my little sitting room gives me leave to stay inside and not feel the guilt of the approaching planting season. Instead, that busy yet lazy energy of a Sunday morning was put to the kitchen and its increasing list of little odd jobs. Today it was the pantry. Gussie and I took out everything! The kitchen was littered with canned goods and things long forgot in the dark recess of the pantry. When I do my little breakfast room addition there will be a new pantry. One I have oft dreamed of and imagined. There will be a window and neat white shelves edged in vintage shelf paper. Drawers below, tall spaces for cookie sheets, everything labeled and lovely. No have twisted bags of chocolate chips with ill-used twist-ties, but honest clear jars, standing ready and at attention, the soldiers of the cooking world; Ready and clearly labeled for battle. That, however, is in the future. Now, my pantry is a fairly large but deep and dark closet. It is the perfect place to hide out, if you so chose, for you could slip there, on that top shelf behind the countless bags of opened rice that you meant to condense and next to the odd batch of hideous Halloween plates that someone brought to a party and you hadn’t the heart to throw away. You could safely linger there for months, never being spotted and you’d have many cans of beans and various goodies to keep you going.

So, all of this came out as well as the two closed cabinets above the stove. It was all laid out upon the kitchen table and Gussie and I looked at each other, then the piles and stacks of things, and with a nod of a surgeon to the nurse, dug in.

This was rather cathartic and we dubbed it the ‘official’ beginning of Spring cleaning.

I have a darling set of vintage milk glass spice jars. They have been patiently awaiting their proper labeling and filling. Today, we did it. They needed to be scrubbed and washed and then I ran them through the dishwasher (ah, it’s good to be middle class in the 1950s) . I used a very 1950s idea of applying your own decoration to make something match your home, but did it in a very 21st century way. I scanned a Pyrex dish with part of the pattern that I collect. I then added the name of whatever space would go in that jar and printed it on sticky paper. The result is darling I think. They have great lids that screw on and a little shaker top that are not on in this picture. I think the result is darling, as they are milkglass and the rooster image from my Pyrex in my color is very effective, don’t you think?

new spice jar

So, I had to sit down, with all the spices I use and collect up before me, and consider, what are the 12 most used? I have so many spices and began sorting through realizing I use this most often this only in certain things, this for holiday cakes etc. It was really a great mini-exercise for the overall project of doing over my house; my life. Sit down, put all your cards on the table, what do you do most, what is a dream or a plan for the future, and what is just left rotting in the back shelf. By going through and check-listing out your life, you can decide what is worth keeping, worth striving for and what you realize is just something you are holding onto that would be better tossed aside. Spring cleaning for you life, I like it! Let’s all do it, shall we?

Happy Homemaking.

25 comments:

  1. Donna, my mom had that Pyrex pattern for our casserole dishes when I was a kid. I think she just has the min/individual ones left, 2 maybe. They are charming and I see them quite often when I go "caloopin'" as my friends and I call antiquing.

    I came across this flicker site last week that I thought you might find interesting


    http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeyharrison/48626538/in/set-1071542/


    It is a set of pictures of this fellow’s mom and her husband, all taken in the late '40 to mid 50's. The mom was an armature photographer and there are so many pics from your time period. It was so cool to see actual everyday photos of clothing, interiors of homes, places, etc. The really interesting part, though, is that his mom, "Chalet", describes each photo in such interesting detail and also goes into what was going on at that time. Real life stuff from that period. Check it out, you will NOT be sorry. (There are MANY pics though, I haven't yet viewed them all but am finding them so interesting.

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  2. Donna,

    I found a maple cake recipe in my 1942 Victory Cookbook. I'll e-mail the recipe to you later. I've been busy the last few days, but I'll try to catch up on your posts as soon as I can.

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  3. PL-thank you so much. It will be a good starting off point for me. Today I am going to make a chocolate coconut cake!

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  4. Tracy-what a wonderful site. I only went through a few of them, as I have to get on with my laundry, make a cake and get dinner on, but tonight I am going to sit down and go through them. I wonder if the woman is still alive and if I could contact her, what a great resource she would be!

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  5. I've been perusing those pictures on and off for a few weeks and saw in one of the comments that the mom IS indeed alive. She's the one who took most of the photos. She comments from time to time in the comment section.

    We stopped using the deodorants with the aluminum a few years ago. We've been using a product called Thai Crystal Deodorant Stone and it works great! (Here's a website that shows it: http://www.smallflower.com/deodorant-stones/thai-crystal-deo-stone-4.25-oz-stone.html)

    I'm in the throes of spring cleaning at my house. I've been blogging about it since it helps to keep me on track!

    I've also started another blog about attempting a diet from a 1958 diet book if you're interested in stopping by. It's www.shapelyweightfrom1958.blogspot.com

    We're enjoying the New England spring rains here, too!

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  6. Roxanne-I have heard of that stone, next year I shall try it. I am excited to check out your 1958 diet, maybe I will cheat and try it, although I have been losing a little weight, which is odd because I eat more heavy meals more often, but am so busy and always going and it seems I snack almost never and just eat well made meals and the girdle helps too, you don't eat as much! That seems to be a good diet, too.

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  7. Tracy- Thanks for posting that link. The pictures and comments are enchanting. It's so sweet how Chalet talks of her ex-husband. (And honestly surprising they're divorced- not like the way some divorced couples talk!) What a nice gift for her son.

    Donna- Funny, I was going to email you asking you to talk more about your beauty routine. I was wondering if you were trying to use brands and products available in 1955 or just the basic type? For example, think about how toothbrushes have changed. Used to be the basic flat bristles and straight handle. Now the consumer can choose from a toothbrush with gum massager, tongue cleaner, soft "gripable" handle, and graduated bristles. Not to mention the color combinations. And this is just for manual toothbrushes. The electric ones are quite varied too. Since when did cleaning one's teeth become so complicated? Maybe it's all the constant grazing that makes us feel we need to brush our teeth better. ///sigh///

    Roxanne- I can't wait to check out your blog. I was wondering if this change in lifestyle has effected your weight, Donna. My theory is that we, as a country- not us followers of Donna's blog, became a nation of diet obsessed grazers but really haven't been eating any better or losing weight. For all the negative connotations the 1950's diet brings up we're not eating any better, just more often and more processed but less nutritious food. So to regain what we've lost nutrition-wise, and lose what we've added to our waistlines (and hips, in my case!) we need to go back to what I call "real meals". Real meals include fruits, veggies, dairy, meat, and (gasp) butter or oil, but not necessarily all at once. A real meal is not yogurt, a Diet Coke and a bag of Fritos, you know??

    And on that note, I'm off.

    S

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  8. S-I do need to post more about my actual routine, in addition to the hair routine. I hunted for an 'old fashioned' toothbrush and you will laugh when I tell you what I settled on. They make a childs toothbrush that is flat and straight very much like an old-fashioned toothbrush, and that is what I use! It is quite inexpensive as well. And you know what, "You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent" I often sing that jingle to myself especially before bed when I am brushing and applying cold cream. It is funny how advertising gets in there, but really it is one of the few commercials I have seen as the few times I 'watch tv' which of course is dvds or youtube of 1950s shows, they rarely have the commercials. I do use pepsodent, though, as I know it was avialable and it only costs .99 cents. Also I use this simple astringent that is a lovely blue color and is now in a cute vintage glass jar on my vanity. A cotton swap and that on my eye makeup and lips, cold cream wash and dry and lotion and that's it for me. All very affordable as well. As far as the meals go, I eat alot of bacon I use butter all the time, I use lard in pies as well as shortening but I also have a vegetable and a starch and meat and dessert for dinner every night and I am actually losing weight. NO chips (though I know they had potato chips but I stopped buying them) I used to drink diet soda, now I occasionally will grap a old fashioned 8oz glass bottle coke at our local grocer and it is yummy but only one cup serving, not a 50 oz big gulp (not that I ever drank that anyway!). I think there is alot to be said for three squares a day and a dessert fat, butter, lard included and coffee too! All the fussing about with calories and such really just makes you obsess about it more.

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  9. Yes! Let's spring clean our homes and our lives. Thanks for the posts. From, Linda

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  10. The food you make always looks so good.

    Spring cleaning life sounds great! Simplifying life to really have as much of the good stuff as possible...not having less of the good because of the pointless things of life that we could fill it with...living life on purpose...with a purpose...not just existing. Having this focus helps me to stay on track when I start to drift in my laziness.

    Oh, I keep forgetting to ask if any of you have read Honey From a Weed. I read this book many years ago and it was sooo good. You can look it up on Amazon to get an overview of what the book is about. Even if you don't share her exact viewpoint, there is a lot of truth you can walk away with from the things she says...basic truths that apply no matter what beliefs you have already.

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  11. PL- I will have to check it out, but I get the feeling it is NOT from 1955 or before, am I right? Oh, well, maybe by the end of the year I will be doing some of what she suggests, who knows. I have so many things on the list today and it is IRONING day and I have to get back to the veg garden so I can get some things in already!

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  12. Oh and thanks for the compliment on my food. I am proud of it. I really love it an it seems very much like art to me, so I think I put alot of 'me' into it. I tried the BEST 'one bowl' cake recipe from one of my magazines last night for a chocolate cake (of course I added here and there to it, I can't leave recipes alone now, have to put my stamp on them) but it is the best and highest, moist, great-tasting chocolate cake I have made thus far. It is going on the top of my list of 'top cake choices'. I will post recipe and pics, I promise.

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  13. Thought you might enjoy this npr article about hair-washing frequency:
    www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102062969&ft=1&f=1001

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  14. No, the book is not from your time period, but it is definitely a book you should put on your books to read list. You might be able to find it at your library, but if it's not there it's worth the money, in my opinion, to buy the book. I'm sure you could find a used copy on line. Also, I just realized that there is another book with a name that is very similar to the book I'm speaking about. So you don't get them mixed up, here's the full title and author's name: Honey From a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia by Patience Gray.

    I'm looking forward to that cake recipe and the pictures.

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  15. Very interesting article, Connie. Thanks.

    One of my daughters has oily hair and hates to wash or brush it. (She's 8.) I was thinking about washing her hair once a week if she'll brush it or let me brush it nightly. Her hair is very straight and looks stringy if not recently shampooed. But you may be onto something. It certainly would be easier for us both.

    PL- I'm going to check out that book. I like your thought of "living with purpose." As a society I think we've lost sight of this idea. It's all about living to shop (and eat).

    S

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  16. I recently had a few issues with money and losing my job so I've been going through a 1920's diet period :)

    But other than that I'm slowly slowly doing my spring cleaning too... just the living room, dining room and a quick clean of the kitchen to do (I did the kitchen cupboards 2 weeks ago).

    Sigh... spring cleaning my life might happen in autumn, if I need to move house a lot of projects I've been holding on to will have to go...

    Anyway, I do love your blog, and was wondering if you could help me since I'm starting a study on advertising vs propoganda and how WW2 led into the 50's consumerism, it would be quite nice to list you as a source of information and maybe quote from your blog in the paper.

    Let me know if that's ok.

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  17. Vintage Angel-I would be honored to help in anyway and to be cited in your paper. I think by the end of this year, I should really have had a very intense study into the whole concept of 'modern' consumerism which seems to be born out of the post war times. It seems their children, the baby boomers, really were the first 'trained' in this as their parents had had to go through the Depression and WWII and wanted such a perfect setting for them, that their tidy little world made it ripe for consumerism and materialism, unfortunately. I would love to see your paper when done.
    S-I bet, in fact I KNOW, that if you have oily hair but brush it very fully (300 strokes) it spreads the oil and such air was much prized in the 19th century as you had a nice shiny finished coif, I think if you made it a mother dauther activity in the evening of brushing and made it a special thing and maybe 'hair washing night' could be made special too, it would be a great habit to get your daughter in and not have her feel self conscious about her hair. That is my advice being someone with no children of course!

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  18. Oh, oh, I have to share something with you before I forget it.

    Probably about a year ago I came across a bumper sticker that said, "To have more, desire less." Isn't that perfect? That quote is always in the back of my mind. Learning how to be content with less really does give you more out of life. Again, it's the "more is less" truth that we can't escape.

    Okay, now I can peacefully go on with the rest of my day knowing I won't forget to tell you that. :)

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  19. Hi,
    I'm a French reader of your blog, and I enjoy it very much... In France, 50'S were quite different, the people were still suffering from WWII...
    As I am French, I just want to give you an advice about the Sauternes jelly, if you can find it in your area, you could try to use Montbazillac instead, it's the same kind of "dessert wine", but much cheaper than Sauternes (at least in France), we have several different kind of sweet wine in France: Jurançon, Gewurtzstraminer (no this one is not german, but from Alsace near Germany),for example... I know that French wines are expensive in the USA, and I don't know if they are available everywhere, but Sauternes is too much pricey to be use for cooking, JMO
    Muriel, your Reader from France !

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  20. PL- that is so true. Also, I need to find out when bumper stickers were first used. I think they may have had them when Eisenhower ran for president, but not sure, I shall find out.
    Muriel-I am so excited to have a french reader. I had the luck of living in France (in Paris) for a time in my early twenties, I love the country and the people and of course the food. I used to be so laissez-faire about leaving dairy out and such when I was at University and my friend would always so, you will fit in in paris, as here in the states we refrigerate everything. I remember buying my first bread and going to my first super marche' and seeing so many things we would have kept in coolers just sitting out uncovered. It might be different now, as this was the 90's. My friend was at school at the Ecole Beaux arts and so I would often take the train to Montmarte, it was very dreamy, except I was there in August and it was wretchedly hot, the metro was like an oven and so many things were shut due to the holiday, so I Luckily went to England for that month. It is funny, as I had to fly to England than as they did not have the chunnel. Now, I really do feel old.

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  21. According to my research so far the 1920's depression was caused by an over flooded market sort of what we have today. So I'm trying to find a link between economic downturn, advertising and propoganda... Thanks for the OK i'll be happy to show you it before it gets published (if it even does)

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  22. Donna- I was thinking about the concept of advertising effecting our standards of personal care. From what I've read this has always been a goal of humans as being clean was known to prevent illness and death well before the 1900's. It was also a sign of wealth to be clean because the bathing process was so labor intensive- bringing up the water, making the soap, etc and only the wealthy could afford the servants to bathe regularly. The servants themselves were kept in the servant class by not being able to keep clean in addition to other factors. I mentioned a book on another post called "More Work For Mother" by Ruth Schwartz Cowan. The author explains this idea much better than me.

    So, advertisers simply went with a known concern of the public in selling their soaps, shampoos, and deodorants. Or you could say they took advantage. But I think coming from a time after the Depression and WW2 it's understandable that "clean" = "good" whether we're referring to personal hygiene or the home. What's unfortunate is that this idea has been negatively effecting our environment by putting more chemicals in our water and more plastic in landfills. But it started as a good thing.

    S

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  23. my husband and I use a mineral stone instead of deodorant but when I needed heavy-duty protection at my son's wedding I found dress shields online. Have you tried these?

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  24. Funny you mention shower and hairwash! Last year I attended a hair-do course (I'm pretty bad at doing my hair), and then the teacher suddenly said: "Do you want to know a secret?", we all said yes, very surprised. "I only wash my hair every third month!". We looked chocked at her gorgeous hair. At that time my scalp itches every day, although I used different conditioners. So me and two other colleagues agreed to end up only washing our hair once a week. It took several months for me to get my hair used to it, but now my hair looks lovely too for a week and my scalp doesn't itch anymore, ahh! :) And better: now I can afford those lovely, but expensive salon-shampoos, since they last more than half a year.

    I really think it is the ads that taught us to wash our hair and body every day. I remember all those ads in the 80's, "For daily wash", they all said. But why? I only take a shower twice a week, all the other days I wash the old-fashioned way. And I never feel dirty. My skin is dry, so it is much better now, not showering that often.

    I also remember using aluminum as deo as a teenager, both my mum and I did. We had a bottle and a cotton ball to dap it under our arms, and we always had red armpits and holes in our shirts. Not good!

    Spring cleaning - I don't do that. But I clean a little more than else, since the Spring sun exposes all that dust and dirt that we couldn't see during Winter. I also love to wash the curtains during Spring, it really feels like Spring then. I have an on-going clearing out project, there is always something to give to charity shops. I have bags in my basement which I fill the items into and when they are full I give them to the charity shops.

    Today, was my first day at my new job, they were all sweet to me and it seems like there is a good spirit, and that's just what I need. I was so nervous this morning before going, I don't know why, but I had an awfull nausea. There is very busy since they need to find more new employees, so I have asked them to let me do some easy tasks at once to help them. I do so much hope this will end up good! :)

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