Thursday, December 31, 2009

31 December 1955 “Happy New Year and My Project”

I figured the end of 1955 and a year of changes was as good a place to talk about the sometimes feeling unnecessary world of flux. Change has always been inevitable for the human animal, for the world really. Though, we once, centuries ago, lived in the world that had an almost comforting static to it. We lit by candles for centuries, than oil. Fashions changed, but rather slowly as we had no means to know of the changes save through slow postal routes. Then the trains came and we found ourselves looking at time tables and taking trips that would take days in a few hours. Once the Industrial Revolution hit full speed by the end of the 19th century we never looked back. Two wars and a production boom afterwards left us so used to constant change, we felt it had always been a part of our lives. Today, change is so rapid, life itself so constantly turning over, we think little of it. A computer is ‘out of date’ in six months. Our cell phones last about as long. The tv must be bigger, now it must be flat screen, wait now we MUST have HD! Video games are evolving and a rapid rate so what we played with five years ago looks childish. Every six months, new and better and we toss aside the old and throw our money and hopes at the new, then next great thing…When will it all stop?! Is it good or bad?

There is a comfort and quiet calm in constancy. Though, in a way, it is a false sense of security for we cannot stop change. Every day we march one day closer to that ‘Great Equalizer’. Yet, while we are here, day to day, and in the moment, it does sometimes just feel good to stop. To look around us and think, “hmmm, do we need it all? Does my phone need to be a camera and a TV? Do I need to have a phone with me at all times? Why does it matter that I can buy everything at one place at an incredibly low price? Do I care about the consequences? Does any of it matter?”

These, of course, bring us to the root of the very philosophy of living. What does it all mean? What is the answer? I suppose, really, we can’t ever really know. But, we must know something and we do need to be here and in the moment.

We certainly want things, such as medicine to advance, but do we need to have and crave the constant flux of the modern world? Is there any comfort in always coveting and striving to obtain the new and tossing out the old? I am not sure. Weren’t we suppose to have MORE gadgets to make life EASIER so we could work LESS and just ENJOY LIFE? Yet, everyday are more and more things we NEED and cannot live without, so we are told. And of course we raise our children in this world, or sometimes the media, TV, and computer raise our kids and we all know what they want us to believe.

Exactly 365 days ago I woke up, shed my Uggs and jeans, put on my crinoline and girdle and thought, “Well, this’ll be an interesting diversion”. Little did I know then that the change I was eliciting was really a change of my entire world; a redub of the very fabric of my way of thinking and feeling and being. That was a change I was glad for. Though it began with my very modern sensibilities of ‘the therapy of shopping’ to find the best vintage this or that or how great it would be to own this, it slowly revealed to me the very framework in which our modern world was built was a shabby sham sort of way to live. To shop is to live; To buy to Be.

The more I looked back to those women of yesterday, the ladies I was trying to emulate in my vintage finds, the more I realized how much they were actually living. How they had made it through a Depression (which meant literally almost no food and making do unlike our ‘Recession’ where we were told to ‘shop to stimulate the economy’) and a World War and another war after that. Yet, they smiled, brushed themselves off, said goodbye to those who had fallen and never said, “Who is me, Look how hard I have it, I deserve some pity and some ME TIME”. Instead they made families and homes and dinners and kissed scraped knees and kissed husbands cheeks sending out the men not to war now but to the office. They laughed at dinner parties and thrilled at the latest gadget, all the while keeping their purse strings tight and setting aside their pin money so Johnny could get a new baseball mitt or Susie, her daughter, could go off to college.

These were real people who did not have it great but made it great. They took a barren lemon tree and made gallons of lemon aid. They have become, as many previous generations, object of respect and now true study. In our world of yesterday is old news, I want my new gadget, don’t trust anyone over 30, I have to stop and smile and look back. Thank goodness for the 1950’s. For they were there, on the pinnacle of what was to become the modern world and they said, “Yes, we can make a good world where people are free and treated fairly and we can trust and depend on one another”.

Tonight I dug out my old clothes. I put on the low rise jeans and the overpriced uggs; The jersey top and I stood before my looking glass. I thought I might cry or laugh, I wasn’t sure. But, there I stood an anachronism more now then back in Jan when I donned by 50’s garb for the first time. Had I become a joke of my former self? Was I now in costume or before in my girdle and petticoat? I don’t know. I found myself replacing those things with my handmade wool dress and girdle. I felt the comfort in my gloves and hat and pocketbook as I prepared to pop out to get some refreshments for tonight.

So, I thought standing in line, who am I now? Am I 50s gal? Am I that other person I left on the wayside those 365 days ago? Then, I spotted something. As I stood in the long Holiday line a young mother in jeans, rumpled hair and hoodie three times too big came in with her two young daughters. They were in their pajama bottoms and uggs. Their tops were similar hoodies and rather messed up. The older of the two girls, most likely around12, snarled at the world as she held that modern pose of the tween with her head bent as she mumbles into the tiny phone in her hand, her sleeves pulled over her hands and her loose fitting clothes hunching her poor posture all the more. The modern family: ‘comfort’ and slumped, together yet not talking to each other, mother as sloppy if not more so than daughters.

Then I noticed the littlest girl, maybe 8-9, kept looking at me. I figured, she was probably wondering why I was dressed like that, perhaps a freak. I had on my dress, hose and heels (despite the snow) my coat with the fur collar, my vintage matching dress gloves and my black hat with the veil. To me, I felt normal, comfortable. I shuddered when I recalled myself earlier in the Uggs and jeans.

I noticed the little girl smiled. She stood up straighter and fussed with her hair. I kid you not, she stood up and straightened her loose fitting hoody. Another woman, similar slovenly, smiled at me. When I left a young man actually rushed to hold the door for me. This was me. This is me. I am who I am because of what I have found and discovered from this year, but it is me. I am proud of myself and feel it is important to me and others that I am well groomed, that fashion means to me a way of expressing my moment. These fluctuating fleeting slips of days the slide off the calendar of our lives our mine and I am going to live as happily and as fully as I can in them.

So, now, here I am on the eve of either 1956 or 2010. But, which way is my calendar going to read? Well, after much thinking this is what I have come to decide:

In many ways I feel as if I have indeed lived in 1955 for the past year. Many habits and manners of my life, even speech and writing have changed. Yet, I feel so much that I want to share and take what 1955 has meant to me and bring it into the 21st century, but I also don’t want to let go of that beloved time. Therefore I have decided that my project should be this. Though it will take some suspending of belief, I am proposing I am, indeed, from 1955 and that I have been suddenly, without that aide of the normal passage of time, been transported here to 2010. The second decade of the 21st century. Yet, as it is important to me, I am allowing my self the ability to ‘travel’ back to the ‘new year of 1956’. I want to see what a 1955 middleclass homemaker will make of this new century. I want to see how the modern world will affect me. Will I want to take it all back in? Will I want the ease and easiness of passive entertainment? Will I find myself bored and see that I am happy continuing with the level of technology I have thus enjoyed? So, along with my blog, which will be my life as a 1955 woman in 2010 with easy trips back to 1956 for encouragement and continued learning, I want my website to be a part of this year’s project. It is very much in its infancy now. I have even begun to think of it much the way I would attacking a recipe or a sewing project. Look at it, dissect it, think about it, learn some more, read some more, then dive in and try it.

I want it to be an organic thing that will grow with me and you this year. I want it to be almost a child, I will set my hopes on it, but it most likely will want to go its own way and change and be influenced by others.

So, change; flux is it good or bad? We cannot hide from it, but at its current pace is it good or bad? Did we just about have it right in the 1950’s and now we need to try and reign it in? Do we want to go even further and have more faster and cheaper? Does the ultimate goal of cheapest at ANY cost really the main battle cry of modern man? I don’t know, but I want to find out. By looking to the past and even yesterday, can we find a comfort and happiness in a more static sort of life? Why buy new and cheap and better only to throw it away? Why not find an old technology and make it work for you? Do we need to be constantly amused or can we stop and amuse ourselves with a book or even by sitting and thinking and planning our own lives in the pattern we choose, but not what is dictated to us by mass media, advertising and corporate sponsorship? I don’t know. I have halted, in many ways, this rapid advancement and constant media connection for this past year of my life living in 1955 and found I was the happiest I have been. Can I live in a modern world as a 1956 woman and find my footing or will I be lured by the siren song of ‘new better faster cheaper NOW”?

So, if you are curious or want to join me in my challenges or perhaps you like to be amused, come along with me for the ride. I want the website to be a sort of learning and experiencing too where we can share and find old recipes, old technology, old thoughts and ideas all made new and comforting by the power we yield over their choice and implementation. I want it to be as my blog has been but to grow and expand more.

So, that is my coming project of 1956/2010, what do you think?

I DONT THINK A WOMANS PLACE IS IN THE HOME, I BELIEVE IT IS WHEREVE SHE CHOOSES TO MAKE IT. I DO BELIEVE IT IS A WOMAN’S RESPONSIBILITY TO DO HER BEST WITH INTELLIGENCE AND APLOMB ONCE IN THAT PLACE. It is our responsibility to be the best, think the hardest, learn the most and and teach by example as well as lesson. The modern woman Cannot go forward if she does not look back and pay homage and respect to those who have gone before. And just lip service IS a Disservice. We owe it to them, ourselves, and our daughters to emulate them as much as we can, learn their skills and then add our own intelligence and effort to them. Otherwise, who will the future generations have to look up to?

Thank you for listening to me this year. I have loved every minute of it and cherish all your words and thoughts. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and I am glad you have got to be a part of one of the best times of my life thus far. I hope we can make a better tomorrow.

Happy New Year (Website hopefully to come tomorrow)

33 comments:

  1. 50sgal…Or should we call you something else now?

    What a wonderful and totally insightful post this is. You are an inspiration in doing what you did for an entire year! Blessing to you for that and for letting us all come along and learn with you.

    My thoughts on your comments:

    So, change; flux is it good or bad? Both

    But at its current pace is it good or bad? BAD

    Did we just about have it right in the 1950’s and now we need to try and reign it in? Definitely, though I don’t know that society as a whole will.

    Do we want to go even further and have more faster and cheaper? NO

    By looking to the past and even yesterday, can we find a comfort and happiness in a more static sort of life? Absolutely and unequivocally, Yes.

    Can I live in a modern world as a 1956 woman and find my footing or will I be lured by the siren song of ‘new better faster cheaper NOW”? I certainly hope that your footing is maintained.

    I have felt less peace and the most stress that I have felt, overall and on an on-going basis, in my entire life. Why? We are racing like lunatics on this earth, and we can’t get off. Extreme rapid advancement has pushed us past the breaking point, I fear. For me, physical problems have been manifesting for a while now but have gotten to the point of, “Either I fix this now, or it’s downhill from here.” Thus, about three weeks ago, I started on a series of holistic and therapeutic appointments in order to make a difference now before it is too late. It is challenging, as I find my body reacting in the same ways to stress, and I have often to regroup internally. That said, I am not attempting to complain, whine, or be a naysayer. These are simply my observations of how our modern world is affecting me, or maybe how I am letting it affect me. This is the reason why your site has been such a solace to me.

    I think that successfully living a 1950s lifestyle with 2010 advantages (medicine, some technology, etc.) is a wonderful thing. I am looking forward to your/our new year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what a wonderful post. it's been so fun to be part of your experiment, i am so looking forward to the year ahead :) happy 20-56-10! ;) xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful post. Everything you said was true! I look forward to reading about your new adventures!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I’m not sure exactly how you will merge the two, but it will be interesting to see the results. I was selfishly hoping that you would not leave the 50s because it’s something “other” than what is offered to us in today’s world. It’s nice to be presented with other valid options and ideas through your experience as we learn alongside you. Yet, we all live in 2010 and modern life surrounds us. With that being part of the reality, it’s important to continue to learn how to take the best from the past and figure out how to incorporate it into our modern life. My own focus has been to figure out how much modernity/technology I want in my life. For me, that has more to do with how it impacts the relationships in my life. I want to live a REAL life, not a life lived through, and dictated, by technology; using technology to actually serve my life in ways that are truly beneficial. With all of that said, I’m glad that you will be doing both. :) Well, I need to go so I’ll pop back in later on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on your accomplishments and the success of your 1955 year. Many awaited your posts on your 1955 journey, and along the way you were able to dispell some myths about the 1950's. Also valuable were your insights as you discovered underneath the vintage images in pictures, were qualities and a way of life that can be worthwhile and relevant for any period of time. Your readers were there as you came to understand homemaking-household management truly is a job and career requiring much thought and many skills and directly contributes to many lives. It was special to read as you began to see the endless possibilities for personal development for those who are drawn to homemaking as their life's work. Your hard work and sharing were a much appreciated and personal gift to your readers. Best Wishes for the New Year and your new project. Dianne

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello all, welcome to the new year. I am busy still wanting to put more content in the site, but will hopefully have it up today, though many of its links may be rather barrne now, but really I want part of my project to be the website as it grows and matures with us. It will be my child this year.
    After much thinking and almost a little panick this morning, I am wondering if the one aspect of my project this year should be to remain in 1956. Obviously with my blog I am adding another level of technology, but really I feel more like a girl working 'part time' at a magazine. The computer and technology CAN be used by us to maintain and bring back the 'good ole days'. IN fact it is rather interesting to me that by using this technology I have indeed felt I have brought back and helped others to feel connected to the past. So, give me your opinons, should I just stay in 1956 and have my 'modern world' merely be the technology of the internet? Let me know.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have loved every single day of your blog, ever since I found it (back in February I think).
    I don't comment much; I guess I'm just one of lifes spectators.
    But I wanted to thank you for this year you have lived, and allowed others to live through you, and offer you my most sincere blessings for your 1956/2010 year - I'll be right there with you.
    *tightens her apron and assumes revolutionary stance*

    ReplyDelete
  8. you said: I DONT THINK A WOMANS PLACE IS IN THE HOME, I BELIEVE IT IS WHEREVE SHE CHOOSES TO MAKE IT. I DO BELIEVE IT IS A WOMAN’S RESPONSIBILITY TO DO HER BEST WITH INTELLIGENCE AND APLOMB ONCE IN THAT PLACE.

    I think this is a very good point and I am glad you have said it. One woman is not a worse woman because she chooses home over career or vice versa. A woman is a 'worse woman' when she doesn't choose to live as an intellegent human being who makes her own choices and owns up to them!

    I think it will be a great next step for you to be a '1950's gal in 2010' because I really think it is important for you to see that it IS possible to take what you need from this society and leave the rest. By that I simply mean: just because tv's are getting bigger and cell phones are the new appendage, doesn't mean you have to fall into that slot. How long did I go without a cell phone and when I finally NEEDED one (financially it was the best route) we got the cheapest ones we could find (which, incedently, seem to last the longest)? I wear what I am comfortable in regardless of fashion mags and I am comfortable in my own skin; I have a lovely garden which provided me with all the veg I needed this summer; but, I will also spend $100 on a meal out with friends if that is what I choose to do. What I am TRYING to say, is that you have learned some valuable lessons in this past year, and now I think you will come to see that you can wear/buy/do whatever you want as long as it is what YOU want...not society's critics.
    (if that made any sense?...basically: GOOD JOB finding what's important to you!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jen-Well, I think I have always lived as I wanted to, it was only my trip to 1955 made me realize some of the things I thought I 'wanted' were actually merely a product of th present modern commercialized over media/entertainment society. I think anyone who knows me knows I have pretty much always done what I wanted in a way and followed the beat of my own drum, only I had lost the sound of that drum; it's rythmn had got lost somehow. So, I do feel it is every womans, and really everyONE's responsibility to ask why we do the things we do, look around and take the responsibility of the self to the point of knowing why we want what we want or buy what we buy or feel the way we feel, only then with the responsibility that our lives are the way we are BECAUSE of our choices and how we live, then we can get control of our life and live it to the fullest. I still think many people today who feel they are just 'doing what they want' mind find a different reason when the take the time to evaluate their lives and dissect why it is they wear/do/think/say the things they do. It is good for all, in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy New Year

    I just want to thank you for how much you have taught me. I have really enjoyed following your year since the very beginning and I am so thankful that you had the courage to follow through on this project. I recently read an article about a woman in Canada who is writing a book on a similar project. (I can try to find the link again and send it to you if you like.) I really think it would be worthwhile for you to take what you have written in your blog and turn it into a book. You have taught us so much this year.

    I also want to say thank you to your husband for supporting you in this. He must be a wonderful man.

    Thank-you for helping me to have a new insight into my modern world. I really look forward to the next part of your journey. Wishing you the best in 1956/2010.

    Michelle in Canada

    ReplyDelete
  11. 50's gal,

    The first thing I thought of when you mentioned your 56/10 concept, was the movie, "Back to the Future." We are a product of our own time whether we want to believe it or not. We are influenced by the education, movies, music, magazines, television, advertisements, and general political/societal beliefs of our youth. Unlike the movie, however, we are unable to quickly see the results of the decisions of our past!

    It will be a challenge to live between two time periods. It might be just as challenging as those who live between two cultures!

    Happy New Years!

    No Idle Hands

    ReplyDelete
  12. Donna, I'm so glad to wake up to this version of 2010. (After cleaning my oven- on my list for yesterday but didn't get done when I opted to play with the kids instead. Kind of a 1955/2009 moment when you think about it.) I feel like I've finally "met" others who get me and what I do for my family. Even my family doesn't understand sometimes so the encouragement and feeling of community is appreciated.

    Thank you for getting this ready over New Years and again, sharing this project. I'm glad those Uggs and low cut jeans felt strange- and that you had the insight to try them on again. As you've said, sometimes looking back is the only way one can grow.

    S

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy New Year and I have really enjoyed and appreciated this last year of reading your blog. Fascinating and inspiring, and I know it will continue to be.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I too have enjoyed coming along for the ride this past year. I really liked hearing your insights about things as you discovered them and weren't afraid to articulate them as you shared.

    I do think it's important to remember, as you realize too, that we are 2010 people and have to live in this reality. You've learned (and we with you) that it's OK to pick and choose what benefits us from this reality and leave the rest behind. I think we've been so brainwashed into believing we *need* to keep up with the biggest and newest that the concept of consciously choosing *not* to do so would never occurr to people; and if the idea was suggested they'd look at you as if you just sprouted antenaes. For example, I get a lot of strange looks when I tell people that neither I nor my husband have cell phones. Their eyes open wide and they gasp "OMG, I'd DIE without my cell!"

    As to your 1956/2010 project...why put a label on it? It sounds to me as if you have every intention of continuing to live much in the same way as you have this past year, by your choice not because you're trying to stay within the parameters of your year 1955. So, this is your new reality. You're a 2010 woman who is choosing to dress the way you want, run your home the way you want, and live your life the way you want, project or no project. I think that's a good thing. :) But do you feel the need to continue having a theme to your blogging and confine yourself to a specific year? Just asking out of curiosity.

    I also want to ask out of curiosity...is there anything you're looking forward to doing/watching/buying/etc. from 2010 now that you're "allowed" to?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your new banner shows 1956, so does that mean you are going to continue with just 1956? Really, if you think about it, you are living a 1950s life even if it is 2010. So, essentially, the number on the calendar doesn't really mean anything; it's just a number. But, because you exist in 2010, you can include whatever you want from it while still living a 1950s life. Do what you want. Do what truly makes you happy in the way you live your life. That's the real point anyhow. If you have truly been happier living the lifestyle you have this past year, happier than any other time in your life, there's no need to change that. You will still have change and flux, but according to how it fits in your life; you don't need to force yourself into a situation of change if that is not what you truly want. What does your husband think about all this? Has he given you his opinion yet?

    I think those of us who live in "2010" are intrigued by the idea of how you would blend the two lifestyles, but truly we have learned, and will continue to learn, so much from how you do live your life. With each new thing that we learn, we are capable (capable apron revolutionaries) of figuring out how to translate that into our own lives. It's just that it would be fun to see how you would do it as well, but we would learn, and grow, from you either way. So, honestly, whatever you decide to do, I would be happy, because either way I would continue to learn and grow from your example. I can honestly say that you are in my group of the most influential people in my life. You have made me look at things in ways that I never had before, and you were able to do so because of the life you have lived this past year. Most importantly, project or no project, YOU NEED TO BE YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Zebu....I'm nodding in emphatic agreement to everything you said. My husband and I laugh (to keep from crying) about our "his and hers" bite guards. We both have to wear them to save our teeth and jaws from the effects of grinding our teeth at night. Thank you, post-modern world.

    50'sgal....I've loved seeing 1955 with you and look forward to the next step. Of course we are all living in 2010. But making the same choices as the majority of 2010 dwellers is a mistake, I believe.

    We're all bombarded by what amounts to a Colorado River-in-spring torrent of social pressure. I don't think we can try to stand without being swept along. The only thing to do is to crawl out of the water. Have I gotten too metaphorical? All I mean is that we're going to have to make some pretty radical changes if we don't like the mess we're in.

    -Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gingerella-very true. I suppose I will merely be doing what I have been doing but perhaps allowing myself a few things here and there. As far as looking forward to it, I thought I would be glad to hear modern music (not that I didn't hear it in stores or sometimes at friends) but after a year of 30s-50s music It rather sounds a bit like noise. I have also noticed the overt sexuality of modern pop music (not that I ever enjoyed it before) but what a glaring difference to say Doris Day. So many songs about love in those days, but with a little cheek and a good story.
    I flipped through the tv channels today and was appalled by the level of reality shows. There is some show about teen mothers. I watched five minutes of it and couldn't believe it was on and was so apalled at the reaction of the teen mother to her child. As if the child was an inconvienance like an ill behaved pet, yet with almost no reality or responsibility that she was the reason the child existed! It is odd that in our society of more freedom in sexuality that there is not LESS teen pregnancy as you would think everyone would be 'prepared' and yet the numbers rise and I honestly feel that these teens are surprised. Do they really not know where babies come from? So, here I am first day as miss 1956 in 2010 and I am already frustrated by tv, put out by some of the music, amazed at the pornography of music videos and general language. Even a simple 'peruse' online (for somthing other than my project) and was so amazed at the infantile level of things. Really it is as if the whole web was geared towards an ill behaved 14 year old boy, sex craved and with the langquage skills of a five year old! I have to say as a 1950's woman, I am not finding the first day of the 21st century anything but jarring! I know I have been here all along, but it is funny how simply taking some of the 'normal' bits away makes you realize how abnormally we are actually living. And as far as I can tell, it is mainly driven by the media for the sake of getting an audience, keeping it and then selling it things. I tried to buy a Starbucks Vanilla Skim Decaf Latte (my old drink of choice) but after I did the figuring in my head and realized that in 1955 this would be equal to what it would cost to buy a gallon of milk. Then I thought about it and said, well now that would also buy a gallon of milk now. I am paying for a gallon of milk and getting 10 oz of milk and some coffee and sugar and a cup to throw away.
    Thank you again for all of your wonderful comments. I really do want my website up today, but hubby is just home and he is home for the weekend of course, so it might have to wait until tomorrow morning to be officialy up, so I hope you won't mide the wait. I hope I have not built up the suspense too much, you must understand my little site is merely my own attempts and may fall short of what is out there now. But, as part of my project, watching it grow and evolve will be fun, I think. Off to pop my peach cobbler in the oven.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Rebecca-so true, that is why the 1950's have become my life preserver, or my embankment, if you will, that I can grab onto and crawl on out of the raging torrent.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Happy New Year!

    Such a festive time! I look forward to seeing what the New Year holds for all of us here :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I hope it is a Happy New Year for you, Donna. Thank you again for allowing us the pleasure of traveling along with you on your journey. I feel that we have (the Apron Revolutionaries) grown substantionally this year together. I know I have changed for the better. I have a handfull of blogs I visit, and all revolve around vintage fashion and lifestyles. I Facebook to keep in touch with out of town family, but I am finding more and more that the "modern" media is disgusting and I don't want anything to do with it. The longer it is that we go without television, the more I notice how horrible it all is.

    We had dinner out about a week ago. In a 'pancake' restaurant, they had TV's in every corner, showing the news. I HATED IT. I wanted so bad to ask them to turn the thing off. An then the clothing choices of the other patrons. Spiked boots with jeans that looked like they had been painted on, baggy hoodies and jeans that I would have thrown away or used for patches. Sad.

    I would love to see you continue on into 1956...but I must say that that would be from selfish reasons. I have looked forward to your posts all year as a grounding, encouraging place. I am a little concerned that should you move into the 21st century, they will change or go away.

    Whatever you do, I wish you much happiness and success with it.

    Thanks again,
    Lorie

    ReplyDelete
  21. 50sgal-

    I'm positive that you will find the balance between the 1950s and the 2010 that works best for you.

    Do you have a microwave in your current home? If so do you plan to use it this year?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I used it tonight and it was like magic. I am not sure, I might just get rid of it altogether. I think, in fact, I will most likely, particularly with my now daily continued work and study my website and hopefully if I can write a book, my focus shall be so vintage, that the only modern aspects will be to see how I can live comfortably in the modern world without becoming annoyed at it.
    Don't fear, I shall not be blogging about how much fun I had at the mall, or how I bought three inflatable chairs at Walmart for a dollar or how 'aweseome' my new flatscreen tv is.

    ReplyDelete
  23. (I'm also the anon. who posted asking if you would be able to post your dress patterns online =))
    I nearly cried as I read your last post. Such a fantastic, educational, experience-filled, moving blog, coming to its intended conclusion. It feels as though I've made a new friend =)

    PLEASE let us know as soon as you're willing to show your website =) Will you have a forum? I think that would be fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  24. i think probably, maybe, your 56/10 year might be sort of like what we, your fans, have been living in the last year along with you. i have always used technology, although sparingly, and am mostly appalled and sickened by what media has become. my cell phone is for emergencies, largely turned off b/c i don't talk on it. i have no idea how to text quickly, so it's more trouble than it's worth. most movies gross me out, so we get black and white classics. same with music. i adore old music and some new bands w/an "old feel". i go back and forth. our kids are firmly grounded in the knowledge that more and quick is not better. i hope to keep it that way. just last week, we were at a "real" bookstore. my young daughter was poking around, looking at prices. "MOM! i could buy 4 books for this much at the used book place! and this is about yucky stuff/" warmed my heart, it did! :)
    anyway, what i am saying is, i KNOW you will be able to balance your life. there is good in the modern, so we use that to go further, and leave the rest. best wishes for another fabulous year. much love.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Texas Accent In SydneyJanuary 1, 2010 at 7:32 PM

    You asked us to vote so I will ... I'd vote for 1956.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Looking forward to joining you on your journey through 1956/2010...what an insighful post!! All the best for the new year(s)!! Warmest wishes, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  27. Can't wait to read this post, but I'm dusting the house and have to continue in my best fifties style. :) Can't wait for that website either. And now you're only TWO from your follower-goal. I know it is a bit cheating, but since I've created an English version of my blog, I think it is OK to follow with that, since other followers can understand it better than my Danish blog. Happy New Year, dear - and I'm SO delighted to know that you'll stay in the fifties and spoil us all with a website. You are such a great inspiration. :)

    lots of Danish e-hugs
    Sanne

    ReplyDelete
  28. I just loved that story of you trying your clothes from before your fifties project. I'm sure you look better and feel better in your elegant fifties outfit. I wouldn't change my skirts, cardigans and dresses for modern clothes either - and I always get compliments, perhaps because it is an unusual sight nowadays. I wish I was brave enough to wear hat and gloves too, in fact I have a small collection of white gloves in cotton, mesh and kid skin, so lovely. And a singly homemade hat.

    And the end of your dress-tale is fabulous, the little girl straightening up and the young man holding the door. This is true Apron Revolution, I too think we can do it.

    What I think of your project? It sounds gorgeous, count me in! :) I simply cannot wait for your community. And a suggestion for a project for next year – I think you should write a book. Your writing is so good and I think you can use and rewrite many of your blogposts to use in a book.

    Danish e-hugs
    Sanne

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thank you, I think I will definitely start compiling this last year to make a book. I have had so many wonderful pushes in that direction, that I think I indeed shall. I may add it to my CHALLENGES page of my site and periodically post various paragraphs for you revolutionaires to help me 'edit' or add to it. Thank you all again and now get over to the site (though it is VERY ROUGH right now) at www.theapronrevolution.com GO ON!

    ReplyDelete
  30. 50sgal,

    In answer to your question as to whether you should stay in 1956, YES, YES, and YES! I think that if we are able to label our lives in a way, as far as having a purpose, it is easier to stay on track and not slip versus meandering in and out.

    I read with interest your findings on the internet and TV. I, too, find a lot of the music just noise. And, TV has so much smut on it, I rarely ever watch it. In fact, on New Year’s Eve, I was purusing wholesome blogs, yours being one of them. When it was time for the ball to drop, I switched on the TV. I lasted about 10 minutes or less after the new year came in. On one of the main networks, there was a woman (I won’t call her a lady) that apparently felt that she had to keep putting her hand near her privates as she sang her song. Music videos are pornographic anymore; I have those channels blocked on our home TV. Back to New Year’s Eve….There was so much smut on the different chanels, that I shut it off and went back to your blog. It has been a place for me where I could go back in time and find some real and meaningful content and much inspiration. Thank you once again.

    Ooooooooo! I just popped over to your site—I LOVE what I see! Marvelous job!

    ReplyDelete
  31. There are some thin if the legitimate work as a line there. Most are sites and marketing study for the site owner rich, not you. The only thing is true legitimacy Ebay, selling things you already own

    www.onlineuniversalwork.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. I actually cried when I started this post. The year 1955 has come to an end and although I know you continue on it was so sad to me. The story about the little girls with their mom... so very very sad.

    Ah well, I'm off to catch up in this new year of adventure. 'See' you there.

    rue

    ReplyDelete

 Search The Apron Revolution