About gDonna
The photo is my son and myself. Now days you can get a photo made to look old like this one. This photo was taken when this was the new look.

Harry S Truman was president when I was born and world war II had ended. I grew up in a time when lunch was put in a brown paper bag and a sandwich was wrapped with wax paper. There was no such thing as pantyhose, we wore stockings that attached to the rubbery clippy things that attached to the girdle. Convenience stores were not common and when we took a trip we packed a picnic basket because many places did not have fast food. Highways had places to pull over and stop, some with picnic tables. Read more ....
 

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Once Upon a Time

February 4, 2020

A long while back I wrote about having a feeling of homesick even when we are home.  For me, I learned that was a mixture of grief and fond memories of long ago.  Now that I embraced our home to make it more warm and cozy and have little parts of the past in vintage pieces I feel more settled.  

I like to rescue old linens from long ago.  This embroidered table runner is one of them.  The edging is completely falling apart. The cloth has only two tiny holes that I can repair. 

Many years ago, someone sat with needle and embroidery thread and stitched every bit of these beautiful flowers and leaves and then laced an edge on the side.  It ended up in a thrift store for only $2.00.  I find pieces for .25 cents to about 4.00 depending and then give them a new purpose.

I love to embroidery the parts that have pulled out and know this wonderful cloth can still be used.

I removed the edging and will crochet or tat a new one. 

Once upon a time people had good skills to make many of their own clothing and hats, even the shoe cobbler made shoes right there in his cobbler shop. Woodworkers made many useful items and all of these items were handmade with simple tools.. 

I have pondered a lot about this and about how far we have come the time when goods were made so well. 

I am trying to embrace life as it was once upon a time. I am doing better with making homemade broth and going back to simple meals.

 It is not something that comes easy once we have lived the life of fast everything but in the past to them it was ordinary.

I am using their ideas and combining them with things we have today and making them so they resemble a little bit of all the best of times.

In the last several years we have removed many modern things that were toxic in some way.  We have been trying to eliminate anything that gasses off or was made poorly.

I am trying to make things for our home from basic goods such as thread and yarn and rescued fabric.

The butter on this table was made from cream, the bread made from flour, yeast, butter, salt and a small bit of sugar. The broth that I made in the other picture was made from the chicken on this plate. What I am saying is that the way we live today in this fast world we do not think about all the additives that we are ingesting and exposed to for the cost of doing things fast and easy. If we just do things as they did once upon a time, long ago we do not have to accept the extras that we do not need. Just go back to basics.

Some of the broth was used for home made chicken noodle soup. I added the things I wanted in the soup. No preservatives just by taking the time to make things ourselves. We can make our own pasta too.

An easy breakfast was some leftover rice, I added just a bit of hot water to heat it...

Half an onion, two mushrooms and 3 eggs...(I added one more)

Sauteed onions and mushrooms..

And scrambled eggs...

This made a nice breakfast for two.  Just half it for one. Made from simple whole food. 

We all eat different types of food. Some people would not enjoy this food and some would but my point is that if we go back to basics in everything we do we can eliminate some of the harmful extras that come with instant. 

I am not just talking about food, I am talking about most everything. Today we should question everything we are going to purchase. Is is good for me?  Does it have harmful chemicals?  Can I make this myself?  

You do not have to live like the past to live a less toxic life.  Just be wise to look at what is in the things we use.  Make your home to be what you want it to be.  Grandma Donna

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