Comments On Article: When Your Homesick For A More Simple Time

These are two of the books I purchase for this study about living on the home front. I have been reading “On the Home Front”  and it is lots of first hand account stories during the war, starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The second book I haven’t started yet but  has And interviews and first hand account stories of women and how they helped during the war. I hope this helps. 

Janet W I love your knitting picture. Looks so peaceful. 

I found these 4 titles for books about the American Home front and ordered them from my local library. They look interesting and once I've read them I'll let everyone know what they are like, but in the mean time I'll post them in case anyone wants to read them too:

The American Home Front 1941-1942 by Alistair Cooke

The American Home Front During World War II by C D Peterson

Americans remember the Home Front: An Oral Narrative by Roy Hoopes

Since you went away: World War II letters from American Women by Judy Barrett Litoff

Grandma Donna Wrote,

I have been reading each comment as they come in since I posted the new blog post and it is so wonderful to see this engaging group of people that we have here in the forum.  I learn so much from all of you.  The lovely post from Janet W, was such an example of the mix of then and now, I felt drawn into as if we were a combined part of 1941 and 2025 and read it over several times because you wrote it beautifully. .

Each one of you, short comments and long comments make a part of our story here.  We realize that we are from all over the world and yet similar interest and feelings.  Our geography lesson to know that part of us are in winter or will be in a few days and part of us are in Summer. It gives us a reminder that we are only temporarily in this season and to prepare for the next season.

I want to mention all of your names but we are all reading the comments and understand the importance of what each other says.

Margaret P, I know that it is not just me that wants to run over to your house and make us a cup of tea, put on a pot of soup and put some bread in the oven. If you were our neighbor any of us here would help you to catch up with the housework because we all understand that feeling of getting sick and knowing that the clutter and things that need to be done are piling up more than they already were.  We can surround you with prayer and wellness thoughts and mental hugs. (Heart)

When I read Ann W's post about the super glued purse, I had a thought about the box of my thrifted purses that I have been wanting to donate but kept holding back the box. It made me realize that I always go back to the same purse and I do not need the others. I will pick only one of the others for when the regular purse wears out.  I have repurposed two small barrel hand bags, one to hold dog harnesses and leashes, one to hold pet medication so if we have a grab and go situation they are perfect for that. My mother had small beaded and satin hand bags for evening events during the 1950s.  I have held on to these because of memories only, I have never in my life had an evening event to go to that I needed an evening hand bag.  Thank you Ann for adding that story to your comment. :)  Donna

Been reading this blog for a very long time.  Sometimes I catch a you tube video or read something somewhere about simple living or permaculture or frugal living and a lot of it tends to involve buying things to use in order to live more simply or sustainably; it could be land or a composting toilet or reusable paper towels, etc.  But this blog always reminds me to start where I am at and to simply do what I can do even when I don't feel so great, even as I age, that homey and comfortable is better than looking like an instagram post (I assume this because I have never been on Instagram!), and that contentment can be better than innovation.  Your written words and pictures teach better than fast talking videos.  

Just really a big thank you. 

Elizabeth M-2

I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I just read this article from Hearth and Field, called "The Job for Which All Others Exist" which was the most wonderful article I've read about "homemakers".  If anyone wishes, they can go to that site and search that topic.  It's the history of women who raise their family, tend to their husband and run the household, etc.  It was just incredible. I always felt as if I was the only one in this era who actually loved to do this - all encompassing, and still does it, even though I'm an empty nester. 

Now I spend more time reading about the history of homemaking, cooking, running a household. Interesting how things changed from the late 1800's to now, especially through the war years.

Margaret P, I’m sorry you are ill and hope you recover completely.

Today we ventured into the very un-simple world because we needed groceries and one more Christmas gift.  There was so much traffic, people are stressed and in a hurry and you have to be so careful!  A driver put his car into reverse and then started backing up — right into where I was walking!  I had to jump out of the way and when I got to the windows the driver was still backing up and hadn’t even noticed me — he was using his side mirror to see.  Twice we had cars make turns that would have hit our car if we hadn’t been paying close attention and expecting people to be driving distracted.  At the grocery store my husband pushed the cart into line and I watched a woman come from the nearby produce area and then tell us she was already in line.  I guess she was in line mentally.  We moved out of the way and then just went to self checkout because I didn’t want to stay in line behind her.

I had plans to make all of our gifts this year, except for gifts for our young adult children.  Well, I wanted to make some of their gifts too but life got in the way.  I did make gifts for all of the extended family members we give gifts to except one, for him I thrifted a very game.  I decided next year the young adults get handmade gifts and cash.  A situation came up for one of them and cash would have been better appreciated this year than the gifts I purchased, even though those were things that were needed.

I’ve been thinking about how solemn Christmas 1941 must have felt.  I think it must have held great significance for those who observe Christmas.  The world was at war, and many had loved ones in service, either as military or auxiliary.  Around the world, many had already died.  One reason I love Advent is the focus on waiting — we are waiting for the miracle of the Incarnation, a miracle so wonderful to Christians that we reenact it every year.  In 1941, I am sure many people were more focused on the religious aspect of Christmas than people typically are in 2025.

Christmas has been many things to me over the years, first as a child and then a young adult, moving on to being a parent to young children and now my own children being young adults.  Every year the focus becomes more refined, less focused on things and more focused on the Incarnation.  The older I get, the more joy I feel, the kind of joy and magic I felt as a child.  It has nothing to do with the gifts, which I gladly give.  It is singing the first Christmas hymns at midnight Mass.  It is the joy of family gathered together.  It is delight in the Christmas tree with its lights and decades of ornaments.  It is waking up on 12/26 and remembering that it’s still Christmas, and doing that over and over again until 1/6, when we celebrate the Epiphany.  And truly, the simpler our Christmases get, the more we discard the extraneous and focus on our true reason for celebrating, the more joy I feel.

Kimberly,  such a beautiful post! Thank you for writing it. 

I want to say I appreciate everyone's good wishes for me. It's helped a lot!

Christmas 1941 my mom was 6. She had 2 brothers overseas in service. That must've weighed heavy on grandma's heart. She didn't know where they were.

Mom is 90 today!

She has been seriously ill since the middle of August.  She has been in 3 different hospitals.  Frankly, I think at the 1st two hospitals they weren't too motivated to get a 89 yo well (that's putting it kindly- we've been learning some of the things they did aren't recommended for elderly and we believe made her worse but she kept fighting!). 

This 3rd hospital is a blessing! The staff has been more than willing to work with us to help her get better. She's actually healing! She's been trying to speak for several weeks. She did today! Clearly! I was able to speak with her by phone. What a wonderful gift for her birthday. Answered prayers!

Margaret P -- no one should be in a hospital today without an advocate especially an elderly person.  

My great-grandmother died November 22, 1943, and her obit states that she had eight grandsons in the armed services of the United States.   She had 10 grandsons one was physically unable to serve, and the other had an essential job that got him excluded.  The youngest grandson served but did not leave the USA.  The rest were overseas when she passed.  All the grandsons did come home.

Mom told stories of soldiers in the community getting leave and people giving parents their gas rations to get to the city to pick soldiers up.  She told of someone taking good tires off his vehicle and putting them on the parents' vehicle for the trip.  Until mom married in May of 1942, she worked at her father's filling station so got a first-hand view.   

When I asked mom about rationing, her only comment was even if you had the necessary coupon, you still might not get what you wanted because it would not be available in the stores.  I got the impression that it wasn't that big of deal to her.  

The one thing she talked about most often was the fire on her back porch that burned her clothes pins, and there were none available to purchase.  It was a BIG deal because she had had two in diapers.  

Ann W, mom does have an advocate with her. Me as POA. I have  visited everyday since August except the past few days while being sick. My brother from out of town has filled in for me. The previous hospital disregarded my requests as POA. They intimidated and manipulated and lied to me. For example, mom is quite adamant about no narcotics (unless for an intervention like surgery) or psychotropic drugs. But she'd get restless or something and they'd give her something which made her worse. She has adverse reactions to them. (After both knee replacements a few years ago she only took Tylenol.) I insisted they stop per her request and mine. Dr had me brought before the ethics committee.  Then a few days later someone from the hospital reported me to a state agency for elder abuse because I wouldn't let them give her those drugs. This is what I dealt with trying to advocate for her for 6 weeks. I lost 10 pounds and any bit of trust in the medical field. (And this isn't counting their failure to get consent, withholding treatments or even telling about available treatments.)

Not to belabor what we experienced but mom's a night owl. Had one dr insist on "correcting" her circadian rhythm- she should be awake during the day and asleep at night. Needless to say this agitated mom (one person admitted they intentionally went in her room every hour during the day to annoy her thus keep her up) and then they would say she needed a drug to calm down at night. This has been mom ever since I've known her and they were arrogant enough to think they could change it now. They'd give her one of these drugs and she'd experienced the side effects and they'd give her even more. I'm talking about black box drugs that warn against use in elderly. 

I was talking to one of the dr at the place she's at now about it. Her response was your mom doesn't need those drugs. 

Horrible nightmare. I truly thank God she survived them.

I went through this with my d-i-l who passed away a year ago.  Hospital sent her to a nursing home without consulting me (I was her medical POA).  It was a horrid place where she went 8 days without a bath, day nine back to the hospital with sepsis, then back to nursing home again for 7 days and no bath.  I had just made arrangements for a good nursing home, but it took a week to get her moved from one to the other.   It was too late, she was so far down she passed two weeks later, but she got her baths regularly for the time she had left.  I told the hospital social worker when she sent her to that horrid nursing home again that the hospital had a responsibility to d-i-l and they failed.  I have a laundry list of ways that nursing home failed d-i-l and would have reported it to the state but with everything that went on before she passed, funeral arrangements and clearing her apartment left me without the energy to do so.  That place is so bad that when I told my dd where she was, dd said get her out of there before they kill her.  We have a very good local nursing home, and I firmly believe if d-i-l had been there the entire time she probably would still be alive.  It still makes me very sad that her last weeks were so horrible due to that place.

Glad to hear your mother survived.  

Ann, that's horrible. I'm sure you and the family still suffer from the trauma even now. 

My family wants me to pursue reporting and perhaps legal action. My brother has downloaded her 1000 page file from that place. We've made notes along the way but I'm worn out & just want mom to get well. Since mom is improving she has to be moved to a different facility again soon. Much of medical care isn't about the patient but money. So mom will be moved again although she's getting good care now and moving her is traumatic for her. We're checking out places now.

My mom went to the hospital for one medical condition that if they would've treated it like they would for any other age she would've been out in a few days maybe a week. But instead they tried to "stabilize" her and mask symptoms hoping to shove her out even quicker. Instead she became even more unstabilized and developed several more conditions they then had to treat. All because they didn't want to bother with an almost 90 yo. They wasted more money trying not to treat the primary problem. When it became clear that we were still advocating they actually try to fix the problem and she'd been there for 6 weeks already (I'm sure that messed up their metrics) they literally overnight became interested in pumping treatments into her that  they said a week before wouldn't do anything. And they worked. It was as if they realized they actually had to fix her to get rid of her! She's spent the last 4 weeks recovering from what they did to her. The primary condition is improving too. 

This brings back memories of what my mom went thru in 2014. I was her advocate because my dad couldn't and didn't have the mental strength to do it. 

Because the "good" nursing home that she was sent to for rehab overdosed her on a required med  1.25 mgs was what was needed they gave her 125 mgs at a time.....I found her nonresponsive in there, called an ambulance against their policy and had her taken to the ER where they saved her life.   Because I was always there and documented everything including them telling not to call an ambulance because they wanted to wait on the facility doctor first. He only came in once a day and that was in the late afternoon..... We sued and got my mom a good settlement and asked that they NEVER do that with any other patient. But of course we have no idea if it has ever happened with any one else.

They also gave her meds that gave her hallucinations, and she couldn't sleep because of other drugs given to "keep her quiet".   They were short staffed and didn't have time to properly care for patients. 

To this day I will not take meds unless I research them and they are thoroughly discussed. I have seen way too much.

Hello! I'm not sure where to post this question, so pleas let me know if I should delete it. 

I have finally found "grandma's lye soap" in  a local store and I just love it for my skin. (Dry, sensitive skin!) However, I am having some trouble, I think, getting it fully rinsed from my hair. The vinegar rinse helps a lot (almost magic!) but I still think I'm doing something wrong... Then when I tried to google to find tips for technique, EVERYTHING on the internet said that lye soap (and all bar soap) is terrible for your hair and that you shouldn't use it at all because the Ph will be too high which will make your hair brittle and break eventually, and because it will leave soap scum in your hair, and thus one MUST use the "synthetic detergents" that are "gentler". This can't be true, right? We've only had shampoo since what, the 1930s?

So my questions: How much bar soap do you put on your hair? How do you fully clean your hair? how do you rinse it enough since it tends to get tangled once the soap is in? Do you rinse out the vinegar rinse? 

Also, for someone with very dry skin especially in the winter, what do you suggest putting as moisturizer? Especially for very one's face, and for very dry hands. Oil? Beef tallow? Anyone have suggestions? Thank you. I just hate putting on the awful face creams in the plastic bottles after going through all the effort of the lye soap + vinegar shower. Also, the creams have started feeling icky, greasy, slimy, wrong, haha. 

Thanks in advance for any advice? 

Nell S.  -  I have heard that when you change soaps or shampoos it takes a bit of time for you to adjust.  

For your face, perhaps try baby oil or Vaseline.  My youngest uses Vaseline for removing eye makeup as she's allergic to any of the products advertised for this.  I've not used Vaseline on my face but have used it on my hands and feet and it softens like a miracle.

I was thinking about the war rationing of soap and it made me wonder how I would have handled it.  Then I thought, if I was the same then as today, I would have had a good supply on-hand well before the war.  My thoughts on being prepared with a good food and household goods pantry, is that should there be a shortage I would not be competing for goods in short supply.  That was true during Covid when I didn't need to purchase toilet paper.

I like coconut oil as a natural moisturizer.  

Also for the face, oatmeal broth left on for a few minutes and then rinsed off.  If my skin has been dry I will take a spoon and scoop a little dollop of foam off my breakfast oatmeal as it's cooking, rub it into problem areas like my lips, cheekbones, and around my eyes, then as soon as it dries, go rinse it off.  Seems to really feed the skin and make a lasting difference.

Everyone's hair is different so the important thing is finding what works for you, not what makes some hair types brittle.  

I know a lot of people around here dissolve baking soda in water to rinse their hair with, which is a way of softening the water because this area has very hard water.  I think they're using it to rinse out shampoo and conditioner, but it might be worth a try for your bar soap.

Dear Grandma Donna,

Thank you for your blog and all you do to maintain it.  I'm not participating in the 1942 study, but I learn so many thrifty tips from it. When I read and try some of the war time/ration meals I save money on food. Who knew that my morning oatmeal with raisins, but no sugar would fit in with the 1942 life.  I certainly didn't until reading your blog lead me to a blogger on YouTube who posted a WWI low income menu :) BTW boiling your raisins and then cooking your oats in them gives the oatmeal a little sweetness.  It's sweet enough for me :)

  For this history buff, I enjoy all the "bunny trails" that your posts lead me to. I end up learning so much about day to day life in the year you are doing.  I'm also surprised by how many tips my mother used that were pre-depression era, that she learned from her mother.  

  Mother was born in 1941 and was one of 11 children.  Soup was always what was for supper.  I learned early on how to make a soup stock using chicken or beef bones and veggie trimmings and letting it simmer all day.  

  Another learned habit is wearing older clothes for gardening and housework. When they are beyond repair, I cut them into cleaning cloths and rags. I always save the buttons, zippers and any cords or shoe laces.  I'm especially happy that I have a button box as new buttons are terribly expensive and lesser quality.

  I wanted to share that I "googled" Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" column for information about life in 1942. I simply typed as follows:    Eleanor Roosevelt My Day Column 1/21/1942

It lead me to a link from George Washington University where you can read the column for free.  It contains lots of information. For example, the January 21, 1942 comments on sugar rationing and ladies using substitutes like honey in their recipes.  Iy also talks about the Senate ladies club brown bagging their lunch their Red Cross meeting.

  I look forward to reading everyone's 1942 adventures in the comments section.  Thank you. Grandma Donna for continuing to bless us with your writing.  

Ellie in AR :)