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I've been feeling a need to take a break from the internet too. I wonder if it's because the weather is changing and I have a feeling of needing to prepare for winter? I need to stop having all the thoughts of people on the internet bombard me. I don't mean here in this forum. The things people post in this forum help me to live a more peaceful life. I mean the YouTube videos and things I read online. To get to the good information, I have to wade through so much bad information. I need a break from it all to think my own thoughts! I know it comes down to me being disciplined about internet use, but how do you get the information you need without encountering some bad too? I guess I need trusted sites. 

I want to spend my break going to back to the 1930s, my favorite time. :) With our budget reduction coming on Jan. 1, and with our need to reduce water and electricity and food and gas, it feels like a good time to think like the thirties. :) I'm going to do a news blackout too, after I see the results of the midterms. Hopefully the results will indicate that the country's fever has broken and we can start to get well again. 

We've worked really hard this year to make our home simple and inexpensive. It was expensive to make it inexpensive! :) But we did it, and it was money well spent, because now we can go forward with less expense to run our home. I also want to be done with changes. I want a predictable, routine life that is the same day after day. A life where I know I'll see the birds in the morning as I drink my coffee, then happily do my cleaning and cooking for the day, and have those porch moments Grandma Donna wrote about, even though I don't have a porch. :) Not one you could sit on anyway. I want a peaceful, predictable life without something bad barging in all the time. Like my new credit card I got a few weeks ago after having fraud on it and it having to be cancelled again for more fraud! I went to the credit card site and blocked its use. I enjoyed the points I got for using it, but it's just not worth it anymore, especially with the AI threats. I've been deleting and closing accounts all over the internet lately. Less for AI to infiltrate. The ones I can remember, at least! :) 

I hope everyone has a wonderful break! I look forward to hearing how everyone spent their breaks. 

I don't comment much but I love reading them. G. Donna, I wish you peace and rest as you enjoy this break and get your work done. Im sure most of us feel the same way. We are preparing our simple autumn recipes, baking our bread, and enjoying our two new kittens. What fun they add to our quiet lives! You all have been a great help in keeping me moving towards a simpler life. As I put our garden to bed I look forward to more time for reading, knitting and baking.  Take care until we post again!

Yes, the cool finally reached us, didn't it?  What a welcome relief.  Even in the summer-like heat of the first half of October, I kept my air conditioning off, but it was hard to do.  But now everything - heat, a/c, and fans - all of it is off, which will help my averaged electric billing amounts.  I'll keep it all off as long as I can.  

I understand needing to take a break.  I have things I need to do as well, and I need to take some time away from the sites I normally check.  

My kitchen is torn out for the new cabinets, but I kept all of my appliances, none of which are old, and all are working well, so I can use my stove and my refrigerator, which is a big help.  I feel a little primitive, working on a folding table and washing dishes in my laundry room, but it's working.  This means I'm experiencing no running water in the kitchen, but since I have it elsewhere in the house, it's not as though I'm living with no running water at all in the house.  The cabinet installers were surprised that I wasn't going with all new appliances to go with my new cabinets.  No appliance in my kitchen is older than 6-7 years, mostly due to the fact that today's appliances don't last as long as they used to, and one is just a year old.  Why would I replace all that?  An interesting note, they asked me if I was keeping my dishwasher (I am).  They said many homeowners they work with these days have their kitchens remodeled to be without a dishwasher.  I have to wonder if the fact that dishwashers can die so quickly these days means maybe that some people are just giving up on them altogether.  I don't know that I will replace mine when it dies.  

I have been lazy and just followed here to learn about the older ways, but now I need to delve into them.  There are some fun old things I can remember from my childhood, such as my grandmother (b. 1896) never owned or used what is called either a turner or spatula - that tool with which one would flip pancakes or burgers.  She turned everything that needed turning by using a fork and her favorite kitchen knife together.  

At the same time I am trying the old ways, I am ordering gifts for Christmas online.  It really is hard to do the old ways when the new ways can be much easier and cheaper.  I would have to drive over 50 miles to the nearest place large enough to shop for gifts, and that doesn't include the mileage and time to drive around from store to store in that nearest city. Plus, I can't find the selection in-store that I can find online. I can order online, catch a sale while ordering, get it delivered for free, and not use a bit of gas in my car.  I'm trying to balance between being simpler by using the old ways, and spending less money and using much less time with new ways.  It can be difficult.

 Stephanie G, Oooooie, going back home to the 1930s, I will probably be there with you. :)

Lisa T, I am happy that you did post.  Awwwww new kitties, such a wonderful vision I have.  I hope you stay on your journey to your more simple life.  :)  While you are putting your garden to bed we are waking ours up to grow our fall and winter plants.  Planting garlic and onions, carrots and beets, cabbage and lettuce under frost cloth. We cannot take the summer garden anymore, it is just  too hot. Hug the baby kitties from me. :)  

Joan S, When we go up to the lake to our tiny house we call "Myrtle," because of the crepe Myrtles up there, we don't have water in the tiny house we should call itty bitty house, I love washing dishes in my old enamel wash bowls on the small kitchen table, it just feels right.  We use a water buckets to store water. It is easier to practice when you don't have it.  :)  That is interesting about the dishwashers.  My daughter did not replace her dishwasher over a year ago when hers stopped working and she uses the extra space where it was.

Grandma Donna, I hope you have a wonderful break!  I get an email notification when you post to the blog, so it is easy for me to not be checking to see if you are back.  We’ve been talking about how fantastic my September break was, and how I’ve let more screen time sneak in since then.  I will probably not check in again after tomorrow until the week before Advent (if you are back), and then I will do another big break from Advent through Epiphany.

I was worrying that I need to have all of my making done before Advent begins in order to have a hushed season, and then I realized eliminating screens gives me so much time that I might enjoy making cards and gifts during Advent.  This year I intend to sew most of my gifts, as it’s faster.  I’ll also make several potholder loom trivets as gifts — I do the sewn binding that creates a fringe, and my loom is the XL version so it makes perfect trivets.  I have all the loops I need.

Joan S, when our dishwasher breaks and is beyond repair we won’t replace it.  We did buy this one in 2024 because the young adults were having a fit about washing everything by hand, and I was so ill I needed the help more than I wanted to fight with them.  Two of those young adults no longer live with us, and the one who does is more adaptable — he hangs his laundry every week and never makes a peep about it.  A kitchen remodel may come before that, and if it does I’ll sell the dishwasher and put in drawers.  If we remodel, or if it stops working before that, the over the stove microwave will go as well.  The microwave does save energy, but if we decide to still have one it will be a countertop model hidden away.

Stephanie, we’ve also spent a lot of money on our utility independence, we more still needed (for water.  I feel like we still haven’t gotten into a good rhythm since my husband retired, but porch sitting is definitely on our daily agenda.  One of our redwoods is smaller than the other, and it is home to one of the local hummingbird pairs.  I suspect more than one nest, actually, because there is so much chit chat going on in the mornings and evenings, but it could be their babies chirping as well — they babies are flying now so I suppose they will leave soon, although we have year round hummingbirds here.

I’ve been news free for nearly 8 weeks now.  My husband will let me know about the midterms if I ask him.  The only news he has seen worthy of sharing with me so far is the fact that Pope Leo has cancer, so that I can pray for him.  We are not Roman Catholic but I’ve been a fan of the last two popes in terms of their deep love of God and the messages they offer on climate change and human rights.

Thank you, Grandma Donna, for sharing so much and for all the research you do. Your posts are always so full of information,  wisdom and beautiful images.

There are young adults in my family who are taking an interest in learning old ways of doing things. 

In part it's because they need to cut costs but also I believe they feel a need to be more connected to, and have a working understanding of the basics - food, clothing, shelter etc.

Reading your blog has given me so much to share, but just as importantly, I'm attuned to how important these skills and attitudes are, and why they're of value. 

I hope you can catch up on everything and have a good rest from the blog. Wishing you and your loved ones good health, safety and peace. 

I will be attending to the vegetable garden and preparing for what could be an extreme fire season this summer in Australia. 

I am settled cosily in bed in my cotton pyjamas, under the thick, feather duvet, with my hot water bottle in its cover, and a warm woollen shawl. The first named storm of the season, Austen, is forecast for tomorrow bringing rain. 

The central heating went on as soon as I got home from hospital, the thermostat set at 20°C in the daytime, a little warmer than in previous winters.  The temperatures outside are dropping 10-14°C by day and around 5°C at night. 

We are managing, just about, relying on fresh soups and basic ingredients from the local M&S to make simple, nourishing meals.  I should have insisted that DH kept some cooking skills, he has forgotten the little he once knew. He has mastered the washing machine, and clothes dry on the airer by the radiator. 

It feels like hibernating, no social events, or outings at present, though I will be attending Cardio Rehab after the post op check up, and my postponed flu jab.

I have my books, and memories of my grandmother and parents reading the latest library books quietly on winter evenings. We used to play old fashioned board games, and do jigsaw puzzles. The family keeps in touch with messages and photographs on the telephone app. I have no interest in following the news broadcasts. 

Enjoy your internet break.

Gr.Donna,

While I will miss you and reading comments on your forum I understand completely. I use it as "meeting with the neighbors".  But I also have things I need to get done, we are having some really good weather here so a good time to get things buttoned up for colder weather. 

I cleaned windows today; it is a big job because I have a sunroom...tomorrow will do glass doors and the last 2 bedroom windows. It will feel great to have them all done. 

I still have a few things to buy and gather for winter storage, waiting to see if I can catch them on sale. I also want to put pans of charcoal under the guest beds in the guestrooms as I keep them closed off until needed but they can get stale air smelling and the charcoal really helps with that.

I am going to continue with the 1930's and part of the 1940's. It is where I feel the most comfortable and somehow feel "safer". I am sure that for me not having the constant barrage of "news" helps my mindset so much.

I am one of the few that will not give up my dishwasher if at all possible.  I love having it and not handwashing very many dishes.

Please have a wonderful break, gDonna. I will miss your posts but totally understand the need to focus on your home and personal life. Many blessings to you and thank you for the helpful posts and pictures.

Joyce C, to be fair, I detest washing dishes by hand, but that’s well know and my husband does 90% of the dish washing.  Wearing gloves does help me get through it.  Mostly I don’t plan to replace mine because I am so tired of having so many things that have to be maintained, repaired, and replaced.  Now that my husband is retired and our income is fixed I see many of these things as expenses we don’t need or want.  But if I were living alone, I would be sorely tempted to have a small in-sink dishwasher.  A big dishwasher would be too much, my dad ran his once a week when he lived along and it would smell

Gr. Donna, you will definitely be missed along with the rest of the posters here.  The weather is cooler, and the evenings are darker.  It is a busy season.  I always reread the blog when the break is here. It just keeps me sane.  I pray you get the rest you need.

I have enjoyed so much the blog over the years and the addition of the forum and they are the few things I consistently read online, but I have rarely posted myself.  I thank you all for doing so.

Joan S – how interesting that you were told that many individuals are not having dishwashers installed in their remodeled kitchens.  I was not raised with a dishwasher and while I do have one now, can probably count on two hands the number of times I’ve used it in the 5 years since we built this home – these were typically times when my husband and I were ill and I wanted to make certain germs were killed.  I have a view of the mountains and a pasture of cows just across the road that I love to look at while taking my time handwashing my dishes.  Often, the hymn How Beautiful Upon the Mountains runs through my head while I’m gazing out the window at these scenes.  I am also frequently graced with seeing a herd of deer or a flock of turkeys crossing our property in front of me and now we have a beautiful red fox and a couple of bears who are showing themselves in our area, as well. I live in Northeastern Tennessee where so much of the farmland is being taken over by housing developments that the wildlife struggle to maintain themselves in their own habitats.  Ten of our twelve acres are in timber and will remain so as long as we are here.

It seems like each time I think that we are done spending a good deal of money on something, a new reason comes up to tap into our dwindling retirement amount.  This year we were not successful in stopping a company from setting up to produce high purity depleted uranium for the government just two miles from our house.  There have already been a couple of discharges of waste into the creek on their property that runs into the river which provides water for the surrounding area.  My husband and I decided that the best we can do at this point is to purchase a water filtering system for the entire house, including reverse osmosis which does filter uranium.  When will it all end, is the question I keep asking myself.

I, too, am looking forward to taking a break from screens, etc…and focus on what I can do like those from my own past to help re-set my peaceful homelife.  I am fortunate to have old diaries from my great grandmother from the 1940’s to the 1970’s and I so enjoy reading them, as well as old letters, notebooks of handwritten recipes with notes beside them and various other items that have been passed down to me, where I can get some ideas and motivation without having to go to the internet.

Enough rambling.  I want to again thank you all for sharing so much information from your own lives to help the rest of us.  I look forward to getting an email at some point indicating there is another blog post to read.

Thank you Kimberly, I am glad you have the notification to let you know I have a new post.  I wish you the best with getting things done before Advent.  The main thing is to enjoy the season of Autumn now, slow down and do the things you enjoy around the house andf ind ays to show how the small and simple things can be the best things and help reset our younger generations to how it should be.  We all need to do this.

Kelly O, thank you for your kind words, this makes me so happy to read about the young adults in your family interested in the old ways.  I hope your vegetable garden does well and those fires stay far away.  I have been keeping up with your weather there and the increased earthquakes lately.

Janet W, I am glad you posted and hubby is still doing his best taking care of you.  Maybe his skills will have a chance to refresh and he becomes really good at them by the time you have recovered.  I will be getting the flu jab next week, Charles got his last week.  

Joyce C,  I am lad you mentioned windows, it is past time to wash our windows before winter.  Our routine is way off and I want it back!  Thank you for telling about the charcoal under the guest beds.  I will try this. I am glad we have another forum person that will be wandering back into the 1930's and 40's while I am not blogging Stephanie and I might bump into you there. Lol

Glenda H2, Stay safe and well and I hope to see you back here when we do get back together.

Ann E, Happy Reading while I am away, I hope you feel you are visiting my home.  Every time I type out Ann E, I think about Ann of Green Gables and by the way my Great Grandmother was from Prince Edward Island.  :)

Gayle, where you live sounds beautiful and this is terrible about not being able to stop the Uranium company.  You will for sure need that water purification and Charles and I understand that retirement fund.  It seems our extras are for repairs or things to make us safer in our home. We had more expenses with the hurricane debris than we expected that we ended up needing to pay for help this week.  

I actually teared up a bit reading that you have your great grandmother's diaries.  My Grandmother wrote stories and diaries. They had a house fire in their 80s and all of my Grandmothers writings, letters and keepsakes were all lost in the fire.  It was so sad.  She lost much more, basically everything but her cast iron cook wear, it was salvageable and we rescued it and brought it back to use again.  All of us in our immediate family brought to her things she had given us and some of our things to get them back to where they could keep house again.  It was not much of a house but it was home to them for a few more years of independence and then they moved in with my mother in her house. We never know where this life will take us and we adjust as we go don't we.

Gayle, I didn't know that about RO and uranium. As soon as I started reading your post I wondered does RO help and then you answered my question.We have an RO because of our well. It gets criticized because it takes everything out of the water. Some people call it dead water. But honestly I'd rather drink that and make up the missing minerals another,  healthier way. 

I've been reading more and scrolling less already. I've read several books in the last couple weeks. It's amazing how that old habit came back quickly once I decided to read more.

Most of my life (as a child & adult) I haven't had a dishwasher. We've been in this house 30 years but for about 10 years we didn't have a working one. It broke when hubby was unemployed so I didn't say anything for years (even after he got another job). Finally,  I decided after 10 years I needed a new one. I do often wash by hand and I often wait to run it but I also use the dishwasher frequently.  Supposedly it uses less water than handwashing though I doubt it could beat G'Donna! I also like it has a sanitizing cycle too which I have used. I still cook & bake quite a bit for family so  a dishwasher is so appreciated.  If I was like one couple I know who rarely cook I suppose I wouldn't need one.

Oh do enjoy your break. We are greedy and gobble up your posts but totally understand the need to step away. I forgot we did that last year.  I loved it and did not go back to certain things. 
I thought of you recently. I am sorting through a couple boxes of photos and papers and such (not by choice and not my family but am trying to make the most of it). One of the things I came across was a ration pack with the books of coupons inside and a little instruction sheet. 
As far as autumn, this weekend we will finish putting the yard and garden to bed for winter. I’ve been in the autumn nesting mode. Want everything clean and cozy inside:-)

Blessings to you both. 

That is fascinating about people getting rid of their dishwashers. I looked it up online and people really are getting rid of them. They take too long to run is one complaint, and it's true. If I want a quick wash cycle, I have to choose the 1 hour cycle. I've liked my dishwasher for the sanitize cycle. It does cut down on sickness. I suppose I could have my sanitize cycle in boiling water poured over my hand-washed dishes! Now my brain is in a whirl over possible gallons of water use. According to the internet, dishwashers are capped at 5 gallons per cycle now, with a potential drop to 3.5 gallons per cycle in the future. I'm going to have to go back and reread all of Grandma Donna's posts on washing dishes and make some experiments. If you have to use electricity to heat the water to wash dishes and then use electricity to run the dishwasher, you are using electricity twice, from two different appliances, the dishwasher and the water heater. I could heat water in the Instant Pot or maybe even the Crock Pot as my stand by hot water. Both plug into a solar generator and use less energy than the stove or water heater. Hmmm. I must sound like a real kilowatt tightwad! :) But it's not just the money savings I am after but the energy independence. The feeling that I am not dependent on others for my energy and the ability to take care of basic tasks. 

We've been planning for a while for a reduced budget starting in Jan. The budget I worked out for Jan. before no longer works because everything has gone up so much in cost. To make it work, I have to reduce my electric and water bills. I have a lot of motivation! :) 

I don't know how true it was elsewhere, but in rural Southern Iowa where I grew up, according to my mother the 1930's and 1940's were much the same at home.  In the 1930's there was not much available to purchase in stores and no money then in 1940's WWII rationing shortages continued.   Jobs were available but the stress of family members in the military more than equaled the stress of the Depression.  My paternal grandparents were still farming with horses until the moved to town in late 1940s.  Most everyone had electricity but not inside plumbing.  Community was centered around schools and churches.  

Stephanie G ... closing credit cards and accounts can cause your credit score to drop.  When I was first told this, I thought no big deal as I don't want to borrow anyway.  Then I found out that auto and household insurance rates increase as your credit score drops.  I've kept my score high by keeping three credit cards and switching using them throughout the year and ALWAYS paying the entire balance each month.  Last I checked my credit score was around 815 and as a result I got a 35% premium discount on my household insurance for this year.

I am going to try to reduce my screen time for November but since there are so many necessary communications it is impossible to go cold turkey.  I don't watch TV news so depend on online news feeds which to be honest I ignore 95%.  I can't change anything happening in the world so refuse to worry about it although I do try to keep somewhat informed.

Ann W, last year our auto & home insurance went down and nothing had changed except the cars & house were 1 year older. I asked my husband because I'd heard so many people complaining about theirs increasing.  Sure enough he said we'd gotten a discount because of our credit score. I had no idea companies had switched to that.

Another thought. We got to know our personal banker pretty well over the years and she has saved us money or otherwise helped us manage our money. She's been a very valuable resource! It's worth getting to know your banker and ask are there better accounts or credit cards for me?

Ann W I closed the accounts on all of my credit cards but one a number of years ago. My score stays over 800. I think you have to look at total credit use including debt/limit percentage, income to debt ratio, how many total debts you carry including those outside of credit cards, and previous big credit uses like home loans and car loans. I'd heard the scare stories too of credit scores dropping etc if you closed accounts, but with my good standing I didn't think it would hurt, and it didn't. There is too much fraud going on to have kept the fourteen credit cards we used to have! But I didn't close the account on my remaining credit card. I used a security feature in my account where you can block or unblock use. My husband has three credit cards and he keeps two blocked until the card companies threaten to cancel his cards for lack of use. Then he unblocks them for a few purchases and blocks them back up after. 

margaret p Our car insurance premium dropped this month because our car got old enough for its senior discount. :) It's a 2018 model. Your daughter sounds amazing with how she handles money! 

love reading your posts from “down-under” in Australia!
Enjoy your rest and I hope you will continue to write when you are ready again❣️

Looking forward to it, because you inspire us all

It is a good time of year for a break. I'm recovering from surgery so can't do much around the house yet, but I'll try to focus on handwork for gifts, things I can manage right now. I work full-time online but somehow that is not difficult for me to keep completely separate in my mind. Where it does hurt are the hours at the computer for work leave my hands, arms and eyes just "used up" for the day quite often. 

Grandma Donna, your writing has been so inspiring to me, really has helped shift my mindset for the better in so many areas. The first big shift was truly realizing how many "necessities" are simply made up to sell us things. I knew this of course, but you show it in a way that sticks. The second, is the idea of living in the home in a way that makes sense for us specifically. I have been making changes little by little, simply noticing what we do or want to do and making small adjustments so that the space works better for these purposes. My sister was just here and she kept looking around and remarking how cozy things were and how "everything just makes sense!" I hadn't realized the changes were that noticeable! I was so pleased.

I've decided that I want to be more selective about technology, thinking about what has been lost along the way and what I want to trust. One example is photos. I love that technology enables me to have instant images of everything, but I realized I want to be selective about this and put physical prints into physical photo albums for the things I want to look at again. ("Selective" however includes every single shot I can get my hands on of new granddaughter!) I want to read more physical media, rather than electronic everything. I want to rely on my handwritten recipe binder rather than looking recipes up online. Stick with a paper calendar and planner, and (related to recent discussions here) write out and memorize addresses and phone numbers! My mom and I have started writing letters back and forth even though we keep in touch by text and phone too - it's just different. Need it or not, there are just some things I want in my own head and in my own hands, because they are mine- even if I can easily outsource them to computers. I work with AI all day for my job but I feel like I've hit my limit!

I'll look forward to rereading old posts while the blog is paused, every time I do this I find more gems :)

Erika

Grandma Donna, thank you for everything you share and for helping to keep the focus on the important things in life.  You seem to do so much, I can understand why you are taking a break.  I confess I will miss your posts, but like others I will reread the archives, and every time I do, I find something new.  

I have been focusing on being able to be prepared for if my local grid goes down, or if I do not have city water, or other issues.  I live in a small town on a city lot, so my options are somewhat limited. However, I will do what I can to make sure that I still have heat and potable water and enough light.  Recent additions have been some solar bulbs and a Lifestraw water pitcher - it filters bacteria but not viruses.  Next up is a solar generator, even though I'm in the upper Midwest.  From what I've seen, the latest models are much more efficient and should allow for some charging, even during our short cloudy winter days.  The challenge is figuring out the battery backup sizing to allow for recharging - I have a fridge and two chest freezers to keep running.  (although, if it's genuinely cold outside, I could just put everything out on the porch, haha.) 

I wish you much success in your winter gardening, and hope that your friend's (and yours and Charles') health improves or continues to be strong. Enjoy your break!

Erika, I too have been looking around my home considering the things I can do to make things "make sense". Most so far have been small things but incredibly they have had a big impact! I've been reaching for my cookbooks more often though I admit I still go to Sally's Baking Addiction for great recipes. I've tried writing letters but people responded to my letters by email or text except one friend! But I've decided I'm going to keep doing it anyway. I think people like a card or letter even if they don't feel they have time to reciprocate. 

Despite my despondency over your break, I absolutely understand your need and desire for a quiet time to recalibrate and get your nest in order before the winter.  I’m so grateful to still have your voice in the archives

My husband and I have a list of purging and organizing jobs. Such a satisfaction to get those things done.  We reviewed our list over breakfast today. 

I’ve been lots of soups. Roasted vegetables with stock and purées and a splash of cream.  It’s been so gratifying.  I followed a recipe today for potato/broccoli soup. So many annoyances:  the flour for the roux had weevils, for the first time ever my roux had major clumps and weirdness.  The good thing about being an older cook is knowing how to fix mistakes or unexpected snags.  My husband is heading it up and I’m quite excited. My daughter had a good idea to increase my protein for blended soup:  add in lentils or quinoa.  Our bodies are really craving vegetables and take out food tastes unpleasant these days.  

We voted today.  The Board of selections was busy but they were very organized and efficient.  I was glad to see lots of voters and very diverse crowd.  My friend sends hundreds of postcards to encourage voters. It’s rather expensive because you have to buy the cards and the stamps yourself. It’s interesting that the group most influenced by the postcards are younger voters. Perhaps being so used to tech stuff, an actual postcard is super motivating.  I forget which country/countries have mandatory voting.  I wish we had that requirement here.  

Hope everyone stays healthy and safe.  

To Everyone, my heart is so full with all of your comments because I can see that so many of you are finding your way to what makes more sense today. My wish has been for so long to help others get another perspective of how parts of the old way and parts of the new way can come together to bring calm into the home and make it what is comfortable to each person in their own way. 

Some of you have lived the old way years ago and some of you still do, I trailed off during the late 1980's 1990's, we acquired debt as we followed along with the new way, pagers, brick phones, computers, internet and cell phones.  

Then my Father had a stroke in 2000, I became his caregiver and one thing led to another, my mother got sick and I cared for her and through the years I asked questions, I missed my Grandparents, my Aunties and Uncles. I wanted it all back because to me life was so much better when we were all together.  To me the old way is less confusion and noise, it is less spending and more homemade. We were so much more present in the past.  

While I was caring for my Dad and then my mother, we had to watch our finances closely because I had quit work to care for them and that was my paycheck, plus we had extra expenses. I started trying to make sense and when I found the old way again we stopped spending, we started saving and we got out of debt.  

Just knowing I am taking a break has started giving me inspiration to get things more the old way and I hope when I come back I will have more to share. :) Grandma Donna

G Donna, this is a wonderful time to take a break and work on making your nest more comfortable.  I read a good article on Substack the other day about the harm that goes along with social media.  I deleted all of my social media accounts and so far have not missed them.  When things settle down after the elections I will stop needing to check the news every day.  I have also been working on using less water even though it is provided by the apartment management.  It hasn't gotten very cold here yet although we have had a freeze.  Here in the shadow of the mountains in Colorado, it was not a very good year to see the beautiful Aspen leaves turn this fall.  Too much heat and too little rain affected them badly.  I am praying for a good snow year in the mountains ; the moisture is so desperately needed.

The other day my sister found the book "We had everything but money" at a thrift store and gave it to me.  I've been enjoying am the stories of life during the depression.  I've heard recently that our health insurance is going to go sky-high during this open enrollment time.  I hope not.  I am starting to work on making Christmas gifts, mostly knitting.  With no social media to distract me, I have hopes of getting a lot done.

Have a blessed and relaxing break G Donna and all of the others who follow the blog.  See you later.

Jackie  

Here in the UK we have are experiencing our first real storms of the autumn so I’m running my eye over my store cupboard to make sure there are no obvious gaps and needs. We rely so much on imports these days and I read a report the other day that said the main distribution centres only hold enough food to keep the big supermarkets stocked for 3 days so my small veg garden and stored produce are even more important. That said, I’m enjoying the cooler weather and wearing warmer clothes.

Go well dear Donna and enjoy your time with Charles & the family.

This is definitely a great time for a much needed break. I too have felt lately I need to "get my home in order". Some things I haven't been able to just accomplish the task 100 percent because we work so much with our business and others need just a good maintenance. 

I have finally given up and not trying to think about it, but we were denied again for the 7th time for building our home on our property we own free and clear. We currently have our business there in a 3 car garage we built ourselves, but have been trying since 2020 to build. Its zoned for a 4 bed 3 bath house and all the paperwork is fully ready, but they deny the plans each time within and hour of submitting. I have to contact our attorney and another lawyer to see what we can do that doesn't cost an arm and leg. We have had 75 percent of our house packed for quite some time to move over there. 

We decided we need to take the month of January and completely redo the kitchen and February completely do flooring then march do all the plumbing. We can do it ourselves, but takes longer due to our work schedule. Those items were really bad when we moved in 10 years ago and will cost money, but will surely pay off. I hate how much things have gone up in price and our budget is already incredibly tight. I told my husband I have nothing else to cut or trim because its been so slim for 14 years already. I have one item, but thats for our son I could cut, but he'd be so upset and so would we because its his guitar lessons.

 I dont know how people are affording to live how they do and spend what they do. We have no credit cards on our personal side and no other loan except our mortgage and its still tight. Our business has debt due to machinery, but its finally almost paid off after all these years. We will celebrate when we make the last payment. 

I know I say it a bunch, but I'm grateful for the peace and knowledge this blog brings to my life. 

Andrea B, what is their reason they are giving you for their denial?  This must be very frustrating. 

Thats a great question. The last one they claimed we missed a signature of ours at the bottom which we didn't, another was that one of the 3 people in charge of the building and zoning said her dad wanted to buy our piece of land and he couldn't because we did, another was they didn't like the plans even though they are stamped and engineered, etc. Its all opinion and not actual code or zoning issues. We don't have any restrictions of any kind. Since our little part of where we are is part of Thomas Jeffersons families land theres a handful of us neighbors who all agreed that we wouldn't have it look like a junkyard or destroy the historical land itself with say those very large chicken houses or run 100 dogs thru it. Just to more or less keep it looking nice looking since people like the Smithsonian and Monticello are known to visit one of the properties frequently searching for original artifacts belonging to the family. We have watched ither friends build without any issues, but thats just not the case for us. 

I should add if you Google shelter institute in Maine that will show you the kind of timber frame style we are going to build. 

Oooooo, this is interesting.  The suspicious side of me says someone knows something about something that might be on that land or knows something that was going to be something on that land and that person knows the people that is stalling your paperwork.  But since I don't know I will let my imagination continue to plot this mystery on this historical land.  I think they are trying to stall long enough for you to give up, coming from a never ever never ever give up person.  :)

yes thats exactly what we say! Or its just jealousy. 

I imagine the forum will shut down very shortly, but I am glad to see people still posting as of today :)

It’s amazing to me how well the culture has taught me to look for solutions that involve spending money!  My husband burned through another saucepan, a year after doing it the first time.  He heats water for tea in the saucepan, takes it off the heat to pour the water, and twice now has set the pot back down without turning off the heat.  Soon enough there is a terrible odor, and the solder holding the base of the pot oozes out, rendering the pot unsafe.

Last time I replaced the saucepan because he prefers it to the kettle.  This time I brought out the tea kettle and told him I would use my grandfather’s little enameled cast iron saucepan if I need a saucepan that size.  The way I see it, the first time was a fluke, the second time means we need a different system.  Of course, he could still burn through the kettle.  I love the little saucepan, which is very vintage and will be a true antique in another 20 - 25 years.  But it is slow to heat water compared to a pot made for induction stoves.

I’ve decided I will join Grandma Donna and Stephanie in the 1930s and 1940s during the next few months, as far as I am able as I spend money to replace working modern appliances with vintage or vintage reproduction appliances.  I’ll time hop forward to the 1980s and 1990s when it comes to computer usage — I’m going to set aside my tablet and use either the desktop or laptop at my desk and nowhere else.  I’ll use the TV set up as our “movie theater” — I’m not a big TV watcher at all but the family is, and there are a few shows I enjoy.

Our church has become the hub of our “social” lives, which seems very apropos to going back in time and intentionally living like generations before us.

Yesterday was a big baking day and I found myself thinking of the women in the past — including myself 10-20 years ago, lol!  My husband did all of the dishes, and I remembered how a big day like this back then meant I did all the baking and all the clean up, as it would have meant in the 1930s and 1940s.  I baked a double batch of challah dough into two regular braided loaves and one large braided loaf.  We had some of the big loaf with our Friday soup and I sliced the rest to get us through the weekend — this is why I love Friday baking!  I baked a double batch of brownies, using the leftover egg whites from the challah for half the eggs.  I baked a double batch of whole wheat muffins and three dozen oatmeal cookies.  The brownies were cut into squares and then I  wrapped and froze them individually, as I did with the muffins and cookies — my son is set for work snacks for a few weeks at least.  I’d gotten behind on the baking and had an abundance of solar electrity yesterday, which is why I did so much.

During the break I am going to master pie crust made with palm shortening.  I have to decide if I will go simple and use fat, flour, salt, and water, or if I will add egg and vinegar.  30 years ago my go to recipe definitely used egg and vinegar — I got it from a friend and have lost it since.  That was the 1990s though, and the recipe used Imperial margarine, lol.  My son can’t have butter, hence the palm shortening — which I have a lot of!  Once I’m happy with a recipe I’ll make a big batch using 5# bag of flour so I can freeze discs of pie pastry and not make a big mess in the kitchen every time we want pie.

margaret p – I had not heard the filtered/reverse osmosis water called dead water before. Interesting. The gentleman who came to our home to test our water found all sorts of things in it that we would just as soon not have and at levels that were hundreds of times what was recommended for safety. There’s a website that provides a database to tell what is in your tap water, in terms of public water sources. Unfortunately, that won’t help with your well water, but there’s still a good deal of information on water contamination, consumer resources, etc…For those who have “city” or "rural" water, you can search by your zip code at https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/

Weaverbird – I LOVE the book We Had Everything but Money. Another from that series that is a favorite and I re-read for inspiration is The Old Time Art of Thrift.

I have several books like that , one is about when the banks closed in the Depression. I reread them every year. 

I am trying to subtlety teach my family to not depend on their debit cards so much. I have a separate account with a debit card attached but very seldom use it....their cards seemed to get hacked often. To me that sounds dangerous, I prefer cash or sometimes I pay bills by telephone. We are being told to not send checks by post that it isn't safe. The thing for me to do is not have too many things to pay which means spend less and at fewer places. My bank used to pay utility bills thru their system but now they want to charge 7.50 per transaction.....so we take them in personally. DD works in town so she takes them one block over and deals with it. Banks have become very intricate.

Have a nice break all and I will look forward to returning.

It has been fun reading all of your comments and I sense a bit of excitement as if we Just gave ourselves permission to take another too much of everything break.  I hope this breaks gives all of you a clearing of sorts to start some of those things you have been wanting to do, and to get to what we are calling a more sensible life, fluffing our refuge, our home.  I feel enthusiasm as if we are going on a different train ride.  I hope that whatever you are doing while we are on break, that you can step back and find calm and enjoyment.  

Some of us are going to use some technology to dig into some of our older research studies and some new ones to find some more of those great ah-ha moments.  We can use the internet in a way that calms us and not causes us stress, we just have to find our way. 

I am already having a lot of ideas of what I am going to do, I hope to have some of those things put in place when I come back.  One gentle sound that we will hear in our home is the soothing sound of the treadle sewing machine clicking along, now that makes me happy. :)  

Another hopeful is what is going to be in our fridge and pantry after our going to basics menu change.

Be safe, Grandma Donna

I had to laugh about ruining the pan.  When we got married, I got two uber cheap aluminum pans and one nice weight pan.  I came home from work to find dh had made popcorn in the nicer pan and it was ruined for anything else.  I told him to keep it for popcorn and not to touch anything else.  It was years before I had nice pans and even more years before I had stainless steel pans ... from estate auctions and garage sales.

It sounds like someone is playing politics over approving your building plans.  Might be time to talk to newspaper reporter about the problem.  One thing politician's do not like is bad press or being forced to explain themselves to the public.

Books that might help with studies on thrift are Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn.  There are three books, but you might be able to find them published in one volume.  Also, The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery and the Foxfire series.