Living Like the Past

For those that are following our 1943 WW2 history project, living as they did in 1943 for one full year, I am doing a September update.These are our stamps that we have cut out of our ww2 stamp books that we made. These are what we have used since our official start date of July first. We have been posting them on paper and writing on them what we purchased.It is a bit confusing to purchase goods as they did in 1943 because our food is sold in different sizes than were sold back then. We have been doing a lot of math to figure our ounces. We have had to round up or down mostly.I am making everything smaller including bread. It takes sugar or honey to get the yeast going so really most ......

This place is the old Martin Drug Store. It originally was located in Enterprise Alabama and was moved to Landmark Park.Those that read my blog know that I love doing things the old way and I was excited to get a chance to look at the old products sold back in the day.My mind would probably explode if I worked in this store because I would have to research every single item in the store. I would want to know what it was for, how did they use it? Not necessarily the drugs but all the other items in the store. The medical part would have been of great interest and to my surprise there was a doctors office in the back of the store.My eyes did not know where to land, there was so much to take in ......

My Aunt and Uncle owned a General Store much like this one only they had a small house attached to the left side of the store. The store was a bit wider and longer but similar too. Their store sat next to a river and my Papa Horton would turn the bridge to let steamboats go through. When I walked up on the porch the boards would creek and the screen door would well, make a screen door sound. My shoes always seemed loud walking on the hardwood floors. They had a pot belly stove in the middle of the store and people would stand around or sit on straight back chairs and talk about the weather or farming.It has been a long time since I drank a bottled soda. I remember when we would save our bott ......

This is the second post about the farm at Landmark Park in Dothan Alabama. We strolled along the farm after we went to visit the Farm House.Cotton was growing in a side area outside the farm house.Sugar cane was growing out front across the road.At the back of the house there were many small buildings so we had to go investigate.We passed this pear tree that was loaded with pears and I wished I had bucket so I could make pear relish.There were some wagons from the past....A pen with some pigs.. They would not look up because they were rooting something and had their attention.The animals as well as the outhouse was out behind the house.The out house. My memories of out houses are not good. I ......

My husband and I drove to a place that is called Landmark Park in Houston County Alabama. It is on the outside of Dothan Alabama. I took pictures to share with you the Waddell House as well as the Farm, the General Store, Church, School House, and some of the other buildings on the Farm. The buildings as well as the house have been donated by families that once owned these structures. It is a beautiful farm that is open to the public and it feels like going home. We have been here before but I wanted to go back to show you this lovely place.There is a sign in the front of the house that says;This quaint turn of the century farmhouse originally stood on an 80 acre farm, located 2 miles ......

I love just about anything lace but when lace gets a hole or tear it is usually big trouble.This is a lace cloth to go over a table and it had many holes. It was my mothers. The other day I was getting close to finishing the repairs when I noticed another run that was about to split wide open and be another hole. When I was repairing the holes I did not think to take pictures but I did of this repair.See the line above my finger goes across the tip of the flower.Here is another view, it is at the tip of my third finger from my little finger.It goes all the way across the top of three top petals. If I put my fingers through this it would be a hole. But I have it lined up. I make bobbin ......

I tend to make things complicated when it comes to sewing and is why I do not post much on sewing but I do sew.I made these curtains yesterday for our laundry area. I do not like store bought curtains because the selection is just plain. I found some fabric that I liked and purchased at the store. I purchased three yards of 42 inch wide fabric. I washed and dried the fabric and pressed it before cutting or sewing the curtains. I wash all my fabric when I get it home from the store because it needs to shrink before you make anything. I cut it pretty close with the amount of fabric that I purchased because I have sewn curtains before but you might want to get a little extra if you are not sure ......

Tania from AustraliaThis is our house, taken from our driveway area.We live in rural South Australia on two and a half acres of land. We are situated on the edge of the Australian outback. It is really dry here with very little rain and we struggle to grow plants, whether they be vegetables or flowers. The Laundry Room. I use a twin tub washing machine and dry my laundry on a clothes line. I do not own a clothes dryer as there are not many days that I cant get my washing dry. In Winter I have a clothes line under the verandah that I use. What washing doesn't dry is brought inside to finish off in front of our warm fire.Washing drying on the clothes line.Here is my kitchen sink. I have a doub ......

I don't think I can post a more simple picture than this. I posted it a long time ago in my baby care post but the point I wish to make here is we simply have too much clutter these days. Just ponder on this photo for a moment.In the past there was so much less and through time we have been constantly led into purchasing goods someone else wants us to buy and making us think we cannot live without it.Since we have been doing our living like the 1940s history project we are absolutely learning to be more frugal and we were already more frugal than many.In the 1940s, life was much more simple than it is today, we all understand that but when you try and live like they did in that e ......

Pam, living in Norway. Married with four children. Registered general Nurse. We live in the country surrounded by forest and mountains.Hello and good morning from a foggy, grey Norway G. Donna. A few notes on how I do my daily chores here. I used to hate housework, but after being bedridden with severe illness for years, being able to keep my own house in order feels like a big joy now. Firstly, collecting rainwater. We live beside a huge lake where we can drink the water and our pump costs very little to run, so we don't collect rainwater. As I have such a good water supply, I don't use a dishwasher anymore. I have never met anyone in my generation who doesn't use one, but it is part o ......

Julie Nottingham, England(Julie Loves the 1940s era and so do I)Hello Donna, I live in Nottingham, England. A village called Cotgrave. Just rural enough to be countryside and we live on a hill just 4 houses from the edge of the village, which is great. Nottingham is a large city and we live just 10 miles out so we are not too isolated. From the beginning my parents were active during the war and as such instilled in me the morals of war time Britain, and that's how I was brought up. My dad was a fire watcher and my mum was on the switch boards, my granddad was a fire man in the London Blitz. My Godparents lived in very rural countryside and I spent a lot of my child hood there in haystacks a ......

Kathy from JapanHello Grandma Donna.I am submitting 3 photos of my laundry arrangements for my apartment in Southern Japan. I think that these arrangements are fairly representative of the norm here. The first photo is of my washing machine corner. The machine itself is a combination washer and dryer that has an eco function. It also has a special hose that can be used to draw water from the bathtub, located behind the sliding door to the right, into the washing machine. If I use the tap water that runs directly into the machine, it is always unheated/cold water. Here the bather scrubs their body well before getting into the tub and no soaps are used in the tub. It is mainly used for warmi ......

Cindy from Virginia USACindy from Virginia is taking part in our around the world household study and has sent in an email with photos. and description. Anyone can do this, read the post Grandma Around the World. It is located under tab living like the past.This is Cindy's sink and she is about to make pear sauce and this is what Cindy has to say.I have a double sink and a dishwasher. I use Palmolive for hand washing and Cascade in the dishwasher. I hang my dishtowel on the stove handle. When washing dishes in the sink I would have a drain rack and board where the Asian pears are. I have 2 jade plants and a Christmas cactus in the window. In the fall when we get more sun in the windows I wil ......

I took a morning stroll around the yard after breakfast of peppers onions and eggs.Peppers onions and eggs are very good, all you have to do is saute sliced peppers and onions until the onions start to turn translucent. Remove the peppers and onions from the pan after they are cooked and using the leftover oil add a pat of butter and pour beaten eggs (using a fork) into the pan and cook scramble eggs.It makes a lovely breakfast and very colorful. Toast, jam, peppers, onions and eggs.I did a posting called Our Victory Garden at the beginning of August. On August third I planted some seeds so that we could have a fall garden. It has been 22 days now since I planted turnip, carrot, spinach ......

To me the hairstyles and clothing of the 1940s were just beautiful and I am noticing there is a growing interest in the 1940s styles. I am posting photos from my family album for you to see or to learn how to style your hair as it was done in the 1940s but not to use for any any other purpose. Thank YouI hope you have enjoyed, Grandma Donna ......

My website has been around for many years and to my surprise this little blog reaches around the world.Visitors send me the most lovely emails from all over the world and I feel as if I have extended family many miles away but also like they are just next door. I want to do something different and not sure how it will work but I need your help for this one.Many people that visit my website find a common place but we live in different countries, states, provinces, villages etc. and do things very different. Here in the USA we do things different in each state.Recently I have learned that many people in Australia collect rainwater and use it for most every need and some drink it unfilter ......

I enjoy early morning at our house. I get up first, turn on the stove to heat water and start breakfast. I turn on the lights and everything is quiet as it is still dark outside.A walk around the house and you would see things I left unfinished such as my tatting project.Or my yarn and knitting needles wrapped and pinned closed from when I came home yesterday from Jury Duty and removed the partially knitted kitchen wash rag I was making.Very old magazines sit in a old canner on the hearth next to the rocker.Our rocker was in the sewing room but since we do not watch television anymore this is my new reading place. I say my new place because there are only two chairs in our house that my feet ......

Above photo a lady canning.In the old days many people kept scrap books. My Grandmother would cut out newspaper and magazine articles and post them in a scrapbook along with family news, weddings, deaths and other information that would be in the newspaper. There were no copy machines and computers back then. I kept several scrapbooks as well and then time passed and pasting articles in books faded away. Scrap booking in today's time is much different than it was in the past.Here are a few things from the 1930s and 1940s. A picture says a lot.Canning and shelling peas 1937. If you look closely you will see the young man using the can sealer, the young lady placing the can in the pressure coo ......

This is one article of many articles on my website. Just go to Home and look at the top bar or see menu depending if you are using a computer, tablet or phone to see the many articles on this website.One day I heard my husband out in the back yard yelling for me, his voice sounded excited and I rushed out the door to see what was going on. A B17 Bomber WW2 airplane was flying over our house. It was amazing to see and hear this old plane flying right over our heads. We found out later that it was visiting our airport on tour.Our 1943 history project is starting to go a bit smoother. There were a few days last week I questioned myself why in the world were we doing this. But that passed and ......

I am very thankful to my friend Catherine for bringing up the idea of rationing like people had to do in1943. It has brought many things into better perspective and what started off as just rationing our food and gasoline as they had to do in 1943, my husband and I took it a step further to living more like they did in 1943. This does not mean go all out and change everything from the way we dress to changing everything in our house but to rid ourselves of too many modern and unnecessary items in our home. Such as television etc.We have brought the noise level down to minimal and it has been wonderful and honestly it helps to think better. Now instead of watching television we rea ......