I seriously have no idea how the 50's housewife did it. No clue at all. They seemed to effortlessly clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, play bridge cook the pot roast and still manage to greet their husbands at the end of the day with a drink in one hand and pipe and slippers in another wearing a perfectly cheery linen dress and starched apron. Hell, on a good day I greet Breen at the door with my hair disheveled still wearing my yoga pants and coffee stained tank top that I had on when he left the house 10 hours prior. Imagine a bad one. I'm certain those housewives reached for "mother's little helper" but mine comes in the form of my mother. Seriously. I called her yesterday and asked her to come over and help me get the kids rooms organized. Desperate times call for desperate measures. When I'm in over my head, I call her. That woman is a freaking powerhouse AND she actually enjoys it. Imagine that. At one point, I tried to tempt her with a slice of my peanut butter pie but she remained steadfast in her cleaning mission and gave me a look that said "Get your ass back on task!". Now THAT'S dedication!
I vacuumed stairs. I hauled furniture around. We hauled out 5 huge trash bags of old clothing. I was on intimate terms with dust bunnies. Even though we made a hell of a lot of progress, the house is still in disarray. Yes, housewifen' ain't easy.....but I sure do love my mother!
I know your questions were rhetorical. But I'll say a few things anyway.
ReplyDeleteA) By the sounds of it, you were hardly trying to tackle just one day's worth of effort. It sounds like you were doing fall cleaning. And that is hardly one person's task. You rightly enlisted help. Your mom is a peach to do it.
B) My mom was friggin' Donna Reed back in the day. And when it came down to it, she did the majority of things. But I grew up with a chore chart. Everyone had chores. During the week, we kids split up the laundry and dinner dish cleanup. On weekends, we each had a room (aside from our own) to dust/vacuum/mop, etc.
Use the resources at hand. Which means the family. Anyone who has stayed home and tried to do everything involved in running a household knows that you've got to delegate.
Just my opinion. But it worked for my uber mom.
Jane you always make me laugh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I truly believe those 50's housewives were fictional characters...(remember the Stepford Wives?)I don't recall my Mom looking like that (except in photos of course).I can tell you right now that part of the problem is that houses today are too damn big...at least mine is. We never lived in a house this big growing up and our yard then was miniscule compared to the almost one acre I try to tend now! Plus I don't remeber my Mom gardening as much as I do (my dad took care of that). We also grew up with this huge extended family to help out...where are all those people today? There is of course this internet thing that does seem to place me in a time warp...I swear some days I just log on to check how my friends are and the next thing I know hours have gone by, what's that all about? What time did you say it was??? Gotta run...
ReplyDeleteI suck at staying at home, I need to get back to work outside for a break ;). You are right. Don't know how they did it, my grandma had 7 kids and was so active until her 80's. I am in my 30's and I feel like 100. And, oh yeah, I call my mom sometimes to help me :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy some aspects of the house cleaning it marvels me as to how many mother's did it especially the one with a bunch of kids! You are lucky that you still have your folks around mine are in heaven and sometimes I really wish they both were here to give me sage advice when I need it.
ReplyDeletepeace and hugs