Comments On Article: The Diary Of Sarah January 17 - 23 1932

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Whew! just reading Sarah's diary is exhausting, much less  actually doing all that work every day!  It sounds as though she just went from one task straight to the next without any intervals of rest or relaxation from the time she got up until she went to bed "sleepy". "Dead tired" would be my last remark before signing off.

It makes me feel like a real sluggard with the little bits of "real work" that I accomplish every day.   Maybe I won't feel so bad in comparison one we get to spring------I do lots of "real work" outside spring through late fall.  So maybe that levels out the imbalance, although I'm afraid that Sarah has a big garden out back and takes care of that and then deals with all that produce by canning etc. etc.  So I may fall short in the outdoor work as well.  We'll see.....

I'm sure it will take until the end of the month to really get my routine set, but I did add a couple of things to my schedule that I think will help a lot. First, any time it's supposed to be 50F or higher and nice, I do gardening tasks. This should keep early spring from being a mad crush of work all at once! The other thing is that I have decided to ignore modern news except for reading my local weekly newspaper, and it hardly ever includes national news. I can feel the peace descending already. :) On Wednesday afternoons (after the mail arrives with my newspaper), I take some time to sit and read the newspaper. It feels very 1930's. :)

Wednesday and Saturday bread baking is working perfectly, and we found our model number, looked up the manual, found the right part, and fixed our broken heating element on our stove. The repair itself wasn't hard, but we learned how to take the stove apart to clean it thoroughly and cleaned under it. Doing our own repairs is part of what we'll be doing this year.

I kept forgetting to wear my apron the first week, but I'm doing better this week. It's fun to use cash. I learned that you put some pennies in one pocket and some coins in the other when you go shopping or you end up with a heavy cookie tin full of coins and no dollars! (The vintage cookie tin is what I keep my cash in on my kitchen counter. It's the shape and size of a tall 1 pound coffee tin.)

That was quite a dinner party that Sarah had!

I get exhausted reading Sarah's diary too.  I just keep reminding myself that a lot of the work she describes would be things she does routinely, and she is accustomed to the work in ways that we are not.  I can imagine the dinner party and its preparations are one thing that made her extra tired that week.  I do admire her for her work ethic though.

Stephanie G

Good for you and your husband on learning how to repair and clean your oven.  The more things like that we can do, the more money we save and the better we feel about taking care of our homes.   I also forget to put on my apron when I get home from work.  I am not used to doing that so I have to make a special point to put it on.  Perhaps we can send good "apron" thoughts to each other :) :)  I like your Wednesday afternoon with the newspaper.  Do you also have a cup of tea or coffee or perhaps a glass of water?  Your routine sounds very much like an afternoon tea break.

Frances M Thank you. :) It makes me feel capable when I learn to do something like take care of my stove properly. I would be more than happy to send you good apron thoughts! I'm sure I'll always remember to wear mine with your thoughts coming to me. :) I had a cup of coffee. I want to put regular breaks into my afternoon routine but I am still working too hard on getting a schedule in the first place, so the newspaper arriving on Wednesday afternoons gave me a good place to have one. 

My husband’s grandfather’s name was Ralph Green from Kansas, born in 1915.  What a coincidence. :)