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My heart aches with the news of the disaster, also.  

I know about the paperwork that comes after a death, and it is very difficult to keep doing it, day after day, so I applaud you both for getting through it!  My parents kept way too much paper that we had to go through, but my grandparents didn't have as much saved, for some reason.  They had a very small house and I'm not sure where they would have stored it, so perhaps necessity drove them to discard paperwork more easily.  My other grandfather (he was widowed for many years) had a desk of papers, but much of that was current paperwork he had for the organizations he was in.  It was not a lot to go through.  

I have had to leave the air conditioning running, as it is very humid and hot, at times dangerously so.  I have continued to hang dry all my laundry, however, and I'm still sticking to simpler meals.  I've been watching Clara's YouTube videos, now that I can access them.   I read or watch an occasional movie for entertainment, especially the old movies. 

We received a refund for our federal taxes and I put it right onto a debt.  I saved out some to purchase requested books for a group of disadvantaged youth my church is assisting.  

My garden is struggling some, but I'm getting some things out of it.  How is yours?

The flooding is so awful that I can hardly comprehend it along with the lives lost.

We had a blessed week.  We have been swapping our homemade bread for vegetables from our neighbors garden.  We needed a new vacuum cleaner so I found a $200 one that has never been used for $30 on Facebook Marketplace . We won a $100 grocery gift card .  All blessings!

I’m cleaning out, yet again, and hauled two carloads off to bless someone else. Also coeanong out all my paperwork and burned it. After my stroke I realized how much I had undone, so I’ve also been using up lots  of craft things — like weaving towels and knitting dishcloths… finishing a quilt … and just generally doing the things that have lingered. Finished feels good!!! 

You both are inspiring me. I've got papers the my little file cabinet is, well, bulging.  I remember I used to have a system and each week would declutter 27 things (papers) until I couldn't declutter anymore. Then it was just upkeep. It felt AMAZING.  Then we moved, and moved again a few years later. I lost my mojo in the last move and am just finding my way back. Thanks for this. Wow that's a lot of bags!

Thank you gDonna, for all your hard work typing these messages over the years and all the helpful information.   Also thank you to everyone who leaves comments every week, especially those who live on my side of the world. It is a double bonus and every day I look to see if anymore have been added.  I don't actually join in or comment because I am in New  Zealand.  Different seasons, bad health and many other reasons, but have never had a dish wash and live simply (I'm now in my mid 70's), but it is so motivating to read what others are doing and this week I have been sorting and discarding our own paperwork so that it is not left for family.  Thank you again everyone.  

Thanks for another wonderful post. 

Paperwork is an issue for me at the moment too. We have a lawncare business we operate from our home and have to keep business records for 7 years for tax purposes. But when you have a small house it's difficult to find room for it all, so it's even more important to only keep that which is necessary! The problem is, I have more than 7 years worth of paperwork and so started going through them a month or so ago. It's a long process, but it's getting done and will be such a relief when it's all gone through. It truly does weigh you down.  

We've been eating our small garden's cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes which is a treat. It's just been so hot though and the plants are struggling with the heat.  

I'm still organizing and editing our belongings in order to have a more 1930s house, so not living it completely yet. Being in the hospital and having to recover from surgery slowed me down a bit but I'm getting back into the swing of things :) 

I have been collecting some vintage photographs from mostly the 1930s online. I'll share this one with you all in honor of grandma Donna's sewing machines:      California, 1936...

Yes, these natural disasters are too often and too terrible. From wildfires here in the west, to flooding and hurricanes and tornadoes in the rest of the country, we have seen enough of it. I am very bothered too, by the amount of people going through such hard times and losing loved ones, pets, and possessions. People value their homes and things; it is normal and natural to miss them. Of course the most serious are loss of life.  But it is all too much.

Here I have been tending a disappointing garden: no garlic to speak of; not sure about my potato crop this year, and it is usually terrific. So far my pumpkins have not been pollinated. I did have some very lovely sweet strawberries earlier in June, and have some raspberries coming. The lemon and apple trees are doing very well and I had a gorgeous bed of fresh lettuces: mixed cut and come again type, butter lettuce, Romaine, and small head lettuce. So far it has been a rather cool summer with marine air in the mornings, but it is beginning to heat up now. We shall see.

I am working on a quilt that I had been meaning to finish; but actually I had barely started on it. There were about six blocks made toward it, but now I have three and one half rows of it ready to be stitched together. It is a throw quilt and I have had the fabric for it in my stash for several years now. It is a very pretty print of variegated shades of pink and red roses with green and ivory; this is a nine patch pattern and I look forward to seeing it all finished. It did help that I got in there and deeply cleaned out and straightened the sewing room where I work. It really needed it. 

I also bought a new range: the gas range that I had was not lighting correctly. I would turn the oven on and it would take quite a while to get hot; then  I would hear a light rumble. I could also smell a bit of gas, so I was not going to take any chances. This time I got an electric oven with an induction cooktop. There is a bit of a learning curve on timing and settings for the cooktop, but it is not as bad as having to get used to an all electric cooktop. I never could get the hang of those, having always had gas in the kitchen. We got it on sale for the season and there was an extra $500 taken off because someone had had it delivered to their kitchen and it did not fit correctly so returned it the same day. That was a real stroke of luck for us!

Debby B, I forgot to report back on the movie! I enjoyed it very much. It was like a made-for-Grandma Donna's-blog movie with its theme of how chasing after being modern makes you make poor decisions and waste your money. 

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A barn swallow built a nest on our front porch light. Our porch is recessed and out of the weather. Mama Barn Swallow looks so cute sitting on her nest. It's a mud nest instead of the sticks and hay nests we normally see. Some of the neighbors have been very good about knocking down the house swallow nests, and there's a lot fewer of them around. 

I found some more businesses within walking distance to me. I've been thinking about what is free to do and walking or riding a bike fits that. I want to do as many free things as I can. Unfortunately things like cleaning, whether washing dishes or clothes or just cleaning the house, isn't free. I will always have to buy water, heat, and soap for cleaning. But I can do free yard maintenance, grow free food, do some free cooking with the solar generator, and have free transportation with my feet.

Other than trying to find all the free things, I've been working on making all my changes effortless habits, so I've been doing the same things over and over. I haven't had the time I'd thought I've have for my cheap redecorating projects, but I'll get there eventually. 

The spring planted vegetables will all be out of the garden this week, and the potatoes, onions, and garlic into the new wire baskets in the pantry. The summer planted vegetables aren't bearing yet, but when they do, I imagine I'll be doing a lot of canning. The blueberries did really well this year and I put the blueberry jam next to the strawberry, raspberry, and gooseberry jams. 

I'm so glad the paperwork pile is getting smaller! 

You have my congrats on the paperwork.....holy moly that is a lot of bags.......

I have been feeling so bad for those in the flood zones. I cannot even imagine what they are going thru. Its horrible to think about.

I have made strawberry jam and bought some peaches from a markdown rack......I used some for jam and put some in the freezer. I won't have pears until fall, I get them from someone with trees and they don't want to mess with them.

Family get-together for the 4th of July, it is always nice to be with loved ones. We also have a few people that we have "adopted in". 

Still converting and using ways of the 1930's, has become very natural and I am liking it. 

My garden is producing, green beans, cucumbers, onions and I had to remove the spent spinach and replanted that area with more green beans for canning. Thankfully we got some much needed rain yesterday.

Blackberries should be ripening this week or so.

I appreciate the link to your videos.  I will be checking those out.

I come from a family of paper savers and married into a family of paper savers. Anything paper. Anything. 

Looking at what my mother, my husband and my in-laws have accumulated I have to admit I'm motivated to not leave a lot of junk for my children to go through. I do have a lot of stuff (sewing, art supplies, cookbooks & religious books) but most of it is neatly organized so I can use it and I do use it. If I or my children need to eventually dispose of it will be a matter of pulling it off a shelf and putting it in a box. Right now I am getting rid of stuff that adds nothing to my life.  I realized I have 3 cookie jars. I'm not using any of them. I donated 2 of them on Saturday. I kept the one hubs is attached to because it was a gift to him (from someone he doesn't know any more). It will probably never be used as I'm trying to pare down the kitchen & keep things off the counters. But there's space in a closet for it & it makes him happy knowing we still have it.

I've noticed that when I have stacks on counters (like my files or mail) everyone else takes that as permission to pile on their stuff and it leads to chaotic messes pretty quickly. When I keep my stuff put away (or even just toss) any clutter is easy to spot and I can deal with it quickly.  So this has disciplined me to keep my own stuff in order.

Looking at those garbage bags of paperwork makes me shiver. I was never a neat freak until I had to step over or reach past clutter to get something only to knock over the pile or even injure myself because something fell on me. I have tossed out stuff sight unseen.  I accept I can do nothing about other's clutter so I say nothing. I just take joy in the areas I have organized and simplified. 

And honestly at some point it makes sense to ask am I ever going to have the time to use all these candles, read all these books,  cook from all these recipes, file all this paper? 

What really saddens me is that my family members really think this stuff is important and significant.  An incredible amount of time & money & space has been devoted to their stuff. Most of it will get tossed. When my oldest brother died my other brother literally had 2 days to empty his house of anything he might want to save. He had a large car and only kept what he could fit in it (mostly mementoes for family). He had to pay a company to dispose of the rest because this was during the pandemic and thrift stores weren't accepting items much less a whole house of stuff. My deceased brother even had boxes and boxes of things in the garage from his last move he'd never unpacked. My brother had no time to open it.

I know my kids don't want my stuff. When I'm decluttering I don't ask if they want anything.  I've been to their houses! They don't need anything! Lol

I have to admit that I find all these incidents of saving paperwork disturbing. We had a family member whose in-law was a hoarder. This person was even on one of those TV shows about hoarding. Saving unneeded papers is a form of hoarding. It's not about saving papers. It goes deeper than that. I saw the pain this person who hoarded was in and it was very pitiful. I don't think it's kind to people to normalize this behavior and ignore the problems that trouble them. I think it's better to talk about the fact that they are exhibiting signs of distress and ask if they want help with their distress. 

We're all hoarders to some degree because modern life tells us to buy too much. Living like the 1930s gives us an opportunity to live in a way that's healthier for us. 

Claudia O  your quilt  sounds lovely.  Would  you post a picture when done?

Stephanie G, what is the title of the movie you saw? I looked back at the comments from the last post but couldn't find where you mentioned the name.

I'm glad you enjoyed the movie.   It was recommended to me, as well.  By a tightwad friend!  For those wondering, it's called The Dollmaker.  Really excellent movie.  

Donna -  Seeing your bags of stuff to be shredded is deja vu.  Long story short, my best friend has been pleading with her mom for decades to let her clean out her house.  Her mom completely refused and would go into a near fainting spell over it.  Eventually, her health made it necessary as she had to move into assisted living.  My friend finally completed the house.  Her mom had actually dead bolted doors so nobody could see in several bedrooms.  Most everything went to the dump....but the paperwork.  My friend filled her car to the ceiling 3 or 4 times, including the trunk.  They had a virtual mountain like yours in the garage.  One envelope and paper at a time.  Exactly as you experienced.  Ads in the envelopes.  Every single paper they ever touched, it seemed.  Took them months to shred because they burned up one shredder and didn't want to ruin the second.  She said the paperwork went back over 60 years.  Receipts for baby clothes, my friend is 60!   My friend wore the masks and goggles, as well.  She said her long deceased dad's clothes were still in dry cleaners plastic and it literally confetti-ed when she touched it.   She texted me pictures of it all and her progress.  It was truly overwhelming.

Tandi S, it's called The Dollmaker.

When I cleared out my late d-i-l' apartment, I literally filled two commercial dumpsters with bags of paper -- twice.  I wasn't very popular with the other residents who found no place to dump their trash.  I was more careful after that and only partially filled the dumpsters with more papers.  I spent over two months clearing a one-bedroom apartment.

I'm more organized with my paperwork.  On January 1 I close by personal ledgers for the prior year and them up for the new year.  At the same time, I pull all receipts and toss or shred everything not needed for a reason.  When I purchase a new appliance, I staple the receipt to the front cover of the booklet that comes with the appliance.  Or I should say I've always done so but when I purchased my washer it did not come with a booklet rather a code to scan to find it online which was/is useless to me since I don't have a smart phone.  I like to keep utility bills from the previous year so I can compare the current bills when I receive them.  

I have a treadle sewing machine, but the head is worn out and cannot be repaired.  I've considered purchasing a Janome treadle head and having my cabinet remodeled to fit it.  The plus on that is the newer head does zigzag and backstitch.  I've tried for a very long time to find a Singer head with a round bobbin with no luck.  I learned to sew on a Minnesota treadle that had belonged to my great-grandmother.  My g-grandmother was on county old age relief when she died, and they took everything from her house to sell.  G-gram had loaned her machine to my mom, so it wasn't in the house to sell.  Mom "gave" me the machine, but she also gave it to someone else, so I didn't get it.    

That is a lot of paperwork.  I can feel your relief in getting through it all.  

I've still been working on cleaning out some of the outbuildings here on my family's property.  Mostly a lot of scrap metal that just needs to go to the recycling yard.  

Picked the first few green beans today, but that's all my garden has produced so far.

Wild black raspberries are in season here, but unfortunately I fell down a hole while picking, hurt my back, hip, and wrist, and that's slowed me down a little on other projects.  

I too watched The Dollmaker after seeing one of you recommend it a few weeks back.  Parts of it hit a little too close to home for me, but it was a very well done movie.  I had to watch it on my phone though, which wasn't very 1930s.

Stephanie G, it is a form of hoarding. The sentiment expressed to me is either "it's mine" or "I might need it". But I think it's based on fear. Whatever that real fear is has been projected onto paper (and stuff in general a lot of times) as a control/ coping mechanism that can be portrayed as reasonable (papers need to be saved right?) They get very angry at any hint that they don't need to save those papers. (Truth be told they rarely look at it once it rests in a pile.)

If the paperwork is 50- 60-70 years old does it need to be shredded? I doubt many, if any of the accounts or businesses are still around. I've seen various vintage papers for sale at antique shops and I collect old letters for my postmark collection some of which contain bills. None of it is fodder for identity theft. For me the cut off would be 30 years or older for tossing. If the account is still active then I shred.

margaret p, I agree with you completely. When the hoarder in-law did the TV show they had to talk to psychologists as part of the contract for the recompense, and it was brought out that surrounding yourself with junk was a form of trying to protect yourself. It is a manifestation of fear. I can't even imagine trying to live in a home where someone has dumpsters full of paperwork in it, but the hoarders feel they are safe like that! 

No hoarding here, I shred as the statements/documents/receipts get to a year old, keeping them if the warranty is of course longer than that although warranties are usually only worth the paper they're written on.  Call me cynical but mostly they'll claim that it doesn't cover whatever you're claiming for - and never do we buy extended warranties, a waste of money and time.  We have things down to basics - I may have said before that I asked myself two questions - one, would we keep this if we had to move, and two, if either of our children/grandchildren would be interested in keeping it - if the answer was no to either one, then out it went.  And now I only have basics in this home and we're happy with the less cluttered areas - if we don't use it, we sell, donate or give it to someone who will.  We live next door to a chronic hoarder and that is enough for me, rats, snakes, vermin and everything dumped - ugh.

Ann W.  I'm not sure where you reside, but I've seen quite a few treadle sewing machines on "Murphy Marketplace"  They are located in several states.  Lehman's Brothers , the non-electric site for the Amish, carries the belt material.  Lehman's store is in Ohio.  

G. Donna, I'm sorry to hear the paperwork story.  its past time for me to start going through my extra paper and prepare it for Fall's leaf and twig fire.  Year's ago, I bought a two drawer filing cabinet and have been pretty good about keeping my paper down to two drawers.  In the past I moved on average every 11 months for 30 years.  It kept me from keeping old stuff or many books.  

Favorite cards and pictures along with momentos from friends are kept on a small bulletin board in my sewing room.  That way I get to enjoy it.

With the current heat index here in Western, NC (where there is no flooding thank goodness) about all I can do on my day off is sew in the room where the a/c is.  I'm currently working on a string piercing project that is at least 20 years old. 

Your wonderful biscuit recipe has been made three times now.  Since my oven isn't working, I have to use my air fryer and they only take about 12 minutes.  I don't really care for the air fryer, but it will have to do until I can get a gas oven.  Gas is better for canning and other things I've heard. 

Here's wishing everyone a safe, garden-overflowing summer. 

Really feeling for those who've lost children and others in the floods over in the USA.

Have no paperwork to shred but today took 3 tote bags and a box of clothing and knick knacks to an Op Shop ( Thrift store) here. It was from around 6 weeks of sorting and being quite ruthless and I wasn't tempted to go through it again either. So glad others can now have the items 

Janice E.... Welcome to Comments from a fellow Kiwi.

Sincerely Karen S

Sending thoughts and prayers from across the pond here in the UK to all those affected by the weather extremes in the US.

Our garden is going along nicely with strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes and salad leaves being eaten daily. We have had a very dry spring & summer so far which means a lot of watering needs doing but thankfully no restrictions yet from the water companies on the use of hose pipes as our water butts are not filling up quick enough.

No air conditioning here and temperatures have been high for the UK so curtains are shut during the day on the sunny side of our cottage which keeps it relatively cool. No need for a clothes dryer though so that’s a real positive as everything can dry on the line

Grandma Donna wrote,

I have been getting behind on welcoming some of our new people that have joined the forum to comment.  Maureen G, thank you for joining the comments and you joined in on the last blog post from this one.  

Janice E, the people here commenting are from all over the world and this is wonderful!  We love hearing from you and we are learning from each other and get so many wonderful stories and ideas. I want everyone from wherever you are to join in the forum, this helps us all learn from each other.  We have found out that we all have similar interest, and similar hardships no matter we live. Karen has been with me on my blog journey for many years, well before this forum as so many of you.  This forum is introducing each of you to one another and this makes me very happy. Thank you all for posting comments and the new ones that I have missed welcoming.  Donna

Thank you, Grandma Donna, for another timely and insightful post. You and Charles have had a lot to deal with and have handled it with grace. It is a good reminder to all of us to keep our affairs in order, if only to save the next generation the work.

At the end of 2024, we helped my sons clear out their father’s home after he suddenly passed. We loaded a very large roll off dumpster with years of possessions. Just 6 weeks later, we did the same with my father’s home after he passed on. It hit home that I don’t want others to be in a position to have others toss my beloved items or sort through decades of paperwork and clutter. I believe the term is Swedish Death Cleaning - taking care of business while still alive.

I am in Michigan and have been picking the tail end of our raspberries. I canned some preserves and may be able to squeeze in one more batch before the season ends. We probably have a couple weeks of growing time before most crops start to ripen. Our hot weather has provided ample temperatures for good growth!

The quilt block you posted is lovely - is it a quilt you are working on?

The Texas and North Carolina tragedies are devastating. I cant't fathom what they are all going through. May God help them locate all the missing people. 

We are under heat advisories for the last couple of weeks, and I just read it will be continuing. Our vegetable garden is handling it pretty well because we mulch it after planting. Green beans, butter beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, summer squash and sweet corn are either coming in now or have already been harvested. We picked at least 25 lbs blueberries when I stopped counting and some were put into freezer, eaten fresh, and some were made into jam. My husband needs a spinal fusion soon so i have been thinking quite a bit about how we will manage our property. I am thankful that we have already done some downsizing in place, and will continue to evaluate our systems. We inherited a vast amount of paperwork also when parents passed, mostly my husband's. Photos, wills, land surveys, etc. I have reduced it to 2 briefcases. I have a few boxes of sentimental items from my children (cards, pictures, notes, etc) that I think I will bundle according to child, read them again and remember that sweet time, and return them to the child with a letter from me. Then they can experience that memory again and decide for themselves if they want to hold on to it. 

I continue with my simple chores, line drying my laundry, cooking very simply, no baking because of the heat, and trying to use the dishwasher very little. I find I am only using it when we all gather together for dinner as a family. I feel like I am playing a game with the Electric Co and look forward to my 'report card' I get from them bi-monthly. We must use the air conditioning but I have pulled out fans and raised the temp in the house, the fans help tremendously. The goal is to concentrate on anything that needs done outdoors early in the morning, and save the indoor work for the afternoons. I am trying to get back into some sewing and yesterday pulled out a large container of fabric i have stashed. I washed and hung it so I can think about whether i will use it or not. I am also learning some mending. 

Grandma Donna, I am so glad you have kept this going for so long. It has been a wonderful resource and inspiration for so many of us, thank you. 

Thank you, Tandi for your interest. I will indeed post a snap of it. I am hoping it won't be long to finish. 

I just finished getting rid of most of our paper clutter. Anything that needed to be saved for tax purposes or warranty was scanned and loaded onto an external hard drive that i keep in a fireproof box along with passports, birth certificates, etc. I did the same thing with photos. Scanned them all onto the hard drive. I then had Shutterfly make me a photo album with all of my favorite pictures so that i can look and them and share them, but without all the clutter of boxes of photos. 

Our garden is doing ok, especially for the lazy attitude i have with keeping up with it!  We have 4 types of tomatoes ripening, poblanos, cayenne pepper and our carrots are almost ready. 

I love this blog and forum so much. So many great ideas and the community is just so welcoming.

Pam,

Snakes are wonderful to have around though, they are there to eat your neighbor's rats and vermin :)

Several years ago we had saved a bunch of stuff on an external drive. A couple years ago I went to retrieve some files and found I could no longer open it. I guess in the future I need to maybe update to a  new external hard drive every so often? 

(Fortunately, there were a few very special things on that thing I'd also emailed myself so I still had access to those.)

When I used a film camera I was pretty diligent about getting the pictures developed and into an album. That sure went by the wayside with digital cameras. Plus now it's so easy to take multiple shots whereas with film you took one and hoped it was a good one! Lol

Your blog posts are always a little respite in the day Donna and I very much enjoy the community you have built here as it is so nice to enjoy the company of others who are exploring the same ways of living as I am.

Like a couple others here I too am from NZ and enjoy seeing comments from this part of the world!

I am on my winter break at the moment and have oodles of time on my hands for projects so I have been keeping myself occupied by starting to make this years Christmas presents (the goal is to hand make them all!), keeping an eye on my winter veg garden (it’s slow going but I think the Brussel sprouts might make it through the horrendous weather), and finally attempting a 1940’s rationing system following Carolyn at The 1940’s Experiment (week 1 is complete and my partner and I are surprised at how well it has gone- both ration-wise, tastiness and fullness!). 

Best wishes and love to all!

Hello to you too Nan. Isn't it marvellous having communication with the like-minded.  :-)

Well done with  accomplishing your first week of The 1940s experiment.

Im watching The Wartime Kitchen and Garden on YouTube currently.

Karen S

NZ

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Hello Nan, happy to see you here commenting.   Charles and I have been bouncing around in the 1930s and 1940s for many years now. The 1930s and the 1940s home life is very similar.  The challenges are different being that the great depression was extremely difficult as far as finances, the dust bowl, and many losing jobs and homes. As they were getting into the late 1930s and into the 1940s (depending on what country one lived), just as they experiencing some improvement then the rationing started due to world war 2.  The war actually helped them with getting military pay and women going to work in factories, but the money would do them no good without rationed coupons.  I see this as almost twenty years of continuing challenges.  Thank you for commenting.  Donna

Hello Everyone.  My first time to comment. I found Gdonna through Ronda Hetzel’s blog, who I believe is in Australia.  And back to the USA where Gdonna is located, and so am I.

I wanted to leave a little comment about The Dollmaker movie.  Jane Fonda played the main character, Gertie.  Many years ago she came to stay with my sweet Grandmother, Gertrude, for a few days to learn how to plow with a mule and fry hoe cakes.  My gran loved her!  They spent a few days together just talking and living in her little home.  Jane had found my grandmother when she came to Kentucky with Dolly Parton. This was right after their 9-5 Movie.  Dolly found my grandparents literally up a holler in rural Kentucky.  I think Jane was taken with my Gran because her name was the same as her character and they hit it off so well together.  No one really knew she was here and she had a few days of relative peace while here.  She went to town to shop with my Mom one day and while they were eating lunch a waitress came over and said “Do people tell you that you look a lot like Jane Fonda?”  Jane replied, “ I hear that a lot.”  Our whole family loves to tell that story!!

I can hardly read the book or watch the movie due to how close the hardships Gertie suffered hit to home.  

My Grandmother was the consummate homemaker, cook, farm manager, sewist, quilter, and lover of all animals.  I loved her so much and was privileged to have her live with me at the end of her life.  Everything I know about homemaking came from her. My poor mother couldn’t sew on a button!

I’m retired now and find that having more time to dedicate to our home and garden is a blessing.  And having a wonderful Grandmother was the biggest blessing of all.

I’m really enjoying this blog and the wonderful comments from this community.

Rebecca 

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Hello Rebecca H, Welcome to commenting here on the blog.  You have an amazing story here and I just watched the movie (the Dollmaker with Jane Fonda) two nights ago after it was brought up here in the forum.

What is truly wonderful is that you were able to know your grandmother and absorb some of her ways and memories.  It sounds that it was all meant to be the way that Jane Fonda was able to meet your Grandmother and seeing how she played the part of Gertie, she must have learned a great deal from her private stay with your Grandmother.  Thank you for sharing your story, fits right in here with all of us in this forum.  

My Grandmother was very similar and lived a similar life and I am thankful to have her in my life. (Heart)

Donna

Just a quick message to Grandma Donna and Karen S  to say thank you for the warm welcome and hello to Nan and Rebecca H.  What an amazing story Rebecca.  

  Thanks for sharing the story about your Grandma and JF.   What an incredible story!!  Your Grandma must have been an excellent role model because JF knocked it out of the park.  While I know little about that part of the country, it seemed very authentic.  The struggles, the poverty.  And yet Gertie kept going and kept her focus clear.   Strong, strong woman.

Dear Donna,

I know this is unrelated to your most recent article but I have a question.  I wonder if this has happened to anyone else?  I decided to try in a small way to apply your way of thinking.  This is the using of a bar of soap to do the dishes.  This has been going on for about two weeks now. What I have noticed is that my sense of smell is much stronger and my taste buds have changed especially in regards to coffee!  I need now much stronger coffee beans and even liking it black!!!!

Nancy

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Hello Nancy Q_2, I have not had the coffee experience because I no longer drink coffee but I can say that when I started washing dishes with non synthetic bar soap, that I did not know that my reaction to scents had changed until I used some dawn dish soap one day after having to clean something very greasy so I would not have issues with the pluming.  I was very familiar with the scent of dawn but had been away from it for quite awhile. The scent was so very powerful that I had to step back a bit.  

I do feel that when we use commercial dish soap, especially scented that we get used to breathing that in until we do not notice it anymore.  

I prefer to wash dishes with bar soap but with my method of rubbing my dish scrubber I make using netting.  This makes the soap foam up over the dishes and does not leave as much glycerine.  It makes sense to me that you are having this sensation from getting away from chemical dish soap. 

If anyone else has experienced this please comment.  Donna

Your post about dealing with clearing out decades of paperwork hit home for me.  My Mom is still alive but living in an assisted living apartment.  Let me tell you, it is really hard going through your Mom's paperwork and possessions while she is still living but has such poor memory.  We have not sold her house yet, and are trying to decide what to do with all her stuff.  It has to be cleared out in order to sell the house.  The most difficult thing for me is the financial paperwork.  My parents changed banks over the years, due to closures, mergers, or just plain opening an account because of a good deal being offered.  They kept all the records, but never made any notes as to what happened when the account closed.  so I am reluctant to discard the paperwork until some future date when her estate needs to be settled.  However, I have no place to put all this stuff and it's stressful.

I have been busy shredding my own paperwork...one box at a time.  I'm making progress.  What you and Charles had to clean out sounds overwhelming! 

We have been having high heat and rain.  I was helping a friend clean out another friends house last week, about 15 miles from my home.  A tornado watch was active, and at about 5:30 pm it looked like night time outside.  Heavy rain and wind, but no tornado, thankfully.  Our electric usage is up due to the need to run fans and the air conditioner at night in order to sleep.  I did not put in a garden this year, but it is all I can do to keep up with the weeding in the flower beds around the house.  So hot and humid!

Your sewing machine is beautiful!

I rarely comment, but read every post as well as all of the comments. Grandma Donna, I found your blog at the beginning of the pandemic and have been an avid reader ever since. I think my favorite post is the tour of the 1940’s home y’all visited. I’ve looked at it several times. Back before the forum I emailed with you a few times and really appreciated your insights. You encouraged me to trust my instincts when I felt the need to become more prepared and to simplify things. Thank you for all you do here. 

I enjoy the comments everyone leaves as well. They are as edifying as the post! And, Nancy, I too have noticed that the more scented items I’ve removed from my life, the more sensitive I’ve become to anything scented. So you’re not alone in that. We are surrounded by toxins and plastics. Another benefit of buying used and/or vintage is the off gassing has already happened.

I am not living like the 1930’s per se, but I have been simplifying things and buying less and keeping less. I’m fixen to turn 57 and realized that I don’t want to leave a mess for people when the Lord takes me home.

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Michele N, I am happy to see your comment.  I believe the 1940s house that you are talking about is this house. https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/1940s-ww2-...

For those that would like to see, there are several parts to this post and the links are at the bottom of the page. 

Also there is the farmhouse tour. https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/farm-house...

Debbie in PA, my heart is with you as you sort through your mothers paperwork and household items, it really takes a toll on our body to do such things.  I completely understand.

It was a slow task going through all of the work-related files from over 35 years in the NHS. All of the letters, reports, material from study days and courses, and the reflective practice reports we were supposed to write up at the end of every shift. We were required to keep it for years, I am sure it was a fire risk in the attic. 

Then there was the paperwork from my Open University degree courses, and all of the Church courses. Some still turns up, saved from previous clear-outs because it might be useful. 

I have three box files of school stuff to take to DD this weekend, reports, and concerts and play leaflets. The sort of things historians treasure. 

I have shredded a lot of stuff, it went to poultry bedding then composted. The shredders last longer if you remember to oil the blades frequently. 

DH needs to deal with more of his old paperwork, he had boxes of old bills. He goes out to play bowls all day and every day rather than deal with anything at home. 

@Grandma Donna: thank you so much for the link to the old farmhouse. I loved seeing the pictures and your descriptions made understanding the layout so easy. How smart they were to put the well that close to the house and then enclose it on 3 sides. I thought I’d read all of your posts but apparently I’ve missed some. 

Hello Gdonna,

The last couple weeks my family and I have been very busy. We are expecting a baby boy here in the next couple of months. I had to go to many appointments a couple Mondays ago and talk to many docs. Tests show that baby has Down Syndrome, a complete AV Canal defect of his heart, and likely small intestine issues. We are expecting he will likely need surgery within a couple days of birth for his intestines and another surgery between the ages of 4-6 months old to repair his heart. The hospital capable of handling all his care is an hour and a half from our home so I will be induced two weeks early to ensure we have him there if at all possible. I will likely be staying at the NICU with him for a period of time. The hospital we will likely call home for a while is Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. This is all expected in early September. 

I am excited to meet our little boy. My mind has been so preoccupied by worries of the future and the world outside of our home...I know this little boy will help us learn to be in the moment more and to value every minute. I am anxious that he gets here safe...wanting to speed up the days but, on the other hand, not wanting to speed up the days. This has been a hard pregnancy. He wasn't expected to make it at first so I spent a month or two expecting to lose him. But now they expect him to do well. God only knows what's going to happen. 

My house needs to be ready for me to be gone for a while. For my husband, 18 year old son and 18 months old daughter to function well in my absence. Maybe we can get baby transfered to a closer NICU once he is stable enough but until then, driving back and forth repeatedly won't be an option. Anyway, the best things in life are often the hardest to go through. We'll get through this just like everything else we've gotten through in the years past. But as you mentioned in your article, hard times often have lots to teach us. 

I do hope you are able to get to the bottom of your paperwork soon. That is a heavy burden to manage. Your home is absolutely lovely. it's truly inspiring to see how you organize and manage your home. God bless and thank you for your continued posts. 

Kieva A.,

I've added you and your family to my prayer list.  You sound like a strong person and I'm sure you will get through this difficult time.

Ann W,

YOur prayers are very much appreciated. We can use all the prayers available. May God bless you and your family.

Kieva A.,

I too will remember you and your son and family in prayer. You have a lovely attitude. Thankfully, you have time to prepare. 

Kieva A,

I'm sending up prayers for you and your baby and family. I have a Down's brother who just turned 52 in June. He had to have two open heart surgeries, one before he was a year old and one not much later.  He is a joy and a character, as you will find out. He loves to tease my 90 year old mother and does it well. It's been 52 years of trials and triumphs and I would not want him any other way. You are right, you live in the moment and they teach you such love, unconditional! When my brother was born in 1973, the doctor told my parents to institutionalize him, that he would never walk or talk. My parents refused to listen to them and taught him and sent him to a special school. He knows more of history than I do! They are truly a gift. A bittersweet one, for sure, but a gift in all they teach you. God Bless you~