Comments On Article: Balancing Preparedness

WEAVERBIRD:  Thanks so much for listing those you tube videos about the 40's.  I will have to check those out.  It will save time going down possible rabbit holes looking for those that sound possible but don't turn out to be so.

Hi Weaverbird, I love the youtube channel Sleepy History with Oliver that you let us know about.  I have never seen this channel.  I found the one you mentioned about the 1940s and it is very interesting.  It will take me awhile to get through that one.  The readings are good, the photos are not quite accurate with the ladies wearing jeans but I overlooked that and just listened.  I am also interested in listening to the Victorian ones as well.  Thank you for sharing that. It was good to hear from you. 

It was good to hear from you, and to learn of Charles’s good progress after surgery. I was impressed with the planning and preparation which you both did to make it less difficult.

When I was a student nurse on the surgical wards it was noticed that most men came in promptly for routine surgery, well fed and cared for and rested, ready to chat with the nurses and other patients, and enjoy their stay.  They made a good recovery. Going home with a few artistic moans, to continue being waited on for weeks. 

Women would arrive having been diagnosed much later and much less well. They would have scrubbed the house from top to bottom, washed and ironed everything that could be laundered, shopped and cooked and made every arrangement for the care of the husband, family, cat, etc. Shown the hospital bed they would fall into it with a sigh of relief. They would be thin and exhausted, quite demanding and in need a lot of care to get them well enough to go home. Then they would have to start clearing up the mess they would find there. 

Things have changed of course in fifty years, but not that much. I have had to rely on DH for the past few weeks in the middle of his crown green bowls season. 

So good to read Charles's surgery went well Donna and that he's home and walking around ! awesome :) Many blessings ~ Linda

hi everyone:  my husband and I just returned from an outing to our museum at Union Terminal in Cincinnati.  They advertised a few days of 1940s exhibit. IMO it wasn’t very much compared to the hype but the things we saw were such fun!!   6 renovated cars and a few army vehicles at the entrance.  Somewhere just pristine.  My dad would have loved it. He and his dad restored a Model A during my high school years.  The other thing I loved were all the people that were dressed in style!!!  People looked wonderful and fascinating the care they took with their clothing.  And all the clothing…. Women were slim!!! 

Janet W I had to smile at your description of men and women coming to the hospital for surgery. A young couple I know were expecting their first baby, and this couple both worked and shared household duties fairly. But it didn't take a year before most of the childcare fell on the wife, with the husband moaning about how much better she was suited tempermentally to do it. What a load of baloney! He just didn't want to make the effort. She finally had to insist on equal time away from the baby. Women have to learn to say no to being treated like doormats!

Hello Gdonna and ladies! Grandma Donna, I was not even aware Charles was going in for surgery when you emailed me! I am glad to hear he is recovering well and do wish I had been able to keep up on your posts more closely. Life certainly gets busy when medical issues arise. You and I both seem to be in that season right now. It's a hard season but it tests our abilities and certainly stretches them. I am glad that you have prior experience in the medical field that can help you not feel as much as a fish out of water as you would be feeling now had you not had that experience. 

The weather here where I live in Maryland USA has been rather agreeable. I am relieved because the brand new AC/heater unit we got for baby Jacobs room decided it didn't want to work anymore so we have had to leave the new windows open almost day and night to help with cooling his room. The AC went out right as the worst of the heat here was winding down so the cooler breeze blowing through his window has been a nice and calming presence that I have embraced even as the weather cools more. I am careful to keep his window seals clean!

Routine is starting to set in around here with having Jacob home. The exciting news for the week ahead is baby Jacobs birthday is on August 27th! He will be a year old! I can't believe time has flown by so fast yet it feels like a life time has passed this year also. This is such a big day for us. Jacob came so close to not being here with us. But now we get to see him play and be silly. A couple weeks ago he discovered his feet. This is a mile marker that is well over due but that makes it even more exciting to witness. 

I have found that at the moment I actually like the stretchier fabrics. There is a certain dress I found on Amazon that has become my favorite. I have it in four different colors and most just wear those dresses all the time now. People probably think I am very odd for doing so but they are so comfortable. They don't wrinkle and they don't show spots or stains well. They are pretty enough to wear anywhere yet comfortable enough to putter around the house in. With hospital life these dresses have just been so versatile that I am not quick to let them go. 

I am considering taking on a very small fall garden space this fall. We have a garden that is 50 x 100 feet but it's mostly weeds right now. I simply can't handle it. But I do want to! So I am thinking a 4x8 this fall and I can reassess and see where I am in the spring as to if I can handle a larger area. Slowly, as I can handle it, I can add another 4x4 or 4x8.

Grandma Donna, Your cooking pictures are such an inspiration. Now that I'm home I am inspired to try some new things in the kitchen as time permits. Maybe this week I can find the time to try one of your recipes. Your biscuits have been calling me for months also!

It is wonderful seeing all the comments from around the world. I am going to have to check out that 1940s YouTube channel that was mentioned and reading about the canteens in Germany was fun also. I hope everyone is having a good day and the weather cools for all those suffering from the heat. 

I forgot to add a picture in my last comment. Here's a picture of baby Jacob last night. Thank you all for your continued prayers. 

Kieva, Baby Jacob is so beautiful! I'm very glad and relieved he is doing so well. My heart baby, Harry, is now 13! After 3 open heart surgeries, he's stable for now and has started 7th grade. Like you said about window sills, I take extra care to keep his environment clean. He still gets sick all the time. If there's a virus going around in school, he'll get it. 

I remember hospital life as well. Dresses were a must! It gets cold in hospital rooms, and if I was staying the night with him, I needed something very comfortable. 

Happy early birthday to Jacob! It's such a celebration!

Praise the Lord! So glad to hear how well Charles is doing. I was praying for both of you. I love the photos of the bedside table. It looked so fresh and clean; I'm sure Charles is thankful for his wonderful wife!

Thank you Melissa S. Yes, those hospitals get way too cold. I found the dresses trapped heat in around the legs better while sleeping bedside. It was like having a wearable blanket lol. I am glad to hear your little one is stable now and going to school. I hope he is enjoying his new school year. I know the beginning of school is often an exciting time. Thank you for the birthday wishes also!

P.S. I knew I spelled " sill" wrong lol. 

Grandma Donna, I might have to find an enamel bowl like yours to do Jacobs bed baths with. I do believe I have one somewhere. As it is, I'm using the boring old hospital tubs they sent me home with. We have a physical therapy mat that we lay on the floor for Jacobs physical therapy and time out of the crib during the day. I was trying to figure out a way to bath him at home while in the hospital and was looking to many things online but, when it came down to it, I found that by laying a reusable chuck on the PT mat, then a folded muslin towel where he will lay and then another reusable chuck on top, I am able to sit on the floor and do his bed baths there. I wash him down and then rinse and then dry him off the best I can. Then I sit him up and fold away the soaked chuck. Now he's laying on the super absorbent muslin towel that I let wick away the last of the water on him while I dress him and do his nightly trach and gjtube cares. Then I take that last towel away. After that he's laying on a dry chuck that he can play on until bed time in case anything else leaks (diaper, gtube, j tube, random meds that miss their target...) I'm glad I didn't waste my money on any baby bath tubs. That PT mat will grow with him for quite some time. 

So good to hear that Charles is healing well, as well as the update on baby Jacob!

Stephanie G What style is your linen underwear? I'm trying to picture how they would work without stretch, and am thinking they must be a shorts or french knickers style? Do you buy or sew them yourself? I'm very interested in making some, if you could share any details. :)

Funny how things are done:  our electric costs are lower in late evening and overnight so that’s when I put the clothes into swish. 

Very concerned here in the US about about what sort of crazy beef will be coming into the country.  Mystery source with Heaven only knowing what’s wrong with it.  I’m now committed to buying only from local farmers   We’ve had dozens of recalls and it’s quite alarming   A terrible reason, but just the push I’ve needed to be making my own granola and pie crusts etc   Are many of you making changes in where you purchase? 

Hello Lissa G,
I haven't changed my shopping habits, but the product ranges in German stores have changed significantly in recent years. Unprocessed foods are becoming increasingly scarce in large supermarkets; the trend here is also shifting toward packaged, highly processed foods. They recently mentioned on a TV program that 70 to 80% of all food consumed in Germany is highly processed. I find that very concerning.
I have always cooked and baked everything from scratch—even muesli and yogurt. That way, I know exactly what ingredients are in my food, and I save money—a lot of money. Fortunately, we also have a garden where I can harvest my own produce.

Dear Donna,

I am glad to read that Charles' surgery went well and that he is recovering well at home.  You had mentioned on occasion that he had some pain getting around, prior to announcing that he needed hip surgery, but I didn't appreciate how much pain he was in.  I have to say he must be made of tough stuff to do all that he did around the home while also working outside the home too!

I liked your ingenuity in figuring out how you were going to get under the sink to fix the faucet.  I think that's what we need to be able to do as we get older, because we don't necessarily have the flexibility and the strength that we had when we were younger.  Doing things that require me to get on my knees is a problem for me.  I bought some padded garden knee pads for weeding, and they work just as well for in house kneeling.  I am starting to work on building my strength in my legs and grip strength too.

I continue to try to get rid of the clutter in my house.  That is a vexing problem for me, and only seems to have gotten worse when I started bring my parents stuff here too as we clean out their house.  Dad died 4 years ago, and Mom just died recently.  Challenging times for me.  I am trying to just keep stuff that is useful.   I have to learn to let go of stuff and keep the memories instead.

As to the weather, it has been bad here too, but not in triple digits.  I can deal with cold, but heat and humidity is another story.  This summer has been just awful.  Today, however, was a nice day, and I am grateful for that!

~Debbie