Living Like the Past

We continue our diary readings of Lil and Lena, both written in 1943. The readings for these two diaries started January 1 of this year of 2022. So to start from the beginning just find that post done on January 1 to start the beginning of these diaries. I type the diaries as they are written, little punctuation and mispelling. Lil and Bob are in their 70s and Lil is a housewife and Bob does odd jobs and lawn work and he does war duty by going to the top of a local hotel to watch for war planes.Thursday June 10, 1943. Nice day - Up Town to shop - Bob fixed the vac-cleanerFriday June 11, Fine day - out watering and digging weeds in a.m. over at Frahms to keep Jack ......

It has been a tough couple of weeks here at our house. Actually it has been much longer than this.I want to share my thoughts after going through our entire house, closets drawers, boxes and the bottoms of purses and bags and little boxes and big boxes. Am I finished with the house organizing? No, but in much better shape than it was.I have made a lot of progress and it all came down to just sticking with it and each day making sure that I made some kind of change to improve the situation. One thing that did work well for me is gathering things that were related. I have linens all together now, sewing items. I have all my soap making tools together in one ......

My schedule for diary readings have changed to Friday readings.Now we pick up the reading of Lil's diary. It is 1943 and world war 2 is really ramping up, this is about the home life of Lil and Bob and they are in their 70's and Bob has war duty and goes to the roof top of a hotel to watch for war planes.Monday May 31, 1943 Showers - Bob over at Sonoma. home at 1'0'clock Feeling some better today. B. Marshalll called. Tuesday June 1. 1st day of June - not a very good start but looks better this Eve. Bob home late 1-30.Wednesday June 2. Fine but lots of wind. Cleaned living room Bob home 1-P.M.Thursday June 3. fair. Hi ......

It has been very busy around here the last couple of weeks and have needed time away from my blog. I was losing control over the housework and I had to make time to sort and try to make more space for organizing. It is taking a lot more time than I expected.With all the work up at the tiny house we became overwhelmed with stuff because we had to empty the small building and a shed that was piled to the ceiling with years of stuff. I mentioned in a previous post that we are working on a tiny house an hour away so we can have a place to stay when we need to go up to help a family member. It is a small building that has been used to store no longer used items, broken items, things ......

First I want to let you know that I will be taking two weeks off from posting. I need extra time to take care of some projects here at home. There are many years of blog posts here on my blog. You can click on the menu and click living like the past and then scroll down to the bottom of the page until you get to the numbers and that will take you to years in the past. Number 15 is in the year 2017 and number 13 is 2018 etc. So I am doing two weeks of diary entries in this post. I type out the diaries as they are written mistakes, mispelling and all because this gives us a more accurate picture of the person writing the diary.I will now ......

Each one of us live in a different way, we enjoy different food, we have different styles and our home reflects something about us in different ways. Each day is full of decisions, what we are going to eat, what we are going to wear, what we are going to try to do today. But many people waste hours scrolling an electronic and procrastinating. This did not happen in the past because there were no such items. I have fallen into this trap a few times and I am fortunate to be able to take myself back to a time before we had these distractions and pull myself out of it. We have to make a decision, am I going to waste my day or do things that make a diff ......

We pick up from last week with the two diaries of Lil and Lena. Our first diary is about Lil and Bob. This week Lil is feeling very poorly so there are few entries.Monday, May 10, 1943. Too sick to writeTuesday, May 11, 1943 Same in bed most of the day.Wednesday, May 12, 1943 Up and down all day, Mostly down.Thursday, May 13, 1943 Worse today.Friday, May 14, 1943 Bob had Emma Call Doctor.Saturday, May 15, In bedSunday, May 16, Still in bed. We leave Lil's diary now, but do not worry, Lil does get better.Now we continue with Lena's Diary.Monday, May 10, 1943, 42 degrees. My washer was out so I washed by hand in the little tub and went and got my ......

Today is Tuesday and it is ironing day (among other things), I try to do certain chores on certain days but not always. If I skip ironing on Tuesday, it seems that everything else has priority and the next thing, it is the next Tuesday and there is double ironing so it is best to make Tuesday ironing happen. Charles and I moved May from the small laundry / bath house, to under the carport. It is cooler under this area and normally at least a small breeze. Doing the laundry in this fully shaded area will be much better. Since we bought our old washer several years ago now, we have found that these motors are tough and nothing like what is made ......

We continue the 1943 Diary Readings of Lil and Lena. To Read from the beginning go back through the menu bar and click Living like the past and that will take you back to the first reading starting January 1. We start with Lil and Bob's diary.Monday, May 3, 1943. Nice day - Worked Nuco sprinkled clothes for iroining Bob home late - Richard Sick with asthma.Tuesday, May 4. Fine. Done the ironing - Set 3 box woods in front from Frahms - Bob late. left car at s. oil S. Station. Wednesday, May 5. Nice day - Done some sewing, baked a pud - Bob home 1-50 Richard some better.Thursday, May 6. Fine - Cut & watered back lawn - Bob home at 1-30. Up ......

We continue to study the homefront during ww2 and this year we are studying 1943. We are following along day by day reading the microfilms in the newspaper. We were using our public library research room but when we found we could join newspapers.com for a small monthly fee I started researching from home. I am not affiliated with this service other than a customer but this is a very good way to research history. We have other resources, history books and diaries. The diaries are a wonderful way to get a glimpse inside the home and Charles and I are very interested in learning about the keeping of the home and meals and the social life of the family lo ......

Today we continue the diaries of Lil and Lena. Our first diary is of Lil and Bob. This is during ww2 and the year is 1943. Lil and Bob are in their seventies and Bob does war duty by going to the top of a local hotel to watch for war planes. Lil is a homemaker and the writer of the diary.Monday April 26. Fine day, watered front lawn - Bob M. called in a.m. - Bob home late 1:45 Easter Card from Ada McK.Tuesday April 27 Rain all day & still at it. Worked nuco & made jello - Bob home at 1:30.Wednesday April 28 Rain this a.m. clear in P.M. up town to shop - over to call on Emma in Early Eve.Thursday April 29. Nice day - Done the washing Bob home late, Bob  ......

We are continuing the 1943 diary's of Lil and Lena. our first diary is Lil and Bob. This is during world war II , Bob and Lil are in their mid- 70's and Bob does war duty by going to the top of the towns hotel to watch for war planes. Lil is a homemaker.Monday April 19 , 1943. cold wind-not doing much-Bob cut lawn in backyard-R&M over in eve-Tuesday April 20. still windy-Bob home at 1-15- uptown to shop- Bob got a new sweater-Wednesday April 21. nice day- cleaned & demothed the couch- Bob resting- Ralph & Koky came up Ralph being transferred to coast artillery-Thursday April 22. warm day- watered lawns in forenoon- Bob cut front lawns & trimmed edges-Friday April 23. good Friday. light rain ......

Charles and I are trying to take our simple life to another level. We are trying to live in a way that there is very minimal cost in the things we do as it was in the past. We are living like the past but our real expenses are from today and there is a big difference. As time moved on, many things that did not cost anything now have attached fees. We disconnected, got rid of, or put away many modern items we once used. We do not have a television in our house anymore, we did keep a very small one to get news and weather but we found that with internet that we did not need a television anymore. Internet is not something we need, but useful ......

We continue reading the diaries of Lil and Lena. To find the Diary readings Starting January 1943 look for the red and black diaries. We continue with Lil's diary. Lil and her husband Bob are living in 1943, world war 2 is going on. They are both in their 70's and Bob does war duty by going to the top of a local hotel for war plane watch. Lil is the writer of the diary.Monday, April 12, 1943. Fine & Mild. Worked Nuco & worked couple hours in yard - Bob home late 2: P.M Moved tree for Ruth. Tuesday, April 13. Nice day. Bob home at 1:15. Up town to shop. Ruth & Judy along. Wednesday April 14. Cloudy bu ......

I started this post early this morning and then my server crashed and then there is the weather. But I am back hoping it will stay up. (There is wax paper under the ground beef and bacon.) I am writing a recipe below to go with a dish that we make. With our ww2 history study we have meat rations now. So this dish helps to stretch meat.One strip of bacon and 2 ounces of ground beef, small amount of asparagus or zucchini, one medium onion cut into wedges, one spring onion chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, Tablespoon oil. Cooked rice, for the two of us we cook 3/4 cup of measured dry rice. In a skillet, cook diced bacon, remove the bacon, put onions ......

Todays post will be up tomorrow or the next day. We are getting weather warnings already this morning for severe weather, straight line winds, possible tornadoes, hail, flooding, lightening and the works. I was trying to get todays post up quickly before the storms get here and about 3/4 through with the post my site went down. Not due to weather but server issues. I lost part of the post that I will have to redo. So instead of taking a chance, I will wait it out and do some housework and sewing. :) See you back in awhile. Grandma Donna

We continue with our diary readings from 1943. We pick up on the diary of Bob and Lil. Lil is the writer of the diary. Bob and Lil are in their mid 70s and Bob is doing war duty by going to the top of the town Hotel to watch for war planes. Bob also works in the community cutting lawns and odd jobs. Monday April 5, 1943. Showers and Sunshine. Done the washing & got it dry. Bob home 1:20 - up town & done shopping & paid bill. Tuesday April 6. Fine day. usual house work & worked Nuco. Bob cut lawns. Wednesday April 7 Fierce cold wind. Done the ironing. Helen, Elizabeth & baby here from 11 - 4. Nice visit - all had ......

Spring arrived this month and has put out some brilliant colors after a grayish winter. I will enjoy this moment in time of these beautiful colors and warm and coolish days before the heat will once again put me into inside hibernation. I feel a sense of urgency to get as much done as I can to beat the heat.We started pruning the herbs and cleaned out many of the beds but still more to go.We have had some good rain to help the spring flowers.Then we get too much at times. This is over 4 inches of rain this day.There is something about our soil where we live. We can get torrential rains and then our soil is completely dry three days later. I must study about this ......

Continuing the diary of Lil and Bob. They are in their seventies, this is during world war 2, Bob works odd jobs and does war duty by going to the watch tower to watch for war planes. The tower is up on top of a tall hotel. Lil has few words in her diary but still important bits of the war and rationing.Monday, March 29, 1943. Rain most all day. Nothing doing. over at Ruth's in a.m. Bob home at 1:40Tuesday, March 30. Nice & Sunny. Planted some carrot & lettuce seed. Bob cut lawns. wrote Helen. Wednesday, March 31. Fine day. Made Nuco butter. Called on R. Ambruster. Bob home at 1:15 Up t ......

The History Studies that Charles and I have done have taught us many things and I want to share this very important part of what we have learned and what we are trying to do now to put us in a better position to be able to live more like the past. To live like the past we have to undo many things. It is not easy to live more like the past coming from a excessive modern time that we live. It costs nothing to sit on that bench shown above and enjoy a beautiful day and watch and study nature. That bench was a iron frame that someone threw out to the curb for the trash truck to pick up. It did not have a seat so Charles picked it up and put a seat in this lovely ......