We are getting close to the end of our first month of rationing.
Bacon is 8 points per pound so now we cook one piece and split it in half for the two of us.
We can simulate the rationing but during 1943 there were shortages of the rationed food as well as non rationed food so that had to make it even more difficult.
One of our challenges was how to make a birthday cake since oil, butter and sugar were rationed. I finally decided to make a simple and very small birthday cake. We ate smaller pieces than we normally would and savored each piece that we ate. The cake lasted all week and was very good. My husband said it truly was the best birthday cake ever because it was more precious to us, much thought went into this cake.
Jelly has become very important to me since we hardly eat anything with sugar. I do not waste any jelly, it is very precious. We splurge on Saturday mornings and have butter, jelly and biscuits with our eggs. Ummm I look forward to Saturday's.
We have just started riding our bikes again and our goal is to ride to the grocery store and back to save on our rationed gasoline.
We had to buy a new bicycle for me because I can no longer ride the bike I had because it seems I have gotten shorter. My feet would not touch the ground so now I am riding a smaller bike. Actually bicycles were also rationed so this is a bit off track but safety comes first. I hope this first month irons out all the wrinkles so to speak.
My husband rode his bike to the closest grocery store to pick up buttermilk last Saturday morning. The store is only one mile away but we do not normally shop there. The store that we wish to go to is 2.7 miles. I have to practice more because it has been so many years since I was on a bike. My husband put baskets on the back of his bike and I have one on the front of mine and I have a little horn on my front bars. They did not wear helmets during the 1940's on bicycles but we are using common sense and wearing our helmets.
These are our old 1930's and 1940's magazines. We pick them up in antique stores when we can find them.
I am enjoying the more simple life of the 1940's even though everything seems harder. Honestly the hardest part is keeping up with the website without the internet. And once again that has changed. My husband is still working and his company has changed electronics and so now we need internet for him to do his downloads. He could use a coffee shop or McDonald's or somewhere like that but it would be very inconvenient for him so last week we signed back up for internet and they came out Sunday to install it. I will still be going to the library for research but it was affecting our gas rations. So for the sake of his work and for this website I am now writing and posting at home online. Part of me feels relieved and the other feels defeated to go back on the internet.
I was very peaceful with it gone and so now I must figure out how to self discipline myself to not go back to spending too much time on the internet. It is very difficult to have the internet and not use it (a lot). But life is all about choice and I must choose to not use it other than post on my pages and answer emails and peek at a few things now and then.
I chased my husband around the yard trying to get a picture of the grass flying up as the rotary cut the grass but this is all I could get. Since we started our 1943 History project he got out the old push mower and has not used the gas mower since except to cut a strip of grass on a road behind our house.
We have been better disciplined without television and internet because we do not have the distractions. We have been off course lately with a few family pre planned trips, reunion, wedding and needed family visit that had to be done but now we back on course.
A good sun washing the pillows helps to sanitize them.
Today I spent all day washing clothes and washing bedding ahead of schedule and getting all of it out on the clotheslines due to upcoming rainy days. The one thing with washing without a dryer is to not get behind or it is very difficult to get a lot of clothes to dry because in very humid areas like where we live it takes most of the day to dry.
This week it is time to wash the windows and I must get the fall garden plot ready because it is time to plant for fall. I may be late with planting fall plants, I will have look at some of my gardening books. Mid summer planting is what some call it. I hope our fall plants do better than our summer plants did. We had a lot of storm damage that flattened our garden and the heat, then the dry spell . Now that rain is coming (Hopefully) I can get some things planted. I am not a great gardener, I just keep trying.
Catherine has posted a new article today and I think it is a very good read. Catherine and her husband across the country from us, are our 1943 history project partners. Give her a visit over at,
http://elsiesgranddaughter.blogspot.com
I will post again soon. Take Care, Grandma Donna
