So, I haven’t managed my “daily” updates for a couple of days. I’m not doing too bad with the 1950s Mom Routine — but I am also falling asleep at 9:30 every night and have no brain waves for my updates in the evening. Anyway, I am going to squish my updates together and get caught up. Then, I will *try* for daily updates again . . . we’ll see.
Menus
I have to keep altering the dinner menus to fit what I have on hand. We haven’t followed the menus exactly yet. But, the vintage menus are a lot of fun. They are a change from the ruts I was in. I am honestly terrible at meal planning. I usually buy the same inexpensive staples and prepare the same meals, over and over — and it still feels super-stressful!
But these vintage menus are very different than what we have been eating. And they are actually less expensive and wasteful. The variety helps people feel satisfied. I am taking more time to make the meal and the table look pretty before eating, which helps, too. And there are more dishes, which means we are eating closer to the proper serving size of each dish, which makes my cooking easier.
Honestly, I’m seriously considering continuing the vintage menus after the 2 weeks are up, and making one for breakfast. The book I am pulling the menus from has a YEAR of lunch and dinner menus. (It also has a month of breakfast menus, but they are geared toward January, and not in season right now. I may try to adapt them, though.)
Cleaning
So, I won’t lie: the cleaning routine is kicking my butt. And I haven’t even dealt with the children’s rooms this week (we have all the boys in one room and all the girls in the other.) Those bedrooms are supposed to be the responsibility of the children who sleep in them. I am seriously considering adding bedroom chores and table manners to their August Vintage Child Training bootcamp.
On the other hand, I am so much more sane when the house is always fairly clean. With this cleaning routine, my house is company-ready whenever there is a knock at the door. (Yes, people I know stop by without calling first. Yes, it stresses me out.) By 9 am, the house is presentable, if I did my cleaning routine on the day before. That is a huge win for me. I’m even managing to keep our bedroom clean, which makes my husband happy. And the clothes are getting folded and put away every day, which is another win.
Now, I just need to get a handle on the weekly chores. So far, I haven’t done any of them, because I have to rest every 15-20 minutes dong the daily chores. My solution? I am enlisting my kids, because old-fashioned parenting makes kids work for dessert! Tomorrow, my older children will help me wash windows and mop, and the little ones love using polishing cloths to polish the silver.
Pregnancy
I am getting my walks in every day, but not my naps. That is probably a big part of why I am too tired to stay up until my usual bedtime. I have no energy and too many headaches, but a big part of that is not being healthy going into this pregnancy. I started out 50 lbs. too heavy, not eating breakfast, and eating too much sugar. With the daily walks, the vintage maternity diet, and doing all the housework, I may end this pregnancy healthier than I started it.
One thing I do want is a maternity girdle like this one.I don’t know why these stopped being recommended to pregnant women — probably because it has the word girdle in it, and that scared the hippies. But it is the best thing ever. I need one. Back support, belly support — oh, the joy. It is not for a svelte-looking figure, BTW. It will be a little bulky under clothes. But it sure feels better than going au natural.
So, there it is. An update on how the 1950s Experiment is going so far. Let me know what you’re curious about. The toddler, etc. schedules? The toddler menus? My updates can only have so much interesting cleaning tidbits . . .
