Retro 50's Homemaker on the Homestead Day in the life of

       What I think my mom did all day, in the suburbs, when I was a kid is probably short changing her. She was bored with the job when we got older though. Her schedule, I believe, went something like this:

6:30 Get up with Husband, make him Sanka (his preference) Make his Lunch and the kids lunches and wake up the kids for school

7:00 Feed Kids: Usually we had some sort of egg and toast...sometimes bacon or ham, or Pancakes and we could ask what shape we wanted them cooked in...clown, truck, flower etc. French Toast etc.  Mom also heated the syrup with a little bit of butter. When we ran out of syrup she would make syrup with cinnamon sugar...loved that. 

8:15 Kids are dressed and sent off to school. We lived a mile away and school started at 9...to add to the time for dawdling I am sure we left early. We didn't have to pick up our own clothes or pjs or make our beds. Nothing was required of us. 

8:20 Make a cup of tea and sit down to eat something herself

8:45 Wash all the dishes, counters and sweep floor in Kitchen. Take something out to thaw for Dinner. Go and make all the beds, collect all the dirty clothes and start a load of laundry. Pick up anything out of order (which was a negligible amount as she always was picking up) dust the furniture, Vacuum the carpets, clean the bathroom (only one for 5 people...life was hard...LOL) 

11:00 Sit Down for a cup of tea and watch her soap operas...Search for Tomorrow and Edge of Night if I remember correctly...eat lunch somewhere in there and fold and put away the laundry.

12:30 PM...I bet she was a napper and this is when that would happen

1:30 PM Go across the street to a neighbor's house, also a Stay at Home Mom, have tea and chat...definitely gossip about the neighbors. I know this as I have gotten the Retro-scoop over the years now that I am an adult. LOL

We got out of School at 3pm so were probably home by 3:30

3:30 Kids get home. Have them change out of their clothes into play clothes. Ask everyone if they have homework. Listen to Gayle lie about never having homework. Pick up the kids clothes and start dinner. Try to convince the kids to go out and play once they start fighting about what to watch on TV. 

5:30 Dinner is served

6:00 Kids take baths and get ready for bed - Then they can watch TV

8:00 Kids brush their teeth, potty and bed

Repeat...Repeat...Repeat...Repeat

To switch things out sometimes...make clothes for the kids, knit for the kids, make cookies for the kids lunches, Grocery lists, Get ready for holidays...fill Easter Baskets, wrap Christmas Presents etc.

Okay, now my 1950 Day today which doesn't look at all like hers:

• I wake up late at 6:15, Start Coffee, take meds, turn on Computer to view my blog and if there were any questions or comments. Stare at Facebook for a moment and then will myself to shut the screen. 
• Go out and fix my coffee. Back to my chair....stare into space during first cup no computer for 3 weeks in the morning and i still don't know what to do with myself
• Get up, make bed, put away clean dishes in drainer. Wash what is in sink, wipe down the counters, clear off Kitchen table and put away anything out of order. Pour 2nd cup of coffee. 
• Begin to write in my journal...phone beeps with a text. (I can't get away from the 21st Century) It is my daughter who is upstairs asking..."Gym?" Ugh..."No...tired. Just drinking my coffee now" I put the phone down...Guilt...I missed all last week. I text back "okay". 
• As I get dressed I ask her to go let the chickens out and feed them...reluctantly she does it. Now, where are my sneakers? 
• Drive to Gym, lift weights for 40 minutes. 
• Get home and decide I am not eating light I am starved. Heat up leftovers from dinner...long drawn out process! 
• Start making a list of what I need to do today while waiting. Sit and stare into space while waiting. Too Lazy to get up and turn the TV on and my arms and legs feel noodly.
•  Eat Breakfast...Beans and Cornbread, Collard Greens and Macaroni and cheese at 10 AM Is that wrong? haha
• 1)First thing on my list...Move Citrus Trees outside and water...Grunting as I go...these trees are 6 foot at least and heavy. 
• 2) Call guy about Honey Bee Nucs...We lost one of our hives over the winter and need to replace it
• 3) Sweep and straighten out mudroom...ugh! Floors are in need of replacing so this is a pain nothing will make them better until we tear the whole thing up.
•  4) Look at Mudroom floor and think about mopping it...look up and spy over the fridge a huge box of Raisin Bran and decide I am going to make Raisin Bran Muffins (this is ADHD at work) ...Mix and fill papers and stick them in the oven. Work a bit on my blog while waiting for the timer to go off 
  
• Butter a hot muffin and sit on back porch on this beautiful day and eat it
• Be swarmed by 13 chickens wanting my muffin with 2 pecking at my arm...give in and share and watch them fight over the small piece I threw at them. 
• Get distracted by the gorgeous day and decide to rake the garden next to the back porch...Plant the mum that somehow survived me not getting it in the ground last fall. Take Control of the Carolina Jasmine that has gone rogue and zip tie it to the large Rain Barrel...decide I want to fill a space in this garden and go dig up some Daffodil that decided to grow outside the garden space. Water everything. 
• Go back inside and pass over the mudroom floor again searching for the list...you know...the list that says sweep and mop mudroom floor. NEXT....
• 6)Sweep and clean out the Freezer of Chicken Poop...LOLOL Isn't that a thing on everyone's list? I have an old Commercial Freezer that no longer works but kept because the seal on it was a good thing to have to keep Chicken Food in...mice and other animals can't get into it. Well, we have been missing chickens lately...we think possibly a fox and one of our younger layers ended up missing the day before my Son's family came into town for the weekend. My grandson's went out to feed the chickens the next morning (they like to do it) and when they came back in my eldest said, "The funniest thing happened, when we opened the freezer a chicken popped out of it" Must have gotten in there when the doors were open when I fed them the morning before. She is fine but she made a mess in there...all the food she could eat...and poop out. So, I cleaned it out, scrubbed with antibacterial soap, fixed a shelf, moved the honey bee supplies back out there.
• 7) Bypass the mudroom one more time and get a call from my husband that he is already done and will be home a bit early today...so the mudroom will have to wait...OH DARN! Time to take a bath and do my hair etc. a quick once over in the rest of the house. Dinner is leftovers although I might just have a cheese sandwich or yogurt and fruit or Cottage cheese and hot pepper relish (I grew the peppers and canned last year and love the sweet hot relish on cottage cheese)  
•  After my husband gets home we will probably watch TV and I have some knitting project I am working on and will be doing that.   

   My Stay at home life is a bit different than my Mom's ever was. She wasn't living this Agrarian, rural life and she definitely wouldn't have liked it, although she loves helping me pick things in the garden when she is over in the summer.                                                                                                                

(89 years old!! Isn't she doing great! Hoping I have her stamina at her age. When she started on the Blueberry bushes I had to stop her and make her come inside as I was hot and done. She kept trying to tell me I looked tired and should take a nap...I finally asked her why she wanted me to nap...she laughed and said so that she could go outside and finish picking Blueberries. She was on bush #1 and we have 7!)

So, life at home is different for everyone, depending on what stage of life you are in and what year you are living in. But more and more it seems like my life is not too different on the day to day. When my kids were little it definitely was more housework oriented and getting their needs met...when they were a little older it was homeschooling and less housework as I just didn't want my life to be sucked into doing doing doing and not living living living. One thing about the 50's is that TV and radio isn't a huge draw and living like we are a one car family also doesn't hurt. I get more done because of those 2 things but also by not being on the computer. Even though today seemed like I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked or have on many of the other days. Probably because all of my house working energy was sucked up by the Gym and also my distractions by outside.
  Well, Starting my last week tomorrow. I need to see how I am going to up my game for this last week. Stay Tuned and Share if you like this...Thanks