Happy Living!

Being a History major from Purdue, I love just about everything old. Old pictures, old decorations, old clothing, the smell of old books. A while back I bought a few old books from a thrift store, "The Fun Encyclopedia" (no date but I am guessing 60's), "The Green Years" by AJ Cronin 1945, and "Happy Living! A Guidebook for Brides" by Evelyn Enright 1965. Now, while waiting for my dogs to finish eating so we can go paint furniture I cracked open the happy living book. According to this, I am not living very happily.

The book is arranged by different aspects of the "good homemaker" ideal of the 50's and 60's. How to color coordinate (these pictures of the color schemes are fantastic by the way), how to cook, how to be a good hostess, how to clean, how to make sure that your man is happy all the time and yadda yadda yadda. I am not even going to lie, I am so very entertained. Come to find out the book says I have beginner's dilemma, therefore, if I don't fix it I have no hope for a domestic future! Curses.

I didn't even realize that my breakfast needs to be able to "please a hearty male appetite" and get me to the office at the same time! What have I been doing with my life? I have been curious as to why my life isn't gratifying enough at the moment. I thought that it had to do with the fact that I have so many bills to pay and still would like to attend grad school. Nope! It is because my "career" of "creating and maintaining a livable home" with my "instinct for domesticity" hasn't been honed yet. Aha! I knew something was missing. That has got to be it.

Something tells me that I would not have done well back in the day. Not as well as I would like to think I would have done anyway.

Off to refinish furniture. I guess I have to change my color scheme to teal, mustard yellow, cream, and green....