The 50's Weren't Built in a Day

I had high hopes for today, my first day as an aspiring 50's housewife. Unfortunately, my first day of the 50's began with a blizzard, a sick baby, a very sick me (running on much less sleep than usual due to the sick baby and my own wonderful cough/cold combo plate), and a dirty kitchen...ok, let's be honest - the whole house could use some work. By 11 am I was wiped and had to take a 2 hour nap, leaving my husband to care for our little boy, which I'm pretty sure was frowned upon in the 1950's. Luckily, my 2K11 husband didn't mind at all.

Although I didn't manage to get as much done today as I had hoped when I went to bed last night (read: someone didn't quite make it to the shower today), I did manage to prepare a delicious breakfast for my husband (who was home on a snow day) and myself to enjoy, which included a food that brings him immense pleasure: bacon. In addition, I changed the sheets on our bed, cleaned the kitchen, and made a delicious dinner (well, actually, my husband did a lot of the work on that as well - he grilled pork tenderloin practically waist deep in snow. Now that's true love).

After dinner I cleaned the kitchen again (although I'm sure not up to 1950's standards), and fell exhausted onto the couch. Only to remember that I had yet to blog about my first day on the job. So here we are, at the end of day 1 and I realize...I have a lot to learn.

I don't have a set time period for this little experiment, but for the forseeable future I will be consulting books published in the 50's such as Amy Vanderbilt's Guide to Gracious Living, Good Housekeeping's Guide to Successful Home Management, a cookbook called Thoughts for Food, and several other 50's housewife sources such as 50's era Good Housekeeping magazine articles and heck, even an episode or two of Father Knows Best to become the epitome of wife and mother. It seems a lofty goal right now...

Already discouraged and just plain exhausted on day 1, I have to pause and think: And I thought this might actually be fun?! But, as bedtime looms near and my sweet little boy sleeps soundly in his crib I am able to muster this one encouraging thought: "The 50's weren't built in a day."