"Old-fashioned"

On a previous post, Ronda of Island Mother said that she was curious about the title of my blog and wanted to know my thoughts, feelings and perspective on the word "old-fashioned." 

Well first, let's see what good old Webster's has to say...

Let me get one of mine off the shelf.

Why not look it up on Google?

Just wait, we'll get to that ;)

For those of you born after 1990, this is a Webster's dictionary:

It has these tabs that have letters on them and you go to the first letter of the word you're looking up and search through the pages for your word.

Just letting you know in case you come across one in an antique store.

Ahem 

;)

This one has seen better days, but a beloved puppy of mine chewed it up years ago and besides, it has an inscription on the inside.

People used to do things like that when they gave a book to someone. 

I still do.

Anyway, back to looking up the word old-fashioned...

Hmm... styled or done in accordance with, or favoring, the methods, manners, or ideas of past times; out-of-date; antiquated; outmoded.

Also a cocktail! 

Love them, but that's not why we're here ;)

I also love the word underneath:

I'm an old-fogy?

Who knew!

I did ;)

Yes, by those descriptions, I'm definitely old-fashioned and an old-fogy.

What makes me this way?

I dunno.

I've been told that I have an old soul and maybe I do, but I also think it might have something to do with the fact my mom's father, my grandfather, was born in 1908 and raised her with the values that he was raised with, and in turn, I was raised with.

To give you an idea of what I mean, I'm 45, my mother is 64, my grandfather would have been 106 and my great-grandmother (shown below), born in 1880, would have been 135 years old this year.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's pretty unusual (but not unheard of) to have a great-grandmother that's 90 years older than you.

My point is that I grew up with some very Victorian values, which makes me an odd duck these days.

I live a traditional life, in the fact that I have been a stay at home mom since my children were born, I do the cooking and cleaning and when I was married, my husband went to work, took care of the cars, and did most of the yard work, which is exactly how I was raised and choose to live.

Not to say that I have a problem with anyone that doesn't live a traditional gender role lifestyle, but it's what I wanted and how I live.

I'm also not one of those women that doesn't voice her opinion.

Trust me ;)

Oh and for anyone that doesn't believe that women could have an opinion back in the old days, I wish they could talk to my great-grandmother. From what I've heard, she had an opinion on everything!

I think it runs in the family.

So, what else makes me old-fashioned?

Well let's see...

I'm odd in the fact that I do things like look up words in a dictionary, instead of Google. Not that I never use it, but it's nice to know that I can just grab a book in a pinch and look up whatever I want without having to turn on a machine.

Which is nice when the electricity or the internet goes out.

You will never see me using or owning a kindle, that's for sure.


I also have a mostly "use it up, wear it out, make do or do without" attitude and when I buy something, I try to buy things that were made before 1970 (preferably before 1960), because they last and they were better looking, in my opinion.

Hence my 1950s fridge, 1930s sink, my 1940s pyrex, my two percolators that were made in 1960 and 1940 (I have two in case I need to make more coffee than 8 cups. Usually for company.), my furniture and decor that is mostly made before 1950, with some exceptions, etc, etc, etc...

I am not a fan of the throw it out society that we've become.

When I need to replace something, the original item goes to goodwill or I sell it.

I said mostly, because on occasion I do buy modern things, like the occasional trinket, like a pillow, or major purchase item. For instance, I just sold my old car, Clarence and I'm buying a "new to me", modern car next week, because it's just not practical to have a car that can't drive over 55 MPH comfortably, no matter how much I fought it.

Not to mention the fact that I don't have anywhere to keep him out of the weather, because my 1930s garage won't accommodate him.

Bye Clarence. It was nice knowing you.

"sniff"

Anywho, where were we?

Oh yes...

I wear a lot of vintage clothing made between the eras of 1920 to 1960.

Except underwear.

Ewww.

The reason is, I like the ladylike style. Yes, I do own some modern things, like jeans, but I'm just not a fan of the clothing these days. I think a lady should look like a lady, especially in public.

Please excuse the dog toys ;)

I don't always dress like it's 1940 something, but you will never see me walking around, in public, wearing yoga pants, sweats or pajamas.

I have this hanging up in my home.

Let's see... what else?

I don't have a dishwasher, because I never understood the purpose of washing dishes before they were washed and although that myth was debunked by my sweet friend, Benita of Chasing Quaintness, I still don't want one.

Besides, where the heck would I put it?

There's just no room.

This list could honestly go on and on, but let me finish with manners and etiquette.

I believe in them.

I say please and thank you.

 I think men should hold open your door.

I don't text or talk on the phone in the presence of company, during dinner, or at the store.

I know how to set a table.

But I also know not to say anything, when someone is doing it wrong.

I know how to host a party.

I know how to be a guest.

And most of all I know to be gracious.

So, my friends, I guess all of that is what makes me "old-fashioned" and I wouldn't have it any other way.

xo
rue

Happy Weekend!

I hope that wherever you are...

 that your weekend is beautiful...

that you make the most of it...

and that you don't forget to stop and smell the roses :)

xo

rue

What my mom never told me...

On my 13th birthday, my mom took me and a couple of my friends to get a facial and have our makeup done at Elizabeth Arden in Beverly Hills.

I wasn't allowed to wear any makeup until then, so this was a big deal.

So was going to the now defunct The Bistro in Beverly Hills for lunch afterwards.

I mourned along with my mom when they closed the doors of our favorite restaurant in 1994.

No more chocolate soufflés. 

No more cheese bread.

I hear they opened an offshoot called The Bistro Garden somewhere else, but it's just not the same.

But I digress...

The facial was nice, but the makeup.... well, it was 1982, so let's just say blue eyeshadow isn't my color.

Besides, 13 year olds in full makeup? Not a good look.

Anyway, as part of my mom's present, we were allowed to buy some products to clean our little faces and the lady that sold it to us gave some advice, in her very French accent...

"If you start taking care of your faces every single day at this age, you will always have beautiful skin."

Now, that I'm older, I realize that she was trying to make sure that we'd be lifetime clients, but my young self took what she said to heart and I've been cleaning my face every single morning since then.

I know it's bad, but I could never get into the habit of cleaning it at night.

After I ran out of the products, that the oh so smart French lady had sold us, my even smarter mom bought me the much less expensive Clinique Three Step.

source

Anyone else use this?

I loved it! Especially that toner, because I thought the sting meant it was working.

Actually, it might have. I went pretty much zit free during my entire teenage years.

That was my face cleaning regimen right up until I was in my early 40s. Then one day it stopped working as well as it once had and my face started getting really dry.

Oh no! What to do?!

You see, all my life my mom told me lots of things were going to happen after I turned 40. Things like... my boobs would sag, my butt would fall and that I would lose my flat tummy... scary, right?!

It was at the time.

I was in my 20s when she told me that ;)

Thankfully, my boobs and butt are pretty much still in place at this point, but after two cesareans... well, that flat tummy has been MIA for a very long time.

The one thing she never told me is that my skin would dry up.

Sigh.

So, I remembered that my grandmother Bonnie had beautiful skin and she always used Ponds Cold Cream.

source

That worked for awhile, until I started getting adult acne and my psoriasis started flaring up.

Not okay.

After that, I did some research and after some trial and error, this is what I came up with and have been using ever since:

This is my routine:

When I'm done with my shower, I splash my face with water in the sink and then rub a dime size drop of the olive oil all over it with my fingers. 

If it's good enough for Sophia Loren, then it's good enough for me ;)

I also use olive oil on a piece of tissue to take off my eye makeup.

My brand of choice is California Olive Ranch (which I also cook with), because it's a true olive oil.

No, I don't have that huge bottle in the bathroom. I use a little dark glass bottle that has a dropper.

Then I take a clean white washcloth that I wet with warm water and rub all the oil off.

White, because I'm weird and like to see all the dirt that comes off my face.

After that, I squirt a little witch hazel onto a cotton ball and wipe the residue off.

I use Thayer's because it's alcohol free.

Then, if my skin feels really dry, I put a pea size amount olive oil back on my face and rub it all in.

Then I put on Burt's Bees Brightening cream, for the age spots that started appearing in my late 30s.

It seems to work, because the spots have at least lightened up.

That's what I get for using baby oil to tan my face in my teens and twenties.

Silly girl.

About once a month, I use Origins charcoal mask, because it really cleans out those pores and takes away the dead skin layer. 

That's it.

I've been doing this for about 4 years now and my psoriasis is much better, I rarely get a zit, and my face is nowhere near as dry.

I will tell you though that when I started using the oil, I did break out at first, but after a week it went away.

Now, I don't know if this will work for any of you, but it really helped me, so I thought I'd share my routine and the products I use. 

Please don't come after me, if you try it and you break out like a teenager that eats pizza everyday. 

You can buy all of them at Amazon, but I linked to the product websites, so that you could read more information. Which, by the way, I'm not being compensated. I just love them :)

What is your skincare routine?

xo

rue

Last week's random

Violets my son sent me:

I'm trying not to kill them by accident ;)

After a trip to the grocery store:

See! My kitchen isn't always perfect ;)

Gratuitous flowers in the sink shot:

Although, I think I did it wrong :p

Previously mentioned flowers in vases:

Birdies eating the seed they kicked out of the bird feeder, before I cleaned it up:

Mini sleeping:

Bubba sleeping:

Bubba and Mini wishing I would let them sleep:

Just another busy, messy, happy week in my life :)

xo

rue

Gone Fishin'

On Memorial Day, we headed out to a local lake for a picnic and some fishing.

When we got there the lake looked ominous.....

but we were still optimistic.

It was a little windy out there, but I didn't mind.

Eventually people started showing up on the dock, so we looked for a quieter place to fish.

We ended up in this pretty spot...

Me pretending to fish, but not very well:

What can I say? I'm obviously not a fisherman ;)

All in all it was a beautiful day and a fun one, even though we didn't catch a thing.

Maybe next time ;)

xo

rue

PS

All pictures were taken with our cellphones, because someone forgot their camera.

I'll bet you can guess who ;)

Memorial Day

I'm a proud mother of a son in the military and I'm proud of everyone that chooses or did choose to serve our country.

God bless them all.

xo

rue

Storytime

Lately, I've noticed that there's a lot of bloggers out there that have to remind themselves, on their own blog, that they shouldn't compare their lives to what we see on other's blogs.

This isn't a new thing.

In fact, the whole time I was blogging the last time, there was a rat race to show how perfect everyone's life was and a lot of jealousy about it.

I still see it out there.

I've been jealous myself.

I know it's not reality.

You should too.

No one's house looks like that all the time, especially those with all the white interiors. (I know this because I had a white slipcovered couch for about 10 minutes a few years back.)

God knows my house doesn't look like my pictures all the time.

Even Bunny William's house doesn't.

Seriously.

Although, it might, since she could have a maid or two...

but I digress....

You know darn well that tired husbands are coming home after a hard day at work, plopping their stinky feet up on that tufted ottoman, drinking a beer, and eating nachos on that new couch.

Kids are jumping all around on the couches and beds, like animals, with grape jelly on their hands, wiping it on the walls, and Cheetos are flying in all directions. 

The dog is going potty on the new jute rug (or whatever is "in" now) and the cat is coughing up a hairball in the corner. Not to mention the shedding that goes on.

You know this, because if you've had husbands, kids, and/or animals, it's gone on at your house and it's gone on in mine.

All I picture when I see these beautiful interiors is these woman pulling their hair out, because I've wanted to do the same when it happens here.

The ladies that decorate in all white are very very brave women in my opinion and I commend them, because I couldn't handle it.

I'm not kidding in the least about that.

So here's my story....

My last blog was about my life with my now ex-husband. 

My "Peanut Butter and Jelly Life".

Or so I thought.

The truth is, although I thought I was happy, there was a lot more going on behind the scenes. Some things I knew and some that I wasn't aware of.

No, I won't get into the dirty details, because it isn't the point of the story.

Yes, there were struggles in our everyday life, just like everyone has, and no, I didn't share them then either. I only put the happy stuff out there, because I wanted my blog to be a happy place. 

On top of everything, my home always looked perfectly clean in every picture, unless it was in the midst of a remodel.

Let's face it, no one wants to read about the fact that your husband won't put his laundry in the basket and won't change the toilet paper roll or that you can't stand his family or that the kids are being jerks that week or see your house a dirty wreck.

Well, maybe you do, you sickos :p

But like I said, I wanted a place for people to come and relax and be happy.

I didn't lie, I just didn't air my dirty laundry or house, and there's nothing wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong with it if you do either, because it's your blog.

I do the same thing with this blog as I did with the last one, albeit less personal.

I don't show dirt and dust or my daughter's room when it looks like a war zone. Nor do I air the dirty laundry of my life, unless I feel it might be relevant to the blog.

When you come to visit me here, I want you feel something, but hopefully not anger or jealousy, because you think I live a perfect life with a perfectly clean house.

Trust me, that's not the case.

Happy, yes.

Perfect, hell no.

I'm looking at dust balls as I type this and I'm pretty sure my lap is covered in dog hair, because Bubba has been sleeping on it for the last hour as I type this.

Although, he's pretty perfect ;)

Anywho,

I want you to be happy, when I post something happy.

I want you to be interested, when I find something interesting.

I want you to learn something about old houses or whatever other tangent I go on, even if it isn't your taste.

Mostly, I want you to come here, because it's a joy and not a burden.

My point?

No one's life is perfect, even if it appears so.

Trust me on this.

Be happy with what you have.

Love the life you live.

Enjoy the home you're in.

And don't worry about keeping up with the Joneses, because their life isn't perfect either, no matter what the camera lens shows.

xo

rue

PS

The cloud pictures were taken from my back yard.