Sunset

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning;

Red sky at night, sailors' delight.

or

Red sky at night, shepherds' delight;

Red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning.

Whether or not you believe in either one of those old sayings, it's been very true this week.

Normally we'd be shivering in the cold, but the temperatures have been Spring like in the high 60s.

No one can say that we don't get beautiful sunsets here.

The colors were so amazing last night, I grabbed my camera in the middle of making dinner and ran outside to take pictures.

It almost looked like the trees were on fire.

And I love how it made my home look kind of pink :)

No matter what the weather is like where you live,

I hope you're enjoying it, 

like I am.

If it's snowing or just cold, I hope you're warm and cozy.

If it's hot, I hope you're staying cool and enjoying a nice barbecue.

Most of all though,

 I hope you're enjoying life :)

xo

rue

P.S.

Please join me over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday :)

my vintage 'phase'

Before I get to this post, I just want to thank my friend, Brenda over at Cozy Little House for making my new banner. Things have changed since the last time I had to do things like that, so she went and did it for me.

Thank you so much, Brenda! You're the best! I love it :)

xoxo

Now onto the post.....

I hate having my picture taken.

HATE it.

Even worse for me is posting pictures of myself. So, when I had to choose a profile picture I went by an old standby:

It was taken 3 years ago.

The picture below was the profile picture I used on my old blog and I think it stayed there for about 4 years.

See what I mean? 

I will find a picture that I don't completely dislike and there it will stay for years.

It's like time stood still, which obviously it hasn't.

Anyway, my point is not about how much I hate pictures of myself, but more about what I look like now.

By looking at my profile picture that I have on here and the fact that my blog is called An Old-Fashioned World,  you might think that I dress vintage all the time.

Well, that's not entirely true.

It was for awhile though.

 I went through a 'phase' (as my mother likes to call it) where I woke up one day and said "I'm going to not only live a vintage lifestyle, but I'm also going to dress like it every. single. day." 

And I did, for about 5 years.

I did my hair every day in a 1940s style.

I wore a girdle almost all the time.

I wore seamed stockings when I went out at night and bobbie socks with saddle shoes during the day.

My closet is full of vintage dresses that I still lovingly repair as they wear out.

"Make do and mend" was my go to slogan and honestly, it still is.

You see, the problem with dressing like that every day, isn't what you might think, which probably has to do with the question that I got asked the most: 

"Doesn't it take forever to get ready every morning?"

Nope. 

It actually took me less time than wearing modern clothes, because you don't have to play the games.... 

Does this go with that? 

or 

Will my jeans fit this week? 

or 

Is this still in style? 

etc, etc, etc....

I just threw my hair up in curlers, brushed it out, put on my makeup and threw on my dress.

Easy peasy.

Actually, the problem was that, for whatever reason, a great majority of people are offended by things that are different and a lot of people had a HUGE problem with the way I looked.

I'd get questioned or commented on every time I left the house.

"Why do you dress like that?"

"Why would you wear those saddle shoes? I hated them growing up!"

"The 50s called and they want you back!"

"What's with your hair? Can I touch it?"

"You look like you're on the show Mad Men"

"Are you in a local play?"

"Are you going to a costume party?"

and on and on and on....

Can you imagine if, for example, I said back to them:

"Aren't you a little old for a mini-skirt?"

"Why do you feel the need to dress like your daughter?"

"The 1980s called and they want you back."

"What's with the pajamas? Did you forget to get dressed when you left the house?"

"What's with the messy bun? Did you lose your hair brush?

But that would be rude, wouldn't it?

Of course.

Which is why I'd politely answer them or keep quiet and skedaddle out of there as quick as I could.

So, I stopped dressing vintage all the time.

Not to say that I never do (I'm dressed vintage today), but it's just not all the time.

I went out and bought some modern clothes (I had purged my closet of anything modern when I went vintage), so that when I felt like blending in, I could.

This is basically what I look like when I'm not wearing vintage:

All those pictures were taken in the last 6 months, so now you know what I look like on an average day, this year and not three years ago.

Will I change my profile?

I dunno.

We'll see if I can find a picture of myself that I don't hate, that will work for a profile picture.

It could be awhile ;)

xo,

rue

The Castle House

People around here call my home the castle house. 

I think it's funny, because it's only around 1800 square feet and hardly castle size, but I've been told that it's because of the turret.

Who am I to argue?

I get a lot of questions about my little cottage, from friends and strangers. I even catch people stopping to take pictures of it and sometimes, if I'm in the yard gardening, they'll stop and tell me how much they love it.

I always tell them I love it too, because I really do.

About four years ago, I was sitting in Ohio knowing that I was moving to Arizona and decided to look for an old house to love and not expecting much. 

There was nothing down in Phoenix and besides, it was too hot for me there, so I decided to look into the Northern part where they have actual seasons and plant life.

You know... flowers and trees, instead of cactuses and sand.

And then one day, I came across this picture:

(Sorry for the blurriness, but it's the original off the listing)

It was love at first sight.

Of course, you've seen what she looks like today:

It took a lot of work to get rid of all those weeds and to make it so the grass wasn't spotty. I planted in the flowers beds too, but it's winter, so you can't really tell. Spring will be here pretty soon though ;)

So, as soon as I got unpacked and settled, I started to look things up about the house.

All I had to go on was the original deed, but I managed to find out quite a lot with just that.

It turns out that around 1929, a single woman named Margaret, a lawyer here in town, decided to build a house when she was in her early 40s (the same age as me when I bought the house!).

She had gone to college originally in California, but when school was out she stayed with her sister and brother in-law here in this town.

I was able to find a picture of her online.

She looks determined, doesn't she?

Well, I guess she was, since she used to go downtown to where the bars are and drag men out by the ear to get them to go to court.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that!

Anyway, she never married, but her sister's husband died and eventually her and her sister both lived in this house. At some point she decided to sell and move, but I can't seem to figure out why.

I know she loved the house, because I can still feel her here and I know it sounds odd, but I get the feeling she likes me living here and she feels protective over me. In fact, I don't know if any of you believe in this sort of thing, but one day when my honey was in the house alone, sitting in the breakfast nook, he felt someone tug hard on his ear and try to get him to leave. When I told him about the story of her dragging people out by the ear, it gave him the chills. I just told her to leave him be and she hasn't done it since.

Maybe it's our imagination and maybe it's not, but it makes me happy to believe she's my guardian :)

So, after that I started to try and find the original plans to the house and I couldn't find anything until about a year and a half ago. I was looking at Pinterest and saw this picture:

I couldn't believe my eyes! 

Well, that got me started on another search to find out the builder and eventually I found out that the Searle house was designed by Arthur J Matot  via Antique Home Style.

Now that I had that information, I began to search the internets to find his book of plans and six months later I found it on eBay. YAY!

I waited with baited breath for it to arrive and see if my house was in there and sure enough it was!

The only odd thing was that it was originally meant to be a duplex. 

I guess she liked the front of the house so much, that she wanted it for a single home and I don't blame her. To me, it was the most charming house in the book.

I know it was never a duplex, because of the difference in the house design.

Here's my very rough plan drawn out of this house, upstairs:

and downstairs:

The only plan I could find similar in the same book was this one:

She just added the room in front of the dining room, another bedroom between the kitchen and the bathroom and of course the downstairs.

I think she did a great job :)

So, that's the story of my house.

Maybe one day I'll find more about it, but right now, I'm just happy living in this beautiful home, knowing that it was built by such a great woman.

xo

rue

Panini week

While I was visiting my mom a couple of weeks ago, we were flapping our mouths about all sorts of things.... family gossip, tv shows, movies, etc., just like normal and eventually the talk turned to food. 

Also, just like normal. 

It turns out that she had just bought another Panini maker, because she thought the other one she had was too small. So, she offered me her old one and not being one to turn down free gifts from mom, I took it home.

She also gave me this book:

When I got home, I started looking through it, while I was watching some random movie and eventually I wasn't even paying attention to it. 

I started marking page after page after page, until the book looked like this:

After much drooling, I decided to have Panini week.

Yes, folks.... an entire week of Paninis.

And here's the list:

Well, except that last one.

I had way too many people over one night and there's no way I'm making 10 Paninis in a row. 

I don't care how much they beg.

Here's the Cuisinart Panini maker in all it's glory:

Just waiting for me to make all those lovely dinners.

The next day I rushed to the store and bought all the ingredients. 

Two-Cheese Tomato Panini was first on the list.

That night I went to work shredding cheese...

and getting all the rest of the ingredients together.

Bubba was enthralled.

Hi Bubba.

"Oh, hi mom."

And finally the first Panini was in and squished.

I made two and just stuck one in the oven at 200 while the other one was cooking.

Sadly, they were eaten before I remembered to take a picture of one. 

Yes, every night.

Trust me, you won't care about pictures either after you smell them cooking.

But now, to tell you the truth, even though every single one of them were great, I'm done with it for awhile. 

Yes, I had a Panini overdose.

My mom warned me, but did I listen?

No.

So, my lovely machine will go into the pantry until sometime around Spring.

It was a lovely week, but right now I'm fantasizing about normal dinners. 

You know, that aren't sandwiched between bread ;)

xo

rue

P.S.

Please join me over at Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.