About gDonna The photo is my son and myself. Now days you can get a photo made to look old like this one. This photo was taken when this was the new look.
Harry S Truman was president when I was born and world war II had ended. I grew up in a time when lunch was put in a brown paper bag and a sandwich was wrapped with wax paper. There was no such thing as pantyhose, we wore stockings that attached to the rubbery clippy things that attached to the girdle. Convenience stores were not common and when we took a trip we packed a picnic basket because many places did not have fast food. Highways had places to pull over and stop, some with picnic tables. Read more ....
Living Like the Past
Where are your Emergency Supplies? I am Grandma Donna and I am concerned that many people are not prepared for disasters. It seems that there are so many natural disasters occurring. Tornados, floods, Hurricanes, Straight line winds, earthquakes, fires, droughts, blizzards and then there are threats that are looming and unexpected accidents such as train derailments and trees that for some strange reason just topple onto your house. I am posting this just to show basics and to hopefully in ......
I realize that we cannot jump into a time machine and send ourselves off to the past but if we could I would do so. I am so thankful that I was born in an era that life was more simple. People rarely locked their doors, my brother and I played outside with our friends until we were called in for supper. We ate home cooked food and we sat at the table to eat that food. We washed up before supper and we said prayers before eating.&nbs ......
Generations before us lived before electricity This is my Papa Horton, he was the Key Turner for a local bridge. When the steamboats would travel up the river he would Turn the bridge. This would let the steamboats pass through the bridge on their way to Memphis. People come to this page on my website for many reasons. My entire website is dedicated to this main topic, how our generations before us lived without electricity. You might want ......
Every day laundry is being done by hand all over the world. Some use tubs, buckets, rivers, stones, kitchen sinks, bathtubs, shower stalls, or outdoor wash areas. Depending on where you live, laundry is being dried many different ways. If you have come to this page, either you are just curious or you really do need to know how to wash and dry your clothing without an electric washer and dryer. This is me during the 1960's, I knew all about handwashi ......
This could cause panic in a household if there is no money for toilet paper Many people are trying to find ways to make it from one paycheck to the other and some do not even have that paycheck. I receive emails from all over the world and recently recieved an email from a reader here in the USA asking what I could suggest for a family of two adults that have only $25.00 a week to spend on food. I am going to do a page on food but that got me thinking and there are w ......
1960's This is me taking dry clothes off the line and this includes cloth diapers. Diapers have changed a lot since this photo was taken There seems to be a movement back to cloth diapers due to environmental reasons but unfortunatly many simply want to go on using disposable and really don't care about the environmental impact. If you add up the cost of disposable diapers over the time that a baby is in diapers you would be surprised but if we cou ......
As we travel up and down our road of life we seem to be losing our way. We need to bring back the good morals and decency we once had. This road stops here but does not end here. We are on this earth as we know it for a short time but seem to be acting like we will never get to this point. We need to do things right while we are here. We could straighten up our country if we would straighten up ourselves. If we put our energy to do more with our own families, t ......
I use my vintage items everyday Handwashing socks in the sink We have many trees so I hang out the wash under our carport Bread Dough rising in a covered bowl My wrinked hands only mean that I have more wisdom than I did when I was young. Besides I am Vintage We added a shelf above the sink for our large bowls I paid $30.00 for this vintage night stand. My rule for furniture is $20.00 but I really liked it. Thi ......
Living like the past Do you Dream of a more simple life? Tired of all the fast paced junked up world? Then adjust what you are doing and live a more old fashioned life. You have to find that period in time that you feel most comfortable. I like the thirties through the early fifties. After that it seems to me that things took a wrong turn and life got more complicated. Do you feel out of place? Like there has to be something more? Do you feel li ......
This is Tatting This was my Grandmother's Tatting wheel. I love this tatting wheel because it was in her loving hands years ago. If you notice in the picture it was made in the USA and now they are made in China. Even the metal feels different and more smooth than the new one. This is the new type that is popular and frankly I like it because I can control the thread better with these types. Sorry about the rough hands in the photos, I do a lot of gar ......
Several years ago I purhased a vintage apron that was too small for me but I loved the design. So I decided to use some of the features from that apron and make my own design to make it more fitting and functional. The older vintage apron had very small pockets and up higher and the bust area was more narrow. I extended to top sides as well as redesigned the pockets. The back of the old vintage apron did not close in the back so I added extra side pieces to make ......
IT IS TIME TO BE FRUGAL Being frugal does not have to be painful. There are many ways to cut back and one way is to do a reverse home makeover. You need to make changes to your home to help you go back to basics. You need to discover the possibilities of your outdoor space and you need to research the old fashioned way of doing things. Our Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Parents, Aunts and Uncles would tell us stories how things were when they were gro ......
Getting even more frugal If you are having trouble paying your bills or buying food read further These are my Great Grandparents, Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and they lived through the great depression. They grew up in times when there was no electricity or running water but what they did have was the ability to grow food, share, barter or do whatever it took. They hauled their water, cooked on wood stoves and did not waste, they did not live off the grid because the ......
You never know when a disaster may happen This is my Son's house. An unexpected close call, fortunately the house was mostly spared. But what if this had been worse and days without electricity. You never know when a disaster will happen and we all need to be prepared to be as self sufficient as possible during an emergency. We live in an area where we could possibly lose power for days due to storms. At times our power goes out for unknown reasons, thankf ......
My Grandmother from the south Our past Generation had a wealth of information that could be more helpful to us than we realize. The generation I am writing about knew how to raise a family on food they grew themselves. They knew how to use their resources sparingly and to not waste. Many lived in a time before electricity ever made it to their homes. My mother's family used a bucket on a rope to pull water from a well when they needed water.&n ......