to go back in time!

I'm sick of today. I'm sick of the attitudes of this generation. I want to go back inot my grandfather's era, with my grandfather's people.

I am tired of the fact that because I am a "housewife", people think I have been doing nothing for the last 17 years.

I am an expert at budget management. Even when checks get down as low as $200 a week, I can still save money, and we still eat good. Even after 2 minor disasters this year, I still money in the savings account.

I am an expert in how to manage time. I know how to cash a check, do all the grocery shopping for a month, pay all the months bills, pick up the dry cleaning, get the car repaired, take the kids to school then pick them up from school, shop for hubby some new clothes, (He ALWAYS needs new clothes; he can destroy a pair of jeans inside a week!) make a run to the bank, mail off al the packages to ebay cutomers, and have dinner done when everyone comes in 5! And I didn't leave on most of the chores until after 10.

I am a master chef. Anyone hear every had beef stoganoff from scratch? Or homemade Crem Brulee? And oh the crown roast, or southern style chocolate cake? When is the last time you had homemade peanut brittle?

I keep up with laundry and dishes for 8 people, without it stressing me...


So why do most people see housewives as so valueless?

Is it not worth something that I am here when my hubby comes in the door, exhausted, and dinner is waiting for him? That I know logs well enough to catch any error he may have in them before he sends them off to Safety?

I want to go back to the days when skills like the ones I was taught had VALUE! I know how to cure my own hams, make cheese, and I can can anything that grows from the ground! (Just don't ask me to make it grow! LOL!)

I was brought up to believe in being a Lady! Manners truly meant something! Not the thing about knowing which fork to use on the fish (by the way on a formal setting, it would be your fish fork, and if there isn't one, your dinner fork!), but where please and thank you were not just a pleasant surprise, but the way it was supposed to be! (BTW, am I "old fashioned because I still sent "thank you" notes after dinner at a friends house?) I was programed to believe that if I went to lunch with a male friend, he opens the car door, he orders, and my job was to make sure that everything is served as ordered. And if it is not, to rectify the problem.

I think I am caught in the wrong era, or are there still people out there who know what I am talking about?

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I know exactly what you are talking about. I hate the attitude of this generation and I am part of it. My parents and grandparents taught me what chivalry, politeness, kindness, and compassion is. How to open doors, hold seats, say thank you, no ma'am/sir and yes ma'am/sir. Maybe it was because I wasn't raised by the TV instead of an actual parent. Who knows, but I believe I was born in the wrong era for sure.

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Those people who don't think housewives do anything should spend a day in your shoes and see how well they do!

I think you are an AWESOME person first and foremost!

YOU my dear are a very unique person with all you manage to do in a day.

IF I were your husband I would be so proud to have such a wonderful, giving, hard working wife as you.

I have to admit I have a little envy as to what you accomplish and know how to do...

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you sound like a very unique person, with alot of qualities, that can't be realized until they are gone. it is refreshing to read this post and see that there are still people with pride in what they do. here is an atta girl.

My sentiments exactly!

Sure do! Know what you're talking about that is...I was raised with all that and forbidden to use slang or read Mad Comics...and I loved Mad Comics...

I have one foot in each world...and I've gone to dinner partys where I was the only full time stay at home wife and mom...felt a little out of sorts but I never was one to spend my time talking about the price of butter..it's just that sometimes your looked at like your stupid for making that choice, and sometimes it's jealousy...

I taught myself to cure hams, make homemade saurkraut, apple butter and put up the garden. Raised my son, remodeled the house and ran the farm..all for the good of my family.

You know what your skills are...you're no shrinking violet, you're an uncommon blossom....

KJ

Amen GuysLady

Thank You for a well written and to the point post.

Ya know what I miss about those days? Aprons....silly I know but I miss wearing an apron in the kitchen and making coffee cakes in a old coffee can with my Granny, homemade swings, tree forts, catching bullfrogs and being scared you-know-whatless when my grandpa would raise his voice, either in laughin and tellin a joke or demanding to know who stole the jar of wheat pennies on a poker night.

I think that may have been what's drawn me to the south. When I lived in Geogia here recently it was all about Yes Sir, No Sir, being thoughtfull & caring, watchin lightnin bugs and sittin in my rocker on the front porch watchin the world go by.

When I was a kid we made Mud Pies, had squirt gun fights and couldn't wait for the 4th of July when we knew we could play with Sparklers. Heck give me an old coffee, a cup of water and a can today and I'm a happy camper. Yes I have been known on occassion to get down and dirty still. Now mind you my kids see this and think I'm wacked on scooby snacks or something worse.

My toys were a baby doll and jump rope. Music was play on a transistor radio and if ya got lucky you got to use the earpiece. Now it's all about CD's, DVDs, Ipods,and the Grand Illusion.

I come from 2 very different worlds. One side of my family is very large, at one point about 300 of us on two long weekends a year and the other side far far less than that. I knew who my cousins were, my aunts, uncles etc. If ya needed something everyone came running. Today most people don't understand the concept of Family First or helping just because it's the right thing to do. Today everything comes with a high price tag and conditions.

I still go to these family reunions but now were more like 175 of us, but my kids wont go, they're too busy with movies, concerts and the like. And if you mention the words 'Hand me downs', they're screamin and stompin there feet....my fault yeah I know.

Wow...Thanks again for the trip down Memory Lane...it's sad but for most that's all it is.

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I live with my aunt and uncle, by choice, and my other Uncle lives here too, for all practical purposes! We all CHOSE this lifestyle, and would not change it! This family is extremely close, and very tight knit.

Like I said in another thread, alot of my raising was done by my grandparents. Not that my parents wouldn't raise me, but I prefered my grandparents place. I guess I may be considered strange by some, but I liked the higher expectations of my grandparents and all the work that came from living in the middle of no-where! I liked feeding chickens, and even cleaning the henhouse. I despised gathering eggs, but that was because those blasted hens were MEAN! I loved working in the garden and listening to Grandma singing her Gospel songs, and I thoroughly enjoyed bringing in the harvest!

The worst thing my grandpa could say to me was "I am so disappointed in.." this or that that I had done. Never that he was disappointed in me, but what I had done, or failed to do.

I taught myself to cure hams, make homemade saurkraut, apple butter and put up the garden

Now I do not feel quite so alone! LOL! I haven't done saurkraut since I was pregnant with William. The smell made me so sick! And now every time I smell it.. well, you know!


Ya know what I miss about those days? Aprons....silly I know but I miss wearing an apron in the kitchen

I still have tons of them around here! And I still make new ones when I finally wear one out! Do ya need a couple?


IF I were your husband I would be so proud to have such a wonderful, giving, hard working wife as you.

He LOVES it! One of his employers was in the yard one day when I brought my hubby lunch, so my hubby took a sandwich over to share, and the man just about died when he found out that the ham was one of my homecured specialties. Now when I make hams, I have to take one out to him!

Yeah, for most this a walk down memory lane, but for me it is my life. I live it. The only thing really wrong with it is that I am missing too many of the people who meant so much!

I guess I am old fashioned and strange, but I truly am my grandpa's "little girl". I know how to take care of a home and do it well. I know exactly what my hubby's needs are, and he gets them taken care of. Yes, he is a bit spoiled, so what! He's happy! And if he is happy, then guess what? He spoils me rotten!

It's all good, but you know, sometimes I feel like I am a fish out of water! Now, I don't feel so alone!

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hell - i'd settle for the 70's again

70's? I was born in 1972. So my raising was done then! Yeah, I guess I would settle for the 70's again! LOL!

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