Date yourself! Do you remember . . . . .

The other day my mom and I were talking about when I was a kid, and I reminded her about these . . . .
They are called 'pants stretchers', and you took wet, freshly laundered slacks and slipped a stretcher into each leg, setting the crease just so, then hung them to dry. I remember many times in my childhood and teen years when there were multiple pairs of my dads slacks on the line, blowing in the breezes.

Of course actually washing the clothes was much different back then, too. In the far left side, in the other room, you'll find an old wringer washing machine which is much like ours. You put the water, clothes and detergent into the bowl to wash the clothes, then you fed each piece of clothing into the wringers on top to squeeze as much water as possible out of them.

Of course then you took the laundry basket out to the clothesline and pinned each piece onto the clothesline. I wonder how many times I had to run outside and help my mom take the clothes off the line when a surprise rain shower arrived???

And when we took them down, we couldn't just leave the clothespins hanging there either . . .

but had to put each one into a clothespin bag much like this one.

And don't forget what happened when the clothes were dry and back inside. They had to be ironed! This first iron is an example of a very early one that was heated up either inside a fire, on the coals, or on a stove.

And then finally the electric ones became available. Here's a cute example of a vintage iron.

And then here is an example of one that you might find today, although they aren't used as much now as they were. I just LOVE no-iron shirts and slacks!!! Do you know where your iron is???

And I can't leave out a true necessity in doing laundry - the sprinkler bottle. This is very much like the old one that we had, and I'm sure my mother still has it. And her bottle of choice was a coke bottle as well! These days when I have to moisten something before I iron it, I use a spray bottle, which works very well.

While I am so glad that things have progressed due to technology and good old ingenuity, I also enjoy looking back at the way things were. So tell me, what modern day convenience are you most thankful for today? TV, computers, food processors, cordless and/or cell phones, modern medicine??? Tell me all about it!

Blessings, Becky

An Apron Giveaway You Say???

YES! This neat blog I just found called "Maple Lane" is giving away a gorgeous apron (red with white polka dots!) and I'm entering - how about you??? Now I have quite a collection of vintage and newer aprons, and this one would look just precious on the rooster rack in my farmhouse kitchen with lots of red, mustard yellow, blue and white. Here's pic of what's on it now >>>

The yellow one at far left is one I bought at the "Farm Chicks" booth at the 2007 Country Living Fair in Ohio. The red sunbonnet one, and the two bibbed ones that are barely visiblewere in a box lot of linens I bought at Freehome Auction for a couple of dollars a few years ago. The pink one came from an antique store, I think in Warm Springs,GA, and the patchwork one on far right is from a yard sale just up the road from a lady who was in a square dancing group! It is hand pieced.

Now these two pics are of the 'laundry line' in our laundry 'closet'. The ceiling in there was high, and the shelf is a great place for storage, but the closet needed a little something, so I hung some of my aprons to look like a line of laundry. Please excuse the mess - this IS after all a working/functional (and busy right now) laundry room!

The blue cross stitched one was a gift from a precious little old lady at our former church one Christmas. She decided the preschool Sunday School teachers didn't get enough appreciation, and gave several of us a goodie bag of her treasures. I still love Miss Lucy Nell and her sister Miss Floy, even though I haven't seen them in over 5 years. I couldn't tell you where got the pink to the right, but the blue two layered one was a gift from my friend, Fay. And the pink bag was a laundry bag that was also in the box lot I bought at the auction. Oh, and see - I told you this is a real working laundry!



The orange checked apron you can barely see for the boxes is one I bought at a yard sale for next to nothing, and the blue gingham one at far right I've had so long I can't remember where it came from any more.

So, as you can see, I love, LOVE aprons, and would love to win that sassy one over at Maple Lane. Everyone have a great day! Blessings, Becky