Vintage Mum, the good and the bad....

So my efforts for living a tad more vintage like is going fairly well, yes I have been meal planning, shopping frequently and sticking to my budget, I am pleased to report that I came in right on budget last week too, so this week I was able to buy a couple of items I wanted...very happy.

So, this morning,like any vintage mum about town, I texted a friend to meet for coffee (good), I was thinking Star*ucks (bad, N, very, very bad) she called back (very good) and suggested I go to her place instead (very, very good).
I brought cake (very good) alas it was shop brought (very, very bad).
In my defence I had already left the flat to do my chores when she called me and it was a totally spontaneous thing.

After I left there I went to a supermarket to buy for the weekend, I was happy to see an increase in loose vegetables, often it is usually just onions and potatoes loose but they have now added mushrooms and tomatoes to the loose list.  Lucky me because I only wanted two toms and a half a pound (being vintagely Imperial today) of mushrooms.  This meant that I spent less and  there will be less food waste.

So come on ladies....shop like our grannies did!!!

Walk like a Vintage Mum, talk like a Vintage mum.....

Yikes!  Yesterday I was horrified to see how much I had spent last week....what with buying food for my sister (who is hobbled at the moment) and treating us all to a pretty expensive (for me) Chinese restaurant meal, plus a couple of insane impulse purchases on the e(sucksallyourmoneyaway)bay.

I have determined that this week I need to rededicate myself to my NeoTraditionalist ethics and shop like my Gran did, with a budget and almost daily...let's be honest, the weekly shop is a by product of the modern supermarket, our Grandmothers, great grandmothers and beyond had to do frequent shops for fresh goods especially, they needed to get others delivered (which I do) and they couldn't carry much either as fewer people had cars.

So, I have decided to spend wisely and shop as often as I need, which might be daily.

I had already brought my salad box with juicing items so, this week at least, I have plenty of fresh goods......goodness knows what will happen next week as I have cancelled next weeks delivery.

Todays menu

Breakfast

A pot of yoghurt

Snack

1/2 Small Banana

Lunch

Wholewheat pasta  (not very vintage I know)
and Cheese, Salad


Tea

Tea du Jour: Green with Lemon
Bonne Maman Madeleine's

Dinner

Vegetable fingers
Leftover pasta Salad

Fortnightly check in

I finished my two week teeth lightening 'treatment'  It worked well and my teeth look fab.  Not artificially sparkling white, just back to normal ivory and not having that weird green tea tinge they have acquired over the years since my green tea habit began.

I am not seeing much change to my face but I will give it more time, you never know.

The biggest change has been what the juicing is doing to my milk supply, I feel so abundant and now I just can't seem to get the babe off my teats!  It is a bit regressive as she is actually supposed to be reducing her feeding and having more food. But I don't know whether the extra nutrition is making my milk taste simply yummy or what but she can't get enough of it. 

I know weaning is going to be really, really hard with this one!

Beauty Progress

Juicing is going great, teeth are looking fabulous and are already a shade or two lighter despite the increase of beetroot in my diet thanks to the abundance of the stuff in my juice box this week.
In a minute I shall be doing the second application of the turmeric facemask that is suppose to lighten out uneven skin tone and as I have some scarring from the electrolysis I had over a decade ago which still bugs me, I will try just about anything to even out my dark patches. So I was happy to see this post by Natalie at Vintageous (she has mask of pregnancy that she is trying to get rid of).

Sad to see some of the suggestions after the video feature self hating women trying to just look 'light'....Colourism is just plain nasty :(

Juice, teeth, body, face..stat!

Yes, I am a month past schedule in getting back on  my beauty regimen. 

When I thought how much more (albeit comparatively less than most people I know) time I used to put into looking good, I really do feel this last year I have let myself go.  For good reason of course, who has the bloody time for all that with a young baby?

However with the Babe's growing independence and my growing social life, invitations for trips and reenactment events. I am going to need to get back to looking and feeling retro fabulous.

Luckily for me there is plenty of advice on You tube about improving one's self without needing to invest in a whole lot of dosh wot wot...firstly is the lovely Natalie at Vintageous talking about how she got her pearly whites...

Luckily one thing I always have to hand is plenty of bicarb!

She also has plenty of videos to aid me in improving my skin and a good old pin up work out! ;o)

As for my hair, this is a really good video showing a 50's style set on natural afro hair.
Since my hair is 100% natural now, this is the type of style I tend to go for when I bother to do it at all.

I am hoping that with a few weeks of working hard on myself, I will feel beautiful and confidant and the beginning of this season.  Hope these videos give you some inspiration about where to start on your beauty regime, especially if you have a had a bit of a break like I have.

Underpinnings

A friend posted this the other day, it totally cracked me up because I had just done that exact thing, realised that I was wearing my bra far later than normal for me and enjoyed the relief that came with taking it off....but then I am fairly large chested and my thoughts about it were always bound up with that fact, it never occurred to me that my small breasted sister felt the same.  But now I hear it is a universal feeling....Ah the great Sisterhood, how much we share!

I thought back to the equally joyous feeling I get when removing the corset, even if it isn't laced too tight so you are comfortable and you feel like an utterly amazing sex Goddess in one, the joy of taking it off and letting your body relax....oh it is lovely.

This is not a tale of the modern day, this is a tale of women from time immemorial, ever since we decided our boobs needed a bit of support on a daily basis, we have been enjoying the feeling of taking it off also....notice in the 18thc. we had bed jackets and robes.  In the 19thc. Teagowns.
These clothes were designed to be worn as informal wear, to put on after the stays come off!

Sometimes that Victorian lady just couldn't be bothered to put that corset on when she wasn't going anywhere, sister coming around for a cup of  tea?  Sod it, wear the Tea gown, she can cope with some boob!  

Thinking about this fact reminds me that all of us women are bound by similar experiences going back over time, decade after decade, century after century.  Next time you sigh and smile after taking off your bra, think of the ancestors taking off their own bras and corsets and doing the exact. same. thing.

New Bathroom

Woot!  My new bathroom is being put in, a shower finally and everything new from the floor up!

You know my grandmother brought me a nice shower curtain once, I did not have the heart to tell her that I did not have a shower so couldn't use it, but now I will have and CAN use it!!!  Swish!

I am happy. Won't be very historical looking but I will try my best, I wanted to continue with my blue and white theme, the flooring will be blue, which should make the bathroom look brighter than when I had that wood coloured vinyl down. 

I will take pictures!