Food Advertisements (part 2)

I didn't know they had ready made biscuit dough in the 40s!

Food Advertisements (part 1)

Here is another installment of ads from Woman's Home Companion. I have so many advertisements of food, tomorrow I will be posting more! I love the reciepes that go with them!

Little Women 1949

I didn't even remember there was a 1949 version of Little Women. I know I have seen it, it has just been a long time. The ad is from one of my new magazines! That is what brought it back to mind. How can a version of Little Women not be fun? It is kinda like watching the many versions of Pride & Prejudice. I good story never gets old! Plus you can't go wrong will June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Margaret O'Brian, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Lawford!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Vintage Ads

I recently pick up two Woman's Home Companion magazines from the late 40s. The advertisements are marvelous! I will be posting quite a few in the next week. Today's ads feature aprons! What else?!

Cute little mom and me half aprons. Didn't know they were in to saving water then too.

Love the kitchen! Look at that wallpaper!

They loved ruffles in the 40s.

Isn't the fabric cute on this apron?

Mystery Plant

Among the plants we bought last weekend is this mystery plant. It was only a dollar and had no label. At first I thought it was a black-eyed susan, now I am now sure. It really doesn't look like the black-eyed susan I already have. A different variety? Or maybe the same family? Maybe it is a daisy? If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Busy Weekend

This weekend was a whirl of activity. It was also very exciting as we got a lot done. But the most exciting part was getting a new stove!! Not just a new stove, a convection oven! I didn't know if getting a convection oven was a good thing at first, but after a bit of research what wasn't there to like? 1.) It cooks more evenly then regular stoves. 2.) You can put more in the oven at one time without having to constantly watch for burning. 3.) Cooks quicker. 4.) It bakes better! Really, it just makes everything turn out better! Probably because our old oven was on the fritz and wasn't cooking. 

So Friday night we started the testing. Whipped out pizza for dinner and a batch of Chocolate Zucchini Muffins for dessert. What a difference! The pizza crust was light and crusty without being soggy in the middle. The muffins were tall and fluffy. I could go on all day, how amazing this oven is! We had more plans for baking on Saturday and Sunday but we got distracted by a bit of gardening. My sister and I ended up giving all the flower beds and garden a good weeding, which it desperately needed. Then we re-arranged a few plants and planted a few more flowers. All in all a fun weekend, but busy. Especially after we helped side our brothers house on Sunday.

This week I am looking forward to trying bread and cake in the convection oven. Anyone ever baked with a convection oven before?

Knitted Dishcloths



I love the beige with the aqua. So cool looking.



Here is one of my lastest projects, hot off the needles! Knitted dishcloths! It such a fun simple project. They are so simple to make, but it took me awhile to remember how to make them as I kept over thinking it!

Here are the directions for knitting Simple Dishcloths.

Cast on 3 stitches. Increase in first stitch (I used the knit front and back of stitch increase), knit rest of stitches. Continue knitting back and forth increasing in first stitch until there are 45 stitches. Now decrease second stitch of every row (knit two together). When there are 6 stitches left knit one, decrease twice, knit last stitch. Bind off last 4 stitches.

Sometimes it is nice to knit something mindless. (for watching Doris Day,  reading, traveling)

Dog Days of Summer

Here a couple of pictures my sister took of our local park. You have probably noticed I am not a motivated picture taker, if I can talk Mandy into doing it, I am happy! I am one of those persons that stands there drinking in the scenery, forgetting I am holding a camera.

Such a tranquil scene, you wouldn't know we are in the middle of a city. Looks kind of English to me. But it is just good 'ole Wisconsin.

And here is the pup enjoying the weather. Her name is Kerri, she is a Wheaten Terrier.

We know she is happy when she crosses her paws!

Thank you sister for letting me use your pictures!

Snow-Swirl Chocolate Roll

This weekend I was longing for something sweet and yummy. I have been wanting to make a chocolate roll for a while, so I decided this was the day! 

The picture from the cookbook. Doesn't it look divine?

Unfortunately my mind was not focusing..... I keep persevering though and amazingly it turned out okay. First of all I decided I didn't want to use seven minute frosting like the recipe called for. I used a chocolate frosting from the Ghirardelli  cookbook. It used melting chocolate and sour cream. I love the smoothness and the consistency of it. I would recommend that you not use dark dark chocolate, it makes it too sour. While that was chilling in the refrigerator, I started the chocolate roll. BUT, as I was measuring the baking cocoa out I realized that I didn't have enough, then I realized that I had just mixed all the dry ingredients together when I wasn't suppose to. After I had read the directions three times! I tell you I don't know where my mind was!

Okay, so plan B. Make a white roll with chocolate filling in the middle. No problem.

I move on to the eggs. One bowl for whites and one bowl for yolks. I cracked my first egg and put the whole thing in the white bowl! Now I am worried! Where is my mind?! I am usually not this bad, I know I have my blond moments like anyone else, but really!

I concentrated really hard and finally got it made! Whew! It actually turned out better then I thought it would.  I would like to try it again and make a real chocolate roll!

 Not quite what the cookbook pictured. Lol! I heard no complaints though and this morning there was only one piece left.

The original recipe, in case you would like to try your hand at it. Let me know if you do!

Thanks to my sister Mandy for taking pictures for me!!

By The Light of The Silvery Moon

Doris Day is one of my sisters and I favorite actresses and singer. We love 50s musicals and Doris Day was the epitome of musicals in the 50s. She was the pretty, happy go lucky girl next door. And to quote another favorite movie, she played in movies where "boy meets girls, they have problems that aren't too weird, fall in love and live happily ever after". That is from That Darn Cat with Hayley Mills. It is so hard to pick which our favorite, but By the Light of the Silvery Moon is defiantly up there in the top ten.

Here is a scene with cute aprons! Enjoy!

1940s Apron Finished

 Here is an apron I finished recently. From a 1940s pattern I have. If you remember I made the pinafore style apron too. This time I made the half apron out of a semi-sheer white and embroidered above the ruffle.

 It doesn't show up the best on a white dress. I was a little sad the embroidery and the rick rack didn't match exactly. But over all I am happy with it!

A close up of the embroidery. Sorry it is not in focus. It is hard to tell if a picture is any good looking at it on the little camera screen!