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Tracy Sep 2, 2006

Don't know if this is something someone made up, or if it really was the wifely code of duty in 1955 (got it in an email today).   Regardless, it's a great laugh........and makes me very, very happy I wasn't a wife back then.    June Cleaver I am NOT!! :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Naturally, Darren thought it sounded like a great way to live..........he is sooooo dreaming........or just delusional!! :crackup:

Have a good laugh ladies!  I miss you all and will hopefully be back on a more regular basis soon. :hug:

Jellybelly Bears Sep 2, 2006

Oh my godness!!!!!  LOL.. Geez louise!!!

Jennskains Sep 2, 2006

What the h@%L was that?!  I almost fell out of my chair laughing!

jenny Sep 2, 2006

Hysterical   :crackup: !! I like the bit about 'his conversation is more important than yours'....maybe it might be...if they could get a word in edgeways!!!

Jennskains Sep 2, 2006

I should never send that to myMIL!  I'm not good enough in her eyes! :crackup:

Tracy Sep 2, 2006

Aren't these "tips" just precious?!!  Ya.......right!!!! :crackup:  :crackup:

Jenn--That would be very bad MIL ammunition......make sure she NEVER sees this!! :crackup:

Jare Hares & Bears Sep 2, 2006

We were groomed to be wives...period. Not at home, not for me at least, but in the magazines, school and then TV.  An unmarried girl of 20 was a spinster in Jane Austin's time.  In my childhood, some men were still grumbling because women had the vote!

Here's a rather obscure one I think. I once had on ruffled ankle socks with high heels for a costume. My mother wouldn't let me out the door. Since it was a pretty tame costume compared to some of my Star Trek aluminum ones, I couldn't figure out why. She finally hemmed and hawed enough for me to catch on that only prostitutes wore ankle socks and high heels. Funny, I never thought it was [INVALID], which is why I was wearing them with a clown outfit.

How different from today. Now straight from birth little girls are taught to dress and act like little hookers.
Mini-skirts for infants... come on... why does an infants diaper need to be hanging out in the breeze.

At one of the show in Missouri, mom and I were on the elevator. The elevator stopped a couple of floors down. A family got on the mother, father, and 12 year old daughter. She got on the evelator and started wiggling her little rear at me. Then she turned around to see if I was looking. I turned my head with disgust.

Shame on her parents!

After we got off the elevator I looked at mom and asked her if she saw what I saw. She did. And now when that girl comes home at 16 pregant, here parents are going to wonder why?
I see all the little girls that come into the store on a daily basis and is disgusts me. They barely have any clothing on no matter what time of the year. Their fat bellies are hanging out. And their privates hanging out, their "G" strings exposed, and their everything else hanging out. Don't even mention the volleyball players in their "buns"! YUCK! I saw one gal in her "buns" and you could see every, and I mean EVERY, lump she had. Gross!

I don't think that this list from the 1950s is total correct in how a relationship should work. But I think that we have swung too far the other way.

bearlysane Sep 2, 2006

Boy! That's definitely gotta be written by a man!

Hugs,

chrissibrinkley Sep 2, 2006

Ha ha ha..... we lovingly refer to this as "going stepford" in my house.   :crackup:
I personally adore this kind of campy stuff!! I adore vintage 1930's 40's and 50's items and have a kitchen themed with it all.

When we first bought our house a few years back I found this funny book on ebay and I still have it out on an antique hoosier in my kitchen "A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband (with Bettinas best recipes)" This book is such a crack up!!  I had to have it!
This is a thick book about a guy named Bob and his new wife Bettina...it's got story's in each chapter (Bettina gives a luncheon, Ruth inspects Bettina's kitchen, Bettina entertain's alice and Mr HArrison, Bettina buys a refrigerator, Bettina spills the ink, With house cleaning over...) Poems for each month, nd it's filled with recipes.

"To every other little bride, who has a Bob to please, and says she's tried and tried and tried to cook with skill and ease.  And can't!---we offer here as a guide Bettina's Recipes.  To her whose Bob is prone to wear a sad and hungry look, because the maid he thought so fair, is --well-- she just can't cook! To her we say, do not despair, Just try Bettina's Book." Oh, it's too funny...I love it!!
" No you cannot live on kisses, Though the honeymoon is sweet, Harken Brides a true word is this, even lovers have to eat".   :crackup:   
Oh, it gets so much better!! "Roasting turkeys! Rich Mince pies! Cakes of every shape and size! Santa though they're fond of you, Christmas needs us housewives too" 

Here's the BEST part...the last chapter:
"The first year ends"
Do you know Bettina that I've found you wiser than I ever imagined a young wife could be" say bob.
Bettina finally says" "after all romance is really in everything that we do lovingly, and intelligently. I find it in planning and cooking the best and most economical meals that I can, and in getting the mending done on time, and in keeping the house clean and beautiful.  And ---in having you appreciate things"

AWWWWWWW   now that's love :crackup:

JARED:  I totally agree with you.  My sister teaches and she is so many times so upset with the way parents allow their precious little girls and pre teens to dress now.  ...these kids are raising themselves essentially with no boundaries.   I personally don't want to see a 13 year old girl with tight pink sweat shorts that read "sweetness" across her butt. Who's that for anyway...some dirty old guy in the Mall?? Don't even get me started on the Bratz dolls (or the micro ho's as we call them)

My one sister was home schooled for a while and I think if things continue to go as they are today I might just do the same when we have kids...it's too scary to see what goes on now.  And I'm not that far out of highschool myself...(only had 1 reunion so far!!)  :crackup:

:hug:
~Chrissi

Jare Hares & Bears Sep 2, 2006

Well that is exactly why my sister and a friend of ours decided to home school...
School are war grounds anymore...

Jennskains Sep 2, 2006

Boy am I glad I didn't live back then.  I got married at 30 and with health issues I am defiately no breeder!  Jared I've seen it too parents who dress thier daughters like sluts in preschool and or won't teach thier child respect and they wonder why kids have behavioral issues?!  I am a Daycare prvider.  I teach preschool.  As far as that time period goes,  I have a mouth on me and a nasty temper.  No way would I ever be a "Yes Sir" type

patsylakebears Sep 2, 2006

It was very much like that when I was at high school in the early 60s we were taught to have meals ready for the man when he comes home from a day at work. Children washed and ready for bed the house cleared of all toys.. It took me some yrs to learn that I am a person in my own right and I deserve the same values...

Judi Sep 2, 2006

BWAHHHH HA HA HA!!!  OMG!!! This is HILARIOUS!!! 
..." his topics of conversation are more important than yours." :crackup:  :crackup:
uestion him." :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

..." be a little more gay and interesting for him."

Oh these are great!  Tracy, could you please forward this email to me?

Oh, and I love the high heels and dress while cooking.

Holy smokes.....women were property just like cattle.

Judi Sep 2, 2006

I don't think that this list from the 1950s is total correct in how a relationship should work. But I think that we have swung too far the other way.

Jared, I think you are absolutely right.  And it has to start at home.  Just yesterday I got into a discussion on skirt length with my daughter.  She wanted a skirt that I felt was too short.  She put in a good arguement that is was cute and just beyond finger tip length..BUT..she has very long legs , she's almost 5'9''tall at age 15...it was TOO short for her legs length....PERIOD.  I cannot belive how short the skirts are in the store for teengaers and youg girls.  They barely cover thier hinders.

Her  school now has in their dress code that students may not wear clothing that shows thier figure, like leggings or anything spandex.  No bras or underwear can show.  No midriffs....man...this was not even an inssue when I was in school.  HA HA>>>and the funny thing is..if a student shows up inappropriately dressed they have to call home for proper clothes....if a parent cannot bring proper clothing to school the studen gets to wear a HUGE UGLY T-shirt for the whole day provided by the school.

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 2, 2006

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:   I grew up in the 40s and 50s and it wasn't like that at my house.  My dad was a laid-back, happy-go-lucky, but handicapped, man (lost a leg to polio) and my mom ruled the roost.  Daddy wasn't a very good provider as far as finances went, so my mom filled in and we all did what she told us to do.  Guess my homelife was pretty atypical for the times.

Dilu Sep 2, 2006

Ha!  Yes!!!! that is the way it was.....sort of......

..........on the Donna Reed show she cleaned the bathroom in high heels and an organdy apron....I thought my mom was a real slouch because she wore pedal pushers and madras shirts.....but she always had dinner ready every single night at 6PM and heaven help you...you'd better be dead if you're thinking of being late!

Was it really the men?

Perhaps....

But I think a lot of pressure was put on the young wives by their own mothers and mother in laws.

One of the few compliments my mom ever paid me was "You have perfect feet for high heels."

Thank God the 60's came along and I learned that I wouldn't ever have to wear them....they looked like torture devices to me....even at a young tender age. HA!

and I never have.  Of course I was 5'11+ and for the 60's and 70's that was pretty damn tall, now I feel like a midget with the gals I see being so much taller.

Of course those 4 compressed to nothing discs might play a part in that too...

BUT

 

there is such a thing as give and take.  While I wasn't cut out to be a "proper Officer's Wife"  I found that by doing the opposite of my mom I have a stronger relationship with my honey, and a heck of a lot more fun!  He treats ME like royalty....who'd a thunk it?

(is it any wonder I think my guy almost walks on water?)

Renae....did you have both long and short white gloves?  I had special ones that were supposed to be worn with ball gowns, the softest leather you could imagine......problem with this picture? 

           

I said no to every invitation.  I wanted to stay home and read my book, and it drove my mom nuts! 

She was forever making me gowns that did get used, but only for performing on the piano....

I cut the gloves up for a project somewhere along the way.....

Renae speaks the truth, you younguns.....but only to a point....that would be around what, 1966-67?

I did meet royalty and still didn't curtsy.....

but when I bumped into Aretha Franklin at The Place that was nearly next door to the boarding school, well we danced and sang and got blitzed to our hearts content.  Now THAT was fun!  She was so tickled to meet someone in Switzerland that could speak English, and order her cokes...and.......Yeah....only you older folk will know Aretha Franklin.....

My mom wouldn't let me wear a black and white houndstooth skirt with a red blouse for the same reason Renae.....only "sluts" wore black and red together....Huh????.

The lady across the street who had 4 kids and a traveling hubby drank clear liquid in her coffee cup every morning when I went to get Linda to walk to school.  Then in the afternoon, her coffee was still clear liquid,  then by dinner time she was pretty relaxed.....

I understand now...she was using alcohol to cope, and my mom used Librium to cope and my aunt, well she was partial to Ultram.
Are we any worse or better off now than the ladies back then?  Mrs. Lincoln used opium to cope.  The woman across the road from me uses Meth to cope. 

Our little ones are exposed to things that we wouldn't have dreamed of-well except I discovered Lady Chatterly's Lover   at the public Library when I was 11 or 12, and learned a lot!    And since it was hard cover my mom never knew.....she just wouldn't tolerate paper backs!

It is nice that we can be who we are now, but it didn't stop me then....I didn't know how to be other than what I was, and when I was standing with my nose to the wall blowing spit bubbles my partner in crime was usually right next to me, Val, and he was blowing spit bubbles and cracking jokes.  We would start to giggle and out came the paddles.....sheesh....Some Sisters had no sense of humor!

The segregated playground didn't work too well where we were....and I hated wearing dresses....people would get so upset if we were on the jungle gym or hanging on the bars....and dresses get ripped when you use the sewn in ties that made big bows for reins and ran around playing horsie.....I got to be the horse because I HAD THE REINS....poor Val.

There were things I learned that while old fashioned, I appreciate knowing.  I can CAN with the best of them....and am grateful for those canned goods in the winter,  Which one of you asked what's canning?

I know how to prepare for disasters...which seems to be a lost art, given what happened last year during the hurricanes. 

If you have never learned It, never experienced It, never faced It, you can't be faulted for not doing It, whatever the IT might be.  For us it was fires, for some hurricanes and Dorothy had her hands full with tornados.

There are things that are better and things that are worse, but as a student of history i can assure you one and all that the pendulum will swing back the other way...

We the People just don't seem to be able to be content with a happy medium....

What's a happy medium?    Oh bad joke!

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 2, 2006

It took me some yrs to learn that I am a person in my own right and I deserve the same values...

Amen to that, sister!  You go, girl!

Honestly, I want to beat the crap out of whoever wrote this article... even if they DID write it years ago, when "everyone" thought this way.

How's that for ladylike and fresh and gay, with a ribbon in my hair?!?!???

< >

Jodi Falk Sep 2, 2006

Oh my goodness !!! Well...........Lets say I fall way SHORT !!!!!!!  The wife used to be a property to a man . Kinda scary !!!! But I guess if the man took really good care of her she did't mind. Who knows !!!! It would be really hard to do now a days though !!!! WOW !!!!

                                                   Jodi Falk

Kidsandteddy Sep 2, 2006

Hi guys,
Well this really made me smile a lot.   Actually my mom was a lot like that. This is probably why my sister and I are a little more independent. Whatever happened to a 50/50 relationship and respecting one another.
As for some of you ladies my husband would love it to. hee hee.

Bonnie

WildThyme Sep 2, 2006

You know... I just have to chime in on the toddler fashion thing.   A few months ago my MIL asked if Miranda (barely age 6 and wears a size 4T clothes) needed anything... "socks and underware" was my answer.  Well, the socks were no problem.  The underware was in a sealed package and essentially looked like it was pastel colors with some sort of sparkly decal on it... no problem.... I figured it must be "My Pretty Pony" or days of the week or something..... well, I open the packege to wash them (and these are size 4T underware... meant to be worn by 3 and 4 year old little things) and they have these decals on them that read things like "Everyone loves an Honor Student," and my personal favorite, "Party Girl!"  I just felt the blood drain from my body when I read them.  I mean, isn't that just INSANE!      I was truly appauled!   I marched in to the store where my unsuspecting MIL had purchased them, sans receipt, and demanded that I be able to return them immediately and consider taking a product like that off their shelves.  The manager was completely unmoved... said that would be a "corporate decision."  Then she had the nerve to tell me that I couldn't return an opened package of underware... especially not without a receipt!  I threw an absolute FIT right in the store... and got the money back. 

Today when we went to buy little girls undershirts (different store)... they had padded bras in tiny little girl sizes!  I'm sure that there are girls who develop early... but at age 6?!    And if your 6 year old child was actually in NEED of a bra... what self respecting parent would buy them a PADDED bra!   

It's just crazy!     And sad... really sad!

Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

BootButtonBears Sep 3, 2006

Kim, I agree with you entirely.  It makes my heart break when I see these little girls dressed like "lolita" and with all the concern nowadays with child abuse, I cannot imagine how parents would ever want to dress their child in this provocative type of way.  I am so lucky that my 10 year old daughter is a real jeans and t-shirt type girl, and doesn't really want to follow fashion at all.  I breath a sigh of relief that she is happy in jeans, when I see her little friends in short skirts, heels and makeup - at 10 years old.  If they are dressing like this at 10, what will they want to be wearing at 15!

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 3, 2006

If they are dressing like this at 10, what will they want to be wearing at 15!

Boys.

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 3, 2006

If they are dressing like this at 10, what will they want to be wearing at 15!

Boys.

:)

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Jare Hares & Bears Sep 3, 2006

If they are dressing like this at 10, what will they want to be wearing at 15!

Boys.

:)

Shelli - you are so bad...  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

But you are so right...

Jennskains Sep 3, 2006

Why do you think girls dress like that?  Because they think that is the only way to get attention from a boy!  God forbid they are taught to use a single brain cell in thier heads!