While the joy of regimented (school imposed) routine has brought brisk new efficiency to my domestic affairs, I cannot help but feel a little wanting.
Do you get that, a gnawing ache for sweet satisfaction somewhere? Weird frustration in your fingertips? Need a teeny tiny thrill or two to see you through the day? Feel the urge for something a little more scrumptious than jam on your cranberry toast? Like you might find yourself running around the house screaming like a pinny wearing hyena if something doesn’t spark your imagination?
Me too.
So when the novelty of crisp new school uniforms has worn off, and the laundry basket has been attacked with the vengeance of a women wronged by fabric conditioner stinky enough to make her cry, and when even the thrill of an evening’s dalliance with Marco Pierre White ain’t enough to make her happy, (I can’t hold it in any longer. Oh. My. God. Who knew he was soooo divine?), the Vintage Housekeeper needs a puttery treat or six to get her through the night.
Which is, I think a better choice than gin. Though I wouldn’t say no to that either.
Take your pick.
* Set the table in sumptuous style before you go to bed tonight and throw yourself a little cornflake party in the morning.
* Feed the birds. Fill up birdfeeders, buy a diddy little bird house, make fat cakes, and provide our feathered little friends with a daily saucer of fresh water. Nothing is more enchanting than watching little birds dance around your garden.
* Clear away the last vestiges of summer in the garden. Be kind to your trusty tools by giving them a thorough cleaning and oiling (Use wd40 for the metal parts and boiled linseed oil for the wooden parts) and then reward yourself by going shopping for daffodil, narcissi, hydrangea, crocus and amarylis bulbs…
* Bundle rose bush cuttings and apple tree branches together and put them in a basket by the fireplace for sweet scented kindling.
* Turn vintage tray cloths into lavender scented envelopes for matching underwear sets. Pile them prettily in your underwear drawer.
* Make Autumn Chutney and eat with blue cheese jacket potatoes and cider in the garden. Blankets optional.
* Spend a day filling the freezer with chilli’s, stew, casseroles and soups ready for cosy afternoons spent snuggling instead of slaving at the stove. Use Marthas helpful freezer labels to identify what’s what…
* Thread laurel leaves onto string, add lavender and rosemary branches and swing the garland across the fireplace… break them off as required and add to real fires for fragranced warmth.
* Stuff the housework. Spray your pillow with a blend of orange blossom water, vodka, mandarin and bergamot essences and take an afternoon nap. Life is for living. And daydreaming.
* Choose a big, old, nubbly cardigan and hang it near the back door ready for early morning dashes to the laundry line.
* Now I know this might seem a teeny bit anal, but emptying out your pantry and doing a stock take will make you feel dementedly organised and the likelihood of you doubling up on stock cubes will simmer down to nil…
* Mimi please don’t tell me off for this one, I’m sure it isn’t good library etiquette, but go to the library and stock up on as many library books as they will let you take out (20 here) and stack them by your bed. Reserve Cold Comfort Farm, Graham Greene novels, all the Elizabeth Berg you haven’t read… Nothing compares to literary abundance for when chilly Autumn evenings are drawing in.
* Order a compost bin. They are free in many areas of the uk, and now is as good a time as any to start reducing the amount of waste your household creates. Remember (green) virtue is a grace…
* Start using the Daily HouseKeepers planner page: Give it a go- today print out a weeks worth of planner pages, staple them together and voila! organizational central for the demented Vintage HouseKeeper…
* It’s that time of year again. Take yourself on a creative excursion in search of a notebook that makes your heart sing: it’s nearly time to start planning the Christmas to end all Christmases…
* Create a proper old fashioned utility cupboard. Stock up on household candles and tealights, a huge roll of string, replacement bulbs and fuses, glue, parcel/masking tape, drawing pins, wd40, salt for frozen paths, car de-icer, etc, etc.
* Turn the heating up and get naked. Scrub yourself silly with a dry brush then dive into the shower and drown yourself in something milky. Drag a scrumptiously starched white victorian nightie over your head, add woolly silly socks and get into bed. Going to bed stupidly early at least one evening a week will change your life. Lights out by 9pm please. (I do 8pm, but if that seems a tad mental 9pm will do…)
* Spray glue a really pretty piece of fabric across the base of your snuggly jumper drawer. You’ll be going in there a lot over the next few months, make it a sight for sore eyes…
* Download or rent an audio book or two, and make washing the dishes a literary sensation.
* Get a notepad, sit down somewhere quiet and write down what your ideal day looks like. Not the one from your dreams, but the one you’ve got, but better. What do you eat for breakfast? What time do you go to bed? How much housework do you do? Do you find time for your art? Tv? What are you wearing? Do you iron your knickers in paradise?? Write it all down and resolve to do your best to shape your world the way you authentically wish it was…
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Search term: Vintage Pink. Category: Antiques. Navigating the chaos of junk, nonsense and joyous treasure that is Ebay can be a minefield. Which is why in my infinite wisdom, I have decided to bring you a brand new BrocanteHome feature: the Ebay…
Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome Browse the Bookstore Discover a curated list of books to enhance and support life the BrocanteHome way Browse the Bookstore Life Love & Vintage Housekeeping the by BrocantePrintables on Etsy Create your own Brocante Life Book,…
“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book, or you take a trip, and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are…
O.K, this is going to be as long and as teary as Gywneth Paltrows Oscar Speech, so bear with me… BrocanteHome.com finally went live yesterday and there are a few people I need to thank for making it possible… To Mum and…
Hola Honeybuns, there are just 74 days to go until Santa throws himself down our Chimneys! And so to get us all in to the spirit of things, today I am launching The Twelve Deals of Christmas: twelve discounts, offers and…
Taken from "Cooking With Elizabeth Craig ( A cookery book for the housewife of modest income), 1949. Preserving. "Some housewives limit their preserving to making marmalade in the Spring and jellies in the Summer and Autumn. I preserve all year round…
9 Comments
Naughty Library patron, bad Library Patron on your rug! Actually most of us don't mind you borrowing and reserving and even renewing – its the overdues and fines we no likey….!!! Plenty to do now from your list chicky!… best get started!
Thanks for that list. It made me smile when nerves were touched. I appreciate the hard work you put into compiling it it! Doing a stock take of the pantry has been on my conscience for a while and calling it a puttery treat makes it more appealing. In my case its not about being anal, but otherwise wasteful- many a jar of chesnuts and coconut milk have fallen prey to Best before dates not honoured.
Alison, I just love your gorgeous lists of puttery treats. Your really should write a book you know. Rita Konig has nothing on you! I'm going to be taking note of all these lovely ideas and doing them! x
These lists of yours really bring a smile to my face! Yesterday I washed my tiles floors as usual and when I was rinsing with vinegar water I thought of you. It is so nice to remember the 'vintage' or more natural way of doing and cleaning and being.
I like it. Especially the Early Night! I read the list when I got home from work today, thoroughly out of sorts, and thought…yes, I'll do that tonight! One problem though, I was awake again at 2 a.m. Hence my posting at this pre-dawn hour! Ack! 🙂 Milky coffee anyone? Ali x
Oh no, no tellings off from me Miss May! I think that borrowing lots of books….especially scrumptious books…is the best way of showing library love that there is! I just wish all our members down here would come in and ask for their alloted 14 books that would make them really happy, and want to rush home and read them! I think you deserve an extra nice treat for suggesting such a lovely idea…and for this whole delicious list of treats, infact! Thanks Alison!
Can you imagine how splendid a day it would be to fill the time with as many of these wonderful goodies as possible all on one day!? Wow! Bliss divine!
Oh…my…goodness. I can't even tell you how happy reading that list just made me…in fact I want to print it off an put it on my fridge! BEAUTIFUL! xo Rebekka
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Naughty Library patron, bad Library Patron on your rug! Actually most of us don't mind you borrowing and reserving and even renewing – its the overdues and fines we no likey….!!! Plenty to do now from your list chicky!… best get started!
Thanks for that list. It made me smile when nerves were touched. I appreciate the hard work you put into compiling it it! Doing a stock take of the pantry has been on my conscience for a while and calling it a puttery treat makes it more appealing. In my case its not about being anal, but otherwise wasteful- many a jar of chesnuts and coconut milk have fallen prey to Best before dates not honoured.
Alison, I just love your gorgeous lists of puttery treats. Your really should write a book you know. Rita Konig has nothing on you! I'm going to be taking note of all these lovely ideas and doing them! x
These lists of yours really bring a smile to my face! Yesterday I washed my tiles floors as usual and when I was rinsing with vinegar water I thought of you. It is so nice to remember the 'vintage' or more natural way of doing and cleaning and being.
This is your best list so far! I can't wait to get home and follow your advice!
I like it. Especially the Early Night! I read the list when I got home from work today, thoroughly out of sorts, and thought…yes, I'll do that tonight!
One problem though, I was awake again at 2 a.m. Hence my posting at this pre-dawn hour! Ack! 🙂
Milky coffee anyone?
Ali x
Oh no, no tellings off from me Miss May! I think that borrowing lots of books….especially scrumptious books…is the best way of showing library love that there is! I just wish all our members down here would come in and ask for their alloted 14 books that would make them really happy, and want to rush home and read them!
I think you deserve an extra nice treat for suggesting such a lovely idea…and for this whole delicious list of treats, infact! Thanks Alison!
Can you imagine how splendid a day it would be to fill the time with as many of these wonderful goodies as possible all on one day!? Wow! Bliss divine!
Oh…my…goodness. I can't even tell you how happy reading that list just made me…in fact I want to print it off an put it on my fridge! BEAUTIFUL!
xo
Rebekka