Month: June 2009

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Bad soup ideas, courtesy of Campbell’s

I acquired a bound collection of American Home magazines from 1955. What a treasure trove of home decorating ideas! I’ll be posting some of those pictures in days to come. For now, however, I want to talk about food.

Ever notice that some of the food ideas presented in old magazines just seem plain disgusting? The pictures sometimes look like the aftermath of a messy operation, and the pairings sometimes make your stomach turn. No one will ever convince me that filling pear halves with mayonnaise is a good idea. No one!

I noticed a Campbell’s ad in one of the American Home editions, and a couple of their “creative” soup ideas caught my eye.  Please forgive my rather poor quality “pictures of pictures.”  The bound collection of magazines is so bulky that it’d take a special kind of amazon woman to scan the dang thing.  I like to think that I just don’t fit the bill.
Continue reading “Bad soup ideas, courtesy of Campbell’s”

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Headin’ Out

sodakpostcard
Taking our first family vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota. For anyone who has made this trip, particularly with children, and had to drive across the plains of middle South Dakota, you know what I’m up against. I love prairieland, but driving through multiple hours of flat, sparse grassland makes it wholly understandable why pioneers experienced “prairie fever” back in the day. I’ll be flying through there at 75 miles per hour; I can’t imagine the mind-numbing that would ensue when one is driving a buggy through those same plains with even fewer people, fewer trees, and a whole lot more grass. If it weren’t for the semi-interesting change of landscape around the Missouri River, the trip would be out of the question. Couldn’t do it.

See you in a few days!

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Shopping for the retro heart

Sometimes I’m lucky enough to find cool retro products just by using the right search terms. Other times, though, I stumble across retro products that seem horribly misplaced. In general, I try to avoid the kitschy retro products that try a little too hard. You know the ones I’m talking about — the rusted signs that say “Mom’s Diner” or a clock styled like a jukebox. On the contrary, I love products that truly look as if they could have come from the 1950s. Some manufacturers are getting a clue that there is an honest demand for this stuff. Let’s encourage them, shall we? Take a look at what I’ve found via Amazon just by searching for the term “retro.” Continue reading “Shopping for the retro heart”

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Goin’ shopping with a 1957 Sears catalog

I often peruse through my old Sears catalog and wonder: if this were indeed 1957 and I were really ordering things for my house (and my life, since Sears offered everything from boots to boats “back in the day”), what would catch my eye? What items would I be writing down on the order form and sending away to Los Angeles?

The clothing just about does it for me. I could order nearly every single dress I see in the catalog and be in heaven when they arrived. Was there ever a fashion that made women more feminine than the Midcentury dresses? Flouncy and floral, they could make just about anyone look about as girly as Marilyn or Grace (Kelly, that is).

Here are a few gems that caught my eye this afternoon: Continue reading “Goin’ shopping with a 1957 Sears catalog”

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