Boy's Rooms - A Reality Check

found here

Is there anyone else out there that feels less than adequate in some area or another of your life because of Pinterest and social media? I mean, according to all of the pins and information floating around in cyber utopia, I am supposed to be able to whip-up a perfect, nutritious meal every night, have a perfectly formed body with all of the easy, peasy twenty minute workouts and such, put together fashion savvy and beautifully accessorized outfits in the blink of a pin, send my kids to school each day with balanced lunches that are works of art with their faces carved in a radish and lets not speak of the easy crafts and gift ideas that I am supposed to make and we haven't even touched on the home decor part. Deep breath. Hello? Anyone?

These are the rooms that I envision in my head and what cyber utopia tells me the male children of my family should live in. Really?

found here

found here

Sally Wheat interior design found here

found here

found here

found here

I can't figure out where they put their smelly soccer cleats and gym shoes.  Where are the cluttered desks and all of the "stuff" that my boys have endless supply of? I never see them carting big bunches junk up the stairs, yet it just multiplies. For my oldest, God love him, he is a "saver." Every single magazine (fishing and hot rods), every Bass Pro Shop catalog - hundreds of them. I cannot throw them out fast enough! But that's not the worst! My boy, again, God love him, in the words of his fourth grade teacher, "Loves him some good office supplies." His motto, if one is good, thousands are better. He is like an office supply doomsday prepper. No joke. My little man? It's the usual Legos and Matchbox. He is actually my "neat kid," just don't look under his bed or open his drawers. Mercy me. Please tell me this happens at your house! 

So, imagine my horror when I finished our holiday decorating and walked into my eldest son's room to this...

Yes, he loves Christmas Vacation  - Clark Griswald would be proud

It is quite the light show experience.

He was so proud. The picture says it all, but let me paint a few more layers for you. Close your eyes and imagine the aroma of the sweaty basketball shoes and the day old gym clothes that were strewn across the floor. And why? Why does he insist on leaving extra deodorants on every surface? Ok, I will give him that. He doesn't want to forget to use it and face that stinky shame. And all of my children have a dishwasher full of glasses in their rooms. I have to do bi-weekly glass round-ups so we can have something to drink out of.

This is youngest son's room after sleepover with best friend.

This is the desk of youngest son's room after said sleepover with their choice of reading selections.

The book makes noise. Awesome. Thank goodness it doesn't make smells. Oh wait, that is what boys are for!

All this being said, I LOVE my children. And hopefully, they will love me after this is posted. I will pay them a compliment, they all make an attempt each day to make their beds. Is it what I would do? No, but they tried. I am thinking of starting a new trend. It will be called Reality Posting. We can all post the real pictures of our homes. You know, the rooms that real people actually inhabit on a daily basis. The rooms that have never seen a stylist or professional photographer. So, who's with me? I think I hear crickets.

Thought I would post the rooms after a bit of tidying from mom. Pinterest worthy? Maybe not, but they really love their spaces and if they do, I do too!

Reality rules!

Krissy

Flashback Friday - 1940's Christmas

I have a passion for all things "retro" and "vintage." I often feel as though I was born in the wrong era. I love the innocence of the society of yesteryear. Yes, I would not mind being "stuck" at home all day because my husband drove our one family car to work, tending to my household duties. I could always walk to the market, but the milk would be delivered to my door! Wednesdays were wash days and there would always be Little Timmy and Sally's clothes to make and mend and dinner to put on the table each evening. In the forties, I would tend to my Victory Garden or follow in the footsteps of my grandmother, Pearl, and work as a Rosie the Riveter in a factory for the war effort.

The 1940's was an era of great optimism and one of great struggle. The country was coming-out of the Great Depression of the 30's and life for the average American family was on the upswing once again. The rest of the world was at war and all was quiet for the US until December 7, 1941, and Pearl Harbor changed everything. The US was now at war, but with Hollywood keeping everyone's spirits up while the boys were away to win the war, some pretty exciting things happened.

I will refrain from giving you a World War 2 history lesson and focus instead on the lighter side of life in the 1940's. Big Band music was all the rage on the radio. Rosemary Clooney, the Andrew's Sisters, Count Basie, Artie Shaw and Dizzy Gillespie were popular songsters. On the silver screen, that was oh so glamorous in the forties, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart and Bing Crosby were the male leads. For the females, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Jane Russell, Lauren Bacall and Ava Gardner became legendary icons.

The 1940's saw the first computer invented. Colossus was it's name. The first transistor and the nuclear bomb were invented. Chuck Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier and Supersonic flight was born.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President for the first half of the forties, until his death in 1945. FDR was followed by Harry Truman until 1949.

1940's Facts

Minimum wage - $.43 an hour
New house in 1940 - $3920.00   and in 1949 - $7450.00
Average income in 1940 - $1725.00 and in 1949 - $2950.00
Gallon of gas in 1940 - $.11 and in 1949 - $.17
New car in 1940 - $850.00 and in 1949 - $1420.00
$100.00 in 1940 would be the equivalent of $1433.77 today

 

Now for 1940's Christmas toy fun!

1941 - FAO Schwartz Toy Store opens in New York City

1942 - Little Golden Books are printed
1943 - Chutes and Ladders is the new game
1945 - Slinky is first sold
1948 - year Scrabble was invented
1949 - Silly Putty and Candy Land were popular Christmas toys

The most popular toys for the forties were also the Red Ryder BB rifle, Erector sets, electric train sets, enameled metal trucks and cars, metal pedal cars, WWII model airplane sets, farmyard sets, Parcheesi, Tiddlywinks and Radio Flyer wagons.

Happy Friday!

Krissy

Photos from Vintage Ad Browser, Antiques Navigator and Pinterest

Our Home Christmas Tour - Exterior

I have our stockings hung by the chimney with care and the Christmas season is in the air. I tend to go a little overboard with Christmas and my family is usually sick and tired of Christmas by the time the season is over. I consider it a job well-done if this is the case. I love to turn on the tree lights every morning and have Christmas music playing when everyone makes it to the kitchen for breakfast. I hope the mini-pearls remember this fondly and not as "one of those crazy things my mother did."

I have mentioned that a home tour was in the works and when I went to put together all my before pictures, I found zip, as in nothing, nada, zero. I checked every camera, every place on my computer, everywhere and nothing! I am disappointed to say the least. I am also disgusted with myself for not being the perfect person that I expect myself to be. Does anyone else suffer from this? I am always telling my friends to relax and not to worry about the small stuff and how we cannot be everything to everyone all the time, but for myself, not always the case. All this being said, you will have to take my word on how far the house has come on it's little journey.

The exterior looked like this when we purchased the house. Yes, the only before pic that I have. So, if you can overlook the fact that we have yet to landscape the yard, it is quite an improvement.

I went with a pink and green theme with wreaths on all the windows and the garland

around the front door. 

Happy Wednesday!

Krissy

Have You Seen This?

Time to kick-off the most wonderful time of the year! This fabulously chic, monkey tree by designer Tobi Fairley puts me in the spirit. I pink I love it! Was that punny or what? Okay, I can hear everyone saying, "Or what?" Anyhoo, have a fabulous day darlings!

xoxo,

Krissy

Photo from Tobi Fairley's blog, here!

Pumpkin Roll

Hey baby, let me see your pumpkin roll! Okay, I am not sure of the lyrics but from for some reason, whenever I say"pumpkin roll,"I cannot help but think of the song "Tootsie Roll." Now dip, baby dip... I digress. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was full of family and fun and was, in the words of Sport after he did well in a hot game of Scattergories, "one of the best Thanksgivings, ever!"

We brought back an old Pearl household tradition of pumpkin rolling. This is not to be confused with pumpkin chunkin' or other various pumpkin destroying endeavors. The pumpkin roll is all ours.  We had to stop the fun when we moved to a home with a flat and therefore, not very roll friendly yard. The new digs have a perfectly sloped front yard and the tradition is back!

What is a pumpkin roll? It is simply an opportunity to rid the front porch of fall's bounty of pumpkin decor to make room for the Christmas garland and wreaths! In other words, we roll, toss, kick and chunk the almost rotten pumpkins, down the hill and into the street. (And yes, we do clean-up the mess!) The result is a clean front porch and a smiling, laughing family! Amen.

Pumpkin Roll 2012

Pumpkin in motion

Sorry for the bad phone pics, but I wanted to share our tradition!

Happy Monday!

Krissy