Valentine's Day Whimsy for All Ages

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I wrote two new articles for Valentine's Day this year. One with old fashioned games for all ages, and another with decorations and menu suggestions from 1927. 

Old Fashioned Valentine's Day Games:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/Valentine-bs--sq-s-Day-Games.html

Valentine's Day Party Fun from 1927
http://oldfashionedliving.com/Valentines-Day-Party-Fun-from-1927.html

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing the articles:)

I'm running behind this week or would have posted sooner. My husband's grandmother passed away this week.  She's been in a nursing home for a long time with Alzheimers, and we all thought we were prepared, but found out you can never really be ready for a loved one to leave. We'll all miss her very much.

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day:)
~Brenda

An Old Fashioned Valentine's Day

Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold. ~Zelda Fitzgerald

February is always a lovely, joy filled month at our house, not only because we love Valentine's Day, but because my anniversary is this month- we'll be married 24 years on February 18th- plus our daughter is turning 13 on February 25th, so we'll have another teenager in the family:)

Today I wanted to share links to articles I've written for Old Fashioned Living over the years for Valentine's Day. I love these articles because as I read them again I remember what was happening with the kids at that time in our lives. My favorite memories are the ones where we put on tea parties and made Valentine's Day crafts or cards for each other.  I dug out the picture below to share with you.  Emily was 2 years old and we put on a little tea party for her brothers when they got home from school.  It was the first of many tea parties:)

A Valentine's Day Tea Party:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/valentine-tea.html

Valentine's Day Cookies:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/lovecookies.html

Valentine's Day Pizza Party:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/pizzaparty.html

Paper Doily Crafts:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/valentine2.html

Dainty Holiday Cookie Recipes:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/dainty.html

Old Fashioned Valentine's Games:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/valentines.html

Homemade Truffle Recipes:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/truffles.html

I'll have three new articles for Valentine's Day this year, so keep an eye out for those blog posts!

Thanks, Brenda

Easy, Fun Superbowl Food

The Superbowl is Sunday, and fans around the world get together for football, family, friends and commercials...you know it's true.  We may not all be that interested in who wins the big game of the year, but between the commercials and the halftime show, people can't seem to resist tuning in to the game.

I love party food, but usually I make it for my teens and their friends, or family get togethers, which include ages 3 to 70 years old.  Buffet style meals are always a great way to go when serving kids and adults with different tastes.  The article I wrote this week includes recipes for:

-Italian Meatball Sandwiches
-Easy Pizza Pockets
-Caesar Wraps

The article is here:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/Game-Day-Snacks.html

~Enjoy! Brenda

Vintage Tips from the Roaring Twenties

Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. ~Frederick W. Robertson

The blog post from Friday had the wrong link for the afternoon tea recipes. I've fixed that link, but here it is again:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/Vintage-Afternoon-Tea-or-Luncheon-Recipes.html

The link I accidentally posted was for my next article, which is part two of the household hints from 1928 and 1929. This group of tips is a fun hodgepodge of advice with a few of my notes added for clarification.  That article is here:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/Vintage-Household-Hints-2.html

Sorry for the confusion, and I hope your weekend was restful,

~Brenda

Vintage Afternoon Tea Recipes

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts

I haven't written anything on afternoon tea in quite awhile, but as I was looking over the vintage magazines my dad gave me at Christmas, I found recipes that would be perfect for a small tea party with friends and family. I think you will enjoy the recipes as much as I have. They include:

Toasted Cheese Sandwiches
Pimento Paste Sandwiches
A Delicious Cake Frosting
Oatmeal Macaroons
A Quick Loaf Cake

The article is here:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/Vintage-Afternoon-Tea-or-Luncheon-Recipes.html

~Brenda

Frugal Tips and Lessons from 1928-1929

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

All week I kept thumbing through magazines from 1928, and 1929, fascinated by this time period when so much was happening in the world, such as Prohibition and the beginning of The Great Depression. The magazines have so many helpful recipes and tips that I decided to divide them into several articles, grouping together topics.

I also found the above advertisement from OXO, a company out of Great Britain and Europe that started out producing "meat extract", then later sold beef cubes, which is what the graphic is advertising. Can you imagine if we tried to give today's children a cup of beef broth instead of milk or hot chocolate before bedtime?

The tips featured in the first of the articles I'm writing the month contain advice on clothslines, removing stains and sewing.  I think you'll enjoy these, and the other tips as I share throughout the month.  The first article is here: http://oldfashionedliving.com/Vintage-Household-Hints.html

~Brenda

Old Fashioned Recipes for the New Year

A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work. ~John Lubbock

The new year is 15 days in, and I'm just catching up on my writing.  I love the holidays but the days are a whirlwind of activity that seem to last way past Christmas by the time we manage to visit everyone, and then recover.  Of course, having my twelve year old daughter and both my sons home always takes away from work as we watch movies, play board games and bake cookies.  That is also the reason it's my favorite holiday:)

My dad gave me some wonderful vintage magazines during our visit and I'll be sharing recipes and tips from many of them this month.   The first article revolves around meat recipes from January of 1928.  The graphic above is an advertisement I found from that year.  When I was growing up we shopped at an A & P grocery store, but that was in the 70's, not the 20's.  I'm not quite that old.  I like the advertisement because it shows the fashion of the times.

I think you'll enjoy the recipes and the tidbits on what was happening that year. You'll find it here: http://oldfashionedliving.com/1929-Meat-Recipes.html

~Brenda