Petty Witter at Pen and Paper posted advice from an article in a 1958 issue of Good Housekeeping titled "The Good Wife's Guide". It's hilarious. What's sad is that women held themselves to those standards. I tried to follow some of it myself.
* Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
* Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people.
There's more, much more. I bought into the meal advice for over 20 years, and then I quit that job. After that, we either ate salads and sandwiches, ate out, or Grandpère cooked. I'd had enough.
Petty's dear Hubby, aka Themethatisme, provided her with the material for the post.
Update from the comments:
airedale said...
When I first married a good friend advised me that if I spoiled my husband enough that I wouldn't have to worry about another woman stealing him because they wouldn't be able to stand him. So I did it.
Within the first year I realized what an awful mistake I had made - He was so spoiled I couldn't stand him!!!!! All the following years were spend undoing what I had done in the first year.
Well said, Airdale! I fixed your wee typo.
Oh for those good, innocent, pre-Mirabel Morgan days. Some interesting musings here about Ms Morgan, entitled "Saran Wrap Isn't Cheap and I'm a Size Twelve".
ReplyDeleteI thought the advice was to wear just stockings. Oh, and a garter belt maybe.
ReplyDeleteNo, the Saran Wrap wrap was the cherry on the cake. You'd have needed scissors or a knife to cut it off, surely?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first married a good friend advised me that if I spoiled my husband enough that I wouldn't have to worry about another woman stealing him because they wouldn'g be able to stand him. So I did it.
ReplyDeleteWithin the first year I realized what an awful mistake I had made - He was so spoiled I couldn't stand him!!!!! All the following years were spend undoing what I had done in the first year.
Had decided to carry out these instructions or as many as possible for a week but thankfully Hubby convinced me not to bother - thank goodness for small mercies.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of some of the advise interspersed throughout my mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook. I loved reading those little bits of advice; it was if they came from a different planet.
ReplyDeleteLucky you, Petty.
ReplyDeleteAlice, I still have my Betty Crocker cookbook which I received as a wedding gift going on 48 years ago, and I still use it. It pretty much sticks to meal planning, serving, and cooking advice.
Here's a snippet on serving a FAMILY meal, which does NOT describe our typical family meal:
The first course such as fruit juice or soup is on the table when the family is seated....When ready for the main course, the meat and vegetables are placed in front of the host and served by him on the plates placed directly in front of him or a little to the left. The hostess serves the salad, beverage and blah, blah, blah....
Or alternatively, put the food on the table and everyone dig in, which is how we did it.
I bought a copy of The Total Woman for $2.00. A book store was selling them to raise money for the National Organization for Women. It was the only book I ever destroyed. No, I didn't read it first.
ReplyDeleteI worked at the local public library when the book came out, and when business was slow, we took turns reading aloud from the book and and wetting ourselves from laughing so much.
ReplyDelete