Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy

Traditional housewife with kids
Vintage homemaking, style, femininity
Old books and square meals
Get a free vintage housewife (with kids) daily routine 👇

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@PassagePress Fun fact: I actively collect old series books for homeschooling.

Rover Boys, unrevised Hardy Boys, Horatio Alger, Garis for my boys.

Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily, Thorton Burgess for littles.

Unrevised Nancy Drew, Betty Gordon, Ruth Fielding, 5 Little Peppers for my girls.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@TuckerPoodleMA I add a 50 lb bag of rolled oats.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@Young_Anglican The only modern King Arthur I enjoy:

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@ambrosian_co @OldHollowTree That's because corporations turned them into "teenagers" to sell more things in the post-war boom.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

I'm just a 1950s housewife asking you to put family dinners first so you can anchor your whole family and rewire their brains. 🙏

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Bespoke mom opinion:

NEVER apologize for being 'just a homemaker.'

A housewife holds up a whole civilization with roast chicken and discipline.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Your underwear and nightwear needs to be pretty enough that you aren't embarrassed to be seen by the EMT on the midnight ambulance ride for acute appendicitis.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

It isn't up to wives to manage our husband’s happiness or behavior or loyalty.

But if you don’t care, why'd you marry him in the first place?

Love is work.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Vintage housekeeping.

For those days when your period is about to start, you have a migraine, there's no money for takeout, and you STILL have 8 people to feed.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Cognitive overload and executive dysfunction have ALWAYS been around for a housewife who has 60 million different systems and tasks to take care of everybody.

Which is why vintage housekeeping books have so many step-by-step routines.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Most people think etiquette is outdated, until they eat with someone who never learned it.

😖

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@KingVelesI I remember seeing those photos side-by-side and getting it stuck in my head that only large people had the ENERGY to be successful farmers.

I was reading a 2nd-3rd grade textbook at the time.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@KingVelesI History, specifically the textbook/Nat Geo photographs of people during the famines of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Old World (and the Dust Bowl) compared to comfortable Midwestern successful farmers of the same era.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

I use soap, water, ammonia, bleach (NOT TOGETHER I DON'T WANT TO DIE!), and pine oil cleaner like pine-sol used to be.

I do use lemon oil.

I use A LOT of methyl alcohol, borax, and washing soda

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

My vintage cleaning supplies:

Inexpensive, yes -- but...

They DID NOT USE baking soda and vinegar.

They used soap and water, elbow grease, and ridiculous chemicals that lingered in the environment but also dissolved grease (looking at you carbon tetrachloride!).

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

You don’t reclaim femininity by buying pink dresses.

You reclaim it by living with intentional grace, loving fiercely, and refusing to become bitter.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Don’t entertain your children. Train them.

Let them help in the kitchen, dust furniture, fold laundry.

They want to belong. Give them purpose.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

@luinalaska Both of my Boomer parents were absolute top-tier humans, too.

Rank midwittery is a phrase I'm stealing.

[Emily, the Mid-Century Modern Mommy @MidModMomLife]

Everyone going on about Taylor Swift's wish list song --

The first time I read the lyrics, I genuinely thought that she wanted to live in a neighborhood with a lot of families with young kids.

Because that what the moms in my feed talk about.

Who you spend time with, I guess.

[Goldie @lilsistweets]

@luinalaska Colorful meals are healthy meals.
I said what I said.