Move over Marttha

What can be imagined can be done......

This seemed to be Catherine's slogan, my mother was industrious, ambitious, and focused.

This is what a week growing up on the farm may have looked like.

• Monday's- wash clothes-using the wringer washer beginning with the whites, hanging them all up to dry, in the winter they freeze dried on the line outside. Sprinkled with water for Tuesday's ironing.
• Tuesday's-ironing cotton shirts, pillow cases, sheets, pants, skirts.
• Wednesday's- scrub the floors, clean the bathrooms
• Thursday's- bake buns and maybe a couple pans of bars.
• Friday's- dust, vacuum, shake rugs, clean both upstairs and down.
• Saturday's-get groceries in town, 
• Sundays- fellowship meeting, afternoon drive, visit to relatives in the afternoon.

Any space was fair game for a storage shelf or hook. She had her own hammer, nails, and the know how to turn raw material into useful space.

A neighbors auction could provide the wood furniture that could be painted or repurposed to a place of honor in her home.

Trading flowers, fruit trees, or shrubs helped populate this prairie land into a beautiful farmstead.

Garden produce, apples,  raspberries, strawberries and cherries changed the everyday meal into something special.

Holidays with good China, cloth napkins, candles turned our farm home into a castle

Look, Life, Good Housekeeping, and Better Homes and Gardens were delivered monthly, we could keep up with clothing styles, home decor, and garden tips.

Whatever was in style could be reproduced with a sewing machine, fabric, thread, and this talented seamstress.

Games of parcheesi, ping pong, and scrabble helped pass the winter evenings as a quick break from knitting or crocheting.

A treehouse or fort is necessary for kid play, it can be built from any materials that would be found on the farm.

I could go on, but because of my Moms abilities our home was always a clean, interesting, and well managed place. Martha Stewart doesn't have anything new to show Catherine, or any of the other ladies of this the 'greatest generation'.

Besides this, all the work was done without a gardener, housekeeper, groundskeeper, or chef. Motivation wasn't because of ratings, stocks, or notoriety.

These accomplishments happened for the best reasons; love and the desire for a well kept home.