* It's a bit late for resolutions, but for those who want to lose weight, have I got the plan for you! Actually, Good Housekeeping (Aug 1956) has the plan.

The shower and tub exercise plan is illustrated with artfully blurred photos of a brunette - cause you're supposed to be naked when you do the activities. Like lying on the bathmat with your legs in the air swinging your arms. It's the rare bathmat that looks inviting enough to lie down on.

But the diet! Whoa nelly!
The article says all meals have the same amount of calories, but it doesn't specify a number - it must be quite a number.

Day One:

Oh yeah, 2 slices crisp bacon for breakfast! Sherbert and cookies for a snack! Meatloaf, broccoli and carrots, and angel food cake for dinner!

Day Two:

Breakfast- fruit and cereal and egg and toast! Lunch - american cheese and 1 slice crisp bacon! Dinner- uh, liver and onions? PASS.

Day Three:

Sausage and egg for breakfast, 1 1/2 slices crisp bacon for lunch, corned beef for dinner! I think maybe this is the Bacon Diet. But what's with buttermilk being equal to skim milk to drink?

Day Four:

Sadly, a day without bacon - and dates for breakfast. But a baked potato with butter for dinner and a sandwich for a snack sounds good to me.

Day Five:

Day 2 without bacon, and bouillon-on-the-rocks. I would have lost alot of weight back then, because cold condensed bouillon is slightly higher than lima beans when it comes to unappetizing food. But hey, 2 biscuits for breakfast and 2 biscuits for dinner!

Day Six:

Woo hoo - French toast with syrup and 2 slices crisp bacon for breakfast! Steak, carrots and beets for dinner with custard for dessert! But sorry, 1 cup of milk and 1 cracker does not a snack make. And all the bouillon I want would be zero, nil, none, no siree.

Day Seven:

Let's end the diet week on a happy note :) Breakfast is 2 pancakes with syrup, and our dearly beloved bacon! Snacks are ice cream soda and 1 vanilla wafer. Dinner is barbecued chicken with corn on the cob! Supper is - wait, hold the tongue, just give me the chicken please. And I like asparagus, no problem there.

That brings the weekly crisp bacon total to 7 1/2 slices! Six days call for fresh fruit, five days include an egg, 9 1/2 slices of bread total (10 1/2 if you count the melba toast), and black coffee or tea every day.

embroidery on my mind, and my desk, and my couch ...

* Here is my finished February stitch along!

It was shoved in the scanner so it's kinda wrinkly in places. No stitches fell out in the wash - yay! The flowers look kinda wonky - since I use dressmakers' carbon to transfer the pattern, it doesn't always line up properly, and when my hand starts to hurt from pressing down I take shortcuts (I don't need to trace the whole flower, just the middle and I'll figure out the petals). Aaaand the end result is lopsided flowers. But that just adds to the handmade charm, right? :)

In other embroidery news, we went to a rummage sale last weekend and I bought a large bag stuffed with transfer patters! Artex, Superior, Vogart, McCall's, Butterick. The bad news is there were only 8 envelopes in the bag. Most of the pattern sheets were cut up then divided into categories in plastic bags, so I haven't the faintest idea where some of them came from. But some of them are old, like before I knew there were patterns!

This one appears to be from 1923. It's in pretty good shape, too! With some of the other ones, when I unfolded the paper to look at the pattern, I was showered with blue dust where the ink had come off the paper :( 
I probably won't keep all the patterns, but I'll have fun sorting through them!

I also bought a stack of vintage craft magazines, from 1939 - 1980.* And ooh the ads are fun! I've already been picking and scanning for future blog posts. This one, from The Workbasket Oct 1955, intrigued me:

the tubing, the tubing! Where did it go? Why was it a special thing? Will I ever find out the truth?!? 

*Note to self: stop buying knitting magazines. you don't know how to knit. you can't even crochet yet.

Special Kitty

* Earlier this week, Glen returned from the library with special presents - 2 vintage copies of Better Homes and Gardens! I usually prefer the 50s, but I love seeing stuff I remember from when I was a kid. And one magazine in particular made me very happy.

July 1974, 100 Ideas Under $100. Including a pile of plants on a piano! But what's this at the bottom?

ah ha ha ha ha! Critical Cat is critical! Why doesn't he like it? We don't know. Why did the cat deserve a word balloon? We don't know. Did I love this so much I made it my Facebook icon? Yes I did :)

* Today we took a nice little walk down to the Owl Designer Fair at Fernwood Community Centre. And it was awesome! Soooo much cool craftiness packed into one room.
I came home with a tin of delicious Blue Christmas tea from Traveling Sparrow - tastes of (local organic) lavender and Earl Grey, and smells wonderful. I drooled over Urchin Bags, made from recycled seat belts and air bags (maybe Santa will bring me one for Christmas? :) Siempre La Lucha had great cards and tees, including a scare-owl thinking of brains. Love Monkey's felted matroyshka dolls were adorable! And boo I forgot to grab the business card of the woman with the recycled leather and felt purses :( Never mind, found her!

* and now I'm running late - see ya later!