Back in Time...Almost

We’re back in the 1800s at last!  Except that I’m typing on a computer.

Our family has moved…to the 1800s!  Because we're crazy homeschoolers who can't get enough of history, our family has decided to spend September 2012 in the late 1800s.  In the immortal words of Gilligan's Island: "No phones, no lights, no motorcars, not a single luxury; like Robinson Crusoe, it's primitive as can be!"  We'll be turning off the power, dressing the part, cooking on a woodstove and doing laundry (and everything else) the old-fashioned way.  For a whole month.

Our family:

Karl, who has been absolutely splendid about this whole project.

Hailey and Claire, 16.

Brennan, 12.

And me, Autumn.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, September 1-3

We began the month at a Civil War re-enactment in Fort Stevens, Oregon, and will end it at a re-enactment in Plain, Washington.  Last week we packed up and locked away much of the modernity in our 1920 farm house, and turned most of the house (computer room excepted) back more than a century.  After a week of frantically packing and shopping for the new era, the weekend of fun was just what we all needed.  I even fought in a battle for the first time ever, as Adam Kirkland, Calvin’s brother*.  Calvin and I received matching arm wounds, and died gloriously together on the field.  Fighting was crazy and fun, but I prefer being a lady.  (*Calvin Kirkland, Karl’s Civil War persona, was a real soldier in the 15^th Alabama, Company G, who died at the Second Battle of 
Manassas.)

Tuesday, September 4

After the battle Monday, I very righteously refused to put on my shorts and t-shirt for packing up, and instead donned my green “Abigail” dress.  I was hot the whole drive home, but determined not to undermine the project by reverting to modern clothes.  As we drive through Seattle, rock music blaring on the radio, the sight of towering skyscrapers blaring with lights suddenly became too much for me.  I buried my head in a pillow and sang three verses of “Amazing Grace” to get back in the proper frame of mind.  It didn’t work.

Tuesday I woke up wondering what on earth I had been thinking.  Karl left early to fly to Wyoming for work – nice timing, eh? – and I found myself alone to cook, clean and survive the old-fashioned way.  I wanted my jeans.  I wanted a latte.  I wanted my mommy!

I didn’t think I’d feel this way until later in the month.  Yikes!  Maybe it had something to do with the usual exhaustion that follows a Civil War weekend.

Or this little (and by little I mean HUGE) guest I discovered in my bathroom: 

Or the fact that our claw foot bathtub sprang a leak as I was scrubbing off the dirt of Fort Stevens.

In any case, I handled it the way I’m sure any Victorian woman in the northwest would do: I put on my jeans and fleece and googled how to make old-fashioned laundry soap.  Then I took the kids out for donuts and went to the grocery store.

Not a great start, but it does get better.

Wednesday, September 5

Oh, so much better!  Brennan very thoughtfully laid the fire for me on Tuesday night, and when I set a match to it at 6:30 this morning – poof!  I had fire!  Just like that!  I think it’s going to be easy to cook, and I can even see how baking won’t be too hard.

Tea followed in a matter of moments, since this stove seems to heat up a lot faster than my Civil War stove.

A cup of tea made facing my corset possible.  Hailey and I just got our corsets back from the seamstress, who made them both a bit smaller.  Now I can get a good, tight fit.  Oh, joy.  By the way, if you are wondering about the blog title, try on a corset and you’ll get it.

The kids and I sat down to bacon, eggs and toast, and spent much of the morning cleaning up the kitchen.  I’m determined to keep things as clean as our foremothers would have!

But we still have school to fit in.  Traditionally, we begin the day after Labor Day, but that’s impossible after a re-enactment, which usually requires a whole day of cleaning and putting things away, not to mention a long nap.  So today is officially our first day of school.  We generally celebrate “Happy Not-Back-To-School Day” in a big way – balloons, streamers, new school supplies, school pictures, and ice cream for lunch at Cold Stone.

This year, no balloons or streamers, but going out for ice cream saved me making lunch.  I could have handled it though, if I’d wanted to!  Really.

Now it’s 4:00 and dinner is bubbling away on the big stove.  The spider is back outside, the kids are happy, and I think I might just survive life in the 1800s.  But I still want a latte.

Autumn