I was in bed thinking about some of the ridiculous things
we had to do, but they worked so I will pass them on.

We tore strips of rags, wound our hair around them and then
tied them in a knot. They were for curling hair in the
absence of Bobby pins. They worked.

You could not get sheets for quite a while. My mother sewed
four chicken feed sacks together and made double bed sheets.
They were scratchy but we thought nothing of it.

Someone had the bright idea of making printed chicken feed
sacks so we went to the store and picked out three that we
liked for new dresses. It took three just alike to make
dresses. I don't know what city kids did, although victory
gardens and chickens were back yard projects for everyone.

It was a long time before nylon hose became plentiful so we
drew seams up the back of our legs to create the illusion of
hose with seams. When my fiance came home from Germany, his
mother and I begged him to bring nylons home from the PX.

It was l947 before most of the shortages really eased and
we could get decent leather shoes. You still had to pay
the car dealers a bonus to get a new car and used ones were
at a premium.

One of the thing that now is available in some catalogs is
Tangee lipstick. I miss it because it was natural looking
but still provided color.

The returning men enrolled in colleges and housing became
scarce in college towns. We were used to sacrifice and some
students lived in quonset huts. They were very cold in the
winter. The wives all worked and joked that they were getting their PHT degrees. (Putting husband through).

This came to mind because my first husband is in kidney
failure and not expected to live. We grew up together
and have a daughter together. Even though we grew apart,
I will mourn his passing.