 Charity by William Bouguereau |
The Pleasure of Homemaking
The area of homemaking is so vast that volumes could be written about it and there would still be more to learn and discover. That is why the Bible tells the older women to teach the younger women about the functions of the home, in Titus chapter 2. For your assignment this month, please do a serious study of Titus 2. Include in your research one of the books listed in the L.A.F. Bookstore on this subject.
Homemaking can be divided into many areas, but the main areas that keep the home functioning are cooking, laundry, sewing and organizing. Please see the book Home Comforts for a deeper study of this. I am so excited about homemaking that I can hardly hold back my enthusiasm. I don't consider investment in homemaking equipment a waste of money or a luxury. These books are part of your investment, so don't neglect to purchase them. In college, many people purchase books that they may never again refer to after their exams have taken place, yet homemaking books will be in constant use as you seek the perfection of your home.
Apple of Her Eye Loren Entz You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com | Cooking does not require a state-of-the-art kitchen. You do not need all the modern electrical gadgets, either. If you just start out with a basic cookbook and become familiar with the recipes and instructions, in a few years, you will know many of them by heart and develop family favorites. Follow the instructions very carefully, and the food should turn out just fine. If you learn the basic principles of cooking, you can cook whether you are rich or poor, or whether you have a stove or a campfire. Prepared or boxed food contains enormous amounts of additives and will not help you develop the skills you need to cook with basic foods. I even heard of someone who got a very sore mouth from having to eat out so much and eat prepared food at home. Home cooking is so much better for you. Remember to create dinners that look good on the plate, with a variety of color and texture. Don't for example, make a meal of corn, scalloped cheese potatoes and chicken in cream sauce. It looks completely bland on the plate. Choose a dark green vegetable or colorful salad, and a combination of crunchy and smooth. Don't make everything creamed, and don't' make everything raw. You will have to begin early in order to plan your meals for the day, and then you will start preparation several hours before it is served. Make sure the table setting is pleasant also, and keep dinner conversation pleasant. It spoils the digestion when there is quarrelling or heated controversy. A family, however, can have intimate discussions about their deepest beliefs at dinner, for this is often where they expose their real selves. |
For cleaning and organizing, you will need an apron with two pockets. This could also be a good beginning sewing project, because an apron takes only a few yards of fabric and is quick to sew. I would recommend a pinafore style that goes around the neck and covers and protects your dress. In one pocket, keep a notebook and pen. This is to jot down notes about things you notice as you work, and a shopping list. For example, you will need to list light bulbs, bathroom supplies, and maybe even vacuum cleaner bags. If you keep that notebook in the apron pocket, you won't have to keep going to find your list. You will be taking notes about things you notice throughout the house as you work, such as "put new sheets out for guest room bed" or "wood glue to repair dresser in son's bedroom". Home keeping requires love and alertness. There is nothing that makes my heart soar higher than knowing that I am taking care of my little nest and that the members of the family and guests have what they need.
If you have not read the articles about television in the Articles section, you may want to do so now as part of your home improvement skills. You will have a less cluttered living room if you will simply remove your television set. Televisions are not very attractive anyway, and it is a poor testimony to outsiders to have all the furniture facing that screen, as if it were the focal point of room. If you will put the television in the den or a room somewhere else, you will eliminate a lot of the problems of food items, removed shoes and socks, and other paraphernalia that people leave around when they are watching videos or television. I do enjoy videos, but my set is in a den, which is an area where people can relax. It is only a little bedroom used for that purpose. If you will just keep that front room clean (the living room) you can be ready for anything. That way if you don't quite keep up with things, at least people can be seated there.
| In the other apron pocket, put small objects such as nails, screws, paper clips, etc. that you find here and there, and when you are all finished, put those things in their proper places. One thing you can teach your children is to deposit things where they belong "as you go." This means that when a Band-Aid is used, the wrapper is thrown away immediately in a little trash container, not set on a surface to await a major cleaning day. In fact, you can avoid that dreaded cleaning day if you will remember this: C.A.Y.G. which means "clean as you go." Laundry and good music go together. I prefer the drama of Beethoven with this task, but others have told me they like Mozart better. I try to avoid the Mozart-Beethoven conflict (family members have their prejudices!) by playing a fair amount of each during this rigorous work. Music makes a task lighter, and if you have none, then you can surely sing your way through it. Try to see how many verses of hymns you know, and you will be surprised how cheerfully you can approach your work. Many women have expressed satisfaction at getting the washing, drying, folding and putting away all done in the same day, and indeed, it is extremely rewarding. If you cannot quite get it all done, at least make sure they are clean, because clean laundry smells better than dirty laundry. It may be in a pile of dry laundry, but at least it is available if anyone needs something clean. I think in some parts of the country water rates are cheaper in the early part of the day. Starting early also gives you time to dry the laundry and iron and put it away. I think doing laundry late at night is not a good idea, as that is time to slow down your activities--not speed up! I like to put in a load first thing in the morning if it is piled up, and, while it swishes, I go clockwise through the house and tidy up. |
Washing Day Pierre Edouard Frere You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com |
If it is summer, it is a thorough delight to hang the wet laundry outside in the breeze and let the children play in the shadows of the sheets and towels as they dry. This is the stuff good childhood memories are made of. A mother who works outside the home does not have the luxury of time for this, but it is extremely important. Fresh laundry from the line has a wonderful scent, and many a grown-up can recall the smell of mother's clean sheets at night on the bed. Towels dried outside absorb water much better after the bath or shower, and have that same, wonderful scent. (I am sure if you live in a smoggy area this might not be desirable!)
Young Mother Sewing Mary Cassatt You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com | Sewing is also a part of homemaking. If you have never sewn, a project to get you started on the delights of sewing would be to cut some 16 x 16 inch squares of cotton fabric, iron down a 14 inch hem twice around, and machine stitch. Cloth napkins save money and can be left at the table at the person's place, to be used several times. After this, try place mats, a tablecloth, and an apron, cushions for the couch, and things that make the home comfortable. There is something very memorable and homey, as well as feminine, when a woman sews. I have rarely seen a troubled or an uncomfortable home where a woman sews. It is a very worthwhile way to spend time. |
| Being a career homemaker is not a preference, or a choice, or an "option," to use a modern term. Rather, it is a conviction. I am convinced beyond a doubt that women must return to the feminine roles that women in past centuries found so fulfilling. If it weren't for this heartfelt conviction, I could not write with such force about these things. If homemaking and being the sole caregiver of my children were just a "preference" or an "option," then I would give it up as soon as a better offer came along that I could "opt" for. The women of the past did not consider it an option but a duty. There was a saying they lived by that we would do well to emulate: "Duty before desire." Feminists have intimidated young women far too long into thinking that the art of homemaking is silly, sentimental and just not intellectually stimulating. Is the intellect more important than the heart? Is personal fulfillment more important than love? Love is a rare commodity in our society. |
Sunday Tea-Time S. Darbishire You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com |
We must teach an entire generation that there are things with eternal value--such as marriage, motherhood and homemaking--that are worth more than material things. That is why I write these pages. I also want to show you how appealing it is to make a home for the man you love and to look after his needs so that he can better look after his family. And why are such paintings as these included in lessons on the home, family and the woman's role? Because there is a message in them. There is simplicity, love, and innocence in these paintings. Having them in your home to give you high ideals to live by. Children tend to imitate what they see, so having paintings of this calibre in your home can help you teach your children about good things.
A prominent career woman told the nation some years ago that she felt she was worth more than "just staying home and making chocolate chip cookies for her family." She said she intended to make her mark in the career world. Many women have left their posts at home to pursue just that. People are lined up at the cookie stores just to get chocolate chip cookies like their mothers used to make. There is still a big difference. Commercial food lacks the ingredients of homemade food. It also has many unhealthy additives to pass food regulation tests when food is sold to the public. Home baking does several things. It has wonderful, real, natural ingredients: real eggs, real butter, real flour, real fruit, real nuts, real cream, and so forth. It adds a wonderful scent to your house. You have probably been delighted to see the scented candles now on the market that imitate such smells as banana-nut-bread, pumpkin pie or fresh-baked bread. If you prepared the real food, you would not only get the smell, but the food to eat. Home cooking also creates memories. Eventually, your family will request that you make your special meat or potato dish, and assume that you made up the recipe yourself. Each woman has her own unique touch in cooking. Home cooking can also be a wonderful ministry to others out in an uncaring world.
In all your busyness, don't forget to be cheerful. Cheerful optimism is good for your mind and your health, and makes you more creative and productive in your work. All work has a certain drudgery, but housework has perhaps a greater purpose and reward than any other for a woman. It helps others on their destiny of life and it fulfills the scriptural command to be "keepers at home" and to "guide the house". In closing, I will give you this poetry to memorize, that will motivate you in your work:
| Beauty and Duty
I slept and dreamed that life was beauty-- ~ Ellen Sturgess Hooper (1816-1841)
Be good, sweet maid, and let ~ Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) |
Looking At Drawings Adolfo Belimbau You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com |
Think about this poetry; mull over it until you understand it. Homemaking is not a mere mechanical act of cleaning and meal preparation. It is a deeply spiritual thing, and the more you put your spirit into it, the closer you will come to creating a wonderful home atmosphere.