Project Home Economics: A One Year Course

Check it out: Year II is here!

2011-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

I've started on my second year of studying the art and science of keeping a home. If you'd like to participate along with me, join me at Home Economics Project: Year II!

Year II -- Excel in Love/Excel in Managing the Home

2011-02-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Year II is on it's way. Check later on this week for a link to 2011's Project Home Economics: Excel in Love/Excel in Managing the Home!

Come along with me as I teach myself more about the art of loving a family and managing a household!

If you're interested, you might want to look back over the posts from Year I and think about what you're life's focus is and also what your focus is in your household. Can you sum each focus up in one or two phrases or sentences?

Those who excel in life and in managing something -- whether it be an international corporation or the mom and pop business on the corner or a large family or a single person creating a home for one -- keep their goals firmly in mind. This allows them to tend to the important and cull out what isn't needed in terms of time, possessions, and finances. Knowing what your purpose in life and in the home is all about helps give you the confidence that day by day, you are spending our life on what is meaningful to you and to your family. You will be less likely to be thrown off course by persuasion or criticism from others, the little urgencies of life, and the like.

For those of us who are Christians, Jesus is our primary focus. We do all things for the glory of God. However we word our goals, we draw them from God's goals for us. Since He is all wise, all powerful and all loving, His direction leads us to life and peace. Even in our walk with God, we don't want to be unfocused, but intentionally doing all things for his glory.

Your life's and your household's goals may change over time, and that's ok. Refining our goals keeps us on track towards a meaningful and productive life. Now's a good time to review and renew your focus.

Happy Home Keeping!

March is coming!

2010-02-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

I've been out of pocket again. My father has had some health issues, including a short stay in the hospital, and I've not been feeling tip-top myself. So, both my home keeping and my posting has suffered some.

However, I'm glad that March is nearly here. Aren't you? I just read about how one woman uses March as her "preparation" month. She does her taxes and catches up on other things.

Wherever you live, March is usually a transitional month from one season to another. There is much that can be done in March to renew our minds, our bodies, and our homes.

One chore that is urgent is to clean your mattress and wash any mattress pads. We've already discussed this, but keeping your mattress clean and sanitary goes a long way toward keeping your health and your sleep sweet. If you have any tendencies toward allergies, this chore is even more vital. You must clean your mattress at least twice a year, if not more often.

Vacuum the top of your matatress using your upholstery attachment. Also, inspect your mattress for any stains taht need to be sponed off. You can wipe down the surface with a cloth lightly dampened with col water and a small amount of upholstery shampoo or something like Woolite. Be careful not to soak the mattress. You don't want to feed any lurking mold with moisture or damage the inner materials.

You can help protect your mattress from dust mites by investing in a quality mattress pad and washing the pad every six months -- or more.

Speaking of dust mites, there is a rumor going around that the average mattress will double its weight in ten years due to dust mites and their waste. I, myself, have heard this quoted in conversation a number of times, and I believed it. Fortunately, this yucky bit of gossip is not true. See this. However, mattresses do harbor some dust mites, as well as collect some other unlovely things. So, again, be sure to keep your mattresses clean.

I also believed that you needed to flip your mattress as well as rotate it when cleaning it. Sometimes, that's hard to do with a mattress that has a pillow top built in. (Since I do have allergies, I personally prefer a mattress pad that you can take off and clean to a mattress with a built in pillow top.) The most important thing to do is to rotate your mattress head to toe every six months or even every quarter. Why? Because this ensures that your mattress will wear evenly. It's a bit like rotating your tires to make them last longer.

Cleaning your mattress is a weather neutral chore. Some deep cleaning chores can be done only when the weather allows. Others, however, can be done any time of year. So, if your area is still cold, snowy, and rainy, start with weather neutral chores to give your house that fresh springy feeling a little early.

Speaking of spring cleaning, check your front door. Nothing makes the front of your house sparkle like a freshly cleaned or freshly painted door. Also check the hardware on the door. Keeping your door properly maintained sends a welcoming message to family and guests. Also, it adds curb appeal should you need to sell your house for some reason. Even if you live in an apartment, see what you can do to make your door look fresh.

If you have a storm door over your front door, be sure to shine that, as well.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Moving on with our Quilt

2010-01-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

If you're doing the quick quilt with me, you're ready to start cutting your fabric.

We will be cutting and stitching three strips to form Patterns A, B, and C

For strip A --

If you are using the colors suggested by the original quilt instructions, use your blue check and white for this strip. Otherwise, use a patterned fabric or a medium toned fabric and a lightest or white fabric of your choice.

Cut 5 4 1/2 inch by 44 inch strips of your check or medium toned or patterned fabric
Cut 5 2 1/2 inch by 44 inch strips of your white or lightest fabric

Pin the whites to the checks or patterned or medium toned fabric (whichever you are using) along seam lines (right sides facing together). Stitch 1/4 inch seams. Make sure your 1/4 inch seams are precise. Press all seams toward the checked or patterned or medium toned fabric.

To make sure your cutting is precise, you can mark the backs of your fabric with a #4 pencil or silver-colored pencil or washable fabric pencil and a ruler. Or, you can use a quilter's cutting mat and a rotary cutter.

Good friends are like quilts; they age with you, but never lose their warmth.

Before Prozac, there was quilting.

Blankets wrap you in warmth; quilts wrap you in love.

Finished is better than perfect.

From Quotes about Quilting, A Prairie Home Quilts

Happy Home Keeping!

Quilt

2010-01-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

Quick Quilt...

If you'd like to learn how to make a quick quilt with us, here's the fabric you will need. (I think I posted this before, but I will list it again just in case people need a reminder.) (You can hand piece this if you do not have a machine, but it will take you longer. That's ok; if you are willing to put in the time, many people find it soothing to hand-piece quilt blocks and even to hand-quilt the whole quilt once it's pieced and ready to be quilted. After all, that's how our great-great-great-grandmothers did it!)

This quilt will be made up of rectangles and squares, so there is no fancy cutting.

The pattern I'm following was done in solid white, solid blue, and a blue and white plaid, but I am doing mine in two pink fabrics and white. You can use any tri-color scheme that you want. In fact, you could do three fabrics in the same color family, provided that they work well together.)

This makes a finished 44 inches by 50 inch quilt and has 56 6 by 6 blocks in it. There are only three patterns you need to know for the blocks; we will turn some blocks upside down when we lay out the quilt to make five different patterns.

If you want a 72 by 84 inch quilt, you can add more blocks, or even add 6 x 6 blocks of only one fabric. You'll need to buy extra yardage for that and also play with the layout to make it look the way you want it to.

For the basic quilt, here's what you need in terms of fabric:

If your fabric is 44/45 inches wide, buy 1 yard of a solid fabric (dark blue if you are using the colors in the pattern to which I refer), 2 yards patterned fabric (blue/white check or plaid if you are using pattern colors), and 3 yards of a white or lighter colored fabric. Look for cotton fabric suitable for quilting.

You will also need two spools of thread (white if you are using pattern colors. I'd suggest white for most color schemes, but if you are doing three shades of one color and are backing it with that same color, you could use that color thread if you like. For example, let's say you use three fabrics in the green family that are similar in tone and also back the quilt with a similar green. You could use a green thread if you prefer.)

Also, you will need white quilting tape (two 3 yard packages for the 44 by 50 inch quilt; quilt batting for a 44 by 50 inch quilt, and enough material for backing the quilt. (White is what is used in the pattern, but you can use a colored fabric if it fits your color scheme better.)

A higher contrast in your fabric -- such as the blue, white, and blue-checked fabric makes the quilt stand out. You may, however, prefer to use fabrics that are close in shade. It's all up to you.

Choosing colors for quilts has become quite an art. Experienced quilters usually have developed an eye for how colors fit together on the color wheel, which combinations from light to dark work well, etc. Most real quilters keep stashes of fabrics that range from dark nad/or bright to mid-tone to light. They are gifted in picking just the right fabrics in a colorway to give the effect they desire. Some even have color walls in their sewing areas where they can place fabrics and step back to see if they are pleased with the combination. They can move fabrics and pieced blocks around on the color wall to come up with the most pleasing arrangement.

If you are a beginner or even if you have quilted a lot and still don't think you have an eye for color, don't let fabric color selection intimidate you. Use fabrics that your eye is drawn to and that you think work well together. Chances are, you are not making this particular quilt to enter in a quilt contest. So, either you are making the quilt to use in your own home, which means that you can use whatever you like, or you are making the quilt to give to someone else, in which case you can choose colors that you think work in their home. Since this is an exercise in quilting, it's not the end of the world if your color choices wouldn't win first prize at your local fair. This is for you or for a loved one, and the love put into a quilt is the most important "color"!

If you want some help picking just the right fabrics, take along an experienced quilter to the store with you or consult someone who works in the quilt or fabric store. My mother in law has a wonderful eye, so I sometimes ask her to help me select colors for sewing projects. Also, you might read the info on a couple of quilting sites to glean some basics about color. Remember, your goal is for the fabrics to look good in the finished quilt. So, try to look at the fabrics from a distance to see if they look good. You can ask someone to hold them for you or simply pull three fabrics out, stack them together on a shelf and step back and take a look.

Of course, the easiest thing to do is to pick a dark blue, a snowy white, and a blue plaid, as the color pattern suggests. Your blue plaid could even have a little red in it if you want to use it in a red, white, and blue decorating scheme.

Before cutting your fabtics, wash them. Trim the selvages, except on the backing fabric.

NOTE: In quilting, it is important to measure and cut precisely and to use precise 1/4 inch seams. If you are piecing your quilt by machine, make sure that your machine quide shows a 1/4 inch seam line. If it doesn't, use masking tape to tape a 1/4 inch guideline to your machine. Sometimes, you can use the distance from the needle to the edge of presser foot -- Try sewing a straight line that way on two pieces of scrap fabric placed right sides together. Measure the hem to see if it is precisely 1/4 inch.

For hand piecing quilting -- measure and cut precisely. There are many sites on the Internet that teach how to hand piece and hand quilt. For hand quilting, you will hold a hand quilting needle and rock it gently to take a few stitches at a time. Practice this technique on scrap fabrics before actually quilting.

Whether you intend to hand piece and quilt or machine piece and quilt, remeber the old rule of thumb, "Measure twice and cut once!"

Are you set up for all of 2010's birthdays and other special occasions? (I already missed a January 6th birthday!) Do you have a calendar system especially for remembering birthdays?

Also, how is your stash of cards and little gifts? Do you have stamps on hand? Would you be able to simply go to your stash of cards and gifts and pull out a little something if you received an unexpected invitation to a shower or party or if you needed a hostess gift or if someone should need a sympathy card or a get well card?

Of course, you will want to buy some gifts and cards as the occasion arises. But, if you have a sufficient number of little things on hand, you will never be in a panic to get something in a hurry. I don't know how many times my little gift or card stash has stood me in good stead! But, as it's a New Year, it's time for me to replenish my stock.

PS. If you have any ideas for little gifts to keep on hand for men, please leave your suggestions in my comments section. I find it easy to pick up little gifts for women and children, but have a harder time keeping gifts ahead for men. I'd love some ideas!!

Happy Home Keeping!

Back in session -- Didn't make it in a year!

2010-01-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well, my goal was to create a one-year course in home economics for my own improvement, as well as to share with others. However, I did have a busy year and didn't quite get to everything I hoped to study in one year. I particularly did not get to finish going over hands-on projects, such as our crochet efforts, a quick quilt, etc. So, I have extended my deadline to match my daughter's birthday -- March 21st! So, starting in the next few days, I'll be posting more about practical projects for the home and outlining a pre-spring cleaning schedule.

After that, I may continue on in my studies of home keeping, but -- if so -- that will be the subject of another blog.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from y'all. What ways have you improved you home keeping this year? What are you goals in the home for the next year? What tips, recipes, craft patterns, etc., can you share with us? We'd all love to hear from you marvelous keepers of your homes.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

The Home Keeper's attitude

2009-11-23T07:02:00.001-08:00

Unusual benefits of gratitude

We ought to be grateful simply because God asks us to. However, we benefit and our households benefit when we maintain a grateful attitude. Since this is the month of Thankgsiving for those of us in the U.S., I thought I'd post this interesting article about what some researchers found concerning thankfulness.

Happy Home Keeping.

My stew...

2009-10-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

STEW: I decided to cook barley stew for my stew project. Here's the link to the recipe I used:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/31993/barley-stew.html

I just found this recipe today, and I thought I'd try it as I have had some barley in my pantry for a while. I made a few little changes in the recipe. It's a nice, rainy day to be in here, and I didn't want to run to the store to buy a few little ingredients when I knew I had stuff on hand that would work as well. The stew looks yummy!

HOMEMAKING AS AN ART:

Here are five ways to add an artistic touch to your home keeping. Some of these may overlap with points we've already studied, but they should help keep our motivation fresh:

1) What artistic talents do you have? Read the Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Shaffer to learn ways to use your obvious or hidden talents in the home. You may discover that you have a talent you never even considered. This is an old book, but you might find it on the shelves of your local library or be able to order it for reading through your library system.

2) Read an interview talking about the life of a gifted artist. Perhaps, you will read about a musician, a dancer, or a painter -- depending on your particular interests. Note the dedication required to become accomplished in any artistic field. One key ingredient is practice, practice, practice. Those of you who have taken ballet lessons or who who have played a sport know what I mean. The way you learn is to practice drills over and over until they become second nature to you. Even then, you continue to perform theses drills in an effort to perfect your technique and to stay in practice for your art or sport. These drills are done not in the spotlight, but in the background. When we see an athlete step on the field or an artist come out onto the stage, we see the performance and we applaud. However, this feedback for a wonderful performance is only a small part of the time the artist or athlete has spent learning his or her craft. Most of his or her time is spent in the lonely pursuit of improvement, and often feedback from coaches and teachers is corrective in nature. To keep the joy of the art or sport in the "off hours", the artist or athlete must practice merely for the love of that art or that sport.

Home keeping is a lot like that. We have "drills" that must be done every day: make the bed, do the laundry, cook the food, clear the table. We also have drills in terms of the people we love -- making time for them, doing kind things for them, etc. Much of the time, our families do not applaud all of this behind the scenes practice that goes into the keeping of a beautiful, loving home. But, they do appreciate the overall beauty of our home, even if they don't realize the minute planning and practice and detail that produces beautiful memories of home. In order to keep going in the little things, we must do it as a labor of love with all of the dedication (and more!) that an artist or athlete pours into his or her profession. After all, we are doing something even greater than producing a beautiful painting, scoring a game winning touchdown, or composing a symphony for the ages. We are loving the souls of our family and our guests. The impact of our work might be felt in eternity.

Also, the great thing about keeping a home is that you can always learn, always grow, and always move to a higher level of skill. So, we must not give up on the "drills" of home keeping because they seem boring or burdensome in the moment. We can remember that these things add up to our goal of creating a godly, loving, sheltering, and welcoming home.

3) Work from your inner spaces out. Keep yourself neatly groomed. Keep your bathroom fresh, your bed made, your clothes in order. Keep your planning notebook up to date, and your purse cleaned out. Aim for peace and beauty in your heart first of all, and then think of it spreading out from there. You don't have to aim for perfection in this, but just an atmosphere of peace and beauty. It's hard to keep a beautiful home when you are feeling disordered in your thoughts or are disordered in your personal spaces. Of course, we will all face troubling or discouraging emotions in life, and we do not do ourselves a service by stuffing them and trying to just soldier through tough times. But, we can keep serenity in our hearts by looking to Christ, praying to the point of peace, by sharing our feelings with a trusted friend, by focusing our thoughts on the things in Phil. 4:4-8, and getting help if we need it. Inward calmness, peace, and order have a way of working outward in our lives.

4) Read a book about drawing or painting. Even if you never pick up a paintbrush, the things you learn about perspective, color, lines, and shape will help you bring beauty into your home keeping. For example, you will have a better eye for materials to select when doing crafts. You will also have a better eye for arranging furniture or knickknacks or pictures on a wall. For advanced study, read a book about photography and use the tips you learn in taking family photos.

5) Review your mission statement to help you keep on track. If you haven't written one yet, read the posts in this course pertaining to the mission statement. Use your mission statement as a positive tool. You may focus too much on what you don't get done or how you may have made a home keeping mistake or two (or many!), and, thus, discourage yourself. Instead, forget what is behind and set your mind on the goal. Remind yourself that mistakes along the way are just part of the process of learning. No household goes smoothly all of the time. Every home keeper experiences troubles or flops. Just keep on the path, and you will see benefits in time. In fact, you probably already have many things to be thankful for in your home keeping, and you probably have already achieved more than you know. So, look for the blessings and the achievements and thank the Lord for these things.

Happy Home keeping!
Elizabeth

Moving on Through Fall!

2009-10-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

For your Book of Days:

Record the sounds, sights, tastes, and textures of late October. Include a photo of trees that are changing colors. Think about happy memories that have to do with fall and write about some of them. Especially concentrate on happy memories that have to do with home or family.

Stew

Fall is a great time to cook stew. As the weather turns colder, we naturally crave foods that are warm and hearty -- such as stew, soup, or chili. Stew is a particularly inexpensive way to provide your family with that warm and hearty sensation, as well as some healthy nutritional value. It also has a pleasing aroma.

To "stew" food involves cooking meat and/or vegetables slowly in liquid and serving them in the gravy that results from this slow cooking process. The liquid in the stew is generally cooked at a simmering, rather than boiling, point. The longer the stew simmers, the more the flavors combine and work together to create a wonderful taste.

The reason that stew is economical is that it is a suitable way of cooking the least tender and, thus, least costly cuts of meat. There are vegetable stews, as well, which usually depend on some type of inexpensive bean or legume as the main ingredient.

The liquid in stews is often thickened. One way to do this is by coating the meat with flour and searing the meat before adding the other ingredients and the liquid. Another way is to make a roux or a beuerre manie. These involve mixing butter and flour in equal parts. When using a roux, you melt the fat in a pan and add the flour, cooking it so that the mixture will not taste too "floury" in the stew or sauce. With a beuerre manie, you knead the butter and flour together in a ball and then whisk it in the pan. Another way to thicken the sauce in a stew is to add cornstarch. You can also take up a bit of the simmering liquid into a small cup, add flour to the liquid in the cup, and whisk it until there are no lumps. Then, you can add the liquid/flour mixture slowly back into the stew. This last method is helpful if you realize that your stew is too thin well into the cooking process.

A common American stew is made of stew meat (beef), potatoes, carrots, and onions. However, beef is just one of many meats that can form the basis for a stew. Lamb, chicken, pork, and game are often stewed.

In the South, particularly in south Georgia and north Florida, Brunswick stew is popular. Though it was probably originally made with squirrel and corn, today's Brunswick stew is more likely to be made of chicken, beef, and pork or, most likely, some combination thereof. This is especially true if you eat stew made in a restaurant. Sometimes, home cooks also add rabbit or venison. Most recipes call for corn, onion, and tomatoes, and some recipes also add okra or lima beans. Many people serve Brunswick stew as a side dish for a meal of barbecued meat.

Another popular American stew is a fricassee. The name comes from the French fricassée. American fricasse is usually stewed chicken in a sauce thickened with butter and cream or milk. Technically, fricassee can be made with any number of white meats, such as veal or or rabbit. The meat is cut into pieces. Cajun fricassee is darker in color than many fricassees, for it is cooked with a dark roux.

Chicken stew can be served with dumplings, with is a popular American way of topping a stew. Dumplings in stew can either be drop dumplings -- which fluff up when cooked -- or more like thick, wide noodles.

This weeks homework: Find a new recipe for stew, cook it, and record it in your home economics book and/or blog about it. You probably have a few favorite ways to prepare stew already. Most long-time cooks know how to stew without using a recipe. But, try something just a little different this time.

Organization:

Have you attacked your attic cleaning projects? What about the garage?

Have you planned your Thanksgiving meal? Your Christmas meal? It's not too early to draw up menus for these events. As we've been discussing, it's easier on the budget to start buying non-perishable items you will need. Work them in to your weekly grocery lists item by item. By doing this, you won't have to buy all of the ingredients for large, holiday meals during one budget period.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Fall cleaning/homemaker health

2009-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

How's your fall/get ready for holiday cleaning coming along?

Here are a few things you can do now to make life easier during the holiday season:

1) Cook a few meals to freeze. Choose a recipe that will be soothing on a cold day (if you live where you have winter weather). Use this for super busy days around the holidays. You can even freeze some main dishes in large enough quantities to feed your family and any guests that might be in the home.
2) Are you doing homemade gifts this year? If so, how are they coming along? If you would like to do some homemade gifts but haven't gotten started already, search for ideas on the Internet for gifts that will be quick and easy to make. Buy the supplies and take any beginning steps that you need to.
3) Start now and work non-perishable holiday items into your weekly food shopping. This can be easier on the budget than having to buy all of the items needed to make holiday meals or to serve extra guests during the holidays all at once.
4) Stock items in your guest bathroom.
5) If you do Christmas stockings, you can begin now to stock up on little items. This, too, can be easier on the budget than buying all of your holiday gifts at one time.

Have you learned the sale cycles in your area yet? For example, what food items are plentiful in your area during autumn? What recipes can you use to work these items into your menu. Seasonally fresh items are generally very nutritious and usually at their most inexpensive price of the year. Do you know when local department stores, grocery stores, and other stores stock items?

Even if you think you know your area's retail rhythms, you need to keep current. Whatever is happening in the economy in a particular year affects your area's retail cycles. For example, this year retailers are running more frequent sales on clothing. Winter coats and other fall items are already on sale. Given the current economic conditions, retailers know that people are saving rather than spending. They are trying to entice more shoppers into the stores. They also know that people will most likely reduce their holiday spending, which cuts into revenue that retailers depend upon. If you need to fill in gaps in your family's wardrobe and have the budget to do so, this can work in your favor. You may be able to pick up some needed items for a lower cost than in previous years.

We have had several cases of swine flu in our church and in our city. Remember, keeping surfaces in your home clean is one way you can fight the spread of flus, colds, and other viruses. Are you remembering to keep doorknobs, phones, light switches, and other frequently touched but not often noticed areas clean?

How are your bathrooms? If you have completed the cleaning and organizing you want to do in your master bedroom, now's a good time to tackle the bathrooms in your house. If you keep your first aid supplies and medicines in your bathroom, check those. Make sure you have enough items and that they are up to date. Remember, the steamy moisture of a bathroom can mean that the bathroom is not the best place to store certain medicines. Ask your pharmacist if you have any questions.

What is the condition of your towels? Are the bindings coming lose? If you don't want to replace the towels, stitch the bindings back on.

Clean your bathrooms from high to low. Clean any curtains. Replace curtain liners that are mildewed. Clean light fixtures.

When was the last time you scrubbed your bathroom scale?

In what condition are bathmats? Do you need to wash or replace them?

Do you keep cosmetics in your bathroom? Are they organized?

Do you keep cleaning supplies in your bathroom? Are they organized? Do you have enough?

Are your children's bathrooms safety proofed?

Have you sanitized the waste bucket?

Remember, fresh bathrooms are wonderful during the cooler months. For one reason, if you do catch a winter virus, it's more pleasant to come into a sparkling bathroom. Also, on gloomy days, a pretty bathroom retreat can be pleasant for you and for your family.

Don't forget scented candles --at least in bathrooms where small children can't be hurt by them. Even if you do have small children, they may enjoy taking a candlelight bath with you there to supervise.

One of the most feminine, yet demanding forms of exercise is ballet. Other forms of dance, such as jazz, provide good workouts, as well. Dance develops graceful, feminine movement, long and lean rather than bulky muscles, and a generally feminine body. Dance also stretches and relaxes muscles. You and your daughters can greatly improve your health by doing danced based exercise DVD's or by taking a dance class. There are many ballet based workout routines on the market, so do your research before you buy one. Some ballet DVD's are geared for those who actually want to learn and to perfect ballet technique. They are structured like a true ballet class. Other tapes are "loosely" based on ballet and are more for fun and exercise than for the serious ballet student. Either form of DVD can provide an enjoyable way to get a good workout, as well as to develop feminine physique and movement. I personally do not think I would advise daughters to pursue careers in dance, as there are many pitfalls that can befall a young lady who embarks on that course. However, dance does not have to become a career. It can simply be a wonderful way to improve health and grace.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

The HOme Keeper's appearance: Budget friendly grooming aids

2009-10-03T21:19:00.001-07:00

While we certainly don't want to over-emphasize the importance of appearance to the keeper at home, the fact is that we encourage our families and feel better about ourselves when we make an effort to present ourselves in as lovely a way as possible. Taking care of ourselves does not have to be expensive. Here are ten drug store items that will help contribute to a neat and lovely appearance:

1) Pond's Cold Cream -- You can't beat this old basic. It takes off make-up, acts as an emergency moisturizer and body lotion when you are traveling and don't want to carry multiple products, and is very inexpensive.
2) Four-sided nail file/butter/shiner/polisher block. You can find these at the dollar stores. You can also find these in nail sections of drugstores and Wal-Mart. These do just more than file your nails into shape. They buff, shine, get rid of ridges, etc.
3) Neutregena (sp?) dry sunblock -- has a pleasant feel to the skin and protects the skin from sun damage. As a fair-skinned person who has spent too much time in the sun, I would recommend that any woman use sun protection. If you're under twenty, get i n the habit now to protect your skin for later. Much of the sun damaage that surfaces in our thirties and later is simply the visible working out of damage suffered before the age of twenty.
4) L'Oreal eye make-up remover -- I love this eye make-up remover. If you use Pond's, thoughk you don't need an extra eye-make-up remover unless you happen to enjoy a particular brand, as I do.
5) Cotton rounds/cotton puffs -- great for a number of uses, particularly in cleaning face
6) A nice lip gloss orm even better, a protective gloss such as Chapstick -- great for when you are not wearing lipstick or if you don't wear make-up in general. Protects lips and gives a subtle sheen. Can also be used under lipstick to smooth lips before lipstick application or over lipstick to soften the look.
7) A skin oil for body; some oils can also be used to deep condidtion hair. Drugstores often carry inexpensive oils.
8) Small make-up bags for organizing items in your drawer, purse, or suitcase. Can be used for more than make-up items -- Use one for items you may need such as a few safety pens, a spot remover pen, a few tissues, feminine protection, clear nail polish to stop runs in hose, a comb, etc. Choose one in a color that makes you feel cheerful.
9) A soothing body lotion, perhaps one with coconut oil in it or shea butter or some other soothing agent. Or use a lotion that is formulated to take care of extremely dry skin, such as Eucerin.
10) A bath pillow and some bath salts -- fill up that tub and soak your way to a relaxed body and soft skin.

Other inexpensive items to pretty up your bedroom and other areas of yoru home: scented candles,pretty candle holders or mirrored plates to catch the candle's glow, padded clothes hangers, closet sachets or cedar chips, a small container of philodendrum (hard to kill and quick to grow -- not expensive), lemons to put in a bowl or in a glass jar; glass containers fo rthe table such as you might use for salad dressings; pretty kitchen cloths or pot holders, etc.

If you wear make-up, you will find that many drugstore brands are as effective as more expensive make-ups. One exception might be foundation. It's good to visit a make0up counter and have someone help yo match your foundation exactly. Plus, the better cosmetic lines do have foudnations that really do look good on your skin. Of course, you can make drugstore foundations work for you. But, if you are going to purchase only one product from a more epxensive line, foudnation woudl be a good start.

There's a lot you can do on a small budget to look pretty and to add touches of lovliness to your home.

Enjoy!
elizabeth

Fall Cleaning/the bedrooms/other tips for moving into fall

2009-09-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

Hello, everyone:

We're moving into fall. For your book of days, here are some ideas:

1) Take photos of your yard each week through the fall season and paste in your book. Or, take one a month for the next three months.
2) Jot down sights and smells of fall that delight you.
3) Write about how it feels to have accomplished a fall project.
4) Record anything sweet, cute, funny, or inspiring that your husband and children say.

For your home economics book, here's some ideas:

Continue to work out your plan for the fall. Jot down some fall recipes. Study what produce is available in your area during the autumn and make a menu plan that incorporates those foods.

The holidays are coming. Inventory your gift wrapping supplies. Do you have holiday papers? Do you need tape, labels, mailing paper, boxes, gift bags, ribbon, gift tags, etc.? Now's a great time to make sure that your holiday gift wrapping supplies are in order. Later on, when the holidays are nearer, bring out the materials you have put together this week and set up a holiday gift wrapping station. Be sure it's out of reach of little hands and pet. (I put my supplies in the corner of our bonus room.) Visit the dollar store for inexpensive wrapping supplies. Also, if you bought holiday papers or ribbons at an after-Christmas sale last year, make sure you know where you stored them!! Sometimes, Christmas items bought at after-Christmas sales don't make it into your regular Christmas storage, especially if you buy them after you have already cleaned up all of your holiday stuff.

Don't forget about Thanksgiving cards or Christmas cards if you use them.

If you plan to write a Christmas letter, start thinking of ideas.

The earlier you can be prepared, the smoother the holiday season will be. Fall is a busy, busy time for most keepers at home, so do the best you can with the time you have.

Are you still doing your fall cleaning? Now's a great time to reorganize and thoroughly clean your bedrooms.

Let's start with the master bedroom. This is either the room you share with your beloved spouse or the room where you sleep. A cluttered bedroom isn't conducive to either rest or romance. Yet, so often, we let the master bedroom become the catchall room. We've talked about that before, but now that we're moving into fall, it's time to take another look at this important room.

Here is a sample deep-cleaning plan for the master bedroom. You can either take a couple of intense days to do this or you can break it down into steps and spread those steps over a longer period of time. You can also adapt it to your needs. Everyone will have her own unique priorities for the bedroom.

1) Pick up any items that are out of place. Check the dresser, the floor, the nightstands, the bed, under the bed, etc. Throw away things that you do not use anymore. Throw away those little bits of trash that seem to collect on the floor of a bedroom and in little nooks. Put things that you want to use, but that either do not belong in the bedroom or that you want to move to another location in a box. Now's not the time to run all over the house to put those things away; you can do it when you are finished with the room. Put away clean clothes; wash any dirty items you may have found.
2) Dust down the ceiling, walls, corners, and baseboards of the room. If you have a ceiling fan in your room, dust that as well.
3) Rotate and/or flip your mattress so that it will wear evenly and not just in certain spots. This will prolong the life of your mattress. Vacuum your mattress. Wash all the bedding while you have everything off. If you haven't already switched to fall bedding, do that. For some of us, that simply means adding one extra blanket -- even a thin one. For those who live on cold climes, you may have a completely different set of bedding for fall than you do for winter.
4) Take down curtains or drapes and clean them or else vacuum them in place.
5) Dust all surfaces, furniture, etc. Polish furniture if desired. Repair any knicks or spots on furniture. Wash and iron and replace dresser scarves, etc.
6) Dust and clean knickknacks.
7) Make a note to turn the master bedroom clocks when the daylight savings time deadline arrives.
8) Clean the flooring in your bedroom according to what type it is. (hardwood, carpet, etc.)
9) Go through your lingerie. Toss out anything that doesn't look fresh anymore. Replace what you need to replace. Think ahead to cool weather. Do you need tights? Warm undergarments? A pretty nightie in a beautiful fall color?
10) Check hats, gloves, etc. If you store your coats in your closet, see if they need cleaning or any repair.
11) Do you wear jewelry? If you do, this is a good time to inventory it. Toss out or give away anything you don't wear anymore. Clean items that need cleaning. Does your wedding ring or engagement ring need maintenance? If so, take it in. Do you need to have any necklaces restrung? Do you need to untangle chains, get rid of that odd earring that no longer has a mate, etc.? Tip: Old costume jewelry can be a fun thing for your daughters to play with as is age appropriate.
12) We already talked about changing your wardrobe for fall. For those of us who are still in hot weather, that might mean simply putting away our most summery things right now. A good many people in the U.S. live in areas where three-season clothing can be worn almost year round. Some people like to dress in fall colors in the autumn. Others prefer to wear the colors that look best on them or are their favorites year round. It is your choice.
13) Polish fall shoes and handbags.
14) If you need to alter or mend autumn/winter clothing, now is a good time to do it or have it done. Do it before cold weather sets in! You may also want to have this chore out of the way before the holidays come, as well.
15) Do you want to paint your bedroom? Do you want to update it in any way? Make a list of things you'd like to do for your master bedroom and work it into your budget and into your calendar. It's probably best to do small things right now, as you might not want to be in the middle of a big painting job when the holidays roll around.
16) Do you have a master bathroom attached to your bedroom? Inventory towels and other needs. Add what you need. Throw away anything you don't want. Clean out all of the drawers and cabinets in your bathroom.
17) Polish or paint cabinets to freshen them, if you like.
18) Give your bathroom a thorough cleaning.
19) If you have bathroom curtains, clean them.
20) Replace shower curtain liner if appropriate.
21) Does your master shower or bath need re-caulking?
22) Clean bath mats
23) Clean tile. Do you need to re-grout the tile or clean the grout?
24) After cleaning thoroughly, polish translucent shower doors with something like Turtle Wax. This will prevent soapy build-up and make them easier to clean.
25) Clean and polish baseboards.
26) Do you have plants in bed or bathroom? Do they need re-potting?
27) Clean brushes, combs, hair tools, hair accessories

If you need to use your master bedroom for a double purpose, find creative ways to organize so that the purpose of your bedroom -- rest, relaxation, and, if you are married, romance -- is still the focus. Many people can't find any office or sewing or exercise space anywhere but in their master bedroom. If this is the case for you, do the best you can to keep your office/sewing materials neat so that they don't add clutter to the bedroom. Perhaps, you could make a screen or a curtain of some kind to partition off the area of your bedroom used for another purpose.

Follow the same cleaning method above for the other bedrooms in your home. Assign chores to children who are old enough to participate in this fall cleaning/re-organization.
If children have some ideas for creatively making their room their own, work with them to carry their ideas out as is appropriate for your budget and time.

If you are lucky enough to have a guest bedroom, be sure to include items that your guests will need. Also put out some interesting reading material or even pretty coffee-table style books. Provide a few sheets of stationary and some envelopes, as well as a pen. Make sure there is some space in a closet for hanging clothing and in a drawer for placing folded clothing.

Many of us use our guest rooms for a double purpose. It is probably better to do this with a guest room than your master bedroom, if at all possible. Again, be creative with storage ideas so that the room has a restful, rather than busy or cluttered, feeling.

Here are a few videos that give tips and ideas for bedrooms. Please note that just because I have put the video on here doesn't mean that I necessarily endorse everything in the video. These do, however, give some tips which you can use according to your discretion.

How to organize clothing drawers, especially when you share space with your husband.

How to organize kid's room:

How to fold hoodies so you can put them in drawers:

How to fold socks so that they fit well in drawers:

Woman who organized her closet to look like a boutique:

Ideas for organizing accessories:

Idea for a teenaged girl's room:

Another idea for a teenaged girl's room:

How to fold towels for bathroom:

Another method of folding towels:

How to fold your bedsheets:

How to make a bed:

How to turn a mattress:

How to put on a heavy blanket:

Fall cleaning/laundry organization/carpet terms

2009-09-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more terms for our home economics glossary. These are related to carpets:

Berber -- a type of loop-pile carpet style. It is tufted with thick yarn such as wool or nylon or olefin. The Berber carpet may have random specks of color which contrast with the base hue. Berber carpeting gives an informal and casual look, yet it has a full and comfortable feel.
Luster -- brightness or sheen of carpets, fibers, yarns, or fabrics.
Pile -- the visible surface of a carpet -- It is made of yarn tufts in looped or cut fashion. Synonyms are nap or face.
Pile crush -- This is when the pile falls due to heavy traffic or wear. The pile loses thickness because the the tufts collapse into the air space between them. Sometimes, this is irreversible. However, regular vacuuming can help to keep the pile lifted so that the pile either does not crush to begin with or perhaps fluff up pile which has fallen.
Plush - Plush carpeting has a luxurious and smooth-textured curface. The individual tufts are only slightly visible. The overall appearance looks like a single level of yarn ends. This is usually a cut pile carpet, rather than a looped one.
Looped pile -- carpet pile made of uncut loops. This may be tufted or woven.
Tufted -- carpet made by pushing tufts of yarn through a carpet backing fabric.
Twist -- the twisting of yarn around itself. The twist should be neat and well-defined. A tighter twist increases the durability of the carpet.

On with fall cleaning --

How's your fall cleaning coming? This week, turn some attention to your laundry area. Make sure it's neat. Throw away any old products that you know you won't use. Clean washer and dryer. Clean the floor. Sweep between and around washer/dryer. Take a week or so to make your laundry area shine.

You will spend a lot of time in your laundry area. Make it as pleasant as you possibly can. Some will find it easy, as they have large laundry rooms that have the possibility for organizing and decorating beautifully. Other may find that their washer and dryer are tucked away in a less than pretty area. Even if you can't think of many ways to make your laundry area a lovely and inspiring place, try hanging up one painting, cross-stitch, or other cheerful item just to have a pretty focal point.

Try out these links for some laundry room inspiration:

Real Simple

Personal Organizing

Home and Garden

Fall Cleaning

2009-09-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

It's time to move on in our quest to organize our home for fall.

1) How are your recipes? Are they organized or scattered? Do you have a system for keeping recipes that aren't in cookbooks? Most people today like to keep them on their computers. However, if you, like me, don't care to lug your laptop to the kitchen or don't have a computer in your kitchen already, you might want to come up with another system. We discussed some ways to keep recipes and meal plans earlier in the course, but it's probably time to check again to make sure that things haven't gotten out of order.

2) How's your coat closet? Is it ready for fall wear? Do you have a boot or shoe mat for rainy days? Do you need one?

3) How's your car? Do you need to clean out junk? Is the interior clean? How about the exterior? A warm fall day is a great time to wash your car yourself. Do you need to add a trash sack to your car? How about an organizer for stuff that you usually carry? In what condition is the glove compartment? While you're at it, what about car maintenance? If your husband normally does the car maintenance, is there anything you need to ask him or tell him about how your car has been running?

My father in law was in the hospital over the holiday weekend suffering greatly from an infection he caught while in the hospital earlier for surgery. I've learned a lot about hospital-related infections, which have generally become strong and resistant to both antibiotics and cleaners. Be sure when visiting someone in the hospital to sanitize your hands -- both for the patient's sake and your own. Be aware that sinks, water fountains, and other moist places can harbor some of these hospital infections. There's no need to be freaked out about that, but do clean your hands as is appropriate and follow other precautions for avoiding disease.

In a time of illness, it's so nice to have a hand-sewing, knitting, or crocheting project to take along with you. My mother-in-law crocheted some cute hats to donate to chemo patients while she was sitting with my father-in-law. Sometimes, illnesses involve long periods of waiting, and it's helpful to have something for your hands to do.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

Labor Day

2009-09-02T12:23:00.001-07:00

Don't forget that we will pass the Labor Day milestone this weekend. If you are of a traditional mindset, as I am, you will put away your brightest, lightest summer whites no matter what the outdoor temperature is. That especially includes bright summer white shoes, sandals, and purses. You will probably also put away your most summery looking prints, particularly if those prints show a lot of white background. True white blouses and T-shirts are appropriate any time of year, particularly if they have a bit longer sleeve, so you don't need to be concerned about those.

Of course, this is a cultural norm and a changing one at that, so no one's going to turn you into the fashion police if you prefer to keep wearing your whites. It is entirely a personal decision.

There is, however, some merit to the idea of dressing with seasonal colors in mind, even if you live in areas where the seasons don't really change that much. The fact is, bright white sandals and shoes do not look fresh with our more fall colored items -- even if those items are of a lightweight fabric. Even if you dress in your favorite colors year-round, as I do, you may still find that you look and feel fresher if you put away your brightest, lightest whites for the season.

Note that soft white, winter white, ivory, buff, oyster, champagne white, eggshell, and the like are lovely year round. However, even at that, you might want to pair these with slightly darker shoes, though, of course, it all depends on the overall look of the outfit. These soft or off whites are as flattering -- if not more so -- to the complexion as true bright white is. If you like the wonderful effect of wearing white, use these whites instead of bright white in the fall and winter months. Again, note that you can always wear a true white blouse with any outfit, provided that the cut of the blouse is appropriate to the outfit. However, unless you are one of the lucky 1/4 of the population that wears white well, you might consider using soft white even for blouses. This is particularly true during the cooler months, when you might not have as much sun-kissed color in your cheeks

When should you break out your summer whites again? Miss Manners would tell you that you should not don them one minute before next Memorial Day. She would tell you to wear bone shoes or a bone purse in the spring. I, on the other hand, side with the tradition of Easter as being fair game for wearing summer white -- weather permitting.

So, one of the first things to consider when looking at your wardrobe during our 12 week mission is whether or not you'd like to put away your most summery items for the time being.

Some summer clothing has a season-less look and can be worn until the weather turns too cold to wear your lightest weight items. You can extend your summer wear by pairing summer items with fall-weight or fall-colored items. For example, some summer skirts and blouses look lovely when paired with a light-weight sweater or jacket. Though this year may be the exception to the rule, we usually have a long, long fall here, and people can usually wear short sleeves, summer weight fabrics, summer capris, etc., for weeks and weeks to come. Even so, I stop wearing the most summery looking items of clothing after Labor Day. For example, I will put away my white capris, but continue to wear my khaki ones for a while.

Don't forget to clean your white clothing, white shoes, and white purses before retiring them for the season. Even if you continue to keep them in your regular closet, rather than storing them away, be sure that you leave them fresh and clean. You don't want to reach for them on a beautiful spring day next year, only to find that stains have set in and the item is no longer wearable. You should also take care of any raveling, missing buttons, etc. Tending to that now means that your wardrobe will be spring-ready. Also, if you clean your summer items thoroughly now that will keep these items smelling sweeter, which also makes for a sweeter smelling closet and/or storage area.

Enjoy!
elizabeth

Moving right along --

2009-09-02T11:50:00.001-07:00

I'm going to post a lot to make up for not having blogged as much during the summer. Remember our motto: Work at your own pace!! Don't feel obliged to keep up with my posts.

If you read my last post, you know that we've embarked on a 12-week fall cleaning plan. The first step was to go through the house and identify all of the things you would like to accomplish during these 12 weeks (or however many weeks you would like to devote to this.)

Here's our second step: We're going to deal with surface clutter before we get started on deeper organizing and cleaning. The neaties among us are asking, "What surface clutter?" The mostly efficient look around and see a few things to put away in their otherwise orderly house. The overwhelmed might be thinking, "Where on earth do I start to clear away all that clutter."

It doesn't matter where you're starting from. Set a timer for an hour and work at your own pace to clear away clutter and put things back in their place. If all you can find is one little scrap of paper that's fallen at the back of your closet, throw that away and enjoy the rest of the hour doing whatever you'd like. If you work for an hour and you don't feel as if you've even made a dent in things, that's okay. Stop and take a break. Whether your house is perfect or out of control or somewhere in between, limit this exercise to an hour. After the hour is up, either rest for a few minutes or move on to the other activities of your day. If you have children in the home who are old enough to help, enlist them in doing an hour with you. Think how much all of you will accomplish in one hour!

Concentrate first on the visual clutter -- the things that you can obviously see are out of place. If your house has no visual clutter, jump to suggestion number 4 in the list below.

If you like, you can carry a basket with you as you move about the house. You can put stuff in it that needs to go into another room. Work one room at a time, if you like. Then, when you reach a room, glance inside your basket to see if you have any items in there that need to go in their place in this room.

The point of this exercise is not to think too much about it, but to get as much as you can done in one hour. If you need trouble deciding where to put your priorities, here are a few suggestions:

1) How's your laundry situation? Now's not the time to start a new load. But, if you have a load folded and ready to put away, put it away. Also, if there are worn clothes that didn't make it into the dirty hamper, either get those into the hamper or have the person who wore them do this.
2) How's your entry way? Have you and others dropped keys, papers, books, shoes, etc. here? Tidy up anything that's out of order.
3) Take one surface at a time -- a dresser top, a counter top, a nightstand, the top shelf of a bookshelf, your mantel, etc. Tidy that surface and then move on to the next. For those who are organizationally challenged, concentrating on smaller visual areas is easier than sizing up a whole room or house. Count a room's floor as a surface, as well. You can even break down a floor into smaller visual areas: the floor on your side of your bed, the floor at the bottom of the bed, the floor underneath the bed, etc.
4) If your house is already fairly orderly and you'd like to get the jump on our fall cleaning project, here are some ideas: neaten out a jewelry box. Or, go through your unmentionables and toss anything that is too worn to be pretty any more. Or, send off a few of those cards and letters you've been meaning to get to. Any light organizing that you can do now will help you prepare for a thorough fall cleaning. Even cleaning a purse or going through your coupons counts.
5) How are your bathrooms? Are the towels crumpled or tidy? Are they clean or fresh? Have people left grooming aids out on the surfaces?

Remember, if your house has gotten away from you in the past few weeks or months, concentrate on the things that are visibly out of place. Unless your house is visually tidy, this is not the time to organize a closet or re-arrange your kitchen.

Taking care of visible clutter gives us peace of mind, and it also cuts down on a feeling of being overwhelmed. Starting out with some visually tidy and appealing surfaces will energize us as we go on to other projects.

Would you like to help teach the Home Economics Project? Here's how you can participate.

1) Do a craft project, photographing each step in your process. Post it on your blog, and leave me a note about it in the comments section of this article. I will then post a link to your site so that we can all visit and learn from you.
2) Cook a favorite recipe. Either list the recipe and ingredients in the comment section or post photos of you preparing the dish on your site. Again, I can post a link to your site so that we can all visit you.
3) Show us before and after photos of a space in your home, garage, or yard that you have organized, tidied, or otherwise beautified.

Back at Class -- Renewing our Home Economics Project for the Fall

2009-09-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it's September first already? It's time to get back to our Home Economics classes. We'll finish up projects we started during the spring and summer and move on to new heights in our strive to be excellent home keepers.

First, here's a link to an interesting article about how younger Australian women are largely yearning to be home keepers, while older Australian women see this a bit differently. A great exercise for our home economics notebooks would be to watch the video or read the transcript and ponder what your own goals in life are. You might also think about what cultural influences factor into your outlook. Take an honest appraisal of whether or not you see being a keeper at home your full time or part time occupation and whether you see it as drudgery or as a joy. There's not a write or wrong answer here. Just think about where you are in this spectrum and why. Note: The views in this article are just a snapshot, and the people who are interviewed are just representative of different views. The particulars might be vastly different for different people. Also, no mention of faith is mentioned in the decision making process for any of the women. So, write out what your own personal convictions are.

On to organization: It's time to do a fall cleaning!
Of course, you may live in a place like I do, where cold weather is still a long way off. Where I live, even in the winter, we have many mild days when its still possible to air rooms, dry items outside, and clean windows. However, September is still a great to get a jump on getting things in order before the season changes and before the string of fall holidays arrives.

Why do a fall cleaning?

Here are some reasons why fall is an important time to start a week by week sprucing up of your home. I've listed them roughly according to what your geographic situation might be:

For everyone:

1) Twice a year, it's a good idea to take inventory of your pantries, utility closets, and items in your storage areas. This doesn't have to be a written inventory, though it can be. You just need to make sure that items in these areas are clean, neatly organized, and that you have refreshed your memory about items in storage. Closets have a way of getting out of order, so some twice yearly tweaking is a good thing.

2) Twice a year, it's good to evaluate your family's health and nutritional needs. Does anyone need a checkup? If you live in an area with very defined seasons, will you be moving from heavier, warmer foods to lighter, cooler foods or vice versa? What foods are in season in your area? What about things like eye wear, dental care, etc.?

3) Do you need to start now to prepare for upcoming holiday festivities, especially if you will be hosting large gatherings at your house or having company in? Some of us have more fun during the holidays if we get a lot done ahead of time.

4) Twice a year, it's great to clean or vacuum curtains and draperies to cut down on dust, pet dander, etc. It's also good to pay a little extra attention to carpets, rugs, etc. Also, rotate mattresses, vacuum mattresses, and, when appropriate, change bedding to what is appropriate for the season. If you have been using a lightweight spread during the summer for example and you live where the winters are hard, you need to select a time when you will change to warmer bedding.

5) Do you have a schedule for maintenance during the next few months? Do you need to have your air system serviced and checked? Will you be closing down a garden or starting one, depending on where you live. Does your car need maintenance.

6) I consider this to be the most important item that needs attention: Twice a year, it's good to take stock of your household's clothing, as well as your own. What needs mending? What needs a once a year dry cleaning? Is something so faded or worn that it needs to be eliminated from your closet? What about socks, underwear, etc. Have your children grown out of their clothing in the past six months? Have you lost or gained weight? Are your closets and drawers organized and clean? Of course, you tend to these things on a year round basis, but taking a twice a year look at your family's clothing inventory helps you stay on top of your family's clothing needs.

Note: You do not have to accomplish all of these tasks right away. Break down your fall to-do list into small tasks and spread them out on your calendar so that you do not become overwhelmed. Allow yourself ten to twelve weeks to accomplish everything on your list. I'll be posting weekly action items that you can use as inspiration for your own ideas.

She extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She makes coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Proverbs 31

A) Northern Hemisphere -- from coldest clime down to the sub-tropical areas that have at least a slight seasonal variation. In the northern hemisphere, we move from our warmest to our coolest temperatures over the next six months. For some of us, we are headed for an early, long, consistent winter while others of us may experience only a cool snap here and there.

In Great-grandma's day spring cleaning was the most important cleaning season of the household. This was because the methods of heating and cooling, as well as cooking, used back then created soot, grime, and a stale feeling during the winter. Now, if you live in a modern home or a modernized home and you clean well all year long, you might or might not experience the winter staleness that Great-grandma had to battle. The harder your winters are, the more likely you are to need an old fashioned house cleaning in the spring.

Nowadays, however, fall can be the time when our house most needs attention. All summer long, our families have been tracking in dust, pollen, etc. Our pets have shed down to their lightest coat. We might have spent more time outdoors doing fun things or gardening or, if we live on a farm, helping with farm chores. Plus, during late summer and early fall, extra pollens are in the air, which might irritate allergies in susceptible family members or even in pets. Our lawns have been mowed frequently, which can add to the stuff tracked inside. Windows may have become streaked from summer dust and summer rains. Even clean looking curtains might be harboring dust, dust mites, pet hairs, and pollens. All of this adds up to the fact that our homes might be less than fresh now that the summer bustle is settling down. Even if you have kept on top of your cleaning all summer long, you might want to do some extra, deep cleaning now before heading into a colder season.

The cleaning expert Don Aslett maintains that a fall cleaning is actually more important nowadays than a spring cleaning.

B) Tropical climes in both northern and southern hemispheres. You do not experience a change of seasons. Perhaps, you have rainy times and dry times. The rainy times bring their own home keeping challenges. Perhaps, your weather is pretty much the same all year round. Still, you might think in terms of breaking down deep cleaning tasks into quarterly or semi-annual times of evaluation and action. Or, you might simply work deep cleaning into your year-round schedule.

C) Southern hemisphere -- from coldest clime to semi-tropical areas with slight seasonal variations. Those who live in the southern hemisphere are moving from colder to warmer. Fall cleaning in the southern hemisphere prepares the home for warm weather, just as a spring cleaning does in the northern hemisphere. The tasks of deep cleaning and organizing are similar, though, not matter what the weather is like. So, if you are in the southern hemisphere, follow along with us. Just know that when we move from lighter clothing to heavier and cooler bedding to warmer, you will be doing the opposite. You will be celebrating many of the same fall and winter holidays, so you can follow along as we prepare for these festivities.

Week I -- task one: Walk through your home. Make a list of all the things you need to do to winterize/summerize your home. Jot down cleaning projects you've been meaning to get to, but haven't done. Take an evaluation of what you'd like to accomplish in the next six months. Keep up with your regular cleaning.

Spiritual, emotional, physical/appearance inventory: Don't forget to jot down the joys of home keeping in your keepsake book. Maybe, write a page or two about the happenings in your family for the last few months are so. In your home economics book, spend a little time evaluating what's going on with you. As a busy wife and mother, you might not have taken much time to reflect on this. Surrender anything in prayer that you need to. Set some goals, if you like. Don't overdo this. Too much focus on self is one way to end up in the pits. However, the opposite extreme of forgetting to be a good steward of your own soul, mind, and body is not healthy, either.

Remember, in our Book of Days keepsake notebook, we are concentrating on making wonderful memories. In this book, we write about the things that make us happy and thankful. This is a book we want to be able to pick up and read on a rainy day and find that it lifts our spirits.

In our home economics notebook, we look at both sides of life -- the happy and the sad, the hard and the easy, the blessings, and the trials. As you overcome a particular trial, that might turn into something you'd like to also record in your keepsake book: This period of time was hard because ______________, but this is how the Lord delivered me______________ or this is how I overcame _______________. Often the things that seem darkest in our lives at the time become the greatest blessings in our lives. However, it may take some time for us to be able to look back and see the jewels that were formed in the flames. So, once you do see blessings arising out of ashes, record that in your Book of Days.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

New Thought for Home Keeper's Attitude

2009-08-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was flipping through a book called, "She hath done what she could." A thought by the author inspired me to do some thinking along the same lines.

Do you recall that when the Lord commissioned Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and to the Promised Land, that Moses was not confident? His fear led him to make excuses to the Lord. Have you found that fear and excuses and inaction go together? I have found that to be true in my life. At any rate, God asked Moses a question:

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?""A staff," he replied. The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

The staff was the tool of Moses' current trade -- being a Shepherd. It was what Moses had in his hand when the Lord called Him to a new adventure. It was only a humble tool in Moses' hand, yet the Lord transformed it and gave it power.

Moses lacked confidence and made excuses because he was looking to himself and his own abilities. Yet the Lord made Moses and the Lord called Moses. Once Moses surrendered to the Lord in obedient trust, the Lord worked through Moses to bless an entire nation. Moses had but to offer up what was in his hands to the Lord, and the Lord could bring life to it.

So often, we keepers at home underestimate their power to impact others by living a life of faith in the Lord. At any moment, we might feel shy or tired or wonder if our life is counting for something. When we feel insecure today, God might say to us today, "Woman, what is that in your hand?" If we give him what is in our hands -- if we give him our entire self -- God can use us to help others in a powerful way.

We need the faith to believe that God will use our hands to bless many. Our hands and the tools in them are meant to be extended in love to our husbands, to our children, to our friends, to our neighbors, the poor, to the neglected, to the lonely, to the suffering, to those who are rejoicing, to those who are hurting and confused, to other young wives and mothers, to our parents -- to all kinds of people.

What is in you hands today? Could it be...

A Bible?
The hand of your husband?
A baby?
A toddler to rock?
A brush to neaten your sweet child's hair?
A shoulder for your teen to snuggle on?
A grand baby?
A parent's arm?
Car keys?
A cell phone?
A blackberry with lots of applications?
A soothing salve to rub on someone's wound?
A cooking spoon?
A mixing bowl?
Children's Bible storybooks?
A tissue to dry someone's tears?
A bouquet of flowers?
Tomatoes or squash from a garden?
A gift for a teacher?
A broom or mop?
A dust cloth?
A bottle of perfume?
A needle and thread?
An iron?
Laundry detergent?
Clean sheets for your family members' rooms?
Clean sheets for the guest room?
The trembling fingers of an elderly neighbor?
Baby clothes to give to a new mother?
A challenging, but helpful book?
A pair of walking shoes to slip on?
A cook book?
A pair of scissors?
Artist's paints?
Wall paint?
A slip from a favorite flowering plant?
A garden trowel?
Loose change found when cleaning up?
Your weekly food budget money?
A list of Bible verses to memorize?
Paper and pen?
A computer keyboard?
An MP3 player?
A Wii control?
A memory stick?
A scrap book?
Photos that can be shared?
A bit of lace?
The ties of your apron?
A candle and a match?
A list of people in a nursing home?
A list of people who are sick and shut-in?
A list of people who can be congratulated for some happy life event?
The address of a new mother?
A pitcher of iced water and a glass?
Invitations to a tea you are hostessing?
A pie crust?
A garden hose?
A rake?
A bag of groceries?
A skein of yarn?
A few yards of material?
A sentimental object?
An object that is out of place and needs a home?
A bag of items for a charity store?
A present for a bride-to-be?
An obituary?
A birth announcement?
The hand of someone who is in deep sorrow?
The hand of someone who is rejoicing?
A scrub brush?
A text book?
Paperwork?
Papers that need to be filed?
Tickets to the zoo?
A beach towel?
A freshly baked loaf of bread?
A jacket you no longer wear?
Clothing that needs mending?
Baby clothing or books to take to a hospital for mothers who cannot afford to buy these things.
Quilts or blankets for those who are sick?
Clothes to hang in your closet?
A warm scarf to wrap around a loved one's shoulders?
A car GPS?
A map?
A camera?
A basket?
A cloth grocery bag?
A book bag?
A grocery sack or plastic bag?
A pet leash?
A diaper?
A prayer list?
Bubble bath?
A note of apology?
A note of thanks?
A list of things to be thankful for?
A calendar?
A to do list?
Another person's precious baby, over whom you can silently pray?
A canning jar?
A journal?
A children's game?
A toy?
A potted plant?
A tablecloth?
A clothespin?
A dryer sheet?
A collander?
A rolling pin?
A cheese grater?
A huge pot of chili or soup?
A back rub to give to a husband or child?
A loving pat to bestow on a family member or friend?
A hug for someone who needs it?
A clap to show delight in someone?

What is in your hands today? Let God transform it into an object that yields blessing, love, and truth.

Happy Home Keeping
Elizabeth

Are you wondering where I've been?

2009-08-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

When I started the home economics project, a) it was winter and 2) I didn't realize how busy I'd be during the summer. So, I've not gotten around to posting lately. Why don't we call it a summer break, and I'll "start school" again next week.

In the meantime, I'd love to know if anyone's finished their crochet project!

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

The Home Keeper's Glossary -- Part III

2009-07-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Some cooking terms:

We've already discussed some cooking terms in past weeks of this course, so, in this glossary, I'll include ones that we haven't mentioned previously.

Albumen - egg white
Al dente -- literally "to the tooth" in Italian. Dried pasta and some vegetables are best cooked al dente, which means that it is somewhat firm. It is the perfect point between being underdone and too done. If pasta is underdone, it will have a floury taste and be too hard in the center. If it's overdone, it will be too soft and won't have enough texture. The pasta should be firm enough that it requires some chewing (al dente), rather than being mushy and dissolving in the mouth. Likewise, many enjoy vegetables that are cooked just to the point of being tender, yet crispy.
Aspic -- a dish in which foods are set into a clear jelly that is made from stock or occasionally from fruit or vegetable juices; tomato aspic is a popular aspic.
Arrowroot -- is most often used for thickening sauces, fruit pie fillings, and other foods. It is a white powder that is processed from the root of a West Indian or rainforest plant known as arrowroot or Maranta arundinacea. It is an easily digested starch. It does not provide a lot of nutrition. However, some people believe it soothes upset stomachs. Therefore, some people make or buy arrowroot cookies to eat as a digestive aid.
Bain-marie -- this term is used both to describe a method of cooking and the dish used in this method. The method consists placing one dish containing a delicate food -- such as a custard or a flan or chocolate to be melted -- into another dish containing water that is heated just to the simmering point. The dish is a special container that holds the simmering water.
Béchamel – A classic white sauce made with whole milk thickened with a white roux. It is flavored with aromatic vegetables.
Roux -- A mixture of flour and butter used to thicken sauces. It is the starting point for some sauces and gravies.
Bisque -- a rich-tasting soup made of pureed vegetables or shellfish. It is generally thickened with rice and has cream in it.
Boiling -- to cook in water or other liquid that is heated to the point of bubbling or boiling vigorously. A rolling boil is a very fast boil that doesn't slow down even when you stir it. Water boils at 212F at sea level.
Simmer -- cook in liquid kept just at the point of boiling or just below the boiling point. About 185 to 200 degrees F.
Some recipes may require that you boil, simmer, or poach to an exact temperature, and this requirement should be observed. Most cooks, however, can judge by the eye whether a liquid is at a rolling boil, is just at the boiling point, is simmering, or is suitable for poaching. That is fine for discerning how to cook many foods. Most cooks, for example, know how to bring a soup or stew to boiling and, then, keep it simmering for a couple of hours. However, some foods are easily ruined by boiling too vigorously or, conversely, undercooking, so practice and careful attention help the cook avoid many mistakes.
Chop -- to cut into fine, irregular pieces
Chiffonade -- fine shreds made by rolling several herbs or leafy vegetables together and slicing the roll at intervals of about 1/16th to 1/8 of an inch
Dice -- to cut into cubes
Poach -- cook in liquid that is just barely simmering -- about 160 to 180 degrees F
Clarify butter -- to remove the milk solids and water from butter. This is done so that the butter may be used at higher temperatures without scorching. it is also done so that you can use the clarified butter as a dip or sauce for items like seafoods. This can be done by melting the butter slowly in a pan, skimming off the watery foam that rises to the top and pouring the clear butter liquid off of the milk solids, which settle to the bottom. You can buy butter that is already clarified. This is commonly called ghee.
Persillade -- a chopped mixture of parsley and garlic
Prosciutto -- a salt-cured, air-dried ham Italian or Italian-style ham. If it is crudo, it is raw; if it is cotto, it is cooked.
Roulade -- a slice of meat rolled around a stuffing
Pilaf -- a technique for cooking rice in which the rice is sauteed in butter first and, then, simmered in water or broth.
Rice -- a) cereal grain that is the seed of the Oryza sativa plant, which is a member of the grass family
b) to sieve a food so that it becomes the consistency of rice.
Basmati rice -- an aromatic long-grain rice from India
brown rice -- rice from which the chaff has been removed, but which still contains the germ and the bran -- the whole grain form of rice
white rice -- rice from which the germ and the bran have been removed; white rice keeps longer than brown rice, and it has a taste and consistency which many people enjoy. However, it lacks some nutrients that wild rice contains. In cultures which eat a mainly rice based diet, white rice must be supplemented with brown rice in order to provide optimum nutrition and to prevent health problems, such as the disease beriberi.
Long grain rice -- long grains of rice which tend to remain distinct after cooking.
Medium grain rice -- medium length grains of rice. These tend to be sticky after cooking, and they are suitable for Italian risotto, as well as in sweet dishes.
Short grain rice --This is also known as round rice or pearl rice. When cooked, it is moist and sticky.
Superfino -- the finest grade given to the finest Italian risotto rice.
arborio rice -- a rice grown in the Po Valley in Italy.
Parboiled rice -- subjected to a steaming or parboiling process while it is still brown rice. This moves the nutrients from the outer husk into the grain itself. The grains turn from white to yellow and are also less brittle. The rice can then be dried and milled or dried and used as a whole grain rice. Parboiled rice does not stick to a pot when cooked as much as other rice does.
Wild rice -- Wild rice is not truly rice, but like rice, it is the seed of a grass. Wild rice is the brown seed of a northern water grass.
Skim -- to gently lift off unwanted foam or fat from the surface of a stock, broth, soup, or sauce. Also, to separate the fat off the top of milk, so that you end up with a quantity of cream and a quantity of skim milk.
Zest -- The rind or shavings from the rind of a lemon or orange.

The Home Keeper's Glossary Part II

2009-07-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

More cleaning terms:

Ammonia: NH3 -- a combination of nitrogen and hydrogen. Ammonia is a very strong base. It is a powerful and inexpensive cleaning agent. It is an ingredient in many cleaning formulations, but many home keepers prefer to buy a bottle of inexpensive ammonia and dilute it themselves for a variety of cleaning purposes. This saves a lot of money when compared to buying already formulated cleaners. Ammonia can be used to clean jewelry, used in laundry, to clean windows, to clean bathrooms, to clean drains and traps, and for other household uses. Warning: Ammonia is very strong, with very strong fumes. Never use in an area in which you have just used a product containing chlorine (bleach), for the combination produces a noxious gas. Also, follow directions on the bottle for safe handling. Wear gloves. Use ventilation. As with all cleaners, make sure that you keep it out of reach of little ones. While ammonia is strong, it is a naturally occurring chemical and is actually a precursor to fertilizer for plants. Thus, when used properly and according to directions, it is not toxic to the environment.

Borax: A naturally occurring chemical that has a variety of cleaning and household uses; Borax is made up of sodium, boron, oxygen and water and is sold in powder form for household uses. Borax can be used as a laundry booster, mixed with water to soak baby clothing or stained clothing, to eliminate odors in clothing, to clean bathrooms, to dry flowers, to repel roaches (though it does not always work), to condition laundry and remove hard water chemicals, diluted with water and sponged on carpets to clean them, to clean counters in the kitchen, and other uses. It's pretty inexpensive and pretty safe, so it's a great addition to have in your cleaning arsenal. Note: Most modern laundry detergents already have boosters in them. If you decide to use borax with your laundry detergent, add it a few minutes after your laundry cycle starts so that it does not compete with the boosters in the detergent.

Baking soda: Bicarbonate of soda -- a natural, inexpensive, safe substance that has so many uses in the home I can't list them in this glossary. Most keepers at home keep this in their pantry and use it for at least a few purposes. If you want to be a frugal home keeper, research the many ways that inexpensive baking soda can be used. You might be surprised to find some ideas you had not thought about.

Bleach: A bleach is something that whitens a fabric and removes color and stain, often by the process of oxidation. There are many types of bleaches. Even the sun can act as a bleaching agent. For purposes of this glossary, we'll concentrate on chlorine bleach, which can be used in laundry and cleaning. It is an inexpensive cleaner. Most of us are aware of the many uses of chlorine bleach. We are also aware that it must be used safely. (Though some of us -- cough cough -- have been known to forget to wear an apron when cleaning with bleach and accidentally bleach one's clothing.) While bleach is strong and must be used with care, it does break down into chemicals that are non-toxic to the environment. Bleach is a strong germ killer, and the Chlorox site offers information about using bleach to help keep down H1N1 germs.

Biodegradable: If a substance is biodegradable, it will break down into smaller parts by biological processes. Such substances are generally organic in nature, and microorganisms can transform them or break them down so that they are not a waste problem or remain toxic to the environment.

Buffer: Have you ever seen "buffers" on the list of ingredients of a cleanser? Buffers are added to cleansers to help keep the PH stable. Buffers usually don't change much when a little acid or a little base is added. Most buffers actually consist of a weak acid and a weak base that, together, resist drastically changing when another acid or base is added to the formulation.

Caustic: strong alkaline substance which irritates or injures skin tissue. Care should be used when handling a caustic cleanser, such as ammonia.

Enzymes: Enzymes are a type of protein, made as all proteins are of amino acids, and produced by biological organisms. The enzymes in your cleansers are taken from microorganisms that are purposefully cultivated for this purpose. These enzymes are added to cleaning products. They improve the laundry process. Proteases act on stains that contain proteins. Amylases act on starch based stains. Lipases are effective in removing oil and certain food stains, as well as oils from the body.Cellulases are general cleansers and are effective in removing dirt stains.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

The Home Keeper's Dictionary (Glossary) Part I

2009-07-18T09:45:00.001-07:00

Cleaning Terms:

Abrasion- Can refer to purposefully cleaning something by the application of friction (elbow grease :)) or to the unwanted wearing away of a finish or other item or substance by friction.

Abrasive Cleaner -- a cleaner that works by a texture that creates friction. For example, you might use an abrasive pad to clean an iron pot or you might use a powder or other type of cleaner that has an abrasive texture to it. Be careful to use abrasive cleaners only on surfaces that can handle abrasion without being damaged.

Acid -- Some cleansers are acid-based. Acids are compounds that ionize in water to produce hydrogen items. You often find acidic based cleansers in in toilet cleaners, rust removers and hard water stain removers. Vinegar is a mild acid that has a number of household cleaning applications. Do your homework before using an acidic cleanser -- even vinegar. An acid cleanser has a PH significantly below 7 -- generally around 5. Acids react with soil molecules to form a water-soluble molecule that can be wiped or rinsed away.

Alkaline cleanser -- Alkaline cleansers have a PH significantly above 7. Alkalies dissolve in water to contain more hydroxide ions than hydrogen ions. Alkaline substances feel soapy -- at least the ones that are in formulas mild enough to touch. Like acids, alkalies can be extremely strong. Baking soda is a very mild alkaline that has many household cleaning applications. Again, do your homework before applying alkaline cleansers to a particular surface.

Alcohol -- Alcohol is an organic compound that is frequently used in cleaning solutions. Usually, alcohols used in cleaners are methyl, propyl, and butyl. These are not the form of alcohol that is drinkable, and they are dangerous if consumed by mouth. Alcohols have disinfectant properties. You can use ordinary rubbing alcohol for many household cleaning purposes.

Aqueous -- This just means that a cleanser is water based.

Cleaner -- This simply means a single chemical or a chemical formula used to clean something. A cleaner may be a solvent, an acid, an alkali, a detergent, and a water based blend. Be careful with mixing cleaners or any other household chemicals as some combinations produce noxious gases. One famous example of a noxious gas inadvertently produced by using cleaners in the same area at the same time or when mixed is the accidental combination of bleach and ammonia. Before the dangers of combining bleach and ammonia or using them near each other at the same time were widely publicized, home keepers who fainted from the mixed fumes accounted for many emergency room visits

Detergent -- A cleaner that acts similarly to soap, but is made from chemical compounds instead of fats and lye. Detergents are less affected by chemicals in water than soaps are. Laundry detergent and laundry soap powder both clean clothing, but they are not exactly the same thing, for example. Detergents enhance the cleaning power of water. A detergent has an emulsifier in it. An emulsifier penetrates the oil film that binds dirt particles and breaks them up. A detergent also has a wetting agent in it, which helps the dissolved particles to wash away. Detergents use alkaline properties of cleaning. You'll often see sodium carbonate on the labels of modern detergents. In the case of laundry detergents, scents and bleaches may be added. In popular lingo, soap and detergent ares sometimes used interchangably. However, it's good to know the difference in order to correctly interpret labels on cleaning products.

Solvent -- A solvent is a liquid which dissolves another substance. Water can be a solvent. Some solvents are anhydrous, meaning without water. Solvents often contain carbon, making them organic (in the chemistry sense, not the "green" sense). Dry cleaning fluid is an example of an anhyrdrous solvent.

Soap -- A soap is a cleanser that is the salt of a fatty acid. For example, you can make soap by adding potash (an alkali) to a fat. Similarly, Castillo soap is made of soda added to olive oil. Soaps are used with water to produce suds or, in other words, a lather. The lather has a cleansing action. Soaps are a wonderful way to clean many things. One drawback is that when used in hard water, the soap can react with minerals to form a soap scum. This can dull clothing or shower surfaces.

Soap flakes -- Soap Flakes were the first mass produced laundry soap. They were originally manufactured by Lever Brothers, who continued to produce them until 2001. They are made of a 100% vegetable base and have no bleaches phosphates, enzymes or perfume. Soap flakes are biodegradable. You can find more information, including a recipe to make your own Ivory soap flakes, on the Internet.

Saponification -- the process of making soap.

Soils -- a wide number of substances that attach themselves to surfaces forming a pollutant.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Summer Housekeeping -- Pests

2009-07-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Matthew 6:19-20

Don't you love summer? The sunny days seem to bring one delight after another: garden bounty; picnics; flowers; vacations; etc.

We're not the only ones who love summer. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a number of insects flourish during the warmer months. For those who live in tropical or semi-tropical climates, these can flourish almost year round.

Two common summer pests are ticks and fleas. A few years ago, I attended the loveliest outdoor wedding I think I've ever seen. Alas, after the ceremony was over, several guests found shade underneath a beautiful tree. Two of the guests later came down with Lyme disease from tick bites.

Your first line of defense against fleas and ticks -- at least as far as concerns the inside of your home -- is to treat any pets that go in and out of doors. Today, there are many safe medications on the market. The best are those prescribed by veterinarians. If you do use something over the counter, be careful which you choose. I once applied a supermarket brand of tick and flea medicine to two cats, both of whom had a terrible reaction. When I called the vet, the vet said that they had encountered many problems with pets who were treated with this brand, as it can affect the nervous systmem. Fortunately, our cats survived, but I will not use that product again.

If your pets go outside, you are quite likely to have a flea infestation in your home, even if you do not realize it. Good housekeeping can keep the number of fleas in your home to a minimum, and you might not even notice them. However, if you were to go away on a trip for a week, you might come home to find that the few living fleas have multiplied in your absence. So, it's best to treat your pets before you see a problem.

Having said that, your second line of defense is to vacuum thoroughly and frequently. If your vacuum is the type that has bags, be aware that fleas can survive in the bag. Change bags frequently. If you know you have an infestation, change bags every time you vacuum.

Be sure to pay extra attention to the area around your pet's bedding and in any area where your pet lounges. Vacuum these areas thoroughly. Wash your pet's bedding on a regular basis -- even more frequently if you know you have a flea problem.

If you don't have pets, it's still possible to bring in a flea or tick infestation. Whether you have animals or not, check yourself and your children for ticks when you have been near or in wooded areas. Check after camping, hiking, or picnicking. Check pets for ticks, as well. Also, you might want to check your carpet occasionally to see if fleas have made their home there.

A third method of defense against fleas and ticks is to keep your lawn mowed and yard trimmed. Of course, if you live on a farm or if the area surrounding your house backs up to natural areas, you will not be able to keep down fleas and ticks simply by mowing. Again, it's wise to do vigilant checks to make sure that your family members and pets are not bringing fleas and ticks indoors.

If all else fails, and you find yourself fighting a stubborn problem, consult a pest control service that is both aware of human health and environmental concerns.

Being able to enjoy the outdoors is a delight for both people and their pets. If you take a few simple precautions, you can have fun under the summer sun without bringing unwanted ticks and fleas indoors with you.

Another summer pest is the chigger. When my husband and I were in our first year of marriage, we rented a home, and the yard was infested with chiggers. One Saturday, we hosted a cookout for quite a few people from our church. Being the newlyweds that we were, my husband and I were so excited to host our first outdoor gathering as a couple. The next day, everyone at church was itching! Our new little yard was infested with the little critters.

Here's an article which provides information about chiggers. Here is another resource.

When I was growing up, a typical home remedy for chigger bits was to brush them with clear nail polish. The belief was that this suffocated the chigger. It seemed to work just fine. However, modern thinking is that the chigger does not actually burrow into a person's skin, but only bites and leaves behind saliva. It's the saliva that actually makes you itch. So, solutions such as nail polish are not the best treatment for the itching.

Some pests do not bite living beings but prefer to dine on fibers. One way to avoid moths, silverfish, and the like is to make sure that you keep your clothing clean. Whenever you store items for a season, make sure that they, too, are clean. One way to do this is to air and brush fabric items before storing them. Bugs are attracted to soil in clothing.

One of the most persistent of summer pests is ants. Here's a useful article about managing fire ants. Here's an article about dealing with the type of ants that invade the home.

Of course, the most famous of summer pests is the mosquito. Here's a resource that details seven methods for dealing with these pesky insects.

Happy homemaking!
Elizabeth

Water and Weeds

2009-07-03T18:10:00.001-07:00

Resources for learning about hard and soft water:

http://www.hardwater.org
http://www.water-research.net/hardness.htm

While we're talking about water, here's a discussion about bottled water, tap water, and filtered water.

Some people who use filtered water do so in order to take out chemicals such as flouride and chorine. So that the water will not be completely depleted of healthful chemicals, such as magnesium and calcius, they then add mineral drops to put these helpful minerals back into the water. I've never tried this, so someone who has might want to leave a comment with information about this.

Gardening: Weeds

It's half-way through summer, and, by now, you've probably done battle with seasonal weeds. Even if you don't have a garden, you probably have plucked a few weeds in your landscape beds, containers, or other spots.

Loosely speaking, a weed is simply a plant that is growing where it is not wanted and where it was not intentionally planted. Thus, grass is a desirable plant in your lawn, but a weed when it sprouts in your flower bed. Of course, there are plants that are generally labeled as weeds, such as dandelions or thistles or crabgrass. Even these, however, have acquired their weedy reputation because they commonly encroach in areas where they are considered to be undesirable.

While you might not be happy to see a certain plant taking root in your garden or yard or field, you might find that it serves a beneficial purpose. For one thing, weeds are a good indicator of the type of soil you have. Certain weeds appear when there are particular deficiencies in the soil, when there are certain PH levels, levels of salinity, etc. Also, weeds can actually add minerals and trace elements to soil which has been depleted. Weeds send down deep roots, and, through soil capillary, they can enable domesticated plants to endur drought better than they could alone. Weeds can also prevent erosion and depletion of minerals in soil that is not covered with grass or purposeful garden plants. Some plants that are typically regarded as weeds can be used for food both for people and for livestock.

And, by happy chance, you might find that you enjoy the look of a wildflower that has found its way to your corner of the world. You might also enjoy the fruit of a weed. I knew a family who found a watermelon plant growing in their yard after they had cut and eaten a seeded watermelon outdoors. While it wasn't planted deliberately, it produced another watermelon. The plant -- though it might be considered a weed by the definition above -- provided some fun for the family, as well as a tasty treat.

Having said all of that, it's obvious that weed control is necessary for maintaining a planted field, a garden, or a yard. When allowed to proliferate, weeds choke out more delicate domestic plants. They can ruin the look of a pretty flower bed or garden, as well.

Of course, there are many strong synthetic chemical solutions designed to control weeds. However, most of us either want to reduce the need to use such strong sprays and granules or eliminate the need for them entirely.

Two common methods of eliminating weeds naturally are to use mulch or to lay down plastic or other weed resistant materials. If the plastic is layered underneath the soil, holes allow the desired plants to grow, while the plastic smothers weeds. There are also organic sprays and solutions, as well.

Of course, there are always the methods that Great Grandmother used, such as using a gardening hoe or a Dutch fork.

For more specific information abou weed control, check out the following.

Resources:
Managing weeds with a light touch
Organic weed control
Weed control
What do your weeds say?

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

2009-06-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here are two unusual, but useful links for the home keeper:

The Soap and Detergent Association -- articles about cleaning products, hygiene, cleaning to prevent certain illnesses such as swine flu, environmental concerns, health and safety, etc. This organization represents manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products.

Accessible Threads -- supplier of threads for people with special needs and handicaps.

Do you have hard water? If so, this will affect just about every cleaning process in your home, from laundry to personal care to dish washing.

There are specific classifications of hard water used in the water industry, and these categories range from soft water to very hard water. The hardness of the water depends on concentrations of certain minerals in the water.

If you would like to know just how hard your water is, you can ask your local water supplier or even your health department. Another way to find out is to have it tested by a home treatment company, but do be aware that this company, naturally, would like to sell you their service. A way to make an educated guess is by agitating water or toothpaste in water. These substances lather easily in soft water but not in hard water.

What might you notice if your water is hard?

A ring might develop around your bathtub or around your bathtub drain.
You will have trouble getting soaps and detergents to lather well.
Your hair might have a residue on it and might look dull even after washing.
You might find it hard to completely rinse shower doors so that all of the soap scum is gone and they look shiny and clean.
Your laundry might come out feeling stiff instead of nice and soft.
Your fabrics might look dull and gray.
Sediment could build up in your hot water heater.

On the other hand, it is a good thing to have some minerals in your water. The minerals that make water hard can actually be good for your health, especially for your heart. Minerals in the water can also be beneficial to plants. For that reason, it's not wise to drink only distilled water or use only distilled water or even softened water on your lawn or garden. Also, if you change water sources, you might notice that your body has to make some adjustments to new concentrations of minerals.

Certain methods of softening water raise the sodium content. This can be a problem for those who must restrict sodium because of high blood pressure, kidney problems, or other health issues.

The question is "How hard is too hard in order for you to keep a clean home?" Surprisingly, you might want to consult your physician when considering various methods of softening water, particularly if you do already have some difficulties with your heart or circulation. It is possible to use methods of water softening that bypass your kitchen faucets, so that your drinking water does not become overly saturated with sodium.

As mentioned above, distilled water is not the best for drinking. However, it is great for using in your iron. This will keep mineral residue from building up in your iron.

More about water in the next post.

Elizabeth

Hot weather home keeping -- Part II

2009-06-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift? ~Cicero

This is a great time for me to be thinking about hot weather home making, as our heat indexes say it feels to the body like we're up in the 100's right now. If you live in a more temperate clime or are in the Southern hemisphere (with winter now), file this information away in case you need it later:

1) Did you realize that a clogged dryer vent or hose will blow hot air back into your home, raising the overall temperature? That is something I learned today and had never thought about.
2) Also, did you realize that if you plant a shade tree near an outside air conditioning unit, it will work more efficiently? I hadn't thought about that one, either. I learned these two hints -- appropriately on Father's Day -- from a site called Frugal Dad.
3) In the nineteenth century, changing rugs, bedding, and curtains at the turn of cold weather to warm or warm weather to cold was an important part of housekeeping. People changed from fabrics that were warm and richly colored to lighter weight, summer colored fabrics. Also, some applied light colored slip colors to furniture in hot weather and took them off in winter or threw down grass-cloth mats over their floors during prolonged periods of rain or dust. Since the advent of central heat and air conditioning and three-season type fabrics, that custom has largely fallen by the wayside. Of course, people still generally throw an extra blanket on the bed during winter and pull it off in the summer. And, people use picnic cloths for outdoor eating in warm weather. Other than that, however, changing from heavier curtains to lighter ones or pulling up heavier rugs for lighter ones is not as much of a tradition as it once was. For the modern home, it can be a boon not to have to keep up with different sets of bedding, curtains, etc., for each room. However, if you would like to give your home a cool and comfortable feel in the summer and a warm and cozy feel in the winter, this is something you might try. Also, throwing slipcovers on couches during the active summer months can not only protect your furniture, it can be a way to change a richer fall color to a fresh summery color for the season. It all depends on what your family needs and likes. Do be sure, though, to attend to the comforts of the beds. Your family will sleep more comfortably in summer if the bed linens are breathable and light.
4) Every child should be creating wonderful summer memories to look back on. In order to help summer be fun for children, it's helpful to establish summer routines and rules upfront, rather than to tussle about them as you go along. For example, will your children have a different chore routine during the summer, when there is less homework to do inside and more work to do outside in the garden? Do you need to establish a place by the door where children can place outdoor shoes, toys, and sports gear, as well as a time in the evening to put it all back in its true home? Do children need to remember to put sunscreen on at prescribed times? Do you need to help children learn how to play outside without running in and out every second? Do you need to encourage them to play creatively, rather than spending too much time with a WII? What supplies do you need to have on hand to make summer fun for children? What safety guidelines and boundaries do your children need to keep in mind while playing outside? What are expectations for a child's personal devotions and family devotions? You and your children will have expectations for the summer months. It's best to discuss these so that everyone will arrive at a common understanding for the warm weather months. While it's important to talk such things out at the beginning of the summer, it's best not to go to the other extreme and over-schedule or over-manage your children. Children do need some structure for the summer. However, they also need plenty of time for wholesome play. If you provide the right environment and loving supervision, your children's creativity and joy will flourish.
5) Update your home medical kit to take care of skinned knees, bug bites, poison ivy etc. Also, consider what foods you need to keep in the pantry and fridge to accommodate family and guests during the summer.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Back to the books...

2009-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Thrift is not an affair of the pocket, but an affair of character. ~S.W. Straus

Well, after taking a long break from blogging, I'm back!

In the meantime, I've had lots of medical tests for little ailments, company in the home, summer fun and summer chores. How's everyone doing in taking your home skills higher?

Here's a no fail marinade sauce formula: about a third to a half of fat (butter, olive oil, etc.), a third to a half of some type of acid (vinegar, lemon juice, pineapple juice, etc.), and some salty liquid and/or seasonings -- such as soy sauce, mustard, garlic, etc. You can make this over and over again, using different ingredients for variety.

Check list:

When was the last time you washed brushes, combs, makeup brushes and sponges, etc.?
When was the last time you cleaned out your purse and any carryalls you might use?
When was the last time you eliminated outdated files from your computer and deleted any emails and email folders that are no longer applicable?
When was the last time you wrote notes or letters and mailed them?

Hot weather Home Keeping part I:

Hot weather brings its own home keeping joys and challenges. On the plus side, your house or apartment is probably at its loveliest. Likely, you are enjoying beautiful sunshine streaming in through windows, happy times in your yard and/or garden, and more fun time with neighbors and family. Perhaps, your family will even travel or have special guests. If your climate is mild enough, you may be enjoying open windows, with wonderful breezes floating in.

On the negative side, if you live in a damp and humid climate, you may be locked in a continual battle with such pests as silver fish, wood roaches or cockroaches, Mediterranean centipedes, fruit flies, or ants. Perhaps, you are experiencing more mildew of clothing, textiles, or showers. Or, if you live in a hot, dry climate, your challenges might be dust, dust, and more dust, as well as insects such as scorpions. Wherever you live, you might need to care for a few more skinned knees and bumps and bruises, as children will be happily playing outside. If you do not have adequate air conditioning, you and your children may be feeling tireder or be tempted to be irritable.

With a little care, summer problems can be cared for so that you can focus on summer joys.

Here are a few tips to get started:

1) Sugary drinks -- such as lemonade, iced tea, or fresh fruit juice -- can be delightful on summer days, and your family will appreciate it if you serve them a refreshing glass or two of these items. However, be aware that these do not meet all of your body's needs for liquid during the summer, and, if consumed to excess, they can actually work against your ability to stay hydrated. Be sure to offer your family fresh water along with these drinks.
2) Staying on the theme of adequate hydration, you may need to keep a watchful eye to make sure that you and your family drink enough water. Thirst is usually a good indicator of how much water you need. However, on busy summer days, it's easy for you and your family members to ignore the initial and subtle signs of thirst. There are lots of ways to counter this. Take a cue from traditional table setting, and provide your family with a water glass in addition to a glass for whatever other beverage you might be serving with the meal. Set out a pitcher of iced water in the morning to remind yourself to drink water and to offer water to your family members. Take along water with you when you go on picnics, to activities, or when traveling. Remember that air travel is especially drying, so be sure to drink enough water when taking plane trips.
3) Don't fall into the trap of thinking that exposing lots of skin is the way to stay cool yourself or to keep family members cool. Breathable fabrics -- such as cotton or linen -- with a bit of room for air to circulate will keep you quite comfortable, even in humid and hot climates.
4) Don't let damp items sit for long periods of time. Hang up damp towels in a way that lets the air dry them. Make sure children put damp, sweaty play clothes in a properly ventilated hamper and hang up wet bathing suits. Face the fact that you simply may have to do more laundry in the summer to make sure that damp items are properly cleaned and dried quickly. Whatever you do, don't let damp clothing sit in the washer for too long. In the winter, I often get away with putting a load of wash in right before bed and drying it the next day. In the summer, the clothes will sour more quickly.
5) Throw borax or baking soda in the wash to prevent mildew and sour smells. This is especially helpful for keeping towels fresh.

More tips in the next post...

Happy home keeping!

Child Development:: Fostering Respect for Marriage and Opposite Sex

2009-06-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

The home is a training ground for a child's adult life. In most cases, marriage and raising children of his or her own will be a part of that child's adult life. In other cases, a child may remain single. Either way, lessons learned in the home will either benefit or hinder a child in establishing a successful adult life. Learning how to inter-relate with members of the opposite sex and also to have a high view of marriage and rearing a family is an important piece of that equation.

Of course, we begin with the assumptions that the child is being taught to know, revere, love, and obey the Lord, as well as to depend on the Lord's grace and wisdom in all things. Next to that, we assume that parents are teaching their children to respect and obey them, a commandment with a very specific promise of long life attached to it.

Here are some other things that can help:

1) Let the child see that your life is properly oriented toward God's priorities. Your relationship with the Lord should come first in all things.
2)Speak with respect to and about your husband. If you have a disagreement with your husband, handle it in a godly way. Pray for a heart filled with love for your spouse, and put to death bitterness, unforgiveness, disrespect, the habit of always knowing better, and a negative outlooks. Your child will model what he or she sees in you.
3) Teach children how to handle conflicts between siblings in godly ways. The depth of these lessons will change over the years as children mature. Young toddlers may need very simple instructions in how to share.
4) Strive for an atmosphere of good nature, clean fun, and pure joy in the home. If home is not a fun place to be or if children feel that you are more burdened by your worship of the Lord than filled with joy, they will develop negative attitudes about both God and family life.
5) While you strive to make your home a fun place to be, do not allow coarse joking, derrogative comments, or bickering. Children will have issues that need to be dealt with. Not all of their feelings will be immediately godly. (Are ours?) However, help them work through these things i a way that builds their faith and that builds others up.
6) Speak well of marriage, having children, and the joys of being a woman. (I'm assuming in these articles that most of the people who read my blog are women, of course.)
7) Enlist your husband's help in creating an atmosphere of respect. A husband's gentle word goes a long way toward helping a teen overcome a disrespectful way of thinking and communicating, especially if that should be directed toward the mother.
8) Listen to your children. Respect them as individuals created in the image of the Lord. It is your responsibility to be the parent and not just the buddy. However, that does not mean that you should not treat them in a way that builds them up.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Children -- The Growing Up Years -- Sons

2009-06-02T11:23:00.001-07:00

Helping Sons Grow Into Manhood...

Just as our daughters transition from girlhood to womanhood, our sons naturally grow from boyhood to manhood. Many of the challenges of growing up are exactly the same for boys as for girls. However, there are obvious differences, as well. Because we, as home managers, have experienced life from a woman's point of view, we may be more in tune with how to help our daughters than we are with how to help our sons.

It is important for a boy to have a man of good character in his life to help him through issues surrounding puberty and his developing sexuality, as well budding manly character and growing physical strength. Of course, in a two parent family, the father is the one who guides the boy into manhood. Single moms may need to enlist the aid of a trusted male role model, such as a grandfather or uncle, to help her son with certain issues.

Though a boy does need a man's guidance, a mother also plays an essential role in the son's transition, however. Here are some areas in which the mother can be very helpful to the son's development:

1) In our culture, many women enter marriage and motherhood either with negative attitudes about men or with a naive lack of understanding and appreciation of men. If they fail to overcome these things, they will inadvertently manifest a negative attitude toward their husbands and even toward their sons. A friend of mine once walked her children to the school bus stop in her suburban neighborhood. Many other mothers were there with their children. They were women who, on the surface of things, had happy marriages and families. Yet, my friend was surprised and dismayed at how much of the conversation consisted of complaining about husbands. This was in the hearing of all of the children. Mothers who want to raise secure children, especially sons, must be careful about how they speak of others -- especially of their own spouses -- in front of their children. Mothers do well to model a high view of marriage. If a mother is always putting her husband down, she is, in essence, also putting the son down, as well. If she favors her son over her husband or one son over another son, she is doing her boy no favor, either. A boy intuitively thrives when he sees his father being tender and thoughtful toward his mother and his mother being respectful toward his father.
If we allow our sons to be unduly influenced by our culture, he may pick up on our culture's mixed-up signals about things such as what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, what it means to have a marriage, and what it means to be a family. One of the best things we can do for a son in this day and age is to model respect for our husbands, as well as to have a positive and encourage attitude about the fact that our son is growing up to be a man. A single mom can model a positive attitude, as well.
A mother can model what it means to be a woman with noble character. Of course, none of us have reached perfection in this area! We may be conscious of our many faults and sins and of our need for grace. However, our sons will pick up on the values by which we live our lives, even if we do goof from time to time. If we do not grow weary in well-doing, our sons will see that. A mother with a high view of God and of His purposes for her life can have a profound impact on her son's character, sometimes without her even realizing it in the moment. At the very least, such an example encourages a son to treat women with respect, rather than to judge solely by superficial standards.
3) A son needs affection and words of affirmation from his mother. For some boys, it's true that they may go through a time of being finicky about hugs from mom, especially in front of friends. As moms, we need to understand and respect that. However, we must also know that, deep down, our son does appreciate little gestures of affection and encouraging comments. My son is grown and happily married, and he still greets me with great big bear hugs whenever we see each other.
Actually, a son needs affection and affirmation from both his father and his mother. A single mother or the wife of an undemonstrative man can bridge the gap, with the Lord's help. However, boys do thrive if they know that they are loved and valued by both of their parents.
Girls, also, need affection from both parents, as well as encouragement. A girl especially thrives if she feels loved and valued by her father.
Just the right amount of of proper parental affection and encouraging comments strengthens our children. If they do know how deeply loved they are, they will be less vulnerable to negative peer pressure. They will also be less vulnerable to sexual temptation before marriage. They will be better prepared to establish a healthy marriage when it is time for them to start a family of their own.
4) A mother can recognize and encourage the milestones in her son's life as he takes steps toward manhood. It may bring a pang to her heart to realize that her little boy is no longer so little. However, it is healthy for him if she allows him to mature into manhood at the pace he needs to. Since we mothers can be overprotective of sons, we may need the help of our husbands to help us know when we are holding on too tightly and when we truly do need to be protective. Single moms can consult some trusted man, such as a father or brother for advice in this area.
Often, our fear makes us want to overprotect our sons; this is where trusting the Lord is so important.
5) A mother can help a son's physical development by providing nutritious meals, as well as plenty of fresh air and wholesome exercise, sports, and activity. This is important for both girls and boys, but boys have an extra need for healthy physical activity in order to grow into healthy manhood. The glory of young men is their strength. Proverbs 20:29. Also, healthy play and healthy work help a boy manage his natural abundance of strength, energy, and drive. I believe that some boys who seem to be hyper-active simply may not be getting enough physical activity.
6) Boys sometimes do not realize the power of their physical strength, especially if they experience sudden growth spurts. They may feel and act clumsy, and they may inadvertently be too rough and tumble at times. They may not know the line between friendly roughhousing with Dad and the boys and how to treat mothers and sisters. A mother's gentle instructions can help a boy learn how to be gentle with women. Of course, a father's instruction and example is important, as well. A mother can also be patient with a boy's clumsiness and teach his sisters to be so, as well. This can help him through any awkward stage he may experience.
7) Mothers can point out a father's hard work and other things she appreciates about her husband. This can inspire a boy to follow suit. She doesn't need to do this in a way that makes her young son feel that he is being compared to his more mature father, but she should simply be appreciative of the things in her husband that a son would do well to imitate. This is something we, as wives, should be doing anyway, but a son benefits when he sees that we do appreciate these things.
8) A mother should encourage her son to fulfill whatever responsibilities have been assigned to him. In this way, she will help him grow into responsible, unselfish manhood.
9) A mother may despair of her young son ever taking an interest in keeping himself well groomed. There will be a point when this suddenly becomes important to him. Perhaps, though not necessarily so, this will be at a much later age than a girl usually manifests interest in her appearance. Until then, she may need to help him take care of his health and appearance.
10) It's a good ideas for computers and video games to be used in public areas. This helps protect a boy's purity.

Happy Homemaking!
Elizabeth

Addendum to Children -- The Growing up years -- Growing into Womanhood

2009-06-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Topaztook added a comment that I wanted to emphasize. If a girl or even an older woman has several difficult periods in a row, it's wise to get the thyroid checked. I know I've mentioned this for adult women several times, but I hadn't thought to stress that a mother might want to ask her daughter's physician if the daughter is experiencing menstral difficulties. Many girls have unusual cycles in the first few years of menstruation, and this is not usually due to thyroid problems. However, it can be. Thyroid conditions are more common in mid-life and beyond; however, younger girls and women can develop thyroid issues, and it's always wise to have that checked.

During a general check-up, a doctor often feels the thyroid gland to check for problems with enlargement. However, for some reason, blood tests for thyroid problems are not generally done as a routine screening, and a thyroid problem usually shows up in the blood long before a hardening or enlargement of the gland is felt. Therefore, if you suspect that you or a child have a thyroid problem, you may specifically need to ask for a test.

The reason this is so important to me is that I struggle with (probably autoimmune) hypothyroid issues, and I know that an under or over active thyroid can affect the body in many ways. My mother and aunt both had thyroid problems, as well, so I am familiar with the symptoms it can cause.

I recently assumed that some issues I was experiencing were simply mid-life issues. However, I am glad I mentioned some of my symptoms to my physician. It seems that a worsening thyroid problem may be a factor, as well.

If you feel unwell for a time, and you don't know why, it's wise to have your thyroid checked. If you have a family history of thyroid problems, this is doubly important. If you are in perimenopause, it's also a good idea to be checked. Don't assume that you do have a thyroid problem simply because you suffer from a few symptoms; many people who think they have thyroid issues turn out to be just fine in that department. If you don't have a genuine thyroid problem, taking thyroid medication can be harmful. On the other hand, if you are feeling symptoms of hypothyroidism, don't ignore them. Let a physician help you sort it all out.

In the past, many women suffered from sub-clinical thyroid issues and many thyroid conditions went undiagnosed and untreated. For example, my mother's thyroid condition had deteriorated quite a bit before she was diagnosed. To be fair, her case was a hard case to diagnose, as the thyroid was failing due to another health problem. However, many women in the past who were experiencing minor hypothyroidism went through life feeling sick and fatigued, but did not receive the treatment they needed. In many cases, physical problems resulting from thyroid conditions were chalked up to laziness, hypochondria, or emotional problems.

Now, the standards for what constitutes hypothyroidism have been reviewed and revised. Many internists and endocrinologists and gynecologists are quicker to recognize borderline thyroid issues in women. They are more likely to start treatment for a slightly failing thyroid before secondary health problems develop.

Under-active thyroid can either cause or be associated with

chronic, deep fatigue, sometimes to the point of being debilitating
skipped periods
heavy or prolonged periods
hormone imbalances
fertility problems
miscarriages
heart disease
thinning hair
a change in facial expression and/or puffiness of the face
cholesterol and blood pressure problems/problems with triglycerides
problems with blood sugar/higher risk for diabetes
weight gain/weight hard to lose despite exercise and diet
sensations of being cold (Though you don't find this in many lists, it's my non-professional opinion that hot flashes can be an issue, as well)
problems with memory and concentration; feeling and actually being mentally sluggish, brain feels "fuzzy", as if you are trying to think in a fog
hoarseness
loss or thinning of outer eyebrows and eyelashes
depression/anxiety
bowel problems
an enlarged and/or hardened thyroid
nodules on thyroid --usually when not treated in time
other autoimmune diseases
consistently low body temperature
cold feet
(If a person's thyroid continued to fail and the condition went untreated, coma and death could result. This is highly unlikely to happen today, because most people who are headed for such severe thyroid problems receive medical attention long, long, long the before the condition reaches this point.)

Not everyone who has a hypothyroid problems will experience all of the above symptoms. And, it's my non-professional opininon that you can experience some atypical symtoms with thyroid disease. However, if you are hypothyroid, you simply won't feel well or function at your best.

Additionally, an untreated under-active thyroid can produce thyroid hormone in spurts, which means that a person generally has symptoms of too low thyroid hormone punctuated with bouts of hyper-thyroid symptoms. During the hyper-thyroid spells, the person experiences symptoms such as increased energy, anxiety, panic attacks, "the shakes", heart palpitations, a racing heart, and restlessness. This is especially true in the case of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the most common auto-immune disease of the thyroid. If the spurt of thyroid hormone simply brings you to within the normal range, I suppose you might simply feel a sense of temporarily increased energy and well-being.

Sometimes, only a very small dose of thyroid replacement hormone can make a huge difference in how well your body functions.

I can't say it too much, but it's best not to try to diagnose or to treat yourself for a thyroid condition. Every symptom that is associated with thyroid disease can be caused by something other than the thyroid. For example, you may have a consistently low temperature, but that could be normal for you. Or, you might be seriously fatigued, but that could be due to anemia or some other condition.

If you do suspect you have a problem, ask your doctor to do simple blood tests to determine how well your thyroid is working. If you do have hypo-thyroid problems, it's important to work with your physician, as finding the right dosage for you is a delicate balance. Also, you will need to be evaluated from time to time to make sure that your current dosage is still right for you.

It's also important, if you are told that you do, in fact, have thyroid issues, that you do follow through with your treatment. Ignoring the problem only makes things worse. There are a few situations in which certain specific types of thyroid conditions can resolve themselves, such as a virally induced thyroiditis or a post-pregnancy induced thyroid problem. However, in the majority of cases, once you develop a thyroid issue, you will have it for life. If a temporary case of thyroditis does reverse itself, be happy and enjoy your better health :) -- but also know that you do have a risk factor for developing a more permanent thyroid condition and might need to have it checked again in a few years just to see if things are still in the normal range.

It's tempting if you have mild hypothyroidism to ignore the problem, especially if you have periods of time when you are feeling better. Sometimes, patients who are on very small doses of thyroid hormones wonder if such a small amount really makes a difference. As you can see from the list of problems above, refusing to take thyroid replacement hormone when you need it can be dangerous. There is a famous celebrity who has done just that, claming to have solved her auto-immune thyroid problem with retreat dedicated to rest, stress reduction, and diet -- including lots of soy. (Soy, ironically, is known to inhibit absorption of thyroid replacement hormone.) Amost anyone -- ailing or well -- will feel at least somewhat better after retreating away for a course of rest and healthy living, but that does not mean that an underlying medical condition can be completely cured by these things. In fact, advocates for patients with thyroid disease doubt that this celebrity has permanently reversed her thyroid condition. If she has, she is a rare, rare case. Advocates fear that women who need medical attention will follow the celebritity's example and try to treat themselves.

There's a common belief in the U.S. that if you have a thyroid problem, you need more iodine. It's true that in the third world, there are people who do lack iodine and who do suffer thyroid problems as a result. If you live in an area where iodine deficient goiters are seen, you might want to have that checked. However, in the U.S. and Europe, it's very difficult to develop a true iodine deficiency today, especially since most of our table salt is processed with iodine. You can actually cause or worsen thyroid problems by supplementing with too much iodine, as it is possible to take in more than your body can safely use. Most thyroid problems in the U.S. and Europe are due to autoimmune disorders or some other type of disruption in the endocrine system, rather than to an iodine deficiency.

Thyroid medication is inexpensive; it is well-studied; it solves major problems for those who truly need it; the medical profession's understanding and management of thyroid disease is improving all of the time. Likewise, the tests to deterine if you have a thyroid problem are simple. So, if you suspect a problem, why not have it tested? And, if it turns out that you do have a problem, why not pursue the treatment your body needs?

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Children -- The Growing Up Years

2009-05-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

Preparing Your Daughter for Womanhood:
(Note: If your daughter is following along with this class, you may want to preview this first.)

As we've discussed before, understanding child development is important in the life of a home keeper. Babies start out totally dependent on their mothers. As they mature, they gradually grow into adult responsibilities. By the time they are grown, they are responsible for making their own choices, though -- as parents -- we want to be there to support and guide when necessary.

There's so much to teach our daughters (and our sons) that the task of motherhood can seem overwhelming at times. That's where we have to remember to surrender our children to the Lord and to depend on his strength. Also, we need the support and guidance of older women, who have raised their families, as well as peers, who are going through the same things that we are. We also have to remember that we will make mistakes, but those mistakes can be overcome with love.

Part of your daughter's task in growing up is to develop healthy attitudes about her physical, emotional, and spiritual nature. That involves passing through physical puberty and also dealing with the emotional passage that goes along with it. How we model our appreciation of our feminine nature and deal with our own physical and emotional passages sets a role model that our daughters will follow.

Some guidelines for helping our daughters transition from childhood into the teen years are

1) Be positive about your own life. Don't speak negatively about your bodily functions, especially not about menstruation and certainly not about pregnancy and childbirth. If we happen to suffer physical symptoms of PMS or painful periods or a painful labor or an uncomfortable perimenopause, we don't have to pretend that we don't. However, we can admit those things in a faithful way, without being the picture of doom and gloom. We don't want to complain or use words like "the curse" to describe what is happening to us during our periods, for example. Instead, we want to model thankfulness to the Lord that He has given us bodies which can serve Him. We also need to express wonder that God has designed the human body to be so amazing.

2) We need to realize that children -- especially girls -- are reaching physical puberty earlier and earlier these days. There are many theories about why this is happening, from hormones in our environment to better nutrition in our day than in times past to too much visually sexualized stimulation in our culture, which possibly affects brain chemicals that control growth. Whatever the reason, we need to be aware of how our daughters are developing emotionally and physically. We don't need to give too much information too early; yet, we don't want to be too late in preparing our daughters for the physical changes they will be going through, either. I have a friend who started her first cycle at a very early age, in the middle of the night when she was spending the night at another friend's house. Never having heard of menstruation, she was terrified that something terrible was happening to her. Looking back on it, I can see that it was obvious that she was developing physically ahead of the curve. Had she been prepared, perhaps, she wouldn't have been so frightened.

3) We all know that puberty can be an emotional time for a young girl. One minute, she may want to be a child; the next, she feels she is an adult. She may long to be held at one moment, yet need some space the next. She may need to bathe and wash her hair more often, and she might or might not experience some trouble with skin break-outs. In an effort to grow into her own self, she might be tempted to push her parents away at one moment; yet, she may want to cling to them the next.

Yet, we can guide a daughter to embrace all of the wonderful things about this time, as well. It's a joyful thing to be growing up to be the woman God made her to be. She can look forward to blooming wherever the Lord will plant her. Perhaps, marriage and children will be in her future. Perhaps, not. However, the Lord has designed her with a wonderful womanly nature, and she will discover in the coming years that He has given her unique gifts. In the meantime, this is a great opportunity for her to learn how to live in today and to make the most of today, without worrying about tomorrow.

4) Some girls experience very little discomfort during their monthly period. Others have a greater degree of discomfort, or even pain. If a daughter does have painful cycles or if anything seems to be amiss with her cycles, it's wise to consult a physician. Sometimes, the pain results from correctable physical problems.

Things that might help with pain in the moment are using a hot water bottle on the abdomen, drinking chamomile tea, and rest. Some women feel better after doing gentle stretches; others find that lying down is better.

Getting plenty of fresh air and exercise throughout the month, as well as eating nutritious food, can help.

Often women who don't have much discomfort during a period find it hard to empathize with women who do have a lot of menstrual distress. It's important to understand that every woman's body is different and to know that some women do have very real physical causes for more severe menstrual pain.

Do not be surprised if all of the women in your family frequently experience their cycles at the same time. There is actually a biological reason for this. Be patient with each other!!

5) When your daughter does start her periods, teach her how to keep track of them. This is important in case you do need to see a physician. Throughout her life, she will need to be able to tell her physicians the date of her last period, as well as what age she started her cycles. Also, for those who do have PMS or cramps, it's helpful to be able to predict when a cycle is coming in order to prepare.

6) For all women, whether they have little distress with their periods or if their periods are more difficult, the following things are helpful in taking care of feminine health:

a) Practice good hygiene.
b) Get lots of fresh air and exercise.
c) Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness.
d) Drink plenty of water.
e) Study enough about physiology to understand the workings of your menstral cycle, as well as what happens during pregnancy and menopause.
f) Understand your personal rhythms -- For example, you might be quieter and more reflective around your period and feel more active at other times of the month. With modern hygiene, a girl can be just as active as she wants or needs to be during her period; however, if you want to spend some quiet time, that's ok, too.
g) Perhaps, you will enjoy taking extra care of your appearance and your room during the time just before and during your period. Taking the time to create a special retreat for yourself and to dress in a way that makes you feel special if particularly helpful if you get the "blahs" around that time of the month. Also, just the activity of doing those light chores can help chase away the "blahs" or the "blues".
h) Watch your posture. Mothers need to help young girls with this. As they develop a more womanly figure, they may either exagerrate their posture to show it off or slump to hide it in embarrasment. Neither approach is healthy. Instead, aim for a confident, feminine, healthy posture, and walk and stand and sit in a way that promotes health for your body. Slumping or habitually throwing your body out of alignment is not good for your organs or your bones.
i) Avoid undue fear about your health; If you have questions, seek the aid of a physician. Do what you can to be a good steward of your health. Do what you can to overcome discomforts. Otherwise, don't dwell on your discomforts or imagine that they must be signs of something worse. Also, don't dwell on what others might say about their periods or their childbirth experiences, especially if they are of a frightening or exagerrated nature. Instead, as we mentioned above, be in awe that God has designed such a fearfully and wonderfully made thing as the body. Mothers can help a daughter with this by avoiding overly fretting about the daughter's health and by listening carefully to her to correct any misinformation she may be picking up from peers or other sources.

6) Be a listening ear for your daughter. Listen, listen, listen. One of the most important things you can do for a child (boy or girl) who is a preteen or teen is to keep the lines of communication open. You will need to instruct and correct, but you also need to make your child feel that he or she can safely confide in you. If you are not your child's safe place, she will go to her peers. While it's great for her to have some good friends her own age with whom she can talk (and you should encourage that, as well), it's not healthy for her to run only to her peers because she feels that she cannot talk to you.

7) At some point during her development, a girl will naturally experience an increased interest in looking attractive, as well as an awareness of boys. It's important that she understand that this is a natural part of growing up. It's also important that she understand the importance of purity, wholesomeness, and waiting for God's timing. Help her see that modesty and purity are not restrictive, but are actually a protection for her spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Help her channel her thoughts and her energies into wholesome directions.

Since puberty comes so early in our culture, it may be quite some period between the time she becomes interested in marriage and motherhood and the time when she meets her future husband. Or, she might be someone who stays single. If a girl has a strong interest in marriage, she might despair of that day ever coming. Therefore, we must equip our daughters to prepare themselves for the possibility of marriage, but also to trust in the Lord and live a full life in the here and now. Learning godly contentment now will stand her in good stead all of her life.

8) Teach your daughter the importance of unfading, inner beauty. Also, teach her that every woman is beautiful in some way. Obvious physical beauty can be a great blessing. If your daughter is naturally physically beautiful, she will receive a lot of attention for that fact. Be happy about her beauty and joyfully acknowledge it. However, also teach her that her beauty is simply a gift and not the source of her worth. Help her to develop those inner qualities that are so important. Likewise, a less striking daughter may feel overshadowed by girls who are naturally stunning. To you, she is beautiful, and you can sincerely tell her so. You can also compliment her best features, such as a beautiful smile or lovely eyes. Again, teach her that looks are not the ultimate source of her worth. Help her develop those inner qualities which shine out and illuminate even the plainest face.

Teach your daughter to keep herself neatly, modestly, and attractively groomed and attired, and, then, to focus her attention off of herself onto loving others. Teach her how to enjoy life and how to spend her time on the most worthwhile things in life.

Early adolescence is a time when many children are insecure about their looks, and our currently looks-obsessed culture can add even more pressure. One sign of maturity is to have come to have come to terms with how the Lord made you and to appreciate His design for you and your life. In helping our daughters mature to this point, we need to demonstrate this maturity, as well. It doesn't help a daughter to hear us complain about a large nose or fat thighs, especially if our daughter also has those same features. Instead, dress in a way that becomes you, and, then, focus your attention on being thankful and loving others.

We may be on the other end of things than our daughters are. Just as our daughters are blooming physically, we may be seeing the first wrinkles creep across our face, fighting middle aged spread, noticing stretch marks from childbirth, or wondering why we can't get as much done as we used to. Places may ache that never used to before. We may be nearing the end of our fertility, which can be an emotional adjustment whether or not we actually want to have more children. We may be tempted to complain about how our body looks and functions as we are getting a bit older. It's important for us to come to terms with this in prayer and with the counsel of good friends, both for our sakes and for our daughters' sakes. They will imitate the way we approach the aging process. If we model a happy mature beauty for them, they will look forward to the various stages of life.

Pillowcase and May 26

2009-05-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is the material I'm using for my pillowcases. If you are sewing along with me, you will have already cut the material for two cases. See my earlier posts about this for the correct sizing.

Now, with right sides together, pin along the sides and bottom. Be sure the material is pressed. Starting at the top, sew a 1/2 inch seam down the side. Be sure to back stitch at top and bottom of the seam to reinforce it. Turn the corner and sew 1/2 inch along the bottom, again remembering to back stitch. Trim the seam to 1/4 inch. go back to the top and do a line of zig-zag stitch between your original stitch line and the edge of the fabric. Press your seams. Turn pillowcase right side out and press again. Press the top edge under 1/2 inch. Fold under another 2 inches on the top edge. Sew top of pillowcase 1 and 3/4 inch from top edge.

Or, use one of the pillowcase tutorials I linked to in an earlier post.

Decorate your pillowcase if you wish and as you wish.
Remember, always use a new needle when beginning a new sewing project on the machine.

Remember, Colonial Patterns is a great resource for iron-on transfer patterns. You can use these as guides for embroidering or cross-stitching items, such as pillowcases. You can generally find at least a small selection of their patterns in a Wal-Mart craft department or other craft store. Or, you can find more at their online site.

How are you doing?

How are you doing with your personal stewardship?

Exercise/Movement/Healthy work and activity_______________________

Rest/Sleep_________________________________________________

Up to date on Doctor/Dentist/Eye appointments_______________________

Mostly Healthy Diet __________________________________________

Attitude/Investing in doing and thinking things that build you up emotionally and spiritually rather than depleting you in those areas? ____________________________

Making the time to present an attractive, modest, neat appearance; taking the time to
present yourself in a way that refreshes and energizes you?__________________

How is your bedroom? Is it a haven for you right now, or does it need tidying in order for it to feel more peaceful?

Being a home manager means extending hospitality to others. What about when you are on the receiving end of hospitality?

1) When invited to someone's house, particularly for the first time, it's always thoughtful to take along a little gift. It doesn't have to be expensive, but should be some small token of your appreciation.

2) After spending a meal time or a longer visit at someone's home, write a thank you note. This is especially important after a first visit. If you are such good friends with someone that you are frequently in and out of each other's homes you may not feel the need to write a bread-and-butter note for every occasion. Still, it's nice to offer a little note or a gift at some point thanking the person for their friendship.

3) When considering the length of your visit, be sensitive to the needs of your hosts. Stay long enough that the person you are visiting has enjoyed your company, yet not so long that your stay becomes a burden on their time. For example, if you are dining with a young family, remember that the parents will not only need to tidy up, but to put their children to bed after you leave.

4) If the hostess is still putting the finishing touches on a meal, offer to help.

5) If you stay over one or more nights, tidy the bathroom and bedroom behind you. Also, ask the hostess what she would like you to do with the sheets and towels you have used. Offer to wash them, or, at least, to bring them to her laundry area. Or, make up the bed with the sheets in place, if she desires. It's nice to leave a little gift and a card in the room where you stayed.
Once you are home, write another little note of appreciation.

6) Always reply to an invitation! Don't leave the host and hostess guessing how many people will come and if you will be among those attending or not.

7) Be sure to thank the host and hostess before leaving. Do this even if you are at a large party.

8) If you are visiting someone who is a new mother, an elderly person, or someone who is ill, be helpful! It's fun to sit and chat, but the person you are visiting may appreciate it if you do some small chore or if you offer to fix a glass of water or tea for the two of you. Unless the person needs you to do several things, keep your visit short. An elderly person may greatly appreciate company, for example, but may also become quickly physically tried.

9) Listen, listen, listen. Contribute to the conversation, of course. However, a listening ear is a powerful need and a soothing balm to so many in today's world. A good listener is always a welcome guest!

10) Be cheerful and positive. There are times to confide our troubles to a good friend, especially along with a request for prayer. However, choose those times wisely and choose your confidante wisely. As you grow older, be especially wary of letting the conversation to a litany of health woes, with graphic details included. When my dearest husband and I visited with his parents recently, we let ourselves fall into that trap, along with my mother-in-law -- a retired nurse. Finally, my dear father-in-law, who is recovering from an illness, said, "Y'all sound like a hospital waiting room." Then, he quickly changed the subject! I appreciated the reminder that our talk had not been encouraging to him.

Happy Homemaking!
Elizabeth

2009-05-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

For your home economics notebook: Who is a historic home keeper from your area who is still known today? Is her home still standing? If so, visit it and write a bit about her.

Here's an example of a historic home keeper in my neck of the woods. Her name is Dorothea (Dolly) Cross Gordon (1779-1859), and she was married to Captain John Gordon Below is what remains of her homestead which stands along the Natchez Trace. Originally, there was a long porch across the front, as well as several outbuildings around the home.

Captain John Gordon was fifteen years older than Dorothy (to the day -- they were born on the same date, which also became their wedding date). He was a merchant, a famous fighter and diplomat in wars with Native Americans, a soldier, an owner of racing horses, and a friend of President Andrew Jackson. He partnered with a chief of the Choctaws to operate a ferry across the Duck River, which travelers along the old trace had to pass in order to proceed along the Trace that ran from Natchez to Nashville. At the time he operated his ferry, he lived very near Choctaw land.

The Gordons had ten children. His military activities took him away from home much of the time. So, it fell mostly to Mrs. Gordon to supervise the building of a home/trading post near her husband's ferry. He died shortly after the home was completed in 1812. She continued to oversee the farm and businesses he left her until her own death in 1859. She also finished raising the couple's ten children, plus a number of orphaned or stray children.

Though Mrs. Gordon moved with her family to Nashville when she was a child, she was born in Virginia, and she was proud of being a descendant of Pocahontez. She was said to be kind, well-respected, and to have a positive nature.

You will show me the path of life;
In Your prescence if fullness of joy..
Psalm 16:11

Spring Cleaning -- Windows, Part II

2009-05-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

Cleaning Windows -- Part II

Cleaning your windows does not have to be an expensive facet of house keeping. There are many recipes for homemade window cleaners, many of which use either vinegar or ammonia in water. If you use an ammonia based homemade cleanser, think twice about using it on bathroom mirrors. Likely, it will be fine. However, if the mirror has an aluminum frame, as many bathroom mirrors do, the ammonia could be corrosive to the frame.

Even commercially made window cleaning solutions are not that expensive. Likewise, any other tools you might want to purchase do not have to be costly. One useful item is a squeegee, either a short handled one or one on an extension pole. Other items you might need are a ladder (and someone around to steady it while you work ), or a cleansing tool on a telescoping pole. Be very, very careful when cleaning windows from a ladder. Do not attempt to do this when you are by yourself!

You might also want to use old linen or cotton towels or any cloth that is lint-free and absorbent. Paper towels are good for cleaning inside windows, but it's obviously more economical to work with a reusable cloth. Some home keepers have even been known to use old newspapers to clean windows. If you try this, wear gloves so that the newsprint will not smudge on your hands.

If you don't want to take the screens down to wash them, it is possible to vacuum the dirt out by opening the window from the inside and using your vacuum attachment. You can also use a medium-stiff brush, but you must be careful not to brush the dust back into your house -- thus creating an even bigger mess. Still, as I mentioned in my previous post, the most thorough way to clean your screens is to take them down one a year and hose them down and let them dry on cloths in the sun.

After cleaning your windowsills, give them a good waxing. This will keep water spots from developing on your sills, as well as make them easier to dust. It will also make your windowsills look extra nice.

If you dust your sills weekly, you will find the task of seasonally cleaning your windows to be much easier!

If you live in a cold climate, you might use storm windows. I don't have any personal experience with storm windows, so one of our readers who does use them might care to comment about this. As I understand it, storm windows fit outside of regular windows and are put up in the fall and taken down in the spring. If they are made of glass, you can clean them as you would any other type of window. If they are made of plastic, you will need to be careful. Homemade and commercial window cleaning solutions can cloud them. So, you must find out what the manufacturer's suggestions for cleaning these plastic storm windows are. Lacking that, use a very mild detergent, rinse well, and wipe dry.

If you have windows that are very high, you might consider having them professionally cleaned once in a long while. I do have some high windows, one of which is in a very awkward place to get to. All but one of my high windows have the feature I mentioned in my earlier post that allows you to clean the bottom pane from the inside. For the rest, I use the spray cleaner and hose system, which does a fair enough job.

Of course, while you are cleaning windows, it only makes sense to deal with shutters, blinds, curtains, drapes, and awnings. Likewise, you might as well check the condition of your gutters and downspouts to see if they need attention, as well. But, all that's another story for another day.

Happy spring cleaning!
Elizabeth

2009-05-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Spring Cleaning Project Windows -- Part I: Have you tackled your outside windows yet? Shiny windows go a long way toward making a house feel fresh and clean. The most beautiful scene outside your window is more enjoyable if you have a clear view of it. Even if the view outside of your window is less than picturesque, you'll still find it inspiring to view it through sparkling, rather than dim and dirty, glass.

Some windows, like mine, are made so that you can open the bottom part inward and clean it while you are cleaning the inside surface, too. Even if you do have these handy windows, you will have surfaces that you must clean from the outside.

What if you don't have the time or strength to do a thorough cleaning of your outside windows? There are solutions that will greatly improve the shine, even if they don't constitute a thorough cleaning. For example, I have used a spray which you attach to a garden hose. The spray bottle of cleaner has a switch that can be opened to release soap along with the water. You close the switch to rinse with pure water. Then, you let your windows air dry. Voila! Your windows and screens may not be perfect, but will be much, much cleaner. In fact, you might decide that a good spray once or twice a year gets your windows and screens sufficiently clean for you and your family to enjoy.

Here's another easy solution for those who don't have time to do a thorough, old-fashioned window cleaning. I recently purchased a long-handled tool which comes with disposable soap pads. One soap pad will clean up to twenty windows. You can also attach the threaded top of the handle to an extension pole to reach windows that are even higher. The idea is to wet the window and the soap pad with a hose. Then, you scrub the window. Then, you rinse the window with clear water, and you let the windows dry. I also used the soap pad to scrub the outside surfaces of my car, as well as some grungy places on the vinyl siding of our deck.

Before attempting any seasonal cleaning of windows, make sure the windowsills and and frames are clean. Start by wiping with a dry cloth and/or vacuuming. Then, clean with If you don't do a dry cleaning first, the dust and dirt on the sills will bead and smear, rather than coming off easily.

If you want to do a deep cleaning of your windows, take the screens off, spray and scrub them, place them on a clean cloth and let them and your freshly cleaned windows dry before replacing them.

Many say that you should not clean windows on a sunny day, as the sun will dry the cleaner before you can polish the window. This means that you will end up with streaked windows. Sometimes, you don't have much choice over this, though. For example, we've had an unusual number of rainy days this spring, followed by bright, sunny days. I felt like I needed to grab a window when it wasn't raining to clean my windows, so I went ahead, despite the bright Southern sun.

Windows, inside and out, are best cleaned from top to bottom.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

Catching Up -- Pillowcases, home keeping books, animals, and such

2009-05-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been bumping along with some minor health issues this month, as well as it being a busy spring. So, I've got a lot of catching up to do on my one year project in home economics. How's your home keeping coming along?

My climbing roses and a potted rose that I have are flowering and flowering. They are such a delight to behold. We've been having days and days of rain here, so I do need to watch the roses for diseases that attack in the damp, such as mildew. Also, the Great Maiden's Blush slip that I ordered is growing, too. While this much rain is unusual, I love how it makes things grow. I also love the way it causes flowers and leaves to glisten when rays of sunlight pierce through the rain. The rain washes the air, as well.

One thing to note, though. When you pass through an unusually rainy spring, especially if you live in a temperate to warm climate, you may need to watch out for an unusual amount of insects to appear. That is happening in our area.

Tonight, I'm washing the material for my pillowcases. I've selected a pattern of blue and yellow flowers on a white background. One good hint is to zig-zag the edges of your material before washing in order to prevent raveling. However, I did not do that tonight, as I think my fabric will be fine. I will need to make sure the edges are square, anyway.

How are your home economics book and Book of Days coming along? Here are some ideas you can incorporate:

For your home economics book:

1)If you sew, list the materials that you already have on hand and what projects you had in mind when you bought them. List the composition of the materials.

2) If you sew, price various fabrics for a project. Determine where you can find the best fabric bargains.

3) Make a note of the patterns of sunlight in your yard during this month. How many hours of direct sunlight do certain areas get? Which areas receive direct sun, and which are shaded. Refer to this list when planting new beds or changing your garden in any way.

4) Do you need to update your spring and summer wardrobe? If so, make a plan and a budget. Look for what items you need. Take note of what you already have in your closet. Jot down how specific items can be paired to make several different outfits. Make a note of what needs to be mended.

5) Do you generally eat lighter foods during the spring and summer months? Collect some new spring and summer recipes or write down old favorites. Don't forget foods you enjoy for picnics and cookouts.

6) Do a study of a particular type of pet or farm animal. If you have a dog, acquaint yourself with everything you can about dogs, for example. If you have a particular breed, study the care and habits of that breed.

7) Jot down any spring cleaning chores that you still intend to do but haven't gotten to yet. Also, write down garden plans.

For your Book of Days:

1) What's happening in your yard and garden right now? Take photos. Make notes of growth rates of various flowers, veggies, etc.

2) Read a lovely garden diary -- There are many historical garden diaries or even current garden diaries that you can find in your local library. Read a book about gardening, spring, flowers, etc. Jot down your favorite quotes. At the same time, let those quotes inspire you to write down lovely thoughts about your yard and/or gardens and also what is happening in your neighborhood. Take photos, as well. Pretend that you are creating lovely thoughts for a future generation, who may one day what your yard looked like in your time.

3) Attach a snip of a favorite, sentimental garment or other fabric item and write down your memories associated with that garment. If it's time for the garment to move on, let it go -- knowing that you have kept a piece of it in your notebook.

Just as people sometimes do, animals might also require first aid, either to completely take care of small ailments or to prepare an animal for transport to a vet for further care. Often, the keeper at home is the first person to discover that one of the family's animals is injured or sick or else children will bring this to the attention of the mother-at-home. Thus, it's good for the home manager to think through what to do in an emergency ahead of time.

Providing first aid to an animal can be easier than for people, in some senses, for animals often instinctively know how to care for themselves in certain situations. On the other hand, if the cause of the animal's distress is not obvious, your pet cannot tell you what is wrong. Likewise, you cannot explain your intentions to your pet.

Here are some things to remember when dealing with a sick or injured animal:

1) If your animal is in a state of distress, the animal will likely not like you to crowd it. Pain and distress can make even familiar, loving pets behave in unpredictable ways. Be aware that the gentlest of pets might scratch or bite. If it is badly injured or in acute distress, it is best that you speak gently, approach slowly, and muzzle or otherwise restrain the animal before tending to it. Do not muzzle, though, if it is vomiting, unconscious or having respiratory distress. Remember, your safety and the safety of your family is of first importance in the situation. This is a good opportunity to teach your children to keep calm in a crisis and to also teach them how to give the animal some space to deal with it's distressed state. Make sure that your children, no matter how well-meaning they might be, do not endanger themselves or cause the animal more fear and pain by hovering around the animal or trying to cuddle it.
2) If you need to inspect a wound or otherwise examine your pet, do so slowly and gently. Do not keep going if your pet becomes upset.
3) If you need to transport your pet to the vet in a hurry, call ahead and let them know you are bringing in an animal that is injured or otherwise in acute distress. Ask for advice about the best way to transport the animal. You might need to put a splint on a broken limb, stop bleeding, or perform some other bit of first aid to stabilize the animal before moving it. Be sure to find out what your vet advises, first. Again, keep your and your family's safety paramount, as well as avoiding doing anything that actually makes the animal's suffering worse.
4) Often, you can handle a cat by holding the scruff of the neck at the same place that a mother cat carries a kitten in her mouth. Cats retain from their kitten days somewhat of an instinct to go limp when picked up by the scruff of their neck, even when a human holds the scruff with the hand. Do not attempt this if your cat is severely injured.
5) In the case of some problems, you can wrap cats or small animals in towels to calm them down and to restrain them from thrashing or clawing. Don't wrap the towel too tightly, and do not cover the nose so that the animal cannot breathe.
6) If you have a dog, you likely already have some type of muzzle on hand. However, if you are dealing with an animal that you do not normally muzzle or in an emergency, muzzles can be made out of gauze bandaging, stockings, or a necktie. The muzzle must be firm enough to keep the animal from biting, but not so tight that it harms the animal.
7) The Humane Society's web site offers first aid tips for animals, as well as offers a more complete book on the subject that you can order.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Animals -- poultry

2009-05-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

Taking care of poultry, particularly chickens:

1) Traditionally, the keeper at home on a farm or in a rural area looked after the farm's poultry. She raised a flock to obtain chickens and eggs for her own cooking, as well as to sell eggs to others. The term "egg money" refers to the fact that women often used the proceeds from selling eggs as their personal allowance. From this allowance, they would buy little items they needed for clothing or for the household. Even after many people moved into urban and suburban areas, the term "egg money" was still used to denote a woman's personal spending money, particularly if she had saved it by managing the household expenses carefully or by earning a little extra money in some way.

2) In today's world, it is not always a given that a family will earn egg money by keeping poultry. Large, commercial chicken farms have made both chicken meat and eggs easily available and very inexpensive for most consumers. Most people now turn to their local grocery store than to a local supplier for their broilers, fryers, and eggs, and most stores buy directly from large outfits. Also, the costs of keeping chickens may outweigh any savings produced by keeping one's own flock. Thus, it is not necessarily economical for a family to grow their own flock of chickens, and it is not a given that a family will be able to sell any chickens or eggs if their desire is to make some extra money. On the other hand, many families who have enough land on which to raise poultry enjoy having their own flock, as well as fresh eggs. They are willing to put in the time and expense whether the endeavor is strictly profitable or not. Plus, it is possible, with careful planning to both save money and earn some money by keeping poultry. There are an increasing number of people who are willing to pay extra for home-grown, free-range chickens and farm raised eggs. If you can find a way to tap into this market, you might be able to duplicate the egg money of yesteryear's home keeper.

3) Some people enjoy keeping exhibition breeds of chickens simply as a hobby. There are beautiful specimens of roosters, and these breeds are delightful to see at state or county fairs.

4) If you are interested in raising chickens and have never done so, it's wise to learn all you can before beginning. Also, be clear about what your goals are. Do you want this to be a money-making or money-saving endeavor? If so, you will need to have a clear and realistic plan. Likely, your customers will need to come from among your friends and neighbors, as you cannot compete with the larger operations in carrying eggs to distant markets. If you live in an area where most people already keep their own poultry, you may not have many takers. On the other hand, if you live very near a suburban area where people would be interested in farm fresh eggs, you might be able to find more buyers. Investigate before investing in your laying pullets.

Are you merely interested in supplying your own family with a fresh supply of eggs or chickens? Do you plan to do this for your own or your family's enjoyment? If so, you will need a plan for these things, as well.

Also consider whether you want to produce broilers or layers or both. There are dual-purpose breeds that are adequate for both purposes, but they produce neither the most plentiful, excellent eggs nor the best meat. If you are serious about producing excellent home flocks, you
you might prefer to raise egg-type strains for egg production and/or commercial broiler strains for meat. (Note that roasters are broilers kept beyond the period of 7 to 8 weeks. They are kept up to six months.)

5) Among the cost of keeping chickens might be your initial investments in stock, housing (and possibly brooding and rearing facilities, as well), feed, liter, heating and light for fall and winter, and transportation expenses if you carry eggs or chickens somewhere to be sold. Intangible costs would be the time spent cleaning the chicken house, feeding the chickens, and caring for them in other ways.

5) The most economical laying hens for small flocks are generally small-bodied commercial White Leghorn hens.

6) With careful management, the owner of a home laying flock can expect to receive an average of 20 dozen eggs per hen. Of course, this varies by breed and by the health of an individual hen. If you are raising hens simply for your own family's consumption, you can figure out how many layers you need by counting how many eggs you use per week, adding some extra for damage, and by doing your research to find what breed and how many hens will give you the yield you need.

7) Good lighting is essential to encouraging your hens to maximum yield of eggs. The laying hen needs about 13 to 14 hours of light a day. Thus, from September to April, you will need to supplement natural daylight. One 25 watt clear, white, or frosted incandescent light bulb will provide adequate light for a space of about 100 square feet.

8) When raising poultry, be considerate of your flock, your family, and of your neighbors. Others may become concerned if they are bothered by odors, dust, flies, manure, noise, and dead birds that are not properly disposed of. With care, you can raise a healthy flock and minimize any problems. Also, remember that chickens, like all living things, are vulnerable to diseases and pests. Be sure to check your flock for these problems and to take care of any medical issues that arise.

Here is a good resource for the beginner who wants to build a small home flock. Here is an article about breeds of poultry. Here is another resource about how to feed broilers and layers.
Here is an article about sustainable poultry.

Happy Homemaking!
Elizabeth

The Animals in Your Household

2009-05-04T18:52:00.001-07:00

Are you working on the crochet project or pillowcase project? If so, how's it coming? I will start my pillowcase project this week -- Lord willing -- and I will post photos and instructions. In the meantime, we'll chat about the animal occupants of our household.

For various reasons, some families do not keep pets or animals. There are many valid circumstances in which a family may decide that they either do not want to or cannot assume the care of animals. However, many families do own pets and/or farm animals, at least at some point in their family life. Thus, the keeper at home does well to know something about the care of pets, and the aspiring keeper at home may want to learn about this area, as well. If the keeper at home lives on a farm or if the family keeps a horse or two for riding, she may need to know something about the care of livestock or poultry, as well.

Just as with the human occupants of the home, animals have needs for shelter, food, health care, affection, and grooming. Animals may also require protection from predators. Even in our urban area, there are foxes and coyotes that have been known to snatch pets.

In addition, animals may produce wastes, dander, or smells that must be cleaned in order to keep the home sanitary for the family.

If your family does keep animals, involving children in animal care is a great way to teach them about many things. They will learn to think about what another being needs, which will help them overcome selfishness. They will learn responsiblity. They may learn about birth and also about death and mourning. They will learn how to show affection to another being, and they may receive great emotional happiness and comfort from owning a pet.

Children as young as 4 to 8 can begin to help with basic pet care. Certainly, they can learn to set out food and water. Additionally, they may learn to gently brush or groom a willing pet. Of course, if an animal is large or there is any potential for danger to either the child or the animal, you will need to supervise the process until the child is old enough to take over the responsibility entirely.

There is some school of thought that children who live with farm animals or even with pets develop fewer allergies than children who are not exposed to animals. Perhaps, this is so. However, my mother grew up on a farm and loved to ride horses. Alas, in midlife, she developed an allergy to horses. I had pets when I was young, and I developed allergies, as well. Still, you may find that this works in your family.

Even if your family lives an urban lifestyle and you also choose not to keep pets, it's a good idea to take your children to see a working farm. Many city children do not have a sense of where food products really come from. They may have only a vague idea of what it means that eggs come from chickens and milk comes from cows. It is good for children to learn both the place of and the importance of animals in the Father's world. This helps them develop real knowledge of an important part of God's creation.

Also, if you have a chance to take your child to see baby animals being born, this can be a wondrous experience for them. A very young and very sensitive child may not be ready for this. Most children, however, do find great delight in the birth of puppies, kittens, and the like.

Animals, like humans, use water to regulate body temperature, to form blood and lymph fluids, and to keep the body tissues and joints and skin lubricated. Again, like humans, their bodies contain lots of fluid -- as much as 75 percent for some animals. Just as with us, they lose fluids through certain bodily processes, and these fluids must be replaced. Providing an adequate water supply for your pet is important. Again, this is one area where children are often eager to help. You can use this as a teaching opportunity to explain the importance of water to all living things.

Remember, if your pet eats a diet largely of dry food, the animal will need more water to digest the food. If the diet contains more liquid -- such as with table scraps or canned foods -- the animal may not need quite as much, but will still require an adequate supply. Obviously, pregnant and lactating animals may require even more water than usual, and animals that have been recently exercised or that stay outside in the hot summer sun may be quite thirsty. Animals may also require more water if they are eating more than previously.

Like people, animals enjoy fresh water. They may turn up their nose at water that has been sitting too long in a pet bowl. Be sure to change the water daily.

Some people believe that adding raw animals to an animal's diet will improve the condition of the coat. Be careful with this. In both dogs and cats, eating raw eggs can cause a biotin deficiency, which can produce the opposite of a healthy coat: poor skin, loss of hair, and stunted overall growth.

Cats notoriously love cream or milk. While milk and cream contain some fluids and many nutrients, they do not provide enough fluid to substitute for an adequate water supply, nor do they provide enough nutrition to be a food substitute for adult felines. Like some people,
some cats are actually lactose intolerant and cannot digest milk or cream. You will know to stop feeding your pet milk if your pet develops diarrhea or vomits after consuming it. If your cat can handle milk or cream, he may enjoy a nice bowl from time to time.

Some plants are toxic to pets. Likewise, some foods that we people can eat are also toxic to pets -- particularly to dogs. For example, dogs cannot safely consume chocolate, onions or garlic, grapes or raisins, or liquids with caffeine. If you have a pet in the home, it makes since to educate yourself about which plants or foods are safe for your particular animal and to keep unsafe substances away from the pet. Ask your vet if you have any questions.

Here's a link that provides information about taking care of various small pets, such as rabbits, hamsters, or birds.

Before purchasing animals (or land), research covenants and codes pertaining to animal ownership. Find out if leash laws apply to dogs. Also, find out if you are required to fence dogs or other animals. Determine what type of animals you are legally allowed to own.

Even in a rural area, your options for animal ownership may be restricted. For example, my family recently sold some land deep in the country. This land was turned into several acre country lots. Purchasers were allowed to keep horses, but they had to sign an agreement not to keep certain other animals.

On the other hand, you might be surprised to find how many different types of animals you might be allowed to own in the middle of a city. Many cities allow residents to own poultry or rabbits, for example. If you live on farmland that was grandfathered into a city, you might even be able to run a few cows or sheep.

Given the wide variety of local laws and covenants, it's always better to do your research rather than to assume that you may or may not be able to have a certain type of animal. It's better to know upfront than to either miss out on the joys of owning your dream animal or, conversely, to fall in love with an animal, only to find out that you must give it up for legal reasons. If you do live in a city, remember that even if the codes and covenants allow you to keep certain animals, your neighbors may not be excited about your choices of animal ownership. The early cry of a rooster may not be music to your neighbors' ears, for example.
There's some controversy about including raw meats in the diets of dogs and cats. Dogs and cats are largely carnivorous. So, on the one hand, these animals, do by nature kill and eat smaller animals. Dogs have long participated with man in hunting, and cats have long "earned their keep" by assuring that both barns and houses free of rodents. Dogs and cats have God-designed digestive and immune systems that handle some germs found in raw meats better than our human systems do. For example, they may be less susceptible to e-coli infections than we are. Because raw foods are a natural part of the diet of a dog or cat and have been for centuries and centuries, I tend toward the idea that giving these foods to a pet is ok -- especially if this makes up only part of their diet.

On the other hand, I also see the point that raw meats can carry certain parasites. In the long term, these can be harmful to your pet's health. Moreover, this may have some implications for your family's health as well, especially if the pet lives indoors with you. Plus, in the wild, the animal will choose foods that are right for him, and we may find it difficult to replicate their ideal diet exactly. Likewise, animals that do spend most of their time outdoors or in the wild often do not live as long as house pets do, so there might be some benefit to giving our indoor pets a more domesticated diet. Not only that, but some pet stores charge a fair amount for raw or natural food concoctions, and it can also be espensive to feed your animal raw meats that you purchase elsewhere. So, even though I do tend toward the idea that cats and dogs were created with the ability to enjoy some raw meats in their diet, I do see some sense to this argument, as well.

Talk to your vet, and do some research to determine what your beliefs about including raw meats in your animal's diet are. Also, educate yourself about what raw foods are actually good for your pet. For example, cats do enjoy liver, but a steady diet of liver causes some health problems for them. They also enjoy raw fish, but not all types of fish are good for them. Eating a certain kind of fish can cause vitamin deficiencies.

If you do decide that your animal will thrive on raw meats, for your own safety, be sure to carefully wash your hands and any surfaces the raw meats have touched. You may also want to use separate utensils and surfaces for preparing the raw meats for your pet than you do for the meats you cook for your family.

More on animals later!

Happy home keeping!

Elizabeth

The Home Keeper's Timing

2009-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Kind hearts are the gardens
Kind thoughts are the roots
Kind words are the flowers
Kind deeds are the fruits

Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds;
Fill it up with sunshine,
Kind words and kind deeds

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Timing is an important part of a home keeper's activities. This is especially important in cooking. When planning a meal, consider how long it will take you to prepare each item from beginning to the table. Consider what you can do ahead. Also, consider what can cook by itself while you perform some other chore connected with the meal.

When determining your total cooking times, don't forget to include time to thaw items from the freezer, to chop vegetables, to set the table, to carve meat, to drain vegetables or pasta, or to put ice in glasses and perhaps pour the drinks. There's much more to the total preparation of a dish than just the cooking time. Once you've thought through the timing of your various dishes, make a written or mental schedule of what you will do when. Meat usually takes longest to cook of the dishes in a meal, so chances are you will start by preparing the meat and by starting it to cook.

Those of us who have been cooking for some time generally have an innate sense of timing a meal that we have developed from experience. However, even for those of us who are experienced cooks, it's wise to give some thought to the details -- especially if we are trying new recipes or if we are preparing a festive meal for extended family and friends. Also, we may need to pay more attention -- even to the point of writing down our entire meal plan -- if we are distracted by something, such as a new baby or extra guests in the home or even simply not feeling our best on a given day.

One easy way to serve a meal with everything timed perfectly is to choose a hot main dish, with simple side dishes such as vegetables and bread. If you plan to offer a starter, choose something that can be prepared ahead of time and served chilled. Also, prepare a dessert that can be prepared ahead of time and served cold or at room temperature.

In a way, timing a meal involves "backward" thinking. In order to have the tea made, I need to start the water by _____. In order to have the bread warm, I need to pop it in the oven at ______. In order to have the meat made, I need to start it by ______.

Sometimes, you'll be preparing items in the oven that require different temperatures. For example, you may need to take the meat out and keep it warm or carve it while you pop rolls in for a few minutes.

For even experienced cooks, if you are preparing several dishes for a large crowd, it helps to write your plan down.

If you're having people over after church, prepare what you can the day before. For example, you can bake a loaf of bread, make a congealed salad, prepare a dessert, set the dining room table, fill salt and pepper shakers, make iced tea or lemonade, stir up a vegetable casserole to be baked on Sunday, etc.

You will also be able to accomplish a few things that morning. For example, you can set your meat in an oven with the timer set to start it and stop it at the correct time. Or, you can fill a crock-pot with items to be cooked. You can measure coffee and water in your coffee pot, though you won't want to start the coffee until you are ready to serve it.

Try to have most things done so that your family and any guests will not have to wait more than a half-hour until dinner is on the table.

If you have had children in the home for some time, you have probably learned to rely on their help in bringing a meal together at the right time. This is not only helpful to you, it is excellent training for your children. Once your last child has left home, however, you may have to re-think how to prepare the meal by yourself, with perhaps a little help from hubby or guests.

The art of timing is useful in other areas, as well. For example, when planning a garden, you must think about when the best times for planting and harvesting. Careful attention to timing will enable you to stretch your garden's capacity. For example, you can plant early crops, such as lettuce, and then re-plant with a later-yielding vegetable.

Also, when gardening or landscaping, it's important to know the timing when it comes to hours of sunlight the various places in your yard get. Since this is likely to vary from season to season, it's important to observe your yard throughout the year to get a feel for the various amounts of sunlight.

When preparing for holidays, sewing something for a particular occasion, or otherwise working toward a specific deadline, consider the timing of each step you must accomplish. Again, "think backwards", and jot down when you need to start each step on your calendar. Breaking your work into small, timed steps will prevent you from having to rush at the last minute. Be sure to allow some "padding" in your scheduling, as you may not be able to proceed from step to step as quickly as you think.

Employ "backwards planning" and a sense of timing when you must catch up on many household chores during a day. Think through which chores must be done and make sure those take priority in your day's scheduling. Consider how you will work in the various steps for each chore. For example, you might throw in a load of clothing to wash while you vacuum your living room. Or, you might spray tubs with cleaner and let them soak while you do something else. Then, come back to the tubs and wipe the cleaner away. Be sure to think this through, though ,and don't just flit from thing to thing. Otherwise, you will become distracted and go on to one thing without ever finishing the other.

Great house keepers give attention to timing in all things, from the big picture of when to perform seasonal cleaning down to the smaller issue of how best to use the next five minutes. As we mentioned with cooking, the longer we have kept a house, the more we have an innate sense of what must be done when. Even so, it's still wise to plan carefully. Those of us with more experience will be able to "get by" winging it, but we likely won't experience the joy that comes from using our time to its best advantage.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

Home Keeping in San Antonio

2009-04-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Topaztook guessed correctly that we and our friends visited San Antonio, Texas. We also took an afternoon trip an hour north to see Fredriksburg. I learned some interesting things about the home keepers from past centuries in that part of Texas. Rather than write it out in an article, I'll just list a few of the random facts that I learned:

1) In the 1700's, southern Texas was populated by many different hunter/gathering native American tribes, each with its own language. The Spaniards built several missions -- including the famous Alamo -- along a river in order to convert the Indians to Catholicism and to also induce them to be loyal to the nation of Spain. Among the things the Spaniards promised the Indians was to protect them from warrior tribes coming down from the north. They also promised to protect them from diseases which had been ravaging their areas. Neither the Spanish nor the Indians knew that it was the Spaniards who were carrying diseases, such as smallpox, which the Indian immune systems had never encountered before.

Each mission would be assigned a couple of missionaries and a very few soldiers. So, the mission communities were largely composed of the local native Americans.

In the missions, the Spaniards provided apartments for each family. Most of the apartments had only two rooms for an entire family of a couple and several children. One apartment in each mission had three rooms, and that was for a family chosen to help oversee the others. The Spaniards taught the Indians various trades, how to live in a home, and two languages: Spanish and Latin.

Each apartment had its own kitchen. However, there were also large outdoor ovens placed around the courtyard. During the hot months, the women would take turns cooking in the outdoor ovens, so as not to overheat the apartments. People would gather around and eat meals together.

In the beginning, men did most of the gardening. Later on, women began to take over gardening duties. Each day, mothers and daughters would roll tortillas out on little, slanted stone stands. That was part of their daily house keeping.

The missions added to their food supplies by cooking prickly pear cactus. Also, they found ways to use the mesquite beans. The beans had a sweet taste, and children would reach up and pluck them to eat for snacks -- much as we might eat a piece of candy.

Some Indians adopted the Spanish culture, which obviously still thrives in San Antonio. Others did not enjoy being confined in the mission and went back to their old ways of living. However, the Spanish influence predominated, and the various Indian tribes gradually amalgamated into one Hispanic/native American/other European culture.

2) South Texas used to be grassland. The Indian tribes inadvertently contributed to keeping it this way. They would burn off brushy areas to drive animals out where the animals could be hunted. This actually renewed the land. As more and more European/American settlers move din to the area, they stopped the burning, and the area just north of San Antonio became more like scrub land -- with cactus, short mesquite trees, etc. Of course, San Antonio, itself, remains very lush. We used to live in the Dallas area, which has an entirely different feel than the more tropical San Antonio. Neither one is more enjoyable than the other -- just different.

3) Many Germans came to the area around San Antonio following a revolution in Germany. They brought with them features of German architecture. They established ranches. In towns, such as Fredricksburg, they established what they called "Sunday houses", which were smaller than their larger ranch homes. On the weekends, they would come into town to shop and to go to church. They would stay in these "Sunday" houses, which are an interesting blend of Texan and German building.

4) Lots of people from other parts of the U.S. poured into San Antonio. Of course, many were from Tennessee, where I live. I'm sure that these people contributed to the cultural mix around San Antonio, as well. Texas spent part of its time as a part of Mexico, as an independent country, and finally -- as a state of the U.S.

5) While in Fredricksburg, we visited the huge Wildseed Farms there. My husband and I fell in love with a butterfly hut they have on their property and jokingly said we'd love to build one ourselves. Do you think we could get that idea past our neighborhood association? I learned that in addition to planting the host plants for each species of butterfly in the hut (all butterflies that can be found in Texas), they feed the butterflies with gatorade in their hanging feeders. I had never thought of using gatorade! You can check out their site at wee.wildseedfarms.com

Dear hubby also suggested that we seed the common area, which has become a little weedy, with wildflowers! I don't think we could get away with that one, either.

I enjoy visiting various places and learning about the way families lived in the past and now live in the present.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Where in the world is the Merry Rose?

2009-04-24T20:32:00.001-07:00

From these photos, can you guess where we went on a few day getaway with friends?

Please note that this first photo is not a photo of us.

Here's a hint: If you were a home manager in this area in the past, you might have cooked German sausages. Or, you might have daily rolled tortillas out on a flat stone, using a rolling-pin shaped stone to shape them. Or, you might have recipes for prickly pear and for mesquite beans memorized. This area is a blend of several cultures, each of which had their own style of house and cuisine and language, and which all melded into one modern culture.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Back from a trip!

2009-04-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

While I was there, I found out some things about how some older cultures kept home. I'll post more later.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

What's your favorite garden style?

2009-04-11T20:21:00.001-07:00

Check the new poll and vote for your garden wish list.

School's back in sesssion

2009-04-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

The Teacher's Been Playing Hookey...

Due to a combination of being under the weather and being busy, I've not had much time to post lately. But, now I've returned to my quest to perfect my home keeping skills and to post so that we can all work along together.

I hope that all of you who are doing the crochet project with us are enjoying it.

Next up on the project list is to make a pair of pillow cases. If you would like to join in, the materials you will need are as follows:

2 yards of 45" fabric for 1 set of Standard Cases
2.25 yards of 45" fabric for one set of Queen Cases
2.5 yards of 45" fabric for 1 set of King Cases
(I'm not sure how to convert the yardage to metric numbers for countries where the metric system is used. If anyone can help with that, please leave a comment!)

The above measurements are approximations, but should be sufficient for our project. If you want to be more exact, measure the width of your pillowcase, allow for 1/4 to 1/2 inch seam on each side plus enough inches that the pillow can slip inside the finished case easily. Measure the length and add about five and 1/2 inches for the cuff and seams.

Whether you use the numbers I have listed or you buy material according to your measurements, I would suggest buying 1/8 to 1/4 more yardage to allow for shrinkage. Pre-wash your material and iron it.

Note: If you want to make only one case for a twin bed or because you want to make just one of a special material or design, adjust the fabric amounts accordingly.

Also, you might want to make the body of your case out of one fabric and the hem out of a contrasting or complementary fabric. If so, take that into account when buying your fabric, as well.

If you are a beginner, avoid designs which require a lot of effort to match the pattern when sewing two pieces together.

If you would like to turn this into a hand or machine embroidery exercise, in addition to being a sewing project, I suggest buying a white or light fabric. If you don't sew, but you would like to hand embroider pillowcases, buy a white set and embroider them yourself. You can buy a kit that contains pillowcases and embroidery instructions, and you can also buy transfer patterns for either embroidering or cross-stitching a design on your cases. Or, you can make your own embroidery design. Moreover, you can use a piece of waste cloth over your pillowcase and cross-stitch a design onto your cases. Then, you wash the cases and pull the treads of the waste cloth out, leaving only the cross-stitched design. We'll do some projects later on that you can use to embellish your pillowcases or other items.

In addition to your material, you'll need:

Thread (white, cream, or to match background)

Ribbon or lace, etc. if you would like to place a decorative trim on your cases.

Sewing Supplies: scissors, quilting or sewing pins, large sewing ruler, fabric marking pencils, seam ripper

Pillowcases are an easy project, so they are especially fun for beginning sewers. However, even advanced sewers may want to make some to have for their own closet, to place in a hope chest, or to give as gifts to college students or new brides or to anyone who is setting up housekeeping. Making your own pillowcases can save you money, especially if you look for fabric that's on sale.

Another idea is to make pillowcases of a washable satin or satin-y finish. Satin pillowcases are good for your hair. They allow your hair to slide across the case easily, without pulling. Not only does this help keep your hair from pulling or tangling, it can preserve some of the curl of a hairdo for a longer period, as well. This is one example in which you might or might not want to make just one case. The satin material might be more expensive than cotton, and you may wish to make only one -- either for yourself or for a daughter. For example, my husband has no desire to use a satin case, but I do enjoy one for myself.

I will be doing a very simple case, but I've included some links to some other cute pillowcase
ideas and tutorials in case you would like to be a little more adventurous.

Kirsten Can
PleasantView Schoolhouse
Craftstylish

If you have a body length pillow, you can make cases using the exact same method that we will use. You will need to measure the width and length and add the allowances as I do not have the measurements for a body pillow.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

Cooking and baking -- freezing foods

2009-04-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Are you making the most of your freezer? Even if you only have the freezer compartment of a refrigerator, you can still freeze foods for convenience and to preserve an extra bounty of something for the future.

The USDA has provided an online guide to freezing foods and answers questions about food safety. Did you know that food stored at 0 degrees will always be safe to eat, though the quality suffers when frozen beyond a certain time. Also, once you thaw food, the microorganisms within it will become active again, and food can begin to spoil as if it had never been frozen. Follow the USDA link for guidelines and tips.

According to the author of the cookbook, Frozen Assets, she started cooking ahead and freezing meals to gain the time-saving benefits. She was surprised to find that her grocery bill went down by almost $400 a month, as well. That was partly due to the fact that she always had something quick in her freezer to grab and heat, so her family was not tempted to eat out during situations where she could not cook according to her normal schedule. Also, according to her freezing plan, she bought items in bulk, which saved even more money. She watched for sales on certain items -- such as ground beef -- and planned several meals around the frozen ground beef.

If you have a garden or if you have access to garden-fresh food, you can save even more by freezing things like corn and other fruits and vegetables.

Here are some tips for cooking and freezing foods:

1) Prepare pasta sauces ahead of time. Don't cook the pasta until you are ready to eat it, however, as the pasta can turn mushy with freezing. An exception might be lasagna, which does freeze well.
2) Take time to organize your freezer. I've found that when I don't, things get piled on top of each other and I forget what I have on hand. Thus, I lose the time and money-saving benefits of freezing food.
3) Pour broth into freezer trays and place into the freezer. Once the broth has frozen into separate cubes, pop the cubes out and store in a freezer bag. Then, when you are making soup or want to flavor something with broth, you can simply take out as many cubes as you need. If you want fat-free broth, cool the broth in a container in the fridge first and scoop the fat off the top. Fat-free broth is a great way to season vegetables in lieu of using lots of butter.
4) If you have the space, store all meats together, all veggies together, etc. If you have a very large freezer, you can even break this down into smaller categories -- beef products together, chicken together.
5) Label your foods! Label what the item is, as well as the month and year it was placed in the freezer. This will save much guessing on your part. One way to label is by using frozen food labels. Another way is to use a black permanent marker.
6) If you are industrious, you can keep a freezer inventory. Write down each recipe and food item you have in your freezer. Next to that, jot down the quantity. each time you remove a freezer meal or food item, mark the quantity down by one. Each time you add, increase the quantity to reflect the additional items.
7) Periodically have weeks when you plan your meals around food items that are reaching the end of their freezer-freshness period. If you make meals and freeze them ahead of time, you can use up meals that are about to expire and gain extra time that week, as well. For example, when you are spring cleaning would be a good time to use meals you have frozen.
8) Repackage existing items to make more space. For example, if you have a large box of fish filets, and you have already cooked several, you might find a way to store them in a smaller container.
9) Here's a tip from Frozen Assets: Lay freezer bags flat to freeze them. After they are frozen, stand them on end. In this way, they will sort of be "filed" so that you can just reach in and take the one you need off the freezer shelf. Also, bags stored in this way are less likely to come tumbling out when you open the freezer door or when you move the bags for some reason.
10)Be sure that you use truly air-tight containers in your freezer. The quality of food will suffer greatly if you don't. At the very least, your food will get "freezer burn". You know you are safe with freezer containers, freezer paper, and freezer bags especially made for this purpose. You can also use (and sometimes re-use) disposable aluminum foil pans for freezing main dishes provided that you wrap them securely. Glassware containers also work. Some come with a an air-tight top; for others wrap them tightly with a good grade of aluminum foil.

Great resources:
Eat for a Month -- Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough (I found this in our library.)
Recipe for Egg McMom's -- My children loved these!
Once a Month Cooking World
Recipe for Freezer Slaw --This is not exactly the recipe I use, but it's close. I've found that making up a batch of freezer slaw is a great way to always have a handy side dish available. I store mine in batches in freezer bags and take a bag out when I need it.
Here's a similar recipe
“The best academy....a mother's knee.” (James Lowell)

Happy cooking!
Elizabeth

Cooking and baking -- meat

2009-03-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Some Facts about Meat:

1) Meat may be one of the pricier items in your food budget. However, it does provide many nutritional benefits and is also filling, so it can be a very good buy from that point of view. Also, cooking a piece of meat generally provides leftovers you can use to stretch your food budget. For example, you can cook a ham on Sunday, have some ham sandwiches on Monday, and have ham in a casserole on Wednesday. You can also cook a piece of meat and freeze some of it for later. Obviously, watching for sales on meat is another way to incorporate meat into a frugal budget.
2) In past days and during certain times when fresh meat was not plentiful, cooks in many cultures devised ways of using little bits of meat with other foods in order to stretch the meat. For example, many Chinese dishes have bits of meat, along with lots of rice and other vegetables. Americans and Europeans developed many casseroles. Cooks in the Southern U.S. used bits of meat to season greens or beans. Italian pastas use bits of meat in the sauce. Some dietitians of today think that using meat almost as a condiment rather than as the main dish is a more healthful way to eat meat-- especially since many in today's world do not perform the physical labor during a day than our ancestors did. Whether it really is more healthful or not to eat meat as a seasoning in a dish of starch and vegetables, experimenting with such foods from all around the world is a fun and budget conscious way to incorporate meat and poultry into your diet. You can either buy smaller amounts of meat in order to make these dishes, thus saving on your meat budget. Or, you can serve meat as a main dish and use such recipes to make the leftovers appealing to your family. Either way, these are great budget stretchers and can possibly be a healthful way to eat, as well.
3) Meat is an easily digested food. It is also one of the best ways to obtain complete proteins, vitamin B-12, vitamin B-6, many other other vitamins, iron, zinc, certain mineral salts, and essential acids in our diet. In fact, if you do prefer to eat a vegetarian diet, you will need to take certain measures to make sure that you obtain nutrients you might be missing by not eating meat. It certainly can be done, and many vegetarians experience excellent health. However, it does require some study in order to achieve optimum nutrition through a vegetarian diet. So, if you are embarking on a vegetarian way of life, its wise to do your homework. An interesting fact that I came across in doing some nutritional research is that eating a vegetarian diet seems to extend the lifespan for some men but, surprisingly, may potentially decrease the lifespan of some women. Thus, it's extra important as a woman to educate yourself about the proper way to cook and eat for a completely vegetarian lifestyle.
4) Regarding beef: The USDA grades beef this way: prime, choice, select and standard cuts, which come from younger beef. Prime is generally sold to restaurants. It comes from the inner, more protected portions. It is of very high taste and quality. Choice is also of tender quality and delicious taste. In the past, choice was the preference of many shoppers. However, because we are now favoring leaner cuts of meat for health reasons, standard cuts -- which are leaner -- are becoming more popular. There are three lower grades, which are seldom sold in the grocery store. These are utility, cutter, and canner. These are used to make ground hamburger or hot dogs and some other manufactured beef items.
Lamb and pork are graded in a similar way to beef. They are generally taken from younger animals and there is less variation in tenderness with these meats than there is with beef.
Whatever the grade, stores offer a wider variety of leaner meats today because of consumer demand. Even many pigs are now bred to be leaner than in days past.
5) In general, the more prime and choice cuts of meat come from the inner, more protected portions of the food animal. These are naturally tender cuts of meat. They are usually cooked by dry heat to preserve their flavor. Other cuts of meat come from the more exposed, more muscular, and more fibrous portions. Though these other cuts of meat may be tougher, they are generally less expensive and more budget friendly. As mentioned above, they are more valued today than they were even a few decades ago, because they are often leaner than the prime and choice cuts. They can be rendered tasty and tender by proper cooking. Stewing, braising, cooking as a pot roast, or other methods of slow cooking with moisture are great ways to turn these tougher, leaner cuts into tender delights.
6) If you have a large family and a freezer, investigate buying a side of meat and having it butchered into smaller cuts. You can store these smaller cuts in the freezer for future use. Check out 4-H and other livestock auctions. Of course, if you live on a farm, you can always grow your own.
7) Look for meat that is firm, has a good color, and smells appropriately for the type of meat. Avoid meat that has an off odor. The more you cook, the more you'll recognize what is healthy and what is not. It's good to be aware that we cannot rely on meat color alone to gauge whether meat is safe or not. We consumers often misinterpret meat color, and meat suppliers are aware of that fact. They lose quite a bit of money when consumers turn away from meat that is perfectly safe because it does not have the color we expect. Meat is a dark, purplish red when first cut. Some parts are redder than others due to natural factors. Meat naturally turns browner when exposed to oxygen. That does not necessarily mean that it has spoiled. It can, in fact, still be quite fresh, healthful, and nutritious. However, many of us mistakenly believe that brown color in meat automatically means it is less than fresh, and we instinctively reach for redder-looking meats. Thus, suppliers use various means to keep meat looking artificially red. One method that has developed in the past few years is to wrap meat and fish in packaging material that holds in carbon dioxide. This reduces the exposure of meat to oxygen and keeps it looking redder longer. This is particularly used in the U.S.; if I understand the matter correctly, the E.U. has banned such packaging. Also, suppliers know that the nitrates used in curing some processed meats has a side effect of making them look redder.
Unfortunately, meats kept in packages that bathe them in carbon-dioxide may look fresh for too long. The meat may still look nice and rosy, yet be in the process of spoiling. So, be sure to check for other signs of freshness or lack of freshness. Also, be aware of when the meat was packaged and compare it to food safety charts showing how long that particular kind of meat will stay fresh. Here is a food safety sheet about meat color which explains this in a little more detail.
Note that meat is not the only item in which suppliers study how to enhance the color. Many food items, from fruits to vegetables to margarine to meats, are artificially colored or packaged in a way make them more appealing to modern tastes. If you have ever eaten home-grown, old-fashioned varieties of vegetables, for example, you know that some very wonderful foods do not conform to our modern expectations for food size, shape, color, and uniformity. Usually, the methods used to enhance shelf-appeal in foods are harmless to the human body. However, the wise shopper should be aware that this does occur.
8) In today's more sedentary world, it's better to avoid too much saturated fat. We simply can't burn off fat as much as we did when more people engaged in labor intensive work and also burned off fat simply by living in draftier houses and spending more time out in the elements. If you buy meats with less marbling in them and trim off the fat, you can obtain leaner protein. Also, roasting, broiling, baking, or simmering meat tends to reduce the fat in meat. Drain and discard fat that drains off and accumulates in cooking. De-fat broths by letting them cool in the fridge, and, then, taking off the layer of hardened fat that forms on the top. Look for lean cuts of meat, and learn how to cook them so that they are tender and tasty.
9) Once you bring meat home, learn how to handle it safely. Wash your meat before using it. If you are using frozen meat, thaw it in the fridge or microwave. After cooking, refrigerate leftovers within two hours. Cook thoroughly, as is appropriate for the cut of meat you are using. Don't chop vegetables on a board where you just chopped raw meat. Clean your counters after handling meat. Follow any specific safety instructions on the meat package. Food safety is also important when handling plant foods, but we're addressing meat specifically today.
10) When you do select cuts of meat that have some fat in them, it's important to balance your diet by pairing the meat with foods that are low in fat.
11) In the past, organ meats used to be thought of as being healthy. Even in the early eighties, when I was having my children, pregnant women were advised to eat liver for its iron content. Also, in the past, people could not afford to waste any part of a slaughtered animal. So, they devised ways of cooking organ meats, and organ meats were often considered to be a great delicacy. It's important to remember that at the time when organ meats were prized a) people did not have as much access to meat and did not eat meat with every meal and b) people were more active. Today, organ meats are not looked upon with as much favor by nutritionists. For one thing, they are they have the highest cholesterol levels of all portions of meat. Also, regarding liver, some people question the wisdom of eating the "filter" of an animal. The liver is an organ that helps us remove toxins from the body, and, thus, it potentially contains these toxins within it. Do your own research and make your own decision about eating the various organ meats. If you do eat them, save them for occasional treats and don't eat them regularly.
12) Hams are the hind legs and rump of pork, which are cured and smoked. Picnic hams are the front legs and shoulder of pork, which are cured and smoked. Fresh hams are the same portions of pork, but they have not been cured. They are often labeled pork shoulder picnic. Note that fresh hams must be thoroughly cooked since they have not undergone any curing process.
Gammon is a name that is used in the British Isles for ham cuts; ham is called jambon in French and jamon on Spanish.
Almost every country has its own famous type of ham. For example, Italy is famous for prosciuttio, Germany is famous for Westphalian ham, and China has a ham called Jinhua.
Country hams, which are very popular in Tennessee where I live, have undergone a dry cure and are very salty. Preparing country ham involves a good cleaning and soaking in order to cut some of the salt content. Even when cooked properly, it is still saltier than other types of cured hams. It has a very flavorful taste. Some types of American country ham could be compared to prosciuttio or to what the French call country ham. Those are generally more moist, however, and are not quite as salty. People often serve country ham with red eye gravy. This is made by adding coffee or water to pan-fried country ham drippings and cooking this mixture down for some time. Country ham is often served as breakfast sandwiches made of slices of ham between two layers of a buttermik biscuit. It is also usually served with grits.
Smithfield and other Virginia hams, as well as Kentucky hams, are forms of American country hams. However, I personally don't tend to think of them as being exactly as salty as what we call country ham in Tennessee.
Virginia hams are famous for their unique flavor, which used to be attributed to the fact that their pork was fed on acorns and, more importantly, peanuts. Today, a Virginia ham is not necessarily peanut fed. Kentucky is also famous for its method of curing hams. Many Southern U.S. states produce fine hams.
My favorite hams are honey cured.
13) Barbecue is slow cooked fresh meat smoked over a pit, in a drum, or on a spit. It is usually brushed with a sauce, and other sauces are provided when it is served. In the Southern U.S. and in areas where Southern barbecue culture has spread, barbecue means pork, though chicken and turkey are barbecued, as well. In Texas and other points west, beef is the meat that is most often barbecued.
Every state in the Southeastern U.S. has its own twist on barbecue. In some states, it even varies by certain sections of the state. But, no matter how they serve it, Southerners love their barbecued pork. Game meats, particularly deer, can be barbecued as well.
Please note that a barbecue does not consist of throwing meat on a grill. It is incorrect, for example, to invite someone over for a barbecue and then serve them hot dogs, hamburgers or steaks off the grill. That makes for a delicious meal and a fun event, but it's not a barbecue. To quickly cook meats on a grill is more properly termed a cookout. (We'll make an exception and let you throw a steak on the barb-y if you live in Australia, but only for you!) A true barbecue means a whole animal or the ribs slow roasted or broiled over a pit fire. Many a fine barbecue has been held in someone's backyard, and you can host one, too, if you are willing to put in the time to slow roast the meat. For a big barbecue, it can take up to twenty-four hours to prepare all of the meat, especially if its marinated. However, if you start early enough in the morning, you can have a fine barbecue feast ready by lunchtime. A true barbecue is a wonderful occasion, and waiting for the meat to be ready is just part of the fun. (I know we have some other G.R.I.T.S. following along with this course. You know what I mean!)
The best barbecue restaurants are those which have been using the same fire pit for a long time and which take the time to barbecue the meat well.

Happy cooking!
Elizabeth

cooking and baking, cleaning

2009-03-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 31:14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. Proverbs 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

How's everyone's spring cleaning coming? Do you have any outdoor furniture? Has it been stored away for the winter? (Or, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, do you need to clean and store some outdoor furniture?) Whether your furniture sits out most of the time or whether it's been stored away, sometime during the spring or early summer, you will want to give it a thorough cleaning. The earlier spring comes to your area, the earlier you want to finish this so that your family can begin to enjoy the outdoors. Don't forget porch furniture, deck furniture, yard furniture, porch or yard swings or benches, or furniture on screened in porches. Make any necessary repairs. If your furniture has cushions, check and clean them, as well. If you need to buy or make new cushions, follow through with that.

If you're not sure how to clean your outdoor furniture, this link offers suggestions for cleaning many different types of outdoor furniture materials. Here are some suggestions for plastic furniture. Here's one simple method for any type of outdoor furniture.

Don't forget that many a worn looking patio furniture item can be saved simply by painting it. Look for a paint that is appropriate to the material: wicker, aluminum, plastic, wood, etc.

While you're at it, check trellises, fences, and other yard items to see if they are in good shape or if they need repairs.

We're continuing on with our cooking/baking portion of the course. Here are some random tips.

1) It's important to practice cooking skills, such as chopping or peeling or sauteing or getting the feel of whether a dough is the right consistency, etc. Even if you have been cooking for many years, you can always learn how to do something more efficiently or more creatively. With practice, you will learn how to perform skills involving the use of kitchen knives more safely and more quickly. Learning how to do this safely and quickly will greatly improve the efficiency of your cooking, as well as make the process more enjoyable.
2) Remember, there is more to a meal than just having something to eat. Even if you live alone, take time to prepare nutritious and tasty food and sit at a prettily decorated table to eat it. I've noticed that on those rare occasions when my dearest husband is out of town, I tend to eat more poorly than when he is here. Yet, that is not a healthy habit. By contrast, during the years that my father has been widowed, he has made sure to have nutritious meals for himself. One way he did this is by cooking something he enjoys and putting up meal sized containers in his freezer. Now, he is living in a facility with a dining room that prepares three square meals.
One thing that we can do for people who live along -- whether they be young singles or older widows and widowers -- is to bring over some home cooked meals once in a while or invite them to dine at our table on occasion. If we are blessed with home and family, we have something wonderful to share with those who might be far from their families or who otherwise find themselves living alone.
Certainly, if you live with others -- particularly in a family -- it's important to have at least one meal together a day -- preferably 3.
3) Modern nutritionists sometimes suggest that grazing or having five or six small meals a day fits better into our modern society and is a way of losing weight. If your doctor suggests this for a reason, heed his advice. All too often, however, this is what happens: 1) You end up eating five or six large meals instead of the small quantities that the nutritionists have in mind 2) A large portion of your day is spent thinking about food and preparing food and waiting for the next small meal. This could backfire into eating more. 3) You may tend to eat these small meals quickly, without taking the time to savor them or to chew and digest them properly. As Cheryl Mendelson points out, in countries where mealtimes are still respected, people generally have fewer weight problems.
4) The best eating pattern is a hearty breakfast, a satisfying noon dinner, and a lighter supper. I'm sure we've all heard the saying, "Breakfast like a king; lunch like a prince; and dine like a pauper." However, as a practical matter in today's world, lunch may need to be smaller and dinner become the larger meal, around which the family gathers. Work out what is best in your family.
Farm families can usually still manage the nourishing noon dinner and lighter supper at night.
Whatever pattern you choose, you will probably find that it's wise to have some healthy, lean protein with your lunch. Protein digests more slowly than carbs, and it can help prevent afternoon sleepiness.
5) If you just can't find the appetite for a hearty breakfast, have a French style petite dejuner. This was a snack that French farmers ate before going out to do their earliest chores. Then, they would come in and eat their real breakfast -- the dejuner . At some point, the dejuner simply became lunch, and French culture ate only the one breakfast. So, if you would like to have a French style petite dejuner, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or decaf coffee with a delicious bit of a baguette or a nice roll, a tiny bit of real butter, and some lovely preserves.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

dish strainer -- double half crochet with two strands

2009-03-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Below, you'll find my home video of the American half double-crochet stitch using two strands. If you live in a country that does not use the American naming system for crochet stitches, you may know this stitch by another name. If you are just learning this stitch and live in a country that uses a different naming system than the U.S., you can find out what the stitch is called in your country by asking someone who crochets or someone who works in a shop that sells yarn. That way, if you see another name for this stitch in another pattern, you'll know how to do it.

You will probably want to review the video of the expert who is doing the American half-double crochet using one strand or one ball of yarn. I am a beginning crocheter and a beginning videographer, so her technique and video quality will be smoother. However, I wanted to do a video myself, because I wanted you to see how to work with two strands.

Remember, the motions are 1) yarn over the hook, 2) insert the hook in the next stitch to be worked, 3) yarn over hook, 4) pull yarn through the first stitch on the hook, 5) yarn over the hook, 6) pull the yarn through all 3 loops on the hook. This completes the half double crochet stitch. Take into account that we are are working with two strands of yarn and not one, so each stitch and each yarn over will have two strands!

In the video, I mention that because each stitch has two strands, when you insert your needle into a stitch, you pick up two strands. I meant to say two strands, but I actually said two stitches. I just wanted to make it clear that you pick up one stitch with two strands.

Also, I noticed that I held my stitches too far back on the crochet needle. Be sure to hold your work closer to the end so that you can perform the motions of the stitch more easily.

If you are new to crochet, please don't be intimidated by the learning process. The motions may seem unnatural and a bit difficult to learn at first. But, once you do learn them, you will find that they are easy to do. You'll notice that I'm stumbling a little bit myself as I attempt to teach this stitch. However, I have completed several rows of this stitch in which I was able to work the rows very quickly. I still have a lot to learn, though, about how to correctly work the gauge and tension of the stitches. We're all learning together.

Feel free to use any color threads you like. I am using blue and white as I have a blue kitchen with white curtains. You may prefer to use two threads of the same color. Or, you can use a yarn that's variegated in color. There are some lovely yarns that have flecks of black and other granite-like colors in them. When made into dish strainers, those are lovely in kitchens with granite or flecked counter tops. If you match the colors in your counter tops closely, your dish strainer will blend in, which is a lovely effect.

Advanced crocheters, if you'd like to add your input, please feel free to do so!

Happy crocheting!

Elizabeth

continuing on with our dish strainer

2009-03-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Before doing anything, please view this video of an expert showing how to do the half-double crochet stitch. Do not stitch yet.

For our purposes, here's how we will proceed. Once you have chained fifty beginning stitches, chain two more. Go into the second stitch to begin your half-double crochet. Remember, we are working with two strands from two different skeins or balls of yarn. So, when we put our hook into the chain stitch, we will pull up a loop of two threads. Count those two threads as one. When you yarn over, count those two threads as one, etc. Finish your row until you have 50 completed stitches. Follow the instructions in the video for turning your work and stitch 50 more. Remember to count each time you complete a row to make sure that you have done fifty stitches in all. Also, try to keep your stitches the same length and level of tension. Counting your stitches will help you keep your rows even. Do as many rows as you like to make a rectangular piece to fit on your kitchen counter.

Some of you may know enough about crochet to take off from here. If you are still confused, do not worry. I made a video showing how we are working with two strands, but, as it was my first video, it was a little rough. I will make another one and post it tomorrow or Monday so that you can visualize this stitch using two strands from two skeins or balls. If you need to wait until you see me do it, that's fine. Once you catch on, your project can be worked very quickly. Or, you can take it along to appointments and such and do it at your own speed. I will post the decorative edging directions when I have finished mine. If you are not finished when I am, you can refer back to it when you have completed yours.

Note, except for the decorative edging, the only two stitches you will need to know for this project are the basic chain stitch and the double-half-crochet. Remember, the rows are basically double half crochet (treble crochet for many people outside U.S., I think). You will chain two stitches when you get to the end of a row and are ready to turn it.

Happy crocheting!
Elizabeth

Let's Bake -- Sally Lunn Bread

2009-03-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Sally Lunn is a very old type of bread, and, as most of you know, you can find many different recipes for it -- both for making from scratch and using a bread maker. In fact, my very favorite bread machine recipe is a Sally Lunn bread that calls for a number of eggs. Below, I've given my version of a Sally Lunn recipe for baking from scratch -- without the aid of a bread machine.

Sally Lunn is such an old bread that many different legends have grown up about how it got its name. Most of the legends try to identify just who Sally Lunn was, but one tale says that it's not named after a woman at all, but is a corruption of the French phrase sol et lune. Sol means sun and lune means bread. Here's an article about that if you are curious about the romantic history surrounding this bread. It also gives some extra recipes for Sally Lunn in case you'd like to try them, in addition to the one I'm giving.

Sally Lunn is a rich, sweet-tasting bread.

In making Sally Lunn, experienced bread makers will just have fun. Beginners will learn how to proof yeast and how to work with dough. You will need to set aside up to three hours for this bread to be finished, though you will be able to do other things while it is rising.

To get ready to make the bread, assemble three bowls. Two of the bowls can be smaller, but the third size needs to be large enough for bread dough. You will also need a small pan to heat some of the ingredients on the stove.

Grease a cookie sheet or spray it with a vegetable spray, such as PAM.

Make sure you have these ingredients on hand:

3 1/2 cups of flour (I recommend that this be all white bread flour, as this bread's unique flavor and texture depend on it being able to rise well. A whole grain flour might be too heavy for this bread.)
1 package or 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
1/2 cup melted shortening or melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk -- more if needed
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons warm water

Here are the directions:

Add water to the yeast in a bowl. Follow the directions on the package or jar for proofing the yeast.

Using the pan, heat the milk and shortening/butter to the temperature of a warm baby bottle.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a separate bowl. This bowl should be large enough for dough to rise in.

Mix the egg in yet another bowl.

Add the warm milk and melted shortening to the bowl of flour, salt, and sugar.

Add the eggs and the yeast and water.

Beat the entire mixture until it comes off the side of the bowl. Note, the ideal in bread making at this point would be for the dough to come away from the sides, leaving a "clean" bowl. However, because we are using two eggs instead of one, the dough may be very sticky at this point. Do not worry about that. It will become less sticky as it rises.

Cover, let rise in a warm place until double in size about 1 and a half hours.
When I cover bread, I use a bread cloth over the top of the bowl. Some people like to moisten and heat their bread cloth in a microwave, so that it provides moist heat as the dough rises. I have not tried that method. I have, however, turned the oven to 200 degrees for a bit, and then turned it off as soon as it was warm. Then, I have set the dough inside the oven or on top of the warm oven to rise. See the note below for tips on getting dough to rise.

Once the dough has risen, flour your hands. Pat the outside of the dough with flour if you need to in order to work with it. Knead the bread down in size and shape it into a round loaf. If you have never kneaded and shaped dough before, you're in for a treat. It's very relaxing, I think, and it always makes me think of the generations of women who made bread for their families. This dough does not take a lot of kneading, so don't overdo!

Place the round loaf on the cookie sheet and let it rise again to 1/2 again as big. This rising should take about 45 minutes.

(Note: rise times in bread recipes are approximate and rising depends on a number of variables. For example, your bread may not rise as well on a cold, damp day as it does on a warm, sunny day. Here's an article with some tips about getting bread to rise.)

When the bread is nearing the end of the second rising, pre-heat the oven. Bake it for thirty minutes. Then, baste the top of the bread with butter. Let it bake for another 15 minutes. Check to make sure it's done.

When it has finished baking, baste it with butter again.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Oops -- Memory Verse

2009-03-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've been updating our memory verses, which you can find in the sidebar link. Our first memory verse was Psalm 68:3-6a, which reads

But may the righteous be glad
and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.

Sing to God, sing praise to his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds [a]—
his name is the LORD—
and rejoice before him.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families, [b]
he leads forth the prisoners with singing;

In my first post about this verse, I accidentally transposed the 6 and the 8 and mistakenly cited psalm 86:3-6, which, apparently, I've been doing all along. Of course, you can't go wrong memorizing any verses in the Bible. But, Psalm 68 is what I had in mind, and it pertains to our subject of keeping a home. So, I apologize for any confusion.

Happy Home making!
Elizabeth

Calling all crocheters to "weigh in" on skein of yarn, more labs, more cooking this week

2009-03-17T06:50:00.001-07:00

Seraphim asked a great question, and this is my attempt to answer her. If you have experience with crochet/knitting and have used UK standards, please also feel free to "weigh in". I did not realize that when it comes to yarns, there actually is a great deal of difference in American and U.K. terminology.

In G.B. yarn is sold in weights, rather than in skeins.

There are two aspects of yarn weight -- the thickness of the strand and the total weight of the skein or ball.

The U.S. brand yarn I'm using is 100% orlon acrylic fiber 4-ply net weight 4 ounces knitting worsted type. This is American 4-ply, which I believe is different than British 4-ply. In fact, I think that British worsted weight is 10 ply, though I'm not sure why the ply counts are so different. Though worsted is named after a town in England, in England (I believe) they call worsted weight "double-knitting" weight. A 7 ounce skein of worsted American 4 ply comes out to about 198g. That's probably more yarn than is needed for this project. So, I'm guessing that 100grams total weight would be enough to complete the project, plus give you some extra to work with, as it is a small project.

Again, this is a very forgiving crochet exercise, so if you don't have quite the right yarn, it will probably be ok. Since you can make this as large or as small as you like, it's ok if the gauge is a bit different than what I am doing. The main thing to remember is that you do not want any natural fibers, such as wool or cotton, as those will retain moisture too long for the strainer to be effective. You want man made fibers, such as acrylic. Also, you do not want your yarn to be too fine, as the finished product needs to have some thickness and weight to it.

Here's a discussion of yarn weights and British equivalents:

UK v US
4-ply = Sportweight
Doubleknitting = Worsted
Aran = Fisherman or Medium weight
Chunky = Bulky

Here's a little more explanation:

Worsted Weight - This is by far one of the most common weights you will encounter. Its British equivalent is 10-ply, and is incredibly diverse. It makes great garments, but can also be utilized for throws, blankets, afghans, hats, scarves, mittens... and the list goes on. It's also a great sized weight to learn on, as the stitches aren't too small to see well so the learner can really learn to read the stitch.

Aran Weight - This is a tricky yarn. It's somewhere in between worsted and bulky yarns, but you usually won't find it on the shelves in North American stores. Its name comes from the tradition of knitting Aran sweaters from Ireland and Scotland. Aran yarn is most commonly found in its natural state - an off white and unscoured wool, so it still contains all of its natural greases which make the finished garment more water resistant and insulative.

Worsted weight is what we're going for. So, Seraphim, look for the British equivalent of worsted weight and buy a smaller size to medium size ball of it for this project. I hope that answered your question, but if you're still not sure, leave another comment, and we'll figure it out together.

I am using an American J-10 hook. In G.B., that would be a 4 hook.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, here are American versus British terms for crochet stitches:

British (UK) and American Crochet Terms - by Eva Owsian, BellaOnline's Crochet Editor
British (UK)

American
Slip Stitch (sl st) Slip Stitch (sl st)
Double Crochet (dc) Single Crochet (sc)
Half Treble (h tr) Half Double Crochet (hdc)
Treble (tr) Double Crochet (dc)
Double Treble (d tr) Treble (tr )
Triple Treble (tr tr) Double Treble (dtr)
Quadruple Treble (q or quad tr) Triple Treble (tr tr)
Quintuple Treble (qt or quint tr) Quadruple Treble (q or quad tr)
Sextuple Treble (s or sext tr) Quintuple Treble (qt or quint tr)
Cast Off Fasten Off
Miss Skip
Tension Guage
Work Straight Work Even
Yarn Over Hook Yarn Over (YO)

We will be doing a half double crochet, which is a British half treble.

This week, we'll be continuing on with our crochet work, doing a little baking, and studying more about the art and science of cooking.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

Lab Week -- crochet dish strainer

2009-03-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Let's get started:

Above is the photo of the completed dish strainer. As you can see, it's a bit wrinkly from being folded on my counter and needs a good washing. I use mine all the time, and I didn't get it washed before I needed to take a picture. The beautiful thing about this strainer is that you can toss it into the wash anytime, and it always comes out perfectly. I wash mine several times a week, usually, but just didn't get it done for today.

Since it is made of absorbent and quick-drying acrylic yarn, it is a fantastic surface for drying any kitchen items that you hand wash. It also can function as a hot pad -- though you do need to test it to make sure it can handle something really hot. I have found all sorts of uses for mine, which was a gift, and I am looking forward to making one of my own. (One of my sisters-in-law uses one that was given to her underneath her dog's dishes to keep them steady and to keep any spilled water from damaging the floor underneath)

Remember, these are the supplies we need: TWO skeins of acrylic 4 ply sport weight yarn. Usually, we enjoy the lovely cottons and wools. However, for this project, it must be acrylic and man-made materials versus the natural yarns. You want something that dries more quickly than the natural fibers. These skeins of yarn can be any color that you like. You can use two of the same color for a solid effect, or you can use one of one color and one of another to make a variegated effect. I have a blue kitchen with white curtains, so I am using one skein of blue and one of white to make a blue and white variegated one. My mother in law and my sister in law have both found already variegated yarns that pick up all the little speckles in their granite counter tops, and they have each made strainers that blend right into their kitchen counters. Or, you can always do a plain white one or a Christmas colored one or a pastel spring one. It's all up to your imagination and your desire.

Of course, you will also need a crochet hook. I am using size J-10.

Now that you have your supplies in hand, here we go:

Chain 50 stitches using one strand from each skein, so that you are working two strands at one time. (The instructions for how to chain your beginning stitches are below.) Remember, using one strand will not produce the correct results. We need thick stitches to be absorbent and to give the strainer some good body and height. So, we must use two strands.

Now, most people who do handwork say that to crochet is actually easier and faster than knitting once you have learned crochet. For one thing, if you make a mistake in crochet, it's easier to go back and fix it than it is if you slip a stitch in knitting. For another, an experienced crocheter can work very quickly.

Learning to crochet can be a bit tricky, however, just as learning to knit can be. Usually, once people have the feel of working the needle and the yard, the trickiest part is keeping the stitches all of the same size so that your rows come out evenly. Now, for this project, the challenging thing will be working with two strands instead of one and learning a fairly advanced stitch to begin with -- the half double crochet. The great thing is that this is a very forgiving project. We're basically just making a mat with a decorative edging that we'll add at the end, and if the mat's a little funny looking, it's not the end of the world. It will still perform its function. It's not as if we're making an heirloom baby sweater here. So, if this is your first attempt at doing crochet, you'll find this to be an excellent starter project. If you can crochet with the best of them, you'll find this to be a fun, quick, and useful project, and you may use this to make quick little gifts.

Here are instructions about how to chain your beginning stitches:

Just so you can see, here is a video using one strand:

Since we are working with two strands, you want to tie your slip knot with a strand from each skein. That's one slip knot with both strands tied in it.

As the woman in the lady suggests, it's important to keep your stitches as even as possible, and this is good practice. Again, since we're doing a kitchen mat, don't become discouraged if your first attempt isn't as even as someone's might be who's been crocheting for years. Just do your best.

Here I am working with two strands of yarn. Remember, I am left-handed, so I am likely working in the opposite direction than you are. I just wanted you to see how to hold two strands of yarn.

Here's my right-handed mother in law getting ready to tie her slip knot.

Here is her slip knot.

Here is her chain.

From there, she moves on to the next steps. We'll tackle that in the next tutorial. Just concentrate on getting your fifty chained stitches for right now. This chain of fifty chain stitches will be the base from which you work the rest of the project. From here out, (except for the decorative edges), we will work with only one crochet stitch. We'll also learn how to turn the corners. I'll try to have this in video with audio instructions to make this easier.

Remember, this is practice. Practice makes perfect, and practice makes progress. But, if you are a total beginner, be patient with yourself.

Happy home keeping!
Elizabeth

Lab week -- Dollar Store Craft

2009-03-09T12:31:00.001-07:00

While we're thinking about spring cleaning, it's a good time to organize our dressing table/grooming areas. Whether you wear makeup or not, you likely have some long implements for basic grooming. These could be makeup brushes, nail files, little scissors, an orange stick, a little tube of clear lip gloss, etc. Here's a handy and inexpensive way to keep these little items organized and handy for use.

First, let me say that the following video is where I found the inspiration for my idea. Please watch the video, as this young lady has a cuter version than mine. (Note that she got the idea from the Sephora makeup line, so creativity gets passes around.) Plus, she offers several tips for organizing your grooming space.

Here's the video:

I decided to see if the brush/tool holder could be done on a dollar store budget. I wanted to make one for myself, as well as a couple for my daughter-in-law's birthday. So, I set out for the local Dollar Store to see what I could find.

I bought 3 little jars for $1.00 each. Now, the Dollar Store has a number of glass jars in different shapes, as well as several other little containers that would be cute. The container does not have to be see through glass. I chose a modern shape, because my daughter-in-law likes modern shapes and because I wanted to duplicate the one in the video as closely as possible on my first try.

I also found plastic sacks that contain a pouch of colored sand and a pouch of shells for $1.00 each. There is not a lot of variety of color there. My first selection was a bright pink. I decided to add little decorative rocks at the bottom on my first attempt. This did not work, as the sand filled into the rocks and the rocks made it hard to slip the brushes and tools in and out of the containers. I looked for more sand at another dollar store as I happened to be nearer that one, and I discovered that even though they are the same chain, the second store does not carry the decorative sand. So, I ended up buying white sand at Michael's instead. The sand at Michael's is $2.99, but one pouch is enough to do three of the little glasses. The sand at Michael's does not have the shells in it.

I have looked at both the dollar store and Michael's for some little decorative doo-dads to stick in. I particularly wanted butterflies like the ones in the video. I did see some possibilities at Michael's, but they would require a little more investment in wire, glue, etc., which would take me out of my dollar store budget experiment. I also saw an Easter garland that was basically white wire with some clearish/whitish stones on them, which looked similar to the ones the young lady had wrapped around her lamps in the video above. I could have cut that into lengths to wrap the three jars, but that would have added another $4.00 to the project. Again, that's not bad, but I was specifically determined to do this on a dollar store basis. So, I used the shells from the dollar store sand pouches to decorate the sand, and I think it looks lovely. It's hard to get the full effect of the white sand and the white shells in my photo, but they look darling in real life.

The bottom line is that if I had not made a mistake with the rocks, this would have been the total cost of my project:

$3.00 -- 3 decorative glass containers
$2.00 -- 2 packs of colored sand with shells

That means $5.00 spent on two for my daughter in law and one for me -- not bad :). Sometimes, at the dollar store, you can find makeup brushes and nail tools, so you can buy a few of those to stick in your jars. I actually bought some of the makeup brushes I'm giving my daughter-in-law at Kroger's. I'm sticking my own stuff in mine, so that's basically free.

I did pick up two thick, brightly colored emery boards in the sale racks at Michael's -- one for me and one for my daughter in law.

I would like to do this for my daughter, as well, but can't quite figure out how to get this up to Chicago, where she and her husband live.

Anyhow, that's my dollar store organization craft. Try it if you like.

Happy homemaking!
Elizabeth

Time for some Labs

2009-03-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

This week we'll be doing some practical hands-on things.

We'll start our basic crochet project (I can't wait!) (If any of you would like to do a tutorial for any crochet project, let me know. I'm sure it would be nice to have some projects to pick from.)

Also, we'll be baking, and we'll be creating a simple, little, dollar-store ingredients craft to organize our makeup brushes or to give as gifts.

Happy Homemaking!
Elizabeth

A Few Thoughts for Our Homemaking Journals/Exercises

2009-03-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't know where my posts have disappeared to. You can get to them through the links on the sidebar, but they don't seem to be showing up when you simply view my page. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Do you have your goals and your "Manager at Home" statement written down in your homemaking notebook? Are you reviewing your goals regularly? Simply reading your goals once a week can keep you focused. You'll find yourself making choices in alignment with your goals and values.

Just for fun: For either your homemaking book or your Book of Days, choose some adjectives or nouns similar to those in the following list. Select the one to five words in each category that appeal to you the most. The items that appeal to you should give you some idea of your natural style. Perhaps, these can be qualities that you bring into your home keeping. You'll also want to consider your family members' styles and tastes, though. Do this quickly. Your first impressions are probably your truest reactions to the adjectives. If you like, share your findings with us.

Category One

Warm
Loving
Welcoming
Happy
Peaceful
Homey
Neat
Orderly
Serene
Playful
Active
Quiet
Refuge
Casual
Refined
Lovely
Feminine
Classic
Pretty
Functional
Comfortable
Stimulating
Exciting
Refreshing
Relaxing
Unpretentious
Down to earth
Elegant
Artistic
Music-filled
Sounds of nature

Category II:

Urban
Rustic
Simplicity
Basic
Curves
straight
Country
Elegant
Classic
Romantic
Trendy
Traditional
Artistic
Natural
Green
Tasteful
Simple
Minimal
Sentimental
European mix
American
Asian
African
South American
French
Spanish
English
German
Native American
Western (U.S.)
Victorian
Regency/Federal
Greek Revival
Southern (U.S.)
Old World
_______ (What country's or region's style inspires you the most?)
eclectic
strongly one style
family pieces
handmade
thrift finds
florals
solids
prints
stripes

Category 3

Blues
Browns
Greens
Earth Tones
Bright Tones
Soft Tones
Pastels
Muted Tones
Sunny
Spring-like
Autumn-feel
Winter cool
Summery
Warm tones
Cool Tones
Neutrals
Creams
White
Black
Taupes
Ocean colors
Desert colors
Country colors
Garden colors

Happy homemaking!
Elizabeth

Today, I'm a guest at Hadias' blog

2009-03-02T14:48:00.001-08:00

Have you read Hadias' blog, "A Day in the Life of"? She writes about being a Proverbs 31 wife and offers so many very practical solutions for increasing the family income as a stay at home wife.

Hadias has graciously let me write a little post about "Frugality without Fretting". If you'd like to take a peek, follow this link.

enjoy!
elizabeth

March 2nd -- How to Recover From a Mild Illness and Manage Household

2009-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

I am in that period of recovering from a cold and asthma complications where I'm beginning to feel up to getting out of bed. I even have enough strength to tackle a a few tasks. As you might guess, after being in bed with the cold/asthma for nearly a week and having had some back issues for several days before that, I do have some important things to catch up. Here are some things I've learned in the past and am learning now about how to make your comeback after a short time of being indisposed.

It's a fact of life that at some point, you or a member of your family will undergo a temporary illness. For those with hardier constitutions, this might not be very often. For those who are more susceptible, this can occur frequently.

In some cases, there are things you can do that might strengthen your and your family's immune systems so that you don't become ill so frequently. Here's a post about that on PHE: The Home Manager's Health and Beauty.

When you are recovering from an illness, it's important to recover fully so that you don't slide back into a relapse or sustain another illness soon. Resist the urge to go full sail ahead when you're at half-mast physically. This will take some patience, especially if your to-do list is long or you see things piling up around the house. Yet, the world won't come to an end if you take the time to get well. In the end, you will be of more service to the Lord and others if you help your body to get back to full strength.

Here are some ideas for easing back into your routine:

1) When your illness takes a turn for the better and you start to be on the mend, you'll likely feel it. When this happens, it's a great time to shower or bathe. Apply a sweetly scented body lotion. Put any clothing you've been wearing while contagious into the hamper to be cleaned, or if you or a family member can wash it now -- do so. Ask a family member to help you change the sheets so that you can recover in a fresh bed. During the next several hours, you may feel like doing what you can to freshen up your appearance. You and your family will be happier for that! You might even use an afternoon of recovering to do some girly things that you might not otherwise take the time to do. Try your hair in a new way, for example. Or, buff and file your nails. Massage cream around the cuticles.
2) You don't have to do all of these things at once if you are still weak. Catnap between doing different activities if you need to. It's good to challenge yourself to move around a little so that you prevent weakening further. But, be wary of overtiring yourself.
3) Don't forget to keep taking any necessary medications. Keep on drinking plenty of fluids. If you are doing things like breathing steam, drinking tea with lemon and honey, rinsing your nose with salt water sprays, etc., continue those as needed. Keep these things up until all of your symptoms are gone.
4) When you become a little stronger, your first concerns around the house are to disinfect and dust. Wear a mask when dusting to prevent further irritation to your nasal passages. After that, clean out the fridge. You may have lots of laundry to do as well. Even if your family members have been keeping up with the laundry while you're down, you'll want to wash any towels you've used, any clothing you've worn, and any linens you used while you were sick. Work as you can, resting when you need it.
5) Don't be upset with yourself if you need an afternoon nap for several days in a row, provided that you are sleeping all night and still feel the need of a nap. If your naps mean you can't sleep at night, you probably don't need them. Instead, sit down and put your feet up.
6) Think in terms of easy meals. What can you throw in the crock pot, for example? Do you have any meals in your freezer that you made ahead of time? If so, now's a good time to thaw them out and use them. (If you have a chronic illness with random flare-ups, get in the habit of making two meals at one time and freezing one for use during such a flare-up.
7) Ease back into exercise. Even if you had a cold that lasted for three days only, you will have lost some conditioning. Do stretches, gentle walking, etc. for a few days. Then, slowly ramp back up to your usual routine.
8) Don't be upset if you become peevish when attending to very detailed mental work or tasks that require a lot of decision making. Mental concentration uses a lot of our nutrients and energy. Take it slow until you are back to full health. Go do something else that is important, but not as mentally taxing, and then come back to the work at hand.
9) Your family may naturally have pitched in to help when you were obviously at your sickest. But, when you're up and feeling somewhat better, you may look well to them. They may not understand that you still need help until you are completely recovered. After all, only you know how your body feels. Resist the urge to be impatient with family members' expectations. Gently explain how much you feel that you can and can't do. Assure them that you're on the mend and will be back in full swing soon.
10) Use recovery time as a time to put people over things. Invite your children to cuddle up with you for an afternoon of reading books. Take the time to play a game with a child.

Happy home management!
Elizabeth

Jane Austen contest blog post

2009-02-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

I'm just messing up my url addresses all over the place. If you came here from the Barefoot Mama to read my attempt at writing like Jane Austen, please click this link.

Eggs, Eggs! 2/26 b

2009-02-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Katie has a lovely suggestion for preparing eggs:

A very nice, fairly easy egg presentation goes by the names of framed eggs, bird-in-a-nest, or toad-in-the-hole: whatever you call it, it's a slice of bread with the center cut out and an egg fried in the middle. The egg ends up as "over-easy" (Sunny-side down or "flopped") when you cook both sides of the bread. This must be done on a large griddle if you don't want to keep your family waiting!

My note: If you happen to live near a Cracker Barrel restaurant, look for these on the menu. If you have never eaten this wonderful treat, try theirs to see how it turns out.

If anyone else has egg suggestions, please send them to sunnyheart31atyahoodotcom

Enjoy!
Elizabeth

Finishing Up Apron -- February 26

2009-02-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

Waistband sewn across apron

I am down with a cold and not up for much deep cleaning, so I decided to finish the apron project. I will go back and do a little seam ripping and re-sewing of seams and pressing and string trimming, but this should give you an idea of how to finish your own apron. Someone once quipped, "As you sew, so shall you rip." That's definitely true for me!

In our last step, we sewed the bodice to the hem of the skirt. Now, iron in a small hem on all sides of both of your waist band pieces. With right sides together, sew along the long sides of your waist band. Turn the waist band inside out. Insert the ends of the waist straps and hand or machine stitch into place.

Next, topstitch this little packet into place all along the edge where your bodice meets your hem.

There you go. That was easy; wasn't it.

Here's a tutorial that describes a similar way of making a waistband and straps.

Those were our original directions, but I actually ended up making mine by a slightly different method. I decided to use a wider piece for my waistband and cut only one piece. Then, I sewed the straps along the bottom of this piece. I turned the waistband upside down and pinned it along the edge where the skirt meets the waistband. I stitched in the ditch all the way across. Then, I flipped the whole thing up, straps and all, folded the waistband down to the size I wanted it to be and stitched it all the way across, including across the bodice. I topstitched the bottom edge for continuity.

Happy Homemaking in your new apron.
Elizabeth

The Art of Baking -- II

2009-02-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

Leavening:

It's possible to make a bread or cake without any kind of leaven. Certainly, unleavened bread figures prominently in the Bible. An interesting study to do is to examine passages which talk about unleavened bread and also passages that mention yeast or leavening.

Why use leavening, then? When used in a dough or batter, leaven softens and lightens the finished product. By chemical processes, the dough rises and becomes lighter and more airy, with little holes left by gas bubbles. There are two main kinds of leaven: biological agents (living organisms) and chemical agents.

The most common biological agent used in the home is yeast. Some other home substances that can provide yeast to dough are beer, buttermilk, sourdough starter, and yogurt. The most common chemical agents used by home bakers are salt and baking powder or baking soda.

When you buy yeast, you'll find it comes in two forms: cake yeast (also called compressed or fresh yeast) and dry yeast. Most of us at home use dry yeast. If you do use a cake yeast, make sure it is soft and moist and that it crumbles easily. Make sure it is fresh smelling and that there are no dark or dried places on the cake of yeast. Remember that cake yeast must be used very quickly.

Dry yeast, on the other hand, has a longer shelf life, and that is why most of us who are home bakers use dry yeast. Dry yeast is the same yeast as cake yeast, but it has been dried and compressed until it has much less moisture than cake yeast. The dry yeast is actually dormant.

Dry yeast comes in two forms: regular active dry and rapid-rise. They work about the same, except that rapid rise obviously rises faster. This is an advantage if you want speed, but some feel that it doesn't give the dough the time to develop that wonderful yeast bread taste that slower acting yeast does.

You can buy dry yeast in foil packages or in a jar. I use either one, depending on how much baking I will be doing at any one time.

Yeast, as a leavening, must have three things in order to grow: moisture, warmth, and food. In order to active dried yeast, which is dormant, you need to proof it. You do this by mixing the yeast in a warm liquid. (Note: When using bread makers, it's seldom necessary to do this, as you add the ingredients and the bread maker allows the time for the yeast to activate.)

Dry yeast has a sweet tooth, and many recipes call for white granulated sugars, which the yeast will break down into a simpler form. Some recipes work by adding a bit of flour to the liquid, instead, and the yeast will also break the flour down instead.

After proofing, you mix the ingredients of the bread together. Then, you knead it. Kneading aerates the dough and also develops the gluten in the wheat. In aerating the dough, that means that the kneading introduces little air pockets into the dough.

Then, you allow the dough to rise or, in other words, you allow the yeast to ferment. In rising, the yeast feeds on the sugar and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide stretches the existing air pockets, and the dough visibly rises and expands. The flavor of the bread is developed, and the bread becomes lighter in texture.

Chemical leavenings usually are used in combination and provide an acid and a weak base to form carbon dioxide or other gases when exposed to moisture and heat. They are used in cakes, cookies, and quick breads. They are used when the longer process of biological fermentation is not practical or desirable. As we know from high school chemistry, when an acid and a base combine, they form a salt. Thus, these leaveners add a little salt to a baked product.

It takes some knowledge of chemistry to determine how much of each chemical leavener to use when baking. For one thing, an improper forumulation could leave a bad taste in the food. Therefore, many recipes call for the use of premixed baking powders, which have been formulated by experts.

Aside from biological and chemical leavenings, creaming sugar and fat together in a mixer introduces air bubbles which provide a little leavening effect. Usually, this is not enough leavening, so creaming is usually supplemented with a little chemical leavening. Similarly whipping cream, eggs, or certain other liquids also introduces air, which causes these liquids to foam. Folding the foam into a batter leavens the product by making it lighter and fluffier. A sponge cake, for example, owes its delicate texture to the effect of whipping egg whites. Creaming and whipping are called mechanical leavening techniques.

Finally, steam can produce a leavening effect. When steam is infused into a batter, it causes it to expand. To achieve this, you have to bake the item at a high enough temperature to make water steam into the item you are baking. Steamed puddings and popovers are "leavened" in this way.

Many home keepers do not think about the fact that so many of the things they do in the home are related to the sciences -- particularly to chemistry. There is an art to doing these things, as well. If you follow basic directions, you can keep a home without any knowledge of the science behind your activities, and that is just fine. However, if you would like to challenge yourself, it's good to dig a little deeper and learn why things in the home work the way they do. This can make your tasks seem more interesting to you. Also, if you have a knowledge of why things work the way they do, you are better equipped to improvise or to come up with creative new methods and recipes on your own. Not only that, but if you face cultural pressure to think of home keeping as something beneath an educated woman, you can answer that with the inner knowledge that your mind is being challenged by your work.

If you are home schooling your children, you can use household activities -- especially cooking -- to teach them about subjects like chemistry.

Soon, we'll bake some things together.

Until then,

Happy homemaking!

The Art of Baking

2009-02-24T15:36:00.000-08:00

Baking is cooking by dry heat. It can be done in brick ovens, over hot stones, in hot ashes, and underneath hot coals. Usually, however, baking refers to cooking something in a regular oven, with the dry heat coming from underneath the item. We most often refer to cakes, pastries, and breads as baked goods. Yet, other things -- such as apples, baked beans, and casseroles -- can be baked, as well.

The dry heat of baking alters the starch in a food. Partly through caramelization of the sugars, it pleasantly browns the surface of the food, as well. Baking partially seals the moisture in the food, but not completely. Thus, many baked foods must be eaten before they completely dry and turn stale.

Braising, which is more commonly used for meats, is similar to baking, except that it employs moisture along with the source of dry heat. The item to be braised is placed in a closed pan into which liquid is added. The item is cooked slowly, allowing the moisture to steam up and infuse the food.

Many baked goods use flour, which is a powder made by grinding cereal grains. Wheat flour, the most commonly used flour, is made from hard wheat, soft wheat, or both. Hard wheat is high in protein. Soft wheat is lower in protein.

Hard wheat is higher in gluten than is soft wheat. There is a botannical definition of gluten, which you can look up if you would like to do some deeper study. This botannical definition is more exact. For purposes of baking, though, it's easier to just say that gluten is an elastic substance formed by the proteins in wheat. The gluten in a bread gives the bread formation and shape. It's usually safe to say that the protein content of a flour and the gluten content of the flour are pretty much the same.

Since differing amounts of protein/gluten affect the texture of a baked good, different formulations of wheat flour are good for baking different things.

All-purpose flour (known as plain flour in Great Britain) is made from a blend of hard wheat and soft wheat. You might find some variation in the ratio of hard to soft according to brand. Depending on the type of baking you do, this difference might even be enough to affect the outcome somewhat. You may discover that you prefer one brand over another.

For various reasons, all-purpose flour is usually "bleached" using certain chemicals. The chemicals are approved for human consumption. However, the process does remove some nutrients, just as refining white flour from whole wheat does. Thus, the American FDA requires that certain nutrients be re-added to the flour. This produces "enriched" flour.

Flour that is allowed to bleach naturally, rather than by chemical process, is called "unbleached" flour.

Technically, bleached flour is better for certain things. Some people think it produces better pie crusts, cookies, quick cakes, and pancakes, while unbleached flour is good for yeast bread, Danish pastry, and puffed pastry. Personally, I use bleached and unbleached interchangeably and actually prefer the idea of using unbleached flour. A serious baker might disagree with me, though.

Bleached flour has less protein than unbleached.

Whatever you are baking, you won't go too wrong using all-purpose flour. You may decide that this is the only type of flour you need, particularly if you don't do a lot of baking. If you want the best results or if you bake a lot, however, you will probably want to add bread flour and cake flour to your pantry.

Bread flour is made from hard, high-protein wheat. It has more gluten strength and protein content than all-purpose flour. It is unbleached. Sometimes, it is conditioned with ascorbic acid. The ascorbic acid increases the volume and creates better texture. Bread flour is the best flour to use when baking yeast products.

Cake flour has a fine-texture. It is a soft-wheat flour, and it has the lowest protein content of any flour. As you might guess, it also has a high starch content. It is bleached by chlorination, which leaves the flour slightly acidic. This makes a cake set faster and also distributes the fat in a batter more evenly. This improves the texture. When you are making baked goods with a high ratio of sugar to flour, this flour will hold its rise better than other flours. This means that your cake or other baked product will be less likely to collapse. This flour is obviously excellent for baking fine-textured cakes with greater volume. It's also used for some quick breads, muffins, and cookies. If you don't have cake flour on hand, you can get way with substituting all-purpose flour if you remember to subtract two tablespoons of flour for each cup used in the recipe.

Pastry Flour, like cake flour, is made with soft wheat. It falls somewhere between all-purpose flour and cake flour in its protein content and in its baking qualities. It is used for making biscuits, pie crusts, brownies, cookies, and quick breads. Pastry flour produces a tender, but crumbly pastry. It is not suitable for yeast breads. You can find whole wheat pastry flour. Personally, I use whole-wheat flour for biscuits and pie crusts, but if you make a lot of pie crusts or pastries, you may want to experiment with pastry flour in order to obtain the best results.

Self-rising flour, sometimes called phosphated flour, is a low-protein flour. It has salt and leavning already added. It's a great product for making biscuits and quick breads. Never use it with yeast, however. Also, if you substitute it in a recipe that calls for all-purpose or bread flour, don't forget to leave out the salt or other leavning agents in the recipe. If you would like to make your own self-rising flour, you can find recipes on the Internet.

Durum flour and Semolina flour are made from durum wheat, and they are the hardest flours. They are used primarily for making Italian pastas.

Gluten flour is made from spring wheat and has a high protein content, as the name would suggest. It is often used in breaks made for people with diabetes or mixed with non-wheat or low-protein wheat flours to produce a stronger product.

Whole wheat flour (called whole meal flour in Great Britain) is made from the whole kernel of wheat. As we all know, whole wheat provides more fiber and nutrient content than white flours do. However, it does not have as high a gluten level was white flour, so many whole-wheat yeast bread recipes recipes call for the cook to mix the whole-wheat with all-purpose or bread flour. You can convert many recipes that call for white flour to a more whole-wheat based product if you keep this rule of thumb in mind. There are also formulas that you can find on the Internet that tell you the best way to substitute whole wheat for white.

Breads and cakes made with whole wheat are usually denser and heartier than those made with white flours. Don't expect a whole wheat bread or cake to rise as high as one made with white flour. Enjoy the hearty texture and taste.

Whole wheat may be very finely ground or it may be more coarsely ground. In graham flour, which is a special grind of whole wheat flour, different parts of the wheat kernel are ground differently. One part is ground very finely and other parts are ground more coarsely. Then, the ground parts are mixed back together. This produces a whole-grain product that bakes well and keeps well.

Whatever type of flour you use, remember that it is perishable. Check how long the flour can be stored and buy only the quantity that you will use in that time period.

Baking tip: Place a bay leaf in a canister of flour. Bay leaves are natural insect repellents and will help keep away pests like flour weevils.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth

February 20 b -- Eggtraoridnary Tales -- "class participation"

2009-02-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

Wenonah4th, one of our readers, suggested that we all contribute our favorite technique for cooking eggs or a favorite egg recipe.

If you will send a story of your experiences with eggs to sunnyheart31atyahoodotcom, I'll post them. You can share a recipe, a technique for cooking eggs, a photo related to eggs, a story or tips about keeping hens, etc. -- anything egg related will do!

Happy homemaking!
Elizabteh

February 20 apron, cooking and baking, eggs

2009-02-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been in a short stretch of time in which other things besides blogging have had to take precedence in my schedule. At any rate, let's move along in our course.

For those of you who are sewing the apron with us, the next step is to pin the bodice to the skirt. Place the right sides together. Sew a hem along the very, very top, being sure to catch all the layers of fabric. You can baste this hem if you like. When through, you should be able to turn the bodice upward so that the front of the bodice is above the front of the skirt. Don't worry if the fabric rolls a little bit at the top. We will hem the top of the skirt later on and everything will fall into place.

The sewing in my photos is a little rough. I went back and re-sewed the bodice to the top to create a neater hem. But, you should be able to get the basic idea from the pictures. A good pressing every time you sew a seam is always a good thing.

COOKING/BAKING

Great cooking and baking begins with great ingredients. We all admire the Proverbs 31 woman because she is like merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She selects the best ingredients for her family and prepares nourishing and adequate meals for her entire household. Since so many of the verses in Proverbs 31 refer to her thrift, we can assume that she is a frugal shopper. She also plants a vineyard and buys a field, signs that she may have grown or had servants grow food for her own table.

There was a reason why the Proverbs 31 woman was interested in a vineyard. Remember, she couldn't run to her local grocery store for juices or tea or drinks. She had little means by which to preserve foods at hand. She lived in a fairly dry climate where clean and sanitary drinks were not always so easy to come by. She also didn't have access to a drugstore stocked with ointments to clean and protect wounds or fever reducers or mild pain killers. Thus, the people of her day prized the grape, for it provided a sustaining juice, tasty fruit, and wine and vinegar that, in addition to being consumed, could be used as medicines and food preservatives.

The Proverbs 31 woman would have been astonished to walk into a modern supermarket and see all the meats, produce, dairy products, juices, teas, baking goods, etc., that are available to us today. She would think we are blessed indeed to have such a bountiful stock of items to choose from. We, too, need to be grateful to live in a world where abundance is, for many of us, just a short drive away. Perhaps, our gratitude can show itself in thanking the Lord, preparing creative menus and meals, in using our food dollars as wisely as possible, and in sending aid to those who live in countries that lack the abundance of the first world lands.

Not only do we have stores available, we have access to garden centers and Internet garden supplies If we choose to grow our own food, we can easily find the materials we need.

Moreover, there are many fine blogs on the Internet that are devoted to the subject of frugal shopping and cooking, to recipes, etc.

Truly, while there is much heartbreaking poverty and famine in the world, most of us in the blog-o-sphere have been blessed with so many resources to feed our families. Yes, our budgets are getting tighter and the economy is shaky. Even so, most of us have many reasons to rejoice when it comes to cooking and baking for our loved ones.

Eggs:

Many of you may keep poultry and have fresh eggs at your disposal. That is the loveliest option of all, I think. However, for the rest of us, it's important to know how to shop for eggs in the store.

Up to the 1960's or 1970's people assumed that eggs were a healthy food. Then, eggs got a bad rap because they contain cholesterol. Some time later, doctors decided that one egg or so a day is probably ok for healthy people. Now, there's some re-thinking of this matter yet again, and the final jury's still out regarding whether eggs are good for you or not. I tend to believe that they are a little powerhouse packed with good nutrition for a reasonable price -- provided that you do exercise moderation. For only 75 to 81 calories in an egg (not counting calories added by cooking oils), you do receive a comparatively lot of complete protein, as well as a good number of vitamins and minerals.

Here are a couple of articles you can read to help you decide what is right for your family. Eggs1 Eggs2 These are just two of many articles related to this subject. Do your own research, and ask your doctor if you have any questions.

One way to reduce the cholesterol and fat in eggs is to use egg whites only. This is probably a good idea if you are cooking for a middle-aged man with risk factors for heart disease. However, other than protein, most of the nutritional factors in an egg are only in the yolk.

Eggs are important ingredients in baking, though there are ways to get around the use of eggs if you have allergies to eggs or are concerned about the possible drawbacks of eggs. Eggs also can serve as binders to hold certain dishes together.

When shopping for eggs, look for grade AA or A eggs with uncracked, clean shells. The eggs should be stored in a refrigeration unit Make sure that they are cold to the touch. Check the package for a sell-by or use-by date. (Did you know that you can use paper or cardboard egg cartons in your compost pile? Tear the cartons into little pieces. Styfrofoam cartons are not suitable for this purpose.)

You can probably get away with storing eggs in your fridge for three to five weeks from your date of purchase. When you bring eggs home, don't rush to wash the eggs right then. If you do so, you will remove a natural protective coating from the shell. Keep eggs in the store carton and put them at the back of your coldest shelf in the fridge. Keep the egg cartons closed to protect the eggs from odors and from the drying effects of refrigerated air.

You can freeze eggs, though I've never tried, myself. First, you beat the yolk and white teogther if you intend to freeze them as the whole egg. You can also freeze the whites alone. Place in a freezer safe container for up to six months.

For more detailed information about shopping for eggs, read Eggsentials and What's cooking America? Eggs.

Happy homemaking!
Elizabeth

February 17 Spring cleaning/attic cleaning/baking and cooking

2009-02-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

The results of our last poll show that many of us garden and/or care of indoor plants. We've got a new poll about your favorite area of home keeping. I'm interested to see what everyone loves the most.

How's everyone's spring cleaning coming? I'm still working on the storage areas of my home. I'm also re-evaluating my wardrobe. See the blog PHE: The Home Manager's Health and Beauty for a discussion of those all-important foundation garments, as our grandmothers called them. As with most everything, a great foundation is the key!

Basement, Garage, Attic -- wondering what goes where? Check out this article from Real Simple.

Cooking/Baking

Some basics for all of us to review:

1) When cooking for our families' health, we need to remember the following: Good digestion is essential.

When we sit down to a meal, the food on our plates is not yet in a form that our body can use. It is the job of our alimentary canals (digestive tracts) to break the food down into smaller molecules that make up the nutrients our bodies use. Only then, can the blood absorb the nutrients and carry them to all the cells in our body. The liver, gall bladder, and pancreas also play a part in the digestive process, as do parts of our nervous and circulatory systems.

2) Did you know that the digestive process can actually begin before you take your first bite? The aroma, sight, or thought of food can prompt your body to begin salivating in preparation for eating. This readies your mouth to receive and process food.

3) Once you do take a bite into your mouth, the process of chewing breaks the food down into a form that can be swallowed. Also, the saliva in our mouths helps moisten the food, which also aids swallowing. There is a digestive enzyme called amylase in saliva that starts converting carbohydrates into a usable form even before they leave the mouth.

4) Obviously, once we have chewed and swallowed our food, it proceeds down the esophagus and into the stomach. Without going into any more detail about the process of digestion right now, it's worth noting that all parts of our digestive system are sensitive to emotion. Think how much of our language refers to this: "I have butteflies in my stomach." "I have a gut feeling about that." "I just can't swallow what he said to me." "My stomach's all tied up in knots."

Also, in every culture that I know of, eating together is a bonding experience. Friendships are formed over meals. Business deals are finalized at meals. Much of the fellowship of the church involves meals. Holidays are marked by meals. Food is eaten at showers, weddings, and birthdays. The Bible is filled with verses about people eating together. In fact, one of the loveliest images given to help us understand the kingdom of heaven is as a great banquet prepared by a king.

5) Our bodies extract proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, fats, and water from our foods. All of these are necessary to provide our bodies with the fuel they need in order to operate. Fats have gotten a bad rap in the last few decades, but scientists are learning that there are healthy fats. While some people who have or are at risk for cardiovascular disease or diabetes may benefit from exremely lowfat diets, most of us need a little fat in our diet to be at our healthiest. Even though we do need some fats, we still do well to avoid an excess. Our bodies cannot break down fiber, but it has a cleansing role in our systems. For that reason, it is also an important substance in our foods.

So, what do these facts about the digestive system have to do with cooking and baking? One important thing is to remind ourselves of how important it is to provide -- as far as it's possible with us -- pleasant meals for our families. An unhurried and loving atmosphere, along with pleasing sights and aromas and good conversation, foster good digestion. Positive emotions at the table will enable our bodies and our families' bodies to get the most nutrition out of what is eaten. It takes some time and patience to train children how to behave at the table, and it takes self-disicpline on our part to encourage a happy family meals. It's worth the effort, though, because it adds to our family's health and enjoyment now, and it builds memories that your children will look back on with joy later on in life. It also prepares your children for an important part of adult life.

It's especially important to form the habit ourselves and to teach our children to chew their food thoroughly during mealtime. Hurriedly swallowing large pieces that haven't been chewed thorouhly can create pain in the esophagus. Also, if we swallow before the digestive enzymes in the mouth have done their work, we are cheating ourselves of the best nutrition. Moreover, if we eat too quickly, we do not give our bodies enough time to sense fullness or to signal that sense of fullness to our brains. If we eat too quickly, we will likely overeat.

If we must grab a bite to eat on the way to a ballgame or a Wednesday night service, it's better to eat a smaller portion, chewed thoroughly and slowly, rather than to gulp down a full plate. If you get hungry later, you can always supplement with a snack.

Not only is it important to provide a pleasant eating experience, it's good to consider the nutritional needs of our bodies when preparing meals. People naturally enjoy a meal that has a variety of colors, textures, tastes, and temperatures. There's probably a reason why this is so instincitvely pleasing to us. Such variety of foods in one meal offers many different nutrients. At the very least, a well-rounded meal includes a protein, a grain, and a fruit or vegetable -- thus, giving us the protein, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, water, and fiber that we need.

Proteins are comprised of a number of amino acids. Our bodies need a certain number of these acids to function. Our bodies can take certain building blocks and create out of them some amino acids. There are other amino acids that we cannot make and must get from our diets. These are called essential amino acids. Complete proteins contain all of the essential amino acids we need. Complete proteins are generally animal products.

Incomplete proteins provide only some of the essential amino acids we need. These incomplete proteins are generally plant based. Because meat has not always been plentiful, most cultures have instinctively come up with some combinations of incomplete proteins that work together to make a complete protein. For example, rice and beans is a traditional meal in many cultures. So, too, is cheese and bread or cheese and a noodle. Also, many cultures have developed ways of using a little bit of meat along with a grain or bean to provide protein.

It used to be thought that people who eat a vegetarian diet must combine incomplete proteins properly at every meal to make complete proteins. It was suggested that vegetarian cooks put much thought into this to insure that they provided all of the essential amino acids in one meal. Now, some nutritionsits think that vegetarian cooks need not be quite so exact when planning meals. They believe that by consuming a variety of incomplete proteins over the course of seveal meals, you will naturally eat enough amino acids for the body to combine them into complete proteins. Even so, it makes sense for the vegetarian cook to become familiar with the traditional ways of combining proteins. It's a sure-fire way to make sure that you are providing complete proteins. These hearty combinations are a boon not only to the vegetarian diet, but also to anyone's diet.

Happy Homemaking!

Elizabeth

Thursday 2/12 part B -- spring cleaning/books

2009-02-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I outlined general tips for spring cleaning. I forgot to mention how important it is to dust books and bookshelves. Dust and mold can collect in books, which can, in turn, cause many health problems for you and your loved ones. Not the least of these problems are allergies, asthma and lung problems. Not only does book dust endanger your health, but keeping books clean obviously makes them nicer to use.

We notice the musty smell of book dust whenever we visit the library or used bookstore. If you're a book lover like me, you may even have come to love that peculiar "library" scent. However, we are less likely to recognize that our own bookshelves may be equally musty and, therefore, not healthful for us. Unless we work in a library, our exposure to book dust there is generally for a short time once a week or so. We live with our own books day in and day out, and we may not realize how many allergens and irritants are accumulating in their pages.

According to Cheryl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, the best way to preserve a book is to read it! The simple act of taking it down from the bookshelf shakes dust off of it, and reading it airs it out. I'm all for this fun bit of home keeping! However, most modern homes have more books and Bibles than are read and re-read in a six month period of time. That means we will need to do a little more work to keep those books clean and ready for use.

In this article, we're not talking about antique or valuable books or books of sentimental value. Those need to be cared for by special methods. For other books, however, give them a once or twice a year dusting with a soft cotton cloth or vacuum once a year with the attachment of a vacuum with a HEPA filter. You can even put cheesecloth or something across the opening of the attachment to provide extra protection if you like. You can buy special tools for cleaning books. There is also a special cleaning pad for books. However, you can do a good job just with a clean cotton cloth that you have on hand.

Make sure your hands are clean as you work. Otherwise, skin acids can hurt the paper in books. Start with the top of a bookshelf and work your way down. Have a small waste basket underneath you to catch dust that falls as you work. Be gentle as you dust. Open the book, flip the pages a little, and take out any objects -- such as bookmarks -- that have been stuck in a book and inadvertently left there. Check the pages for mold and dust. In the early stages, mold can be dusted away; mold that has set in requires professional advice to determine if the book can or cannot be saved.

After you have tended to the pages, close the book. Dust the top and bottom of the book, as well as the cover and spine. Hold the book very carefully.

When you return the book to your shelves, line it up at the front of the shelf. Leave some room in the back for air to circulate around the books.

As with any cleaning, wear a dust mask if you are ultra-sensitive to dust or mold.

Watch for any signs of a pest infestation, such as silverfish, rodents, etc. This could indicate a more serious cleaning problem that must be dealt with.

Happy Home Keeping!
Elizabeth