I wanted to start writing a bit about the nuts and bolts of homemaking. Some of you pretty much have things worked out, so don't pay any attention to me if I cross your schedule.
For one thing, the years of 2000, or even the 90s or the 80s, really don't give us any picture of the Mother at home. So I feel we must go back to a time when the Mother was exalted in the home as a Keeper at Home. Some of you like the 50s Mother. I remember the 70s mom with the long patchwork quilted skirts and full aprons. She wore the bandana around her head and was a health nut. She made everything from scratch. I revert back to the 70s Mother, and also to the Depression era mother. But I really think you gotta have a picture of the housewife you want to be.
Some of you that have no picture of a godly mother need to somehow find this mom and plant her in the visions of your heart. I would even recommend that you all get the Little House on the Praire books and read them yourself and to your children. Ma Ingalls had alot of wisdom and you can pick this up from Laura's writings. And if you can get some of the little House movies from the library, that would help you to be able to see a mother in the home. Also, the Walton movies ... those are so good. Both of these were shows on tv that had their popularity in the 70s.
We do have to go back to a time when the family was important. The Bible says to go back to the ancient paths to learn what they have to teach us. I mean, we just don't have any example of her in this age. One of my favorite home videos to watch is "Sarah Plain and Tall." And then there are two other movies after this, "Skylark" and "Winters End." They are Hallmark movies. I also love the shows that are a take off from the book Ann of Green Gables. They are called "Tales of Avonlee." And then, of course, the Christy movies are good to show you morals. I used to get all of the Shirley Temple movies for our Mary to teach her manners. But, anyway, some of you who have never seen a stay at home mother need to find one to look at. And if it is only through the movies, so be it. Whoever wrote the script knew a stay at home mother and is showing you one.
And, you know, we need to have fun with running our homes and use our imaginations when the times get boring. Many times, when I am just plain befuddled as to where to start in my day, I will say to myself, "Wisdom is coming to my house today at 3:00 for tea. I have to get ready for her."
And I just clean the house for this wonderful woman of wisdom to come to my house for a visit. I call her Ruby, and I want Ruby to think I have a house of wisdom. So I run about and clean and get ready for Ruby to come to my house.
I will think to myself, "Well, I better get supper done for Papa before Ruby comes, as we may while the afternoon away with conversations of wisdom and teachings. I want to have everything done so I can just sit at Ruby's feet and hear her words. She is my older Titus Mother." And, as long as we are childlike and have an imagination, we can be happy in our homes. As we see Ruby coming, we will see wisdom coming to our homes, too. This is an act of faith that we are learning wisdom.
I think one of the best homemaking tips I would give you is to to get your cooking done in the mornings. Start the family meal soon after breakfast. Then just refrigerate it, or whatever. But, usually, your main event of the day is the family meal, and if you can wrap the rest of the housework around the famiy meal, this helps you to be organized. If your big meal is in the afternoon, then this is even more reason to begin it right after breakfast.
And also, put your husband first and before the children. I always cooked what Jim wanted and my children learned to eat it.
And ya know, dear Kitchen Saints? No one ever did anything in this world who didn't have an imagination. All of the great inventors, artists , musicians , writers and scientists all used their imaginations to bring things forth in the physical. Your laboratory is your kitchen, and you are a painter and artist, too. You are creating homes that are works of art for the world to see and bounce off from. You are sculpting a masterpiece.
Your job is really harder than the wives in the 50s or even the 70s. Because you have to pop right out of the ground. Straight up you come, with no one and nothing to bounce off from. You are to be your own creation.
Ya know, I love the hillbilly housewife recipes. She has a writing about apron evangelism. I loved what she said about aprons.
But dear Mothers, just shut the world out and get some "Little House on the Praire" movies and books and ask the Lord to teach you through these. Also, if your library has the real old cookbooks, get a big stack of them and study them. Go back to an era when family meant something and re-route your thinking.
Now, Barbara Swell's books are so inspiring. Surround yourself with godly women, even if it only through books.
Put pictures on the wall of mothers in long calico dresses holding babies and enjoying her many children. We women of the 2000s need all the pictures and help we can get. The Bible says to keep the word before your eyes. This is one way to keep the word concerning Keepers at Home before your eyes, with pictures of Godly mothers on the wall.
Keep notebooks of your household schedules. And only go out once a week for errands. The rest of your week should be knee deep in children hanging at your apron and recipes swirling in your heads.
Be happy and sing as you do your chores. Ya know, the old time mothers had a song they sang as they mixed and kneaded their bread. One lady told me that her Mama was like this when she was a little girl, and my friend said she thought, when she became a young bride, that you couldn't make bread unless you sang this song her Mama sang. The song was part of the recipe for bread.
Here are a few more tips:
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Get up early in the morning and get dressed, and clean up the living room first. This way, if ya get unexpected company at the door, you are ready to answer it. When our husbands go out the door to work, we have to be ready to be responsible adults to tend to the problems of the day.
Before you start homeschool, have the house in order. Top clean, so that the children can feel they are organized. And usually, if ya don't get school done in the mronings, ya don't get it done. So try to start around 8 or 9:00, then break for lunch, then finish up after lunch.
Rest in the afternoon. Read the Bible and write down recipes or craft ideas. After you rest, do your main cleaning projects in the afternoon. Then stop and put supper on ... if you started it after breakfast, it won't be such an interruption to get it together and hot for when Daddy's car rolls into the driveway.
Maybe the children had out toys and games to play in the afternoon. Make sure the toys are picked up before Daddy comes home for supper. Teach the children that Dad is tired and wants to rest and have things orderly ... don't let the children have friends in when Dad just gets home.
The supper hour should be a sacred family time to be quiet and enjoy each other. Dad should be able to sit down and not be interrupted, so he can collect his thoughts after work. You, Mother, have had your afternoon to rest and pray, and Dad hasn't. So let him eat in peace. If the phone rings, you go get it. If the baby spills her milk, you clean it up. You should be ready to guard your husband's quiet time. He has given you the priveledge to stay home with the children, so you should respect him.
RELATED LINKS:
Hillbilly Housewife - There aren't any exotic meals here, only family-friendly recipes that use basic ingredients. The recipes are all tested in a real kitchen with hungry children, stalking cats, begging puppies and a playful husband underfoot.
Apron Evangelism - philosophies on the pleasure & power of aprons
Native Ground Music: Kitchen & Home - Step into Barbara Swell's kitchen as she dishes up delicacies from times past. Her best-selling cookbooks are packed with historic old-time recipes and cooking methods, kitchen proverbs, folk remedies, romantic advice, autograph rhymes, food insults, table manners, vintage photos, and more than a cupfull of homegrown humor.
