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Showing posts with label home keeping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home keeping. Show all posts

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Worth Repeating - Bless the Hands and Hearts




Proverbs 31:25-28 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 


Bless the Hands and Hearts


"Lord, bless the hands that made this meal;
these young, unseasoned hands of the new wife.
Bless the hands that reach for her mother's recipe book,
and that wipe tears of homesickness from her cheeks.
Bless her hands, Lord.

"Bless the efficient, work-worn hands of the mother of eight;
the hands that wipe runny noses, hang out laundry
and knead big batches of bread.

"Bless these hands, Lord, these wrinkled, shaky hands of Grandma;
the hands that cook for only one but could tell stories of meals for twelve...
these tender hands that have guided other hands in learning to cook.

"And Lord, especially bless their hearts.

"Bless the heart of the young wife, Lord--
The one who tries so hard to cook attractive and
nourishing meals for her new husband;
the one who pours so much love and care into each dish.

"Bless the heart of the busy mother,
she who so often is weary but still rejoices in her family.
The heart of she who always prays for those for whom she is cooking,
the heart that weeps with the struggling teen,
that encourages the budding cook,
that worries over the little one whose appetite is poor.

"Bless the heart of the aged cook,
the heart who has spent and been spent in the service of others,
the heart that beats strong with love for God,
yet grows weaker each passing day.

"Thank You, Lord, for each meal prepared by these dear hands,
tempered by these loving hearts. Amen."

- Faith Sommers
     copied


source of photos unknown

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Simplify - In Danger of Cute Box Overload




Recently I bought a recipe binder for the recipes we print off of the internet. It came is a beautiful box decorated with strawberries. Strawberries are one of my favorite motifs, so I wanted to keep the box to cut it up for some purpose. However, it suddenly occurred to me that it is probably the right shape and size to package up a plate that I have been needing to send overseas for some time. The plate needs to be double boxed, but I was having trouble getting a box for the inner one that would be close to the same size as the plate and help stabilize it in the bigger box when surrounded by packing materials. I resigned myself to the probability that I will use it for that and, after all, it's a good use of it!

Do you have a problem with wanting to save cute or useful boxes that come in the mail or with products inside of them? I don't know if anyone else here does, but I do. I am always thinking that a box "could be useful" or is too pretty or sturdy or generally "useful" to just put it in the trash. Thankfully, Dana K. White at A Slob Comes Clean has the same issue. She also has a useful solution that can really help in dealing with these things.

Enjoy! :-)


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Tuesday, February 22, 2022

A Recipe for Hummus from the Deeply Snowy North Country

 


Photo property of Jennifer at My Cubby Crafts.

Here's a recipe for hummus from Jennifer at My Cubby Crafts, along with a little about their very snowy winter life where she lives. :-) I like the idea of hummus without tahini since I'm not a big fan of tahini myself, although I like sesame seed otherwise. Hummus is one of my favorite foods. I would eat it every day if my body would tolerate it. I hope you can enjoy trying this recipe out. Eat a little for me too. ;-)

Here is the link:

Homemaking Mondays: Snacks and Snow

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Tips for Decluttering when You Are Emotionally Exhausted from Dana White


Here are some helpful pointers on how to deal with areas that need help even when you feel emotionally exhausted. Life has been "too much" on so many levels the last couple years that it can make us freeze up on things we see as non-essential. But, over time that can mean that cluttered or problem areas can get out of control and just add to our stress. These tips can help us at least make progress without making emotional decisions.


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Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Kitchen Tip - Transporting or Storing A Pie with A Creamy Topping

If you don't have a pie carrying container, it can sometimes be difficult to store or transport a pie with a creamy top. If you just cover the pie with plastic film or aluminum foil it may stick to the topping and pull it off when it's removed. 

Some years back I tried this solution and it worked quite well for me in this instance: I wadded up some plastic film and place it gently on the top of the pie. Then I covered the all of this somewhat lightly with more plastic film, pressing it around the edges so that it would stay on. As you can see from the following photos, it worked reasonably well. The pie kept quite nicely and the topping was not pulled off  or ruined when the plastic film was removed.







Sunday, May 9, 2021

A Selection of Things for Mother's Day



I started to write something for today, but it isn't finished. I know, we've been down this street before. Anyway, here's a selection of things that might encourage of bless you today. :-)

Tender Strength - A photo and some thoughts from my own family history.


From Mom's Collection - A selection of items that my mom saved over the years. A variety of topics.


Mother's Question - A poem with a thought provoking question.


A Christian Mother's Life - A poem.


In Honor of Mothers - Scripture and pictures.


Bless the Hands and Hearts - A prayer.


Thorns - An encouragement for mothers whose babies died before birth.


I Love Homemaking... - Rejoicing in the the lovely work that God has given.

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Reader Comments - Dealing with Laziness and Low Motivation




Reader's Question:

I’ve been reading your blog and I currently work part time, but because of the virus, I am not technically working right now and this time has made me realize how lazy I am. I don’t want to be this way and I’m trying to change, but I feel the saying is true that old habits die hard. Do you have any tips on how to stop being lazy and get down to homemaking? Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer:

I struggle with the issue of laziness in a somewhat different way because I have some chronic health issues that affect my stamina and ability to accomplish things. In my situation I tend to feel like I'm not accomplishing enough, but when I push myself too hard I often end up with a temporary injury, a migraine or abnormal exhaustion which then forces me to slow down or even stop for a day or more. Sometimes for weeks. Finding the right balance for not feeling lazy and also not overdoing things is challenging sometimes. This is very frustrating, but it also gives me a somewhat different set of issues to deal with. For that reason, I asked my friend, Elisabeth M. to answer this question because her experience comes from a healthy person perspective. :-) I think her advice can be used by all of us in whatever situation we find ourselves battling laziness, lethargy or lack of motivation. (I'll add some more observations farther on.)

Here's what she wrote:

Continue Reading.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

One Bed Garden - Successive Plantings


Here is a video showing how much food can be grown in one small bed over the course of a growing season by making successive plantings (reusing spaces). This could be done in even a small back yard (garden).



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Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Tutorial for Making Paper Snowflakes


A simple tutorial for making paper snowflakes. To copy the various designs shown pause the video.
Enjoy! :-)
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Job 38:22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 

Snowflakes are beautiful,
Pure and white,
And like God's children,
No two are alike.
- unknown

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

How to Make Your Own Brown Sugar


Photo property of shop.myblueprint.com


Making your own brown sugar is very easy. My mom started doing it years ago because we enjoyed eating it on our hot cereal and it was more expensive than white sugar. (That's one of those ridiculous things where you pay more for something that takes less effort because brown sugar isn't processed as long as white, but I digress.) My mom made hers in a food processor. I make mine in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. This tutorial shows mixing it by hand with a fork.

Make Brown Sugar

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Sew Happy Wednesday - Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Bags


Here are two tutorials for making your own shopping bags. One is a soft bag that would be comfortable to carry on your shoulder perhaps in a farmer's market. The other is a large sturdy tote for carrying large amounts of groceries home from the store.

Photo: Sew4Home.com



Photo: Sew4Home.com

DIY Re-usable Grocery Bags



Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Worth Repeating - How to Make Ends Meet


This post was first published here in August 2011. I thought it might be helpful to someone again. :-) I added some vintage photos just for interest.
---------------


Here is a good blog post on How to Make Ends Meet.  


Please read the comments too. At the time that I linked to this there were a few that really added to the article itself.

By the way, this is something that all of us need to think about and there are things that all can put into practice, even those who don’t have such a limited budget at the moment. If you don’t see the need for that you must not know what is going on in the world or are willfully ignorant of it. As it says in Proverbs 23:5, Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

1 Timothy 6:6-7 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.



Saving bacon grease for future use.
My mother used to do this. In fact, she still has a bacon grease tin as far as I know. :-)

------------------------
Source of photos unknown.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Homemade Hairspray - Link



Here is short tutorial for making your own homemade hairspray. I have not tried it yet, but I think it is very interesting and something worth considering. For those who have allergies to fragrances and perfumes and certain ingredients in things like hairspray, this is a possibly alternative. My friend Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose shared this great idea. :-)

Citrus Hairspray


By the way, I use clear aloe vera gel instead of hair gel. Mine still has some questionable ingredients, but it is much better than the usual ingredients in many hair products. It provides a gentle hold but, for me, it is sufficient for most days just to keep my hair a little neater.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Some Thoughts on "Titus 2 Women"


Here is a new article published on The Home Maker's Corner tonight.

-----------------------

Some time back I found this statement on a blog about being Titus 2 women:

"Mature women have so much they can teach younger women; homemaking skills, cooking, keeping a home, decorating, budgeting, how to shop, and the list goes on." [Source withheld for her privacy.]

This sparked some thoughts in me. While the author did talk about passing on spiritual knowledge and wisdom, this sentence caught my attention as she seemed to be emphasizing these earthly things to some degree. Furthermore, I've seen plenty of women who do focus on such things, sometimes to the exclusion of the spiritual.

So, let's consider this a moment. Here is what the three verses in that chapter actually say relating to women:

Titus 2:3-5 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Does it actually say in the passage that the aged women should be teaching homemaking skills, cooking, decorating, etc.?...

Continue Reading.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

I Love Homemaking...




Here is a fun and thoughtful list of reasons to love homemaking, especially if you can be a full time keeper at home. I first published this on the Home Maker's Corner years ago and I do not know for sure where I got this list or who Laine is, but I hope you enjoy reading it. There are many privileges to being a full time homemaker. I find it somewhat provoking that some women are offended when we value them like we should. Hopefully this will inspire others to see that this is a valuable and useful "career choice." ;-)

I Love Homemaking... - by Laine

Friday, December 29, 2017

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for Cute Felt-Backed Coasters


Image property of sew4hom.com

These coaster would be a fun way to add some color to a room, or they would make great gifts. One might even fit into a card to be mailed. (Check to see if it needs extra postage.)

They also look pretty easy to make. If you have scraps of felt and some stray quilting patches, these would come together quite quickly. This is also a good way to practice top-stitching if it's something you struggle with. These coasters are not a big project and can be used for awhile and then discarded. This is much better place to learn a new skill than on a garment or a big project. :-) The tutorial is at sew4home.com

Link: Felt and Fabric Coasters

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Martha and Mary – A poem by Annie Johnson Flint


This post originally went up in October of 2011. Since then it has become one of the most popular posts on my blog. I think you will see why when you read the poem below.



Do you ever feel like there’s just too much to do and that you can’t get it all done?  Do you feel like you don’t have enough time for the things that really count?  I love this poem.  It thrills me at the end, as so many of Miss Flint’s poems do.  She had such a way with words and such an order to her thoughts. Thank God for preserving these for us!  This one really helps us to re-adjust our perspective and consider the things that are truly needful.
--------------------------

Martha and Mary

Martha was busy and hurried,
Serving the friend divine,
Cleansing the cups and platters,
Bringing the bread and wine;
But Martha was careful and anxious
Fretted in thought and in word.

She had no time to be sitting
While she was serving the Lord,
For Martha was "cumbered with serving,
Martha was "troubled" with "things"---
Those that would pass with the using---
She was forgetting her wings.

Mary was quiet and peaceful,
Learning to love and to live.
Mary was hearing His precepts,
Mary was letting Him give---
Give of the riches eternal,
Treasures of mind and of heart;
Learning the mind of the Master,
Choosing the better part.

Do we ever labor at serving
Till voices grow fretful and shrill,
Forgetting how to be loving,
Forgetting how to be still?
Do we strive for "things" in possession,
And toil for the perishing meat,
Neglecting the one thing needful---
Sitting at Jesus' feet?

Service is good when he asks it,
Labor is right in it's place,
But there is one thing better,
Looking up in his face;
There is so much he can tell us,
Truths that are precious and deep;
This is the place where he wants us,
These are the things we can keep.

Annie Johnson Flint

Luke 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.




(I took this picture in the corner of my mom’s kitchen, and yes those are real amaryllis.)

I love this picture in contrast with the one of my messy, stress-filled kitchen at the top.  It is so simple. So beautiful. So quiet.  Yet there is strength there as well.  It speaks to me of quiet waiting on the Lord and the slow, strengthening growth and beautifying that comes with that.  May God help us to seek out the quiet corners of our lives where we can focus on the precious, lasting things.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Our Guest Room Do-over, Part 2 – In the Process

 

See Part 1 here.

The process of painting the room took much longer than I expected.  It took more primer to cover these mid-tone walls than I expected.  That means it also took more work!

The work began with removing a lot of things, taking down blinds and laying plastic to cover the floor.  I also covered a few things that we didn’t remove from the room so they wouldn’t get paint on them.

In the above photo you can see a piece of plywood on the floor.  This is covering a weak place in the floor which was caused by water damage before we moved in.  My husband hoped to repair it before his parents came, but the painting took up too much time, so this part was tabled for “later”.

The window frames and storm windows are removable from the inside, which was helpful.  Here you can see that the taping had been started.

I had a new mop head for an old mop that I no longer used much, so I popped it on, sprayed my homemade surface cleaner on it and mopped the walls. :-)  I had tried to remove all the nails, but they were hard to see on this paneling, and over time there had been a lot of them put in!  Anyway, the mop sponge got kind of torn up, but it did the job.

The room began to look SO much better with just the white primer started!

It took three coats of primer to cover the walls acceptably.  All the grooves in the paneling also had to be painted by hand with a brush because the roller didn’t get them well enough.  Of course, the edging was done that way as well.  Sadly, my taping job wasn’t all that great, so we did end up with some white and blue on the trim.  Oh, well.  The room was never meant to be perfect what with the stained carpet and damaged floor!

I was very blessed to have a lot of help on this project!  A friend of mine gave me a good chunk of help two different days and my mom helped with the brushing in the middle areas during the primer stage.  My husband also helped a lot when he was able.

And the paint goes on!

We only had one can of paint and we didn’t want to run out and have to buy more.  Another can might not have matched perfectly which would have meant another coat for the entire room.  It took at least two coats of paint as it was, and maybe a bit extra in some places. I think I spread it too thin on the first coat.  I was being too careful to make it “go far enough” I guess.

In between the painting I worked on other things for the room.  Cleaning up some of the décor, printing and framing pictures, and sewing were some of the projects.  Here is my dear mom taking a nap in our living room after helping me by pinning the valances I was making for above the windows. :-)

Some things I wanted to get done had to be abandon for the time being because I realized (with my husband’s help) that I didn’t have time or strength before my in-laws came and the important things were the painting and getting the bed set up.  Funny thing was that at least one of my ideas turned out to be unnecessary later on.  I was able to work around it quite nicely and with much less effort. :-)  It is good to not overachieve sometimes, and as Christians it’s good to remember how temporary things of this life are and be content with simpler.  I really needed to not be exhausted during my in-laws visit – and thank the Lord, I wasn’t!

I did a lot of looking online trying to find a bed spread, comforter, or quilt for the bed.  I’d thought to make my own, but that was way out of reach in such a short timeframe.  I concluded that I wanted something not too pricey, not too fancy, not too fluffy and not too light colored.  I knew guests would be sitting on it as there isn’t much seating in the room and I didn’t want them to feel like they would soil it or crush it if they did.  I ended up buying a very inexpensive one at Wal-Mart that should serve fine for a guest room that isn’t heavily used.  I also decided I should look for something that I would like to use in our bedroom or the living room if I want to make a quilt for the guest room later.  The one I ended up getting happily fits all the requirements.  I  feel like the Lord helped me with that.  And, my husband was probably glad I settled for something “cheap, pretty and good”. :-)  (Sorry, no picture at this point.  Can’t spoil the surprise.)

My sister-in-law helped take the tape down the day after the paint was all done and then another day she helped set up furniture.  The two of us got quite a bit done.  We got the bedframe from a storage shed, cleaned it and set it up, and collected other furniture and tried out some different options. 

The footboard that I was going to convert into a headboard didn’t work out because the paint had been damaged and also the knobs for the posts had been lost. :-P  (My husband said he may be able to fix it up at a later date.)  My sister-in-law said we should attach a board where the headboard would have attached to keep the metal from rubbing the wall.  I think I was the one who suggested rolling it in an old bed sheet we’d used as a drop cloth for further protection.  It worked out great as you can see in the picture. :-)

I know I’ve just tantalized you with this post, so please come back for Part 3 to see the results! :-)