Marching into Spring

Hi All!  As I blog-hop about, I am ever so aware that everyone, everywhere is so done with Winter!  And psychologically I am too, but climatologically – not so much.  We had the 3rd snowiest February on record, and my yard is still quite covered with white.  Which actually helps when you are taking photos indoors on a partly cloudy day.  So, I know my little Snowpeople salt-and-pepper set won’t meet much enthusiasm.  They are from a dinnerware line I treated myself with this January.  With the after-Christmas sales, the prices were quite reasonable on the Pfaltzgraff website (and they gave me 15% off for signing up for e-mails, most of which I just delete without reading).  The line is called Evergreen Ernie, and features pastel blues and greens and snowflake motifs without anything Christmas-y, which is perfect for the several weeks of snowy weather which prevails in my area.
But wait, Mr. Cottontail wants to make his presence known!

Lest we forget Easter’s impending arrival later this month!
And BTW, the lovely lacey doilies (which in my mind resemble snowflakes, but not so much that they aren’t suitable for year-round use), are made by tatting.  I have done a little tatting and find it fascinating, but never anything large, just edging and one time, a bookmark shaped like a cross to use with a Bible.

I want to share with you a book I have read nearly cover-to-cover.  Over the years when I have frequented homemaking/housekeeping blogs, I have seen references to this book: Home Comforts:  The Art & Science of Keeping House, and I would think, in passing, “Maybe I should see if they have it at the library/bookstore/Goodwill…”.  One day last summer, I picked it up at the GW Outlet for a quarter!  It is worth sooooo much more.  I won’t do a review of it here.  I’ll just say that it was hugely inspiring for me and endlessly informative.    Cheryl Mendelson holds a similar philosophy to mine, and I so appreciate her eloquence in putting it into words.  (That sounds a little overstated, to say that I have an actual philosophy when it comes to homekeeping, I should just say that it is important to me, I don’t do it well, and I am helpless to resist the drive to improve.)  This has been a consistent interest, and in my earlier mothering years when I had my children in a daycare, and I was working very hard and long hours, I was suppressing my desire to be in my home, and discounting the importance of the home environment in the life of the family. Can you see the  title of the first chapter, under “BEGINNINGS”?  It is: “My Secret Life”.  She tells her story of being in academia, and then a corporate law practice, but maintaining a strong interest in the ancient and dying art of domestic management.  I immediately identified with her.
Even in this day of rampant social connectivity, I would venture to say that few, if any of my former professional contacts, either colleagues or acquaintances are aware of the side of my life I share in my blog.  Even now, when women have so many opportunities and choices, it seems like professional life and domestic life are mutually exclusive.  At least in this place, at this time. 

One of my favorite things is to read vintage home-ec books, cookbooks, etc.  Anything instructing the housewife of an earlier time how to do the things that need to be done around the house.  It helps me to set my standards and implement the practices to attain them.
One practice that I think is very quaint, but also time-tested, is to have certain tasks for certain days of the week, and I am vaguely following the pattern for the week, trying to establish new routines, to make certain tasks automatic.  For instance, yesterday, (Monday), I tried to get all my laundry done.  I didn’t get it all, but I can say I got most of it done, and I‘m finishing up today.  It is very unusual for me on a Tuesday morning to have most of what I have laundered, actually folded and put away.  Today, I have my ironing board set up….
and I will likely get all the clothing that needs it ironed and hung in the proper closets.  I know not everyone feels this way, but I love to iron.  I love the smell, the feel, and the satisfaction of straightening out wrinkles and the feel of having the smooth cloth under my hand.  For years, I have simply put my husbands shirts on the hangers however they came out, and often they looked “good enough”, and if they didn’t, he was on his own to pass the iron over them in the morning. 
When I was a little girl, around 7 or 8 years old, I showed an interest in ironing, and my mother taught me on my father’s white cotton handkerchiefs, and her linen dish towels.  Later, I graduated to my father’s white shirts that he wore with his suits to work.  I got paid a nickel apiece, and I was very proud when my mother told my father who had placed all the crisp white shirts in his closet.  In those days, we didn’t have a clothes dryer, and used a clothesline.  Nothing beats the smell of clean clothes from a clothesline.

I will not likely get to the table linens this week.  But that to me is the beauty of the system.  If you don’t finish everything this week, you have a protected time next week to hack away at it again.  I want to get to where we are using cloth napkins most of the time, and significantly decrease our paper napkin waste.
A peek at some of my collection.This is the one on top.  Another 25 cent purchase from GW Outlet!  It’s a hit-or-miss way to shop, I often find treasures.  More from this one another time.
Come on Spring!  We need warmer days to melt the snow away, and give my bulbs a chance.

Something’s Happening…

Can you guess what it is?

Shall I give you a hint?

Okay, maybe just one.
Remember that I am easily influenced….by what I see on the

on the blogs of the talented and creative, people who love to be surrounded by order and beauty.  I admire those who exert creative mastery of their environments.  I am trying to bring more of own self-expression into my surroundings.  I am giving weight, importance (and therefore time and effort) to making my home more cozy and pleasant, more orderly and comfortable.
My latest influence is Rita May (and her Traveling Yorkies).
Rita is a genius of styling her home, and that is what I am working on.  She is constantly changing things around, and is very in tune with the seasons.  And since she does so much with “tablescapes”, that is one area where I am developing my skills.  And along the way I am getting some cleaning and decluttering taken care of!
More to come…

The Mode in Dress and Home

Let's visit a Home Ec class in another era, shall we?

Get your cup of tea, and sharpen your pencil, we'll still be here when you come back.

Have you got your notebook? Let's get started. We will be using the textbook "The Mode in Dress and Home".

Written by Dulcie Godlove Donovan

Illustrated by Eulalie Banks

Published by Allyn and Bacon in 1935

Why Home Ec? What will we accomplish? Let's see what is promised in the Foreword.

" 'The Mode in Dress and Home' aims ----

1. To help pupils to develop physically, mentally, esthetically and socially.
2. To teach the fundamentals of selecting, constructing, and caring for clothing and home furnishings.
3. To give particular instruction in intelligent buying.
4. To help pupils to form good habits and to cooperate at school, at home, and in the community."

Well, it seems a bit vague, but admirable. Let's get to the specifics.

Can you read the Table of Contents? Unit I is on "The Charm of an Attractive Appearance" and consists of 3 chapters:

1. It is Easy to be Good Looking
2. Spending Our Time and Money
3. Shopping Weekly

Tune in next time for the highlights I will share from this Unit.

What I did for Columbus Day, or How NOT to Waste a Day Off on Housework...

Last Monday was Columbus Day and I had the day off from work. The kids were home from school. And if you read my last post, you know that the nursery near the office was closing for the season and I had to get over there to get the bargains. Last day.
I wish I were a good housekeeper. If I were, I would have the skill to map out a good day off. I would balance work(household chores) and play(shopping, gardening, crafty stuff, and blogging), and by supper, have a nutritious, delicious home-cooked meal on the table. But unfortunately, I lack the self-discipline to make a day like that happen. At least, I did last Monday. I still aspire to such a day. The next day off is Thanksgiving and that's always mayhem, so my model day-off will have to wait until, oh, I dunno, MLK Day? So, instead of indulging in any more self-loathing because of the dust, the clutter, and the mediocre menu around here, I'll share with you the fruits of the shopping I did last Monday. You've already seen my nursery visit bounty, but what I didn't tell you was I also thrifted at Goodwill, and went to Michael's and A.C. Moore, both of which are nearer to the office than home, so I justified it with the old tried-and-true "Weellll, since I was in the neighborhood....."

I went into Goodwill first. I usually don't find much to interest me in our Goodwill. I visit blogs where I see really great stuff people bring home from their thrifting trips and wonder why my local GW has so little to offer. And sometimes I think maybe I would have passed up the very treasures featured on others' blogs, and only now find them interesting because of the blogger's vision of how they can be restored, or re-purposed or creatively displayed with what they already have (and which I don't). But this time was different... I had spent the weekend crawling through every post in the archives of a blogger new to me, and whose creativity and photographs had me mesmerized. This dear lady is a quilter, and her quilts are so attractive because of the eye she has for mixing colors, choosing just the right mix of hues of the right shade and value. I fell in love with her palette. She also puts a new twist on old-fashioned, like yo-yo patchwork, applique, and her latest, a crochet pillow. She makes me want to crochet little floral vignettes for pincushions. Take a look: Her blog is Knot Garden, click on the link on my blog list, it's post after post of some serious eye candy.

I especially love the way she styles her photos, and inspired me with her button collections displayed in lovely little pin dishes, or sandwich plates, or what have you. In my first picture above, you can see what I found with that inspiration in mind.

In the second photo, I show you what I found among the yarns. There were quite a few more there than the last time. And among the usual synthetics, I found the (vintage?) small skeins of fingering weight Bear Brand wool, some crochet cottons, and two synthetics I could acept. One is the white baby yarn by Sindar, and the other is a current yarn (that I have had trouble finding to finish a pair of socks! More on that later...), Caron Simply Soft Tweed in Med. (or Dark?) Sage. Now the 3rd picture is the loot I brought from Michael's. All those colors of crochet cotton are so I can try making the little crocheted pansy doily edging I've looked at a million times and the daisy insertions, and whatever other colorful little clever flower-y stuff I can find. Oh yeah, and I needed to fill out my choices for lavenders and greens for embroidering (and pinks and yellows too). The last two pictures are just some of my favorite colors in a lighter wt. yarn than I usually use. I really do prefer the wools, alpacas, silks, bamboos, etc., but for now, these synth. yarns are the compromise I make for my budget's sake. I will continue to knit and crochet with these while I get to know which patterns I want to make with an "investment fiber". At least that's what I tell myself.

The last pic is not just because that baby is so cute I can hardly stand it. A few years ago I knit that little jacket. In the yellow just like the picture. And I still haven't sewn it together! I even bought adorable little white ducky buttons for it. So I posted the pic and made this confession to shame myself into moving forward with it... After all, I know of two babies on the way!

Soooooo busy!

I have missed blogging! I have been so busy living my real life that I had to let blogging go for a little while. And I'm back today. I hope this means I'm back to regular blogging but I'm not sure. Some exciting opportunities have come our way at work. My husband and I work together for the same company, which has had a marathon struggle in this economy. It's beginning to look like we are turning a corner, and that means the opportunity to do the real work. And that means adjustments for me in my daily life, and continuing to look for the balance to live it all healthfully and richly.

Recently, Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality posted about balancing blogging with her real life. Would you believe it? I didn't read that post. I didn't want to. Because I didn't want to think about what was working and what was not working. Not just yet. Now I think I am ready.

Today, I rejoined FLY Lady. Do you know her? It's Marla Cilley, who wrote a book and runs a website entirely devoted to helping people gain control of their lives and households. She stresses getting rid of clutter, developing healthy habits, and making household chores into quick and relatively effortless routines. She is a cheerleader for you when you are hard on yourself for your "failures". I had adopted many of her methods a few years ago, but I have gradually let one thing after another slide.
I don't know what the trigger is when I decide to change something big. What about you? What makes anyone decide to do better at something? Why quit smoking? Eat more nutritiously? Get regular exercise? Maybe I'm just being a late bloomer. Again. I didn't (and never do) make out New Year's resolutions. But maybe they have been percolating in the back of my brain. Maybe because of the beginning of Lent? I've never committed to a Lenten sacrifice, although as a Lutheran, I do observe Lent. I considered giving up chocolate, or sweets. But I must admit, I feared failure, as I am surrounded by temptations as we entertained international clients last week, and have more arriving this week. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and I know that giving up sweets would be a very effective sacrifice. But I also really think you have to have your mind very focused on why you are doing it, and right now, I think I would be doing it to impress myself with how "good" I can be. Which, besides missing the point of making a sacrifice, is a set-up to beat myself up should I give in to temptation, and be "bad". So I am not going there this year.

So that's where my head has been in the last few days. Thinking about busyness, clutter, Lent, and doing a better job taking care of myself, my family and our home.

Well, that and wishing the temperature would get colder so I could get outside and go skating at the outdoor skating rink.

Random Thoughts

Let's see....how many different things do I have swirling around in my brain as I try to drain every precious moment out of my Saturday?
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I have started doing the laundry.......which is enough to keep me busy all the day long, especially if I can get everyone in the house to strip his bed and bring me the bedding. And then there's the added work if I can get them to rake the carpet of dirty clothes off their floors. It'll make for interesting mornings next week if they don't have their favorite clothes clean to wear to school. Still waiting for that connection to sink in..............
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This morning I scrubbed surfaces in the kitchen with bleach and detergent. Great feeling of accomplishment. In theory, I do this every Saturday morn. In theory. Got the floor mopped too. Haven't yet cleaned out the fridge. Got to, though. Will be doing my grocery shopping tomorrow afternoon. I'm getting back to using this book: Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. I used her menus and recipes last week, and what a relief to know each day coming home that I know what to make, and that I have the necessary ingredients.
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We need a cow.







Or even a goat.



With 3 teen-aged boys in the house, we never have enough milk. When I was growing up, we raised a few dairy goats, and had fresh goat's milk for a few months every year. Didn't think I'd like it, but I did. Every spring when the does freshened, it took a few days to get used to the goats' milk, but when they dried up in the fall, it took a week or two to get used to cows' milk again. My brother and I shared the milking, twice a day.
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Evan turned 16 on Monday. He had hockey practice at 5:30 in the morning, and sprained his left ankle badly. Has been on crutches all this week. Happy 16th birthday, Evan. (Evan is the cutie in this pic.)

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I started a new spiritual discipline today. I found a program online called "Prayers for Your Husband" with 31 things to pray about for your husband, one for each day of the month. I am adding this to the reading of 1 chapter of Proverbs daily. There are 31 chapters, if you aren't familiar with it. I never cease to be amazed at the wisdom in those verses. It has also given me great insight into literary references and quaint old idioms. Makes me realize how much "common wisdom" is rooted in the Bible. (Found on a link from 50's Housewife 's blog; I'll try to re-locate it....) ETA I found the link, here.
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Still pondering knitting, crocheting, and stitching projects.
1. Knitting: Jeff could use another pair of socks, or a few, even. For that matter, all the boys have an endless need for good, sturdy, warm socks. As you may recall, I have a pair of Jaywalker socks started and hibernating, pending a solution for not enough yarn. Last Saturday, I alluded to making the pink, ruffly sweater in Vogue Knitting. But I am also trying to knit solely out of my stash, mostly single skeins, bought out of admiration for the color or the feel or the bargain-clearance price. Most are old enough to have been discontinued, so they are destined to be small accessories, or used together in some sort of stripe-y or block-afghan way. I really need to channel some inspiration on this if I ever hope to earn the right to buy new yarn for a project like the sweater in the mag. (And not only that, you should see the new book I just got. I'll save it for another post, but I just drool at the beautiful sweaters that I really must knit.)


2. Crochet: stash-busting principles apply here as well, but additionally, I have way too much cotton for kitchen towels, potholders, etc. I don't love working with it, as cotton doesn't have much elasticity, but it suits for practical items. I like the idea of making items that can be re-used, in favor of buying disposable things. I will soon start making some "facial pads" to use and wash instead of cotton balls for eye-makeup remover and witch hazel. It won't take long to whip up a dozen or so, and also not very interesting. I did see a clever hot pad on Mary Grace McNamara's site "Hooked on Needles", which she in turn got from another blog. It's a good pattern for using little bits of 3 different colors. Need to give that a try. And then there's always a project which I like the idea of , but don't much enjoy doing. I make "plarn" which is plastic yarn, out of those ubiquitous grocery shopping bags, and crochet up re-usable market bags. I kind of like making plarn in the summer when it's hot and a lapful of afghan is too warm. The kids and I work on it together when watching Red Sox games. (Doesn't everybody?) But crocheting it is hard work, and the hands and forearms will only tolerate so much at a stretch.


3. Stitching: No idea, really, where I'll begin. I read Mary Corbet's blog regularly, and I just want to stitch and stitch on something beautiful...but no idea where to begin. I have a kit I bought last year from Alicia Paulson, and still haven't opened. There's no good reason not to work on Christmas ornaments in January, right? After all, unless the good Lord comes again before next December, I expect 2010 will have a Christmas and we at our household will have a tree to decorate. I didn't buy the kit this year (being on a spending Austerity Plan!), but I think if I am successful with the 1st kit, I can buy the pattern and make it with my own materials. I'll be interested to see if she does another kit next fall.

What projects are you getting started on?