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Being A Joy-filled Homemaker

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

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It is very easy to get caught up in the drudgery of homemaking. Especially if you have gotten behind. Meals constantly need prepared, the dirty dishes never end, laundry piles up, toys are scattered down the hall, and then your toddler wants to show you their newest art project — on the wall…in a combination of pen and crayon.

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(Its a panda)

How do we remain joyful homemakers and mothers when our houses are being destroyed faster than we can clean them?

We must first understand what joy is. According to Merriam-Webster joy is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires”. This type of joy is shallow and has no substance. According to Merriam-Webster, our joy is dependent on our circumstances and can change from one moment to the next.

Scripture speaks of joy differently. Throughout the New Testament, joy is sponken on in spite of the circumstances. James 1:2 tells us to have joy even in the midst of trials. This would be impossible if our joy was found in the circumstances around us. Paul spoke of rejoicing always (Philipians 4:4) while he was imprisoned — a much more dire situation than a messy house.

We can only have this joy because of our salvation. We rejoice that while we are wretched sinners, God has seen fit to grant us so great a salvation.

Joy comes from having peace with God. When our salvation is sure, we can rejoice in our salvation. Then, no matter our circumstances, we can joyfully rest in Christ Jesus.

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Reed Diffuser

Monday, September 20th, 2010

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I love being surrounded by different smells. Lately I have had a thing for citrus, previously it was flowery smells. So, I have been playing with trying to make something besides candles to have around my house. I finally figured out how to make a reed diffuser, and I really like it.

I got a couple of small bottles i had in my pantry. I think I had gotten them from Hobby Lobby, but Ive had them for a few years, so I’m not entirely certain. Bamboo skewers, olive oil, my essential oils, a sharp knife, a cutting board and a funnel

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I cut the points off of the bamboo skewers. For the shorter bottle, I also cut them in half, but for the tall bottle, they seemed to be a pretty good length.

Then I filled the bottle about 1/2 full of olive oil and added about 20 drops of essential oil. I used olive oil as my carrier oil since that is what i had on hand. However, I have read that almond or sunflower oil make a really good carrier oils as well.

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Then I stirred my oil and essential oil with one of the bamboo skewers, and left it there, and added more skewers

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It took over night to have my small one start to have a good scent. The taller still isnt really giving off much, but the skewers are starting to darken, so I dont think I have given it enough time yet.

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Freezer Meals

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

I have serveral times come across the idea of cooking freezer meals so that on those days you simply dont want to cook. (Or, in my case, so that you have a stock of really easy meals postpartum.) While it seemed like a good idea, it also seemed like a lot more effort than I wanted to put into it. I’m pregnant, due any day now, and have a toddler, I simply dont have time to dedicate an entire day to cooking.

So, instead of having a cooking day, I had a cooking week. Everyday for a week, I made one or two extra meals. So, we now have a nice stock of Lamb Stew, Beef Stew, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Fajitas, and Taco Pasta

Hopefully that will be enough to cover meals for a while since I will be having to be taking it easy and love on my new baby.

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Making A Onesie Dress

Friday, August 27th, 2010

I hate yellow. I couldn’t tell you why, I have no idea. But something that is just plain yellow, I really don’t like.

Rachael was given a yellow onesie. No decorations, no little cute appliqué. Just…a yellow onesie. Clothes are clothes, and since she looks pretty good in yellow, she wore it anyway. But that didn’t make me hate yellow any less. Every time I would fold it, I would look at it and remind myself, that I hate yellow. So, I finally decided to do something about it.

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When Rachael was 4 months old, I decided to make her a baby dress. It turned out really cute. But I did have to buy fabric for it twice. I read the directions 6 or 7 times, but still misunderstood them and made a cut on the skirt about 3 inches too long. So the skirt piece went into my box of sewing fabric to not be thought of again for almost a year.

So, to fix the onesie, I pulled out that peice of fabric, along with some scraps from the same project. I captured Rachael and wrapped the skirt peice around her to make sure it would fit. It did, so I decided I’ll make her a onesie dress.

From the other scrap fabric I had, I cut two giant triangles. I just folded my fabric in half, and figured out the biggest triangle I could manage and decided that hopefully it would be big enough to allow walking room.

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Then I cut off the strange curves in the skirt peice, and sewed one of my triangles in. I was glad to see that it was definatly long enough :)

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Then, I put the second triangle on the opposite side, and sewed the sides up. I also clipped the points on either side ‘cuase they looked strange.

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I hemmed the waist, and then turned the skirt inside out and stuck the onesie in it. After guessing about where Rachael’s waist was, I sewed the two together.

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There were a couple things I forgot to take into account. The big one being that the onesie is stretchy and the skirt is not. So, we cant pull it over Rachael’s head like every other dress she has. We have to have her step into it. Also, since I approximated her waist a little low at a certian angle, it looks like the skirt is falling off. I think since she’s almost to tall (but not too wide yet) for the onesie part, I’m just gonna cut off the snaps, and then reattach the skirt a little higher.
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Learning 12 Things

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Recently, I bought Emilie’s Creative Home Organizer.  As I was reading the chapter on Organization, it said, “Studies show that the success rate for people who write down their goals is about 90 times greater than for those who don’t.”  I thought that it was a nice quote, and I probably should be writing down my goals.  If nothing else so that I could remember them.  :)

Then, last night,  I was reading Like A Warm Cup of Coffee and saw that she was starting a link up on learning 12 new things — one a month.  I decided that would be a good way to not only write down the things that I want to learn, but actually do them.

August – Make a basket
September – Make Homemade Tortillas
October – Read Nourishing Traditions
November – Decorate for fall/Thanksgiving
December – Make a wreath
January – Prune a tree
February – Read Home Comforts
March – Design a pattern for a jumper
April – Knit with 2 different colors
May – Make a slip cover for my couch
June – Make pasta
July – Knit from a chart

So, sometime during each of the months, I’ll be posting about how my attempt to learn went.

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Learning to Clean

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Well, I managed to kill my routine. But I’ll keep trying. I had one day that I got behind, so I stayed up really late trying to catch up. Then, I slept in the next morning (I am lucky Rachael lets me do so) But sleeping in put me behind agian….and Ive been behind since Monday, and my poor husband hasnt gotten breakfast since then. So my biggest goal for the week is to get back on schedule. Meaning: go to bed on time and get up on time. I also think I’m gonna have to rework my routine a bit, and schedule some computer time, maybe that will help not spending so much time on the computer.

Rachael’s potty training also isnt going well. But I think that’s my fault, I havnt been consistant enough. But she at least sorta understands, she now tells me almost every time she needs a clean diaper.

I also did a lesson from Polished Cornerstones. I went though my bible and found several characters that exhibited self discipline. Then, during story time with Rachael, I’ve told her about a different person. Today, I’m gonna tell her about Daniel, and how Daniel worked hard, and worshiped God even when it was illegal to do so.

Rachael is also getting big enough that she wants to help me clean the house. We had an potty training accident on the carpet, and I had to pull out the shampooer. Then after I was done, and starting to put it away, I turned around and she had grabbed the hose, and was rubbing it on the floor.

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Then on Monday, I was mopping the kitchen floor. I have found that my floor gets cleaner if I use a rag rather than a mop. So I was on my hands and knees with my back to my water bucket, mopping. Then I heard a splash. My first thought was “please dont let that be what I think it was”. So I turned and there was Rachael standing in a puddle holding a dripping wet rag (where did she find one?) with a HUGE grin on her face. Then she said “mama!” and squatted down and started wash the floor, and then dip the rag back in the bucket.

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Then she did what I expect most 18 month olds would do….she sat in the puddle.

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And people say being a SAHM is boring. :)

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My Proverbs 31 Servants

Friday, July 16th, 2010

I keep hearing people saying that Proverbs 31:10-31 no longer applies because she had servants, and we no longer live in an age that has servants. But last I checked, I have lots of servants in my house. Madam Dishwasher just did the dishes for me. Miss Washing Machine did the laundry. Mrs. Dryer attempted to dry the laundry, but she’s getting kinda old and didnt do a very good job, so it ended up going on the clothes line instead. Mrs. Crockpot already has her assignment to have dinner ready by 6 pm tomorrow. Madam Vacuum and Madam Carpet Shampooer clean my carpets — saving me from having to pull the carpets up, drag them outside and beat them with a carpet rod.
That’s everyone I can think of right now. But it still shows my point, I have lots of servants around my house helping me….

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