When I was growing up there was a book in our church library that I loved to check out called Richard Scarry’s A Story A Day. It had 365 short stories and poems, and my favorite one was Lucky Mrs. Hen (page 77).
The story starts off with a dark rain storm. Mrs. Hen decides to
clean her house, while the neighbors just stare out the window and
lament the rain, having wanted to work in the garden.
But little Mrs. Hen put on her apron and cleaned her
house. When every corner was spick and span, she did her baking,
clucking happily to herself. Then she made doughnuts. Just as she was
sprinkling them with sugar, the rain stopped and pop! out came the
sun!
“Just in time,” clucked Mrs. Hen. “I’ll wash windows.”
She did. And she cut her grass and planted her garden. Then, since the
day was so beautiful, she packed a picnic basket.
Then I remember she asked all of her neighbors to go on a picnic, but each one
said that the bright sunshine made their homes look so dirty that they
had to clean them after weeding, and they couldn’t just go gallivanting
off any time they felt like it. They sounded very snippy, but she
didn’t notice.
The story ends…She waved good-by, and without a care in
the world, she went off to have her picnic in the beautiful, sun-shiney,
springtime woods.
Back then I couldn’t see that doing your work first thing instead of
moping could later result in “being lucky” by freeing up your time to do
what you wanted.
“Of course I would clean my house if it rained,” I
thought. “I’d love to.” (It’s pouring rain right now, and I’m not
cleaning!)
Though today I can see the “lucky” wisdom of doing your work
early and quickly every morning more than ever. How long did I go
without doing a basic morning routine because “I didn’t feel like it”?
Last year I read a very interesting book by Cassandra Aarssen called The Clutter Connection, How Your Personality Type Determines Why You Organize the Way You Do. The first time I took her test was on her website, Clutterbug.me , I came out as a “Butterfly.” But when I read her mini online book detailing the four different organizing styles that are based on your personality, I thought I was a Bee who coveted being a Cricket! (See her website for a quick explanation of the four Clutter Bugs.) I bought this book since it goes into depth on the four areas, with color pictures, and I wanted to know more. I was skeptical of her test and felt that the questions weren’t clear enough, so I took the test several times on different days, and again after reading each of the four sections of her book. I felt that on many of the questions I could answer “Yes” to 3 out of the 4 scenarios. So one time I did this on all the questions, and then added up my score that way.
Priscilla Poynter I spent many, many years unorganized. After reading countless books and decluttering, I just had my best Christmas ever, even though I was ill Dec. 21 & 22. I had NO STRESS. Everything was on schedule! Let me share with you the four steps I took to move from Christmas Chaos to Christmas Calm : 1) Write up, then type up, your Christmas Countdown . This is what MY list looks like: Christmas Countdown January Buy Christmas cards for next year (I do actual Christmas cards, not photo cards). Go to post office and buy Christmas stamps (I did this today, and saved myself the postage increase happening Jan. 21, 2018) Shop online for after-Christmas sales - Christmas themed items for next Christmas (it can be gifts, partyware, decor, wrapping paper, etc.) Place large empty box or Christmas bag into closet for gifts bought throughout the year, with post-it note for who it is for, or you will forget! Type up Christmas card list and
Hello Beautiful Homemakers! It occurred to me that, since half of my readers are already married, we could also study the book Secrets of Fascinating Womanhood at the same time we are reading the Original 1922 Fascinating Womanhood pamphlets, because they go hand in hand. This is not the book by Helen Andelin entitled Fascinating Womanhood . She rewrote the pamphlets and added in her own observations, Bible verses, and eventually, reader testimonials. This book, Secrets of Fascinating Womanhood, was written by David Coory. The story I heard years ago is that his wife had taken the class in the 1960s, and he was so happy in their marriage afterwards, that he put his book into a “class” format – with Helen Andelin’s permission – and with at least 20 testimonials from her files. I am reading the updated version of the book, so sometimes you can tell that this is from the 1960’s ($25 to buy an entire outfit) and other times updated words have been used such as “la
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