Beautiful Homemakers

I did this complete the sentence "quiz" last mother's day and everyone had a lot of fun.  Feel free to copy and paste and make your own version for mother's day.   (A. Sarnoff) If you don't stop, your face will _________.  I only have two ______________! Let me ______________ it and make it better. Go ask your _______________. Because I ______________. Because I'm your ______________. Get your hair out of your ____________. Eat it, it's ______________________. Don't put that in your ______________; you don't know where it's been! I don't care who _______________. If all your friends _________________, would you do it, too? You call that _____________? Clean your plate, there are ______________________. ______________ doesn't grow on trees. Don't ever forget that _________________________. You'll always be my _____________________. www.keeping-house.blogspot.com Possible answers (if giving away priz...

Sallyedelsteincollage.com There are two schools of thought in teaching young children: " Better Early Than Late " and " Better Late Than Early ."  I fall into both camps.  I agree with all those people who see that their preschoolers can memorize anything, and believe you should take this window (that closes around age 7 or 8) to help your child memorize Bible verses, the times tables, helping verbs, and other pertinent life facts.  At age four, my son (like your child) was memorizing a favorite video.  When my husband was aged 4-8 he inadvertently memorized commercials (and can win all jingle contests at parties).  When I was that age we went to church three times a week, and so without trying to, I memorized hymns (for which I am forever grateful!).  But I didn't want my son memorizing The Three Little Pigs video!  So we began Classical Conversations, and I'm glad we did.  He (we) learned a lot.  Their timeline song is amaz...

Decluttering happens in layers.  Thirteen years ago our house was so stuffed from inherited items that we had no space, and the fixer-upper house we had was a bit dismal. Then we had a baby.  First borns come with a lot of stuff! Through concentrated effort I was able to remove all the stuff we didn't use regularly into one bedroom and one large patio room, plus storage over the garage. Layer one was gone through.  We could breathe again. Then two more grandparents went to heaven.  We received a truck load of furniture and stuff.  Beautiful stuff, that brought back memories.  It was so hard to let go of my grandmother's rocking chair.  The extra tv. The china. The fridge magnets. The "good" (unused) towels. Despite letting many things go, we managed to refill all the empty places. I kept going forward with my routines of caring for baby and cleaning.  I stayed out of thrift stores, but not consignment baby stores!  I'd drop off...

Awhile ago I went to an outdoor spa and resort with a vivacious, outgoing, and beautiful friend. Arthur Sarnoff She was also a big flirt.  I was used to her coy behavior, but that day I cringed at her flirtatious ways.   I was embarrassed by all of the men's remarks to her. But one man was surprisingly honest...and hurtful. When she batted her lashes and cooed, "But would you marry me?"...fully expecting his answer to be a flirtatious "Yes!", he instead laughed and replied, "Marry you?  No, I would not marry you.  I would marry your friend.  She would be a good wife.  You would be a great mistress." Shocked, she exited the pool and I found her in the locker room crying, "I am not wife material!  I am mistress material!  That is why my boyfriends don't marry me!  Why can't I find a good man?" Good men, and good women, are to be found though...in the right places.  Do you really want to meet your man in a bar? My mate wo...

Calm.   Peaceful.   Happy.   Content . Happy Family 1955 Eloise Wilkin No more mad morning dashes out the front door. No more being late to work. No more snapping at the kids. No more schedule rearranging. No more sick days. No more melt-downs in the mornings. No more, “Who is picking up the kids today?” No more, “Who will pick up dinner?” No more, “Who will stay with the sick child?” No more, “Not now, I’m working.” How would your life change? He begged her to stay home.   She didn’t feel adequate.   She couldn’t accept his care of her.   She feared abandonment.   “What will it take?” he asked.   She jokingly replied, “A Porsche Cayenne.”   Within a week he had one delivered and demanded she resign.   He told her that he and the kids desperately needed her to be at home.   The chaos and negativity of her job was destroying their home life.   She quit, and the above was her partial list of what...

The Job A. Sarnoff When my baby was 2-1/2 years old, my old job called to see if I could fill in for two and one-half weeks while someone was on vacation.  Lured by the easy money, I readily agreed. I was to begin on a Wednesday, so my DH took off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I left a full fridge, no dirty laundry, and a sparkling clean home.  I was gone 10 hours.  I came home to dinner and a clean home, happy to see baby and daddy. Thursday, same scenario, except the house was no longer sparkling. Friday, I came home to no dinner and a messy house.  I was exhausted, and as I hadn't made the mess, I went on strike.  I wasn't going to do any dishes, laundry, or housework on my weekend.  I did take over caring for baby. For the next two weeks, daddy took baby to grandma and grandpa's house.  Then he went to work.  When he picked little one up, grandma had dinner ready and waiting for him. I began working 12 hour days.  A...

Children think their mothers are beautiful! We are so very beautiful to them, no matter if we have make-up on, are overweight, or are wearing old pajamas with holes in them. They say the sweetest things about how we look that are highly exaggerated.   Write them down!   I keep a small book in the kitchen of all the funny and sweet things my son has said over the years, and funny events, comics, etc.  (I began with scraps of paper I threw in a box.)  How we giggle when we go through it! He just told me I didn't look any different with make-up on, so why do I wear it?  "It's the same old, adorable, beautiful face!"  Ha, ha! When I saw this boy's pin-up, I realized that is truly how our children see us - we are the most beautiful gal in the room. both ads by A. Sarnoff Happy Mother's Day!  You are blessed!   “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” -C. S. Lewis “Love me ...

Photo credit You can alter your life by altering your attitude .   ~ Unknown I embraced my situation in life on April 3, 2000.  I found a support group for a problem in my life that filled me with fear.  I took baby steps in ending the reign of my clutter (I believe I was one of FlyLady’s first 100 people).  I was also one of Rhonda Britten’s (of Starting Over fame) first clients.  I acknowledged myself for the many baby steps I was taking in several directions and my self-confidence grew.  I began to visualize how I really wanted my daily life to be.  It was indeed a journey and I had many instances of confusion deciphering, “What am I committed to?  How do I act?  Where do I spend my time?  What do I want out of life?”  Yet because I was now consciously searching, writing and taking notes, spending an hour a day in prayer, devotion and learning, I had many key instances of clarity, vision, and discovering who I reall...

photo credit We always think we are going to get our life together after the wedding, when we have a better job, after the baby is born,  when the child goes to school, when we get a raise, a dependable car, a bigger home, better organized, finish college, lose ten pounds... Alfred D. Souza said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business...then life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." Instead of being surprised by hardships, I've come to expect them.  When I have a great day, I rejoice! I've recently learned three things: 1)  To accept and bless my present circumstances - there is no better time to be happy than right now!  I have finally accepted the silliest things that bothered me in the past.  I have blessed my small house.  I went through each room...

I love to do things in order – everything simply turns out better!  Our God is a God of order! He tells us that when we seek his Kingdom first, our other concerns will fall into order.  “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33 Your home can be a place of order, but FIRST it needs to be a place of WORSHIP.  Silence, or reading in the sunlight and listening to the everyday sounds of a child playing, or a dishwasher humming, is relaxing and well-worth turning off the radio, computer and t.v. to attain.  Singing a cappella, or with a CD, is a way to bring worship into your home.  You don’t need to practice yoga and sit in silence, emptying your mind, to find serenity. In fact, as Christians, we are called to FILL our minds with Scripture.  When we have questions for God, He often will answer us through memorized Scripture.  And if you haven’t memorized any – or ra...

" Every mother loves to button up her child's clothing and kiss his face," I assured my son after he had once again buttoned his shirt askew and come to me in despair. Beatrix Potter / Peter Rabbit & Mum So, several years later, he still comes to me for buttoning, though sometimes he cries, “Stop kissing me!” with a big smile on his little face.   He comes, not because he cannot button, but because he likes the care and attention I bestow on him at that moment. We each choose what is important, and we each choose different things. I decorate differently every month!   Flags, designs in the front windows for the month’s holiday theme, towels with cute pictures, tablecloths, placemats, pot holders, and even one wall where we put up the month’s name and past and present drawings, cards, cute calendar pictures, etc.   Our wall of the month. I give snacks in little, but heavy, crystal bowls – even to 5 year olds! ...

Country Living has a lovely book called Simple Country Wisdom, 501 Old-Fashioned Ideas to Simplify Your Life , by Susan Waggoner . I've been using this gem of a book for several years now and refer to it even more than Home Comforts . It has beautiful pictures, and easy to read pages with lots of headings so you can easily peruse it to find the details of what you "kinda remember reading."  You know, "didn't I read about something that deodorizes closets?"  Oh yes, go to All About Closets, and notice that you starred the last paragraph regarding how to refresh cedar wood blocks.  Now I remember! The book has 4 sections:  The Home that Welcomes; Behind the Scenes; In the Kitchen; and Harmony. The Home that Welcomes discusses what makes a welcoming home, clutter control, and what meets the eye (colors, textures, painting, decorating, senses), along with beautiful and inspiring pictures.  The pictures are one of my favorite parts of this book - I a...

photo credit We had to cut 60% of our budget in order for me to stay home. I had started a list of all I did in this post, but it was soooo long, that I eventually took the 240+ steps I took while living on one income and becoming debt-free, all while homeschooling our child, and expounded on them in my book How to Thrive on One Income .  The blessings of living on one income are so worth the effort! Know that you must be agreed that you being home is more important than a higher income.  If your husband is resentful you will encounter problems (or if you really want to work, then you will sabotage yourself at home).  You can have a trial time as well – he might not believe you can cut expenses.  But you can!  Joni McCoy of MiserlyMoms.com has a wonderful audio tape telling her story that is incredibly inspiring. You must know WHY it is important for you to be home.  Finding Your Way Home , which I talk about in its own post ( here ), is a...