Learning to Relax at Home

Hello Dear Ladies,

Included on this page today are the wonderful paintings of Susan Rios. It would be such a cheerful addition to the home to have paintings like this would it not?  For many people, the price for such great art is quite out of reach, but the pictures are posted here so that you might get some ideas to make your home cheerful and bright. 

There is always so much to keep you busy at home, and that is a good reason to have a master list and a daily list of reminders. 

Of course you know that it is not possible to always have that perfect look in the house, especially if you are busy and active and your family spends most of the time actually living in the house. To keep encouraged, it might be enjoyable to get something "picture-perfect" long enough for a memorable picture.

Having a bright, neat spot somewhere in the house is restful to the emotions and helps your family appreciate order and beauty.

Having no particular issue to address today, I am just saying hello and broadcasting what I call "Housewife Radio" just to express the principle of learning to relax at home.

One of the follies of feminism is how it programs women from a very young age, even down to kindergarten, to be concerned about things not related to the home. Young girls become burdened down with pressures of school and grades and being smart, and that becomes more pressure to get jobs and make money and live on their own, where the pressure increases.  Here at Home Living, you will find the Biblical alternative of letting young ladies be home, learn the routines of cooking, sewing, cleaning, reading to little children, the art of visiting and conversation, letter writing, and all the things that seem to be lost in the culture around us. 

The home is the center for family conversation. Children learn to exchange ideas and speak back and forth with different age groups, rather than just their peers.  Home is a center for evangelism and hospitality, both which can work together. Home is for developing talents and creative skills. 

There is so much that can be learned in the home, from appliance and house repair, food production, serving others, and even nursing normal illnesses.Many ladies at home can attest to the comfort of being brought a cup of hot soup to nourish them while in bed with a headache or cold. These things that happen in the home are far too devalued today.

Not everything has to happen "somewhere else."  Folks start their days getting ready to go "somwhere else. " People get their social life "somewhere else." They do their creative work "somewhere else." They eat "somewhere else."  They go on vacation "somewhere else."  Children are taught to grow up and go "somewhere else." 

At Home Living, this author has learned that one reason people want to go "somewhere else" is because the home is not as cheerful and uplifting as it could be.  Those of you who are older can remember tablecloths on the tables, Grandmother's china brought out for special days,  bright quilts on the beds, shiny floors and bathtubs. There may even have been fresh flowers from the garden set in jelly jars or tin cans, just for a bright spot here and there. Conversations stimulated the intellect and satisfied the soul. Knowledge and wisdom was passed from father to son, in the home.

Most importantly, good values cannot be eroded as easily when the family is home for the most productive and teachable hours of the day. Here, they reinforce the Biblical standards and help one another stay faithful to the Word.  Yes, everyone errs and sins, but the home is a place that stabilizes and recovers the soul. It is here the sympathy, forgiveness and restoration is complete.

The world and its corruptness is literally knocking at the door of the home, with its news, magazines, music and whatever else.  That is one reason the New Testament teaches in Titus 2 for the Christian women to guide and guard the home. The home is a word that means "house and those who live in it."  So a Christian lady will guard from the false teachings of the world, and then guide the minds of the family to what is good and acceptable in the sight of God.  It is in the home that she is in charge. It is her realm.

Make the home a place you want to be so that the best words you can hear are "Let's stay home."

Dress Ingedients:

Pattern - McCalls  with sleeves from a vintage pattern. See previous dress sewing post.

Fabric -woven cotton , made in USA Hobby Lobby $5.00 a yard $20.00 ( This is more than I usually pay)

Thread, zipper $2.50

Cotton eyelet lace -Hobby Lobby $3 

Time to make: about 5 hours spread over several days, not including travel and shopping.

The fabric has  a sparkle sheen to it and it washes well, without diminishing the shine.

Cotton dresses are so comfortable.

The cotton fabric looks like this on the inside....

...and this is the shiny side.