For Such a Time As This

There are probably a lot of women new to full time homemaking, who did not have the advantage of mothers at home when they were little. They were not able to observe how their mothers handled many different situations that occur in home life.

One of the most common pressures of the home is the huge amount of clutter or the rooms that get over-loaded with things that need to organized and put away.

After shedding a few tears of frustration, you might try streamlining and cleaning the regular living areas of your home, as you would every day, anyway. Make sure the living area, the dining area, kitchen and bathroom are clean and presentable to the world, should anyone drop by. Then tackle the bedrooms and just make the beds. That seems to create the incentive to put away the clutter accumulated there. After regular housekeeping, and only after that has been done, tackle the bigger problems that are haunting you.

As you get organized in those bothersome areas, stop every so often and go through the main parts of the house again, to maintain those public areas that your family shares. It goes a long way to prevent confusion and panic in your mind. If you have just moved in, keep it all in one room and unload from there. Do not panic and don't be discouraged. As long as you keep your living, dining, bathroom and kitchen clean, you'll feel a sense of order and the larger problems will not weigh as heavily upon you.

Everyone is familiar with the story of Esther, in the Bible. In it is recorded her uncle's famous motivational phrase: "Who knows if you were not brought here for such a time as this." That phrase has always lifted me up, because it makes me realize that no one else is going to solve my problems. After a prayer, I have to get up and get busy. No one else will do it. If I do get help, they usually don't understand where I want things and why. Sometimes helpers create more work if they do not do it right, and so I rely on the old adage, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

All homes go through stages of life. There will be times of organization and times when your house will look like someone came in and ransacked it. When you realize that life is not supposed to go smoothly, it is easy to adjust to these challenges. You may have been created for such a time as this.

Food That Tastes Good and is Good For You, Too

I usually buy fresh sockeye salmon that comes from Copper River, Alaska. I've used all kinds of recipes, which you can find on the link below. I alter the recipes to my own taste, and always add honey on top of the salmon. I drizzle quite a bit of it on the raw salmon before cooking.

Here is my method of cooking salmon.

Put 1/4 cup of butter or olive oil in the bottem of the roasting pan or the frying pan. If you are using a small roasting pan or any oven dish, preheat the oven to 350 F or medium heat. I don't preheat the fry pan when I'm cooking this dish.

To this, add 1/4 cup of chopped, sweet onion (here, they are called Vidalia onions, from Georgia)

Sprinkle this well with Italian seasoning (basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, etc)

Now place the salmon, skin side UP in the pan. Cover it with a lid and let steam for about 15 minutes and then check it to see if the skin can be lifted off. If so, take a metal spatual or a wide knife, and remove the skin.

The fish is now skinless, so you can add another 1/4 cup of chopped onion, the Italian seasoning, and some salt. Drizzle honey over the top side of the fish, very thickly, til it is all covered. Cover and cook another 15 minutes until the fish is flakey and appears to be thoroughly cooked.

The honey makes a wonderful sauce, and you will find your family going back to find the pan the fish was cooked in, just to scrape the pan to get more sauce.

This salmon can be cooked in a pan on top the stove or in the oven. It always turns out delicious either way. I also like red salmon and king salmon. I think they are the ultimate best, but the sockeye salmon from Copper River is excellent.

A side dish to this is sweet peas. For my family, I always buy the best. I think the body is the best machinery we have to succeed in life and that good food was intended by God for us to eat. The frozen sweet peas are more expensive but the taste is excellent and they are not tough.

Nothing beats a baked potato with this dish, and I especially like the twice-baked potato recipe I got from a little English cookbook. After you turn off the oven, scoop out the baked potato, leaving enough hard potato around the edges of the shell to hold it firm. Then you mash all the potato you scooped out and add some sour cream and chives, and spoon it back into the shell. Sprinkle some finely grated cheese on top and put it back into the oven. There will be enough heat left to melt the cheese.

I use rice, more often, rather than potatoes, with this recipe, and prefer jasmati rice with wild rice, which I get in the bulk foods section of the grocery store. It is easy to cook, never gets mushy and smells wonderful.

After dinner a small piece of cheesecake made with real cacao is just perfect. No one is hungry afterwards and they don't all get up and go to the fridge hunting for more food.

Salmon recipes

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/Salmon%2520recipe%25203.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/salmon-recipes.htm&h=410&w=321&sz=19&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=7kPSBmBmHURCZM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsalmon%2Brecipe%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D50%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Adjustments To Make

(We have removed that wacky word verification for the blind and sight impaired so that they can post)

I thought it might be a timely idea to write a few things about the interruptions and adjustments a homemaker can expect in her course of work. Those who have just come home full time might tend to get discouraged when things overwhelm them or they get behind in housework.

As we have strongly emphasized many times, home making involves many different things. Do not assume you are only going to be cleaning, cooking or taking care of the house.

Throughout the course of the day, it is best to adopt a policy of flexibility while still keeping a sensible eye on the things that need to be accomplished during the day. A homemaker has to distinguish between the necesssity of the moment and the importance of keeping house. She can't let opportunities go by that would create the best memories and the most necessary things for her family.

One adjustment she may have to make is that of being tired. While a woman at work may quit when she gets home, the homemaker often works until she goes to bed. She may do an excellent job of caring for her family and the home on a given day, and the next, feels she cannot get out of bed. This is common to everyone, even if they do not have children! It should ease your mind somewhat if you know this is normal!

I am a strong believer in the value of rest. I have had tremendous challenges in the area of homemaking. Sometimes I've had jobs I didn't think would ever get done. I could imagine a junked up room still being there 20 years later, with me, having "gone missing," being found in that room and finally being laid to rest. The thought of never digging myself out of such a mess so horrified me that I took a nap! To my surprise, it revived not just my body but my mental capacity to tackle the job. I would work for awhile and then go lay down again, or read a book and have a cup of tea (today I like raspberry herbal). Then I found I could get up and work a little more. I would lay down again and then get up again, feeling better each time. I finally got that room finished and have before and after pictures to proove it.

I certainly don't want anyone to use this tactic to get out of normal duties of the home, but thought I might pass it on, because rest certainly does bring revival. It also heals illness better than medicine. I will always remember James Herriot's sheep story in "All Creatures Great and Small." After giving birth (which is another adjustment for a woman at home), the mama sheep would not get up and so the farmer thought she had a disease and wanted her put down. James gave her a potion of sleep medicine, intending for her to be put down. The sheep slept it off and then revived! She was just tired after giving birth, and when she revived, she was as good as new.

Another adjustment is after giving birth. You may get really anxious about keeping caught up on things like dishes and laundry. Again, getting up and doing a few things between rests, is a great idea. However, these days, midwives emphasize that rest for 6 weeks helps the mother heal and recover better. I certainly agree that later on it pays off.

Still another adjustment is the myriad of things that just come up. They are the visitors that drop by, the phone calls, the grocery shopping you suddenly need to do before dinner, the spilled things, the broken things, the trips you have to take. During all this you still have to keep on track with meals and cleaning and making home a wonderful place. Our foremothers knew how to do it because it was bred into them from birth, by being around their own mothers. Today's generation of dedicated homemakers often come from families without a mother at home. They read about how important it is to be home, and then they come home, not realizing what is ahead of them. They may get discouraged and think that they were better off at work.

The home gets messed up more if you are home. I'm always pulling out projects and starting things that create a mess. I'm always having someone over for tea. All this creates a bigger work load. If I were in the corporate workplace during the week, the house would be empty all day and stay clean.

Another thing that increases is the in-home expenses. If you've been out at work all day, no one uses the heat or the electricity or the water. You come home, start homeschooling and your husband wonders why the expenses are mounting. Yet while everyone goes "somewhere else" during the day, you don't notice the expenses because someone else pays for them and they are subtly taken out of your pay check: heat, water, electricity, etc.

to be continued...

Welcome Visitors

I extend a hearty welcome to all visitors of this blog today. Please tell me where you are viewing from. I am in Oregon, where I keep house, and Mrs. Alexandra is in Europe.

Ladies, we'd be thrilled if you'd also check into my daughter, Lillibeth's weblog, here http://www.thepleasanttimes.blogspot.com/

New Book Published

NOTE:  If you will write to me at ladylydiaspeaks@comcast.net to request the book, I can have it sent to you from the printer at cost (the cost of printing, at no profit to me) , which is $35.00.

People are always asking me to write a book. For the last year my parents have collaborated with me to write a book about their years in the wilderness of Alaska in the 1950's.

How did two very young people, at the ages of 19 and 23 manage to go where no man had gone before, to create a home far away from town and from their own kin?

This book explains how they first "tramped out" the land and filed a claim, and then began to build a house, using the resources of the land. "I peeled the logs and Joe put notches at the ends so that we could build the "big house," said my mother. "We didn't know what we were doing, but I was 19 and didn't know any better! We were both from pioneer stock and we were game for anything!"

During the years they homesteaded, they also had 7 children, of whom they carefully guarded, both physically and spiritually. There were many hazards of the area, including wild animals that wandered near us, and swamps and lakes that we could easily have fallen into. Yet, this story is about happiness. Be prepared for your face to ache with smiling about the dog that helped Mama get dinner, and the sticklebacks in our drinking water.

Although this is not a book about homemaking or anti-feminism, there is an underlying message not spoken here: it is about a real family doing real things, and trusting in God. It is about two people who protected each other and lived their roles and responsibilities, taking care of 7 children in the process.

For many years my mind dwelt on this story of the past, but I did not think it worth writing about because hundreds of families at that time lived the same way! It was ordinary to us! Every son or daughter of an Alaskan settler in the 1940's and 1950's, will recognize some of these stories and think, "Hey, we did that too!" or "That is exactly what happened to us!" As the culture today draws us further away from the old ways, I began to see the necessity of writing this all down.

I had consistent dreams about the homestead. I was walking down the home-road and going inside the "big house" (the log house we lived in after the cabin days), and walking up the stairs, looking out the window. I saw the fish jumping from the lake with their silver bellies glistening in the evening sun. I looked out the 7 picture windows that Daddy was so proud of. I heard the dinner bell ringing and the sounds of the children chattering as they ran along the home road to a feast of salmon and potatoes.

One day the dreams began to bother me. I wondered why, after so many years, my mind persisted in dredging up the old life that I could never go back to. I got out some pictures and began to look at them. If the dreams had made the homestead seem real, the pictures made it seem like it was just happening! They were vivid. They were alive. They were bright, even after more than 50 years.

I sat down and wrote a long letter to my parents telling them how beautiful my mother was and how handsome my father was and how happy I was that they had the courage to go to the wilderness and give us this unique life. I wrote almost 20 pages about every memory that I had while sitting there---from the lake with the "thousand sparkling diamonds," to mother's picnic basket which turned ordinary food into a gourmet feast by the time we got to the picnic clearing on our land.

I sent the letter and felt so much better because I don't know if any of us ever really thought to thank them and show appreciation for all that they did--building a house, providing warmth for us by taking turns getting up in the night to stoke the fire, and feeding us with the huge cabbages and potatoes from the garden.

Besides all this, I had never told her the impact of all the life's lessons they taught, from doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, to occupying yourself in a useful way during winter months when most people got cabin fever, had influenced my own decision to homeschool my children. I could not go back to the homestead, but I could embrace the same spirit of adventure and the "can-do" spirit that they had, whether I lived in an apartment or a suburban home.

I remembered her hot bread which we spread jam on from our berry picking days. I could just taste the wonderful, moist cake in one of the photographs. I could hear her talking to Daddy early in the morning while we children still laid in bed. I could hear the dog barking at a bear that was coming near the house and heading toward the goat shed. I felt it all as though it just happened! I marvelled at a generation that went where there was nothing, to create something, even if it was just a memory.

After sending the letter, my mother phoned me and said, "You simply MUST write a book." That was such an encouragement, and I'm happy to say that this book has added to more years to their life and more life to their years. It is a book that is good for everyone. It brings love and peace and laughter into your life, which is what we NEED more that anything today!! She said, "You made me feel like I was back home again, having all that adventure in the wilderness."

This book is one you won't be sorry to have in your family library. Already some people have purchased it just to read to their elderly parents who are shut-ins. The story is partially written by my mother and father, Joe and Lillian, and it truly draws the reader in to experience the wonder of it all.

There is only one review posted about this book, which I will share here.

"In Just Breathing the Air, Lydia Sherman has given the reader a glimpse of an incredible childhood few even in her generation could imagine and few in an older generation would have had the courage to provide. In doing so, she subtly paints a beautiful portrait of her remarkable parents. The book would be a delightful read for old and young alike, but especially for young people growing up in this age of electronic everything,fast food and loosely-connected families. " Jean M. Byars

This is a soft-cover, larger book that would look good on anyone's coffee table! It is an 8 inch by 8 inch glossy covered book with a wonderful photograph. Every other page has a photograph. I've clicked "this book is for everyone," but naturally I assume that wise parents will want to read it first before handing it over to younger children.

You can preview the pages here: http://www.lulu.com/content/478809 Click on the icon that reads "preview this book," and you can see a few pages from the inside. You have to click the large arrow on the right to turn the pages.

We are working on a black and white edition that will reduce the price considerably, but I personally would not want a black and white copy of this book. The color of the photographs were part of our story. There is also a download available and a lower price, but nothing beats holding that beautiful book in your hands and touching the high-quality type of paper that it is printed on. Also, the print is size 14 type, which is easier on the eyes for both young and old.

This book is in the History category, but there are many other categories that apply: home, family, nature, and spiritual growth.

Please click on the back cover in this article, to see if you can get a larger view and read what is written there. It was written by my son in law.

"Just Breathing the Air" can also be accessed by clicking "Books We Like" on the links section on the left.

The cover picture shows me at age 8 with my first catch, a rainbow trout. I still think of it as one of the happiest days of my childhood. I personally did not want it on the cover, but my son in law, who did the editing for the book, thought it expressed the happiness that envelopes the entire book. I wanted the picture of the lake shown on this page (the lake with the thousand sparkling diamonds), showing my father rowing his daughters across the lake, which was just downhill from the big house, and which we looked at daily from our windows. I joke and say that we fought over the cover like Michael the Archangel fought over the body of Moses! It was a struggle for me to give up the lake picture as a cover. When my parents got the book my Dad immediately told me that the cover picture was just perfect, and was his favorite picture. So you see, dear ladies, it is good for the old to cooperate with the young when you are all headed in the same direction. They have a lot of good insight in many things!

The Absolute Joy of Being Home

To bring joy to the home, it may be necessary to boot the noise-filled, demanding world, out the door and never let it come back. Move all media to the basement or to an uneasily accessible place in the house--perhaps a small corner or an unused room, can eliminate some of the stress of the world. Newspapers, magazines and radio seem to be full of doom and worry. Soon everyone is looking for signs of disease or disaster. Their hearts constrict and their breathing becomes shallow. They don't know whether to continue on with life or give up. I read on someone's blog about her media fast. At day 30, she was enjoying life more than ever and her blood pressure had become normal. She was no longer having panic attacks. She was sleeping normally and not experiencing nightmares. Her home had become her haven.

"Returning Home" by Lene Alston Casey

Adding soothing pictures that depict the values you love, of home and family, can also bring joy back into the home. Home should be so different than the rest of the world that it is like steppinging into a beatutiful dream world of peace and love. Good art certainly contributes to that atmosphere.

It may be encouraging just to experiment with one room in the house. Arrange and decorate it with the colors and furnishings that make you feel happy. It is not necessary to please everyone you know, but at the same time, it is not avisable to do something so unpleasant or garrish that your family would be put off. In doing something "good and lovely", think of rose gardens, nature, seascapes and all the beauty and color that nature provides. Very few people are repulsed by a beautiful sunset or a beautiful house. Use these colors and structures when applying beauty to your home.

"My Lady's Chamber"

Bring joy to living at home by doing the things that you really like to do there: plant a beautiful plant, have a quiet moment with your favorite herbal tea and a beautiful tea set (my current favorite is orange spice herbal tea). Make a pretty card for someone. (I make cards called "scrap cards" or "altered cards" in which I add clippings and stickers, lace or buttons, and alter the verse by covering it with another greeting. This way, cards can be made to suit the one you are sending them to.

Working at home can be more fun than you realize. Being mistress of your own home means you don't have to worry about losing your job or applying for changes or trying to get an act of Congress before you can improve it. Home is the last frontier of freedom. Let us excercise that freedom and make each home a little country, with its own culture, its own rules, and its own particular beauty.

"Flower Cottage Irish"

I take great interest in the way our forefathers lived, because they had strong families and they managed to pass on many positive things about homelife, into the next generation and the next and the next. I wonder sometimes what we will pass on in this generation: the hurried, pressured life of trying to keep up with everything and everyone, or real values of truth and

beauty and preservation of the values of marriage, home and family. What we do daily in our homes will have a great impact on society around us and on the next generation.

I was blessed with a husband who only wants me to be happy. I the color of a wall depressed me, he would say "repaint it." If I experienced too much pressure to shop for groceries, he would say "give me a list and I'll get them on my way home." If I wanted to go for a drive and look for scenery, he would say, "let's go." If I experienced difficulty in some of my homemaking responsibilities he would want to know what he could do to make it easier to me. Each member of the family, whether a husband or a child, should be willing to help the homemaker, because it will in turn help them have a beautiful and happy home.

"Country Welcome" by Carl Valente

"Welcome Home"

Year Around Feminine Fashions

Not everyone has the same needs regarding clothing. A farmer's wife will need something different than a woman living in an apartment or a suburban home. I have chosen several kinds of clothing and patterns to accommodate these differences. In choosing clothing, the main principles are beauty and propriety. Propriety involves being appopriate for the occasion or the job you have ahead of you. I have, for example, noticed that most bodices are too low cut, even in patterns, for the active woman of the home. Though they may appear to be just right when standing, they make a gap when bending to tie a child's shoe or changing a diaper, or even leaning over when serving dinner. Therefore I recommend creating modesty by raising the pattern 3 to 4 inches, or buying lace and doilies to create an inset.

Tea Party Hat and Walking Outfit from www.cattlekate.com

Homestead Dress from www.cattlekate.com

Dress and apron from www.cattlekate.com

Skirts can be the same way. Standing up, they appear to be the perfect length, but once a person sits down or leans over to clean a bathtub or something like that, they pull up and become very uncomfortable. That is why I wear my skirts a little longer.

I also think that colors should be bright and patterns should be pretty. I was just talking to a friend of mine and discussing the way that films portray poor people of the past. I objected to the fact that most movies, even period movies, show the poor people in drab colors and torn costumes. Growing up poor, and having known poor grandmothers who were born in the 1800's, my observations were completely different:

Poor people liked bright colors and shiny things because it disguised their poverty. In those days very few people were proud of poverty and certainly didn't want to look as poor as they were. We girls loved bright colors, especially red and aqua blue, emerald green and purple. These colors always elevated our moods and lifted us out of our poverty. We ironed everything because there was no wash and dry, nor permanent press.

One reason we did not want to look poor is that it told the public that we had no self-respect. A poor person would never have gone around with torn clothing, wrinkled clothing, or dirty clothing. Though we wore jeans, we were ashamed of being seen in them in public, so we never wore them to church. I remember when we had to ride in the back of our father's truck because it was the only vehicle that would work at the time. We had fallen on really hard times, and we girls had to wear warm jeans under our skirts in the back of the truck on the way to church. As soon as we got there we took off the jeans.

The poor are portrayed in films in brown, taupe, black, and grey, but I never knew poor people to wear those colors. Life was drab enough without making us more depressed. Women didn't like those colors, generally, and preferred things with flowers on them or some kind of embroidery and even things with shiny embellishments.

It was the rich who began to wear these plain garments. I always wondered when I visited a richer person's home, how, if they were so well off, they lived so plainly. The women wore drab pantsuits, in monochromatic, dull, dark colors, and they decorated their homes in beige. I always sewed my clothes and one day I received a sarcastic comment about the flowers in the fabric of my dress. Another day someone said in mock amazement: Lydia, why don't you wear a brighter color?" Others have ridiculed with sly remarks about a pink outfit I wear.

Folks, where does this elitist snobbery come from? You can go to exotic places like Thailand and India and deepest Africa, and the women love bright, pretty colors. Women have an instinct for beauty if they are not educated out of it. Look at the past at the paintings. We recently went to Mary Hill Museam in Washington state, and viewed paintings by painters like Paxton and Lack. One painter, Mr. Lack, bought a dress for his wife so he could paint a picture of her sitting at the piano. I can't imagine a painter today wanting to paint a scene of a woman in an uninteresting dress. Somewhere in time, the so-called progressives, changed the meaning of truth and beauty, and foisted upon society these terrible fashions. Without being a brilliant research scientist, a person can almost trace the increasing depression in the population, to the dull furnishings and fashions of the 20th century. Both men and women are affected by this: the women, because they have so little choice in the market and end up having to wear these rags, and the men because they have to look at the women wearing them.

I have found a few things that might be appropriate for some people, but for the most part, I would suggest skirts that are a-line rather than full, because they don't get caught in doors gates and other things, and are warmer. (I wear leggings under most my garments). I would also highly recommend natural fabrics. Cotton is my all-round favorite. It always feels fresh and it launders well. You can hardly damage it and the threads don't pull out. It doesn't pill, and if it fades or thins with time, it is even more charming. In winter, I make a cotton flannel night gown, and by summer, the wash and wear has made it thin enough for the warmer temperature.

Women generally feel good when they wear beautiful colors and prints, but the prevailing culture has made them self-conscious and uncomfortable. The only way we can defeat this attitude is to wear what is lovely give your home and family the feeling of cheer and optimism it deserves.

Just as I was writing this article and had it in my drafts folder, my friend told me that she had read someone's blog that was talking about the same thing. I haven't had a chance to go and look at it, but I must say that I think people are catching on to this manipulation of fashion and are going their own way rather than following the trends that the industry is forcing upon us.

If you know a site that sells pretty clothes, please post it on the comments. I will add the pictures. I realize not everyone will wear western clothing, so I plan to add more as time permits.

Your Links

I'm finally catching up to the 21st century and learning to add links. Quite a few people link to me but I haven't added their link here. If you have a site or blog related to homemaking, Victorian themes, tea time, feminine clothing, marriage, etc. and you want it on this blog, please post it here. I do take my time about things so it may not appear right away.

What is Good, Pure, and Lovely

As we are always looking for ways to better ourselves and keep the blog on an uplifting note, I would lke to show you some interesting sites for the month of May, that I enjoyed.

There is a new "Mantel of the Month" here http://www.enchantedtreasures.com/mantel-of-the-month/?month=5&year=2007

Take a peek inside some rooms here http://www.enchantedtreasures.com/dynamic/?page=3

and a new suite of the month herehttp://www.shabbysuite.com/articles.php?article=18

And, there are always the Make Mine Pink Boutiques, some of which have rooms in them, and they are not all pink, either. http://www.makeminepink.com/boutiques/ It relieves stress to at least see the opening pages which often feature charming cottages.

For the cream, read this fantastic article http://www.makeminepink.com/articles/?which=13

I am always so encouraged by pretty rooms, even though I haven't achieved it altogether in my own home.

The picture, I think, is from Karen's Whimsey, called "Lady With Flowers" a copyright free graphic.

As I wanted to keep this entry on the "lovely" theme, I have to say that the movie about Mrs. Beeton, who wrote the first book about household management, was sensational in a negative way, and highly speculative, based on a book by Kathryn Hughes. For more information about Mrs. Beeton, go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Beeton. Like many modern writers who pretend to know the Victorian era, Hughes has portrayed Beeton and her husband as though they were from the 1960's rather than the 1860's. It seems few people can understand the moral tone of the times, so they have to bring the era down into the gutter with our own times. One reason so many young women love the Victorian era, is that it had an appreciation of love and loyalty that our era does not. This film doesn't hold a candle to "North and South," which I reviewed here http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish/Lady_Lydia_Speaks_2/A_Story_to_Warm_Your_Heart1002786.shtml

When I see the fruits of women like Esabella Beeton, I always recall a scripture that says, "Can pure water and poison water come out of the same stream?" I get tired of the vilification of our ancestors and our forebearers who actually contributed more to the good of society, most which has trickled down to inspire and improve us today. I found the film hard to watch and I found it a pity that many people will sneer at the Victorians even more, after watching this film. It should not be taken as a real biography or a serious historical documentary.

North and South

Please go here http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish/Lady_Lydia_Speaks_2/A_Story_to_Warm_Your_Heart1002786.shtml

to read my new article. If you do buy this film, I would strongly suggest you use your Captions , since there are so many different accents and some rapidly spoken dialog. The captions really help to understand the story.

For more Elizabeth Gaskel, go here http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Gaskell.html

I like her stories and I like the way the filmakers do them. She had a more Christian view than did her contemporary, Charles Dickens. I hope, however, that future films are not done by people who would corrupt the story, and I hope they remain innocent and sweet and always have a happy ending, as she wrote them.

If You are From a Divorced Family

Someone is doing a survey on how divorce has affected you. Even if you are not divorced or not from a divorced family, you might have been affected by it. Go here http://deanabbott.typepad.com/notes_and_meditations/2007/05/divorce_proceed.html and post your comment . Someone posted a very good remark about her divorced parents here on this blog, but being so busy, I cannot find it. That post is the kind this man is looking for.

Out of Newsletters

The newsletter we announced has been sold out. Please don't order one, and if you have already done so, please do not send the money. If you have sent a check , it will be returned. Harmony at Home, dealing with mother-daughter relationships, has been expanded into a book. We'll notify everyone on this blog when it is available. I will be sending out the last copies to those of you who have already sent checks, which are in my posession now.

The Cherry Pickers, by Emile Vernon

Do What is Good and Right

I have had this poem in an old book and wanted to share it with the daughters, wives, mothers and homemakers who are not trying to have careers outside the home, and who are putting their efforts into making their families strong and good and faithful to Biblical standards. I know how much it can deflate you when people say cruel things about your role in life. I've certainly had my share of those comments: "You are living in a dream world." "If you stay home, you are condemning those who don't." "You are insane." "You are lazy." Etc.

I can imagine just how debilitating it is to hear it from people that you would expect would support you. Lest you be discouraged, there is no mistaking the Bible's teaching on the role of women. God's gave them the divine role of guiding and guarding the home. Nowhere did He command them to be the famiy providers, especially if there was an able-bodied husband in the home.

I realize that you are going against the tide in this culture, but being home will help restore the family to what it should be, and make children more loyal and families less likely to disentegrate.

"Be sure you are right, and then stand.

At first, you will be denounced, and then you will be deified.

At first, you will be rejected, then you will be accepted.

First, men will swear at you, then if you wear well, they will swear by you.

First the sneer, then the cheer.

First the lash, then the laurel.

First the curse, then the caress.

First the trial, then the triumph.

First the cross, then the crown.

For every scar upon they brow, thou shalt have a star in thy diadem.

Stand somewhere and let humanity know where you stand.

Stand for something and let humanity know what you stand for.

Be sure you are right and then STAND."

I believe it was written by someone named Gordon, but there were several authors by that name. The fact he uses the King James English might be a clue to when it was written.

We know without a doubt that it is right for women to guide the home, but today there are those who mock it. They mock it on television when hosts of feminist shows make fun of full time homemakers. They mock it in advertising. They mock it every which way you turn. Even in clothing stores, you get a sense that the clothes are not made for the duties of the home, but instead, for other reasons. If you stand firm and keep a beautiful home, making it possible to share a meal or a tea party with others, you spread the virtues of home and family and you help to restore it back to the way it should be. If you can't do that, you can at least show by your countenance that you have chosen a beautiful way to live, free from the stresses of the outside world.

There is an old song that explains what you can expect in the path of life. Here are some of the words that explain the delimna of fighting for what is right:

"...the strife will not be long!

This day, the noise of battle;

The next, the victor's song."

There might be some unsettling emotions when you stand up for what is right, but it will bring about victory. If you back down, there won't be any. The best way to defend yourself is to show success in your role.

The poem and the song tell a common truth. When you are attacked and told you are out of your mind or when you feel left on your own, remember that is the battle part. The victory of peace and well-being will come after.

The name of the painting is "Family Circle" by Lee Stronick, from a puzzle, sold here http://www.jigsawjungle.com/index.htm

If You Didn't Get Your Newsletter

If you ordered some time ago and still didn't get your newsletter, please contact me and I'll send another one. I have not sent out this week's orders yet, but if you ordered a few weeks ago and haven't seen anything, there may have been a mix up. Some people sent checks with different addresses on them than the address on the outside envelope. I chose the envelope address when in doubt.

Harmony At Home

Thanks to everyone who ordered this issue. We truly hope it was helpful to you. It concerns the subject of mothers and daughters and addresses the subject of preventing rebellion.

We have a few of these issues left, if anyone would like to order some. A lady in England wrote:

"Dear Lydia, I wanted to thank you and Lillibeth for the beautiful newsletter which brought me so much joy to sit and read. I found so much encouragement and food for thought in the words you both wrote. And the newsletter itself was so beautiful, with the cover art and the ribbon and the sparkling "gems" - it has been attracting curiousity as it lies on display in the sitting room."
After we have sent out the rest of these copies, we will be re-publishing this in book form, which will cost $15.00. ( The book will contain more information and ideas and have quite a few more pages.) The current cost of printing and mailing is $6.50 and if anyone still wants this original hand-bound issue, just contact us here: ladylydiaspeaks@comcast.net
















Click on these pictures for larger views.

Cacao Nibs

Here is an excellent recipe using cacao nibs. My daughter says that the first thing you taste in the cookies is the butter, then other ingredients. The last thing you taste, is chocolate. Interesting! The cacao nibs are chopped cacao beans, from which chocolate is made. Cacao is a purer form of chocolate, having not been processed with alkali. The effect is much more satisfying when you want chocolate, because you don't feel the need to eat 24 cookies. The taste is so special and rich, you don't need as much. Organic cane sugar or other types of natural sweeteners, such as date sugar, etc. should work just fine in this recipe. Look for cacao nibs in your whole foods stores.






Cacao Nib Drop Cookies Recipe
Interesting Notes
This recipe was part of the Milwaukee Spice House newsletter from April 2005.
Modified from "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer & Marion Rombauer Becker.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup roasted cacao nibs
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter, then gradually add both sugars and beat until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together and stir in with other ingredients. Stir in the cacao nibs last. Drop the batter from a teaspoon, well apart, on a grased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool before serving. Enjoy!
Helpful Hints
Try substituting cacao nibs for chocolate chips or nuts in your favorite recipe.





http://www.chocolate.com/articles/assorted-chocolate-facts.html

(Picture: Te Cafe Y Chocolate, by Consuelo Gamboa from Allposters.

Quote from a candy blog: "never ask why cover anything in chocolate ... we cover things in chocolate because that’s what sets us apart from animals"

For those requests about cacao nibs, you can order them from http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/roasted-cacao-nibs This is where Lillibeth got them.

There is an article here about why you should only buy organically grown chocolate: http://www.mercola.com/blog/2006/jan/20/why_is_dark_chocolate_good_for_your_cardiovascular_system

Reasons We Need Orderly, Clean Houses

I realize that most people do not have these elegant rooms, but I chose the pictures because they depict orderly and clean rooms. It is always good to hold before us a picture to aspire to, especially in this day and age when people do not often have the privilege of seeing the homes of other people.

Photo from www.magnoliahall.com

We need to clean up and beautify our homes to
1. Prevent injuries: Falling over toys, things sticking out on kitchen surfaces, or other objects are the most prominent causes of injuries.

2. Maintain health: Keeping kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms etc. sanitary promotes good health and prevents the spread of bacteria.

3. Increase optimism: A disorganized, messy house makes everyone depressed, especially the homemaker.

4. Teach good manners and appreciation: If it doesn't matter where we put things, or how clean our homes are, family members will not have the right kind of respect for posessions and will have even less respect for one another.

5. So that our homes have a fresh, lovely scent. No matter how many sprays and home scents you buy, the house still has to be clean, first.

The Window Seat by Lidia Dinner from www.allposters.com

We need to have clean, orderly and beautiful homes, because:

1. You will be prepared to call at the spur of the moment and have someone come over for a cup of tea or a heart-to-heart.

2. You won't be embarrassed if someone comes by unexpectedly.

3. You will free your mind and time for other things like catching up on sewing and correspondence, or some other creative work.

4. Cleanliness and order diffuses worry and anxiety. There seems to be less commotion and upheaval in families where everyone takes care with their possessions, puts away shoes and coats, keeps toys in a separate room, and generally looks after things. One lady I know who is now a great-grandmother said to me, "We lived in a small house when our children were little, so I let them play in the living room with their toys. But, half an hour before their father came home, they had to remove them all. I did this out of respect for him."

5. We need clean, orderly homes so that we can find things we need and not have to go out and buy them again.

Victorian Lady 2 by John O'Brien from www.allposters.com

Miss Melanie's House

If you want to see more of Melanie's dwelling, go here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Aussiemum/
She lives in Australia. She has gotten most of her things from yard sales and does the best she can on a very limited income.

Home Work

I thought these paintings were interesting because of part of the bio of the artist (see the end). Isn't it interesting that ordinary housekeeping could also be the subject of an artists brush? I mentioned something like this when we had the online broadcast about homemaking, saying that it would be a very good influence to surround our daughters with good posters of women doing worthwhile work at home, cast in a favorable light, instead of letting them be constantly exposed to posters of rock stars, and other stars that have contributed very little to making marriage, home and family, more secure.


(Painting: "Sun, Moon, and Flowers" by George Leslie)

However, if women want once again to have domestic life portrayed in a lovely way and promoted by the culture, they must get back to acting the part more seriously. Every thought and every action must be analyzed as to whether or not it is worthwhile or beneficial to the woman and the family. Women can spend decades in retail work, and yet lose their families. Women can be successful in show business, and yet leave a trail of grief around them because they did not spend the time necessary in the home to secure the loyalty and love of their families.

You may wonder, "What does neglecting the home and housekeeping have to do with a broken home?" The house being neglected is a very serious problem, because people do not want to stay in a place that is too disorganized or unclean. Making a bed up in fresh sheets and adding a pretty cushion, or ironing a shirt and hanging it up, shows love and consideration for your own people in your own home. Families tend to be more irritable when the home is not in order. They aren't as optimistic or healthy or happy when they can't find things and when nothing is clean.

There are now shows on television that show before and after's of people's homes where the trash was not disposed of for months and years. This is a shameful reflection on the homemaker. This can also be the result of trying to work outside the home, and neglecting the inside. There are also jobs that women take upon themselves that take up the time they need to keep house.

We have said before, here, that a woman needs to have the time to concentrate on her home, and if she is distracted by other projects that have nothing to do with housekeeping or homemaking, she will find it harder to really do a good job.























(Painting"This is the Way We Wash Our Clothes" by George Leslie )

It would be great if everyone had a mother that was a good example, and had good homemaking habits bred into them from an early age, but there is still no excuse. Today, we have available to us many wonderful books and films, and even classes that we can attend, that show us how to care for our homes and families. Even online, there are a great number of video clips which demonstrate everything from washing dishes to baking bread.

There are also some nice sites that show the inside of real people's houses, to give you inspiration. I like the current home on this site http://theoldpaintedcottage.com/cottagemonth.html because I noticed the floors were bare, and that is one of the lessons we learned in trying to streamline our homes (see the article below called "The Streamlined Home." "Mantel of the Month" here is nice http://www.enchantedtreasures.com/mantel-of-the-month/?month=4&year=2007 is inspiring because, if you don't want clutter around you, there is a way to have those little things you like to keep, all in one place that is up and out of the way, if the collection is on a shelf or mantel.

(The above paintings were created by George Dunlop Leslie1835-1921. The London-born son of painter Charles Robert Leslie achieved his aim of painting "pictures from the sunny side of English domestic life". His speciality was bright paintings of girls doing household chores. He studied at the Royal Academy where he exhibited his work annually from 1857. In 1868 he became an associate of the Royal Academy, and eight years later an academician.)

The Dover book company has many books about the interiors of the Victorian era. Two particular books, Victorian Ornaments and Designs , and Architecture, Interior Design, Period Style Photographs of New York Interiors at the Turn of the Century, show real photographs of the rooms of various homes of the period. It is interesting to see how they used various things to embellish the home--things like panels of lace, scarves, plants, and such.