Staying Home is Not a Waste of Time if You Don't Waste It

I am sure that some women feel that staying home is taking the "easy" way in life, but like any job, it has its joyful times and its grunge times. When most women were homemakers, they learned what to do with the time they had. I can tell you just a few things that are important.

1. Meals and clean dishes are a priority.

2. Clean clothes are next, and in most cases, outer clothing can be worn more than once before washing, so that the laundry pile is limited and does not get really overwhelming.

3. A clean floor and a sanitary bathroom is necessary.

Things that are not necessary:

1. Gourmet meals are not important. Families can be happy with very simple food.

2. Entertainment is not a priority. A lot of time is wasting watching television.

3. Impressing other people is not something a homemaker needs to do.

There are no set ways to keep house, because every family has a slightly different way of life. As long as it suits you and your family's schedule and style of living, that is what is important.

As for what you should be doing to fill up the time, women usually had needlework and interesting hobbies like knitting or sewing, painting, writing, etc. that they do when they are not doing the main things of the home, such as meals and getting people ready for the next day. If you will visit antique stores, you will see that a lot of this crochet and embroidery is now surfacing from estate sales.

These are works of art that were most often done in the home, during a lull in family activity, while waiting for something, or inbetween jobs of the house. Most women liked to keep busy, and doing things with their hands created some results like doilies and runners and table cloths, curtains, and various items of clothing. You can still see some of these things in the antique stores. They are highly treasured by collectors and by people like me, who know they represent the time and patience of women who loved their homes and wanted to make them beautiful.

I find it fascinating that even though our mothers at home were very busy, they still did something like this. Some of these women still talk about the "slower life" when they made their own soap or baked a pie, and yet still managed to knit a hat or a pair of socks for every member of the family in winter. They were not in their cars all the time, and the family car was reserved for the breadwinner, so they learned to stock up on things they needed, in order to spend a lot of time at the home place. Catologs contained handicraft kits you could order, which would also include books that helped you learn to knit or crochet or some other thing.

Being at home did not mean complete confinement. There was plenty to do, and if women wanted to, they could always read a good book. Some of our mothers spent a lot of time reading. In those days, people would go through their books and magazines and load them up into a big box, and give them to someone else. After they finished reading them, they would pass them on to another family. Not all the books were good, but it was easy to find some valuable reading material that would absorb a woman at home.

The important thing about being home and having the responsibility of the family and the house, is not that others think it is okay, or that anyone approves, but that it is something that God gave us permission to do. By being able to be home, women are freed from the repetitive work and endless travelling to and fro, to get a paycheck. At home, they have the liberty to use their creativity to guard their husband's money and help him make a profit. They are home to guard the family posessions and see that everything is cared for.

Over the years, there has been an attitude that it doesn't matter how we treat our clothes, our sheets and blankets, our furniture, or our dishes, but if they are treated gently and cleaned properly, repaired, and stored adequately, they will last much longer and not require replacement, which will mean there will be less money going out. The purpose of women at home go far deeper than just being in the house. She is on guard. She is looking for ways to be effiencient with time and money. She is learning to be resourceful by using things she already has. She also preserves her marriage, because her time and her emotions are not divided between the outside world and home. She has more time to think about her husband and more time to take care of him. She will be better-rested and have more patience to listen to his troubles.

There have always been women who will waste their time at home, complaining of boredom. That does not mean it is a standard or a truth. It just means they haven't learned how to deal with the responsibilities of the home. The Bible says that they should keep house, lest the word of God be blasphemed. It is like saying that Christians are supposed to be "good," but if a woman has let her house go to ruin and decay, it is a shame, because it doesn't glorify God.

To the woman who posted on the previous thread: If you have no skills, do not be anxious. Just learn to get a meal on the table that tastes good, and you will go far. After you have mastered that, you can branch off into something else.

These are watermellon berries from the homestead. We used to eat them right off the bush. They taste just like watermellon. We were never successful in making jam out of them or any kind of preserve. Maybe someone else could and would tell me how.

Cottage Card Template

Here are the finished cottage cards, done with various scrap materials. The roofs are made with pieces of heavy brown paper bag.

Here are some of the supplies I used, but this card is designed to use what you have. White glue and glitter always works,

and so do crayons, as shown in the above photo. This card is made from construction paper,

and here is a sample of how tearing the construction paper gives a nice, feathery finish for the roof and the bushes. The brown paper tears nicely, too. Construction paper is soft enough to tear easily and has a nice fluffy finish for edges.

This is for the bushes. Here is something you might have around the house: clear cellophane windows from junk mail or reply envelopes.

They are used for windows, covering small clippings from magazines and catologs.

Here is a close up view of the cottage windows, and the torn edge of the brown paper bag for the roof.

This is the template, with extra pieces for tracing around different kinds of papers and fabrics. There might be a lot of things in your trash or your kitchen or your scrapbook materials that you can use. Try a small button for the door knob.

A Good Report is Good For the Home

Part of the old homestead road, later called the "home road."

It makes sense to put home life in a positive light. My belief is that it does no good to harbor resentment or to dwell on unhappy events. There were probably other women like me whose parents were careful to teach the value of creating something good to remember, out of circumstances that seem very dire at the time.

A view from where the windows of the house used to be. My father chose a place on a hill, to build a house, where it would get the most benefit from light, sun, and warmth. It turned out to be the very best spot.
I tried to capture the dew drop in the middle of the going-to-seed lupines. It glistened a lot more than this in "real life" than in the picture.

This is the place where Mama tied up her little canoe that Daddy built her when they first began their life in the wilderness. The metal post he put into the edge of the lake for her to tie up the boat, is still there. The tree roots created a natural stair-step path to the little cabin that they lived in temporarily while the "big house" was being built. This little cabin had a tent for a roof, and one day it caught fire while Mama was sleeping. She quickly got the children out onto the snow, on sleeping bags, and that is how our Dad found us when he came home that night. He wasted no time putting on a real roof, with a bucket for a chimney. I found pieces of the red tile in the ground, where this cabin had once stood.

In connection with this wonderful trip to remember the lives of my parents when they were in their early 20's, I got a sense that although they had hardship, they did not allow themselves to dwell on anything morbid or anything unhappy, for very long. Although I remember many things happening that were not pleasant, my parents insisted that we not speak negatively about any event in a way that would discredit the family, and my mother, in particular would answer people who asked how she was doing, by saying, "We are just fine! We are doing well."

There were a lot of people like that, in those days. We just assumed that most trials were normal to real-life, and did not waste time complaining. I think today, we as homemakers, have to remember that we are writing our own story, and that we contribute a lot to the negative view of being a guide and guard of the home, by complaining.

If we give a bad report, people will conclude that the role of a homemaker is not a lofty one, but a demeaning one. Of course, there will always be times when it seems you can be lost in a mountain of laundry, or an over-supply of tomatoes from the garden that need attention right now. There will be times when you are tired, sick, or discouraged, but there is no profession that will guarantee that there will be perfect rest, perfect health, perfect plans or perfect results.

There will always be those who wish break down the home, as there has been, from the beginning of time. In the book of Genesis, one reason that Eve lost her beautiful home, is that she wanted the one thing she could not have. In that beautiful garden there was nothing denied her except the fruit on one tree. She believed she was missing out on something. Because she took of that one fruit, she lost the whole garden!

Sometimes homemakers will think they are missing out on something, and start to complain, not realizing that they have so much that they will lose, if they go out into the working world. Many who have no choice but to work, will gladly tell you they are losing a lot of ground in their house keeping and with their children and other interests. The workplace takes up the major part of the day and the week, the month and the year. The homes that cost so much in monthly payments, can sometimes be barely lived in, when a woman gets a career.

I was just in an antique store, where I looked at some old school readers with very nice art in them. Some of them were dated in the 1920's. I like old books, so I thought there would be something of value in these. What a revelation I had when I read so many negative stories connected to home making and being a wife or mother. I thought to myself that the war on women at home began a long time ago, breaking down the image of the woman as the nuturer of the home, one decade at a time.

In one of the stories in this reader, a woman was shown in a very pretty gown sitting on a nice chair, looking out a window. It was a very peaceful scene in her home, and I thought maybe the story would reflect it, but instead, it was a story telling a woman that she didn't know what she wanted. It portrayed her as lacking contentment. The next chapter showed a drawing of a woman in what I would call a very stiff outfit, a suit of some kind, her hair shorn short, doing some kind of work away from her lovely home. The story put this woman in a good light, telling her that she knew what she wanted. Little elf-like creatures were sitting on the shelves speaking to her on every page.

Although it might have been hardly noticeable to a child, the seeds of discontent were sown in these stories that compared the woman in charge of the home to a woman away from home. Nothing was written in this reader about the many duties that a woman was responsible for at home. Nothing was shown about her responsibility and her achievements at home. She was shown in a negative light. She was shown as being discontent. If we are not careful, we can do the same. We can show home making in a good light, or show discontent, and perhaps lose that life at home. We probably need to give a good report to ourselves, our children or our husband, at the end of each day, about life at home. It re-enforces the belief that God created the home to meet the needs of mankind.

There is probably nothing we can do about those naysayers who do not want women to be able to stay home and see that it is run smoothly, but there is a lot that can be done about the way we portray our lives to others "from without." We can do a lot to give the home a good reputation. Everyone has a relative or a friend who seems to be just looking for a crack or a break in their lives to prove that marriage, or homemaking is just the worst choice a woman could make. We can not divulge our discouragement to people who are not on our side.

We can refrain from revealing problems with our children unless they are people who are going to really help us succeed. We can also refuse to reveal personal anxieties to our own children. The parents of the past tried to protect their children from their fears. They didn't think childhood should be disturbed by too much worry.

We can refuse to complain to anyone unless they are people who really believe in what we are doing. We can be careful about our appearance, which is an important part of giving a good reputation to our families. We can be sure to warn our children not to talk about their family problems to others, or to tell their family business abroad. We can at least have one room looking peaceful and tidy, so that when someone enters the house, it feels orderly and calm. There are many things we can do to protect the reputation of the home, ourselves.

In one of the stories in this reader, a woman was shown in a very pretty gown sitting on a nice chair, looking out a window. It was a very peaceful scene and I thought maybe the story would reflect it, but instead, it was a story telling a woman that she didn't know what she wanted. It portrayed her as lacking a steady purpose of life. The next chapter showed a drawing of a woman in what I would call a very stiff outfit, a suit of some kind, doing some kind of work at a desk. The story put this woman in a good light, telling her that she knew what she wanted.

It would be hard for a reader of a young age to see what was missing in this elementary reader. The woman who was not at home all the time, could also have been shown in a different light, going from job to job, and being told she just didn't know what she wanted. Instead, the homemaker was shown as discontent, aimless, and without purpose.

No matter what events occurred in our lives, many of our mothers made sure they ended on the up-side. The car may have gotten stuck at the end of the road, but the walk home could be pleasant. The plates might not have been washed, due to the fact there was no water, but we learned to turn them upside down and eat of the back of them. We may not have had money, but we learned how to use available things, to create what we needed. Many people in those days wanted to find a way to make a day end pleasantly, even if there had been troubles. Our night time prayers gave us great relief in troubles, and helped us begin the next day with a great deal of hope. The alternatives became future stories that were handed down to the grandchildren.

Of course, there are "giants in the land" in the form of government agencies, courts and judges, and various kinds of educational establishments, that seem always at work to divide the home rather than keep it intact, but like Caleb, I think it would do us more good to bring back a good report, particularly to those who seem ready to denounce the idea of guiding the home full time, and to insist that the members of the home only give a good report of their home life

I'm Back

I walked around the lake and had one last look. Picked a bouquet of the local flora: fireweed, wild geranium, dogwood, yarrow, reeds, and a freshwater clam shell makes a wonderful bouquet, which is good enough for a wedding, in my opinion.

There had always been a great supply of white gravel on the homestead, which my father made the home road from.

Looked at the Russian architecture in the old part of Kenai, which I saw often, as a child.

I'm going to list some Alaskan women's blogs on the side bar, separate from the US and overseas blogs, so if you want your blog there, please send it.

"I Thought We Might Visit...

to the Lake Country. Would you like to come?" (Lizzie's Aunt Gardner in P&P by Jane Austen)

I take my photographer, Beth, with me, wherever I go. My camera would not cooperate when I got here, so she takes these majestic photographs of the homestead.

This is the lily pad area of the lake where my mother used to row in the Lil Kathy, to pick a bouquet, in the morning, before "us kids" even woke up.

I just can't get enough of the reflection!

This is where we buried our cars. Was this a Nash, or a Packard?
Mother's strawberries were a special kind that grew in hanging clusters that stood well off the ground. In those days, people shared slips of strawberry plants or other plants and flowers, and I think these were a variety of strawberries that were grown in Michigan. The berry patch she had behind the house, has now grown across the road, and all over the acerage, down by the swamp, up the hill, and alongside the road. They have a delicious flavor and smell like cotton candy.

This is a pile of fishing net, still with the wooden floats, found in the forest, which was not a forest when we lived here. They were laying a-top a corrugated tin roof on the ground.

I just can't thank Beaver and Carol enough for bringing the canoe and waiting so patiently while I rowed down memory lane.

And I hope Beth hangs on to that camera!

Then and Now

Approximatey 1954. On the left: Joe, Lillian and two of "us kids", and my father's sister taking a picture of the picture-taker.

September 5, 2008, their oldest daughter in the same place.

This was a glorious moment for me, as I thought about how my parents felt, when they first stood on this spot--a girl of merely 22 and her handsome young husband of 25. Yesterday I visited my science teacher and he asked me if my mother still had the same "laugh."

"Yes, she does! "

He asked about my father. "Is he well?"

"Yes," I said. "He is 83."

"What is he doing now?" asked Mr. Bracht.

"He was fixing the roof, the other day, and my brother drove by his house. He said,

'Dad! You are 83 years old! Please, don't get so close to the edge of that roof! Get over closer to the middle!"

I was so surprised at how many people handed me a copy of my book to be autographed, and how everyone wanted to know about my parents. I took a large party of people with me to visit the Norman Lowell studios. Norman reminded me that my Dad had taken him across to Kachemak Bay many times to sketch the Ekron Cannery and the house the Ekrons lived in. Then he gave me a signed copy of a book of those sketches he made on those many trips on my Dad's fishing boat, and I gave him a picture of the boat. The Ekrons were interesting people. Mr. Ekron was from Norway and spoke another language. The family paid us to fish for them, and then paid us to work in their cannery to process the fish, and then let us spend the night in their cabin, and fixed us meals. I don't think they made much money but they sure helped us out.

I hope everyone is enjoying the pictures.

A Day On the Lake

Beaver and Carol's canoe is red-orange, so I tried to wear something to match ;-)

The water was glassy clear. Look at the reflection.

Then the wind came.

Then the sun shone on the ripples. These are the "diamonds" I wrote about in the story "A Thousand Sparkling Diamonds" in the book, "Just Breathing the Air."



This is the great Island Lake "Stonehenge" mystery: What was my Dad building? There were nine of these cement blocks, sticking out of the ground, level across the top, in a space 14' by 16'. Our names were written on these stones, in my father's handwriting, including his own name, with the date 1962. There were nine of us in the family. The blocks are facing the lake, in a different location than the original house. He admits he made them, and wrote our names on them, but he does not remember what he was going to do with them! Maybe he started a project and changed his mind. Maybe you will read about it in the next book.

More diamonds

There's Some Blue Sky...

Let us chase it!

(Sense and Sensibility)

What a surprise, when I found that my friend's youngest daughter, Miss Jillian, knew Jane Austen literature as well as I did. I pointed to the sky and quoted the sentence, which she finished for me. It has been so enjoyable to be with Jillian and Kendra, who can almost finish my sentences, especially when referring to some of their favorite stories. Miss Kendra played the piano wonderfully, with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

Beautiful!

"Of all this, I might have been mistress."

(Elizabeth, in "Pride and Prejudice," by Jane Austen)

First view of the homestead lake, after 37 years.Packing Iron

That's what I call "protection." (Although, if I had to shoot a bear, I would leave it there. I am not going to skin it.)

Comments are open now! Everyone in the woods has a computer, and I can post the comment.

In Good Hands

I have some time left, before I leave for the northern lights. This lady is one of my hostesses. Notice her fashion accessory. Women up north don't have much use for handbags. I guess no one will be arguing with her!

Prayer Request

Cabin on the Pond by Ervin Molnar

I just wonder if I might request your prayers. My son, Stevie, is hunting this week. Please pray that he will not get a bear. I do not want a bear rug, and mostly I don't want a bear carcass on my front lawn or even the back yard.

Thank you.

A Little Clip Art

Here is something to do with that little advertisement that comes in the mail, if it has a pretty photograph on it.

Clip out one of the pictures and use it to brighten up a plain piece of writing paper.

Mounted on a matching strip of paper.

Put the entire piece on paper and outline in glitter glue.

A Little Holiday

My mother, Lillian, in her canoe in 1953 on her little lake at the homestead.

Women didn't want diamonds back then...just a boat and a lake ;-)

Because we have been more aware of unnecessary spending, my husband was able to treat me to a sentimental holiday for a few days, to a place where I once had an adventure. I am to walk the path to the hill between two lakes where my parents first homesteaded. It is over 50 years later, but it will be approximately the same day in September. This was the place where we learned to be so resourceful and innovative. In spite of the fact that the Big House is not there, and the land has returned to the wilderness state, it will be good to just breathe the air. The man who now owns the land is deliberately keeping it in its natural state, in memory of our family. I will be happy to be in the land of the midnight sun, once again.


I will imagine what it was like for them, seeing it for the first time, as a young couple in their early 20's, and I will be thinking of them living in a tent with three children under the age of 3, while the log home was being built. I hope to phone my parents from the little lake and see if they can hear anything from the nature. I am not good at sitting still for very long, as I like to be busy, so I hope I don't drive my friends crazy by trying to wash every dish in the sink.

I may be posting a few times before I leave, and I may even get time to post from my homeland.

One of the highlights will be a visit to Norman and Libby Smith

who homesteaded there and who have a gallery of Norman's Alaskan art. He paints under the name of Norman Lowell. I knew him as an art teacher, and attended some of his classes when I was a girl.

Another highlight will be meeting a childhood friend, Carol McGahan who was a neighboring homesteader (as neighbors in those days were anyone you could drive a car to visit) from a family very much like my own.

I am also looking forward to my stay with a family that took so many pictures to help me put my book together about the homestead.


I have been scurrying around trying to get the home in shape, and get myself ready, too. I don't like to leave the house a shambles when I go anywhere. I've learned that it makes it too gloomy when it is time to come home.

Everyone has seen this picture many times, taken around 1955. I hope the water looks blue like this when I next see it. This is what we did when we were little...our Dad took us for rowboat rides. It was better than Disneyland. It has been made into a U.S. postage stamp, available at Zazzle.I used it on letters several times, and it actually takes the letter where it is supposed to go.