When I Wear My Apron ~ Giveaway

When I wear my apron, a new day is upon me. I take a peek through the kitchen curtains. The sun has yet to rise over the mountain. It is quiet in my home and I can hear my thoughts. As I make a quick checklist in my mind of the tasks before me, I realize I must get ready for work.

I know that work has begun. The oven is preheated and the eggs are cracked. As I decide if today’s omelet will be smothered in Cheddar Cheese or Colby Jack, my lips are pressed together and turned upright. I smile. I smile because I love what I am doing. I am starting my work day and I am dressed in my uniform. Continue reading here and enter the giveaway...

A Homemaker's Attitude

As you may know by now, homemaking takes time. Time can be your best friend or you view it as an enemy. However you see time, a few things are certain; time does not stop nor does it wait. It just keeps on ticking.

Too often in my younger years of homemaking, I thought time was an enemy. I would wake up early in the morning with my to-do list in hand ready to conquer the tasks that were before me. I would try to cut corners in order to save time.

Oh sisters, I must confess something to you. I despise cleaning toilets. How I wish I could tell you that there is a smile on my face as I scrub the toilet bowl. Not only is there not a smile on my face, there’s mumbling on my lips. As I stand scrubbing, I cannot help but to wonder how long I must stand there scrubbing. There are so many other things I’d rather be doing with my time. I need to check Facebook. After all, I want to see if there’s an update on my friend’s next door neighbor’s grandmother who was having surgery. Also, someone may share an idea on a short cut to cleaning toilets.

How I wish I could say that my attitude regarding homemaking is always a positive one. It is not.

Last week after scrubbing the toilets, my daughter commented on how clean our toilets were and how much she enjoyed that. My heart beat a little faster. The first thought that came to my mind was whether or not she heard the mumbles that I uttered from my heart.

At the time, my heart says there is more to life than scrubbing toilets.

Preparing meals for my family is something I can do all day. I love being in the kitchen. I have fond memories of time spent in the kitchen. While in the kitchen, my heart is filled with praise. My attitude is great because it’s something I enjoy doing.

How quickly my attitude can change at the dinner table when the meal that took hours to prepare is eaten within ten minutes. By the way, I do not recall hearing a “thank you” or “this is delicious”. All I hear are grunts and “mmm…” accompanied by a few burps.

My family does not realize that I missed what is trending on social media because I was too busy cooking a meal. Now I am out of the loop. Three hours have passed since that friend I have never met posted a picture of her husband taking her to a lovely new restaurant on opening night. She already has so many likes and comments on that photo. All I have is a kitchen table with dirty plates.

At the time, my heart says there is more to life than cooking meals for your family.

As for me, time is not necessarily the enemy. It is my heart and the things that dwell therein. The mouth speaks what my heart says. Once I recognized that there is an ongoing battle with homemaking versus my idols, I was able to put things into perspective.

Homemaking for me could not be confined to a certain time of the day. I admire those women who have a schedule and stick to it. My greatest success in homemaking came when I acknowledged that homemaking was a matter of the heart. If I truly believed that I am called to be a homemaker, it will show in my attitude. It will be easier for me to put away the idols that consume my time.

“She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” -Proverbs 31:27

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

The other morning I woke up to a cool crisp breeze coming through my window. I laid there in bed watching the blue sheer curtains move back and forth. It was such a calming sight.

That wasn't my first time waking up that morning. Previously, I was awakened by the sound of the alarm clock. The ringing sound is a signal that it's time to rise and shine and help my husband start his day. During the course of making him an omelet, he mentioned a craving for something with butterscotch.

Later that morning, I played around in the kitchen and made these amazing Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies.

Oven at 350 degrees

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 cup of flour (You can substitute 1/2 cup of wheat flour.)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup of butter (2 sticks, softened)
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup of butterscotch chips

Instructions:
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream both sugars and butter together.
Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended.
Add dry ingredients from the bowl that was set aside.
*When I add dry ingredients, I always fold and blend them by hand into the wet ingredients instead. My cookies always seem to come out better. Don't over mix.
Add oats. Fold and blend them in.
Add butterscotch chips by folding and blending.

Put cookie dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Take 2 Tbsp of cookie dough and make it into a round ball.
Place cookies on baking sheet. Slightly press down cookies.
Put the remaining cookie dough that's in the bowl inside the fridge for 10 minutes.
Bake cookies on the sheet for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before putting them onto the wire rack to cool.

My husband was one happy man when he came home from work.

"She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."

~Proverbs 31:12

Freezer Apple Pie Filling

I was blessed this week with a box full of apples from an older couple at church. I decided to make Apple Pie filling and freeze it for the upcoming holiday pies. With the left over apples, I will make apple butter. (Apple butter taste delicious when it's spread on some hot, homemade biscuits.)

Here's the recipe for Apple Pie filling:

About 8 cups of apples
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of sugar (I use a 1/2 cup of white and 1/2 cup of brown)
1/4 cup of all flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

Put sugar and all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix.

It should look something like this when you're doing mixing. 

Dump the mixed dry ingredients in a freezer bag. 

Peel and core apples. I don't have one of those machines that peel apples. So to save time, I used an apple slicer. Once sliced, I peeled and sliced the apples.

Put the sliced apples in the freezer bag with the dry ingredients. Leave the air in there and shake the bag so that the dry ingredients coat the apples. 

 This is after the apples are coated with the dry ingredients.

 Add lemon juice and vanilla extract.

 Now, make sure all the air is out of the bag and mix. 

Now it's ready for the freezer.

I'm looking forward to baking Apple Pies this holiday season. This year we are celebrating Thanksgiving early. Two of our sons will be home. We look forward to spending precious time with them.

Word of Encouragement:
Let us, as Christian women, be busy about our homes. There are so many things that would come in and take time away from our families. If we allow those things (internet, social media, phone, going from house to house, etc.) to steal our time; it's time we can never get back.

The Housekeepers Symphony

Recently, I've been reflecting on the days when social media was a tad bit simpler. My first introduction to social media was the Yahoo Groups. I miss the days of Yahoo Groups. I stumbled upon this while looking through the archives of one of those groups.

"The Housekeepers Symphony"
by: Marion Wiley

To do the best that I can, from morn till night.
And pray for added strength with coming light;
To make the family income reach alway,
With some left over for a rainy day;
To do distasteful things with happy face,
To try and keep the odds and ends in place.
To smile instead of frown at Fate,
Which placed me in a family always late
For meals; to do the sewing, mending and
The thousand small things always near at hand,
And do them always with a cheerful heart,
Because in life they seem to be my part;
To know the place of everything and keep
It there, to think, to plan, to cook, to sweep,
To brew, to bake, to answer questions,
To be the mainspring of the family clock.
(Or that effect) and see that no tick, tock
Is out of time or tune, or soon or late,
This is the only symphony which I can ever hope to operate.

~appeared in MARY GOES TO THE FARM by Edith Thomas, 1915.

This housekeeper has been busy at home. 

Meal Planning - that includes new recipes for the Fall and Winter months.

Started homeschooling the last child at home.

Redecorated the living room and bedroom - made curtains & pillows, etc.

Cutting fabric for a new Fall table runner and apron. You can see the old ones here and here.

Did inventory on my baking supplies. Got the new list ready and marking things off as I gather them.

Making meals for new moms. I really enjoy this part!

There's so much that a housekeeper can do around her home. I have made a choice to be busy at home and not get distracted. I don't want to be a housekeeper who appears to be physically in the home, but her heart and mind are somewhere else. I've striving to be like her...

"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness."

~Proverbs 31:27

Clear Skies and Sunshine

Finally after months cold and wet weather, Spring is here. Where I live, it's not that unusual to have constant rain. The winter days and night are dreary and long. Someone mentioned to me last week that without the rain we wouldn't have the beautiful spring flowers and the pretty green trees.

As I was preparing my home for Spring and sorting through my stashes of fabric, I lifted my head. I'm smiled quickly as the glistening sun appeared through the evergreen greens.

From that point on I was motivated with excitement and my mind went there. My mind took me to a place where a perfect Spring for me would consist dresses, dresses and more dresses. Did I mention that I love dresses? Well, I do. Add to that, my "need" for just more Spring clothes in general. I can't leave out my obsession with aprons. Surely, I picture myself wearing the cutest floral printed aprons.

It doesn't take long for me to snap back to reality. Reality is where I live. Before I can do any of the things my mind took me, I need to do some Spring cleaning. I found a wonderful home management notebook that's free. All you have to do is download it.

I chuckled a bit as I turned to the first page.

Yep, before I start living out my fantasy of making multiple Spring dresses, I had to make sure my home was in order. You can find the link here at Proverbs 31 Mama. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for your free "Personal Home Diary".

I am happy to say that all of my Spring material is sorted and ready to glide through the steel plates of Pearl. Pearl is my sewing machine and she has quickly become my new "bff". So if you stopped by my house this Spring, you will find me at the table with Sarah doing homeschool work, Pearl and I at the other end trying to live out my fantasy of dresses and aprons galore.

Here's a peak into my Spring projects:

Solid Linen Fabrics

Floral Printed Linen and Rayon Fabrics

Cotton Fabrics: aprons for me, aprons as gifts and house-dresses. 

I'm going to make a few aprons for some Army moms that I've met on Facebook. Our children are in basic training together right now. I will meet these women as we gather together and watch our soldiers graduate from basic training. They don't read my blog so they will be surprised :)



I do have some other aprons I will be making for me. I found this material on sale at JoAnn's Fabric. I'm getting a little more bolder with my fabric selection as I age gracefully.

I also had to sort through my patterns as well. I would not dare show a photo of all my patterns. I'm afraid my friends and neighbors will report me for hoarding. Here are the patterns that I will use this Spring.

Aprons

Clothes

I know that's a lot of material and a lot of ideas. I can't help but to think of the fun that Pearl and I will have as we work together watching the beautiful Spring skies in my neck of the woods.

America's First Lady of Food

I've always felt I was born in the wrong time period. Every since I was a little girl, I secretly wanted to be a wife and have lots and lots of children. I wanted to be the stereotypical woman who was always "barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen."

I was born in an era where women were running from the kitchen in hopes of finding independence. The kitchen became cold due to the ovens no longer in use. Homes across America no longer had the smell of homemade cookies permeating to every room of the house.

Had I been born in my desired time period, I would have been among a great company of like-minded women. Not saying that I'm dissatisfied with the company I have now. Back then I would have had more RLF (real life friends), versus the many I have online. Funny thing is, I have so many online friends that I've never met, but some are my closest friends. There's one lady I'm sure that I would have been "BFFs" with. Her name was Betty Crocker.

The other day I was looking at the pile of books that have been waiting for me to read. Each book was crying out to me saying, "Read me! Read me!"

I figured it was a good idea to start reading them instead of tripping over them each time I walked by my favorite chair. I look at a book titled "Finding Betty Crocker, The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food." I thought the book would be filled with recipes.

I was shocked by what I found. Yes, there were a few recipes, but what I found astonished me. It contained some dialogues between Betty Crocker and American women. What stood out the most was Betty Crocker's five keys to happiness: love and affection, good food, self-expression, pleasant surrounding and spiritual faith.

Betty Crocker wrote a Homemakers Creed and this is what it said:

I Believe

homemaking is a noble and challenging career.

I Believe

homemaking is an art requiring many different skills.

I Believe

homemaking requires the best of my efforts, my abilities, and my thinking.

I Believe

home reflects the spirit of the homemaker.

I Believe

home should be a place of peace, joy and contentment.

I Believe

no task is too humble that contributes to the cleanliness, the order, the health, the well being of the household.

I Believe

a homemaker must be true to the highest ideals of love, loyalty, service and religion.

I Believe

home must be an influence for good in the neighborhood, the community, the country.

This is to certify that ____________ is a member of the Home Legion dedicated to Good Homemaking for a Better World.


General Mills, Inc.                                    Betty Crocker (her personal signature)

Seventy thousand Betty Crocker American Home Legion members received a copy of the Homemakers Creed, suitable for framing.

The Homemakers Creed inspired so many women back then. I believe it can be an inspiration today. I've decided to make a copy and hang it up in my kitchen.

Below are excerpts from letters written to Betty Crocker regarding the Homemakers Creed:

"I want to thank you for the Homemaker's Creed. I think it is so nice and means so much to me. I never realized home could be such a heavenly place until I heard your program. It really has done wonders for me and I love it. You must be a grand person."

"The Homemakers Creed scroll does a lot for my home front morale. Whenever I glance at it, it reminds me of my duty to my home, my family and myself. I am a homemaker and proud of it. In fact, my Homemakers Scroll means more to me than my Bachelor and Master of Arts sheepskin."

"I'm very much interested in your Home Legion project and sincerely hope you can accomplish wonders with the average homemaker. your Home Legion has given me real encouragement in my work."

Words of a Homemaker

God, I want to do great things for you,

And speak to all the nations!

God replies:

That's well and good,

But for now

Fix your children's complications.

Lord, I want to straighten up the world,

Feed the hungry and fulfill someone's wishes!

God says:

Fine, but for the present,

You need to wash the dishes.

Lord, I want to preach, proclaim your name

And bring salvation to the earth!

God says:

Good! Then teach your children

And preach my name to those you've given birth.

At the end of the day,

I think of all I've done.

But as I look it seems,

I've accomplished nothing for the Son!

God I had no time to witness one on one,

I couldn't join my church group,

They said I missed out on lots of fun.

My household is the only thing

That managed to be cleaned,

My neighbor is the only one,

Besides my family I could feed.

The only ones I've read Your Word

Are those within my home.

God I've done so very little

And I feel so all alone!

God says:

I've seen the way you cleaned and cooked

And taught your kids My name.

Tomorrow morning at eight o' clock,

I'll watch you do the same.

The work you do at home,

Though no one really sees,

Is helping to raise little ones

To grow and worship me.

My ways are not your ways,

I don't expect you yet to see,

But the precepts that you've taught your children,

Will help others bow the knee.

Your children will reach out to others,

Your example in their mind.

They'll do great work for Me

And their children will respond in kind.

The hand that rules the world,

Also rocks the cradle.

Because of you, your children love Me,

All their hearts are stable.

Though your house is your domain,

Your tasks seem rather plain,

Your efforts will reach the multitudes,

Though from humble work they came.

I found this on the internet. I tried finding the author of this poem, but couldn't. Whomever wrote this poem, I want to say thank you. 

~~~~~

Yesterday after church, my children were talking about how much they appreciated us for not making them feel like a burden when they were younger. I sat there with a joyful heart as I looked at them while they were eating. The thoughts rapidly raced through my mind of the different times when they reached milestones in their lives.

How quickly they grow up. Cherish your children. Make a memory today. You can never have this day with them again. Watch them and keep them close. They may reach a milestone today. Don't miss it.

~~~~~

I hope and pray that all homemakers feel encouraged today and the days to come. Please know that what you do today, will be your reward tomorrow.