have a lovely weekend (& cookies)

Source: ledelicieux.com via Delicieux on Pinterest

I made two Christmas cookie doughs last night in preparation for two little get-togethers this weekend celebrating Ace's 2nd birthday. And though I like how festive the cookies look in the picture above, I find I just want to make the same cookies I enjoyed growing up. My favorites?

Chocolate Crinkles and Gingersnaps.

I'm using this and that recipe.

Oh, and in keeping with the whole theme of this blog, the series Making it Home, and all I've learned from Karen Le Billon, this is actually the first time I'm making these cookies. Yup. I'm 32 and this is the first attempt, just in time to serve at a party. Ha!

Have a lovely weekend friends.

icj,
~j


p.s. Yesterday was St. Nick's Day. I grew up thinking it was the 7th because he "always comes to our house the next day," meaning no one remembered until we reported that he came to our classmates' homes the previous night. I'm so pleased that I pulled it off for the little guy! The big guy was disappointed that he didn't get anything:) I'll have to remember that for next year.

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how we do it : weekly staples budget

So everyone has their own system, and if I'm like most people then we're all constantly tweaking that system to work with a new budget, new person, new events. In preparation for our budget talk last night, I got down to business on something I'd been wanting to complete for quite some time.

A weekly staples budget.

Exciting, right? Aren't you on the edge of your seat?

See, like I said in this post, I go over budget in groceries almost every week. We have a monthly budget, but I break that down into a weekly budget because I like to shop for and plan meals on a weekly basis. I don't think we're anything near extravagant (even my favorite beer is only $7.99 for a bottled sixer), so I couldn't put my finger on where the money was going.

I thought I had three problems:

1. I often had to rush through meal planning, so I couldn't always keep the budget in check.
2. Because of #1, I'd have to run out and grab random items or meal-fixin's at the last minute, which we all know is more expensive than not.
3. I wasn't sure what we spent on our fixed staples, items we use up every week and that retain a pretty even price.

So here's what I did: First, I checked my Master Grocery List, recorded in Excel. In this list I have tracked ALL my grocery items, even those I've only purchased once before, if I think I'll ever purchase them again. When I have time to properly menu plan this is a phenomenal resource. I can run down the list of what I need and figure out the actual expense at the actual store, no guessing! I even comparison shop between the big chain, Pick'N'Save (really, Roundy's) and the local market, Sendik's. Some items are cheaper in one place than the other, but I haven't noticed a marked change.

Then, I went through our pantry and jotted down our weekly staples like bread, milk, honey. I ran through recent receipts and the Master Grocery List and compiled a separate staples sheet. Like this:

Remember, this doesn't include produce because the prices and items fluctuate with the season. And we buy a lot of fresh produce.

I love it already and it's really opened my eyes to our spending. Let me break it down a bit:

1. I organized it by the aisles of Sendik's since it's my favorite place to shop.
2. I added up each section for quick visual reference when I'm in the store.
3. I added up the totals of all sections so I can see what my expected maximum could be and thus budget for produce, the prices of which fluctuate almost weekly.
4. I kept totals and X's in light gray so I can see them but write over them when I'm using the list a particular week. So when I plan, I scratch the X next to an item I know I'll buy and then I know to write that new section total in before I hit the store.
5. I keep an updated on date so I know how reliable these prices can be.

This has already helped me see I spend almost twice as much on weekly staples than I would have imagined. We literally eat everything here at least once a week, and sometimes twice! 

FINALLY, I called the two stores to find out their current meat prices per pound. I was SO impressed with both conversations, particularly with their willingness to walk me through prices, the differences provided in ABF and reserve meat, the different cuts, etc. The Sendik's butcher was even able to tell me about the limitations the store places on their purchases to preserve quality of meat and integrity of farming. Very enlightening and enjoyable. Who knew? I recorded all of this in the Grocery Master (would you like to see it?), and just chose the prices for what I think I'll purchase in the next week.

I'll let you know how it goes in the next two weeks, but thus far I'm encouraged. I like to know what I'm working with. I can be very creative when I know what my boundaries are.

What do you think? Do you do anything like this, too? Or do you think I'm nuts?

icj,

~j

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making it home : nightly cleaning

I read something a few months ago that repeats in my mind daily: her house might be messy here and there, but it's always clean despite the presence of 4 children. Or something very close to that.

Each morning the best thing that can greet me, besides my family, is a clean house. When I walk downstairs and find a mess -- any mess -- I'm a bit more on edge. Can you relate?

Instead of starting with a clean slate and having only the day's matters to attend to, I'm playing catch-up from the day before. And I feel it immediately.

So it's important to me to straighten, wipe down, sweep, and leave the place in a pleasant state so that the next morning when I hit that prepared coffee maker, I'm a happy woman.

Though not anything remarkable, I'd like to share with you my nightly method for returning the house to its mostly-happy* state.

Source: wanelo.com via Erin on Pinterest

Here's what I do:

1. I give myself a time-sensitive incentive. I read recently that a task takes all the time it is given. So if I give myself an hour to clean the kitchen, it will take me an hour. If I give myself 10 minutes, it will take me 10 minutes. And the less time doesn't have to mean less quality.

So I either take out ice cream to thaw or a beer to warm (which is how good beer should be served, with the chill off and not genuine-draft-cold). I may toss it back in the freezer once before I'm ready, but it keeps me moving. 

2. I watch the clock, and I'm done at 9:00pm, with a 5-minute grace period. Ace's bedtime is 8:00pm, which means we're out of his room by 8:15pm. On a night like last night when Hawk was at the Brewer game (and dropped a ball off one of Braun's fouls -- DOH!) and I put both kids down myself, I was downstairs by 8:30. Everything below took 30 minutes.

But that 30 minutes was worth every second.

3. I have an order, and I keep to it. This is key: the kitchen comes first. Ms. Mendelson suggests leaving the kitchen until last, but I'm the sort who feels peace if the counter is cleared, the floor is wiped, and everything is put away in the kitchen. If there's food out, I'm annoyed. If there's a dish awry, I'm irritated. Plus, it's usually the area of the greatest mess, so when it's done I know my work gets easier from that point on.

To me the dining room is an extension of the kitchen; technically I start there. Here's the order:

• DINING ROOM: 
• Clear dishes, discard/store food, load washer
• Put away all food items from table like salt, olive oil, etc.
• Brush all crumbs onto the floor from table, chairs, and Ace's seat
• Wipe down table
• KITCHEN:
• Reserve/discard food from pots & pans in the kitchen
• Start dishwasher (unless I think there's room for breakfast's dishes)
• Hand-wash pots, pans, & plate chargers (we use for every meal)
• Spray and wipe down counters & stovetop
• DR/KIT:
• Sweep & discard crumbs
• Wash floors (really, this takes like 10 minutes max and is totally worth it)
• POWDER ROOM:
• Put away items like make-up, magazines, etc.
• Use a baby wipe to clean sink and toilet top
• Sweep up whatever might be on the floor
• LIVING ROOM:
• Put away toys
• Put away clothes and diaper materials (with kids, something is always out)
• Straighten furniture
• Clear off entryway bench & bench bins
• Straighten/store shoes 
• Crack open my Hopilicious

Do you think you might struggle with it? Try this: time yourself for each task. You'll likely find, as I did, that what I avoided for fear it would take up my whole night was actually done in a matter of minutes. I don't have a stopwatch, but I watch our kitchen clock. I find I'm generally done with everything in the dining room and kitchen within 20 minutes.

What do you think? Do you have a similar or totally different routine you'd recommend?

Remember to comment for this month's giveaway! 

icj,
~j


*Mostly-happy in that I am working to totally declutter every single room in our house before Christmas. My goal is to truly have a place for everything and everything in its place. I hate clutter. I hate mess. I hate things stuffed along a wall or kitchen counter. But right now we have a few things on the stairs and more things than places.

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making it home :: the weekly routine, a day for each thing

Housework seems overwhelming, especially for first-timers like me. I had no idea where to begin, how to keep it going. I felt like there was always more to be done and no energy with which to do it. So where does a person begin? If my end goal is to make our home homey and approachable, a sanctuary as well as a place of great movement and life, how do I do that and still keep it clean and ordered enough that people can pop over without reducing me a sheepish, Sorry my place is so messy, again.

Wow. So obvious and yet so completely foreign to a modern gal like me. First off, I didn't even know what the major housekeeping chores were, and I would never have thought to assign them to one day of the week. I definitely thought everything in the house could/should/would be done any day or every day of the week.

But this system makes SO much sense.

Let's look at laundry for a sec. What was my old method? Do a load whenever I could swing it. That meant doing about one load a day on average. So I felt I was in constant laundry mode and yet whenever Hawk needed a white undershirt for work, they were never ready. How does that happen? Can you relate?

Ms. Mendelson suggests that laundering be done one day of the week, possibly two, with a different and specific focus for each of the days. Traditionally laundry was done on Mondays because the work was so difficult that people appreciated having the weekend to rest up for it. If more items needed laundering, a separate day was set aside for that activity.

I wash all our clothes (including underoos and socks) on Mondays (about 4-5 color-separated loads) and towels and sheets on Thursdays (about 2 loads). I find that the doing the major stuff on Monday works for me, and here's why I lurve it:

• It starts the week out with something I can actually accomplish
• I'm ready to jump in after a weekend (and week) away from it
• I know we'll have clean clothes the whole week!
• Mondays rarely see playdates, meetings, etc., so I have the time

By the time Thursday arrives I don't mind throwing in two loads of towels and sheets (one dark, one light). And if for some reason it's just too crazy of a week, I skip it. YUP, I skip it. We have enough sheets and towels that we could manage. We're a relatively clean family (I hope).

Okay, so now what are the weekly housekeeping chores?

Suggested Weekly Housekeeping Chores

Change bed linens 1-2 times weekly

Vacuum rugs, floors, upholstered furniture, and lampshades

Wash all washable floors

Dust all dustable surfaces

Wipe fingerprints and smears from places like mirrors, doorknobs, etc.

Wash entire bathroom, including floor

Wash all combs & brushes

Clean entire kitchen including fridge, backsplashes, and floors

Clean air-conditioners and humidifiers

Wash out and sanitize garbage cans

Okay, before you freak, take a breath. The author is constantly reminding her readers that she includes everything but that we are to discern what is appropriate and plausible in our own homes. 

So mine looks like this after tweaking it five times over the past four months:

A couple of things to notice that I figured out through trial and error:

• Monday & Thursday are basically the same
• Tuesdays are terrible marketing days for me because our stores restock on Wednesdays, so Tuesdays are really slim-pickings. Plus, Wednesday is closer to the weekend, so I can plan according to our outings more accurately.
• I don't change out AND wash towels and linens on the same day. This is HUGE. I have at least one extra set of linens for each bed (4 for Ace's crib) and 2 different colored sets of towels. We only go through 2 towels a week per person, so it's totally manageable. It makes me keep fresh stock in our linen closet, but it also means that I'm not scrambling to replace towels and linens by first washing and drying them.
• Friday is fun
• Saturday is a natural mini-cleaning day because Hawk is home to help
• Sunday we really do need to just rest and relax. We usually spend time with neighbors, friends, or family, so it's a big deal to not have any other responsibilities.

Okay, that's a lot to ingest. Are you still with me? I hope so, because here's a little thank you from my heart to your home. We're offering a little giveaway during the month of March having to do with this series, so stay tuned!

icj,
~j

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making it home :: succeeding at the daily routine

Last week's great comments about the daily routine got me thinking about how to explain and encourage you if you're working it into your own life. I recalled a few things I did to get started.

First, I picked a Saturday/Sunday 

to begin this whole crazy endeavor, 

so I could start with a truly clean slate. 

Do you remember Dangerous Minds when Michelle Pfeifer says that the kids don't have to earn an A, they just have to maintain the one they already have? If you don't, here it is (and I'm totally feeling old now). 

The same thing goes for housekeeping. I found it extremely helpful to go nuts one weekend, give my son to my husband for some quality time, and clean as much as I possibly could from top to bottom. Now, I used a lot of what is in the book to adequately do so--an efficient and worthwhile checklist and how-to is included in the book.

So when I began my daily routine on Monday, I was merely maintaining rather than reestablishing order. It is MUCH easier to maintain something than to establish it bit by bit. If you jump into this series, I suggest giving yourself a clean slate first and then give the following 3 weeks to see how it improves your time, energy, and effectiveness.

Second, I embraced the weekly routine 

along with the daily, 

and this makes a big difference because it allows for things to be done on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis (duh). Okay, that was totally obvious. Let me explain it better: one of the great thing about having the weekly routine alongside the daily is that I only clean the kitchen floor, scrub the stovetop, wipe out the microwave, etc., twice a week, so on a daily basis I am returning the room to a certain standard rather than starting all over again.

So my daily routine is really about 
maintaining the status quo,

and my weekly routine gives me 
time to reestablish it.

But wait, you haven't posted about the weekly routine yet, you fool!


Yes, this is true. It's coming on Thursday!!!

Have a lovely Tuesday, friends. I hope this helps you start off with more ease and satisfaction.

icj,
`j

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making it home :: starting your housekeeping routine, the daily list

Boston.com Community: We are running an updated version of this post in early November. Check back if you're looking for more guidance on how to start house cleaning in an organized, manageable, and enjoyable way!
~jen

We're back to Home Comforts,** and I'm particularly excited about this post because I've had quite a bit of time to work on it. You won't be getting a week's worth of experience but rather a couple of months!

Let's review a bit of what we've learned from previous posts, primarily why she suggests establishing a routine:

I can't agree more! A routine gives an outline for the attainable. Since establishing a routine, I finish each day with that sense of accomplishment, particularly if other daily requirements permit me to spend the time saved on something I enjoy like reading, blog stuff, etc. To sum up the entire approach, a routine gives the homemaker the ability to accomplish real tasks and see real results--thereby enjoying a clean home and moving on to other enjoyable activities.

Ms. Mendelson offers Daily, Weekly, Monthly/Seasonally/Intermittently, and Semiannually/Annually lists of activities. I have only attempted the Daily and Weekly thus far, and we'll start with the Daily today. 

Here are the steps I took in starting my housekeeping routine:

Step One: Try the Routine She Suggests
There are times I think it's good to look over and pare something down to my needs, but when it comes to housekeeping -- something totally new to me -- I found it most helpful to just try what she suggests and see what works and what doesn't, as she encourages.

Let's start with the Daily routine*, page 21:

I knew a few things:

1. I would need a good 3 weeks of living by this routine before I could determine what was and wasn't working for me. 
2. I need the list to be visible so as to constantly remind me
3. I had to make it my own, visually and physically

So I did the following:

1. I gave three full weeks to her method and then reevaluated. I started by copying her full list (see above) and hanging it in our kitchen, our most visited room in the house. 
2. I ordered the tasks from the top of the house to the bottom (our bedroom is upstairs and most of the crazy kid stuff is on the mid and lowest levels).
3. I gave each task a one-word, quick check reminder, followed by a more detailed explanation. This helps me glance at it and recall whether or not I've completed it.
4. I printed it out in pleasant colors (I've since changed them, but more on that in another post) and hung it on a clipboard in our backstairs hallway.
5. I added kids specifically because cleaning toys, trays, etc., is a unique activity of its own.
6. I adjusted a few words like down slide instead of hamper since we have a laundry shoot.
7. I gave an ordered list of how to clean up afterwards from meals so that if anyone else checks it out, like when Obie arrives and I'm not cleaning up as much myself.

Here's my revised list after completing the above:

Bed: Make the bed

Clothes: Put soiled clothes down slide & hang up other clothes

Sinks: Clean sinks & tubs after use (including drains and traps)

Supplies: Check soap, toilet paper, other supplies in bathroom

Meals: Prepare meals and clean up afterward (dishes, wipe table, wipe counters, wipe stove)

Floors: Sweep kitchen, dining room, and entryway floors

Neaten: LR at the start of each sleep time

Kids: Clean chair; clean bottles nightly

Thus far, this daily routine really works for me. I like how the list looks, where it is located, the level of detail and at-a-glance it offers, and most of all, how it helps me keep the house ordered through completely manageable, defined tasks.

If you're joining me in starting from scratch with housekeeping, I know you'll find Ms. Mendelson's text the most helpful. Even checking it out from the library is worth it, and I'm only through the first 3 chapters:)

Have a lovely Thursday, friends!

icj,
~j


*NOTE: I am only speaking of the daily task list in this post, but in reality I did both the daily and weekly together, which definitely makes it easier to figure out what works and what doesn't. But for the sake of brevity...

*I am not being perked, paid, or praised for reviewing this text. I wish. This series came from my own lack of experience and the euphoric sense of direction and possibility I found in reading Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. (thanks again, joyce, for this sweet housewarming gift!)

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making it home :: find it fast

Welcome back from the weekend! We had a blast. Friday was an all-out fish fry celebration of our neighbor's 30th birthday. I had no idea that Lakefront Brewery, known for their crazy brewery tours and excellent weddings, welcomed kids for the first round! Ace danced his tush off on the dance floor, we downed some tasty cod, and smothered our way through Nellie's delicious cupcakes. Then, I went to her baby sprinkle, i.e., a small shower for a mom expecting her first girl, and gourged myself on teacakes and desserts at Watt's Tea Shop. Sunday saw us celebrating a baby Jane baptism and the return of my sister-in-law, Ellie, from New York.

Good times to be had!

This week, I'd like to return to the making it home series and let you in on my bucket list for things I hope to accomplish before baby #2 arrives.

We're about to pick back up with the making it home series in which we go through my attempts at homemaking -- from scratch. I recently got addicted to this great series on another blog but was rather frustrated by how hard it was to read each post chronologically. So to make it easier over here, I've organized them by date and will be adding to the list, all of which you can find through this button in our sidebar:

Here's a little secret, friends: I've been thinking about the photos we use on the blog and I'm not as impressed as I want to be. So the first few posts in this series are, well, so-so. But the content is good, so we're keeping it up. And I want you to know that I'm working on improving our visuals so that what we're conveying is actually conveyed, and pleasantly so.

More to come this week!

Happy Monday!

icj,

~j

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making it home series : what's so great about a schedule?

a series about starting from scratch

Welcome back to our making it home series, where I share with you my triumphs and trevails as I make my way through Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts in an effort to make this house a home.*

Would you all say that you long for home? I'm not sure that I did until recently. Too often, home became for me more to do. When I worked full-time the laundry, meals, cleaning and generally neatening were still my primary if not sole responsibility. I think it's safe to say that is likely the case for most of you, too. 


I scoured the 10-minutes-to-clean articles online and in magazines. I tried to put them into practice, but I was never satisfied and never felt free of the next 10-minute fix. Ms. Mendelson proposes that these fixes do little to actually fix. They are more like bandaids than methods of living well. 


Living well. Remember, this is a foundation of our making it home series. 


I believe this dissatisfaction stemmed from a compartmentalized mindset: here's my to-do for the kitchen; here's my quick fix for the bathrooms; etc. They were disjointed, disconnected from each other and while I wanted the whole house to be beautiful and inviting, it wasn't happening.

Homes today seem to operate on an ad hoc basis. Washday is any time anyone throws a load into the machine. Dishes are washed when the dishwasher is full. Meals occur any time or all the time or, what amounts to the same thing, never, as people serve more and more prepared and semi-prepared foods. Cleaning and neatening are done mostly when the house feels out of control. It is not in goods that the contemporary household is poor, but in comfort and care (HC 7-8).

This was me to a T. I believed that the right thing to do environmentally was to pack the dishwasher full and only then start the cycle.  Not a bad idea, but terrible when the goal is effective homemaking. 


Ms Mendelson proposes a system of housecleaning, a schedule. This includes daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly suggestions---all exhaustive with the admonishment to be realistic about the needs of your own home. As someone who tends toward disorganization, organization is actually a fresh of breath air! Let me explain:


I read once of a study in which children were placed on a borderless playground set at the center of a large, cleared field. During the first week of study, the children rarely played more than a few steps away from the playground sets. The next week, they established a ground border around the playsets and a fence around the larger perimeter. When the children were reintroduced to the playground they utilized the entire area, even slipping over the fence and running through the fields a bit.


What did this imply for the scientists? Simple: when we have boundaries, we are free to live within every inch of those bounds, but when we have no guidance, we tend toward reservation, the mundane, the familiar. 


In a similar way I have found Ms Mendelson's insistence that one create and abide by a schedule of housekeeping quite freeing! I don't do laundry on any day but Laundry Day (more on this later). I plan my weekly meals, and thus the strictly budgeted shopping list, on Sunday & Monday nights before my Tuesday marketing day. My kitchen floor is most often clean enough to eat on (literally, I have an 11-month-old son) because I now have the time and foresight to sweep and even wash it a handful of times daily. 

Living by a housekeeping schedule has created freedom for me in our home. What I thought would be cumbersome has left me with time to blog, time with my son, time with my husband, time to make meals, time to read, time to make the home our home. I am less bitter about cleaning and in fact, I find joy in it!

In upcoming making it home posts, I'll dig into the practical side of scheduling, what I've tried, what I've adjusted (as she encourages), what's working and what isn't. 

Thanks for joining me on this venture thus far! I love having friends alongside. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

icj,

~j

*This series intends to highlight my own experiences, but in no way can these substitute for reading Ms. Mendelson's manuscript yourself. I strongly recommend that you purchase or library check out the book rather than rely solely on my remarks. Thank you!

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making it home series : is it for me?

a series about starting from scratch

Traditional. Great word when applied to holiday decorations, homecooked meals, and the act of passing on a particular tried-and-true technique to an interested apprentice. But traditional in reference to the home? Homemaking? Housekeeping?? Egads, get away thou vilest of words!

Source: re-nest.com via inge on Pinterest

If you've been following this series, you know I'm studying and practicing my way through Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts. She has done quite a bit to turn that lovely-though-avoided word into something precious, a call to arms, a convicting echo of what can be.

What a traditional woman did that made her home warm and alive was not dusting and laundry. Someone can be hired to do these things (to some extent anyway). Her real secret was that she identified herself with her home. She lived her life not only through her own body but through the house as an extension of her body; part of her relation to those she loved was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made (9-10).

But most men and many women do not want to identify themselves with homes they create through their housekeeping and through which they offer themselves to others (10). 

I agree. Most in my generation read the phrase "identify [him]herself with the home" and likely cringe with dismay. Surely, this is the thought of the 1950's enslaved and uneducated housewife. And that may certainly be true. But show me how Ms. Mendelson is incorrect? Do we not walk into another's home and judge it to some degree? Either by decoration, cleanliness and messiness, warmth, fragrance, and more? Perhaps we are generous critics, but instinctively we know that the home reveals much about a person's character.

My home used to reveal that I was too busy to take it seriously. I was rarely unclean or dirty, but I was almost always messy. The household which "neaten[s] mostly when the house is out of control"? Check. Dishwasher run when it is packed? Check. Garbages emptied when they are full and unsavory? Check.


And I never had peace. Never really felt rested. And looking back, I now see that we created an environment in which no one else could truly rest either. 


It spoke volumes about me whether anyone acknowledged it or not.

Source: thecobrasnake.com via Annabel on Pinterest

She identified herself with her home. I'm well educated (though I know, I'm not a great writer by any means). I come from one well-educated family and married into another. I have a masters and the bill to show for it. I've been employed as long as I've been legally permitted, until quite recently. And yet, a great expression of self and of love for others comes out in my home. Crazy, eh? Cray-zay.


In these first few steps toward making it home, I find deep satisfaction in moving about the house, cleaning, organizing, preparing, cooking, and more, thinking to myself, people know me by the house I keep. 


They know that I want them to be warm. They know that I want them to smell something lovely and delicious at 6:00pm. They know that I hope they feel festive by the manner with which I decorate. They know I want them to rest comfortably by the cleanliness of bed linens & towels, the sofa pillows that invite them to lean back. They know I care about their health by the smooth, freshly wiped kitchen counters & floors. Because part of my relation to those I love is embodied in the physical medium of the home I make.


If you are like Hawk & me me & Hawk and you have little real practice in making a home, this is a great place to start.


Q you:
What is the area you put off until you just can't take it anymore? Laundry? Dinner remnants? Bathrooms?



Happy Thursday!


icj,
~j

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making it home series : how to keep house part i

a series about starting from scratch

How was your weekend? Ours was unbelievable. Temps in the upper 70's, clear blue skies, yellow and red leaves falling, plenty of pleasant house and yard work, and a happy little baby who loves the outdoors. I could go on and on, but....

Let's talk housekeeping. Most people think of keeping house, and this sort of image comes to mind:

image found here

image found here

Or this:

found via pinterest from thedeathofcool.tumlbr

The world comes crashing down. Or housekeeping = starting from scratch, demolishing and rebuilding. But it doesn't have to be that way. I am one of the usual of my generation; we have little experience when it comes to keeping house. Society and those silly 6th grade home-ec classes did little to encourage me to want to keep house. 


So now that I have a family, a home, and I'm to give my full attention to it, I want the attention I spend there to be worthwhile. When I mention that I'm studying a book to learn how to keep house, I often receive a little tongue-in-cheek comment, an eye roll, or an eyebrow raises, you don't need to read a book, there are plenty of people you can learn from around you.


So what's the advantage of learning how to keep house through Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts? Tons. Tons and tons. and tons. The title should give you a big clue that this isn't your normal how-to-cut-corners-and-make-your-home-barely-be-what-you-really-want-it-to-be.

First, it is all about the mindset given to making a home. You may recall how Hawk asked me to develop a mindset about finances. I would run expenses by him, and he would respond with, i can't always tell you what to do. you have to have the right mindset. Ms. Mendelson offers the same to her audience: 

Shake not your head, this is true and essential. She writes, housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your house. Isn't that true? I believe she's entirely right. I am unable to feel rested in a disordered house. If the kitchen is sloppy, crumbs under my feet or dishes in the sink--I am slightly irritated in the morning. I hate when the garbage smells to the living room. And trust me, ask any of my friends from my pre-Hawk years, and they will tell you that my middle name is not Monica Geller.

photo found here

Early in our home-ownership, Hawk and I lamented the many times we were rushing to thoroughly clean the house--not just neaten it, but scrub the bathroom, sinks, floors, mirrors, etc.--the day before a dinner or party or guests were expected. And as we live in the sort of village where people routinely knock on your front door when they have a question, we couldn't always count on a warning.


Second, she understands the plethora of reasons women (and men) may both desire to make a home and feel unable to do so in a deeply satisfying way. So everything she offers can be adapted to one's lifestyle and event surprising events (like new babies or moves). I think this is primarily because to embrace what she offers is to transform your mindset (there it is again). Since it is a whole picture, big picture, whole house sort of thing, it becomes part of your lifestyle. 


A happy part.


I'm going to go more in depth in the coming weeks. This is just to wet our palette. 


Happy Monday!


icj,

~j

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