cleaning – Page 3 – Home's Cool!

Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

LOST AND FOUND: One Large Closet.

Posted on August 31, 2011August 31, 2011 by Katharine

Yesterday, I finally launched a work I meant to do last year.

And the year before.

Today I actually dragged half the contents of the master closet out into the bedroom and kitchen.

Kitchen? Yes; it’s a walk-through closet connecting the kitchen and bedroom. My side of the bed is exactly ten steps from the corner of the stove where the coffee pot sits each morning. Heh, heh.

just ten steps — Just Ten Steps from Zzz-land!

But I digress . . .

There used to be no terrific place to put all my sewing project business. However, there was this enormously gigantic closet in the master bedroom. And we are the type that has a normal amount of clothing. So . . .

One new electrical outlet later, and voila! I had a lovely galley sewing room, with space for zillions of yards of fabric to hang on coat hangers around me. Excellent!

Except it was also still our closet and sometimes I put outgrown or off-season kids’ clothing in there. And schoolwork that needed filing. And large skeins of yarn for crochet projects. And gifts I’m hiding until someone’s gift-day comes along. And stuff-Mart bags stuffed with stuff I needed to deal with. And back-logs of un-ironed items. And a multitude of craft supplies.

It was becoming unnavigable.

So yesterday, I hit it.

However, I also needed to wash a couple of intricate loads of laundry, hard-boil a dozen eggs without ruining them, and fix myself breakfast and lunch on time, since I had a tutoring appointment in the afternoon. So I did all of it at once, listening to the washer while watching the eggs come to a boil, and taking bites of my breakfast and sips of my juice, between trips in and out of that closet, loaded down with boxes, etc., and at the same time, sorting contents according to what was throw-away, storage, or put-away. Also re-charged my cellphone, did chicken chores, and made a new pot of coffee.

We call it multi-tasking, and we are good at it because we do so much of it. So many aspects of keeping a peaceful home depend upon it.

Our home is not too peaceful, right now, though, but rather torn out and scattered, waiting for me to finish it. Oh, the worst is over; just have to fit a few things back in, the right way, then enjoy it again.

And when it comes to the soul, aren’t most of us also in that shape?

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom, Wives

Get All You Can–Can All You Get – Part 4

Posted on July 28, 2011March 27, 2018 by Katharine

One Morning's Canning success, SAVED for those "chili and soup" days! — One morning’s work, SAVED for chili, soup, and spaghetti!

The Master Potter!

Sisters, we truly are like canning jars (2 Corinthians 4:7). God calls us to belong to Him for a reason, and that is to contain the treasures of His Holy Kingdom, but first we need to be clean jars. He is very careful and does not store valuable things in dirty vessels. So the first step for us is to be saved, delivered from the dirt to which we’ve been accustomed (John 3:7). If we are not “Spiritual” we cannot take in Spiritual treasures (1 Corinthians 2:14).

We must also be unabused, emotionally “whole” people: no cracked-pots (Acts 8:18-23). What joy we have in knowing we serve the God who knows how to fix us broken jars!

Then we must be set apart for His use, separated from the world and it’s contamination, as with that flat lid, sealed by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:13-14.) The screw bands are like the Law, holding us in separation (Romans 7:7) until The Seal takes effect, and then are unneeded and removed from over us.

The cooker is this present world (John 16:33). The heat and pressure are our trials (James 1:2-3, 2 Corinthians 4:8). The timing is God’s alone (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11). All the elements of successful food storage are mirrored in God’s beautiful work of preparing us “earthen vessels” to hold His treasures.

It is such a joy to be the bearer of God’s good things. He can open us up and use us to bless those who would die without His goodness in their lives (Psalm 145:15, Ephesians 2:10). Many who would turn away from God are drawn to what they see in us (John 15:8, 16). He can place us wherever He desires, to give the gift of His goodness whenever He pleases (2 Timothy 4:2). His Life is not just for Sunday Church!

The sad thing is that there can be failure in this endeavor, as in home canning, and the results are just as putrid when left undetected. Doesn’t the mention of your favorite failed evangelist make you cringe? Spoiled food, and rotten Treasure both are unusable, offensive, and poison (Jude 12,13).

The only real difference between any one of us and these people is that their unseparated condition, cracked rim, or whatever the problem, went a long time unnoticed and unfixed. A spoiled jar can explode.

The solution is always to submit to God’s dumping us out and cleaning us (Ephesians 5:25-26), to allow Him to adjust us, and to go joyfully into the pan of pressures and heat. Then when He refills us (Ephesians 5:18), we will “hold”.

And what if you are broken, cracked, or chipped either before or during your time in God’s service?

You do not have to be smashed and thrown away.

We serve the God who knows how to mend the broken pieces of our lives (Jeremiah 18:1-8).

Submit to Him. Let Him clean you, mend you, fill you, seal you, and use you.

The end.

Blessings of Habit, Home School, Homemaking, Inspiring, Sayings, Wisdom, Womanhood

ABC’s OF HOMESCHOOL

Posted on May 20, 2011May 8, 2014 by Katharine

Hello, Friends!

This week I must devote entirely to several speaking chores. So I thought you would enjoy viewing the introductions to my presentations. Here they are in their approximate final draft. Enjoy!

RNLI at Boat Race 2012 (Photo credit: Annie Mole)

Raising children is like a boat race:

You never feel ready
You always feel watched
It’s hard to change your mind
Disasters can happen

Too often, a bad beginning can cause a disastrous ending.

What can we do to ensure we are even in the right boat?

Since we are SO FAR from the shore, what are some boat safety rules?

A. We can examine our attitudes. Many begin this race badly, with a bad attitude when they board the good ship homeschool.

Sometimes people begin home schooling because of a bad teacher experience. Often these parents are angry and the thrust of their actions is intended as a javelin thrust into some teacher or educational system.

They just want to rock the boat . . . .

We all need to get used to the fact that the State Institutions are failing everywhere. It is not personal. It just is a cosmic failure, such as comes every time we build a cosmic house of cards.

Those who begin for this reason, alone, often stop just as dramatically as they began, when they, for some reason, decide putting their child in a State Institution is not really such a bad idea, after all.

Some parents begin because the child is failing. Whether he is unable to learn, or simply untaught where he is, the parent decides to take the plunge because of embarrassment or natural protective instincts toward the child. This reason also fails the parent quickly, because soon as the child homeschools, he does better.

Amazing!

The parents allow this progress to lull them into a false sense of security. They opt for State Institutionalization for their beloved child, after all, thinking the problems were a false alarm.

They change boats in the middle of the race, and slow the progress of both methods.

The third reason is more stable. These people do not become quitters as easily.

They are the ones who begin because they see the rightness, the necessity of it. They see God’s commands to teach our own children. They see the State Institutions growing constantly more hostile to morality.

They see ketchup as a vegetable and “two mommies” as a norm, or even a goal.

These frightening observations rivet them and they realize homeschooling as a part of being a family,
homeschooling as a part of the decision to have children,
homeschooling even as a part of the decision to marry.

It’s just the natural, normal result, for them, of being alive and desiring to succeed.

And they do.

Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Wisdom, Womanhood

THE MONEY MOM

Posted on May 19, 2011December 13, 2014 by Katharine

Hello, Friends!

This week I must devote entirely to several speaking chores. So I thought you would enjoy viewing the introductions to my presentations. Here they are in their approximate final draft. Enjoy!

Managing Your Money

About sixty years ago, two sharecroppers laid their baby boy in a box that was really a dresser drawer, his first cradle. Nursed and blanketed carefully, he was as secure and warm in that box as in the finest crib.

They pumped all water by hand and heated it on a kitchen stove. Dishwater never went to waste. Once that water was hot, it did dishes, the stove, the countertops, the cabinet fronts, the tabletop, the chairs, and last, but not least, it did the floor.

Bathing happened once a week with “washing up” in cold water for other days.

Clothing, being almost all homemade, was divided and washed by use: undies, being all whites, went first, while the water was hot, with colored clothing next, followed by jeans and work clothing, all washed in the same water. Making soap, heating water, and hauling it away took too much time to waste a drop, so when all was done, the water proceeded to the garden, via siphon hose.

The soap was real, homemade, back then and not toxic.

And all had to dry on a line.

The baby boy grew and acquired a little sister. The two children played in the dirt at one end of the rows in a huge bean field, while the dad and mom walked the fields, pulling weeds for their living.

In time, their finances improved and they bought a farm. Almost all food for the next forty years came from the garden. Most was canned or pickled. Seldom was anything thrown away. Scraps went to the chickens. Children who did not like the food offered at the table still had to eat it. And no one got dessert until the plate was clean. The children grew up adaptable to almost any food.

Meanwhile, a city girl grew up only a bit more affluent, dressed in home-made clothing that was washed all in the same water and hung to dry. Climbing trees and building cities in the dust under them, she also had to clean her plate, no matter what, and it was garden food. Scraps went to her chickens, too.

Both families owned only one car, one small black and white T.V., and no computers. Both families mowed their own lawns with reel type mowers. The girls in both families went to bed in curlers and there was no hair dryer in either home, no beater bars on the vacuums, and no A.C.

When visitors came, someone slept on the floor. Soda pop happened once or twice a year.

The children grew up and wanted brand new store-bought clothing, so they got jobs and bought them. Only–the girls did the math and often bought patterns and fabric, instead.

When they went to college, the boy and the girl each recognized something about the other; he, her homemade clothing, and she, his homemade chessboard. They married and made two decisions:

Mom would stay home, and,
Everything would be homemade.

It was a simple step to move to home schooling.

That was about 28 years ago, and the little tree-climbing girl stands before you today to say:

It can be done. Go there.

Blessings of Habit, Homemaking, Inspiring, Sayings, Wisdom, Womanhood

LET’S DON’T BE TURKEYS!

Posted on May 18, 2011October 31, 2015 by Katharine

Hello, Friends!

This week I must devote entirely to several speaking chores. So I thought you would enjoy viewing the introductions to my presentations. Here they are in their approximate final draft. Enjoy!

Disorganization vs. Order

We lingered over lunch, one day, with dear old friends, while they shared stories of life on their farm. They had owned a crazy bull, and some weird goats, and we enjoyed some great laughs at their antics. The story of the turkey, though, weakened us with laughter to the point of tears.

They say turkeys are stupid. Their turkey was a full-grown tom, and accustomed to life on the farm. It was so accustomed (and so stupid) that they had been able for two whole YEARS to keep it fully contained using only half a fence.

I do NOT mean just the bottom half, but just two adjoining fence panels, just the corner they made.

This poor, stupid creature did not know that it could escape by going past the fence. It had learned that the fence (at one time) was perpetual, like a circle with corners, and that was the only reality it could grasp: the fence never ends, is impossible to escape.

It had worn an L-shaped path in the pasture, walking back and forth from one end of the fence, around the inside corner, to the other end, and back.

Before we laugh too hard, though, we need to look at ourselves a bit.

Many of us resolve to make major changes in our organizational skills. Why do we do that? What is so important about it that it has become such a rut for us that it is a lucrative business?

One thing that motivates each of us, whether we believe it or not, whether we care to admit it or not, is that God has placed the desire inside each of us. Even those who do not know Him have this God-given love for the inviting beauty that comes from being organized.

We know it is true. But it takes so much mental energy to keep everything going, to remember everything, to think every thought necessary for progress . . . Rational thought breaks down. We gripe. And increasing voice volume does NOT increase productivity. We become unpleasant to live with. We retrace steps, going back and forth.

Like that turkey.

When we organize, though, daily chores run smoothly. Adding extra challenges is only slightly challenging. Our thoughts are only of adding a new emphasis or a special touch; of how best to bless someone; of what God wants from us. Instead of scowls of anxiety, we wear smiles of excitement.

Stress taxes our health. It causes illness, accidents, and waste. When we learn to flow more naturally within our daily activities, we add to our health, safety, and even our savings account. We become better stewards of the gifts God has given us.

Let’s go there!

Home School, Homemaking, Inspiring, Womanhood

No Such Thing as a Single Income Family!

Posted on May 12, 2011December 13, 2014 by Katharine

Big announcement:

Parents who home educate their children must have someone at home. We may quibble about which parent must stay, but no doubt someone simply must.

Lots of people think keeping a parent at home precludes being a two income family, but it does not. The act of staying home saves so much, one wonders how that second wage-earner makes any money at all. Let’s look at how it adds up. (Note: These are 2011 prices.):

Clothing. Stay-home clothes, timely bought (on sale) cost far less than suits or uniforms bought under duress. The same is true for shoes, bags, coats, etc.
Transportation. If only one parent is going out to work, only one car is necessary. Same for gas.
Work. Someone has to do it. Either you clean the house or someone else gets about $1000 per year to do it. You can do your own laundry, yard work, repairs, etc., and save the high price of hiring it done.
Cooking. A rib-eye steak costs about $5 on sale at the grocery, about $12 at a restaurant. Spaghetti dinner for six costs the same at home as for one at a restaurant. Maybe less. A homemade birthday cake costs about $5, compared to $15 from the store, and you know which tastes better! Hearty, homemade bread is half or less of insipid store-bought.
However, if you make these yummy foods to sell, you get the store price, or above.
Shopping. What? Isn’t shopping how we lose money? No, that’s random spending. Shopping is comparing prices, waiting for sales, and squeezing all the value you can from every penny. It is sticking to your list, buying in bulk, and always being ready for the surprise bargain for someone’s gift for the future.
It is what you don’t have time for if you’re on your way home from the office.
Sewing. While it is true, fabric has gone up, it is also true you can make new, lovely curtains with hardly any sewing instructions, covering that window in sale fabric for about $25 instead of $125. With only a bit more knowledge, you could make yourself a skirt or cape. Learn a tiny bit more and make simple dresses for your girls. All with the same savings rate.
But if you sell, it . . .
Gardening. A pint of home-canned green beans costs about ten cents for the lid and bit more for energy to run the stove. There is an initial investment, but you can re-coup the cost once you’ve canned for a year or two. And store-bought vegetables are nearly $1 per can.
And sometimes you can find used pressure canners and jars for nearly free.
Crafts. A bit of yarn, a drop of glue, how surprising the fun and savings in making gifts! And the savings is phenomenal. You could develop a reputation for a certain type of gift and become known as “the afghan lady” or the “soap lady”, turning it into a business.
Last, but not least, Child Care! It’s about $18 per day per child.
That does not factor in the cost of medical care for all the diseases they will pick up.

This list could go on forever, but you get the idea. If, when you are at home, you actually WORK, you are a working mom. You add greatly to the family wealth. You add income by stopping the outgo.

Stop just wishing. You CAN go home. And this is how.

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wives, Womanhood

The Fastest Way to Put Up Greens

Posted on May 12, 2011May 13, 2011 by Katharine

Now that the wonderful produce from the garden needs preserving, let’s talk about how to get the job done as fast as possible and get out of that hot kitchen lickety-split.

Today’s vegetable is beet greens, one of our favorite treats. In fact, we love beet greens so much, we planted two rows of them and will not allow them to mature to beets. We will just pull them and use them for greens. These instructions will work well for any type greens you cook, though.

The first step is not to pick the greens, but to heat the blanch water, which takes a long time. If you have an exhaust fan over your stove, you will be glad if you turn it on.
Bushel of Greens
Now pull or cut your greens. I like to lay mine in a bushel basket as I pick them. Here you see them after a light rinsing. Now I place them in a five-gallon bucket and fill with water. After sloshing them around a bit, I place them into the basket again, tip it to allow most of the water out, and take it indoors.
They Float
To finish washing greens, I like to use my clothes washing machine. I always wash a bleach load of towels as the last laundry use, so my washer is bleached. Using the large load and gentle rinse setting, I fill it with cold water and add about 1/3 bushel greens. NO SOAP! I allow it to agitate for 3 to 4 minutes, then stop the cycle and allow it to sit for a few minutes. The greens will float and I scoop them off the top half of the water, into a clean pan or bowl. They will be a bit torn, but we are going to chew them, anyway, right? I then allow the cycle to complete, including the spin portion. (Hint: I always fold or iron clothes while waiting for this, so I do not forget it.)
Debris in Washer
In the bottom of the washer will be debris, which you should remove and save for your chickens. Then repeat step 3 to rinse another 1/3 bushel. Although this may seem like using too much water, the alternative is to wash them a few at a time in the sink, using at least seven pans of water for each fourth bushel. The mechanized way is much faster, and I don’t think it wastes water.
To prepare your kitchen, gather a couple strainers, one that will work in the boiling pan, and one that will stand in the sink. Fill either a very clean sink, or a large pan or bowl with cold water.
The StrainersSink Ready
Once the blanch water boils, fill a strainer with raw greens, and carefully lower into water. Cover pan and wait 4 minutes. Using a potholder, raise greens from boiling water and allow to drip a moment. Then plunge blanched greens into the cold water. Stir them gently to help cool quickly. Then transfer to standing strainer to drip before dumping into clean pan or bowl. Repeat this step until all greens are blanched.
Raw, Fluffy and CrispyBlanched, Four Minutes LaterPlunged into the Cold WaterAllowing Excess Water to Drip Off
I started with a bushel, but ended with this, which the pan says is 8 quarts, but only made six, when packed down.
Eight Quarts?
Box or bag for the freezer, and label with date and contents.
Boxed, Labeled, and Ready to Freeze