Theme for the Week of September 2

. . . which I didn't figure out until Sept. 5. Didn't even think about it. Someday I need to post about "how to remember what it is you are supposed to be doing" but I'll have to find out first.

Anyway, this week's theme is another area of the house: "Library and Home Office." Ohhhhhh! Does this ever make me want to go buy books for my hope chest. Alas, I have no money. I do have a list of books I want though. Do you have a list of books you want to put in your hope chest? I can't remember where I put my list (imagine that!) but I do have one. I suspect I shall have a large library if I can afford it because books are so useful.

Here are some of my favorite useful books:

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

Prescription for Nutritional Healing by James F. Balch, M.D. And Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C.

The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaffer

Life Management for Busy Women by Elizabeth George

This week's theme also make me "EEEK!" a little bit because I know if history repeats itself I shall have a messy office (although my desk is relatively clear ~"relatively" being a very significant word~ since I bought six stackable trays. Good storage for all of my essential stuff is crucial and it would behoove me to get that in order before my life gets even more complicated.

Theme for the Week of August 26, 2007

Another room theme—or rather, multiple rooms. This week's theme is the cleaning closet and other storage facilities (reminds me of my unfinished closet again!).

Good storage facilities are a necessity, but so are good storage habits. While one must have “a place for everything” in order to keep “everything in it's place,” having a place for everything won't do any good if things are not put away. This is a reminder to me! As I acquire better storage facilities (which I desperately need) I must make sure that I use those facilities and squash all lazy habits. This is so important for marriage preparation as well. I wish I could impress every girl with the necessity of forming habits of neatness!

Another thing I have been thinking about in reference to this week's theme is housecleaning and its associated storage. I would love to have a nice cleaning closet in my home (or several)! I don't know whether I will or not, but again, a nice cleaning closet by itself would not make a clean house. I need . . .

The right attitudes

The right knowledge

The right skills

The right habits

The right tools

And preferably, the right home (some dwelling places are simply easier to clean and keep clean than others).

I think I have mostly the right attitudes ( I would have to, to be writing a positive post about housecleaning!). I'm lacking in the right knowledge though. I want my cleaning methods to be safe, effective, and economical. I hardly think every cleaning agent available is safe, but I simply don't know what is and what isn't. I think I must have an enormous amount of research to do in this area (and they say homemaking squashes women intellectually—this is not squashing me, this is stretching me!). The right skills? Truthfully, I'm a terrible floor mopper. This is something that I would prefer not to remedy until I am married. The right habits? Ahem. Moving on . . . . Now, for the right tools. This is a subject that interests me greatly. One's tools make a difference in one's ability to perform one's work. The tools need not necessarily be expensive (one of the most useful tools is a toothbrush) but they must be quality, durable, and truly useful. I don't suppose I will be collecting brooms or mops or anything like that in my hope chest, but I have seriously considered collecting cleaning cloths.

Most of all, though, I must fully embrace the virtues of neatness, order, and faithfulness in the little daily duties of life. May God help me, for I will surely need it!

Last Week's Theme

This should be this week's theme but I didn't get around to posting when the theme was current!

Last week's weekly theme (which is a new thing I've started) was the kitchen. I did some researching and planning in preparation for learning to cook the things I want to know how to cook. I decided to try making pancakes and picked out a recipe, but didn't make them until Sunday evening. They turned out well and that recipe will be going into my recipe collection for my hope chest. I'm not sure what is next, but since this week's theme is not the kitchen and I am very busy, I may not try another recipe this week. We shall see.

I also made a "lid lifter." A lid lifter is something I have recently decided needs to exist. It's a small, thin potholder use to lift lids off pots or hold spoons that are too warm to comfortably touch but not hot enough to demand more insulation. The smallness and thinness of the lid lifter makes it easier to grip things with. I made one out of leftover cotton yarn. It turned out larger than I anticipated so I hope to make the next one smaller.

Something to Watch

For Our Learning pt. 1

Our parents lives (and by extension, those of our older siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, etc.) stand before us as an example of how to live and how not to live.

We see their wise choices and their good example and think, “I will do just as they have done.”

We see their parenting mistakes and think, “I will do better than that.”

We see their struggling marriage and think, “My marriage will never be like that!”

But is there really any guarantee that whatever is good about their lives will automatically pass on to us? That we will do just as they have done? That we will be as good as they are, as wise as they are, as successful as they are?

Is there any guarantee that we will automatically avoid whatever is not good about their lives? That we will not make the same poor choices? That we will not hurt our children in the same ways? That we will not have the same kind of empty, troubled marriage?

No. There is no “automatically” about it.

But it can happen if we are willing to really learn from what we see before us—both the good and the bad.

. . . to be continued.

Attitude

Me? Have a bad attitude? Surely not!

I'm afraid I do sometimes have a bad attitude. I wonder what the cause is? I mean, not the ultimate root cause--I know what the ultimate source of all evil was; I know that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

But why do I personally sometimes have a bad attitude? Where does it come from? I think sometimes it is simply habit. I don't check my criticism, my negativism, my cynicism, my pessimism, my lack of faith, my self-defeating thoughts. They become so much a part of me that I do them without thinking and hardly even notice how distorted they are!

How unbecoming! Now if I could just do the same thing with compliments and kind words, positive thoughts, cheerfulness, optimism, faith, etc., wouldn't I be in good shape?

Wow!

Amazing must-read article!

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mohler/?adate=02/24/2006

Submissiveness

Definitely a "“vice" in the eyes of many people!

We know from the Bible that "“submission"” is not automatically a bad thing. Submissiveness--—or having an attitude of submission--would have to be a good thing too! Oooooohhhhh! This concept is so hard for some people to accept! But who ever said submission is easy?

Submissiveness can be either good or bad, a virtue or a vice. As a virtue it means things like:

Submission to God

Deference, courtesy, respect for other people, and an open heart toward them (Rom. 12:10; Eph 5:21)

Humility, and a willingness to admit error and to learn (1 Peter 5:5; Pro. 9:8,9).

A willingness to do things another person's way or to yield.

Respect for and appropriate submission to persons who have authority over you or preference before you in any way--—parents (Ex. 20:2), elders (Lev. 19:32, 1 Peter 5:5), church leaders (Heb. 13:17), government (Rom 13:1,7; 1 Peter 2:13,14), your own husband (Col. 3:18), employers (Col. 3:22).

An attitude of asking, requesting, and suggesting, rather than ordering, demanding, and informing. It is particularly important to do this toward people we a subject to, but it is an important courtesy toward anyone, even people who are subject to us.

Submissiveness as a vice means things like:

Such excessive deference that it becomes annoying to other people.

Humility and meekness to the point of being annoying, or to the point that you can't even graciously accept complements or gifts, or to the point that you deny the truth (by declaring that you really are not so talented, etc.).

Submissiveness to the point that it becomes permissiveness, allowing people to do things either around you or to you that they should not do. Allowing people to persuade you to do something you should not do.

Allowing another person (or a group of people, or an organization, etc.) officially or unnoficially to take over your mind.

Being so submissive (or submissive in the wrong setting) that you fail to have and maintain appropriate boundaries.

Failure to have opinions (beliefs, values, etc.) or to ever express them.

Failure to stick up for your rights (or someone else's) when you should

Obeying men rather than God. Submitting to any human being more than you submit to God.

Obeying or following the lead of someone other than whom is in authority over you, i.e. children giving into peer pressure rather than obeying your parents, wives submitting to the will of friends rather than to the will of her husband, etc.

Being a pushover (like Aaron Ex. 32:1-2).

Most Desirable Things

Forbearance

Faith

Fairness

Forgiveness

Friendliness

Beauty Prescription #2: A noble character

It shows--—and it is rather becoming.

Love, compassion . . . purity, the peace of God are visible in our eyes.

Our thoughts, and our character, are reflected by our faces.

It affects the way we walk, the way we talk, the things we do. It affects the way we dress, the way we take care of ourselves.

And how much better it looks than greedy eyes, a contempuous look, smirks and constant frowns, careless and vulgar speech, immodest attire, habits and manners that prove that darkness and selfishness and filth are all we have ever known.