Homemakers and housewives have a noble job, says Betty Crocker June 19, 2008

Summertime always brings back fond childhood memories of trips to the neighborhood pool and library. Spending my vacation time swimming and reading were joyful hobbies that I wish I could find significant time for now as the mother of a toddler. But I did have a quick visit to our local library this week and managed to find three great cookbooks before my son decided to blow up and break the “no noise” rule. Obviously he wasn’t interested in waiting with me to decide between a baking encyclopedia or a Betty Crocker memoir. The First Lady of Food won.

I really chose the Betty Crocker book, entitled Finding Betty Crocker by Susan Marks, to see if I could learn some quick tricks and meal-planning tips. What has most interested me is the history of the Betty Crocker empire, created by the Washburn Crosby Company, now known as General Mills, and the knowledge that the woman really didn’t exist. I won’t go into further details because that’s not the purpose of this post and you can read the book.

However, reading about the chronicles of how housewives and homemakers survived wartime rationing and still made nutritious and delicious meals thanks to Betty Crocker’s tips have intrigued me. While we are definitely not in any sort of Depression era, money is tight and some guilty pleasures have to go. It’s been a difficult job keeping a food budget and still making good meals. This was the case 60-70 years ago and it is the case now, at least in my situation.

Betty Crocker knew that, and she knew the importance of a housewife and mother spending time necessary to ensure her family was well fed, well dressed and well taken care of. It was a noble job, despite the need for women to enter the workforce to replace men gone off to war. The home was still the woman’s primary place of employment (are some of you cringing now? At least hear me out.) and Betty Crocker encouraged this mindset even when the men returned from war. How did she do this? Take a look at a creed below that she (well, General Mills actually) sent out to 70,000 women in 1944 who were members of the Betty Crocker American Home Legion Program. I believe these words written decades ago will ring true for several of us today:

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.

For those of us who are Christian women desiring to first honor our Lord Jesus Christ with our life and then serve our husbands and children, let this creed be an encouragement that our place in the home washing loads of laundry, cleaning piles of dishes and making sacks of lunches will one day be rewarded with words from our Heavenly Father that are far greater than any ‘Thank you’ could ever be:

Well done, good and faithful servant.

In need of a good, everyday cookbook January 22, 2008

Calling all chefs and cooks…do you have a cookbook that you live by? Maybe you have more than just one. I love to cook and bake – I really enjoy trying new recipes and am always looking for a good challenge (can I really make Chili’s Southwest Egg Rolls following this copy cat recipe?) But I am in need of a good cookbook that contains reasonable recipes (i.e., not extremely fancy but some challenges are OK.)

Here are the books that I have and how often I use them:

- Better Homes and Gardens New CookBook: I use this one about 2 or 3 times a month

-  Better Homes and Gardens Our Best Recipes: once a month

- Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2001: once a month

- Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals 2: once every 3 months (these are quite involved)

- The Everything Kids’ Cookbook: 4-5 times a month (I have a toddler and these recipes are actually really good!)

- Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes: not very often, can’t find recipes that I or my husband really like

I also get a lot of recipes from magazines and the Internet. But if there’s one cookbook you could not live without, which would it be? I am very interested in knowing!

Looking for tips from clean-freaks! October 16, 2007

Moving consumes hours upon hours and leaves little time for blogging.  But now I’m back in the seat and ready to go!  So, we’re in a house now (today’s our fourth day in our first home) and we’re excited.  But I’ve noticed areas that I need to clean.  Thanks to God for His servants, a woman from church helped me clean the entire kitchen and bathrooms.  Such hard work!

I still have nooks and crevices that need a good wiping so here’s what I’m looking for – what are your best cleaning tips and remedies?  How can I strive to keep my home dust-free (I’m allergic to dust but who isn’t?)  Is there a good all-purpose product or should I just bite the bullet and buy individual cleaners?  Here’s a tough one – how to get rid of musty odors?  Our home was vacant for several months and some of the bedrooms have a strong musty smell.  We’ll be getting rid of the carpet soon but until then any ideas?

I am determined to keep this home clean and germ-free (I’m thinking that’s not really possible) and appreciate advice from veteran clean-freaks!

Crying over spilled milk September 11, 2007

Toward the end of a very busy, stressful day (what other description is there for days with a toddler?), I began to get my son’s dinner ready as I set our dinner to cook on the stove. My 20-month-old son was standing right behind me as I’m pouring milk into his sippy cup, excitedly waiting for his first cold sip.

I’m not quite sure what happened next except that in my haste I knock over his cup and spilled milk on the counter, on the floor behind the fridge, down the cabinets, onto myself and a little on my son. I couldn’t have waited to be clumsy until I had securely screwed the lid on. Not a chance.

All of a sudden, my son bursts out into tears and yelps! He is so upset and all I can do is say, “It’s ok, it’s ok. I’ll get you more milk.” He cried so hard that tears streamed down his pink cheeks and he began almost heaving. Surprised by his reaction, I grabbed towels, keeled down and began cleaning up. I then held him next to me as I wiped up the spilled milk.

Even after my hectic day and frustration over wasting a now-expensive beverage (why has all the dairy gone up?), I didn’t cry. I was actually calm – surprisingly calm. In these situations, I usually get visibly angry at myself for such a silly mistake. But I didn’t. I wasn’t sure why until God reminded me of the reason:

Serve the Lord with gladness. Psalm 100:2

This week, I’ve been meditating on Psalm 100 in my quiet time (which I have resuscitated after a week or so without it!) and am surprised at how the Holy Spirit works through us by bringing Scripture to mind. Even as I was cleaning up that messy milk (and oh what a bad after-smell dried milk has!), I remained calm and somewhat cheerful. It was, in my opinion, supernatural and only a God-thing. I was serving my Lord and willingly chose to do it gladly, even as my son wailed behind me.

Even though this picture doesn’t always turn out so peachy, especially when I choose to go the other way and relish in selfishness by being angry and bitter at bad situations, I was glad that for God’s sake and my son’s sake I chose the right response this time. Allowing God to remain in control and seeking Him through tough times definitely brings about His peace.

My son ended up getting more milk and he drank it gladly. And I’m so thankful that God works in every situation of our lives, even in moments that seem so insignificant but can teach some of the greatest lessons.

Sew what July 23, 2007

I have to admit that I don’t know how to sew using a sewing machine. I can sew a button onto a shirt if needed but that’s as far as I go. I told my husband the other day that I feel like less of a woman because I don’t know how to use a sewing machine. I was half-joking. I even showed him a verse in the Bible about the Proverbs 31 woman making her own clothes. Can I ever be her without a sewing machine?

But I am willing to learn and am looking to buy a sewing machine. My goal? To make my own clothes and some for my son. I saw some really cool patterns at Wal-Mart and want to try them out. I’m always up for a challenge!

Anyone with sewing experience…how long does it usually take to sew together clothes, like a shirt, for example? Is this a difficult and time-consuming task? Can I get by with purchasing a less-than-$100 Singer sewing machine? Any tips?

Bewildered by breastfeeding bans July 17, 2007

In our sex-saturated culture that is routinely throwing images of scantily-clad women in our faces, I am somewhat confused as to why people have such an issue with a mother baring her breasts to nourish her newborn.

A story from Reuters explains that a woman was asked to leave a ritzy New York showroom last August because she was making others uncomfortable by nursing her 8-month-old son. She later received an apology from the company including a generous gift of $3,600.

Can someone please explain the phobia? Why is public breastfeeding looked down upon? If it is a healthy practice recommended by doctors and experts alike, why aren’t women encouraged to take the time, when needed in public, to nurse?

As a mother who nursed her son for his first year, I have breastfed in public places that are not so public (i.e. the stall of my dealership’s restroom) mostly because I was the one uncomfortable baring all in public. But other women who are willing to do so, should be able to and not ostracized.

Motherhood, and all the duties related to it, is a noble job that is rarely ever recognized by our culture as being worthy of attention (except when mistakes are made.) Women should be encouraged in the positive and healthy care of their children, not discouraged. I wonder if we’ll have ever a more supportive society that considers mothering, especially the at-home variety, valuable.

The case of the missing bathroom trash bag July 14, 2007

We are not big recyclers – we actually hardly recycle (curbside recycling isn’t available at our apartment complex and with a toddler I don’t have much energy or arm-space to lug extra stuff around) but we manage to reuse those plastic grocery bags as our bathroom trash bags.

So, today I was doing some cleaning and emptied the full bathroom trash but forgot to replace the bag. Many hours later, my husband needed to throw his Qtips away and saw no bag. The look on his faced expressed much displeasure.

Excuse me, I thought. Does he even know what I did all day? (I’m an at-home mom but I’m a part-time journalist.) Does he know how many diapers I changed today? Does he know how many size 2T shorts I folded? Does he know how many meals I made and cleaned up? Does he know how many toys I tried to pick up? Does he know how long it took me to finish my story? Does he know how many times I told my son ‘No’ as he tried to touch everything he could? Does he know how many times I felt bad for saying no? Does he know?!??! Well, if he’s reading this, now he does.

The truth is refilling the waste basket with a new bag wasn’t a priority for me at that time. Then it just slipped my mind. But it happened to be a priority for my husband later on (and missing bags also happen to be one of his pet peeves.) This is what I should have considered, as Philippians says in chapter 2 to consider others’ needs before your own.

As a Christian woman, Titus 2:3-5 calls me to love my husband, love my children and be a worker at home as some of my priorities. I strive to live this out each day, failing miserably it seems on most days. However, Christ in me is all the strength I need to persevere and not grow weary for the Bible assures me that I will reap a harvest in due time (Galatians 6:9.)

So, Buddy, sorry for no trash bag. I’ve already made one change and moved some extra bags into the bathroom to provide me no excuse to forget next time.

In the meantime, I will take a tip from the superwoman of them all…Mrs. Proverbs 31.

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:26