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Traditional Homemaking Skills - Page 5

post #81 of 618
11/16/08 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dancebaraka View Post
And can even make you a set of coasters from pine needles.
Is anyone else curious about this? Please tell me you have pictures!
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post #82 of 618
11/16/08 at 2:56pm
Woah! Thank you so much for this!!

Subbing. I'll be back later...
post #83 of 618
11/16/08 at 6:10pm
I too find that focusing on one skill at a time is a good thing, otherwise, I get overwhelmed. One of the problems is that while my mom was a SAHM, she did not enjoy housework. Okay, enjoy housework might be overdoing it, but she mostly resented it. She'd rather put her nose in a book (I like reading too but I also like a neat house, impossible with two small kids, I know). So now I need little encouragements to do the same things over and over again. Take laundry for example. There was a time when it would sit first in the washer, then the dryer, before getting back into the closets... But I came across a blog that said that folding and putting away laundry is a hope for tomorrow, that we will need those clothes later, that life goes on and this is my little bit I do.

Sounds crazy? Well, works also for the dishwasher. It might be a silly little thing but it helps, most of the time.
post #84 of 618
11/16/08 at 9:43pm
i have a problem with taking on to many things.... and with starting one thing then moving on to something else. so i end up with a lot of stuff half learned.. or half finished. i have a habit of not emptying the dishwasher and just pulling stuff out as i need it. i also tend to leave things in the drier.

right now it is hard b/c we just moved so everything is everywhere yk? im trying to get stuff sorted out but its making my head spin!
post #85 of 618
11/17/08 at 11:32am
1littlebit, try and think of it as "almost learned" and "almost finished". A positive spin does help.

My dh works in retail and his job is "making things pretty" as I say, lol. (merchandising) Whenever they have to do a whole floor product move, they start with one small area that can be done quickly. Why? B/c once its done it motivates you to move on to the next area. Or, if thats all you can do, then at least you finished one area.

If you can get your cutlery in the drawer, then its a good day.
post #86 of 618
11/17/08 at 12:00pm
Another homemaker here, too. I have been getting and better about actually completing the projects I want to do, but there is still room for improvement.

I didn't can this summer, but I plan to next year as I am actually going to be in a house where I can have a real garden. And now that I know where all the good farmer's stands and markets are, that will also make it easier.

I didn't see anyone mention this website - I have been skimming it for the past couple of week
http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/manifesto
post #87 of 618
11/17/08 at 12:09pm
I only can when I am manic.
post #88 of 618
11/17/08 at 12:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jennifercp8 View Post
woah. That is so good. :
post #89 of 618
11/17/08 at 2:08pm
I totally forgot to sub.

I know how to knit, cook from scratch (though I need to work on baking sweets), mend (horribly, but still), sew- a bit but not too much.

I want to improve my knitting like tenfold and learn how to grow food (I have a brown thumb. I swear I water plants and they die). Basically I want to homestead in my small apartment in the So Cal desert.

My big HUGE major problem is time management. I have all these things I want and need to do and then I start to feel overwhelmed and it ends with me on my bum in front of my laptop allowing my house to go to crap. If anyone has any suggestions on this please let me know!
post #90 of 618
11/17/08 at 2:09pm
:
post #91 of 618
11/17/08 at 2:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by *Jessica* View Post
Is anyone else curious about this? Please tell me you have pictures!
I am
post #92 of 618
11/17/08 at 2:21pm
I think I found my tribe. :
post #93 of 618
11/17/08 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by transformed View Post
woah. That is so good. :
Isn't it great? I love the first page - I always get stuck reading there.
post #94 of 618
11/17/08 at 5:06pm
Quote:
What inspires me is books, magazines, Fine Living network on tv, HGTV, Oprah, blogs
Me too! In fact, I've been having fun lately watching "How Clean is Your House?" on DVD and learning lots of good cleaning and decorating ideas.

And I just found out that our community college has awesome classes:

Home and Garden

Cooking

Interior Decorating
post #95 of 618
11/17/08 at 10:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by magstphil View Post

My big HUGE major problem is time management. I have all these things I want and need to do and then I start to feel overwhelmed and it ends with me on my bum in front of my laptop allowing my house to go to crap. If anyone has any suggestions on this please let me know!

Maggie, if you can find a solution to this, please let me know!

I swear I have the highest hopes & expectations for what I'll be able to accomplish in one day. Inevitably, I need to use the computer for something (a good cleaner recipe, how to make yummy cinnamon rolls, etc) and the next thing I know I'm opening a separate tab to mothering. *just to check* is what I tell myself. The next thing I know, half the day is gone! lol Darn you gals for being so interesting!!!

Ami
post #96 of 618
11/18/08 at 12:43am
i <3 this thread. so i'm curious. do people ever see what you do/ how you do it.. and say something along the lines of 'wow... i never pictured you in such a um traditional role... is it boring?' b/c i get this a lot. apparently the combination of me being a SAHM/homemaker + the traditional/ natural take i have on things raises some eye brows. lol

today i got quite a bit done.. mostly folding and putting away. and my laundry i all done! ... until tomorrow lol. i am still trying to find places to put things. and DP parents live a ways away and they sent us xmas presents for DS...which i am grateful for.. except they are 2 huge boxed and a few little boxes that we are not allowed to open and have literally no where to put... and i hate that it is sitting in my living room.

Time management is huge for me too. that and swapping from one thing to another mid activity. today i started to take my bra off and stopped to straiten the bed spread.. it took me a bit before i realized my bra straps were not on my arms. lol
post #97 of 618
11/18/08 at 12:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTA Mom View Post
Maggie, if you can find a solution to this, please let me know!

I swear I have the highest hopes & expectations for what I'll be able to accomplish in one day. Inevitably, I need to use the computer for something (a good cleaner recipe, how to make yummy cinnamon rolls, etc) and the next thing I know I'm opening a separate tab to mothering. *just to check* is what I tell myself. The next thing I know, half the day is gone! lol Darn you gals for being so interesting!!!

Ami
this is the story of my life. every time i walk by the computer i lose at least an hour

what can i say i really like you guys!!
post #98 of 618
11/18/08 at 11:23am
We should have a newbies "time managment" book club.

I don't understand time, and how to manage it at.all.

Do you think they allow for MDC in those books? :
post #99 of 618
11/18/08 at 11:25am
Joining, subbing

I can do a lot more than I do. I want to start actually doing something with all this stuff I know how to do.

I can knit (sort of ) I can crochet really well. I know how to sew, but haven't made anything except a stuffed bunny in high school and a diaper for my older daughter, almost four years ago.

I love to bake bread, and got a bread machine for my birthday, so I'm making a loaf every other day

I tried a vegetable garden four years ago, when we first moved in to our house, but I was very pregnant and I couldn't get around those stupid groundhogs. This year... groundhogs BEWARE! Muahahaha!
post #100 of 618
11/18/08 at 5:04pm
I like this thread. I identify with Transformed (mania=progress on the homefront). I also identify with not having a good grasp of time management.

Aside from that, I can and semi-regularly and successfully:

Quilt
Sew clothing
Make decorations
Knit
Save seeds
Can food
Garden

Those are my MUST DO things that I do for me, not for utility or any other purpose. I'm more creative/crafty than I am homekeeper, though I want to blend the two- ideally.

I burn food, I forget things a lot, I run lots of things at once, getting more things started than finished, but I go through periods of only working to finish on projects and I get caught up. Once a year I finish 4-5 quilts in a row really quickly. I have a couple quilts that I started ten years ago and then got out and finished lickety split. I'm on my own schedule.

My inspiration- the bulk of it comes from Tasha Tudor, and I love the way she lived her life, on her own terms. Her books are wonderful (not the fiction ones, but the ones of her life). They are my treasures.

This year I would like to focus more on the daily tasks of homekeeping and the routines that enable a person to have a less stressful existance, hopefully freeing up a lot of my guilt over procrastinating as well as my seemingly endless tangled thought processes. Having a plan and executing it is half the battle. Then perhaps I could focus more clearly on my art and different heirloom crafts I'd like to get into.

I love the book Home Comforts, and I collect old house keeping books. I also love old USDA agriculture books. I have one from the 70's and it dispenses more practical home keeping advice than anything I've seen published lately.

I also make aprons, and collect them. I wear them as well.

I am woman hear me roar, from the kitchen.
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