This is a growing collection of chats about all things homemaking. I hope you find it encouraging!
Homemaking
Making a cozy home is one of my top priorities. This is where I share some of what I've learned over many decades of homemaking. If you are interested in homemaking printables, also look here in my shop: Homemaking Printables, Mini Courses, Planners & Calendars.
Christmas Planning – A Cozy Christmas Planner 2023
Get ready for a Christmas season full peace, understanding, and joy with A Cozy Christmas Planner. This charming planner has 9 printables and 4 calendars to help make your time during this busy season so much easier.
Remember: If you already own the planner, simply log into your shop account (from the website menu) and download the newest edition with the 2023 calendars.
The Cozy Christmas Planner includes:
- November calendars – vertical and horizontal
- December calendars – vertical and horizontal
- Christmas Inventory
- My Gift List
- Gift Giving
- Gatherings
- Christmas Food
- Christmas Cards
- Shopping Lists
- Planning Four Square Page
- Planning Page
Here is a peek of what you will find inside. Click on the button to download a full preview.
This planner includes so many lovely and practical pages to help keep your Christmas plans moving along. Click here to purchase your copy of A Cozy Christmas Planner, part of the A Quiet Simple Life Series in my shop.
Happy planning and Merry Christmas!
In My Shop
A Vintage Rhyming Bread Recipe From My Great-Grandmother
This is a vintage newspaper clipping featuring my great-grandmother’s contribution to the Cadillac Evening News from many years ago. I thought it would be fun to share and to keep a digital record of it.
The submission is a unique bread recipe written in rhyme. You can see the paper put it in a special category. Here’s the clipping that was saved. Below it I’ve transcribed the poem.
A Good Bread Recipe
First, mix a luke warm quart, my daughter
One-half scalded milk, one-half water;
To this please add two cakes of yeast.
Or the liquid kind if preferred in the least.
Next, stir in a teaspoon of nice clear salt,
If this bread isn’t good, it won’t be our fault.
Now add the sugar, teaspoon-fuls three.
Mix well together for dissolved they must be.
Pour the whole mixture into an earthen bowl,
A pan’s just as good, if it hasn’t a hole.
It’s the cook and the flour, not the bowl or the pan
That – “Makes the bread that makes the man.”
Now let the mixture stand a minute or two,
You’ve other thing’s of great importance to do.
First sift the flour – use the finest in the land.
Three quarts is the measure,
Use any good brand.
Some people like a little shortening power,
If this is your choice, just add to the flour
Two tablespoons of lard, and jumble it about,
“Till the flour and lard are mixed without a doubt.
Next stir the flour into the mixture that’s stood
Waiting to play its part, to make the bread good.
Mix it up thoroughly, but not too thick;
Some flours make bread that’s more like a brick.
Now grease well a bowl and put the dough in,
Don’t fill the bowl full, that would be a sin;
For the dough is all right and it’s going to rise,
Till you will declare that it’s twice the old size.
Brush the dough with melted butter, as the recipes say;
Cover with a bread towel, set in a warm place to stay
Two hours or more, to rise until light
When you see it grow, you’ll know it’s all right.
As soon as it’s light, place again on the board;
Knead it well this time. Here is knowledge to hoard.
Now back in the bowl once more it must go
And set again to rise for an hour or so.
Form the dough gently into loaves when light,
And place it in bread pans, greased just right.
Shape each loaf you make to half fill the pan,
This bread will be good enough for any young man.
Next let it rise to the level of pans – no more,
Have the temperature right – don’t set near a door.
Be very careful about draught – it isn’t made to freeze.
Keep the room good and warm – say seventy-two degrees.
Now put in the oven; it’s ready to bake,
Keep uniform fire, great results are at stake.
One hour more of waiting and you’ll be repaid,
By bread that is worthy
of “A well bred maid.”
This recipe was taken from a cookbook I received 65 years ago.
Mrs. Klaas Schaaf
110 Pine St.
McBain
Creating Work Zones In My Kitchen
I finally accomplished my goal of cleaning out the kitchen cupboards and changing the functionality of it. David and Caroline were a big help and we’re all pleased with the results.
Compared to most houses you see online today, we have a relatively small kitchen in a relatively small house. Every bit of cupboard space must be carefully used. There is one smallish pantry cupboard to my left as I’m taking this picture that I didn’t include in the pictures. It’s technically more in the dining room area. We use that for food.
We cook two meals at almost every mealtime. David and Caroline eat what they eat and I eat what my EoE requires. Because of this, we use different ingredients, different tools, etc.
So one of the big changes was to assess which tools in the kitchen they use and make sure they are all in one area. All of the things I use are in another area. I know this seems rather obvious and it is. We simply hadn’t gotten around to doing this.
For example, I never use the cheese shredder because I cannot eat dairy. But the cheese shredder was stored in the left part of the kitchen where I do my meal prep which meant any time they needed it they had to come into where I was doing my food prep. The same thing with the liquid measuring cups. We have different cutting boards so I don’t get cross contamination from their foods, but their cutting boards were stored in the lower cupboard where I am usually standing. We have different pots and pans which were stored in two different areas and intermingled. We know which ones are mine and which ones are theirs, but we didn’t have them in separate zones which we do now.
So David and Caroline now have all of their regularly used meal prep items primarily in these cabinets in this corner. They work on the counters to the left and right of the sink.
All of my things are in this corner.
There is still some overlap since they have many more tools than I do. For example, the spices are in my zone even though I don’t use most of them. A lot of their bakeware is in my zone. I also have the flour, sugar, and oats in my countertop space, but it makes the most sense to keep them there on the counter even though the only one I use is the sugar. If we had a bigger kitchen, we would have more options but we make the most of what we have.
Yes, we do have two toaster ovens and two coffee makers due to the risk of cross-contamination of my food.
The one thing we did not do in our big clean out and rearrangement was switch out the shelf liner. I would have liked to have done it, but I knew it would slow down the process significantly. So for now we simply wiped down all the shelves, washed everything, and organized things where they made the most sense.
I’m really pleased with the results and this is a huge item done on my to do list!
Homemaking Inspiration In My Shop
Finding Beauty, Goodness, and Hope in “It’s a Wonderful Life”
David and I have watched (and owned) It’s a Wonderful Life many times over the years. However, this is the first year Caroline was interested in watching it. It really was the perfect time for her to view it given all that is going on in our country and the world. I’m thankful that she declined all those previous times we suggested it! Naturally, she loved it.
The movie had a significant impact on me a few different times in my life when I was feeling discouraged and less-than-useful. But as a Christian, the idea that each of us is here for a purpose and brings something uniquely needed to the world resonates strongly with me.
Every person reading my words right now matters to God. He has a purpose for you. You may not clearly see what it is right now, but it is true. I know it is true. If we seek Him, we will find Him.
While I don’t know the life story and circumstances of each person reading this, I’m certain that this is a difficult Christmas for many because Christmas this year isn’t as it should be. In many cases, it hasn’t been for a perhaps many years. It is my prayer you will find hope from watching or re-watching this timeless movie. If by some chance you’ve never seen it, I’ve embedded a copy at the end of this post.
Over the past week or so I saw a number of articles and videos pop up related to It’s a Wonderful Life that piqued my interest. As a little Christmas gift to you, I assembled them into this post. I hope you enjoy these additional glimpses and thoughts related to this wonderful story.
Merry Christmas!
Paul Harvey with the Rest of the Story on It’s a Wonderful Life
The great storyteller tells us more about a great story.
You never know when the Lord might need to use you to save the well-being of others.
What Can We Use Today From It’s a Wonderful Life?
Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life”: Elevating the Human Spirit takes a look at how the story matters today.
We live in a time when many people are suffering from isolation and alienation from their families. Postmodern philosophy professors continue the drumbeat, telling our kids they are nothing but a “clump of cells,” yet can “be all they can be.”
The social and moral norms that once knitted the fabric of our culture together have been disappearing from our communities and in film for the past 50 years. There is a continuous conversation on social media about the decline of human flourishing and the hatred and contempt that degrades our political landscape. Yet proposals for what can be done are few and far between.
How can we rebuild culture and community in a world where we seem to be glued together in pragmatic tribes, looking across the divide at deadly enemies? How and where do we begin to rebuild?
It’s a Wonderful Life: 50 Things
Interesting information you may or may not have known!
Don’t be afraid to cry out for help.
Episode 47: Different Roads – It’s a Wonderful Life and The Fourth Turning
It’s a Wonderful Life and The Fourth Turning in one video? Yes, please!
Something to pray about regarding how God may wish to use you in the years ahead.
Remember. Riches aren’t always counted in dollars and cents.
Watch It’s a Wonderful Life Right Here
Here is a copy you can watch right here in case you don’t own it. (Although I think everyone should own a copy!)
Merry Christmas!