Tuesday, 15 May 2012

this blog has been moved to.............

Sunday, 17 January 2010

This blog is no longer in use. Please visit:

Monday, 28 September 2009

Ooops!

I guess I 'fogot' to keep this blog up to date eh?

Nope, that would be a lie and a lie isn't good. Right?

Ok, the truth is I have barely even kept up my regular blog the last couple of months as I sort, recycle, pack and slow-move house....and I still haven't moved yet!

To read more on that go check out Life as Me and see what scrawny posts are there (including pictures of my new house!!). Leave me a comment so I know you've been and I can come check out your blog too....maybe even link ya up if we have a common factor :)

This blog will progress to something fun and interesting, starting soon. As the inspiration came from the book, Fascinating Womanhood and given that I am a single mum I cannot put into practice the 'happy husband' aspect so bypassing that I shall begin to share some of the hows, whys, do's, donts and whatevers of moving house...one car load at a time!

As well I shall be sharing my thoughts, feelings, frustrations (gonna be as honest and respectful as I can be) during this house move and who knows, maybe i'll even get my but into gear to share some craft stuff and cooking we've been doing!

So, dont be shy, come say hi to me...I really am harmless (mostly!!)

Monday, 6 July 2009

What is Fascinating Womanhood all about?

The book I mentioned in the introduction titled Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin was originally written back in the 1950's so it carries some much regarded old and outdated ways that a woman should act. I have always believed in the individual roles that men and women play but until recent years I have not really been able to justify it without it sounding like a cop out. However, when I joing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints back in 2000 I embarked on a long and intense study on my own reasons for being here on earth, what was my real purpose, why do certain things happen and how better can I deal with challenges, even why do we have challenges if we have such a loving God!

During this time I have gone from a weak doormat with no self confidence or self worth {quite literally} to being a self assured, semi confident woman who has no problem stating my strengths and good points in the appropriate manner. I am not self absorbed nor am I all about me but learning who I am and why I am here has given me the tools to build the foundation of the role I am to play in the lives of my children, family, friends and others around me. While I do not please everyone all of the time I can say comfortably that I am the best I can most of the time. I fail, I hurt, I cry, I anger and I feel weak at times. The important thing I have had to remember is that I will have bad days, moments and challenges in life that seem a lot bigger then I am able to cope with but the comfort I have is knowing that as a mere mortal this is part of my learning, my progress and my role.

I do not believe that any person should put themself down or allow anyone else to. I do not believe that anyone is all bad or all good. We choose which amounts we have of each and while most of us work to get better there are the minority that dont care enough and continue to live the unfulfilled life {I'm not talking about severe criminals here} and take longer than others to find their peace and purpose in life.
I haven't read all of the FW book as yet but so far I know it is going to change my life in a positive way, enrich my relationships and enable my children to grow along the way too. Ok lets break this down a bit and share some of the things a traditional English homemaker does:

  • Serves her husband without being controlled, dominated or dismissed.
  • Takes care of her families needs calmly, willingly and determinedly.
  • Chooses to stay home to prepare every needful thing, be the consistent force with each family member.
  • Prepares and cooks healthy meals.
  • Lives frugally and wisely to prioritise the importance of a waste-free lifestyle.
  • Develops and enjoys new hobbies/talents, share them with the family and enrich relationships in doing so.
  • Take pride in oneself, dont become the martyr and put cleaning the floors before taking a shower.
  • Education is important for all of us at any age, it comes in many forms and can be fun.
  • Communication with the husband and children can often be tense, learn how to change it around and make the negatives almost vanish.
  • Support. We all fail on a regular basis, its ok. The only thing about failure is when we quit, what do we become then? A loser? I am available to help support anyone at any time in any way. Dont let a hurdle you believe in be the thing that pushes you to give up!
So there is a general gloss over the depths of what is to come. However, what I share on here will be based on MY personal feelings, talents, interests and experiences. I can only be me, I like being me and I'm happy to share me where I can. I do not have any authority over any of the interpretations of the Fascninating Womanhood book or teachings other than my own. I am in no way related or in connection with the author or any acquaintences of the book or groups associated with it.

My next post will be talking about what I have read in the book so far, my thoughts and experiences. I shall also be setting out some goals for myself that will be realistically worked on. Any goals I have achieved {such as trying a new recipe or sewing the blanket that's been waiting forever!} will be posted too, just so share, inspire and add vision to a goal.

English Homemaking in 2009

Introduction
For a while now I have lived the unfulfilled life regardless of my intermediate efforts and desires in many homemaking directions. Being a mum to four kids comes with great joys and challenges with many things to do. Life itself pushes us in so many different directions and if we aren't careful we can get to a point of difficult return during these times. The supporting material for this blog {but not exclusive} is the book titled Facinating Womanhood written by Helen Andelin back in the 50's!

I am taking back my life. I am not entirely sure how i'm going to do it but with the help of Jia's Facinating Womanhood study group and my own daily efforts and new found discipline I endeavour to upstage my routine, enrich my daily activities and become much more productive than I am now. To learn more about me please feel free to visit my personal blog: Life as Me

Please join me for this journey, take a look at Jia's blog who is a married woman without children but still determined to enrich her marriage and life with good old fashioned family and spiritual values. I, on the other hand am a divorced mother. Though I comfortably look back and feel I gave all I could to my marriage, I can also say that there were things I could have done different, better or more frequently. Whatever our own personal situation we can all benefit from the study group that Jia has began, of which I shall be using to record my own achievements and thoughts here on this blog. Feel free to pop over to Jia's blog and ask her for an invite to the study group blog.

What is this blog really about?
Homemaking covers all areas of keeping house, raising happy, healthy children and making our marriage as happy as possible. It is my belief that we give before we can receive and in doing that we can often feel like we are losing out or something similar. The truth is we just dont see the good we are doing as we want to see it! So along this journey I will be sharing many tried and tested life experiences to do with:
  • Believing in oneself
  • Getting through tough times
  • General homemaking
  • Recipes
  • Sewing ideas and patterns
  • Sharing memories
  • How to support your husband
  • Decluttering the home
  • Storage solutions
  • Daily gratitudes
  • and lots, lots more!
What's in this blog for you?
Come join me, if you have a blog please leave a link to it, if you are a homemaker then I will link you up to here and do a regular shout out for you. For anyone that introduces this blog to a friend or another homemaker I will do a special feature on YOUR blog as a thank you! If you link to me I will also link to you and I will also mention you and an article that particularly grabs my attention from your blog! Whichever way you look at it, you win here!

If you would like to sponsor The English Homemaker then please email me {listed below} and we will move forward with something that will pleasing to your site and mine. If you have a super-duper item or service that you would like me to feature for a giveaway or competition, again please email me the details. If this blog can serve you in any way again, I'd love to hear from you!

I am always looking for new ideas on any aspect of homemaking, parenting, self help, crafts etc so if you feel like sharing any of your own experiences, please, please send them through. ALL will be valued, appreciated and shared!

If at any time anyone has any kind of question, query or comment please email me at theenglishhomemaker@yahoo.com and I will either reply to you personally or post the response on here!