Article Reprints by The Homemaking Cottage

Focus on the Home Environment Today

2009-06-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

"No matter how sophisticated or laid-back our society becomes, the word home remains one of the most emotionally evocative words in the English language. Home is where a person belongs. It seems to be a place of universal longing." - Gladys Hunt, Honey for a Child's Heart

We live in a busy world. We have so many time saving technological advances yet we are always running short of time. There are many good things to do with our time. What are the best things we can do with our time, many people ask. To this I answer, "Focus your time on what happens in the home."

CS Lewis said, "The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. "

Taking time to improve your home's atmosphere for the benefit of your family is a service that will always be appreciated even if no one says so right now. When your children grow up and leave home years later they may tell you how thankful they are for your thinking of them, their security and comfort first. You can always rest assured that you filled the best times of yours and you family member's lives.

Recently, a girlfriend of mine share with me an Amish saying that goes like this,

Spend the first seven years investing in a child's life.
The next seven years your child pays you back.
The next seven years your child becomes an asset to you.

Many times I hear another parent say how they cannot wait till their child leaves for school, goes to visit a relative, can start walking, leaves for college, etc. Their focus is not in the here and now. Now is life. Now we are creating memories for tomorrow. Now is the time to enjoy your family. All too soon we will be without them in our home as they each leave to begin families of their own. Let us make the loving, happy home environment today. Teaching our children today ensures a better future for them. When they are on their own they will be so thankful for the time you took to teach them, to love them, and to lead the way for them.

"Realize each day, each moment has value. If things are handed to you on a plate, whenever you want them, you do not fully appreciate them. But when there has been a wait, when it has been earned, then it has greater value and will therefore be more carefully handled." -Tim Middleton, Don't Lose Wait

Remember today, and even if it seems like a bother to go the extra mile to give of yourself to someone you love, it is always worth it! Create that loving, peaceful home environment today and have no regrets tomorrow.

Shiloah Baker is a mom of seven, married to the man she's madly in love with. Exercise is her vice. She runs a The Homemaking Cottage and homeschools. In her spare time she sews, crafts, writes and reads. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

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Emotions: Turning the Negative to Positive

2008-07-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

Emotions are such powerful feelings and are a part of our being. We can’t just swallow them and think they will disappear. Recently, I finished a book called “Feelings Buried Alive Never Die”. After reading this book I began noticing how negative emotions affect everything in our lives if they are unreined and allowed to rule us. They affect our health, our appearance, our decisions (including our financial decisions), and our relationships with others.

My daughters and I watched the classic movie “Our Mutual Friend” the other night. It is a two-part movie based on the Charles Dicken’s novel. Lizzie was a poor, but beautiful girl who was orphaned as a young woman. She attracted a handsome, rich gentleman named Eugene who fell madly in love with her. She also caught the eye of her brother’s schoolmaster whose unstable emotions became his ruin. He was insanely jealous of Eugene and his familiarity with her. He could tell Lizzie favored Eugene. His negative emotions of anger, hate, and jealousy combined into rage. He was often pale, sweaty, and physically ill due to his emotional state. He tried to propose to Lizzie, but his discomposure frightened her. He eventually attempted to murder Eugene because he could not get himself under control. His hate consumed him and made him a miserable wretch.

I was engrossed in watching his emotional state unfold into fits of bloody coughing, paleness, and exhaustion. Before my very eyes I could see what I read about our negative emotions making us ill was right on. Even Charles Dickens knew this!

During the last few nights, I have been finishing up the novel “The Virginian” by Owen Wister. After learning more about our emotional health and how it affects us, I noticed even in this novel, he describes the human state when negative emotions take over.

The Virginian has to accompany a man in taking some horses back to his boss’s ranch, much to his disliking. This other man, Balaam was a well known horse abuser and a man no one in that part of the country liked much. Balaam was overworking his horse and then beating him because he wouldn’t move fast enough. The Virginian stayed out of it, except for a few comments here and there. In response, Balaam would verbally attack the animal and the Virginian. His anger, impatience and a host of other negative emotions were stewing. After hours of hard work and no rest, the horse tripped and fell. He reached his boiling point and got down off the horse and struck the horse until his stick broke.

The Virginian suggested he leave the horse alone at this point.

“Balaam turned to him, but wholly possessed by passion did not seem to hear, and the Southerner noticed how white and like that of a maniac his face was. The stick slid to the ground.

‘He played he was tired,’ said Balaam, looking at the Virginian with glazed eyes. The violence of his rage affected him physically, like some stroke of illness.” (Wister, 1902)

These are two examples of rage, jealousy and hatred. There are hundreds of other negative emotions we as humans experience and many times feed and hold onto without realizing it.

God helps those who help themselves. He has given us endless amounts of tools and resources. Many times our help is through life’s lessons or by helping us to understand our problems better so we can fix them.

“No one is more emotionally honest than a baby; but as that baby grows up, he learns that “big boys don’t cry” and she learns that “you aren’t pretty when you pout.” Parents must teach their children to control their emotions, but instead they all too frequently teach them to repress their emotions. The delicate balance is to learn how to acknowledge emotions and to express them appropriately.” (Chidester, 1979)

What are some ways we can rid ourselves of negative emotions?

1. Prayer. I put this one first because the first place we should go to is our Heavenly Father.

2. We can talk about them. This isn’t a license to hurt others by letting venom spill. If done with sincerity, expressing our emotions can help us to recognize all of the feelings we feel and try to get a better handle on them. It is always comforting to have a good shoulder to cry on.

3. You can do the script that is found in the book, “Feelings Buried Alive Never Die”. In the script you are speaking to your higher conscious and telling the feeling to leave and what to replace it with. In my experience this has been very effective.

4. Own it. Realize that we are the only one responsible for allowing an emotion to fester within us. Once we realize this, it will become easier to get rid of it.

“For us to feel emotion, we must first be aware of some stimulus—an event, a thought, a memory. Then we interpret that stimulus—and that’s when the emotional response comes. Our interpretation can be relatively positive, neutral, or negative. That our emotion rises out of the interpretation we give rather than from the stimulus itself (the experience, the thought) is clear when we recall those situations where people around us received the same stimulus we did and yet responded very differently.” (Kelly, 1980)

I have noticed this and am thankful for the fact that we as individuals do respond differently. My husband is the long suffering and patient one and I tend to be higher strung. When something triggers a negative emotion in me, my husband is still as calm as ever and helps me to realize the silliness in allowing myself to feed that emotion. I have to say it is the reverse as well.

Negative emotions allowed to stay with us can and will ruin our health. Everything from cancer to ingrown toenails stem from unresolved negative emotions. Our financial situation is also directly connected to our emotional health; remember the term “Shopping therapy”?

Eliminating negative emotions is not easy and certainly doesn’t happen overnight. If you are consistent and prayerful as you take the steps necessary to heal your emotions, you can achieve a more peaceful life, and more importantly, a life full of positive, loving emotions.

Works Cited
Chidester, C. R. (1979, July). Keeping in Touch with Feelings. Ensign , p. 15.
Kelly, B. C. (1980, February). The Case Against Anger. Ensign , p. 9.
Wister, O. (1902). The Virginian.

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Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. She and her family reside in North Carolina where she runs The Homemaking Cottage & Co. from home. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

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How to Make Soft, Moist Muffins

2008-07-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

There is nothing like a tender, soft, moist muffin straight from the oven. The perfect muffin's outside is never hard, and when pulled from its muffin paper or popped out straight from the muffin pan it comes out completely and easily. How in the world is this done?

There are some tricks to muffins that many recipes (or box instructions even) do not include.

The first trick is to NEVER use a hand mixer. Think of muffin batter as a tiny soft baby that can easily crush.

The best utensil for mixing muffins is a wooden spoon.

Make a well into the dry ingredients of the muffins and add the wet ingredients into the “hole”. Gently fold the dry ingredients over and stir softly. NEVER stir the batter more than 20 times; count each turn of the spoon around the bowl as one, two, and so on.

It is okay to have some lumps in the batter. The object is not to rid the batter of the lumps, but to not over mix.

When putting the batter into the muffin tins, I like two methods. The first, method is to use a ¼ cup measuring cup. My other favorite method is to use an ice cream scoop with the sliding piece inside to easily push the batter out of the spoon and into the cup.

Here are a couple of recipes to try your hand at:

Blueberry Muffins

Use fresh or frozen blueberries to make these blueberry muffins.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, rinsed
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Sugar for topping

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar. Add buttermilk, beaten eggs, and melted butter; mix until dry ingredients are just moistened. Mix berries with 2 tablespoons of flour; fold berries into batter.

Spoon batter into greased muffin pans, filling each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Sprinkle each with a little sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes.
Makes 18 to 24 muffins.

Streusel Muffins

FOR MUFFIN MIX:
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1/3 c. oil
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

STREUSEL MIX:
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. melted butter

Grease or line 12 muffin cups with paper cup liners. In a bowl, slightly beat the egg; beat in milk and oil. Set aside. In a large bowl stir flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center. Add the egg mixture all at once. Stir just until moistened. Do not over beat. Batter should be lumpy. Spoon into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Top with streusel. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and serve warm.

OPTIONAL: Separate streusel mix in half. Put in the center of the muffins and rest on top.
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Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. She and her family reside in North Carolina where she runs The Homemaking Cottage & Co. from home. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

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Influence of a Mother

2008-07-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

For centuries beautiful words have been written of mothers and their important influence in the lives of every man and woman. Countless stories have been shared of mothers who gave great personal sacrifice for the sake of her children and future generations.

We were all children once and have an acute understanding that children need more that food, clothes, and shelter. Children need positive influence and love. We all have our weaknesses. This is a part of the mortal life we live, but we can always strive to do better.

“Every mother should endeavor to be a true artist. I do not mean by this that every woman should be a painter, sculptor, musician, poet, or writer, but the artist who will write on the table of childish innocence thoughts she will not blush to see read in the light of eternity and printed amid the archives of heaven, that the young may learn to wear them as amulets around their hearts and throw them as bulwarks around their lives, and that in the hour of temptation and trial the voices from home may linger around their paths as angles of guidance, around their steps, and be incentives to deeds of high and holy worth.” (Francis E. W. Harper)

Dorothy Gale, in the Wizard of Oz said it best when she said, “There’s no place like home.” A mother’s influence in the home will last beyond the current moment, day, or week. A mother’s influence lasts from generation to generation. What a powerful influence mothers have.

My mother was no longer able to raise me after the age of thirteen due to many sad circumstances beyond her control. She gave her all to raising all four of her daughters with strong roots in the gospel and a love of home and homemaking skills. She demonstrated a respect for femininity and encouraged us to raise families. Through her example I grew too cherish being a nurturer- a mother.
As you gather your family around you and see their precious faces, take time to thank our Heavenly Father for your calling as a mother and remember how important you are in the lives of your family.

“You may place upon the brow of a true wife and mother the greenest laurels; you may crowd her hands with civic honors; but, after all, to her there will be no place like home, and the crown of her motherhood will be more precious than the diadem of a queen.” (Francis Harper)

Notes:
Enlightened Motherhood: by Francis E.W. Harper

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Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

Reprints of this article are permitted as long as it includes this byline.

Cooking Large Quantities on a Shoestring Budget

2008-07-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

A large family with specialized diets can do it, so can you!

Cooking for a family and staying within a budget is tricky, but it can be done. We feed eight people, two who must eat a gluten free diet, and three who are allergic to milk. Every two weeks we spend $250 sometimes $300. That calculates to $16 per day and $2 per person per day. You could never eat like this eating out all the time.

How can this be done? The answer is to learn to cook as many things from scratch and rely as little as possible on pre-made things. Make large amounts for dinner and eat the left-overs for lunch. Breakfasts consist mostly of oatmeal, grits or eggs.

Here is a sample of our dinner menu this two week period:

Fiesta Lima Chicken Soup

Gluten-free spaghetti with salad

Coconut Curry Chicken with Risotto

Pinto beans with fried corn tortillas (and taco toppings)

Lentil Soup Supreme with gluten free Cornbread

BBQ Chicken thighs with potato salad

Chicken casserole (GF pasta, mayo, tuna or chicken, and topped with crushed potato chips)

Parmesan Chicken Breasts over rice (with soy flour)

Red beans and rice with sausage

Chicken enchiladas (with corn tortillas)

Homemade pepperoni pizza (with gf flour)

Chicken Salad

Vegetarian chili over baked potatoes

Vegetable Soup with gluten free biscuits

Snacks are fresh fruits and vegetables or the occasional homemade brownies, biscuits, or crackers.

The trick to feeding a family on a smaller budget is to make most of your foods from scratch, buy few if any convenience foods, and minimize sweets and desserts as much as possible.

Be careful of the quality of foods you buy for your family. Just as the books you read feed your mind and influence your thoughts and decisions, the food we eat fuels the body or makes it ill. It is important to purchase foods that are low in preservatives especially MSG, organic foods which are free of pesticides, radiation, hormones, and antibiotics, and foods that are as fresh from the source (earth or animal) as possible. It is always worth your while to spend a little bit more for higher quality meats, fruits, and vegetables and have the peace of mind knowing you are not putting garbage into your family’s bodies.

Those with food allergies beware of hidden sources of allergens. Things like Velveeta cheese or processed cheese contain wheat flour. If an animal was fed junk food like many non-organically raised cattle are fed, your meat could contain traces of wheat and other allergens.

“It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked” (Schaeffer, 1971)

Every homemaker can learn the art of feeding her family well on any income it just takes a little effort and a love for her family and their well-being.

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Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

Reprints of this article are permitted as long as it includes this byline.

Homemaking is Not about Perfection

2008-05-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

Homemaking is not about perfection. Homemaking is a calling, a blessing and an art. Raising a family and taking care of your home is NOT easy! Be kind to yourself.

The Home

Remember that the home is also where you "live". Things are constantly changing. Things are being used. People sleep, eat and breathe at home. Most family members are home more than they are outside of it as a general rule. Your family enjoys life in the home. To do this, they must use the bathrooms, the kitchens, the bedrooms and relax and play in the living areas. They are living their lives in the home, and just daily living can cause frequent messes. Patience and hard work are what are required to keep a home in order. However, this is not just your job as homemaker or your only job. Your job as homemaker is also to teach, train and delegate.

Family

The homemaker with a family is not the only one living in the home. You share your home with your spouse, and/or your family, pets, as well as friends and visitors who visit. Everyone who lives in your home should be required to do their share. Even toddlers can help clean a room or dust furniture while wearing socks on their hands. Be creative! Don't be a workhorse, but have them do their fair share.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to chores for children is that they should do as many main jobs as their age. So, if your child is 6, your child should have 6 things to do around the house. Don't make all of them major- only 2. My rule is 2 major chores and other small ones to add to the child's age. Major chores can include: dishes, folding a load of laundry, putting away folded laundry, vacuuming or sweeping...you get the idea. The smaller chores can include things such as: set the table, clean a window, water the front garden, pull 20 weeds, and wipe down a sink. Remember that children need patience and reminders. NEVER redo a chore that your child has done. If it is done satisfactory then leave it alone. If it is done in a sloppy and unacceptable manner then they need to redo their work and then have it re-inspected. In my home, if they have to redo it more than once then another chore is added. This encourages them to get it done the right way the first time.

Relax

There is a difference between a NASTY dirty house and a lived in, sometimes cluttered home. To be honest, some of the most comfortable home and enjoyable to be in are the ones that are NOT perfect. This includes small messes such as: toys left out from a day of play, or even laundry piled on the couch. People have to live; people have many things going on in their lives. Homes should not be like this on a regular basis and attempts should be made to clean up. Everyone has a bad week and sometimes you just can't do everything. RELAX and give yourself a break. Be conscious about the fact that you are not perfect and everything does not have to be perfect! You have to live in your home. You don't have to live in filth, but getting behind is acceptable and forgivable.

When it comes to doing your house cleaning and you get behind and overwhelmed, remember 70% done is better than doing nothing! I have been a geographically single mother many times over the years while my husband provides for the family as a US Soldier. With seven young children, I have been overworked, over-stressed, and at times have had a generally difficult time keeping up. I have adopted the motto: 70% is better than nothing. When it comes to things my kids have done or not done, or things that I cannot do perfectly, I remind myself of this motto often.

One day, I had a friend come over to the house while I was mopping the floor. I was stressing about my house being messy and the floor being so sticky and dirty. I had swept the floor that morning with the intention of mopping right afterwards, but many interruptions kept it from getting done. Situations like running errands, taking care of children, etc. Later in the afternoon, when all the chaos died down, I was able to get back to finishing the floor. I looked the floor over. It could have used a little more sweeping, but I just needed to get it mopped at this point so I could cook dinner and start the bedtime routine for the kids. As I mopped, I was beating myself up for the half done job. I had to keep reminding myself that 70% is better than nothing. It was at this point that my friend came over to visit. This friend watched me mop and push around a few crumbs here and there. I realized this person was probably wondering what was wrong with me and why I didn’t just stop and do it perfectly. Without my friend saying a word, I explained my motto. This friend then said, "I was wondering what you were doing, because you didn't even sweep before you mopped!" I knew I had swept earlier, but that wasn't important to me at that time. I knew what was important at the time and that was just to remove the stickiness from the floor. Strive to do your best, but if it just isn't feasible at the moment, then do the best you can with the time and energy that you do have.

Ask for help, if you need it. Go out for a walk to clear your mind and you might find that it will help you feel more energetic and ready to work, or go to sleep and know that tomorrow is the day to start over. Homemakers have more responsibility than most people give them credit for. The home must be swept and clean, but do not become a slave to your home. As Margaret Mitchell’s protagonist Scarlett O’Hara said, “I'll think of it tomorrow…. I can stand it then. After all, tomorrow is another day."

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Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com - or her blog at http://homemakingcottageblog.blogspot.com to learn how she raises seven children and runs a business at home.

Preparedness in the Home

2008-04-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

Why should every homemaker be prepared for every kind of situation? The answer is simple- emergencies or unplanned situations do occur in life. Those who prepare are calmer and have more peace of mind. As the homemaker assists her family and does her best to make a potential stressful or disastrous situation into one devoid of terror and confusion. The homemaker who practices and learns how to do as many things in her own home is a woman of confidence and peace.

What situations could occur to cause a need for food storage or emergency 72 hour kits? What would happen to you or your family if you lost everything in a fire, a flood, or a catastrophe? What about if your husband lost his job or became injured and could no longer provide for the family as he had in the past? There are countless reasons for being prepared. You will always been thankful that you did.
What is self-reliance? It is "reliance on one's own capabilities, judgment, or resources; independence."

The high cost of inflation has made it more essential for us to learn to provide as many of our necessities as possible. We have the opportunity to develop many talents and learn new things which may be used to achieve a sense of self-sufficiency. Some examples are: emergency preparedness, recycling, food storage and home food production.
We live in an area where hurricanes can affect us. This area also never seems to have enough food on the shelves for the amount of people that live here just on a regular basis. I am certain when panic hits for a pending hurricane or other disaster the shelves will be empty of all or most of the food and water. Did you know that the average grocery store only has enough supply of food for their area to last a week?

There are many reasons to have a food storage and water storage, but the main reason is because we have been instructed to do so. How can you do this? Where can you start? Start with three months of regular food storage. Things like canned goods, extra pastas, meats in the freezer, etc. Buy extra each time you go to the store. Start there.

Learn how to cook from scratch. Learn how to do the basics of anything you can. If you can buy it in the store, chances are you can make it yourself. Learn how to do these things and you will have a confidence in yourself should any situation arise that will enable you to use these skills.

Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each paycheck. Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget. Store seeds and have sufficient tools on hand to do the job. (CR, 1980)

Don’t get discouraged while you are in the midst of preparing. Anything stored or set away for the future is better than nothing.

Works Cited
CR. (1980, November). Ensign , p. 10.

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Copyright 2007 Shiloah Baker

Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

Reprints of this article are permitted as long as it includes this byline.

Homemaking and Self Esteem

2008-02-16T12:34:00.001-08:00

By Shiloah Baker

I was once asked by someone of importance to me where the source of my self esteem came from. It involved a moment of thought before I could answer. My self esteem comes from my faith, my success on raising my family, the habit or pattern in which I run my home, and in the knowledge of homemaking skills that I strive to acquire daily.

There is nothing that compares to the feeling of satisfaction of hard days work on your home. It truly is a wonderful feeling knowing that your home is cleaned by your hands. The satisfaction of seeing a child work alongside you or observing a child successful doing a chore in the home is priceless. It feels wonderful to know that I am contributing to my family's health when I study nutrition and plan healthy meals.

When we work hard at something and have successes- even small successes- it is a large source of positive self esteem. A homemaker who strives to live as the Proverbs 31 woman is always rewarded with blessings.

"27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."

"28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

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Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/

Spiritual Homemaker

2008-01-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

By Shiloah Baker

The spiritual homemaker takes the mundane and common things she does each day and applies them to gospel principles or spiritual things. She tries to turn an attitude of indifference to the boring things she does to one of thankfulness for the blessings she has. The spiritual homemaker strives to bless the lives of those in her family. She strives to be pleasant and cheerful.
A spiritual homemaker will strive to take a day, an ordinary day and savor the fulfillment she receives from the labor with her hands.

“A woman began to make bread. She had prepared her own yeast and it was covered with white foam. As she measured the brown flour and added milk, she thought of bread as a blessing, and the making of bread as an ancient and honored art- a brown loaf as the pride of the homemakers since first the pioneer woman had come to the sagebrush valley and turned its wilderness to fields of grain. Breadmaking is not a task, she thought, but a privilege, the blessed symbol of life, the evidence of plenty- food for her family.” (V.P.C., 1957)

While I perform my homemaking duties such as washing a sinkful of dirty dishes, or folding the laundry with my children or husband that it is a time that a mundane task becomes a time of insight into my children’s or husband’s lives. One evening, after my husband came home from work, I asked him to spend time with me and we would cook dinner together while the kids played. He and I made homemade pizza and raspberry brownies together while we talked and teased each other. Side by side we worked on the necessary task of feeding the family, but we also enhanced our marriage and strengthened the bonds of our communication by doing these things together. At times I wash dishes with one or two of my children rinsing and drying. While we work together it becomes a meaningful experience. We have often told each other new jokes or my child will open up and share a problem she is having with a friend or teacher.

A homemaker works with her hands. Have you ever noticed that most tasks that require your hands as in manual labor are often rote or repetitive and require very little thinking? This is actually a blessing. We can often think about solutions to our problems, plan meals, and concentrate on helping a neighbor with something or a child who needs extra attention.

The next time you are performing the homemaking tasks around your house, take time to apply each thing you do with a gospel principle. The homemaker is an example for spiritual things in a temporal world. “And they shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt rise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breech, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”

Bibliography
V.P.C. (1957, August). A Day of Doing Common Things. Relief Society Magazine , pp. 508-509.
Isaiah. Bible, King James version 58:12

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Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/

Reprints are permitted as long as the article is unaltered and the byline is kept intact.

Raising a Hard Working Family

2007-08-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

By Shiloah Baker

How many times have we met or know of people who are slovenly, lazy, or who do not work hard? For these people it shows in their homes as well as in the lives they lead. My father has always been a hard working man. He was raised on a 2,000 acre ranch which always had hard work in the natural elements, and everyone had responsibilities that could not be shirked. He has a strong work ethic that he instilled in each of his four daughters. We worked hard growing up and it is safe to say that as adult women, mothers, and homemakers we work hard today.

Theodore Roosevelt in his powerful and motivating speech “The Strenuous Life” (April 1899 The Hamilton Club, Chicago) wrote the following:

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual.”

What is your opinion of someone who is always striving to escape from work? It can be infuriating to someone who works hard with an honest effort. The natural man has a tendency to be lazy. Our main goal here on earth is to overcome the natural “man”.

“A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.”

There is nothing that feels better than working hard on a job such as cleaning and organizing the home, cooking meals, and doing the dishes. At the end of the day your muscles have been worked, your hands have served, your family is healthy, and you can see the visual results of your labor in the home. You can sit back and feel satisfied that all is well. It feels good to work hard and rest knowing that it is deserved.

“A man can be freed from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked to good purpose.”

Teaching our children this principle will make them great men and women, ready to face the adult life of toil and stress. They will be self motivators by the time they are adults when children are taught a good work ethic.

All children should work, and work with full effort. When it is play time, they will enjoy it! Children who are bored have not worked hard enough. Children who are selfish have not worked hard enough to enjoy the belongings that are given to them. They do not spend enough time cleaning up or caring for their belongings.

“…a healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must be glad to do a man's work, to dare and endure and to labor; to keep himself, and to keep those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children.”

Several of my children have Sensory Integration Disorder. One of the therapies they were given was to make sure that they move around a lot and carry heavy things to put pressure on their joints. Things such as taking out the trash, carrying laundry hampers to a room to fold laundry, sweeping, and mopping are suggested means of “therapy”. One’s physical health depends on work – including the children’s!

Some parents shy away from giving children more than a few responsibilities each day for several reasons:

1) Giving up full control to a child to do the responsibility is scary, difficult, and can be messy. Things such as learning to cook, doing laundry, mopping a floor will not always be done perfect or neatly, but as time and practice is allowed the child will progress and become good at it. If the child makes a mess when learning a new skill, make him or her clean it up. If the child is learning to cook and it turns out terrible, eat it with a smile and lots of tolerance and patience. I can’t tell you how many burned, over salted, watery meals or flat cornbread I’ve choked down over the past year, but I’ve done it with a smile. Simply remind them to learn from their mistakes and try again!

2) It takes too long to let the child do it. In less than half of the time it takes for the child to clean up a spill, go back and wipe it again because it is sticky, you could have done it better. That is exactly it. You’ve had the practice. You are now the teacher. Allow your child to perfect his skills in the home with a loving, tender teacher overlooking. This is better in comparison to someone in the outside world trying to teach an adult these skills with little patience.

3) The thought, “Children should play not work”; this is the mindset of many today. I do not agree. I worked hard in my youth and was prepared for my life as an adult. Now is the time to teach your future adult. We have but a short time to do so. Your child will always be grateful to you for it.

Working hard ourselves and teaching your family to work and then play is the way to a cleaner, healthier, and happier life. We will have more free time. We will feel confident. We will not be ashamed of our homes. Most importantly, we will be proud of our family and their contribution to their future homes and to the world.

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Shiloah Baker is an entrepreneur who runs the Homemaking Cottage & Co., an online business which sells books, eBooks, ideas, homemaking related materials, and a special subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com

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A Large, Organized Homeschooling Family

2007-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

By: Shiloah Baker

Having a house of order is not the easiest goal to attain when raising a large family and homeschooling on top of it all. We are coming up on our one year anniversary of homeschooling. After much stress, some successes and failures, I feel I can now share with you ideas in these areas that have been successful. I am thankful to my mentors and wonderful books to help me in the venture.

When I began this homeschooling journey I was overwhelmed and felt chaos in everything we did. The first thing I needed to do was simplify everything. I am a person that feels comfortable when I have many things at my disposal for when I need them. With nine bodies living under one roof it is uncomfortable to have so much “stuff”. It also makes it easy for young, curious children to get into things and make messes with them.

After having my seventh baby in January 2007, I waited until I was feeling well enough to do some organizing. We went through every room of the house. I threw out a lot of toys and junk. We finally let go of items that we kept hanging onto “just in case” or “one day we’ll need” items. It felt great. I got rid of them quickly before I could think too much about it. I did the same thing with the clothes, which is actually a seasonal project for me. I put away seasonal clothes, organized the clothes that do not fit any of the seven kids any longer into the bins marked with the correct sizes. We went through closets. We got rid of dresses or clothes that are not worn often. Each child has seven outfits each. We got rid of shoes that are too small, too “used” or just plain excess. We then separated the toys by categories and put them in bins. They have a large bin for Barbie’s and accessories, a small bin for Mr. Potato Head, etc. These bins went in our storage closets. They are pulled out on days that they want to play indoors and have their chores and schoolwork done. The other activities/toys will be discussed later. We organized everything from bathroom and bedroom to pantry and living room.

The chore system that I implemented is working better than any system that I have ever tried, read about, or seen! I found it in the book A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion. The idea is by Dianne Jeppson, co-author of the book, and who I think is a brilliant mom and author!

Each person has their name on a chart with an "IN" and "OUT" pocket. Every morning we draw chores that I wrote on small cards. The hard chores are "A" chores and easy ones are "B" chores. Each person must do at least 4 "A" chores or the equivalent of it with "B"s. This includes Mommy and Daddy.

Today, for example, I drew the cards that said I had to clear and wipe the table and empty the dishwasher. My husband had to vacuum the stairs and clean the mirrors! The younger children get help with the harder chores if they draw them, so I helped my five year old do the breakfast dishes and later my husband helped our three-year old fold clothes.

Every day we re-draw new chores. The new chores go in the “in” box and done chores in the “out” box. I inspect the chores that are put in the “out” box. Daddy gets the “left-over” chores that weren’t drawn. If there is something in there that is for “all day” I trade him for one of mine. He does his jobs when he gets home in the evening.

With this system, the kids have stayed excited and motivated. I keep extra papers in the kitchen to add new things that we need done or things I may have forgotten. Each family will have their own chores to add to the list or not put on theirs.

Here just a few of the main daily chores in our household:

Breakfast dishes (A)
Lunch dishes (A)
Dinner dishes (A)
Empty dishwasher (B)
Empty silverware (B)
Sweep kitchen and dining room all day (after each meal) (A)
Mop kitchen and dining room (A)
Clean bathroom sinks (B)
Clean mirrors (B)
Clean Curio cabinet glass (B)

Notice that I do not have anything to do with bedrooms or hygiene on these tickets. This is because bedrooms are a morning and evening personal responsibility. Bedroom care consists of the following: make bed, tuck pj’s under pillow, pick up laundry, clean up toys, trash or clutter, clear dishes (usually stray sippy cups), put away books, and straighten shoes.

Hygiene is to be done every morning and every evening before scripture study and family reading, which is done twice daily. Baths in the evening for the younger children, showers in the early morning for the older kids.

Another system that we implemented is dinner help. Years ago, I gave each person in the family a day for prayer. All that day they say the prayer. All the contention over who says the prayer is gone. After reading this book I have now added dinner on those days. The older three children are in charge of dinner on their prayer days. They already did their menus for the entire month of March for dinner on their days. Then they made a grocery list and on grocery day they will be responsible for gathering and shopping for their ingredients. We will learn prices, sales, and more.

Of course, we have our problems too as with anything in life; there is opposition in all things. I find that this system has helped everyone be more cheerful. There is no doubt what their jobs are. The house has been nearly spotless since implementing these programs and with seven homeschooling children that is really an accomplishment! What a blessing it has been and the more time I have for other things with this system.

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Copyright Shiloah Baker

Shiloah Baker, homemaker, and homeschooling mother of seven, business owner and Army wife. She currently resides in North Carolina. She has written hundreds of articles, recipes and crafts and runs 2 online businesses. To read more please visit her at:
The Homemaking Cottage
A Homemaking Journey

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Reading to be Smart

2007-07-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

By: Shiloah Baker

The old saying “ignorance is bliss” is inaccurate and misleading. Nearly 90 million adults or one out of every two American’s today are illiterate.

“The term “reading” may be applied to two utterly different types of experience: first, skimming the daily paper and light fiction contained in periodicals; second, enjoyment and appreciation of books of real worth, books that have stood the test of time.”

The books that have stood the test of time are classic books such as Anne of Green Gables, Gone With The Wind, and thousands of others.

Why do people read books? Studies have shown that the majority read for current events or sheer relaxation and pleasure most of the time. These are honorable motives. “One of the true tests of literature is that is brings enjoyment.” (Jacobsen, 1941)

My favorite thing to do each night as I prepare the fall asleep is to curl up with a good book. It brings me comfort when I’m feeling alone and knowledge and light to my mind as part of my daily learning. I just cannot comprehend when someone tells me that they do not have enough time to read. I am a very busy person with a large, homeschooling family, yet I make sure that I take time for myself to read almost everyday.

Abbe Earnest Dimnet in the Art of Thinking, says, “Do not read good books- life is too short for that. Only read the best. And of those only read what gives you the greatest pleasure. The busier you are the more severe your selection should be. But you have no time, you say. Are you sincere? Examine your conscience and answer. Is there no time you can reclaim, not from your work, not from your excerise nor from your family or friends, but from pleasure that really does not give you much pleasure. Do you know how to gather up fragments of time lest they persish? Do you realize the value of minutes? Very busy people always find time for everything. Conversly, people with immense leisure find time for nothing.”

Do not allow anyone to take away your time to learn- your time to yourself enjoying a good book. Start today with a good classic book and read as much with snatches of time that you can and increase your vocabulary, brain function, and store of lessons learned.

“Books are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abraod; companions at night, in traveling, in the country.” – Cicero.

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Copyright 2007 Shiloah Baker

Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 897 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. Free Homemaking Newsletter

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Decorating When You Can't Use Paint

2007-07-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

By: Shiloah Baker

I enjoy the freedom of decorating when I own my own home! It makes it harder for me when we are constantly moving away from that house with the military to rent others. In our first few rentals, I would paint little stencils, but that quickly became a pain to repaint so many houses.

Wallies

I was so happy when I found Wallies ®! They are little wall paper cut-outs. They are so easy to apply and soooo easy to remove. It takes little effort to decorate now! Here is an example of what I did in my entrance way in my current home (North Carolina 2006).

In Germany, my dining room and kitchen was cow themed and I put the Warren Kimball cow Wallies around the wall as a border.

In my current kitchen, I have a country theme. I am putting “country signs” wall paper cut-outs in it to finish my theme.

Fabric with starch

I’ve seen this done many times and used it in my son’s room décor when he has the Spiderman theme.

First, decide if you just want a border or if you want to cover the whole wall.

Whole Wall- If you have flat paint, it’s nice to do this to help protect your wall from kid’s handprints. Take a sheet and dip it in liquid starch and smooth all over the wall. Get a fan out to blow on it to help dry it faster.

Border- this is a little easier to mess with. Cut out the border- or border pieces from fabric. Dip in liquid starch and smooth where you want it. For my son’s Spiderman border, I used a dark, navy blue fabric that had silver sparkles on it. I had a friend in Germany who did it with a dark sage green thick ribbon roll at the top of her wall. It was very pretty.

Wallpaper border

I know wall paper can be a pain in the rear, but it isn’t as bad as people think to remove. Using just the wallpaper border is pretty and easy to keep clean by wiping down. To remove, purchase a wall paper removing liquid and a putty knife. It came off fast and easy for me.

Contact Paper

While living in Germany, I had very few options for decorating. Our home had flat paint in the kitchen and with my toddler smearing Crisco everywhere, something had to change! It was becoming hard to keep up with the walls, and if you’ve ever had flat paint in your home you know what a miserable and almost impossible task it is to clean them! And, I never found a store over there that sold latex paint! Ahhh! I went to the PX (Post Exchange) and bought contact paper. I covered my walls from the waist down. It was great to wipe down when it got dirty and super easy to remove when it was time to move!

I like to have options when it comes to decorating and I hate feeling limited. If you are renting a home and either don’t have the option to paint or don’t want to, use some of these ideas to jump start some of your own! Happy decorating!

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Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 817 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. http://ui.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1101637592189&p=oi

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14 Butter Flavors

2007-07-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

By: Shiloah Baker

Flavoring butter is a fun way to add pizzazz to your meal! Using real butter, you can add various flavors. Once you have finished your butter, you can use it on breads, pastries, etc., or you can freeze them in "logs" for months until ready to use. These also make wonderful gifts!

1. Honey Butter ‑recipe 1

1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup honey

Whip butter. Add vanilla and egg yolk. Gradually whip in honey till light and fluffy.

2. Honey Butter‑ recipe 2

1 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cup honey
1 egg yolk

Combine all ingredients in a deep bowl. Beat with electric mixer for 10 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

3. Orange Butter*

2 tbl. melted butter
2 tbl. grated or zested orange peel
1/2 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients. Brush or drizzle on food.

*This is fantastic for pancakes or French toast!

4. Apple Butter

5 1/2 lbs. apples, peeled and finely chopped
4 cups sugar
2‑3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt

Place apples in crock pot. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Pour over apples and mix well. Cover and cook on high 1 hour. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 9‑11 hours or until thickened and dark brown, stirring occasionally. (Stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent sticking.) Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer. If desired, stir with a wire whisk until smooth. Spoon butter into freezer containers leaving 1/2 inch head-space, because as it cools it will expand. Cover and refrigerate or freeze.

Makes 4 pints

5. Garlic Butter

*this is fantastic on French bread!

1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

6. Herb Butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

7. Curry Butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. curry powder

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

8. Parsley Butter
1/2 cup butter
1 tbl. fresh parsley, snipped or 1 tsp. dried
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. dried savory

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

9. Lemon‑Tarragon Butter
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. zested lemon peel

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

10. Parmesan Butter
1/2 cup butter
2 tbl. grated parmesan
1/2 tsp. dried basil

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

11. Citrus Butter
1/2 cup butter
1 tbl. Powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. zested orange peel

*this is also great on French toast, waffles or pancakes

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 2‑3 minutes.

12. Breakfast Butter
1/2 cup butter
2 tbl. honey or maple syrup

Start with softened butter. Add other ingredients and beat with electric mixer until well blended. About 3 minutes.

13. Herb Butter (recipe 2)
1/2 cup butter
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice.

Heat and pour over hot cooled vegetables.

Yield: 6 servings.

14. Lemon Butter

1/4 cup butter
1 tbl. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
dash cayenne pepper

Melt butter. Add remaining ingredients. Heat and serve over cooked, hot vegetables. (4 servings).

*This is exceptional on French cut green beans with almonds added!

Trying new flavors of butter will spark your creativity and expand your cooking horizons.

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Copyright Shiloah Baker

Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mother of seven. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 817 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/ And don’t forget to join our ezine for free ideas. The Homemaking Cottage Ezine

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Cleaning Suggestions For Siblings Sharing A Room

2006-05-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

by: Shiloah Baker

1. When its evening, and before you go to bed, both of you clean your room. If it is her stuff- tell her that you will help clean a little if she will do her share. Then help with something like picking up laundry while she does the rest, if it is in fact her stuff.

2. Shelves or bins are nice little places to put "treasures". I find that all of my children love to keep a lot of "treasure". To me, it is just junk. To them it is priceless. Have your mom buy a plastic bin of drawers or perhaps a small bookshelf to store things. Remind your sister that this is where her stuff goes. If she leaves it out and its driving you nuts. Take a few minutes to put her things in her bins for her as a favor.

3. Split your room in sections. Give your sister a section with her as a willing participant. Allow her to keep track of that section of the room. If it gets messy, its her side. Remind her gently that you enjoy keeping your room clean and patiently remind her to clean up.

4. Keep a trash can in your room. Throughout the week, do "whirlwinds". A whirlwind is something my dad invented. You set the time for 10 minutes and together you clean as fast as you can until it is all clean! Its a race against the timer!

Remember, if you two keep up with your room it won't get so overwhelming. If it does, split up the cleaning between you both. For instance- you get all the trash and laundry and she gets all the toys and books. Then after this is all done, together decide who will make the beds and who will vacuum or sweep. Then it is not as overwhelming to clean!

Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mom to seven beautiful children. Her husband Ben is in the Army and is her biggest supporter as she runs two online businesses/three websites. If you enjoyed this article please join us for more at www.homemaking-cottage.com

Fruited Lemonade

2006-05-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Fruited Lemonade

By: Shiloah Baker

This drink is especially pleasing to your visual senses as well as your palette. With summer fast approaching, this is a perfect drink for company. Invite some girlfriends over for an afternoon lunch. They will rave over your talent and creativity!

Make frozen lemonade and the following fruit skewers:

Fruit Skewers

2 strawberries, sliced in half

2 cubes cantaloupe

2 cubes watermelon

2 small lemon slices

Using a long bamboo skewer, place the fruit on the skewer in this pattern: strawberry, lemon, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc.

Wrap in saran wrap and freeze.

Makes 2 fruit skewers Pre-make at least 1 hour ahead of time.

Serve lemonade in long glasses and add fruit skewers. This is a visual treat as well as delicious!

Shiloah Baker is a homeschooling mom to six (almost 7) beautiful children ranging in age from 10 to 1. Her husband Ben is in the Army and is her biggest supporter as she runs two online businesses/three websites. If you enjoyed this article please join us for more at www.homemaking-cottage.com

Importance of Dusting

2006-05-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

By: Shiloah Baker

Is this a thing of the past? You rarely see anything about dusting or the importance of it these days. My personal opinion is that people are not taught the importance of it. Rather, they view it as just an extra thing on their “to-do” list.

Let’s find out what is in dust. Maybe knowing what is in it will be a great motivator to dust often. Human skin is the main ingredient of dust. We all know that our skin regenerates itself. In a month’s time, your body has re-created a whole new layer of skin cells for your entire body. What do you think happens to a lot of these cells everyday? They fall off your body and end up as dust in your home. Dust mites LOVE to eat skin cells. According to familydoctor.org, “Dust mites are tiny bugs that live in your home. They measure about 1/100th of an inch in length, which is smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. Dust mites feed off of pet and human dander (dust), and their waste is a major cause of allergies and asthma.” When the dust mites feed the also leave their feces in the dust.

What else is in the dust? Pollens from the outdoors make their way into our home thanks to pets and us coming in and out of the home. “Often people make the mistake of thinking that pollen allergy just causes asthma or hay fever. Over-exposure to pollen has also been shown to cause headaches, tiredness, skin rash, dry, itchy skin, itchy throat, itchy eyes, cough, sore throat, change of voice, loss of taste or smell, plugged or itchy ears, drippy noses, difficulty in breathing, insomnia, and irritability. Many more people actually have allergies than realize it.” Healingwell.com Over exposure to dust/allergens can make people hypersensitive. Prolonged exposure can cause upper respiratory diseases like asthma. Other dust properties include fabric fibers, and dirt and debris from daily living.

“The trend of sealing homes for energy efficiency may result in buildup of dust mite debris,” According to about.com. Opening the house to air it out helps to get rid of some of the dust build up, but doesn’t begin to touch most of it.

Dud, thankfully, doesn’t take very long. The best thing about dusting is that it is easy! Your children can do it for you! Don’t forget to do this several times a month! Put it on your to-do list today!

Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com - or her blog at http://homemakingcottageblog.blogspot.com to learn how she raises seven children and runs a business at home.

How To Help Your Toddler Transition -From a crib to a toddler bed

2006-03-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

By Shiloah Baker

For a toddler who is used to his/her crib, transition into a new “big” and sometimes scary bed can be difficult for all involved! Here are a few tricks of the trade I have learned as well as some common remedies for excuses all children seem to come up with at night.

First, make sure that the baby is safe. Use a crib rail. I use them on toddler beds, which sometimes make it a glorified “crib.” Be sure that toys are up off the floor in case of a fall. It may also be a good idea to put some cushions on the floor in case of an accidental roll-off in the middle of the night. When I was young, I rolled off the bed almost every night so my parents put the couch cushions on the floor and wake up to me on them!

Have a routine! Routines are imperative for a better night’s sleep and easier for the child to feel stable when a bedtime routine is strictly followed. This can include: a bath, brush teeth, scriptures read, a bedtime book, soft lullaby by mom, soft lullaby music played, piggies game played, and so forth. You will still have some rough nights during this transition, but this will make it easier.

Something to replace you is next on the list. Something for them to cuddle or hold such as a soft blanket or squishy bear. If your child isn’t particularly attached to anything perhaps buy them a “big girl sleeping bear”, or something that they associate with cuddling when going to bed.

Try to avoid the bottle/sippy cup as much as possible. This hard to break the child from- trust me! It is also TERRIBLE for your child’s teeth. If you do break down and give them a sippy cup every now and then only put water in it.

Last, but not least, do not scream, yell, threaten or call names. This does not serve any purpose other than to actually make the problem worse. Your child is already insecure with this difficult transition and needs more kindness and patience while you teach your child. Stick with your plan and tell your child that you love them but this is what is best. You may need to reassure her often. Your child will most likely throw fits. She is testing you. Don’t give in or you will go back 3 steps in the length of time it will take to teach her that you are serious.

I hope these tips work for you. I have learned through trial and error much of my parenting tips. Eventually your child will go to sleep!

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Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com - or her blog at http://homemakingcottageblog.blogspot.com to learn how she raises seven children and runs a business at home.
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This article may be reprinted as long as the entire byline stays intact and article remains unedited in any way.

Beef Enchiladas Gringo Style

2006-03-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

By Shiloah Baker

Beef Enchiladas- my specialty!

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. flour tortillas
2 cloves garlic
salt
1 can black olives, have a helper chop them!
2 cans pinto beans
1 pkg. enchilada seasoning
1 can cream of chicken salsa verde soup (condensed)
sour cream
cheddar cheese

Brown the ground beef with the garlic. Add the seasoning, then the beans, then the soup. Fill the tortillas with the beef and bean mixture, black olives, sour cream and cheese. Roll them up and place in pan. This can fill two 9 x 13 inch pans. Do this until the pan is filled with rolled tortillas stuff with yummy filling! Top with a little extra "sauce" from the pan, cheese and sour cream.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
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Shiloah Baker is a mother of seven children and homemaker who resides in North Carolina. She is the owner of Homemaking Cottage & Co., a website which offers homemaking related articles, books, eBooks, ideas, other homemaking related materials, and a subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com - or her blog at http://homemakingcottageblog.blogspot.com to learn how she raises seven children and runs a business at home.