Friday, October 5, 2007

Homemaking.

Want to know what I've been doing today?

Browsing the blogs of very christian wives and mothers for homemaking information. No, I'm not turning into a surrendered wife or anything, it's just that the only decent, knowledgable and intelligent homemaking advice seems to be on those blogs. If I might have little to talk to these christian cousins about in terms of politics or religion they certainly have a lot I can learn from them.

Menu planning, budgeting, gardening, cleaning, baking, scheduling, organization...It goes on and on. A rich treasure trove of deeply useful stuff that most of the rest of society has deemed either useless or abandoned to for-hire services.

Well, that's not quite true. We do have Martha. So either it's beneath us or so far above us that the best we can really hope for is to browse a glossy monthly. Either way, homemaking and it's arts aren't things we're actually supposed to do.

So the christian housewives come to my rescue. They won't tell me to have a maid in once a week or to decant liquid dish soap but they'll navigate the reasonable and practical middle and help me craft a cleaning schedule. I think I can manage that.

5 comments:

kitten said...

I need a cleaning schedule, but I have been too tired lately to clean, clean. The kids help me most the time after school and we get the have to's, but as far as cleaning, Not happening.

Anonymous said...

Great insight, Dawn! (smile)

Hey, do you think that could be the *real* reason I left Christianity? To get out of housework?? Hmmm.

Dawn said...

I doubt it. Religions and beliefs come and go...The dirty dishes are here to stay!

I should add that there is, of course, a darker side to some of those christian, godly, titus 2 housewife sites. I made my post all hunky-dorey sunshine...I misled.

The advice is good but scripture-quoting justification of their choices is horrid. The 'Rules' they often tuck into their binder are patriarchal and disturbing. A few aren't simply enthusiastic fundamentalists but actively anti-Catholic, atheist or anything not their brand of christianity. And the google search for 'christian hme management' brought me to Stormfront, a white supremicist message board.

Take the good stuff, run screaming from the rest.

concernedCTparent said...

If you haven't already visited flylady.com, it's certainly worthwhile. Flylady's book, Sink Reflections, is a gem but you'll do just as well visiting the website.

One of my FlyLady faves: CHAOS=Can't Have Anyone Over Sydrome

JJ Ross said...

"Take the good stuff, run screaming from the rest." --
Organize the cabinets and closets of our minds with intelligent discernment, rather than fitting out every area of our lives with those free premade, snap-together interlocking agenda organizers that churches, schools, unions, political parties and corporate gurus give away free?

Intelligent discernment, sounds good. Have you got a website to help with THAT? Hard to find online . . .
;-)