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Cheryl Mendelson: Laundry : The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens
Cheryl Mendelson: Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
Cindy Harris: Keeping House: Hints and Tips for a Beautifully Clean Home
Lynda Brown: Organic Living: Simple Solutions for a Better Life (Organic)
It will be a while before the actual change to the new website, but there's a new site for the helpful housewife pages - The Helpful Housewife . The blog will remain here, but a lot of the information that doesn't seem to fit anywhere on here will go there.
And there's a new email address to use for all of your housekeeping questions: dearjune at thehelpfulhousewife dot com.
In the meantime, keep coming here for any updates, HK101 notices and the like!
Tanya posted a comment a few posts below, wondering how many actually signed up for Housekeeping 101 this round. Well, Tanya, to answer your question, a record 312 emails were sent this morning! That means another 312 housewives will be running their households with ease and grace very shortly!
Thank you to all who did sign up! I'm still amazed that so many out there are just as excited by a feather duster as I am!
Watch your inboxes, gals... your first lesson will be waiting for you tomorrow morning!
I did let a couple in over the weekend who signed up after the deadline, but for those who send me the request to sign up at this point will have to wait for the next session. I promise you'll get in on the next class, though!
If you signed up for this next round of HK101, you will have an email waiting in your inbox! The information was sent out to all who registered... and for those who wanted to know: there is no charge!
My next goal is to update the information in the sidebar regarding our schedules around here. Since I've opened up the fabric/yarn shop, there has been a drastic change in when I complete my tasks. Of course, the tasks haven't changed at all, though! I've had quite a few requests from working women who want to know how to schedule in their housekeeping routines and yet keep the family running smoothly in the right direction. My old routine is from my days as a stay-at-home mom, and is out of date for me even. Although I don't work a regular 9 - 5 daily job, I might be able to help some of you find a way to squeeze things into your day. I'm lucky to be my own boss; there's a flexibility in scheduling employees to work when I need to be away! So I guess I would be considered a part-time working mom, but the reality is that I do spend much more than 40 hours a week taking care of the business. I'm just not always physically in the store to do some things.
But we still are doing it without a cleaning service! No maids for us; we did have a cleaning service for a few months when the store first opened over a year ago to make the transition easier. But that didn't last long. Their standards of cleaning did not meet mine, and I missed doing it myself. So now, all is right with the world again and I am queen of my castle in all areas once more!
As my schedule permits, I'll try to do those updates here on the blog for those who have requested them....
For all of you who signed up for HK101, and didn't get an email yesterday, have no fear! It's just some technical difficulties with thefiles I need to email... The joys of transferring hard drives; there is a back up disk but for some reason the drive won't open it! I promise you'll get your info before too long! I'd like to get everything out today, but it may be tomorrow... stay tuned!
WOW!!!! I cannot BELIEVE how many have signed up for this next round of Housekeeping 101! The deadline to sign up is tomorrow, so be sure to email me and get on the list for the session beginning on February 4th!
On January 26th, I will be sending out emails to all who have signed up so far. I'll let you know the details of the course and what you'll be doing. I'm really looking forward to starting up this session; even though I've always enjoyed keeping house in general, this always sparks that renewed excitement and I end up curled up with all of my old housekeeping manuals every evening like that favorite novel you read over and over again... Can't wait!
As you may have noticed in the sidebar, Housekeeping 101 will be enrolling again! The link for the form doesn't seem to be working, so please send me an email beginning in January if you are interested in signing up. I will reply with all necessary details.
Of course, Housekeeping College has evolved over time. It's now a four week course of basic information that is easier to condense. There's no pop quiz, but there have been lots of fun emails to read in response to the lessons! It's really informal, and definitely an optional thing; whether anyone actually does each lesson is something I'll never know. But as more time passes, I get the itch to develop it more. To bring it into more detail and perhaps print an actual booklet, or create a binder, for participants. Maybe just put it on cd-rom? Who knows! But thanks for all of your enthusiasm for the homemaking arts!
I've really missed being home full time the last year, and now that the shop is settling in and I have more and more employees, my schedule will be changing for the better. I'm going to be home more now than ever, and will be able to get back to polishing my silver and blogging with more regularity. I'll never give up my little fabric and yarn shop (aren't sewing and knitting part of Home-Ec anyway?) but I'm finding that balance I have always worked hard to have. Next on the agenda is redoing our daily routine that is mapped out here. Maybe it will help the other housewives who also work outside of the home find their balance if they see how someone else is making it work?
Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent as ususal.... Get ready for the next round of HK101! Email me to sign up!
As you all know, I answer all manner of questions via email regarding homemaking issues. Lately, I've taken to simply replying directly back rather than post them here, as time seems to be a precious commodity! However, this particular question deserves center stage. More than once I've gotten this question, and when I received it this last time, I just knew it had to be answered out here!
Dear Helpful Housewife,
We have an ongoing friendly debate in my family. I prefer our drinking glasses be stored in the cabinet bottom down and the others family members feel bottom up (with the lip of the glass on the actual cupboard floor) is best. I feel there are for more germs that collect on the bottom of the cabinet and feel it is nothing less than licking the bottom of the cabinet if drinking from a cup stored top down. What is your advice?
Our refrigerator died. On the hottest day of the century. Of course. Thankfully we have an old 1950's Westinghouse model in the garage we use for extra gallons of milk, the odd soda, and other miscellaneous items. (With four little kids, you tend to buy milk 6 gallons at a time!). So what do you do when your frig goes out? In this order:
1. Curse KitchenAid. (I can't stress enough at how miserable these appliances are... after 2 dishwashers, a microwave, a stove/oven, 2 coffee makers, a toaster, and now the frig, I am completely avoiding this brand as if it were the bubonic plague!)
2. Call KitchenAid to schedule a repair visit.
3. Curse KitchenAid while emptying said refrigerator.
4. Clean it til it sparkles!!!!!
I know it's a pain to have to go through dealing with a dead refrigerator, but on the upside, it's a great opportunity to clean it out! No condensation building up because it's still cool inside, no stuff in the way... it's great! Now I have the wonderfully clean appliance you see above! Take note, those of you in Housekeeping 101 -- this is a valuable tidbit to file away for future reference!
MODA U has a new quilt kit out for those who participate in the MODA University program. It's the beautiful quilt pattern featuring the new "A Little Romance" fabric collection by April Cornell. It's absolutely gorgeous!
Here's what I am going to do with one of the kits I've been able to purchase from MODA...
As you all know, I am participating in the 60 mile walk for breast cancer, The 3-Day, through the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I will be walking 20 miles each day over the course of the three days of August 10th, 11th, and 12th. I had wanted to hold a quilt raffle to help raise the $2200 needed to participate, but alas, there is no time! In Michigan, there is a 4-6 week time frame to obtain a raffle license to hold a local raffle event. So instead I am going another route in order to save time! I have to have the money raised by August 1st, so that will be the deadline to enter...
Enter into what, you ask?
I am going to make this gorgeous quilt to be given away to whomever wins the drawing I will be holding! Each time someone makes a $25 donation their name will be entered into the hat. On August 1st, I will have a cancer survivor draw the winning name and I will post it here (and of course contact them personally to let them know they have won)!
Just think, the kit alone for the quilt top and binding sells for $80. Add in another 4.25 yards backing at around $26, and it's now up to $106 in value. Throw in the batting and the professional quilting, with an average charge of $60, and this quilt is approximately a $170 investment to make it yourself (not to mention the time!).
Want the quilt, but don't have time to make it? Want to support an incredible cause? Simply click here and be taken to my webpage for the 3-Day walk and make a $25 donation!
Support a fellow crafter, blogger, and woman as she pounds the pavement to help eliminate this horrendous disease! And if you enter more than once, increasing your odds of winning, and have your name drawn, there will be some extra pink goodies packed in with your quilt as a surprise! Maybe some crafting tools, or some fabrics, or even perhaps some other needle arts treasures.... the possibilities are endless!
Won't you enter today? I'm already piecing it together!
