How Many Hours OF Housework A Day Should We Do?

I watched an old movie made in 1930s or so.  A doctor stated that most of his patients could be healed by doing 6 hours of housework a day.  His patients were rich women who laid around all day and had maids. When the movie was made they did not have dishwashers, washing machines,dryers, vacuum cleaners, so I can see how we have it easier than they did and it might not take us 6 hours. Last week I made applesauce and apple jelly. I stared washing the jars, put the water on and sterilized the jars, got the apples ready, and while cooking, I would wash dishes and clean areas I needed. The jelly took the longest it seemed. I was getting tired. With the jars, the apples, the dishes, and then cooking supper, I was in the kitchen for 8 hours. The next day, I really wondered about all this gardening, canning, dehydrating and is it worth it.

I finished the asparagus bed today. The bed is covered with leaves and some old hay.  I raked and hoed weeds.  I spread some compost. It was only about a 10 x 10 area. I also cleaned up the spot where the big rhubarb plant is. I put some compost down and I will cover that area with some old straw tomorrow. I worked outside for 2 hours and staggered in and got the fire going. I started washing dishes and by the time I was done, I was getting another attitude about all this housework.


I washed clothes and I sure am glad I did not have to boil a kettle of water to wash clothes. I do not think that all that work made women slim and trim. When I was a little girl, two women lived across the street. They were sisters. They were old. They wore clothes that looked like from an old western show.  It was the 1950s, so they were born in the late 1800s.  They had an outhouse. They had an old wringer washer on the porch and hung clothes on the line. They had a big garden and I would watch them bent over going down the rows working and neither one of these women were slim.  There is more to it that work.

Women At Home

I neglected my blog all summer. I was busy, but also I stopped blogging because my blog looked so exhausting. It seemed to be a long never ending list of jobs. I have been considering why do I garden and is it worth it.  I kind of perked up the other day while outside planting garlic with geese flying over and honking at me on a chilly November day. 

So many like to tell women their place is in the home. In the home doing what?  They are to cook and clean and let the men be in charge, but in charge of what?  I stayed at home to raise my children and to homeschool them. Is this the future for my daughter?  What kind of woman will my son marry?  The world is a crazy place anymore.  When I was younger and my mother was home, she always was busy and our house had people coming and going.  Most of the people were neighbors.  We sat outside at night and talked.  My friend Theresa would come to get me to sit in her kitchen and watch her pressure canner while she had to do something else.  I had no interest in canning back then. She was older than I was, but we always were busy doing things.  She was married and I was still a teenager.  We went fishing, rode horses, and her family and mine would go to church.  We did not compete with each other and why we were friends, I do not know, other than we did not judge each other. Maybe, we really did not even know a lot about each other.  I think people know each other too well or they think they do by reading between the lines of texts and messages.  They cannot hear the voice or see the face to know if somebody is even joking.  Today, neighbors do not need you for a friend.  Most people do not even go outside in their yard.  They have jobs, family, computers and cell phones.  

It was not unusual for women to be at home all day cooking and taking care of children when my mother was a housewife.  They did not homeschool back then.  I would come home and find Theresa talking to my mother and they talked of making supper and desserts.  For me, this does not happen.  I have been homeschooling for years and stayed home.  Neighborhood children came to play.  I am not sure what my kids would have done if we had lived way off outside of town.  I know what would have happened.  I would have joined all kinds of things to keep them busy and I would have been on the road back and forth to town.  With me being home, the neighborhood kids could play in our yard.  The mothers went to work and the dads were home and then when she came home the dad would go to work, if there was a dad.  There were not any women at home canning, growing a garden, worrying about minerals in the soil, or GMOs in their food.  My son had 2 friends that were brothers.  For about a month they ate chicken nuggets and French fries that their mother brought home from her job at a fast food place.  The same happened years earlier when my daughter's friends ate hamburgers for a month when their mother went to work at a fast food restaurant.  I remember the kids kind of lost and the husband too.  Then, the mother came home with the sacks and off they ran to meet her and the doors shut and they stayed in visiting with her and eating their food in a sack.  The job would last about a month and then she would be home again and the husband would work and the mother would be wandering around not knowing what to do.  I see so many girls that say they need a job and they have a home and children to take care of.  I really do not know what the young people are going to do for jobs in this country.  

I have lived here in this house now for over 6 years.  The house behind me has seen several families come and go.  An older man just moved in and he told my husband that he likes what we have done with the garden and he wants to do the same with his yard. I have met several of the other neighbors.  I know a couple of names.  We smile and wave.  I have another a few houses away that I talk to outside when she comes out in the spring and summer to plant her small garden.  The house on the other side has an older man.  He is gone all the time and he will talk for a short period of time if you see him outside.  

There are not any like minded women to can and cook with.  I talk to my friend Ellie about what I cook and can, and she tells me all about what she is doing.  She lives in another state.  My own family does not want to hear about the tomatoes or the green beans.  They do not want to know about the weeds.  They sure do not want to hear the cherries need to be pitted.  We almost had World War III over pitting cherries last summer. 

I had a fit.  It was all poor me and nobody appreciates me and the food is being wasted.  I had such a fit that after son and daughter went swimming, they sat under the tree pitting cherries in their wet clothes.  They looked so sad, I almost felt sorry for them.  Well, I did end up feeling sorry for them and decided to freeze the cherries with the pits and make juice later. They are small and there are 3 bushes. The first year there were a few and we were so excited to see cherries and could not wait to make a pie.  The next year, not so excited and this year, I think everybody did all they could to not even look in the direction of the bushes.  I decided it was best I pick them and go get some exercise and sun.  I would pick a quart and put them in the ice box.  I would hope a certain daughter would see them and pit them for me, but they would get pushed back and then the next quart would come in and then I ended up pitting them.  My son looked so upset at the idea of pitting them that I did not even want to go through seeing that face.

What is my job?  Should I take the time to make jelly or applesauce?  I never buy applesauce anymore because it has fructose corn syrup.  I do not want to spend money for organic and most of the jelly has corn syrup.  Should I care about corn syrup?  Everybody else eats corn syrup.  Everybody else does a lot of things I do not do.  I did not see a big benefit this year with exercise for me.  I like to say that I am going to garden and lose weight.  Well, that did not happen.  I think the garden does keep me busy where I am not just sitting all day.  I have a lot of chores to do and I think that is good.  I don't want to make my family take care of the garden since they do not enjoy it.  Well, my husband does when he has time.  He would be out in the garden all the time if he was retired.  

I type medical reports all day from home.  I am a medical transcriptionist.  I have noticed in the last few years more and more people with heart disease at earlier ages. There are so many strokes that it is frightening. I have noticed more birth defects and thyroid disease is so common that normal thyroid function is going to become rare. My parents took care of me when I was born. They went out of their way to buy raw milk. I was given vitamins and the best quality they could find.  I can remember my mother snapping beans, shelling peas, shucking corn.  My mother was always cooking greens.  She would get so excited about somebody bringing her fresh greens that I look back and she reminds me of Granny Clampett cooking in her kitchen.  I will be 60 in a few months and I have no disease with a name.  I do not think I did so well with my children and I regret it. My parents were blind and my mother cooked from scratch and I have two eyes and wonder if I should do the same? 

I regret not starting my children on raw milk.  They had formula.  They were allowed to drink way too much pop. We had a lot of fast food hamburgers and chicken nuggets for supper without salads or anything green.  They ate a lot of breakfast cereal.  I did put them on raw milk when my son was only about 2 and when I could not buy raw, I did buy organic to stay away from hormones in the milk. 

I suppose my picky son might think all this is worth it if somehow I create food that tastes good, looks good, and is healthy too.  I do not want the garden to be all about saving money or stocking up on food.  I would like to see us have more energy and see some type of health benefit from the garden this next year.   It is my job to see that they are healthy and I just do not feel I have done my best.  I am going to make the most of 2015. 

Huckleberry Kefir, Zucchini News And Another Dishrag

I put the kefir in the refrigerator last night. It sat on the table for 26 hours. Today, I thawed some huckleberries and made a quart of huckleberry kefir. It is good. We do not have a lot of huckleberries, but enough to make more. The next quart may be raspberry. I would not bother to make kefir if I had to buy the fruit. I have a lot of fruit in the freezer, so it makes sense right now to do this. I think it tastes better than the store kind. My kids sort of agree. I do not think my son likes he seed things in his and that is what you will have with berries.

Huckleberry Kefir

I am trying to make room in the freezers for the new garden produce this year.  I found a recipe for a yellow squash casserole. It used a lot of cheese and bread crumbs. It is very good, but not good for me on a diet. I have a Health Food board on Pinterest and the recipe is in there. It used 4 pounds of yellow squash, so it will come in handy this summer. I also have a recipe I pinned for Lemon Zucchini Bread. My daughter made that and it is really good. I have a lot of shredded zucchini squash too that I use for bread and soup.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

I enjoy using Pinterest for recipe ideas and I have another one for Zucchini Fritters I will be trying soon.

I also finished another dishrag. It did not take very long. I did it watching a movie last night. I finally figured out how to do single crochet and not have the rows growing or decreasing. My first dishrags were half double crochet and this one is single crochet. I am not sure what I will make next.

  

I am trying to use up the yarn I have and practice with this before going to buy any new yarn. I have some yarn that is not cotton that I have planned to make a scarf with. I like the cotton yarn better for some reason.

What I Accomplished in January

It is hard to believe January is already over. I had a lot of fun beginning new things. This month I started a blog. I was not sure if I would really enjoy this, but I am and I think it is helping me with my diet.

I started collecting pins on Pinterest.  I now have 507 pins.  I am going to use these pins to help design the garden and use them for ideas to decorate and improve the house.

I made laundry soap, which was a big success. I am interested in how long the soap will last that I made.   I made the lotion bars, which I will be making more of those and that was a success.  I have started to crochet and this is addicting.  I love crochet!  I made a seed box, which is something I have been thinking of doing for a couple of years and I am so glad that I did.  I am also happy about the weight loss so far.  I lost 4.8 pounds for the month of January. I am motivated and I have started exercising, so all in all, January was a great month.  Thank you for following so far and see you in February! 

My First Crocheted Dishrags

I have been watching videos and practicing how to crochet and I have finished 2 dishrags. The first one I was not happy with how the border turned out

. I washed some dishes and wiped the cabinets with it. I thought it worked really great and my daughter liked it. I put it through the washing machine and it came out fine. I let it dry flat. 

The second dishrag came out better and the border was nicer, but still not perfect. These were made with the half double crochet stitch and the border was single crochet.

I am going to practice more this month. I have not decided what my next project will be. I really enjoyed the half double crochet stitch and enjoyed making these dishrags.

I have practiced the single crochet, the double crochet, half double crochet, and treble crochet. I am hooked on crochet!

Lotion Bars

I have been reading about lotion bars and have seen pictures of them on Pinterest and they look so easy to make, so I decided to make some.  I never put lotion on because of the chemicals and strong smells, but sometimes I will use a non-scented type, but I do not like the way my skin feels.  My husband has really dry skin on his hands.  He wears lotion all the time.  The kind of job he has, he has to wash his hands a lot, and in cold weather that makes it worse. 

My daughter wears all kinds of lotion, perfume, makeup and I worry about her becoming sensitive to chemicals in the future like I did.  I used to love to wear perfume and use lotions.  Now, I cannot even have a box of laundry detergent sit in the house if it has a scent to it. Unscented lotion bars just seemed to be too good to pass up, so my daughter and I made a few today. 

What Is Needed:
Measuring cup.
Pan.
Spoon.  
Beeswax.
Olive oil.
Coconut oil.
A mold to pour the lotion into.

I had some beeswax that I had bought for my son's wood sealant. 

Wax melting

We melted the wax the same as we did with the wood sealant project.  After it melted I checked and there was 1/2 cup of melted wax. 

Wax and oil

The recipe I was following said to use equal parts of beeswax, coconut oil and olive, oil.  We poured 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of coconut oil into the hot wax and stirred until it was all blended and melted.  We poured it into a muffin pan.

We had enough to make 5. We took them out of the molds after waiting a few hours.

I put some on my hands and my hands feel really soft.  I am going to use some on my feet as well.  My husband said he likes the lotion bar.

He is going to take one to work and put next to the sink.  I would like to make white bars.  I am not sure why.  I guess they just look pretty to me.  I am not sure why these did not come out white. 

We will try several different recipes until I find the one we like the best.  I am sure my daughter wants to make scented lotion bars.  I would rather have square bars or smaller round ones.

I have decided to put some in metal tins and that way my husband can carry it to work and it might work for carrying one in your purse. 

Making Laundry Soap

I made liquid laundry soap in the past, but I didn't like it, so I have not been interested in making it again.  My friend Ellie made some of the liquid laundry soap and really likes it and her granddaughter has been making the powdered laundry soap and she is pleased with her soap, so I decided to give it another try.

I went to the store Friday and I bought the ingredients.
Washing soda - $3.24
Borax - $3.97
Zote bar soap 0.97 each.  I bought 2 pink and 1 white, so that would be $2.91
Total $10.12.

I used all of the washing soda, the 3 bars of Zote and almost all of the Borax.  I decided to make both kinds and give this a good try this time.

Zote soap after being ground up in the food processor. 

The powdered soap was easy.  My daughter and I used the food processor and ground the soap.  I used 2 bars of the pink Zote, 4 cups of Washing Soda and 4 cups of Borax.  You use 2 tablespoons in a load of clothes.  I have a little over 7 pounds of powdered soap.  I was worried that the smell would be too strong.  I cannot be around perfume and strong smells.  This has a clean smell that is very faint.  The soap I buy at the store has no smell, which that is why I bought it, but a faint scent would be nice.  I think the clothes are softer than the clothes washed in my other store bought soap.  My friend said that the clothes she hangs in the house are softer.I can't wait to hang clothes on the line outside. 

The final powdered soap using pink Zote. 

The liquid soap takes longer, but it was not hard to do.  I got a big pot and put in the 1 bar of white Zote that was all ground up.  I put 2 quarts of water in and had the stove on simmer.

White Zote melting on stove. 

I think it took maybe an hour to melt the soap.  It was getting thicker and kind of gelled.  I used a hand immersion blender to make sure I had all of the soap pieces melted.  You do not have to do this.  I then added another 2 quarts of water and 2 cups of Washing Soda and 2 cups of Borax.  I mixed it and poured it in a 5 gallon bucket.  My friend did not add the Borax and Washing Soda to her melted soap on the stove.  She put her powder in the bucket and then poured the melted soap in the bucket. 

The liquid soap the next day. 

Either way will work.  I saw a lot of different recipes.  I just wanted to make sure I mixed it really well since I did not like the soap I had make years ago.  I added water and you can see in the picture how much I put in there.  I probably should have put a little more water. I also added a cup of white vinegar to this.  I let it sit overnight.  

The liquid soap. 

Saturday morning I stirred the bucket of soap and poured it into the jars.  I washed my really dirty jacket I wear to do chores and I really think it is cleaner than it has been in a long time.  I used 1/2 cup since my jacket was so dirty.  I have read to use 1/4 cup per load in the washer, but other places said to use 1/2 cup. I am pleased with the liquid soap.  I am just not sure which one I like the best yet.  I do like how easy it is to make the powdered soap.  

I am not sure how long this will last.  I use 2 boxes of laundry soap a month and sometimes more.  The brand of soap that I buy can cost around $11 on sale and if not on sale up to $13.  If I only buy 2 boxes a month that is $22 a month.  I made all this soap for only $10.12.  I would guess this will last at least 4 months or longer.  In 4 months I would have spent $88 with the store bought soap.

I will decide if I like the liquid or the powder soap the best. My daughter and I both noticed that the bar of white Zote seemed to be softer than the pink and was easier to cut to put in the food processor.  The pink is prettier.  The powdered soap has a stronger smell, but that probably is because I used 2 bars and the liquid only has 1 bar.

The next time I might make powdered using the white Zote instead of the pink and see if there is a difference.  This was really easy and so far very much worth the effort.