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Waverley
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 2:07pm | IP Logged
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Help.
I hereby confess that I do not like cooking, cleaning, laundry or picking up after 6 other people. I love being at home with my kids and being with my kids. Frequently during the day, I will look up from reading or doing a project with the kids or come in from outside playing with the kids and realize that the house is a disaster and there is nothing to eat for dinner. If I had the money I would have a cook and a housekeeper (who would also grocery shop). Alas, it is not to be.
While it is more important to me to be with the kids and they often don't even notice the house is wreck and we're having chicken nuggets again, I really do have to do some housework. When I realize I have to do it it makes me cranky!
So, can you ladies recommend a book to me that will inspire me to see those aspects of housework that I don't enjoy as being important and even spiritually fulfillin ? I think there has been a thread before but I can't find it!!
Thanks a ton!
P.S. - If the book comes with a maid, I'll bake you a cake!
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JodieLyn
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It doesn't come with a maid.. but I've had a friend recommend "speed cleaning" not sure if there's a particular book but there are books on the subject. Basically, you learn to streamline the cleaning.. so that you work hard and work fast in the most efficient way possible and then it's done and out of the way.
But also, realize that those are very important skills for your children to learn and that it's not something you should be doing on your own. You and all the kids (let littles dust table legs or "wash windows" with a spray bottle of plain water.. I've got a great picture of one of my guys under a year old helping clean the floor with a wet rag.. he could crawl and it was right on his level  ) should be working together to get it done.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 2:34pm | IP Logged
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Yeah. Or you could use one of these:
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stef
mom to five
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Mary Chris
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Stef, that is too funny!!!
Waverly, I am right there with ya! I have a speed cleaning video I need to pull out and watch for some motivation.
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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lapazfarm
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Stef, I love it!LOL!!!
Honestly, though, I would suggest a fun family "clean-up time" each day. Put on some happy music and make a game out of it. Kids can be such good helpers when they want to be.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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hsmom21
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 6:18pm | IP Logged
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First I have to say that I laughed so loud I startled my son. I think I scared him!
As to a good book, I do like the Flylady system - www.flylady.net (new here and haven't learned to add links yet). She also has a book, Sink Reflections. I do not follow her system fully but the taking things in small bits, work 15 minutes at a time and working only in one zone for several days have really helped me. I don't have a full blown morning or evening routine but see one naturally developing (ok, I've resisted it for 5 years).
Kathy in NC
mom to one startled son!
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folklaur
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Know what? I do not like cleaning either (I do love to cook, but I would like someone else to do all the dishes, thank-you-very-much!  ) On the other thread, where people were talking about how much they enjoyed cleaning...I don't get it. I find absolutely no enjoyment what-so-ever in doing a job - say cleaning toilets - that is icky, and no matter how great a job I do, I will have to re-do it again soon. Blech. (I enjoy serving my family, that isn't what I mean. And I like having a clean & organized house - I just HATE the act of having to clean.  )
It helped me an awful lot when I read the Mother's Rule of Life book, and she was talking about sloth (ouch!) I'm paraphrasing here, but at one point she says it is okay to not *want* to do housework...it just isn't okay to actually not do it. If my vocation is a housewife, then, well, there ya go. (Just as, I know my husband has had some jobs he hated, or he has worked three and four jobs to allow me to be able to stay at home with the kids. If I was honest - I blew off *my* responsibility way more often than he EVER did....he, well, he never did. He went to work when he hated it, when he was tired, or sick, or exhausted. Was I serving him just as well? If he has to scramble for clean socks, or a clean towel, if I wasn't on top of the kids schooling, or whatever it is that was my job in our family - was I being fair to him? I am not saying any of this applies to you at all - this is just how I came to deal with doing it, even when I sure didn't want to! Because I still don't *want* to....)
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Waverley
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 9:21pm | IP Logged
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OK, so I only want the baby mop if it comes with that cute kid.
Really, thanks for the suggestions. Someone else had mentioned the Rule of Life - maybe I should take a look at it.
Oh by the way, my teenager was just reading over my shoulder and she says with a total straight face, "Mom, why don't you let me bake the cake." Ouch!!
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stefoodie
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Even though it's not a cleaning/homekeeping book per se, something that really helped me was Splendor in the Ordinary. Actually, I probably need to re-read the book as I seem to have forgotten the lessons I learned from it  but I remember getting a renewed focus when I first read it, as to what my role of homekeeper really entailed.
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stef
mom to five
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Mackfam
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I'm seconding (or maybe thirding?) A Mother's Rule of Life and Splendor in the Ordinary for help in seeing the practical along with the spiritual aspects of our vocation.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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anniemm
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Other inspiration can come from the Saints. My favorite Saint is St. Josemaria Escriva. If you have or can get your hands on The Way, The Furrow, and The Forge, there are several sections on Work, and I am often snapped right back into a place of serving whether I feel like it or not! 
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Andrea
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Wife to Charlie (03)
Mama to four little girls (04), (05), (07), (09),& my 1st little guy 11/11
www.hiswillmypeace.com
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