Finding joy in the everyday

Part 6: Working from home I have never worked from home so I decided to ask someone who does and find out what it is like to run a business from home (while homeschooling) and what advice would she give others considering it.  Thankyou Clara for your honest answers and I hope it is helpful for anyone considering setting up a home-based business. How difficult is it to time manage when running a home-based business? I have heard of some women who keep their work within certain time slots and that works well for them. To this point I haven't been able to do that and still meet the demands of my customers/workload. This means I have often put in 12-14 hour work days (6 days a week) and I've had to run my household from behind my sewing machine. This is something I've found extremely stressful - and the family has suffered for it.  As a result of these difficulties, at the beginning of 2017, my husband and I decided I should try something new - I sh...

Eve Eve means “life” or “life-giving,” or “mother of all who have life,” — And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20) We all know the story of Eve. A woman born from man, who came into a world that was perfect in every way. She lived in Paradise, possessing every pleasure imaginable. She never knew the meaning of embarrassment, misunderstanding, hurt, envy, bitterness, grief, pain or guilt until she listened to her enemy and began to doubt God.  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25) One day as Eve was wandering around the Garden of Eden she met a very cunning serpent. She knew she wasn’t to touch or eat fruit from one particular tree — “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” (Genesis 3:2-3) But the serpent was ver...

I found this great illustration by Norman Rockwell and wanted to use it today but needed to add something to make it more interesting. Driving and navigating really does bring out the worse in a some married couples — my husband and I have argued over directions on a number of occasions, he usually thinks I have got it wrong and I complain that he isn't listening. It doesn't often end well and can ruin a perfectly good outing.  Like anything this requires good team work, communication skills, the ability to not get angry, to accept when you are wrong and to enjoy the ride!!! Sounds like life doesn't it!!! So, here are some tips on how to build a stronger marriage and hopefully go on drives that do not result in arguments over directions!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 Talk to your spouse more kindly than you talk to anyone else in the world. Too often we speak the most harshly to those closest to us. Remember that marriage is less about marrying the right person and ...

There is a belief that women of the past loved being at home and loved all things home-keeping, were busy, happy and coping well. This simply wasn't true. Many women were lonely, bored and didn't enjoy housework at all. In the 1930s a group of ordinary women in the United Kingdom got together and formed a small group called Cooperative Correspondence Club (CCC). Without our modern technology, this group had to communicate the hard way: Each woman would send the  coordinator  their  contribution  (any topic of interest) and she would compile these into one magazine and post it to Lady No. 1. No.1 would add her comments directly to the pages and send it to No. 2 and so one. A new magazine was created  fortnightly .  The first woman to respond was 26 years old — she wrote that she had regretted marrying young, that she loathed housework, didn't really want children so early and was bored to tears.  Marriage , home and children were expected o...

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh (Ephesians 5:31). This verse is not simply an example of beautiful, poetic language. There is a fundamental reality behind this: Husband and wife are not just two people rooming together. Their lives actually do blend into one another . They actually become one . It is, therefore, true that what hurts the wife damages the husband. It cannot help but do so. If he is bitter toward her, it will eat like a cancer in his own life and heart. That is why, if you have had a squabble with your spouse, you may find yourself unable to do your work properly that day. No where in the verse does it say that the husband is to dominate or control his wife, to treat her badly, to punish her, to ignore her concerns or her feelings. And likewise a wife shouldn’t be pushy or dominating, nagging, nitpicking etc. This is the union of two people who become one and one doesn’t hurt ...

I love Autumn. . .  It is my favourite season — the days are mild but sunny and its perfect walking and picnic weather.  The evenings are cool and one can start to rug up and be cosy indoors. But most of all, the trees burst into colour of reds, orange and yellows and create a magnificent display.   Since ancient times, autumn has ranked as one of the most important times of year as daylight begins to fade and the cold, dark days lie ahead.  It is at this time of  the  year that all the crops need to be gathered and stored in  preparation  for the long winter months. This is no longer an issue today with our 24 hour supermarkets so we no longer appreciate the importances of this time of the year.  Why do the leaves change colour:  The spectacle of green leaves turning rich reds and yellows in autumn happens when trees have taken all the food they can from the leaves that are filled with chlorophyll – the biomolecule that abso...

Source During World War Two there were a very special group of amazing women. These were the women test pilots. Once the planes were made (by women in the factories), each plane had to tested and flown to its destination - which could be anywhere across the United Kingdom, Europe or for those in the USA, anywhere in the country.  One woman, Mary Ellis, piloted more than 1,000 planes of 74 different types. And this is what made these women amazing. They could hop into any type of plane and fly it. These women were highly skilled and very talented. They didn't just fly the small planes, they also flew the large bombers as well, testing the weapons to make sure they all worked before handing over the planes to the "real" pilots. It was dangerous work and some died in the process of delivering their planes. Sadly after the war their contribution was ignored and most were unable to find jobs in the aviation industry because "women didn't fly" even th...

Part 5: Dealing with a lousy day 😟 We all have lousy days.  It doesn't matter whether you are at home with small children or at work dealing with a difficult manager — some days just don't go to plan . . . they turn out horrible.  By the end of the day we are grumpy, snappy, tired, worn-out and basically fed up.  So what do you do? Take things as slowly as you can because you brain is not likely to want to think very fast. Ignore anything too complicated (it will still be there tomorrow), cook something very simple for dinner that requires no brain power (or buy take-away), followed by long shower or bath and climb onto the couch, feet up and watch something  mindless  and try and recover. For those with children it is much harder, but get  hubby  to help is always a good idea. Just remember to not snap at them as it isn't their  fault that you had a lousy day.  Below are some tips for recovering from a l...