You are here: Home / Archives for Cheerfulness and Charm

A Domestic Goddess Creates a Beautiful Housedress

May 29, 2012 1 Comment
Karen - The Fascinating Woman

        Below is a photo of Fascinating Woman Karen who is wearing a *perfect* example of a Fascinating Womanhood cotton housedress!  The photo alone clearly shows the Fascinating Womanhood traits of Femininity and the Domestic Goddess.  Click the photo to see a larger version of it, if you’d like. 

        A Fascinating Woman is feminine in appearance.  It’s impossible not to notice how feminine Karen’s dress is!  In addition, she is wearing a feminine necklace and earrings and has cared for her beautiful naturally curly hair.  She is trim.  She looks so nice, so beautiful – so feminine!  She is truly modest – her clothing is attractive and non-offensive to all tastes.

        A Fascinating Woman is also a Domestic Goddess.  In addition to maintaining a clean, orderly, organized home, she has excellent domestic skills, such as being very skilled at sewing.  She is also frugal.  Karen has these aspects of being a Domestic Goddess covered!

       Karen wrote the following about her real work of art dress and how she feel’s in it:

“The dress has a little bit of a story to it. I found the vintage pattern at a thrift store a couple of years ago but never used it until I started this dress a couple of weeks ago. You can see what it looks like here: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Simplicity_5968 (I made the shorter version.)

“The fabric is probably considered a quilting cotton, since the woman who gave it to me is a quilter. The pattern envelope said that I would need 3.5 yards of material to make the dress, and the piece of fabric was maybe 2.25 to 2.5 yards. Since I had encountered this situation before with a different dress, I decided to try a creative cutting layout to see if I could make it work. By shortening the sleeves, which I had planned to do anyway, I got all the dress pieces cut out.

“Other than making it short-sleeved, I made three modifications to the design of the dress. I made the collar narrower, since I do not really care for the extremely wide collars of the ’70s. I think my dress’ collar is about half the width of the pattern piece.

“I also added ties to the back waistline darts for an adjustable fit. As is the case with patterns printed before the 1980s, this one had only one size, and it is a couple of sizes larger than I normally make for myself. Rather than sizing it down, I made it in the larger size so that it can be used for a maternity dress for at least part of a pregnancy (if and when that happens) and also to accommodate a bust-line that is increased due to breastfeeding. That brings me to the other modification.

“Because my son nurses regularly, I made this dress nursing-friendly. The bodice lifts up at the empire waistline, and the under-bodice has slits in it. (I cut the under-bodice from a piece of plain blue fabric; there was not enough of the printed fabric for that.) It works quite well: I wore the dress to our church’s Pentecost service and had no difficulty in feeding my son.

“This was a very low-cost project. The pattern cost a quarter at the thrift store. The fabric was given to me. The zipper was in a collection of zippers that my mom gave to me years ago. The hooks and eyes were my grandmother’s. I already had thread from other sewing projects. (I used five different colors of thread in this dress, because I did not have enough of any of them to do the whole garment. I just made sure that the topstitching and other visible stitching was the light blue thread that matched the fabric.) I did buy some interfacing and have enough of that left over to use in other projects.

“I feel very cute when I wear this dress, and my husband likes it, too. It is light and fun and makes me feel like skipping (which I did at one point while I was wearing it). I am quite pleased with how it turned out.”

        Thank you so much, Karen for allowing your photo and words to be shared here! You’re femininity, skill, and beauty are inspiring!

        If you are working to achieve the Fascinating Womanhood lifestyle and feel that you are lacking in the areas of femininity (including being trim) and Domestic Goddess skills, you’ve got time to learn to achieve success in these areas.  You are a homemaker who is in control of her own time – make the time to become the total Fascinating Woman by making it your priority (unless you have something pressing like a child who is battling a serious illness at the time).  Become the woman you want to be!  Don’t feel like you could never learn to sew or be as feminine and trim as Karen because you can, you really can.  You can learn to sew, to look feminine, and can lose weight – here at Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska, we learn these things together and support each other along the way.  Many of us are at different points along the path to becoming the total Fascinating Woman, but we’re all journeying together, supporting each other, learning from and with each other, and loving each other as only women can.  You’re in the right place, feel free to join the journey with us into the wonderful, utterly fascinating world of Fascinating Womanhood! 

Filed Under: Being a Domestic Goddess (House Cleaning and Home Making), Cheerfulness and Charm, Encouragement, Family Finances, Fascinating Womanhood, Feminine Physical Beauty, Femininity

I’m Home! Now What Do I Do?

May 21, 2012 4 Comments
A Woman New to Homemaking

        Welcome home!  Congratulations on becoming a homemaker!  The rewards of this role are of inestimable worth!  Below a few things are shared that can help make your transition smooth and have you on your way to sailing into homemaking bliss:

1. Don’t Believe Homemaker Stereotypes - Don’t believe that all homemakers are like June Cleaver or Peg Bundy.  Not all homemakers are excellent, not all homemakers are nurturing mothers, and not all homemakers are lazy, spendthrifts, and ill-kept in appearance.  You are you, and the homemaker you become is completely up to you.  No stereotypes, no molds – break the mold and become the homemaking woman you are created to be!

2. Give Homemaking a Real Chance - Perhaps you’re giving homemaking a try, but really think that you will get bored or not like it much.  Most women who are bored with homemaking fail to really give it the effort it deserves, and if they do, they may fail to explore creativity in homemaking and enrich their lives by volunteer work a few hours a week or month.  Go the extra mile in homemaking and gain the skills required to homemake well, and find joy in creating for your family home.  This is an amazing world full of possibility and happiness, now that you’re here, embrace it and give it all you’ve got!

3. Realize Your Worth in this Role – There is no way to underestimate the value and worth of a devoted homemaker, click here to read a past post that delves into this a bit more, if you’d like, and click here to read “The New Women’s Movement: We’re Coming Home” that explains some of the multitude of things that such a homemaker does and their worth.

4. Don’t Believe that You’ll be Poor - A family can be very well-off financially and rich in many ways, regardless of its size, on the husband’s income alone.  There may be an adjustment phase at the beginning of your being a homemaker in which times are tight financially, but this can be worked-out as you go through it. There is no need to worry that you’ll always have to buy nothing but thrift store items and that your children will have to wear hand-me-downs from others, that you’ll never be able to afford to get your hair done, never have a family vacation, and have to eat cheap, inferior quality foods, all because you don’t provide any income.  You are in a position to be an extraordinarily wise investor, and in so doing, can contribute more to your family’s economy than many women who work outside or inside of the home for money.  Click here and here for two past posts containing information on this subject, if you’d like.

5. You don’t need to Bring in an Income – You’re a homemaker; this is a more than full-time job.  You have a lot of things to do as a homemaker in addition to fulfilling your role as devoted wife and mother.  Your family’s health, safety, welfare, and happiness depends in very large part upon how you do your job as a devoted wife, mother, and homemaker.  Your business, your profession, is making your house a home, which takes a lot of time, thought, and work.  In addition, if you are raising children, especially homeschooling them, you have a full plate.  You can learn to make it on your husband’s income alone, and make it very well.  Learn to live on your husband’s income, to invest it as only you can, and make your house a home and you’ll be extraordinarily rich in far more than money.

6. Enjoy Yourself – Being a devoted wife, mother, and homemaker does require work, but it can be, and is for many women, the most enjoyable, rewarding work on earth.  Enjoy what you’re doing and be creative, let yourself go into creating your family’s one-of-a-kind home and life.  You are free to create a masterpiece home and family, free to take materials or ideas and make them into unique things for your family.  The possibilities of the outstanding life you can create for your family are endless.  Explore this, enjoy this!

7. Educate Yourself – Now that you are a homemaker, you have time to become an extraordinarily well-read woman.  There is a lot to know about decorating, family health, homemaking, and such that can keep you busy learning, and there’s also a wealth of knowledge to be found on probably anything a woman is curious about or would like to know more about.  You have the time to schedule time to learn, to broaden your mind, to really become an outstanding wife, mother, and homemaker as well as a very liberally educated woman.  You needn’t take college courses to do this, just read and self-study.  A well-read homemaker can be extraordinarily interesting to speak with and such a delightful woman to know. 

8. Become Yourself – You have the time to really get to know yourself because you’re your own boss, on your own time, and “running your own show” (as the old saying goes).  You have time to polish-up areas of yourself that need it, time to see things that need changing about yourself and change them, and time to really think about – and create – the life – your life – that you want.  There is no more “what others require of you” like there was at the workplace, it’s what you require of you now.  Your mind and body aren’t working to do a job for someone else for pay, you’re doing a job for you and your family, and you’re free to think about whatever you’d like, not what the boss requires or paying job outside or from the home requires.

9. Build Your Marriage – A happy, healthy marriage is the foundation of the home, so work to make yours the best it can be: one of Celestial Love, mutual dignity and respect, and deep adoration.  To do this, get a copy of the 2007 (the latest) edition of Fascinating Womanhood by Mrs. Helen Andelin, read it, and apply its teachings.  There are online courses and live study groups to go with this book, and participating in one of these is highly recommended.  No matter how clean and materially comfy a home is, if one’s marriage isn’t happy, the home isn’t. 

10. Learn the Skills Necessary to Do Your Job – To be a successful homemaker one needs skill in how to do the job.  There’s sometimes more to many homemaking jobs than meets the eye.  Become an expert and do your job as such.  The book Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson is an outstanding, modern, how-to book for all facets of homemaking, from washing dishes to piano care to caring for books properly to setting the table and everything else!  Get a copy of this book and refer to it for any homemaking job you need to learn how to do, would like to know more about, or would like to learn to do correctly.

~ ~ ~

        Again, welcome home to the world of homemaking!  This world – your world - is completely unique and one-of-a-kind; no one else in the world can make your family’s home what you can.  So much of your family’s life (and remember, you are a part of your family) revolves around the home you create, give them what they (and you) deserve, which is your very best!  Excelsior!

Filed Under: All About Raising Children, Being a Domestic Goddess (House Cleaning and Home Making), Being a Wife, Cheerfulness and Charm, Encouragement, Family Finances, Family Health, Feminine Physical Beauty, For Newlywed Wives, For Young Women (Approximately Ages 18 - 28), Investing for Homemakers, Marriage, Mothering, National Womanhood Issues, Wholesome Romance, Worthy Character

Preparing for The Weekly Sabbath

May 6, 2012 2 Comments

        As written in a recent post (which is an introduction to this post, so if you haven’t read it yet, please click here and read it first) our bodies need a weekly day of rest.  There is no way that we who love and respect God, who seek to do His will on earth, can do so with the strength, vigor, and blessings we need without observing a righteous weekly Sabbath.

        There are many things to be done before Sabbath.  The day before has traditionally been known as “the day of preparation”.  Below are several tips for getting things done on this day of preparation.  

Food Preparation

        Make all food and drinks for Sabbath the day before.  Some great examples of Sabbath foods are:

Tuna Salad – Made, covered, and refrigerated.

Peanut Butter and 100% Fruit Spread

Vegetable Trays and Dip – Made, covered, and refrigerated.  If you have small children, cut some vegetables into 1/4 inch size pieces during preparation time, too.

Fruit Trays – Made, covered, and refrigerated. If you have small children, cut some vegetables into 1/4 inch size pieces during preparation time, too.Cottage Cheese

Chips and Salsa

Cheese – Cut into serving size pieces.  If you have small children, cut some vegetables into 1/4 inch size pieces during preparation time, too.

Drinks – Purchase single serving 100% juice boxes and or milk cartons and bottles of water, if you’d like.  This makes things easier!  If not, prepare your families drinks (iced tea, lemonade, etc.) during preparation time and refrigerate them.

Muffins, Matzoh, Bread, or Biscuits.  These can be made and stored well on the preparation day in proper containers for Sabbath.

Assorted Crackers

Homemade Vanilla Pudding – Make and refrigerate for Sabbath

Boiled Eggs – Made and refrigerated.

         Think about what you’d like to prepare for Sabbath earlier in the week and be sure to include the necessary items on your weekly grocery list, this will prevent any preparation day ‘what shall I prepare for Sabbath’ dilemma.

        Consider disposable paper plates, napkins, cups, and eating utensils, that way there’s no pile of dishes stacking up on Sabbath.

Clothing Preparation

        See that every member of your family has their nicest, best clothes, including all underclothes, clean, dry, and ironed before Sabbath.  Hang the entire outfit in each of their closets.

        Regardless of your family size, creating a checklist to be printed and checked-off each week, with each person’s name and each piece of clothing needed on it, is an excellent way to keep from forgetting anything.

House Cleaning Preparation

        It is much easier to enjoy a peaceful, delightful Sabbath rest when one’s entire home is very well-cleaned.  Follow the More Time in a Day time management system (click here to read this, if you’d like) and do any extra cleaning and sprucing-up that needs done and gives the home a very special Sabbath touch on the day of preparation.

On a bit of a Different Note… For Women Who are New to, Whose Husband’s do not Keep, or Whose Husbands have no Interest in, Keeping Sabbath

Speaking to Your Husband about Observing Sabbath - If keeping the weekly Sabbath is new to you and your family, ask your husband to look into keeping it.  If you have discussed it before, discuss it again if it’s comfortable for both of you to do so.  If he is happy or willing to start keeping Sabbath, let him lead the family in the details of observance and you do your part by preparing as only the woman of your home can.

        If your husband isn’t interested or doesn’t want to keep Sabbath, it is very important to remember, your husband has just as much right as any other American to freedom of religion.  Don’t deny him this in his own home and marriage.  If, after speaking about your desire to observe Sabbath, he doesn’t want to, don’t make a big deal out of it, but ask if he minds if you and the children do.  Most often, many husbands don’t mind this (if he does, drop it and pray in earnest about it, and fast about it if at all medically possible).  Then observe Sabbath with your children and don’t even mention his choice not to observe it to him or anyone else; don’t bother yourself about what he does or doesn’t do on Sabbath – keep focused on your own observance with the children.

        If you are tempted to think that because you observe and he doesn’t that you are more holy than he, or find yourself feeling self-righteous, remember humility.  Don’t let one speck of self-righteousness into your observance or you’ll surely have it become destructive and unholy.  More fully live the teachings of Fascinating Womanhood and you, like so many other women around the world, may find that your example, and that because you are the Fascinating Woman that you are, can far more easily cause your husband to want to observe Sabbath (and so many other things!), than nagging, being upset over, contentious about, or undignified about the subject.  Let your example be your best “advertisement” for observing it.

        Today’s FW~A (Near) Daily Encouragement is a success story from the 2007 edition of Fascinating Womanhood concerning freedom of religion that can be very inspiring, encouraging, and helpful in understanding the approach to this subject as written of above.  Click here, if you’d like, to read this.

In Conclusion

        It is essential to those of us who love and respect God to keep His commands, for our own good, the good of others, and to do God’s will on earth.  We need to rest after six days of diligent work, He says so.  Why not consider giving Sabbath a try this week?

Filed Under: Being a Wife, Cheerfulness and Charm, Encouragement, Moral Character, Radiant Happiness, Radiant Health, Worthy Character

Helpful and Inspiring Interior Decoration and Design Links

May 3, 2012 Leave a Comment

        Have you ever heard of Carleton Varney?  He is a wonderful, inspiring American interior decorator whose uses colour marvelously!  Here are three links to three of his recent writings in the “Your Family Decorator” column in The Palm Beach Daily News:

        Click here to read “Common Decorating Sins Abound” and here to read its follow-up, and click here to see an example of his work and a column titled “Blue, White are Ideal Island Colors”! 

        To see a few marvelously lovely, very inspiring examples of his work, click here, here, and here!  Clicking these links is well the time – the photos are so beautiful and so easily spark creativity and ideas for homemakers!!!

Filed Under: Being a Domestic Goddess (House Cleaning and Home Making), Cheerfulness and Charm

FW~A (Near) Daily Encouragement: Pleasant Words (Near Weekly Assignment Included)

May 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
Flowery Heart

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” ~ *Proverbs 16:24

        Fascinating Women can take what Mrs. Andelin has written about keeping an orderly clutter free home: ‘if it’s not beautiful or useful, get rid of it’ and apply to our speaking: if it’s not beautiful or useful, don’t say it! 

“She openeth her mouth in wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” ~ *Proverbs 31:26

        This week’s Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska (Near) Weekly Assignment is for each of us to really give thought to – and change, if necessary – the way we speak to everyone. 

        To get started with this, take a sheet of paper and hand write the two proverbs above beautifully, and decorate the paper with your own drawings and colourings.  If you’d like and are very artistic, paint on a canvas board these Proverbs and decorations.  Either way, make the piece beautiful and hang it in a room of your home that you are sure to see it throughout the day.  Memorize the two Proverbs this week and be very mindful of what you say before you say it, and if you fail to do so beforehand, certainly think about what you’ve said afterwards – if what you’ve said isn’t beautiful or useful, seek forgiveness if you have offended, and reword what you’ve said, if need be, so that it is beautiful or useful.

        Secondly, spend some time really thinking about how things would be in your own life and home if you apply the beautiful or useful, kind and wise, rules of speaking.

        Thirdly, write a two or three (or more, if you’d like) paragraph essay for yourself about the importance of and beauty of watching every word you say and how you believe speaking pleasant words really can add to one’s own, and those who hear your pleasant words, health. 

        God hears every word we say – let’s make sure what He hears pleases Him and gets His will for our lives done on earth. 

 *Both Proverbs are quoted from The Parallel Bible Hebrew-English Old Testament.

Filed Under: Cheerfulness and Charm, FW~A (Near) Daily Encouragements, Worthy Character

FW~A Reader Question about Acquiring a Sunny Disposition

March 27, 2012 5 Comments
Angela-Human: The Ideal Woman from a Man's Point of View

FW~A Reader Question: I have a question regarding your post *today titled “Be Your Family’s Sunshine”.  How do you go about acquiring a sunny disposition?  I always thought you either had that personality or you didn’t.  Please give me some advice on this one if you can.

(*Note: The post this reader mentioned can be found by clicking here.)

Answer:  The answer to your question “How do you go about acquiring a sunny disposition?” is to acquire Radiant Happiness.  Mrs. Andelin devotes an entire chapter to Radiant Happiness in her book Fascinating Womanhood.  She defines Radiant Happiness on page 331 as it being “a voluntary quality such as when you suddenly decide to smile.  It is cheerfulness, laughter, singing, joyfulness, smiles, bright eyes, sparkle, vivacity, enthusiasm, optimism, a sense of humor, a sunny disposition… the power to lift others.“

        She went on to write a section titled “How to Acquire Radiant Happiness”, which listed these five things:

1. Work for Inner Happiness

2. Make a Conscious Effort 

3. Radiate Happiness to All 

4. Smile Through Adversity 

5. Health

        An example of Radiant Happiness is Snow White from the original Disney movie.  She was radiantly happy: when cleaning a dirty home, in dealing with the dwarfs, though she had a step mother that hated her, and while waiting for her true love to find her.  While she’s a cartoon and we’re human, she is an excellent example of choosing to handle many things with Radiant Happiness. 

        A real life example of Radiant Happiness can be found, if you haven’t already read it, in the story of Sunshine the Nurses Aide; click here for that story, if you’d like.  Sunshine didn’t have the best home life, wasn’t rich, and had other problems, but radiated happiness that lit the world of others.

        There is a category of this blog/website titled “Radiant Happiness” that contains links to posts about it that can be found by clicking here.

        My advice on how to acquire a sunny disposition is to read Fascinating Womanhood and apply its teachings, as this will give you a lot of things to make your Radiant Happiness even better, to help you really shine and shed joy around, and more information on why it’s so important.  You could even start by reading the chapter on Radiant Happiness first, then apply it while reading the rest of the book.  Start today with Radiant Happiness.  Smile through adversity, smile often, sing while you do your housework, take a few dance steps across the kitchen floor while walking (if medically safe for you), laugh freely, be enthusiastic.  Remember, there are two ways to handle things, and this includes problems as well as normal things that occur in day-to-day life: negatively or positively.  Choose positivity and keep your sunny side up, as the old saying goes ♥!

® This image is a registered trademark, used here with the permission of Renaissance Society, Inc.

About FW~A Questions and Answers…  If you have a question about Fascinating Womanhood, All About Raising Children, The Fascinating Girl, Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska, or anything related to any or all of them, please feel free to click here and submit your question.  Questions submitted can be answered publically or privately – the choice is up to you.  If you have a question, you are probably not alone in seeking the answer, so offering to share it and the answer publically (if the question isn’t too personal) could be of real help to yourself and other women or also provide good “food for thought”.  It is so good to learn from and with each other!

Filed Under: Cheerfulness and Charm, FW/FW~A Related Questions, Radiant Happiness, Worthy Character

FW~A (Near) Daily Encouragement: Reality and The Fascinating Woman

March 26, 2012 Leave a Comment

        While a Fascinating Woman has a marriage of Celestial Love and a successful home and family life, she, like all humans, is not free from occasional troubles, difficulties, and problems.   She is also aware that there are troubles, difficulties, and problems in society and on earth. She also, like all other human beings, makes mistakes sometimes.  The difference between a Fascinating Woman and many other women who face these things is in the way she handles them.

        A Fascinating Woman has several things and traits that help her handle personal and worldly troubles, difficulties, problems, and mistakes well:

A Happy, Solid Marriage

Personal Fulfillment

Well-Behaved Children Whom She Delights in Raising

Well-Developed Character

Success in Homemaking

Inner Happiness

Radiant Happiness

Radiant Health

Understanding

        A Fascinating Woman doesn’t spend her time brooding over problems, she spends her time contemplating positive, constructive solutions to them.  When she has a problem, difficulty, or trouble that she needs help solving, she turns to her husband or a trusted professional, female friend, or someone who can help her.  If she needs help or insight that her husband or others can’t provide, she enters a time of fasting and prayer to God.  When no one on earth can help, God can.  Thus you won’t hear a Fascinating Woman stewing and brewing over or hopelessly complaining about troubles great and small.  This needn’t be taken as thinking she’s oblivious to problems or that she has none, but that she’s a woman who can be counted on to solve them or to find someone who or something that can. 

        When she makes a mistake, she handles it with humility and makes full amends if possible.  Very importantly, she seeks the forgiveness of others if others are involved and forgives herself.  She corrects her mistakes if at all possible, and when not possible, forgives herself, lets go, and moves on with whatever goodness or learning can be gleaned from it.

♦ ♦ ♦

        If you would like to learn how to better handle difficulties and such in your life, you can find the Fascinating Woman solution in the pages of the latest, 2007 edition of the book Fascinating Womanhood by Mrs. Helen Andelin.  This book is available through major online booksellers like amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, in many public libraries, and can be ordered through many local bookstores. 

Filed Under: Cheerfulness and Charm, FW~A (Near) Daily Encouragements, Moral Character, Worthy Character
« Older Posts

Information/Disclaimer

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska - Copyright 2010 - 2012. All rights reserved. Feel free to link to any blogpost or page on this site, but do not copy, repost, or publically distribute any post or page on this site or any part thereof at length or in anywise outside of United States "fair use" copyright laws without the expressed written consent of the author of this blog, Mrs. Wayne Hunter. I, Mrs. Wayne Hunter, will legally pursue action against any copyright violaters as well as libelers and or slanderers.

Use of the title "Fascinating Womanhood" is by permission of Renaissance Society, Inc. Executive Director Brian Andelin. However, this blog is not the official Fascinating Womanhood website. The official FW site is fascinatingwomanhood.net .

Disclaimer: This blog is written by an authorized Fascinating Womanhood teacher for the purpose of sharing the teachings of Fascinating Womanhood, The Fascinating Girl, and All About Raising Children by the late Mrs. Helen Andelin. Other than being an authorized Fascinating Womanhood teacher, I am in no wise a professional and none of my writings and teachings on this blog, via e-mail, and otherwise are to be construed as the giving or sharing of any type of legal, medical, or professional advice, care, counsel, diagnosis, treatment, help, or cure.

If you'd like to e-mail me, my e-mail address is FascinatingWomanhoodAK(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 104 other followers