Chapter 1 in “The Art of Homemaking” defines the ideal homemaker by comparing her to a diamond. (I know, I know, just bear with me here…remember this book was written while my parents were still in grade school…)
“Just as each diamond is cut a little differently in order to make many facets, so is each homemaker a distinct individual with her own special traits and talents. But in both diamonds and homemakers, certain qualities must be present if each is to sparkle brilliantly…”
Ms. Hoole then goes on to list no less than 20 (yes—20!) facets that one must carve out for herself to become that ideal homemaker.
So let’s just be real here for a minute and face some facts…I can’t do 20. At least not all at once and some I may not even want to do at all. Ever. And further more I’m not sure I even want to be the ideal homemaker but, I do want to try a little experiment.
(Maybe all this comes from a desire to be a better homemaker, or from a need to redefine myself now that I’ve entered into a new phase of life, or maybe I’ve just watched “Julie and Julia” one too many times. Who knows? All I know is that I want to do this. So I am.)
What ever the reason, no matter how ill fitted I am to complete it, here’s the experiment: Each week I will attempt to live one (and only one) of Ms. Hoole’s facets for the ideal homemaker. I am starting with facet #1 and will continue down the list to finish with #20. On Mondays I’ll post the facet and during the week will up date my progress.
There’s more to say but this post is already way too long. So until later all I’ll say is this: Week One starts today with Facet #1 which is “The Two A’s”—ATTITUDE and APPEARANCE.
Heaven help us all.
-z
