Almost every Tuesday we post about “The Art of Homemaking”…but when and why did we start doing this?
Wellllll……around 6 years ago (about the same time we started this blog) I ran across a book at a thrift store entitled “The Art of Homemaking” and I HAD to buy it. Not, necessarily because of my love for the art of homemaking but for the kitschy illustrations I found inside the book and because I saw a quotation written within it’s pages that said, “BEAUTY IS A DUTY” and I thought it was hilarious!
I had no intention of ever reading the book.
But then one day….
…I started reading it and I couldn’t stop!
The book was written in 1962 by Daryl Hoole, mother of 8, and housewife extraordinaire. And as I read her practical advice in her “that’s just the way it is” style I found myself totally falling in love with her style. Who would have guessed that the girl who spent her entire life fighting all things domestic would discover a 50 year old homemaking book and start following it’s advice? Not me! And yet…
…I decided to go chapter by chapter through the book and try living the concepts laid out in each chapter for a week at a time. It was an adventure…and super fun…and became our first consistent “series” on the blog. But after it ended I wasn’t ready to give up the homemaking posts. So once a week Elizabeth and I take turns writing homemaking related posts on Tuesdays…and we love it…and doubt that we will ever give it up.
And naturally with the opening of the online store we wanted to include our love for “The Art of Homemaking” in the shop so we rounded up several copies of “The Art of Homemaking” as well as two other books that Mrs. Hoole has written and have them for sale in the store. (You can see them in our shop HERE.)
However, the book that is not in the store is my first personal copy of “The Art of Homemaking” purchased that day years ago at the thrift store…and signed by the woman herself Mrs. Daryl Hoole. That one I will be keeping…for like…forever!
-liZ
PS: After writing this I kind of want to go through the book week by week again….maybe we could all do it together. It really was a lot of fun!
I love your Art of Homemaking posts. If you started the posts LONG ago, it would be great fun to learn from the book now–for all of us who joined you in the past few years. Please, feel free to start again! It may be fun for you as well. With more years of parenting and homemaking under your belt you should write what comes to mind and see how it compares to years ago. HA! “Beauty is a Duty!” Oh boy, it is!