Gather your courage, homemakers!

[Joan of Snarc]

So you guys have basically gone from making fun of Lady Lydia to admitting you're dainty-scene-creating Lady Lydia wanna-bes!

I'm SHOCKED :o , SHOCKED :o at the turn of events in this thread! :wink-kitty:

Plus, my environment is not the least bit feminine or Victorian or lacy or any such thing. So I can't relate.

[Lisa]

So you guys have basically gone from making fun of Lady Lydia to admitting you're dainty-scene-creating Lady Lydia wanna-bes!

I'm SHOCKED :o , SHOCKED :o at the turn of events in this thread! :wink-kitty:

Plus, my environment is not the least bit feminine or Victorian or lacy or any such thing. So I can't relate.

Oh, yeah. I'm setting up a Queen Victoria diorama in my living room right now. Somehow my other chores have fallen by the wayside and the house is getting a bit smelly, but I need to get all nine of those children just right. Creating a life-size marzipan spaniel sounds kind of silly, but there's nothing more rewarding than beautifying the home.

[Joan of Snarc]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Dioramas are the stuff of nightmares, IMO. I always failed at those in school.

You can get one of those little birdcages at Michaels and take it on the patio to beautify your tea-time, you know. Your life needn't be all marzipan-work.

[Lisa]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Dioramas are the stuff of nightmares, IMO. I always failed at those in school.

You can get one of those little birdcages at Michaels and take it on the patio to beautify your tea-time, you know. Your life needn't be all marzipan-work.

That's a fantastic idea! And I could get a bunch of little cardboard eggs and cover them with pink fabric and glitter and put them in the cage. Or maybe I could get a bunch of actually useful items, like a child's tricycle or a wheelbarrow, cover them with enough pink paint and plastic flowers to make them useless, and use them to beautify my yard. I figure if you can actually walk through the yard, you're not trying hard enough. :lol:

[alba]

I've got a lovely tea set from my fiancé's grandparents. The cups don't hold enough tea for my morning (or lunchtime, or afternoon, or evening) caffeine hit, and it's a palaver to make a pot for just myself, so it's only used for its intended purpose when we have guests (or when I bust out my jasmine pearls, because those leaves are expensive, so I'd rather do three or four cups with half a teaspoon than only one or two larger cups made with a full teaspoon). The cups are, however, perfectly-sized for single portions of M&Ms or gorp. I'm sure Lady Lydia would be horrified.

[Lisa]

From today:

If you have been struggling to get your home the way you have always dreamed, but cannot seem to attain it; if you feel like crying over it when you wake up in the morning; if you are angry at the lack of perfection in your home, there might be a few things you can do to change things for good.

The answer is not, as a sane person might suspect, to seek therapy, get a job, or try to gain a little perspective in life. Instead, Lydia recommends becoming more obsessed with housework, because keeping a less-than-perfect house is inviting shame from the community and will result in the ruin of your home, not to mention that a messy house apparently makes Baby Jesus cry.

[danvillebelle]

From today:

The answer is not, as a sane person might suspect, to seek therapy, get a job, or try to gain a little perspective in life. Instead, Lydia recommends becoming more obsessed with housework, because keeping a less-than-perfect house is inviting shame from the community and will result in the ruin of your home, not to mention that a messy house apparently makes Baby Jesus cry.

That post of hers made me angry, even though logically I know that she's probably living with untreated mental illness, and I have been there and so can have some compassion for her on that front.

She has to keep telling herself that keeping house is the most important thing you can do for God, because that is all she has ever done. To face the reality that as a professing Christian in her 60's her sum total work for the kingdom is hanging curtains in trees, making fog capes and fake flower arrangements, and gluing together pink glittery kindergarten paper projects - well, that could make one downright suicidal.

But this made me see red: " Beware of the distractions of ministries, charities, social things, too many classes to attend, or things that will take away your time. Your home is the center of your ministry, your charity, your social life and your creativity."

Yes, yes. As a practicing Christian, don't fritter away your time on anything frivolous like actually ministering to homeless people or at a women's shelter, or volunteering, or giving your time and talents to a local charity. Don't take any classes at your church or at a school to delve deeper into your faith or your knowledge of the world around you. No, dear homemaker, no! Sitting at home and straining hot water through strawberries in the yard with curtains hanging in the trees, re-creating magazine photos with fake flowers and cheap crap from the Dollar Tree, decorating your to-do lists with stickers and glitter - THESE, my dear, THESE are truly Kingdom-advancing works! Jesus will be so proud of how you pinkified your house! He won't care about those little trifling things like loving your enemies or feeding hungry people - meh, you'd have to leave home and mingle with the unwashed for those. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

[louisa05]

Some of you may have seen this coming...She kind of reminds me of a teacher I worked with at the Christian school (who only taught part time--go figure) whose house and patio was over the top like this. She hosted a tea party for the female teachers once that featured quilts as table cloths. And she was always going on about how tacky and unrefined the way the kids had to eat lunch was and how we should at least provide table cloths and centerpieces in the lunchroom.

Her oldest daughter was into it all with her and had no friends because none of them were sophisticated or refined enough for her (they loved the word "refined"), but she would go on about how the girl would be fine because she was the kind of woman every man wants to marry. Last time I checked via Facebook spying, the girl is still single and she's got to be hitting mid to late 30s. I assume that no man is "refined" enough for her tastes.

Come to think of it, this woman hasn't had a job since that school closed ten years ago. Maybe she is Lady Lydia! :pink-shock:

[Lisa]

But this made me see red: " Beware of the distractions of ministries, charities, social things, too many classes to attend, or things that will take away your time. Your home is the center of your ministry, your charity, your social life and your creativity."

This from a woman whose children are grown up and gone and who seems to rarely see anyone. I have all kinds of sympathy for fellow introverts, but there's got to be meaningful focus in life, and isn't Christianity all about service and community? She's a pastor's wife, and yet she never seems to visit a home or make a casserole for a church potluck, or even talk about Jesus much. It's as if she's made an idol out of cheap, pink chintz.

[salex]

I am wholly unconvinced that doing your own dishes or mopping your own floor-- or even decorating your own nest-- can be called a ministry.

[Joan of Snarc]

I hate to say this, Salex, but you need to get with the times! I've been told that learning to play the electric guitar is a ministry! It blesses others, you see. The Duggars' reality tv show is a ministry -- not a way to feed 20+ mouths! Basically, any thing you do is a ministry. I'm an atheist, but I do shitloads of laundry for my family. And that's my ministry (just like Grandma Duggar.) See how it works? You, too can have a ministry. I'm getting ready to get the lunch ministry going here in a few minutes. All kids (mine and visiting) will be blessed by the ham sandwiches I've got on my mind at the moment.

:icecreamsammy:

[salex]

I hate to say this, Salex, but you need to get with the times! I've been told that learning to play the electric guitar is a ministry! It blesses others, you see. The Duggars' reality tv show is a ministry -- not a way to feed 20+ mouths! Basically, any thing you do is a ministry. I'm an atheist, but I do shitloads of laundry for my family. And that's my ministry (just like Grandma Duggar.) See how it works? You, too can have a ministry. I'm getting ready to get the lunch ministry going here in a few minutes. All kids (mine and visiting) will be blessed by the ham sandwiches I've got on my mind at the moment.

:icecreamsammy:

Well, then I am going to contemplate this. It explains why people like the Haislips and John and Ester are our scamming/screaming ministry all the time. Jahi McMath's mom must have a manicure ministry. IF I wash my hair in the shower several times a week, can I have a shampooing ministry.

And I already had questions about men who had porn or masturbation ministries.

[Anny Nym]

I am wholly unconvinced that doing your own dishes or mopping your own floor-- or even decorating your own nest-- can be called a ministry.

I´m also wholly unconvinced that is is the To-Do- List of a real person :lol:

lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v-kBtz3egmE/U8QX5xW15KI/AAAAAAAAcj0/PQNLuluajzc/s858/Photo%25252020140714104819.jpg

Btw, I just came back from office nap ministry ... I hope I reached our interns hearts by giving good example :mrgreen:

[Coco]

It is mental illness... my own mother suffers from the same thing. She can't handle social interactions and stay "balanced", so she makes excuses for why social interactions distract from our true calling of creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Amazing that she was a teacher and is a pastor's wife. Maybe it was a progressive kind of disorder.

[samurai_sarah]

I´m also wholly unconvinced that is is the To-Do- List of a real person :lol:

lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v-kBtz3egmE/U8QX5xW15KI/AAAAAAAAcj0/PQNLuluajzc/s858/Photo%25252020140714104819.jpg

Btw, I just came back from office nap ministry ... I hope I reached our interns hearts by giving good example :mrgreen:

Is snort-laughing a ministry? :lol:

[danvillebelle]

Today's wisdom from Lydia - it is good to "save things" to do later in life, to keep things interesting.

Like going to Hobby Lobby for the first time. :evil-eye:

Place your bets on how much she'll love it - the heavens will probably open and the angels sing whenever she hits any pink aisles.

[Joan of Snarc]

Good God, Hobby Lobby is 40 minutes away so she's "making a day of it." How is that possible? Between that and her to-do list, I think Anny Nym's office nap ministry is more productive than Lady Lydia.

[Lisa]

I cannot wait to see her haul from Hobby Lobby. :popcorn2:

[Coco]

esp since she posted a close up of a sand bucket from Dollar Tree (we used the same ones for Easter baskets this year but i would never take a photo of just a bucket) :roll:

[Joan of Snarc]

The woman will LITERALLY make a planter out of anything.

I want to send her an old toilet plunger and see if she plants impatiens in it.

[Lisa]

Planters everywhere, but the yard looks ratty and neglected.

[Lisa]

Lydia edited her post to include pictures of her Hobby Lobby purchases: two pieces of flowered chintz and a cameo button. :? I'm a little disappointed at her restraint, but she's sure to make something amazing out of her purchases.

[Coco]

Lydia edited her post to include pictures of her Hobby Lobby purchases: two pieces of flowered chintz and a cameo button. :? I'm a little disappointed at her restraint, but she's sure to make something amazing out of her purchases.

On the way home, we got stuck behind a farm tractor we could not pass, so it took us a lot longer to get home. We took the scenic route instead of the expressway to reduce the stress, and it really paid off in terms of a general feeling of well-being today.

I appreciated the music at Hobby Lobby. When I walked in, A Mozart piece was playing. After that, familiar old hymns. Everywhere I go to do my marketing or errands I have to listen to trashy music, so this was a great relief from the usual assault on my ears and my mind.

Yes, i think this proves that she suffers from sensory overload, Adult Sensory Processing Disorder. Just the fact of going with someone else to a hobby store 45 minutes away and "making a day of it", then avoiding the highway coming home... and probably spent a couple of days recovering. (seriously a couple days, but not snarking that, my mom has to do the same thing.)

[RandomTrivia]

Lydia edited her post to include pictures of her Hobby Lobby purchases: two pieces of flowered chintz and a cameo button. :? I'm a little disappointed at her restraint, but she's sure to make something amazing out of her purchases.

Hate to spoil her fun, but I'm pretty sure that all (or most) of the fabric at HL is always 30% off at least. The high-end home decorating fabric may not be, but the normal sewing fabric is. Which makes the normal-price tags worthless, but then the same goes for those pillows they have that are $20 after 80% off. I am pretty sure they never actually sell those at full price.

If you pay full price at HL, or Michaels or Jo-Anns for that matter, you should stop that. :) They've always got a coupon in the paper or online. (Same goes for Gymboree - crazy cute, but don't pay full price if you can help it at all.) Heck, the clerks at Michaels will usually give me the 40% off coupon if I ask nicely and tell them I forgot it at home.

[Lisa]

Hate to spoil her fun, but I'm pretty sure that all (or most) of the fabric at HL is always 30% off at least. The high-end home decorating fabric may not be, but the normal sewing fabric is. Which makes the normal-price tags worthless, but then the same goes for those pillows they have that are $20 after 80% off. I am pretty sure they never actually sell those at full price.

If you pay full price at HL, or Michaels or Jo-Anns for that matter, you should stop that. :) They've always got a coupon in the paper or online. (Same goes for Gymboree - crazy cute, but don't pay full price if you can help it at all.) Heck, the clerks at Michaels will usually give me the 40% off coupon if I ask nicely and tell them I forgot it at home.

The kind of polished chintz she favors is super-cheap anywhere you go. One wash and it fades. :(