Category: Weekly Newsletter

The Mom Weekly Volume 76: January 21, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

In Praise of the “Completed” List

I’m sure I am not the only one who has multiple running to-do lists. I have mine both in my head and written down, either on paper or in my treasured ToDoist app.

I am that person who adds things to her to do list after completing, so that I can cross them off. It’s that satisfying for me.

And yet, I often feel like I’m not really making progress, especially when it comes to things around the house. Part of that is the nature of keeping a household running smoothly. If you vacuum, it’s going to need it again very soon, and it’s not quite as satisfying as a one-and-done project. But as I go through the house, I typically see things that I keep “meaning” to do, from touching up paint, to organizing a room, and so on. Whenever I’m going around the house, I find myself saying, “I need to get to … (insert small project here).”

Over the last week, I’ve accomplished three small projects that happen to be related. And I realized, not for the first time, how celebrating our small accomplishments helps to make you happier and more productive.

Here’s the story: Months ago, I purchased a top-down/bottom-up shade (like this one)  to go in Dad’s library. He wanted the ability to see the sky but also giving him some privacy. We kept saying to each other, “We have to put that shade up.”

Finally, we set upon a time earlier last week. (That’s another tip—scheduling a time to do a specific project greatly increases the chances you will get to it!). And while Dad went through some things and books in his office, I took off the old shade, and installed the new one, without too much drama. Because I don’t do it very often, I read the instructions really carefully and spent extra time. It felt great to accomplish it!

I saved the shade in order to install it in the garage, where there was a window without a shade. I put the shade on top of the dryer in the laundry room, and made a mental note to get to it “soon.” 

The Plot Thickens

A couple of mornings later, I was opening the floral shade in the laundry room. You may remember it had a weird cord to raise and lower the shade. And … it broke. I was so annoyed! 

I got out the ladder to take a look at it, and see if I could fix it. It was the oddest contraption, and took awhile to disassemble. And, for good or ill, it could not be fixed, which kind of made me glad.

I was heading out, and so stopped at Menard’s and get a new shade. They had one just like I wanted.

When I got home, I started to work on installing it. Feeling confident from my installation of the library shade, I promptly installed the brackets upside down. So annoying! 

When I discovered my mistake, I also realized that the screws that came with the shade were those evil screws that immediately “strip” when you start to install them (even though I was using a manual screwdriver, not an electric drill). So getting them off was quite the ordeal, and I was cursing whoever creates those awful screws!!!

Fortunately, I was able to find “just” enough high-quality screws in our tool box , and installed the brackets correctly, put up the shade, and consigned the awful fasteners to the trash.

And then, I told myself, I am not going to wait another minute to install that shade in the garage, because I don’t want to forget how to do it! I was able to install that shade correctly, and in much less time as the first two, because I had the memory of how to do it.

The “Things I’ve Completed” Photo Album

After this was all completed, I took photos to memorialize all my great work (see several of the photos in this week’s graphic). And then I realized how happy it made me to do that. 

So, that’s the plan in coming weeks. I will take a before/ after photo of different projects that I want to do, and then celebrate them.

To aggregate these, there is a new album in my Photos called “Things I’ve Completed.” I’m going to come up with a better name for it, but I don’t like the typical expression “Ta-Da List” l. If you have any better suggestions for what to call it, I want to know! And let me know good things that you have accomplished.

Remember how much I love you,

Mom

Interesting/Notable: 

Fighting the Devil with a Spatula—Meredith Hinds

I’m not sure how I came across this article. But it’s related to what I wrote this week, a great reminder that the “small steps” are a great way to complete things. And that thanking yourself for taking them is a good (and spiritual) practice! Here’s an excerpt:

So, what small step could I take regarding small steps? Well, in my fancy new 2025 planner, the first resolution I wrote down was, “I will honor small steps.”

Then I realized how much I sounded like a yoga instructor. Honor? By doing what? I scratched that out and wrote, “I will thank myself for taking small steps.”

This is a trip. You should try it.

“Thank you for throwing away three eggshells.”

“Thank you for picking up the paper scrap off the floor.”

“Thank you for making the bed.”

I didn’t realize how little positive internal feedback I had going around upstairs until I really started making a point of it.

An Action Item: Drink A Big Glass of Water First Thing in the Morning

Everyone knows how much I enjoy drinking water, but the cold weather recently has made drinking water less appealing for me. This is probably because I love my water with ice, and it just isn’t as much fun to drink when it’s below zero outside! But staying hydrated, especially in colder, drier weather, with dry heat, is even more important this time of year.

I was having some digestive and other symptoms recently, and I thought it could be from not drinking enough water. So I’ve made a point the last week or so to drink an eight-ounce glass of water (or two) first thing in the morning. It has really helped, and I encourage you to do the same.

The Mom Weekly Volume 74: January 7, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

The Household Book

I have long wanted to make a recipe book or other collection of “things” for kids to have, or maybe even along with my sisters & sister-in-law. I know there are companies that will produce those types of family cookbooks, but our recipes and tastes are often changing, and I didn’t want something that was unable to be adapted over time. I also wanted to add more than just recipes. The ideas would percolate and I couldn’t seem to get a “handle” on it.

What changed that? I attended the JASNA AGM (Jane Austen Society of North America — Annual General Meeting) in October 2021 (this meeting), and one of the sessions I attended helped coalesce my ideas into: The Household Book. 

Julienne Gehrer, a food historian and writer, had a session called “The Culinary Arts at Chawton Cottage.” I volunteered to be an usher because I knew I would want to attend the talk—Jane Austen & food? Sign me up. What I didn’t realize was the session topic was actually Gehrer explaining and showing examples of Martha Lloyd’s Household Book, which would have been used in the Austen household at Chawton Cottage.

Martha Lloyd was a close friend of the Austen family, and when the three Austen women—sisters Jane and Cassandra Austen and their mother—made a home at Chawton Cottage at the invitation of their brother Edward, she joined as well.

Edward had inherited the Chawton House estate, and Chawton Cottage is a house on the property. It’s called a “cottage,” but I wouldn’t call it a cottage. When I visited with Giuliana in 2019, we found it a decent-sized house, with lovely gardens all around.

A household book, in the early 19th century, was an “essential tool for managing her home,” according to Gehrer. “Whether she lived on a large estate or dwelled in a modest cottage, her handwritten collection of culinary recipes, household preparations, and medical cures created a ready resource for daily living.”

Martha Lloyd’s Household Book is an actual book—handwritten, well-worn and used, that was acquired by Chawton Cottage in the 1950s, and remains there today on display. In 2021, the Bodlein Library at Oxford published Julienne Gehrer’s Martha Lloyd’s Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen’s Kitchen. The book contains several explanatory chapters about the connections between the Lloyd & Austen families, history about household books, and more. The latter two-thirds of the book is a facsimile of Martha’s Household Book, with an annotated transcription by Gehrer. Of course I purchased it for my Jane Austen bookshelf.

As Gehrer gave her talk and showed examples of the household book, my mind started working. Could I make a household book? Women in the 18th and 19th centuries would handwrite their household books, and I imagine they would update and add to it often. I have the advantage of computer editing and  on-demand publishing to create. And my lightbulb moment: I could make it an annual household book, and update it each year.

That would help me complete at least a basic household book, and then be able to update and add to it through the years. I also think it can serve as a history of different years of our family—I wish I had done these in prior years, because then I would know the kinds of meals I was making typically when the kids were very little. But to paraphrase the Chinese adage, “The best time to create a household book is 20 years ago. The second best time? Today.” So that is my plan.

You kids may remember that I did produce a physical book at Christmastime 2021, titled “The 2022 Household Book.” The production value kind of screamed “graphic design is my passion” — which means it wasn’t very nicely designed. (I remember your comments, never you fear, haha). I intended to update the physical book each year, and I still have not done so.

However, I kept the text in a document (still titled, “Household Book 2023 Text”, haha.) Whenever I have a new recipe or resource to add, I add it to the document. Since then, I have produced numerous books for actual publication, and so over time my graphic design skills have improved. So I know I could produce a 2025 one (thought at this point it’s rather late).

For now, I’ve been adding or editing recipes and resources. And whenever one of you kids wants to have the recipe for, say, Trinity Bars, or Shepherd’s Pie, I can just cut/paste it into a text or an email.

But now, I’m going to put them into a section here on The Mom Weekly called “The Household Book.” (It’s a tab on the menu of the home page). There are a few recipes added to it, and sections will be added. Eventually it will be a searchable section where you can find recipes and other information. 

What do you think about the Household Book? Are you glad we have one?

Remember how much I love you,

Mom

Interesting/Notable:

My Mom Was Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Then She Got Better.

This is an absolutely riveting read. A medical mystery with a happy ending. Also good to know to because it sounds more common than it seems.

An Action Item: Consider Meal Prepping

This article is surprisingly helpful in understanding meal prepping and really making it work. This can also be said for planning one’s week by looking through what you have going on, and making sure that you are slotting in enough time for work, relaxation, meal prep, etc. Once The Household Book is more fully populated, you could use it as a resource for meal prepping.