Welcome!
How are you feeling about your home, self, and family? In your eyes can it use improvement? For years, I struggled to be sure everything was in place, and to be sure I appeared to have it all together, and to truly appear happy even though deep down my life was a mess. I desperately wanted a change but had no idea how to go about making one. There was no value in the most important things in my life, but too much value was placed up what others thought of me and how I appeared to “others”. Inadvertently, but by my reactions, I even showed my children that their worth was infinitely less than the furnishings or belongings every time they accidently messed something up or damaged objects or clothes. The value I placed on the need to be perfect or to live a life that I thought others would approve of had a cost- my happiness and the happiness of those closest to me.
But, what is the cost of not having your life, home, family, and emotionally balanced self in the way that you desire it to look and feel like? What do we pay to the imaginary perfect home and family piper? Or, what is it we sacrifice? Time, energy, health, happiness, date nights, mental happiness or health, sleep, etc.? Is it worth it? No. Staying where you are will keep you stuck. The “theys”, the “should do” lists, are relentless and will never end.
It’s time to break free.
There is a fulfilling life and home waiting for you. But, it doesn’t look like anyone else’s. You are unique: your style, your goals, your tastes, your personality, those in your life, and what makes you happy. When we quit trying to live someone else’s dream life and discover the beauty in our own then true happiness comes. Because, let’s face it, is living someone eles’s dream life what you really want? Every piece? “If all of our problems were hung on a line, you’d take yours and I’d take mine.”
That was what the Homemaking Cottage is all about, sharing our journey and helping you get rid of the stuckness of the past and how to begin creating the home, life, and family that creates true happiness for you and best serves your life and your mission.
With the Deluxe Edition we walk you through these steps and coach you to become the woman you want to be~ the woman you are deep down ready to emerge. You deserve it. You are wonderful and important. It’s time to find fulfillment in all areas of your life and we can help you! Begin today!
Shiloah Baker
Producer & Editor-in-Chief of the Homemaking Cottage & Co.
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People are not only concerned with the high cost of bottled water to our wallets and the environment, but also the low quality. Here is what New York Times columnist Bill Marsh had to say in a recent article: “Those eight daily glasses of water you're supposed to drink for good health? They will cost you $0.00135 -- about 49 cents a year...
Our Founding Fathers understood frugality. Thomas Jefferson said “I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers and salaries merely to make partisans.” Benjamin Franklin warned “Think what you do when you run in debt; you give another power over your liberty.” One thing they’d both agree on for sure is that freedom 
A box of tissues usually has about 65 sheets at around 2 cents a sheet. A roll of toilet paper, which is fundamentally the same thing as tissue, has four times more sheets and is 50% cheaper! That may not seem like much, but in a tough economy, every little bit helps. It all adds up, that’s for sure. You can cut out the cardboard tube and slip the roll inside your fancy tissue box. I’m not even kidding.
Mentors can come into our lives in various shapes and sizes. The following books have been mentors to me at the times I needed and since then. They have helped me become a better person, a better mentor, and a better mother and wife. This list of books has my thoughts on the books and how they helped me in my journey.
If you haven't ever planted a summer garden before, now’s your chance! Just plop some of those starter veggies you can get from your local garden store into the ground and, voila, you're gardening. No yard? Try container gardening! Only a fence or apartment balcony to work with?
We love this version of the 100 pound carrot cake. Don’t let National Carrot Cake {February 3rd} day pass you by without a slice. This is a cake that is perfect for company or whenever you have some extra time and want a sweet treat! This carrot cake is sure to make you better-than-Betty-Crocker. {wink}
The Amish are a branch of Protestant Christianity known as Anabaptists. The Amish sect itself; named after Jakob Ammann, began in Europe in the late 17th century and started as a reform group within the Mennonite community which they felt had become too worldly.
Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of the 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was the first wife of a president to be officially called, “First Lady”, a term coined by the American press.
I have always preferred a cottage to a castle. On visits to the British Isles and Ireland, I found tours through large estates, manor homes and restored castles interesting, but driving through villages, looking at quaint, rose-covered stone cottages with their lace curtains and geranium-laden window boxes was much more satisfying. Cottages exude warmth, comfort and homeliness. A cottage is a place to enter, sit down in and relax.
Earth Day is April 22nd, this year. Instead of saving the whales or preventing the destruction of the rainforest, try doing what you can to reduce, reuse, and recycle in your own little corner of the Earth: your home! Here's a nifty idea for turning old clothes...
We’re all familiar with the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Some of us may have become acquainted with Laura and her family through the TV show, “Little House on the Prairie.” Others may have read the Little House series of books, which she wrote about her childhood growing up in Kansas’ Indian Territory, Minnesota, and South Dakota.
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A vignette is a beautiful way to decorate according to the season, a holiday, or any theme. And because it’s done on a small scale, you can get a fresh new look without having to move furniture (usually), paint, or lose your whole Saturday. The possibilities are endless, and you can change it up when it’s time to move on to something new.
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