My Idea Books

I am a seriously awesome homemaker in the making, I just don't have the home yet. In middle school, my favorite classes were the Home Economics courses - the ones with titles like Threads and Breads, and Foods and Fabrics. I was also the teacher's aide for my middle school Home Ec teacher, which meant that I did the dishes and kitchen prep for her classes and got class credit - and p.s. I loved it! My high school did not have a Future Homemakers' of America club, or else I would have joined, I am positive. I knit, crochet, tat, embroider, sew, bake, cook, and am in the middle of a quilt. This is definitely my mother's influence on me - she's always doing something.

Well, I have always been an avid magazine reader and recipe ripper. If I see a cool recipe, or a pretty flower arrangement, or a beautifully painted living room, I rip it out and save it. I have been doing this since I was in middle school - and eventually I get a big pile of inspirational materials. Then, I break out the scissors and the waste paper basket and a blank photo album and about once a month and put it all together in what I like to call my Idea Book. I have several completed through the years, and it is fun to look back at the change in my tastes....and my consistencies as well. If I see a pretty picture of Jackie O, I always cut it out and include it - no matter what - she is always inspiring. There is a recipe for a Whole Wheat and Honey Challah Bread that I cut out of a Better Homes & Gardens issue circa 1986 (I actually found the magazine when we moved when I was 13- I didn't cut it out when I was 3...) that I love and still make from time to time when I am home in Albuquerque and will always be a part of my repertoire.

Now this actually seems to be a trend, with people making Inspiration Boards (I think the book The Secret started this...although I haven't read it...). I had this idea all along- it's just that mine was just more domestic. :-)