Eve Penman: An Empowered Housewife in Rural America

Q: What does a homemaking housewife do? A: She makes home awesome! When not making home awesome, I take it easy by playing and making puzzles at JigsawPlanet , and adding pro-housework items to my Clean House Guide shop at Zazzle . Being anti-housework is the status quo and so easy to do. Been there, done that, time for something new! The challenge isn't only in doing housework without grumbling about it, but in being proud of one's home and being proud of doing a dirty job that few women take pride in these days -- yet they take pride in being employees with dollar figures attached to their heads, as if that's superior to being an indentured servant? Gag me with a vacuum hose!    As a housewife, I don't have to ask for days off or wait to be told when I can go on break; nor do I change empty toilet paper rolls for inept coworkers who think they're worth being paid yet can't clean up after themselves; but I digress. Not only do most modern America...

Q: What should I be when I grow up, Mommy? A: In control of your home, dear. A woman who has a husband/family at home and is out of her home for multiple hours at a time making money does not have control of her home  – she has denial. If a woman doesn’t know how to clean her home, or know where things are at in her home, or can’t find what she is looking for when she needs it, those are all signs that she has no control and she is lost in her own home; which means that she is only empowered outside the home and that is not real empowerment – that is false advertising! Even if a woman is out of her home all day and can afford to pay others to manage her house, she still doesn’t have control – the people doing the work have control more than she does, only she’s in denial and doesn’t know it! I used to be one of those women; I was raised to think that working outside the home was where women are supposed to be, because that’s what I saw around me in real life and in pop...

Q: How do you act like a housewife when you don't know how to be a housewife? A: You do what all great actresses do -- study the role! While actresses are paid to act like ideal housewives, the reality is they aren't housewives. However, the irony to me is that I have seen better examples of how to act like a good housewife in movies and television shows than I have in real life; because women I've known are working women who pull double duty as part-time housewives rather than being 100% dedicated to making their homes and families better as a homemaker. And if a working woman isn't a dedicated housewife, how can she teach anyone else how to be a full-time housewife? She can't, unless it's her job to act like a housewife on screen! Movies and television shows are forms of programming, and as a midlife housewife I enjoy watching quality programming that promotes being a happy, obliging housewife.  Modern movies and scripted television programs, that fea...

Captioning Service 1 is the DISH default; switching it to 0 (zero) works with TCM captions. I don't want my MTV any more, but I do want my captions, especially on TCM where old movies are full of fuzzy sounds, funny accents, and mumbling voices -- and thanks be to the stenographers who make it possible! However, the past few months TCM's captions have not been as consistent and it made me question if they stopped captions altogether since all the other channels still had captions. The good news is TCM didn't do away with captions, but the Captioning Service setting did change without any word given to DISH customers or TCM viewers, at least not to this one. Scroll to the end to read the solution for DISH customers, or keep reading for my rhetorical digression: Gee, if only there was a way to inform paying customers of changes like this? For all the useless information TCM hosts spew, they could at least give some useful information since their captions are th...

Of Wives & Waitresses | Memes by Eve @ imgflip Q: How do you keep a husband at home and away from other women while saving money? A: Cook for him!   Granted, women don’t have to cook for their men or serve them with love or even make them happy; in reality, women don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do, according to the Popular Mantra of American Women which hasn’t changed since the 1970s, the decade of my birth. However, not cooking for a man may result in him going to restaurants, where he will pay waitresses to serve him in a more hospitable manner than his wife does, while they give him attention which could easily make an insecure wife jealous, even if the attention is only for a monetary tip. But that only leads to the economic reality that another woman (the waitress) will make money from the man , when that money could help his wife and his own home for the better rather than helping a waitress who is paying for school tuition, or raising kid...

His Girl Goes Home | Memes by Eve @ imgflip (His Girl Friday, Rosalind Russell, 1940) Q: How do you know when you've outgrown a movie? A: When you watch His Girl Friday and start hoping that Hildy will turn into Cartman from South Park. Considering it's a movie from 1940 and it promotes the same old idea of women in the workplace (along with the idea that marriage is a farce), it just goes to show how long Hollywood has been beating women over the head and programming them to think that they need to be in the man's club and treated like men, instead of being treated like the women they were born to become. Well, guess what? It is almost 2020 -- eighty years later -- and it is beyond time for a change. So screw you, outdated Hollywood, I'm staying home and enjoying everything Hildy didn't have the smarts to enjoy herself -- no coworkers, no stress, and no office wardrobe!  PSQ: What would you do with your life, if Hollywood wasn't programming you...

The Fake Smile Club / Memes by Eve @ imgflip Monday Motivation: Sassy song lyrics set to the tune 'If You're Happy and You Know It'; inspired by all the times I would have rather been at home than at work, a nd how nice it is to now be a homebody housewife: If you would rather be at home, raise your hand; If you would rather be at home, raise your hand; If you would rather be at home and never have to roam; If you would rather be at home, raise your hand! If you would rather quit your job, raise your hand; If you would rather quit your job, raise your hand; If you would rather quit your job and leave the working mob; If you would rather quit your job, raise your hand! If you would rather scrub the tub, raise your hand; If you would rather scrub the tub, raise your hand; If you would rather scrub the tub than be a teacher’s sub; TradWifeLife / Memes by Eve @ imgflip If you would rather scrub the tub, raise your hand! If you would rather please your m...

The Furnished Life / Memes by Eve @ imgflip Q: How do you furnish a home when you live in a rural area with limited options in the local stores, and you would just as soon not deal with people if you can avoid it? A: You embrace the power of 21st Century cyberspace and you go online; and Furniture.com is an informative site to start at if you don’t know where to start. Disclosure: I was contacted by associates of Furniture.com who found my blog and thought my readers would like to know about the site, and after reviewing the site I was pleased they reached out to me. I solemnly swear and affirm that I was not told what to write, nor is this a paid endorsement, beyond paying it forward to anyone who benefits from this information, which I think many people in rural pockets of America can find something of value at Furniture.com , along with any homemaker who is new to furnishing a home and wants to learn more about what goes into it, or any introvert who loves to shop in ...

Cleaning Today Makes Tomorrow Better Memes by Eve @ imgflip / Vintage Eureka Vacuum Ad Q: How do I choose between a bagless vacuum cleaner and one with bags? A: Do independent research until I arrive at my answer, which I finally have: First I did a Google search that brought up  Choosing the Best Vacuum Cleaner by Consumer Reports:   Bagged vs. Bagless: “ Bagless vacuum cleaners save on the cost of purchasing bags, but they also require more filters that need periodic cleaning or—for HEPA filters—replacing. The dust and mess of emptying the bin of a bagless model can be problematic if you have asthma or allergies.“  Source:  https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/vacuum-cleaners/buying-guide/index.htm - - - - - - - Then I found an article in the same search that reviews the 10 Best Commercial Vacuums for Home Use or Worksites 2019 and they are all bagged vacuums . Source: https://primereviews.org/best-commercial-vacuums-for-home-use-or-worksites/ ...

Stuffed Up:   You don't need more space. You need less stuff. Fun Fact: If you get rid of the stuff that’s taking up space, you’d have more space.  LOL. So what's the simple solution to stopping clothes clutter before it starts?   When something new comes in, something old goes out. Learn it, know it, live it.* Purposeful Possessions: Imagine treating a refrigerator like a closet and treating a closet like a refrigerator. If new items are always added to either without ever removing old items, neither will effectively serve their purpose ,  and what's the purpose of that? And what's the purpose of keeping items that don't get used?  If outdated clothes smelled as bad as old eggs, would you still keep them? As if.  Closet Clean Out GIF: Alicia Silverstone in Clueless* (1995) May all your decluttering dreams come true! * Two Amy Heckerling movie references in one blog post! Find more Memes by Eve @ Imgflip