This handy little reference book was a wedding gift (Thanks, Ms. Dembrowski!). Written by Miriam Lukken of LaGrange Georgia, it is full of timeless wisdom for keeping a clean, comfortable, and hospitable home. Do I practice all the advice in the book? Please. I don't even have time to take my own advice. But, I recommend it for anyone living on their own for the first time, or anyone who's parents were domestically challenged and therefore didn't pass on any wisdom of their own.
The book is full of both poetry and the nitty-gritty details of managing a household. One one page you'll see a recipe for homemade rat poison, on the next a poem by Shakespeare on the importance of sleep. But isn't that the reality of homekeeping? I only have to think of my own family Christmas celebration to know that this is true. Just moments before I embraced my octogenarian grandparents with Christmas joy, I was on the floor of my kitchen trying to keep the turkey grease from staining the grout. Yes. I washed my hands.
My favorite parts of the book have to do with hospitality: Change the sheets on your guest bed the day that your guests arrive, as our sense of smell is heightened in new environments. When your guests depart, wave until they are out of sight.
But I also love the little gems of practical wisdom scattered throughout the book: keep a safety pin near the kitchen sink so that when you take of your jewelry to do dishes you can pin them to your clothes. How brilliant is that?
A word of warning to my feminist friends, you might find this a little antiquated in terms of gender roles. But keep in mind that Mrs. Dunwoody, our narrator, is writing from the summer of 1866, so think of it more as a case study in southern hospitality, if that helps you enjoy it. Don't let that stop you from sharing it with a young man moving into his first apartment or dorm room. If he only reads the chapter entitled, "Miss Sallie Anne's Splendid Directions for Laundry," it will have been worth it.
This hard-cover book is available on Amazon for about $15.
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