Time wasting in the Bay Colony was a criminal offense. As early as 1633 the General Court decreed:
No person, householder or other, shall spend his time idly or unprofitably under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict: and for this end it is ordered, that the constables of every place shall use special diligence to take knowledge of offenders of this kind, especially of common coasters, unprofitable fowlers and tobacco takers, and to present the same.
A year later the Court fined two men the heavy sum of twenty shillings each for "misspending their time" - David Hackett Fisher
Albion's Seed
So what is the modern Puritan ideal? Well, from reading the blogs and websites devoted to this ideal in theory it involves being submissive to god and you husband and raising children who are submissive to god and their father. But in reality this is what they seem to aspire to:
- Keeping perfectly clean houses at all times (Or just long enough to take the show-off picture)
- Wearing skirts every day (and bragging about it)
- Look entirely perfect, slender and ethereal (Even though they rarely exercise)
- Creating three home cooked meals a day (made with lots of processed crap and rarely complete meals)
- Being well read (even though they only ever seem to read books put out by Vision Forum and Jane Austen)
- Doing handcrafts like proper ladies (although this is usually paper and glue. If any sewing is involved it's simple lines only.)
- Having the equivalent of a college education (even though they never leave home and usually stop homeschooling around the age of 12 when they have to start looking after little siblings)
- Run a home business (even if it's really a multi-level marketing scheme)
- And of course all the while having ideal relationships with everyone.
I believe you can.
I missed my goals that year, all of them, due to a lot of real-world influences. I had a major health scare for one. My husband's employment was an ongoing issue. And I had a lot of negative people in my life who sucked away a lot of my time and energy. 2013 was not the best year for me. 2014 and 2015 have been about improving a lot of things I thought I had nailed down in my life, but I really didn't.
Now that 2016 is around the corner I'm thinking of going back to the roots of this blog and seeing if I can live that heavenly year. If nothing else as a personal challenge. And blogging about it simply for the public accountability. I doubt more than two or three people are reading this, but that's not important. What matters is that I'm doing this for myself, as a personal goal.
So my thoughts on challenging myself:
- Meeting my housekeeping goals. I have lists I try to complete every day, nearly every week. My goal is to finish those lists 46 weeks out of the year. (I take one week off in early December for volunteer work, the week of my in-laws visit, and four weeks a year when I go off the HRT which knocks me squarely on my ass.)
- Wearing skirts everyday. My personal uniform is built around skirts, so I do this anyway. On any given day I'm wearing
Given that I'm not going to bother with this one.
- A white tank top
- A denim or cotton gauze skirt, depending on the weather
- A flannel or cotton over shirt, depending on the weather
- Eating fresh food. We've found that it's a lot easier when we cook large batches of simple, healthy foods and then build plates from the fridge every night. I'll share our current diet and what I cook as I do, but don't expect grand nightly suppers. With only two adults on slightly different diets there's no point.
- Keep healthy. For me this means
- Getting to the gym three times a week, joint problems permitting
- Staying away from too many snacks during the day
- Hopefully losing about 40 lbs this year
At less than a pound a week it's a fairly modest goal, but it's one I think I can reach.
- Read more. All of the bible in one year? Might as well get that chore over with. On top of that I'm going to read 4 of their favorites, 4 off the ALA list and 4 non-fiction. This is a cut back from my last list because I just don't have the time I thought I did. I might get a head start on the bible this week so I can slack a bit in the year if I have to.
- Complete 6 embroidery/hand sewing projects. I originally shot for 12 but these things take a lot more time than I thought. Allowing 2 months per project is more realistic. I'm including patchwork in this one, because quilting is also a massive time suck.
- Complete 12 knitting projects, I can do it, I know I can
- Sit through three college lectures a week. I watch while I sew, or will. Only three because one must allow time for some porn.
- To be a 'helpmeet' to my husband, take some FEMA certification courses. My husband is getting back into volunteer emergency services this year. I don't plan to join him in the field but they might want someone willing to help out with the paperwork back at the station.
- Save $15,000 this year. This is a new one (yay for female led households!) We want a healthy emergency cushion and we've decided this is the year to do it. I also plan a few larger purchases off our In Case Of Emergency list.
- Host 5-6 Littles & Pets parties at our local play space. This is a BDSM thing. A Littles & Pets party is a non-sexual gathering where people who enjoy playing as a little or a pet can come and have a good time in a safe space. As the Keeper of the local Dungeon Kitty we've agreed to help organize these to take some work off our DM. My goal is to have one every two months, perhaps skipping August.
- Blogging. Daily, for accountability.
So those are my goals for 2016. Here's to hoping I can meet them.
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