# Homemaker Portrait | Jessica Wood

An episode of [The Art of Home: A Podcast for Homemakers](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1557993655), 20 Sep 2023, 1 h 01 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1587457/episodes/13622783-homemaker-portrait-jessica-wood.mp3

Send me a text about this episode! Join me for this Newbie Homemaker Portrait of listener, Jessica Wood. We chat about all that she is learning in her new role as wife and full time homemaker. In just a short time, Jessica has developed some great practices for her homemaking. She's is learning that it's ok to not be a "natural" at all things homemaking, because every day brings a new opportunity for growth in this practice of the art of home. In This Episode All links and resources will be available in this week's free newsletter. Click the link below to subscribe. *For future reference, check newsletter archive, Season 15 Episode 6 HOMEMAKING RESOURCES Free Weekly Newsletter, Homemaker Happy Mail Newsletter Archive Free Audio Version and Study Guide for JR Miller's "Homemaking" • Listen to the Audio of the book in our 2023 Summer Reading Series • Get Your Free Study Guide SUPPORT & CONNECT WITH US Leave Us A Review • Love The Podcast (works on any device) Stay In Touch with The Art of Home Podcast • Leave Us a Voicemail • Instagram | Facebook | Website | Email Follow The Art of Home on Your Listening App • Follow The Podcast (works on any device) Support The Art of Home (detailed instructions for sharing, reviewing and tipping) Support the show HOMEMAKING RESOURCES • Homemaker's Journal, AoH Seasonal Magazine • Private Facebook Group, Homemaker Forum • JR Miller's Homemaking Study Guide SUPPORT & CONNECT • Review | Love The Podcast • Contact | Text/Voicemail-use the link at top of description | Website | Email • Follow | Follow The Podcast • Support | theartofhomepodcast.com/support DISCLOSURE • **Buy | as an Amazon affiliate, AoH receives a small commission at no extra cost to you when you use our links to purchase items we recommend • AI Content | Portions of this episode’s copy and/or show notes may have been drafted with the assistance of AI and then reviewed and edited by a human, Allison Weeks.

## Chapters

- 4:51 Beginnings
- 12:18 Expectations
- 16:21 Priorities
- 24:19 Temptations & Challenges
- 27:55 Hospitality
- 31:19 Historical Homemaking Hints
- 34:35 Q&A Fails, Wins & Favorites
- 45:46 The Art of Home & Titus 2
- 55:22 Episode Takeaways

## Transcript

[0:02] Allison Weeks: Hello Homemakers, welcome to the Art of Home podcast, where we are exploring how Homemakers cultivate a place to belong.
[0:09] Allison Weeks: I am your host, alison Weeks.
[0:11] Allison Weeks: I am a wife, I am a mom, two for grown kids, granny to one baby boy, and I've been practicing the Art of Home for 31 years now.
[0:19] Allison Weeks: If you are a new listener, welcome to the podcast.
[0:24] Allison Weeks: I am so glad that you found us.
[0:26] Allison Weeks: If you are a regular listener, thanks for coming back Today on the show.
[0:32] Allison Weeks: I have another listener homemaker portrait for you, and this is season finale, the season finale of season 15.
[0:41] Allison Weeks: Yes, we have done.
[0:43] Allison Weeks: This will be our sixth episode and so we are all done with this season after today, and I will be taking only one week off before I launch season 16, because that's going to be an extra long season and I like to finish up the fall season right around Thanksgiving so that I can come back immediately the week after Thanksgiving and start bringing you our holiday homemaking episodes.
[1:09] Allison Weeks: So for season 16, we will start early and we will actually go a bit longer.
[1:14] Allison Weeks: Normally our seasons are six episodes long, but next season is going to be eight episodes long because I wanted to be able to get in as many of these listener homemaker portraits, as I could, before the end of the year.
[1:28] Allison Weeks: So you have that to look forward to.
[1:31] Allison Weeks: Well, a little bit about what's going on in my life.
[1:34] Allison Weeks: I have a big birthday tomorrow when I'm recording, but when you hear this it'll be my birthday.
[1:40] Allison Weeks: So when this airs on September 20th, I will be celebrating the big 5.0.
[1:47] Allison Weeks: Yes, half a century, that is just crazy to think of, but I'm grateful.
[1:53] Allison Weeks: I'm so grateful to God for giving me another great year and just His abundant blessing on my life, and I'm going to go out and do some fun things with my family.
[2:04] Allison Weeks: We've got a fun night out planned, with dinner and a nice concert, and we're going to dress up and I'm really excited about that.
[2:11] Allison Weeks: What else do I have going on that I can tell you about?
[2:15] Allison Weeks: Oh, I'm going to decorate for fall.
[2:18] Allison Weeks: So every year around my birthday, because it falls the middle of September, it feels like here in South Texas it is still quite warm, but we have had there's like a break.
[2:28] Allison Weeks: That happens right around my birthday in the middle of this month, and it's no longer in the triple digits every single day for a week at a time.
[2:36] Allison Weeks: So it finally feels like fall in South Texas, as fall as we're going to get until about December, and I feel like it's an appropriate time at this point to start bringing the pumpkins out, so that's what I will be doing for the rest of this week.
[2:50] Allison Weeks: It's something I do every year the week around the week of my birthday to usher in the new season and celebrate my birthday.
[2:59] Allison Weeks: It's something I really enjoy doing.
[3:01] Allison Weeks: I love decorating for the seasons in my home, and so that is something that always marks my birthday every year fall decorating.
[3:08] Allison Weeks: Okay, so let's get on to today's episode.
[3:10] Allison Weeks: I'm going to be talking today with newbie homemaker Jessica Wood, and Jessica has been married less than two years to her husband, dallas, and she says this has been the best one year and four months of my life.
[3:24] Allison Weeks: She just has such a sweet spirit and I enjoyed our conversation so much.
[3:29] Allison Weeks: We talked a lot about expectations and what kind of system she has set in place to keep her priorities in order.
[3:37] Allison Weeks: She has such really great practical advice and wisdom and ideas, and so I really enjoyed hearing all of her thoughts and ideas and things that she's implementing in her, in her own homemaking.
[3:49] Allison Weeks: We talk about temptations and challenges and how, even though she doesn't work outside the home.
[3:54] Allison Weeks: She still struggles with the superwoman temptation.
[3:57] Allison Weeks: We talk about hospitality and how she shows hospitality to her husband and how she's been able to show it in a unique way and actually grow in the skill which she thought would come naturally to her, but it actually didn't, and so she's been needing to practice that, and she had a unique opportunity to practice that by hosting people that were visiting her church for some church revival services or a church conference, I believe it was.
[4:22] Allison Weeks: Anyway, and then, to top it all off, she has the most unusual recipe that she shares with us about in her interview, and I just can't wait for you guys to hear that.
[4:33] Allison Weeks: I would love to know if you guys have heard of this as well.
[4:35] Allison Weeks: You'll know what I'm talking about when we get there, all right, well, whatever you are applying your hand to as you listen today, I know that you will enjoy Jessica's story of home.
[4:46] Allison Weeks: Welcome to the art of home.
[4:48] Allison Weeks: I am here with my new friend, jessica Wood.
[4:51] Allison Weeks: She's a listener and I'm so excited to hear her newbie homemaking story.
[4:56] Allison Weeks: So, jessica, before we go back to the beginning of your story, why don't you just say hi, introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about who you are today.
[5:08] Jessica Wood: Well, it's so good to be here.
[5:10] Jessica Wood: I'm so excited to talk to you today.
[5:12] Jessica Wood: Allyn, my name is Jessica Wood.
[5:13] Jessica Wood: I am 28 years old.
[5:16] Jessica Wood: I'm married to Dallas Wood.
[5:18] Jessica Wood: We have been married for a year and four months and it has been the best year and four months of my life.
[5:25] Jessica Wood: It's been a lot of fun.
[5:27] Jessica Wood: I am an aunt to several little ones and I'm very recently trying to become a piano player Very recently I just had my second lesson yesterday.
[5:41] Jessica Wood: So that's been a lot of fun and, above all, that I am a Christian and I'm just trying to serve the Lord faithfully in my church, in my home, and do all that I can for him, to bring glory to him.
[5:58] Allison Weeks: That is awesome.
[5:59] Allison Weeks: So piano lessons, okay.
[6:02] Allison Weeks: Is anybody else in your family musical or do you play any other instruments?
[6:08] Jessica Wood: No, no one in my immediate family plays any instruments that I'm aware of.
[6:13] Jessica Wood: I think my brother might play the drums, but, no, not a lot of musical talent there, so I'm trying to pick that up.
[6:24] Jessica Wood: I don't play anything else either, so this is a first time thing.
[6:27] Allison Weeks: Great, that's awesome.
[6:29] Allison Weeks: What's your goal?
[6:30] Allison Weeks: Like you want to be able to just play personally for your own personal enjoyment, or play with others, or maybe play at church or something like that.
[6:41] Jessica Wood: I do have a piano at home and I love music.
[6:44] Jessica Wood: So I like either, you know, practicing on the piano or having music going all the time.
[6:49] Jessica Wood: So very excited to have it there, but I really want to play in church.
[6:53] Allison Weeks: Oh, awesome, that's great.
[6:54] Allison Weeks: Okay, well, let's go back to the beginning of your story.
[6:58] Allison Weeks: So when would you say that you first became a homemaker, and when you did, did you have any skills?
[7:06] Jessica Wood: I actually moved out of my parents house in August of 2020.
[7:11] Jessica Wood: I moved into a trailer and I wouldn't say that was the beginning of my homemaking.
[7:19] Jessica Wood: Honestly, all I did was sleep there.
[7:21] Jessica Wood: I worked full time.
[7:26] Jessica Wood: I ate at my mom's, at my friends, at my husband's parents house.
[7:33] Jessica Wood: At the time we weren't dating, but I would eat there.
[7:36] Jessica Wood: I didn't even have a washer and jar close by, so I didn't do any laundry there or anything.
[7:42] Jessica Wood: So I pretty much was just a sleeping place.
[7:45] Jessica Wood: So I feel like it really started when I got married, which was in April of 22.
[7:51] Jessica Wood: Okay, and I did have skills.
[7:55] Jessica Wood: When I still live with my parents, I got to the point where I was doing my own laundry already.
[8:02] Jessica Wood: You know I probably should have cleaned more than I did my mom would say, but I had the skills to do it.
[8:10] Jessica Wood: I knew how to cook my.
[8:12] Jessica Wood: It just goes kind of natural.
[8:15] Jessica Wood: It wasn't too much of a learning curve there and I knew how to bake really well too.
[8:19] Jessica Wood: So I had pretty basic skills.
[8:23] Jessica Wood: I feel like to get started.
[8:24] Allison Weeks: Okay, cool.
[8:25] Allison Weeks: So what's an area that you're struggling with right now and what are some solutions that you're implementing to help grow?
[8:32] Jessica Wood: in that area.
[8:36] Jessica Wood: I think right now the biggest thing is time management feeling really overwhelmed with keeping up with the house.
[8:45] Jessica Wood: One thing that I just recently started doing, probably about two weeks ago, is I would make a list for my day, but the list would be so long that I couldn't finish it, and so by the end of the day I was like, okay, I can't do this, and so what I started doing is just making really small lists for every day of the week and then, as I'm finishing my list throughout the day, if I feel like it's too big, I'll disperse it, kind of you know, some tasks to another day, or if I finish my whole list, I'll add stuff onto it.
[9:20] Jessica Wood: But that's helped me so much because I get overwhelmed very easy, yeah yeah, that's really, that's a good practice.
[9:31] Allison Weeks: It's good that you recognize that, that you're you're maybe just biting off more than you could chew, and it's so disheartening when you see this huge list and you maybe get through like two things and then you feel like I didn't accomplish anything today.
[9:42] Allison Weeks: Right, that's not actually true.
[9:45] Allison Weeks: It's just you just had really high expectations of what you could reasonably get done in one day.
[9:51] Allison Weeks: So, yeah, that's great.
[9:53] Allison Weeks: Okay, well, when it comes to influencing you in your home making, who or what would you say has had the biggest influence on you?
[10:03] Jessica Wood: It would have to be my mom and my older sister.
[10:06] Jessica Wood: My mom has never worked outside of the home, so she's raised she still has three at home, but she's raised all of us being a stay at home mom, and it made such an impact on me personally.
[10:20] Jessica Wood: I just so distinctly remember, even right up until I moved out, she would have a meal ready for my dad when he got home at 5.30, dinner would be either done or almost done, and just watching her orchestrate small things like that it made such a big impact on me to where which my husband gets home really early because he starts really early but just trying to have a certain time to make sure dinner's ready.
[10:51] Jessica Wood: And same thing with my sister.
[10:54] Jessica Wood: She's an excellent cook.
[10:56] Jessica Wood: Dinner is very important to her in preparing a meal and they both know how to keep a good house that runs smooth.
[11:04] Jessica Wood: I feel like that's good.
[11:09] Allison Weeks: What would you say?
[11:10] Allison Weeks: So, Mule?
[11:11] Allison Weeks: It sounds like both of them have influenced you in like making dinner or a priority, getting dinner on the table a priority.
[11:17] Allison Weeks: Is there anything else that you specifically learned, maybe from your sister or from your mom, Any other help making tasks or anything?
[11:30] Jessica Wood: I feel like my mom has always been very good about keeping a clean house, For when I was very young I don't ever remember a dirty house.
[11:41] Jessica Wood: I don't remember anything being dirty, and even when we got older she always just.
[11:49] Jessica Wood: The only thing I remember was silverware in the sink still because she didn't like doing silverware, but otherwise she just enjoyed having a clean house and that has influenced me as well, has that rubbed off on you?
[12:04] Jessica Wood: I'm hoping it has a lot, but I'm still working on it.
[12:11] Jessica Wood: I don't like silverware either.
[12:17] Allison Weeks: Yeah well, let's talk a little bit about some expectations and what are some things that have surprised you about homemaking.
[12:24] Allison Weeks: I mean, you had these two examples to look up to, so you kind of knew what to expect.
[12:27] Allison Weeks: But what's maybe something that surprised you about it?
[12:30] Allison Weeks: Either good or bad.
[12:34] Jessica Wood: I have two examples.
[12:35] Jessica Wood: I have a good and a bad one.
[12:36] Jessica Wood: Sure, the good thing that surprised me is I didn't realize how fulfilling homemaking would be.
[12:43] Jessica Wood: I worked for several years before I got married and my last job right before I got married was very fulfilling to me.
[12:53] Jessica Wood: It was utilizing my degree and I felt like I was good at my job.
[13:00] Jessica Wood: So it was a very fulfilling job to me and I very much enjoyed it.
[13:02] Jessica Wood: So it was hard to imagine that homemaking would give me that same feeling, because not everyone sees it as an actual job.
[13:13] Jessica Wood: I just had some of these preconceived ideas and so when I started to become a homemaker, I was like, wow, this is very fulfilling.
[13:25] Jessica Wood: I feel like I'm meeting my needs, but I get to meet someone else's needs, and it just gave me a very good sense of fulfillment and I love it.
[13:35] Jessica Wood: I love it.
[13:36] Jessica Wood: And I was not expecting that at all, and I think I guess it would be an expectation.
[13:46] Jessica Wood: I didn't realize how hard it would be to realize that I'm not only making a home for just one person, I'm making a home for two people.
[14:01] Jessica Wood: I'm making a home for myself because I need it to be comfortable for me, but I also need it to be comfortable for my husband, and so it's hard to balance that sometimes because naturally I'm selfish in my own self.
[14:18] Jessica Wood: I want it to be comfortable for me, to be easy on me, but I have to make it the same way for him.
[14:25] Jessica Wood: I have to kind of let go of some of that selfishness, and I didn't realize it would be hard to balance that.
[14:31] Jessica Wood: I thought because oh, I love him so much, it's going to be so easy, but I still had to get self out of the way.
[14:40] Allison Weeks: Oh yeah, man, that is a really hard lesson to learn and I'm 31 years in and I still have to learn that lesson about some things.
[14:48] Allison Weeks: So what's?
[14:52] Allison Weeks: Maybe something that, in order to kind of get over that, maybe an unrealistic expectation you had, or something when you said you know you're making a home for two people and it's not just about you being comfortable, but it's about him being comfortable.
[15:07] Allison Weeks: So what's something that you had to adjust so that he would feel comfortable in your home as well, whether that's you know the way you decorate your home or the kind of food you buy, or I don't know, what was it for you that made it more home to him, not just you?
[15:26] Jessica Wood: He's a very scheduled person and I'm not, and so even just sometimes, when he would get home from work, he wants to know so what's on the schedule now, like what are you doing?
[15:40] Jessica Wood: And then I'll tell you what I'm doing.
[15:43] Jessica Wood: And that's just not how I work.
[15:44] Jessica Wood: I'm not used to.
[15:46] Jessica Wood: I just kind of go with the flow.
[15:48] Jessica Wood: I do what I, you know, think needs to be done.
[15:50] Jessica Wood: But for him it was very much.
[15:53] Jessica Wood: He needs to kind of just have a schedule for the evening.
[15:56] Jessica Wood: And so I got to the point where I kind of understood that about him and I would try to somewhat have our evenings kind of planned, you know, or I'll just let him know this is what I'm doing, and then he'd let me know okay, this is what I'm doing, and then we could see where we need to mix things or not.
[16:18] Allison Weeks: Yeah, yeah, that's good.
[16:19] Allison Weeks: I like that a lot.
[16:20] Allison Weeks: Let's talk about priorities.
[16:22] Allison Weeks: What are some practical steps that you take to help you set and keep your priorities and, like, keep them in order?
[16:29] Allison Weeks: You know, making time for God, making time for your marriage and then getting all the home the home making stuff done as well.
[16:40] Jessica Wood: One practical thing I try to do sometimes Dallas gets up about anywhere between 5 to 5.15 every morning and I get up with him and some days I go back to sleep when he leaves.
[16:55] Jessica Wood: But there's some days if I have a lot to do, just to keep everything in order, how it should be, just so I could keep things running in the house, I'll just stay up, even if I have to take a nap later on in the day.
[17:09] Jessica Wood: I'll just stay up and I'll get things done.
[17:12] Jessica Wood: So that's really helped me to keep some priorities straight, for God.
[17:18] Jessica Wood: I'm trying to read my Bible.
[17:20] Jessica Wood: I like to read my Bible through any year and so I just make sure.
[17:27] Jessica Wood: You know there's a certain amount of chapters I read every day.
[17:29] Jessica Wood: Try to make sure that I get those read.
[17:33] Jessica Wood: And then I have a set amount of time that I like to pray every day.
[17:37] Jessica Wood: And what's really helped me keep that a priority is Dallas also has a set time and we both really like to pray in the evenings and so we try to keep our prayer time at the same time, and it really helps because if I don't necessarily feel up to it, he'll tell me okay, I'm going to go pray for a while and I'll be like okay, I'll go pray too, and it kind of keeps us both accountable and it keeps it all where it needs to be.
[18:08] Jessica Wood: So having our prayer time in the evening together is super helpful.
[18:15] Jessica Wood: And then for our marriage, one thing that we really try to do, especially right now, while we kind of have the you know the liberty and the money to do it, we try to date at least once a week.
[18:27] Jessica Wood: Go on a date, even if we feel like, you know, we're a little tight and we can't go out.
[18:33] Jessica Wood: I'll do a date night at home where I'll cook something special that we both like, make sure there's a dessert, and then just tell him okay, no chores after we eat.
[18:44] Jessica Wood: You know, don't go mow the lawn, I'm not going to do that, I'll do the dishes, but that's it.
[18:48] Jessica Wood: We're not going to do anything else.
[18:49] Jessica Wood: We'll play games and just hang out and that's that's been fun.
[18:53] Jessica Wood: We really like that.
[18:54] Jessica Wood: And then I also try to make our monthly anniversaries something special.
[18:59] Jessica Wood: So every time, you know, we hit that month, a year and three months, I would make a meal that I know he really likes or something like that.
[19:08] Jessica Wood: So just trying to make those little times fun.
[19:12] Allison Weeks: Oh, I love that You're still so new.
[19:14] Allison Weeks: It's like the monthly anniversaries.
[19:16] Allison Weeks: That's so sweet.
[19:17] Jessica Wood: I love it I love it.
[19:20] Allison Weeks: I love all of these ideas.
[19:21] Allison Weeks: These are really great ideas getting up with him Even though you know you're tired, and but one of the things I talk about a lot is we as homemakers.
[19:31] Allison Weeks: If that's your full-time occupation, primarily, you have a lot more say over your time, you know.
[19:39] Allison Weeks: And, like you said, you can get up with him at five and if you're still exhausted at seven, you can take a quick nap at seven, you know, or whatever.
[19:48] Allison Weeks: Go back to bed from seven to eight or take a nap in the afternoon.
[19:51] Allison Weeks: As long as you're managing your time well, you can.
[19:54] Allison Weeks: We have more pockets of time than others do, than our husbands do, certainly to do that, and I think that's really awesome.
[20:01] Allison Weeks: It feels like, yeah, I can sacrifice getting up early because I know I can.
[20:06] Allison Weeks: God will give me that time later, that rest time later.
[20:08] Allison Weeks: I just have to be disciplined to take the time Right.
[20:12] Jessica Wood: Yes, right, I have to be disciplined to not crawl back into bed when the bed is still really warm.
[20:18] Allison Weeks: Yeah, yeah, that is hard, and then I love this evening prayer time together idea.
[20:24] Allison Weeks: That's such a good idea to just hold each other accountable and it helps, I'm sure, with the discipline.
[20:30] Allison Weeks: Like you said, when you read through the Bible, do you follow a particular plan?
[20:36] Allison Weeks: Or I'm always curious to know how people, because I do that every year too and I'm just curious how other people do it.
[20:44] Jessica Wood: I have actually this time I've just been doing it all to New Testament just straight through.
[20:49] Jessica Wood: Okay, Cool, I don't know, I just really enjoy it that way.
[20:53] Allison Weeks: Yeah, Did you just divide it up, figure out how many chapters per day or whatever, and that's just how you're doing it.
[20:59] Jessica Wood: Yeah yeah, I had Dallas get it all figured out.
[21:03] Jessica Wood: So for several days I read three chapters, and then there's two days where I read four chapters, and that should finish me in a year, or just a little bit less.
[21:12] Allison Weeks: Cool, that's awesome.
[21:14] Allison Weeks: Okay, well, how do you maintain a healthy relationship with media, whether you do social media or not, or just media in general?
[21:25] Allison Weeks: What's your take on that and how do you kind of keep that in the right box in your life?
[21:33] Jessica Wood: So I don't have any social media.
[21:34] Jessica Wood: I figured out very early on when I was younger.
[21:42] Jessica Wood: It just was not good for me and so it was just never a temptation again, because I just knew this does not work for how I am.
[21:50] Jessica Wood: Yeah, so no social media.
[21:53] Jessica Wood: And then, as far as just consuming media, I just tried to make sure that if I'm getting too caught up in it especially the news I want to be aware of what's going on, but sometimes I get so caught up in it that it stresses me out or I start to worry or something like that, so I'll back off.
[22:16] Jessica Wood: Sometimes I just take a break from listening to podcasts because it's just information, information, and I'll just just listen to music or something, you know, something, where I'm not necessarily having to sit here and consume it and really think about it.
[22:34] Jessica Wood: So I just try to know where my limits are.
[22:40] Allison Weeks: Yeah, that's a good practice.
[22:41] Allison Weeks: I think we tend to forget.
[22:44] Allison Weeks: I tend to forget because I love to have some.
[22:49] Allison Weeks: I'm multitasking, I'm not really, but when I'm doing all my chores around the house, I like to have something in my ears, you know, a book or a podcast or something like that.
[22:57] Allison Weeks: But you're right, sometimes I just need silence, like I just need to do my work in silence and, you know, maybe pray a little bit and listen to what God has to say to me about what's going on in my life that day or that week.
[23:11] Allison Weeks: But there are definitely places to put to have some silence in our daily rhythms.
[23:17] Allison Weeks: When it comes to media coming in, it just seems like it's so good, like I'm learning so much from these books or these podcasts, so it's all good.
[23:25] Allison Weeks: But sometimes we have to choose something better over that good and give ourselves a little bit of break.
[23:31] Allison Weeks: So that's good.
[23:32] Allison Weeks: It's good to know your limits.
[23:33] Jessica Wood: Yeah, it's hard.
[23:34] Jessica Wood: It is hard.
[23:35] Jessica Wood: It's hard because I really enjoy listening.
[23:38] Jessica Wood: Oh, I just love podcasts.
[23:40] Jessica Wood: And so just this past week actually, we were having revival services at our church.
[23:46] Jessica Wood: So we were having a church service every night with a you know a special evangelist, and I told my husband, I said, you know, while we're in revival during the days, I'm not going to listen to anything but music or preaching or something, and it really helped me to focus more on our services and so I was able to just kind of catch that really, really on, like I think I need to, not just during this season of a week and a half, and then I'll get back up afterwards.
[24:17] Allison Weeks: Yeah, I like that.
[24:19] Allison Weeks: Let's talk about temptations and challenges.
[24:23] Allison Weeks: So which of these temptations have you struggled with the most, and what's God teaching you through it?
[24:29] Allison Weeks: So A comparison to other women B I'm just a homemaker.
[24:35] Allison Weeks: I don't get paid.
[24:36] Allison Weeks: This is not a real job.
[24:37] Allison Weeks: Or C superwoman trying to do all the things.
[24:41] Jessica Wood: I would have to be C, trying to do all the things.
[24:44] Jessica Wood: I have limits.
[24:49] Jessica Wood: I have limits on how much I can do, whether it's mental or physical or you know anything like that.
[24:58] Jessica Wood: But I think I can, so I try.
[25:03] Allison Weeks: Yeah Well, how about any special challenges?
[25:07] Allison Weeks: Have you faced any particular challenge in your homemaking journey and what have you done to work through that and what have you learned?
[25:18] Jessica Wood: One thing that we have struggled with is infertility.
[25:23] Jessica Wood: We've wanted a family.
[25:27] Jessica Wood: For almost a year now We've been trying to have a family and it hasn't happened.
[25:33] Jessica Wood: And it was hard for me at first to really accept it, because in my immediate family my sister and my mom never struggled with it at all.
[25:48] Jessica Wood: So in my mind, for some reason even though I know every woman's different it made me think that I wouldn't struggle, and so when I wasn't able to get pregnant, it just it was really hard to kind of accept that okay, it might not happen.
[26:07] Jessica Wood: In my time frame I just recently have been dealing with some health issues that we're still currently trying to get things figured out, and that's helped me to know when I need to rest.
[26:26] Jessica Wood: I've been reaching limits physically where I, if I keep going, I'll hurt myself.
[26:35] Jessica Wood: It'll affect me later on in the day really badly.
[26:40] Jessica Wood: I'll have a really bad evening if I go too much during the day.
[26:43] Jessica Wood: So it's kind of helped me to know it's okay to rest sometimes, even if I don't get everything done.
[26:50] Jessica Wood: But one thing I'm really thankful for especially with not being able to get pregnant it really helped me realize that my trust wasn't quite where it needed to be with the Lord.
[27:06] Jessica Wood: I thought my trust was fine and then I faced something where I have to trust him because it's completely out of my hands right now and he's really.
[27:19] Jessica Wood: I've just felt him working on me.
[27:22] Jessica Wood: Seems like every month is getting a little bit easier.
[27:25] Jessica Wood: You know, when I find out that I'm not, it's getting.
[27:28] Jessica Wood: You know, I still have some days where it's not, but in general I feel like the Lord has helped me just to put my trust in him.
[27:36] Jessica Wood: So there's some good that's come out of it.
[27:41] Allison Weeks: Yeah, that's hard road to walk through, but I'm so sorry that you're struggling with that.
[27:46] Allison Weeks: But it's good what God is teaching you to lean more into him and to trust him more, because it is completely out of your hands, you're right.
[27:55] Allison Weeks: So hospitality when I ask the question about hospitality, I always ask what's a practical way that you show hospitality to the people in your household and to the people outside of your household?
[28:07] Allison Weeks: And I know a big part of, especially when you're first married and you have these visions of most people, have these visions of filling the home with little children and you're gonna that's your first neighbor is your children and your husband, and so you immediately think, oh, I'll have tons of opportunities to show hospitality to them and to their friends and all of that kind of stuff, but that's not your reality right now.
[28:28] Allison Weeks: So what are you doing to show hospitality towards your husband and then to, maybe, people outside of your home?
[28:38] Jessica Wood: One way I try to show hospitality to Dallas is getting up with him every morning and making him breakfast.
[28:45] Jessica Wood: Except on Saturdays and Sundays he's on his own, but during the week I get up with him, I make his breakfast and I pack his lunch.
[28:56] Jessica Wood: He is very much a.
[29:00] Jessica Wood: He needs a lot of food for his lunch.
[29:02] Jessica Wood: He's not a sandwich guy, he can't just take a sandwich, he needs.
[29:06] Jessica Wood: He really likes leftovers.
[29:08] Jessica Wood: So I always try to make sure to have him a good lunch packed and that's just one little way that I try to show him that hospitality.
[29:18] Jessica Wood: And one way it didn't come naturally to me.
[29:20] Jessica Wood: So there's anyone struggling with hospitality.
[29:26] Jessica Wood: It's not natural to everybody.
[29:28] Jessica Wood: I've had to learn it and I didn't think I would.
[29:32] Jessica Wood: I thought it would come natural.
[29:33] Jessica Wood: So having to learn it has been different.
[29:37] Jessica Wood: But one way I've got to show hospitality that was so much fun is every year in February we have a big church convention and we have, you know, several people in state traveling several hours and then out of state and instead of having them rent hotels or Airbnb's or anything, our church women tries to host them all in their houses, as much as we can fill them up.
[30:03] Jessica Wood: And so this year, since this past year is my first year being married and having a house.
[30:11] Jessica Wood: I got to host some people one really big family and then a couple and it was so much fun.
[30:19] Jessica Wood: It was just it put me to work.
[30:21] Jessica Wood: It made me realize, you know, hospitality is not always easy.
[30:28] Jessica Wood: I only have, you know, which is me and Dallas a certain amount of towels, but when there's all of us showering I have to constantly have a load of towels going, and so just little things like that, you know, kind of made me work on it and making sure they had, you know, a mail and stuff like that.
[30:47] Jessica Wood: But it was so much fun to be able to take care of people where they didn't even have to spend any money.
[30:54] Allison Weeks: Yeah, that's a great opportunity.
[30:56] Allison Weeks: How long were they with you?
[31:00] Jessica Wood: They were with me.
[31:00] Jessica Wood: The couple was with us from Wednesday to Sunday night.
[31:04] Jessica Wood: And then the family was with us from Thursday night to Saturday morning.
[31:11] Allison Weeks: Okay, so that's a good amount of time to have house guests.
[31:14] Allison Weeks: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
[31:18] Allison Weeks: We'll get back to Jessica's story in just a minute.
[31:22] Allison Weeks: Right now it's time for historical homemaking hints.
[31:25] Allison Weeks: This is the part of the podcast where we highlight some of the helpful and not so helpful hints doled out to homemakers throughout history.
[31:33] Allison Weeks: Today's hints come from 1003 household hints and worksavers distributed by WL Moody Co Bankers of Galveston, texas, in 1948.
[31:44] Allison Weeks: This handy little guide has quite a few tips on saving money with household appliances and surfaces, and it has some interesting things to say about saving money on your telephone bill.
[31:58] Allison Weeks: Don't trust to memory.
[31:59] Allison Weeks: Consult the directory for telephone numbers.
[32:02] Allison Weeks: In most cases, wrong guesses cost a nickel a piece or more.
[32:07] Allison Weeks: You pay for every moment of overtime.
[32:11] Allison Weeks: When making long distance calls, you will be surprised to discover how much you can shorten the minutes needed simply by first writing down a list of the subjects you want to discuss.
[32:21] Allison Weeks: This conversation guide eliminates hemming and hawing and forgetting and saves you time when time is really money, when making long distance telephone calls.
[32:34] Allison Weeks: Place an hourglass egg timer near your phone.
[32:37] Allison Weeks: It operates on a three minute schedule and will warn you exactly when your three minutes are up.
[32:46] Allison Weeks: When shopping by telephone.
[32:47] Allison Weeks: Make out a want list first, so that you save time in giving orders as well as callbacks for suddenly remembered something else's.
[32:56] Allison Weeks: Wow, that's some really interesting tips from a long time ago, when telephone and telephone services were very different than they are today.
[33:07] Allison Weeks: There may be some of you who remember those days.
[33:09] Allison Weeks: There may be some of you who remember when we had to pay for text messaging and you would get in trouble from your parents if you went over your text message allowance for the month.
[33:19] Allison Weeks: But there is one thing we still do with our phone a little differently than this tip.
[33:24] Allison Weeks: We still shop with our phone and this tip that they talked about having a needed list or a want list before you make that phone call to shop over the phone it applies in our modern day phone shopping as well.
[33:37] Allison Weeks: I always have a list with me before I sit down with either my phone or my computer to put in my online grocery order, because it helps me to make sure that I don't miss anything and make sure that I don't have to run into the store before I go to the curbside to pick up my groceries.
[33:52] Allison Weeks: Because I don't know about your grocery pickup service, but for ours we have a very limited window.
[33:59] Allison Weeks: Once I press submit for that grocery order, I have a very limited amount of time to go back in and add something that I have forgotten.
[34:06] Allison Weeks: So I like to make sure that I have all the items needed written down on a list as I go through and I enter them into the online shopping cart, and then I double check that list before I press submit.
[34:20] Allison Weeks: Well, that's all for today's historical homemaking hints.
[34:23] Allison Weeks: As always, please remember that these hints are intended for entertainment purposes only, and we leave it up to you, the listener, to determine the safety and soundness of this advice.
[34:33] Allison Weeks: And now back to Jessica's story.
[34:34] Allison Weeks: Okay, and when you were talking about packing your husband's lunch, I miss what you said.
[34:41] Allison Weeks: What does he typically like for a lunch?
[34:42] Allison Weeks: Because you said he's not sandwich, isn't gonna do it.
[34:44] Allison Weeks: So what do you typically pack for him?
[34:47] Jessica Wood: I try to do leftovers.
[34:48] Allison Weeks: Oh, leftovers, okay.
[34:49] Allison Weeks: Okay, that's good, because not every husband likes leftovers.
[34:53] Allison Weeks: And then you gotta get really creative he does.
[34:57] Jessica Wood: It makes it.
[34:57] Jessica Wood: He makes it so easy on me.
[35:01] Jessica Wood: He's a leftover guy, so I'm like take him.
[35:05] Allison Weeks: I don't care.
[35:06] Allison Weeks: Oh good, that's so good.
[35:07] Allison Weeks: What's your?
[35:08] Allison Weeks: You're usually making breakfast too, so what's y'all's typical breakfast?
[35:12] Allison Weeks: Look like.
[35:16] Jessica Wood: He usually could go one whole week eating the same breakfast, so like on Sunday night I'll ask him so what do you want this week?
[35:22] Jessica Wood: And kind of like our regular rotation is waffles will be one week, and then he really, really likes biscuits and chocolate gravy.
[35:33] Allison Weeks: What, what, what is this Chocolate gravy?
[35:36] Allison Weeks: I've never heard of this, really.
[35:39] Jessica Wood: Really, what is it?
[35:40] Jessica Wood: No-transcript.
[35:44] Jessica Wood: It's like dessert for breakfast.
[35:46] Jessica Wood: Practically it is a gravy consistency, so it's not too thick, not too thin.
[35:52] Jessica Wood: You could use cocoa powder, or you could use chocolate nesquik like just the chocolate powder.
[36:03] Jessica Wood: That's what I use.
[36:05] Jessica Wood: And then you just use flour and sugar and a little bit of salt, vanilla.
[36:09] Jessica Wood: You could use milk as a liquid or water I just use water and then at the end you put some butter and it's like a gravy consistency, but it's chocolate flavored.
[36:21] Allison Weeks: Oh, my God, it's a southern thing, I've never heard of this.
[36:24] Allison Weeks: And you serve it over buttermilk like buttermilk biscuits.
[36:28] Jessica Wood: Yeah.
[36:29] Allison Weeks: Okay, wow, I learned something every day.
[36:32] Jessica Wood: Okay, yeah, that's one of his favorites.
[36:35] Jessica Wood: I personally am not a fan of it.
[36:37] Jessica Wood: Not that it doesn't taste good, but it's just too sweet for the morning.
[36:42] Allison Weeks: I was going to say that sounds really really sweet.
[36:44] Allison Weeks: Hey, but whatever, that's really funny Chocolate gravy.
[36:50] Allison Weeks: Okay, I'm going to ask you some more questions related to some home-making tasks and things, and you can give me a short answer or you can tell me a story.
[36:58] Allison Weeks: So what's your biggest home-making fail so far?
[37:05] Jessica Wood: So I grew up eating rice with almost every single meal.
[37:10] Jessica Wood: Rice was our starch, no matter what.
[37:12] Jessica Wood: Dallas grew up eating potatoes as a starch for every meal and I love rice.
[37:19] Jessica Wood: So when we got married I was like you know what One night.
[37:22] Jessica Wood: I was just like I'm going to just make rice and I just know he's going to like it, even though I knew I knew he wasn't going to deep down.
[37:29] Jessica Wood: He's not a rice person, he doesn't like any type of rice at all.
[37:34] Jessica Wood: Nothing, no rice is nothing.
[37:37] Jessica Wood: So I made some type of chicken dish with the vegetable and white rice and I served it to him and he wanted nothing to do with it and I was so offended at him oh, even though I knew, I knew he wasn't going to like I set myself up for failure.
[37:59] Jessica Wood: But he ended up eating chili dogs that night.
[38:02] Allison Weeks: So oh, my goodness, oh, no rice.
[38:06] Allison Weeks: I don't know, that would be really hard for me.
[38:09] Allison Weeks: Okay, how about a recent home making win?
[38:15] Jessica Wood: Making all my own homemade bread products.
[38:17] Allison Weeks: Oh, good for you, okay.
[38:20] Allison Weeks: So what does that entail?
[38:24] Jessica Wood: Regular- bread buns?
[38:25] Jessica Wood: What Regular sandwich bread?
[38:27] Jessica Wood: Any type of dinner rolls, tortillas, pizza dough, biscuits anything that I would normally buy.
[38:39] Jessica Wood: If I haven't made it, I'll try to make it Awesome.
[38:43] Allison Weeks: Good job.
[38:44] Allison Weeks: So what's a home making product or resource that you are loving right now?
[38:49] Jessica Wood: The resource that I've been really enjoying has been a podcast.
[38:54] Jessica Wood: It is the Elizabeth Elliott podcast.
[38:57] Jessica Wood: I know she's been mentioned on the art of home several times, but I feel like every time I listen to on Spotify, they have the Elizabeth Elliott podcast where they upload her.
[39:12] Jessica Wood: She did a radio broadcast.
[39:16] Jessica Wood: They upload those episodes onto a podcast form and I feel like every time I listen to it I just glean something.
[39:25] Jessica Wood: Even if it's really small, she just I don't know I really enjoy it a lot, so that's been something that I've really liked.
[39:32] Jessica Wood: Awesome and I think she really uplifts me.
[39:34] Allison Weeks: Oh, yeah, for sure.
[39:35] Allison Weeks: All of her writing and, yeah, everything I read from her is just so encouraging.
[39:40] Allison Weeks: It's challenging, though A lot of times she's very like kind of in your face with her challenge, but she's.
[39:48] Allison Weeks: You can tell that she's passionate about what she's talking about and, yeah, she's been such a great resource to all of us homemakers.
[39:56] Allison Weeks: So I'm really, I'm really thankful for the legacy that she left.
[39:59] Allison Weeks: Okay, well, that's really a great resource.
[40:04] Allison Weeks: What's your favorite appliance that you just couldn't live without?
[40:10] Allison Weeks: My KitchenAid, oh well, yeah because you're making all that bread.
[40:15] Jessica Wood: Oh, I have put it to good use.
[40:19] Allison Weeks: Yeah, yeah, it's so wonderful to put the kneading hook on and let it knead the dough.
[40:24] Allison Weeks: I don't know if you do that or if you like to do it by hand, but there was a time where I was making a lot of of our bread and rolls, dinner rolls and stuff like that, and with four kids and it's like I don't have time to sit here.
[40:35] Allison Weeks: I love the process of kneading the bread because it's so therapeutic, but I don't have time to do that, so I can let that machine do its thing and that's great.
[40:43] Allison Weeks: Do you have any of the like attachments for yours or anything yet?
[40:48] Jessica Wood: No, I just have the basic paddle, whisk and dough hook right now.
[40:51] Allison Weeks: Okay, I was just curious if you had used like because they have all the different things that attach to the front that little knob on the front.
[41:00] Jessica Wood: Yeah, I want some of those, but those are definitely like Christmas birthday things because they're pretty pricey they are pricey.
[41:07] Allison Weeks: I got a.
[41:07] Allison Weeks: I got the pasta maker one last Christmas and I haven't used it yet.
[41:12] Allison Weeks: I'm so ashamed to say that, but it's on my list to learn how to do gluten-free pasta at home.
[41:17] Allison Weeks: So yeah, I'll.
[41:21] Allison Weeks: I'll report back on the show when I finally do get the gumption to do to try that out and I'll let y'all know how it goes.
[41:26] Allison Weeks: Um okay, so what's your favorite favorite home-making hack or tip?
[41:35] Jessica Wood: So Dallas is a machinist so when he comes home he is very dirty, very, very dirty.
[41:43] Jessica Wood: So my shower and tub sometimes it just builds hopeless keeping it clean because he's always so dirty, so like that grime, that kind of builds up.
[41:52] Jessica Wood: I have discovered that Dawn Powerwash will get that off with like hardly any elbow grease whatsoever.
[42:02] Allison Weeks: Dawn Powerwash?
[42:03] Allison Weeks: I haven't heard of this.
[42:04] Allison Weeks: Is it?
[42:05] Allison Weeks: Is it like a spray, or is it a soap, or yes, oh, I'm obsessed with Dawn Powerwash right now.
[42:14] Jessica Wood: It's a.
[42:14] Jessica Wood: It's a dishwashing spray, so you put the, the nozzle on and it and it comes out as a foam spray and you spray it on your dishes.
[42:23] Jessica Wood: It's really good on like um things that are really stuck, like.
[42:27] Jessica Wood: Sometimes, if I bake something in a casserole dish, instead of having to let it soak I could just spray Powerwash on it and it gets it off really easy.
[42:35] Jessica Wood: And then I just found out that it works really well in the tub and shower.
[42:41] Allison Weeks: That is so smart.
[42:43] Allison Weeks: I didn't even know that was a thing.
[42:44] Allison Weeks: But I mean, I know a lot of people use Dawn you know regular old Dawn if they're making, like their own home, cleaning products and stuff that put a few drops of Dawn, because apparently it works wonders on everything.
[42:56] Allison Weeks: So Dawn Powerwash.
[42:58] Jessica Wood: Yeah, I make um, yeah, which is the Dawn dish soap I do make.
[43:02] Jessica Wood: I make my own laundry soap, laundry detergent, and I do use the Dawn dish to liquid.
[43:08] Allison Weeks: Oh, okay.
[43:09] Allison Weeks: So I've never heard of that, of putting the Dawn in your laundry.
[43:11] Allison Weeks: Soap, what's like, what's your basic?
[43:13] Allison Weeks: I mean, you don't have to tell me exact measurements, but what else goes in there?
[43:18] Jessica Wood: Yeah, mine is super basic.
[43:20] Jessica Wood: I do a liquid.
[43:21] Jessica Wood: I want to eventually try a powder, but the liquid is just easier.
[43:24] Jessica Wood: It's just Dawn dish soap, the blue one, the borax, and then the washing soda, the Arman hammer washing soda, and then hot water just to mix it all up.
[43:40] Jessica Wood: But it's just those three ingredients.
[43:41] Jessica Wood: It's really basic, but I've actually really liked it.
[43:44] Allison Weeks: Cool, so maybe I can get the amounts from you and we can share it in the newsletter.
[43:49] Allison Weeks: Okay, yeah, um, okay.
[43:52] Allison Weeks: Well, I know you've just been married for over just over a year, but do you have a signature dish yet or something that you're working on, working towards perfecting?
[44:06] Jessica Wood: I don't feel like I have a signature dish quite yet.
[44:08] Jessica Wood: My husband would argue he would say enchiladas.
[44:10] Jessica Wood: I don't think so.
[44:11] Jessica Wood: But one thing I'm trying to perfect and I've done at least three recipes and I just cannot get it quite how I want it is Hawaiian rolls.
[44:20] Jessica Wood: Oh yeah, cause I don't want to buy them, but I love, we love sliders, and so I'm trying to perfect it.
[44:30] Jessica Wood: I've tried so many recipes and I just can't get the texture quite how I want it.
[44:34] Jessica Wood: So I'm still working on that one.
[44:37] Allison Weeks: You're still working on that one.
[44:38] Allison Weeks: I wouldn't even yeah, I wouldn't even think to make your own Hawaiian rolls.
[44:41] Allison Weeks: So is it like a basic yeast dough recipe, but then you're adding extra sugar or something to make it sweet.
[44:49] Jessica Wood: Uh yeah, so it's a basic yeast dough recipe, um, to add kind of like that tanginess almost that's in Hawaiian rolls it's pineapple juice is the liquid.
[45:00] Allison Weeks: Really?
[45:00] Allison Weeks: Oh, that makes sense.
[45:02] Jessica Wood: Yeah, yeah.
[45:03] Jessica Wood: And then I I think I've used a recipe that does sugar and one that does honey, but it is a pretty.
[45:10] Jessica Wood: It's a more amount Than what you would normally use for that sweetness?
[45:14] Jessica Wood: Oh, okay, cool, but I just can't get the texture quite right.
[45:18] Allison Weeks: Oh, okay, and so it's more of it.
[45:20] Allison Weeks: It's not.
[45:21] Allison Weeks: You feel like you've got the taste, you just don't have the texture.
[45:23] Allison Weeks: Quite right.
[45:23] Allison Weeks: Okay.
[45:25] Allison Weeks: Yeah, all right.
[45:26] Allison Weeks: Well, maybe, since you haven't perfected that yet, I can get your biscuits and chocolate gravy recipe and share with everybody in the newsletter, if you wouldn't mind?
[45:38] Allison Weeks: Yeah?
[45:39] Allison Weeks: That'd be, yeah, that'd be awesome Cause I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's like I got to try this chocolate gravy business.
[45:46] Allison Weeks: Okay, let's talk about the art of home a little bit.
[45:50] Allison Weeks: So how do you see homemaking as an art, and where do you find beauty in the art of homemaking?
[46:01] Jessica Wood: So when I was thinking about this question, I was thinking, like with any art, so if anyone is an artist and they're creating something, some people have a natural knack for creating things.
[46:14] Jessica Wood: You have a natural, you know, ability to do that and for some people there's a learning curve.
[46:20] Jessica Wood: Yeah, and I feel like for me it was definitely a learning curve, but I think the way that you approach it as an art is, any artist is going to try to perfect or get just right what they're creating.
[46:45] Jessica Wood: And I feel like, especially if you are a woman of God and you're trying to serve the Lord and you feel called to home, making you should be trying to perfect that art Not that it's going to be perfect, but you should strive for that Because it's something you're trying to create.
[47:04] Jessica Wood: You're trying to create a home, just like an artist is trying to create a piece of artwork, and you're going to try to make it as pretty and as enjoyable as possible.
[47:15] Allison Weeks: Yeah, yeah, I love that answer.
[47:17] Allison Weeks: I think maybe I know exactly what you mean.
[47:20] Allison Weeks: But when we say that word perfecting it we think we have a lot of negative connotation because we don't want to be perfectionists.
[47:25] Allison Weeks: But maybe excellence is a better word.
[47:29] Allison Weeks: You know, we, as an artist, would strive for excellence in their artwork.
[47:33] Allison Weeks: They would strive to make their painting or their sculpture excellent to the best of their ability.
[47:39] Allison Weeks: And I think we can look at home making the same way.
[47:44] Jessica Wood: Right.
[47:45] Allison Weeks: Yeah.
[47:45] Allison Weeks: So where are you finding the beauty?
[47:49] Allison Weeks: Because there's a whole lot of stuff about home making.
[47:51] Allison Weeks: That's not really beautiful.
[47:53] Jessica Wood: It's so wonderful when you have people living in your home and they like living in your home.
[48:01] Jessica Wood: Yeah, Because I mean I might not like doing the dishes after dinner every night, but when I do the dishes and the kitchen's clean and the house is picked up, I'm making it comfortable.
[48:14] Jessica Wood: This person enjoys living here.
[48:16] Jessica Wood: I enjoy living here.
[48:17] Jessica Wood: That's where it's a beautiful place to be, but the actual work of it is not always beautiful.
[48:28] Allison Weeks: I like that way of looking at it.
[48:30] Allison Weeks: I love the way you said that we're aiming for people to enjoy living in our home, whether that's us or our husband or our kids.
[48:41] Allison Weeks: That's a good way to think about it?
[48:43] Allison Weeks: What about thankfulness?
[48:45] Allison Weeks: So what's something about home making that you're thankful for, and how has gratitude improved your experience of keeping a home?
[48:58] Jessica Wood: Earlier I mentioned something about getting myself out of the way, and one thing I'm so thankful for is not only keeping a home, but living with another person.
[49:09] Jessica Wood: When you've lived alone for a while.
[49:11] Jessica Wood: It's not fun to see, but it does bring some of your faults to light.
[49:18] Jessica Wood: I have realized me and Dallas have had several conversations just talking about, before we were married, how selfish we were.
[49:28] Jessica Wood: You have to get that out of the way in order to make it a good place to live.
[49:37] Jessica Wood: Homemaking has forced me to not be a selfish.
[49:42] Jessica Wood: It can't be about me anymore.
[49:43] Jessica Wood: All the time.
[49:44] Jessica Wood: There's someone else that has to be cared for, and it shaped me to be better, to not just think about myself all the time.
[49:54] Jessica Wood: I'm so thankful for that.
[49:57] Allison Weeks: That's a wonderful thing to recognize you both.
[49:59] Allison Weeks: Recognize it too is good, because when you're living by yourself, you don't recognize it because it's just you.
[50:05] Allison Weeks: It's not until you get that close contact with another person and the friction there is what brings out the things, and God uses that to refine us, and so it can be painful at times, but the outcome is good if we yield to it and we listen to what he has to say and to teach us through that, that's really great.
[50:30] Allison Weeks: Well, let's wrap up our time today and we're going to talk to some of the other women.
[50:36] Allison Weeks: So we're going to talk to the older women and the younger women.
[50:40] Allison Weeks: How would you say, how can older women help your generation of homemakers thrive in their practice of the art of home?
[50:49] Allison Weeks: What do you need help with?
[50:49] Allison Weeks: What do you wish they understood about your experience, and how can they enter in and minister to you and help you?
[50:59] Jessica Wood: For me personally, I do gravitate.
[51:02] Jessica Wood: I feel like to like older women.
[51:03] Jessica Wood: I enjoy listening to stories and experiences.
[51:06] Jessica Wood: So for me, what would help me is to have those older women in those generations before me make themselves available to listen and to share their experiences.
[51:23] Jessica Wood: There's so much wisdom.
[51:27] Jessica Wood: There's so much wisdom.
[51:29] Jessica Wood: I love to hear that kind of stuff.
[51:32] Jessica Wood: But they don't always want to hang out with the young generation because they think we're just all clueless and careless.
[51:42] Jessica Wood: We all kind of get lumped into this generation where I feel like the older generation thinks that we're just a little flighty.
[51:54] Jessica Wood: What generation are?
[51:57] Allison Weeks: you, are you millennial.
[52:00] Jessica Wood: I'm a millennial.
[52:02] Allison Weeks: I know All the generations.
[52:04] Allison Weeks: We all have a bad rap in one way or another, like the boomers and I'm not a boomer, I'm an exter and we're all just cynical and we don't trust anybody, which is kind of true.
[52:17] Allison Weeks: But it's not your right.
[52:19] Allison Weeks: We can't just lump people into these categories, because that's not really seeing the person.
[52:24] Allison Weeks: So, yeah, I like that.
[52:27] Allison Weeks: So be available, make yourself available.
[52:30] Allison Weeks: What about to the younger women?
[52:32] Allison Weeks: What would you say to a younger woman coming behind you, maybe to just encourage her?
[52:44] Jessica Wood: One thing I would say, because I really struggled with this, was to manage your expectations.
[52:51] Jessica Wood: Not because homemaking and marriage aren't wonderful they are, it is wonderful but if you set your expectations so high and you don't meet them, you're going to feel like a failure, because that's just how we're wired we.
[53:08] Jessica Wood: We want to get things accomplished and we have these Expectations of this is how I'm gonna be as a wife and this is how I'm gonna be as a homemaker.
[53:15] Jessica Wood: And then when you get married, you don't live up to the idea that you had, that you were gonna be, and, and so then you see yourself like not good enough.
[53:27] Jessica Wood: So I would just say Re-evaluate and adjust as needed.
[53:35] Jessica Wood: Try to keep your expectations manageable.
[53:37] Jessica Wood: I mean, it's wonderful being married, keeping houses great, but you have to adjust for those things that you're not prepared for.
[53:47] Jessica Wood: And I feel like if you reevaluate Even before you enter into it, reevaluate your expectations, adjust what needs to be adjusted.
[53:56] Jessica Wood: That way you don't have to do it later on.
[53:58] Jessica Wood: I felt like I had to do it when we were already married and it was way harder because there were so many times I felt like I wasn't a good wife and I wasn't keeping a good home, but that's because I was expecting myself to be something that I just couldn't live up to at that time.
[54:16] Allison Weeks: Yeah, that's a good word, and I mean I will say to you, I think, do do that work.
[54:23] Allison Weeks: Yes, I agree with you to the younger women really take a good look at what your Expectations are and and go into it not with low expectations, but just hold them loosely, I guess right.
[54:35] Allison Weeks: And then, even after you're married, even after your 10, 20, 30 years in, I'm constantly reevaluating my expectations and making sure that they Aren't unrealistic, making sure that they're not selfish or, you know, whatever it is.
[54:52] Allison Weeks: I'm trying to Manage expectations because that, to me, that's one of the number one areas where where I get into trouble is when I have certain expectations and I feel like they're not being met, and I'll either react in anger or, you know, sorrow or Frustration or any number of negative ways.
[55:11] Allison Weeks: So managing expectations is huge, I think, for the homemaker, to it's a, it's a good practice to be in all the time.
[55:18] Allison Weeks: So, yeah, well, jessica, thank you so much for sharing your story of home with us.
[55:26] Allison Weeks: It's really been a joy to get to spend this time with you and get to know you and hear your story.
[55:31] Jessica Wood: Thank you for having.
[55:32] Jessica Wood: I've enjoyed it thoroughly.
[55:34] Allison Weeks: I'm so glad you're welcome.
[55:35] Allison Weeks: Thank you so much for listening to this homemaker portrait of Jessica wood.
[55:40] Allison Weeks: I hope you have been inspired and encouraged in your practice of the art of home through listening to Jessica's Stories and ideas and that you found something that will inspire you as you go about your good work in the home.
[55:53] Allison Weeks: I was inspired by Jessica and some of her practical suggestions and just her perspective again to be reminded that Homemaking in all its various aspects does not Necessarily come naturally to most of us.
[56:09] Allison Weeks: Actually, it's not a skill You're just born knowing how to do.
[56:13] Allison Weeks: You have to practice.
[56:14] Allison Weeks: That's why I called this podcast the art of home, because, just like any art, it is something that you need to first learn the fundamentals of and then master those fundamentals over a very long period of time by practicing over and over again.
[56:30] Allison Weeks: That is how you grow.
[56:31] Allison Weeks: That is how the fundamentals of any art that you're trying to practice come more and more naturally to you.
[56:38] Allison Weeks: We've talked about this before on some of our past episodes, about how it can seem so overwhelming in the beginning because your baseline on some of these Skills is like at zero.
[56:49] Allison Weeks: You just have no point of reference, you have no skills, and so any effort towards improving in that area whether it's cooking or cleaning or organizing it's gonna feel monumental because you have not practiced those muscles, you haven't Worked on that skill enough to reach a baseline that is not necessarily mastery level, but at least a basic level of competency.
[57:15] Allison Weeks: Then you can work on growing and mastery.
[57:17] Allison Weeks: Where we really have to be careful is when we start to compare what our baseline is with what somebody else's Mastery level is.
[57:24] Allison Weeks: If I'm at baseline on a skill and I look at my neighbor, the lady down the street or the lady on Instagram and she's at a mastery level and then I try to compare, that's not a fair comparison.
[57:35] Allison Weeks: I don't know how many hours and hours of practice have gone into her being a master at.
[57:40] Allison Weeks: You know, laundry or sourdough or Scheduling kids, home school.
[57:46] Allison Weeks: What I don't know, fill in the blank.
[57:47] Allison Weeks: Just be careful when you look at other people and compare.
[57:51] Allison Weeks: Rather than comparing, look at others and don't assume it just comes naturally to them.
[57:55] Allison Weeks: Assume that they've worked really hard to get to that level of mastery and then approach them and ask them to help you Grow in that area.
[58:04] Allison Weeks: That's why community among homemakers is so, so important.
[58:07] Allison Weeks: Yes, there is value in community online.
[58:09] Allison Weeks: I'm not dissing that and saying that there's no value there.
[58:13] Allison Weeks: Definitely take advantage of that.
[58:14] Allison Weeks: But also community in real life.
[58:17] Allison Weeks: Go find those ladies who have mastery in areas that you are lacking in and pick their brain and sit under their tutelage and learn from them, because it doesn't come naturally to everybody.
[58:27] Allison Weeks: You're not the odd one out because you're struggling in a particular area of your homemaking, and I think that's what Jessica was talking about.
[58:33] Allison Weeks: She was starting to realize that it's okay that things don't come naturally to her in her homemaking.
[58:37] Allison Weeks: That's why it can be such a fulfilling job, which she said was so surprising to her.
[58:43] Allison Weeks: When she started doing this full time after being in the workforce Forced full time with the job that really fulfilled her, she wasn't expecting homemaking to be so fulfilling, and I personally believe that a lot of that fulfillment comes from tackling those areas where you are lacking and doing the hard work of Practicing the art over and over again until you reach a level of mastery.
[59:04] Allison Weeks: Not perfection, but excellence.
[59:06] Allison Weeks: Remember that's what we talked about the difference between those two words.
[59:10] Allison Weeks: We're not looking to be perfect, because we know that's not possible.
[59:13] Allison Weeks: We are looking to be excellent in the work that we do in the home, because that's what honors the Lord and it honors this occupation of homemaking that we are called to.
[59:24] Allison Weeks: If you would like another weekly dose of homemaking inspiration and ideas and thoughts and devotionals occasionally, make sure that you're subscribed to our free weekly newsletter, homemaker happy mail.
[59:37] Allison Weeks: It goes out every Friday at midnight, the Friday right after this episode airs.
[59:43] Allison Weeks: We'll have everything extra from Jessica's episode.
[59:46] Allison Weeks: So, yes, she is going to share her chocolate gravy recipe with us, so that'll be in there.
[59:52] Allison Weeks: Her recipe for her homemade laundry soap is going to be in there, and any extra links or anything that we discussed, I will make sure those are all in those detailed show notes that go in the newsletter.
[1:00:03] Allison Weeks: There'll be some extras there for me as well, so make sure you're signed up.
[1:00:07] Allison Weeks: Go to the art of home podcast comm Subscribe.
[1:00:11] Allison Weeks: If you have found value in today's episode, you can show us some Appreciation and love in one of the following ways.
[1:00:18] Allison Weeks: Number one, share this episode with someone you know who would be inspired and encouraged by Jessica's story.
[1:00:24] Allison Weeks: Number two, leave a rating and a review on your favorite listening app.
[1:00:29] Allison Weeks: And then, number three, if you're so moved, you can leave us a tip and our virtual tip jar by Mia.
[1:00:34] Allison Weeks: Coffee Tips are given in five dollar increments.
[1:00:37] Allison Weeks: You can give one, two, three or as many coffees as you would like.
[1:00:41] Allison Weeks: Just go to buy me a coffee.
[1:00:43] Allison Weeks: Comm Slash the art of home.
[1:00:45] Allison Weeks: Well, that is it for today's episode and for season 15.
[1:00:49] Allison Weeks: I'll be thinking about you guys next week and I'm at the podcast conference and but then I'll be back the following week with all new Homemaker portraits of listeners, just like you.
[1:01:00] Allison Weeks: Until then, keep practicing your art of making a home.

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