I'm an homemaker by choice in a feminist country- Guest post for my sweet friend Ashley!

Hello everyone!!!

Today I'm guest posting at my sweet friend Ashley's blog!  

I'm so happy and excited, also because it's my first guest post!!!!

Please take a moment to visit her wonderful blog! You will be blessed and encouraged!

Life of a stay at home wife in Italy!

Staying home is not encouraged here. Really. Here if you don't have a job outside home, you are considered a a financed woman.
This is not the best place if you want to be an homemaker.

It's sad, but it's true!

This mentality is much more strong and common in the north of Italy since about 1980. Before this year, being a housewife was considered normal , rather encouraged! Femminist call this "changeover" emancipation. 

No comment!

Anyway...I happen to live just in the north. Wish me luck! :-)

About children I don't know a lot because sadly I'm not a mother yet. But I'm a daughter and I was a kid too!
I live in the country and I can tell you that there are many play areas for kids, a lot of big and beautiful gardens. We have a wondeful public library in which there is a beautiful and well provided section for children. I remember when I was used to spend entire afternoons there, I was amazed by that big quantity of books! 
I just felt like Alice in wonderland!
Beside you can find a lot of supports in our church: they have a lot of activities for children every day! In particular during summer they organize "Estate ragazzi", that means Summer for children, a program that includes a lot of beautiful trips and outside activities so children can stay together, have fun and and socialize.

Now what about an Italian wife?
It doesn't matter if you are a stay at home wife or a career woman. The watchword and our common target is stay together!!
It doesn't matter if you had a hard day at home if you are an housewife or at work you have a job outside.
There is always time and wish to organize parties, dinners...Every single moment, it's a moment to celebrate.

A new job for husbands? A birthday? A sport match? the first day of summer, spring, winter and fall? Did you buy a new car? A new home furniture? Did you find something yummy at the market? ok, it's always time to celebrate! 

You immediately forget everything, you feel on vacation! We women, wives, daughters start to cook all together...one will cook pasta, the other yummy meat dish, the other the dessert..so in 10 minutes we fix yummy and king sized dinners! It's time to party! 
Hospitality is loved here and I love this!

During summer and spring we organize wonderful barbecues...this is a job for men..we women go about barbecue sauce and beverages!

A hot summer evening? Ok, we all go to have a wonderful and refreshing ice cream...I loved this when I was a child, but I still love it now!

The watchwords are family, stay together, the simple things are always the best.
This is our "dolce vita"
And I love this!

Much love,
Gege

Thank you so much Ashley!!!!!!

Much love,

Gege

Wordless Wednesday..

Much love,
Gege

I LOVE YOU MOM!

I love you mom.

Always.

A message from God for you!

Sometimes I'm used to open my Bible and to choose randomly a page to read.

I do this because I ask God: "Please, tell me something you think I should know", as I talk to a friend..and you know that God is our BEST FRIEND!

So this morning I found this:

1 Kings 3:9-13

⁹ Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish good from evil, because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help.”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked for this instead of requesting long life, wealth, or victory over your enemies—asking for discernment so as to acquire good judgment— ¹² I will now do just what you said. Look, I hereby give you a wise and understanding mind. There has been no one like you before now, nor will there be anyone like you afterward. ¹³ I now also give you what you didn’t ask for: wealth and fame. There won’t be a king like you as long as you live.

When I read these verses, that have been found randomly, I close my eyes a moment and then I try to find the message.

So I take a piece of paper and a pencil, then I start to write..

1. Sololom made a very wise request: he is not selfish, he doesn't think just about himself, but he wants to help other people! Infact he doesn't ask anything for him.
2. He says "to govern your people": we all belong to the Lord! What a blessing!!!!
3. God really likes Solomon's request, he says "I want to give you what you ask for!". God listens our prayers and He wants to help us.Always.
4. He loves us! He, just like a father, wants us to be wise, not selfish. Really like a father, when we try to have a good way of behaving, he reward us with a lot of blessings! Infact He says that he will give Solomons a lot of wonderful things, that weren't object of his request! God is so generous! He wants an abundant life for us.
5. Solomon made a specific request: don't say "please God help me!". Instead, ask God to help you in what is in your heart, please describe in detail your problem. He will listen! We must be at God's disposal to receive what he wants to give us. But to to this, we have to show God what is in our heart, what we think, our troubles. If you go to your friend because you have a problem, if you tell him/her "please help me!", your friend surely will ask you what is your problem and what he/she can do for you. So God is your best friend and he wants to know in detail you and your problem.

I thank God today for this message.

It's a precious gift!

So did you receive your message from God today?

Gege

Zucchine alla parmigiana

Happy Sunday!

This is the special dinner I was talking about here.

Zucchine alla parmigiana
Ingredients:

• zucchini
• salt
• homemade tomato sauce
• eggs
• pecorino cheese
• breadcrumbs
• frying oil
• mozzarella cheese (better) or cheese slices (I have them today at home!)      

So let's see how to do it with this photo tutorial:


First operation

First, turn on the oven at 180 °C (about 356 °F).
Then slice the zucchini and to be faster, please put the things in this order.

Heat up the oil and....

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Fry all the zucchini slices, so you will have this:

Ok, the first important operation is finished.
Then the situation in my kitchen was this:

While the zucchini get a little cold, I have cleaned my worktop, that was really in a bad condition!

So I have prepared the second operation:

Now you can see also the cheese slices, that missed in the first ingredients photo (I'm sorry!).

If you have mozzarella cheese, it's better!

So let's start with the photo tutorial:

Step 1

Step 2 - First layer covered by tomato sauce, grated pecorino cheese and cheese slices 

Step 3 - Second layer covered by tomato sauce and grated pecorino cheese

Step 4 - In the oven at  180°C (356°F) for about 1 hour

After one hour, finally you will have this:

  

Buon appetito!

Much love,

Gege

What to do when a husband had a bad day at work?

What to do when a husband had a very bad day at work?

1) Pray, pray, pray for him. 

2) Support him with all your heart.

3) Listen him.

4) Try to bring him peace.

5) Do something to confort and relieve from his trouble.

6) Tell him you love him and that you are proud of him (I am!)

So I decided to do something special for dinner.

This thing I have written now could be considered silly or superficial.

Ok, you could say...Gege, when you have a problem, a good dinner is not enough to solve or change the situation.

But a good dinner is a metaphor.

When you have problems in your life, it can be hard. You think about your problem over and over again, night and day. And believe me, it's true. I know.

Maybe you feel that you have your back to the wall.

Maybe you think you don't have any way out.

What can you do in a situation like this?

Is there something that can make you feel better?

Yes, there is something.

First, God knows and is watching you.

Second, the love of your family.

Outside you can live in a terrible jungle, but when you come home, you close the door at your back.

Stop.

Close your eyes.

Silence.

You are in an other world.

You are like in Heaven.

Just breathe and thank the Lord.

Open your eyes now..it's all ok.

You're at home.

Ok, your problem is still here, but now as you start walking heavily, someone of your family is coming to greet you with love.

Suddenly your heart gets warm, you feel relieved.

I know this sensation. 

Priceless.

You know that someone was waiting for you.

For you.

You know that it's doesn't matter what happened before, you have a huge quantity of unconditional love, all for you.

Isn't this sensation wonderful and priceless?

Yes.

I think you are feeling better.

I do.

I have read in this book and others that our husbands are our Protector and Provider, so it's clear that they have a lot of responsibilities.

So, with all these responsibilities, don't you think that you could feel overwhelmed?

I think yes.

If a husband comes home after a hard working day or with a problem, maybe with a sad and afflicted face, doesn't he deserve to feel these sensation too?

Believe me, if he comes home and finds his wife, love, help meet there, with a smile that says "I'm here for you", a peaceful, clean home, a sweet smell of cozy and good dinner, if he comes home knowing that he's in his safe harbor, where is understood and loved, it doens't matter what has happened outside.

Now he's at home.

That counts.

Tomorrow is an other day.

Tomorrow he will go out and win his war.

He's not alone.

Love is energy.

Love is invincible.

Love is all we need.

Much love,

Gege

http://www.yestheyareallours.com

Money saving operation to do when my husband watches sport on TV

Good morning everybody!

Today it's a vacation day here in Italy! It's called "Festa dei Lavoratori", that means that today we celebrate all the workers.

So relax today!!!!

I married my sweet husband one year ago, so I think I'm still a beginner homemaker!

In this year I have tried to be a better homemaker everyday, but I have to say that I have a lot of things to learn!

To understand this, it's sufficient to see how my bathroom was before my recent decluttering (here)! And you will see very soon our wardrobe...

(Everytime my mom comes here to visit and she looks that wardrobe, she always says..."Oh dear!!! Is this the way of keeping a wardrobe?". And I say..."No, mom, I know". 

Now when she saw my new bathroom, she said: "Am I dreaming?"

Anyway!

One of the best thing to do when you want to run a efficient household is trying to save money. 

So recently I have discovered that buying a larger quantity of food at my local market, they offer us a big discount, sometimes 50% off!

So this Saturday I have bought a big quantity of catalogna chicory.

The price was 1 euro/Kg, but I have paid 0,60 euro/Kg! Almost 50% off!!!

So I have washed, cooked and put in my freezer.

Here in detail:

First I have separated the stalks (hoping is the correct english word!) from the leaves and washed:

While the water was boiling in the pots..

Then I have cooked for 5 minutes the stalks, because they are harder than the leaves.

Then I haved added the leaves too:

I have cooked for others 5 minutes and then drained all.

Now a very important step: after draining, I have immediately put fresh water on the cooked catalogna chicory to stop the cooking (in italy we say "fermare la cottura"), so the vegetable remains green and a pretty crisp.

Then I used plastic bags for freezer, these ones:

I wrote the name of the vegetable (because in the freezer it's difficult to understand if a bag is full of spinach or other green vegetables) and the date, so finally:

I think it is really a good idea to save money and time too.

In this way I have always something ready and healthy for dinner, when I don't have much time to cook or I have unexpected guests!

My husband was so happy for this "operation" that now he would like to buy a bigger freezer to allow me to freeze other things!

And when he's happy, I'm happy too!

Thanks for reading this post!

Gege