Science Proves What We Always Knew

If you dress like a slob, you'll behave like a slob and people around will perceive you as one, while dressing sharply and professionally will increase the success of your performance:

If you want to be a big-ideas person at work, suit up. A paper in August 2015 in Social Psychological and Personality Science asked subjects to change into formal or casual clothing before cognitive tests. Wearing formal business attire increased abstract thinking—an important aspect of creativity and long-term strategizing. 

(From Scientific American)

So here you have it from the mouth of scientists, modern sloppy "casual" way of dressing decreases abstract thinking and destroys creativity, while dressing in formal attire produces "the feeling of power". There is a reason dress codes exist in business and finance and legal profession.

Now what does it do to a woman's self-esteem to constantly wear what was traditionally considered male attire and could at best be described as unisex clothing? Or for an adult man, husband and father to wear baggy shorts with flip-flops on a daily basis? Or for a housewife to spend her whole day in pajamas?

Dress for success, not for failure!

An average American 1950s family doing shopping:

An average American 2016 family doing shopping...
Well, never mind!

Pumpkin Pie Dessert

This is my version of a pumpkin pie recipe from Gooseberry Patch's Family Favorites.

You will need:

4 eggs
2c frozen pumpkin cubes, cooked
cinnamon
1tsp salt
1c sugar
ab. 1 1/2 c coffee milk
2c flour
ab. 2tsp baking powder + 1tsp baking soda
ab. 50g butter

In a bowl, combine eggs, cooked pumpkin, cinnamon, salt, sugar and coffee milk. Add baking powder/soda mixture and flour, blend together but don't overmix. Transfer into an ungreased baking dish, drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 175*C/350 F for ab. 50 min. or until done. Serve with ice cream/whipped cream. It tastes delicious!

The Art Of N.C. Wyeth

N. C. Wyeth was an American artist and illustrator. Born in Victorian times, he created his most famous works, including the illustrations to Treasure Island in the early 20th century, had overall a very successful career creating about 3000 paintings and illustrating 112 books, became a father of 5 children who inherited his artistic talents, but unfortunately, was killed in a car crash at the age of about 63 together with one of his grandsons.

Brought up on a farm he spent much time outdoors engaging in such pursuits as hunting and fishing and his sense of observation helped him later in his works. N.C. Wyeth had a keen interest in Native American culture, spent some time working as a cowboy, painted farm scenes and illustrated books about European history, such as Robin Hood or The White Company.

Below are some of his paintings courtesy of WikiArt:

Lancelot and Guenevere:

A Native American:

The Scythers:

The cover of Treasure Island:

You can read more about N.C. Wyeth on Wikipedia.

Here is the link to his works on WikiArt.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

"Leave" Wins Brexit Referendum

One Day In Germany

So on Saturday we drove to Dusseldorf, to visit some relatives of mine. Above is the cake they baked for us (guess which sort it was?:)

Below are some pictures:

By the Rhine, that's how high the water stands.

Media Haven

Watching football in a local pub (don't worry, my beer was alcohol free:)

Germans were celebrating Midsummer

Rhine boulevard

That's about all.

On Cattiness And Staying Positive

Cattiness is something most women will have to deal with in the course of their lives. The modern word for catty is passive-aggressive and this particular form of nastiness is much more typical for females though there are enough men nowadays who also exhibit passive-aggressive traits.

There are two chief ways to be catty, it's either making disparaging and discouraging remarks about things other people hold dear or asking malicious questions, especially about things other people prefer not to talk about. Of course, some folks are just inquisitive by nature and don't necessarily mean harm, but most of us can distinguish pretty well between friendliness and even curiosity vs maliciousness.

Cattiness is often driven by jealousy and the feelings of inferiority. The good example of a catty person in literature is Lucy Steele from Sense And Sensibility. She makes a great show of befriending Elinor but her only objective is to to gloat over the misfortunes of the latter and try to profit from their friendship by all means possible. Elinor, being a much superior individual, never answers her in kind.

Lucy Steele is hardly portrayed as a role model yet by some strange reason many women delight in denigrating each other and being as mean to other females as possible. Sometimes I just wonder why so many ladies who often have good husbands and healthy children appear to be so dissatisfied with their life that they feel the need to constantly attack and demean those of their sisters who demonstrate a modicum of satisfaction with their circumstances. It's like some other woman being content is an insult to them.

Our society in general thrives on negativity. MSM are constantly trying to either shock or guilt trip us, there is constantly a crisis going on apparently; and if things are OK in your own country at the moment you are supposed to worry about the looming WWIII, a civil war in some third world country, global warming (caused by evil Westerners) and stuff like that. It went so far I seldom watch the news any more.

The Bible teaches us to rejoice with those rejoicing not go around spreading doom and gloom and being overall wet blankets and please don't forget that looking at the bright side is a choice!

Blueberry Dessert

Based on a recipe from Gooseberry Patch's Recipes for Comfort, however, I adjusted it.

You will need:

3/4 c + 1tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
1c buttermilk
2c flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2c melted butter, divided
1pkg (250g) frozen blueberries
ab. 2 tsp cinnamon

Mix 3/4 c sugar and olive oil, add egg and buttermilk, beat together. Add flour, one cup at a time. Add salt, baking powder and approximately the half of butter. Stir in frozen blueberries and transfer the mixture into a greased baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1 tbsp sugar, the rest of butter and cinnamon, spread over the top of the cake. Bake at 175*C (350* F) for about 35 min. Enjoy!

Summer Projects

Mias Landliv is no more, so I had to become my own source of inspiration, and that's what I made out of an old pair of jeans, two tea towels and an apron I didn't care for:

The cat loves this chair so I thought a sturdy cover was a good idea:

And this one:

For the other chair:

My next project will be placemats. I had some fabric over which I had used for the backing (featured above) , the rest of the apron, and two shirts:

                     

It'll probably take me a longer time to finish this one as there are more pieces to put together, but we'll see!

The Meaning Of Marriage

Let's go back to basics. Here is what our wedding liturgy from the 16th century says about the true meaning of marriage (translation mine):

The reasons for which God established marriage:

 First, that both spouses will support and help each other faithfully in all things both worldly and spiritual.

Second, that when they get children they will raise them with true knowledge and fear of God for His honour and their salvation.

Third, so that everyone will avoid all indecency and evil lust and will live in good conscience  because to avoid fornication every man should have his own wife and every woman her own husband. That's why everyone who reaches adult years and doesn't possess a gift of continence according to God's order should consider themselves bound to enter matrimony according to Christian rules and with consent of their parents, or guardians and friends so that the Temple of  God, which is our body won't be defiled.

Please Don't Do It!

Here is an interesting article on tattooing written from a Christian perspective.

I'd add one more reason to the 7 he already gives: tattoos are trashy, especially big ones and especially on women. The reason they are so popular nowadays is that our society and culture are going down the drain as reflected in our fashions and our entertainment. Not so long ago the only females who would decorate themselves with tattoos were prostitutes and/or those belonging to the criminal underclass. Outside of hipster circles it's still mostly lower class phenomenon.

Please don't do it!

Summer

Sorry for the long absence! That's why:

Ave Maria