Five Things I Learned From Martha

Martha Stewart is a wealth of information. She has teams of people at her disposal to research, invent, and advertise. Whether you like her or not, you can't deny that she is the go-to person for great homekeeping, cooking, gardening and crafting tips.

Here are my top 5 awesome things I have learned from her:

1. How to clean a copper pot

This actually does work! Cut a lemon in half, dip it into coarse salt, and rub it on the exterior of your copper pot. It removes a lot of the tarnish, although a professional cleaner is needed for it to really shine.

2. How to make your liquid dish soap look pretty

Fill an olive oil decanter with your favorite dish soap. I've been doing this for years and not only does it look nice, I end up using less soap as it dispenses slowly, like olive oil would.


3. What the chrome bowls under electric coil burners are really for

They look like fancy drip catchers. I used to line these with foil to avoid having to clean them so frequently. The truth is, they reflect the heat from the coil burners and therefore should NEVER be lined with foil. As a result, I do clean them frequently in the sink with soapy water.

4. Kitchen shears

I don't know why it took me so long to realize the value in a pair of kitchen shears! I love to use them for cutting up chives, bacon and for opening messy food packaging. I used to keep my shears in a drawer along with my other utensils, but now they have a place of honor with my knife set.

5. How to be like Mary and not like Martha

This may be an odd thing to have learned from the queen of perfect. I am a perfectionist myself -I want things to look perfect, I want to be perfect and I struggle with knowing that I am far from perfect. But I am learning as a believer to be a Mary instead of a Martha. I am trying to slow down, listen, and sit at the feet of Jesus instead of worrying about how to impress Him (and others). I have a long way to go as I just know that if He were to come to my house, I would struggle greatly with not trying to rush around in a panic to cook and clean and, well ... appear to be perfect. He would see right through that! So while Martha Stewart is the queen of perfect, I don't have to be. Besides, Martha has a whole company to do things for her, I just have little ol' me.

Now I must resist the urge to fluff up the slumpy pillow on my living room couch ...