To be honest, since I've become a mom I've really wondered how far we have come. We being women. Now we are not only expected to keep a tidy house, raise good children, feed the family, and be a general family manager, but now we MUST significantly contribute financially as well. It can be a bit overwhelming. Often a lot overwhelming, at least for me.
Yet all these thoughts flew out the window when I was at the park last week with my son. First of all I was aggravated because even in the year 2013 people still light up cigarettes around children. It doesn't make a difference if it's open air or not! Get that thing away from me and my family!!
My son is a bit of a daredevil when it comes to play and I'm the kind of parent who believes in letting him try out what he wants to do (within reason). Of course J is not satisfied with the 4 and under playground, so we headed over to the big kids playground. He led the way onto the "ship." It's a neat playground near the river. The equipment was just replaced from what was there when I was a kid. The new one is made to resemble a pirate ship, you know, if pirate ships had slides to exit and rock climbing style ladders to board.
And now we're to the point where I get really upset. We go to the park later in the afternoon so it's not too crowded, so only J and I (I do insist on following fairly closely when he fancies himself to be a big boy) and a group of 5 children around age 8 to 11. A little girl is the ring leader and sets the stage for the play game. Naturally they're pirates. The ring leading girl begins a story telling a younger boy she will need to be saved as she is helplessly drowning at sea...
Why couldn't she swim?
Why in this day and age do girls still think they need to be saved by boys?
Why couldn't she be heroic? or brave? or at least fight for her life?
Why couldn't one of the boys be the floundering victim?
Why are women still painting ourselves as helpless?
Why are helpless women put on a pedestal?
I really wanted to scream at this little girl, but I realized it's not her fault she thinks this way. This has be replaying in my mind for weeks and it still bothers me. Hopefully, this post will help me put it to rest.
Thoughts?
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and some odds and ends...
The last few months have been jam packed with holidays, end of semester and start of new semester craziness, and sickness that brought my entire extended family to their knees, including me (I haven't been seriously ill since 2009!).
I've had a few recent commissions that I wanted to share. Here's the first twin set I created which happens to coincide with Dr. Suess's birthday. These went to some very special babies in New Hampshire.
And here is a newborn version of my Girly Penguin Earflap hat that headed up to Massachusetts on Monday.
Here is the hat for the hippest baby on the block. If there are any teenagers in your life, you'll recognize that these are my spin on Beats headphones which are quite the status symbol! One of my students commission and helped me design this hat for her cousin! Oh, and its not my dyslexia kicking in, the "b" is upside down because these were made for a little guy named Patrick, so we swapped the "b" for a "p" to personalize them.
And here is a newborn version of my Girly Penguin Earflap hat that headed up to Massachusetts on Monday.
Lastly (which I failed to notice until today due to the crazy month I had in February), Kate Nesi has some of my work featured on a little guy in her blog.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
26 Acts of Kindness #1
I've wanted to jump on the whole 26 Acts of Kindness bandwagon but January is such a busy months I knew it wouldn't happen till finals were over (today). Add in the fact that I have an 18 month old and a tight budget, it's probably going to take a lot of time and creativity, but I am committed.
#1
This was inspired by my husband discovering about 30 oz of frozen breastmilk in our deep freezer. J no longer takes bottles (though he still breast feeds--the WHO recommend this to 2 years old and beyond FYI, just because American culture doesn't widely accept it DOES NOT mean we're weird or it will give a kid a complex--stepping off soapbox). There was really no reason for me to keep it because by the time I have another kid, it won't be good anymore.
So I found an organization called Human Milk For Human Babies. It operates from Facebook to connect mothers with milk to those in need.
I connected with another mother who needed milk because she had to have a mastectomy shortly after her daughter was born. She lives close to where I work. My donation was small, but any breastfeeding advocate will tell you that every ounce is like liquid gold.
Another mother on the website had another 80 ounces she was ready to donate. She happens to live near me. Things just worked out so perfectly. I picked up the other donor's milk and met up with the family in need today!
#1
This was inspired by my husband discovering about 30 oz of frozen breastmilk in our deep freezer. J no longer takes bottles (though he still breast feeds--the WHO recommend this to 2 years old and beyond FYI, just because American culture doesn't widely accept it DOES NOT mean we're weird or it will give a kid a complex--stepping off soapbox). There was really no reason for me to keep it because by the time I have another kid, it won't be good anymore.
So I found an organization called Human Milk For Human Babies. It operates from Facebook to connect mothers with milk to those in need.
I connected with another mother who needed milk because she had to have a mastectomy shortly after her daughter was born. She lives close to where I work. My donation was small, but any breastfeeding advocate will tell you that every ounce is like liquid gold.
Another mother on the website had another 80 ounces she was ready to donate. She happens to live near me. Things just worked out so perfectly. I picked up the other donor's milk and met up with the family in need today!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
When Nail Polish Remover Doesn't Cut It
So I painted my nails for the first time since my son was born over the holidays with some Ulta nail polish I found while doing some organizing. I tried to take it off after 2 days because it began to chip, which I can't stand! As you can see, acetone nail polish remover just didn't cut it.
I panicked, worried my nails would stay that color until they grew out. After throwing the nail polish in the garbage I began brainstorming solutions. Since I always have it on hand and it works on so many other things, I pulled out the vinegar and baking soda. Here's what I did:
1. Soak nails in vinegar for 30 seconds.
2. Stick nails in baking soda.
3. Gently massage nails.
4. Dip fingernails in vinegar.
5. Rinse with water.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Exciting Moments: Hudson's Photoshoot
In November I custom made a Sutton hat for little Hudson in blue and white (guess who his parents' favorite baseball team is). Here is the first order from Erma's Inspiration's to be featured in a newborn photoshoot! Amazing work by Kate Nesi!!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
New and Improved Laundry Closet
The laundry closet was one of the things I was most excited for when we bought our house, and now that we've lived here a while, it's become one of my greatest frustrations.
Initially I was excited because the house I grew up in and most of the homes near our house have laundry in the basement. Our laundry area is one step outside of my bedroom door! Though now I do wish I had a full room dedicated to laundry. The grass is always greener right...
The first problem occurred when we bought our washer and dryer. The installers had to remove the doors to get the machines in. We had to reinstall them a couple inches out to allow us to get to the detergent/bleach drawer. We try to combine being thrift and eco-friendly, so of course we have a HE frontloader.
For the last 2.5 years, if I wanted to use bleach or any other additive I had to open the bifold doors about 2/3 of the way in order to have enough space open the drawer. Then I had to snake my arm in to pour in the additive. It wasn't a big deal at first, but the longer we lived here the more annoyed I became, and so I searched for a solution.
Pinterest had a few great ideas like putting inexpensive normal doors there but there's just the teeny problem that the laundry closet is in a standard hallway and they'd be a roadblock (and probably a fire hazard) when open. My searching led me to Johnson's Full Access BiFold Door Hardware Kit. We installed these in September and I could not be happier! We kept the same bifold doors, now they just open all the way, which gives us easier access and more storage space :)
Unfortunately I was not terribly organized in this space either. Our guest bath has no storage, so the extra towels get stored here. Add to that that we're a family that likes to stock up when things go on sale and I refuse to store my cleaning supplies in the basement (it's scary down there). It led to a big mess. Finally while on a Home Depot run with my husband, I persuaded him to buy me another shelf to take advantage of the 4 feet of storage space we have above the only shelf in the laundry closet.
I didn't realized I was going to blog about this or I would have taken a true before picture, but here is what it looked like shortly after we installed the new shelf. That entire shelf that's half empty is usually cluttered with cleaning products, linens, an iron, a steamer, and miscellaneous other household items.
The added shelf space allowed me to get more organized.
Now there is a place for everything and everything is in its place! I even have a bin for singleton socks! . We're in the process of becoming a green family, slowing replacing chemical ridden product with more natural ones, so you'll see that here. My everyday use basket includes All Free and Clear Detergent, Bounce Unscented (for work clothes-- as much as I want to get rid of these I can't stand the static cling, Bac Out in a small spray bottle, Rock-n-Green detergent for cloth diapers and undershirts- we may completely switch over to this for everything once we use up the All, and vinegar. I picked up that blue wire basket at Target today; it's perfect for holding my wool dryer balls which reduce drying time by up to 75%
I'm sort of ashamed all those hangers are still there but they aren't recyclable, so I feel awfully bad throwing them out when they're still useful.
For an update click here.
OR
And maybe
Initially I was excited because the house I grew up in and most of the homes near our house have laundry in the basement. Our laundry area is one step outside of my bedroom door! Though now I do wish I had a full room dedicated to laundry. The grass is always greener right...
The first problem occurred when we bought our washer and dryer. The installers had to remove the doors to get the machines in. We had to reinstall them a couple inches out to allow us to get to the detergent/bleach drawer. We try to combine being thrift and eco-friendly, so of course we have a HE frontloader.
For the last 2.5 years, if I wanted to use bleach or any other additive I had to open the bifold doors about 2/3 of the way in order to have enough space open the drawer. Then I had to snake my arm in to pour in the additive. It wasn't a big deal at first, but the longer we lived here the more annoyed I became, and so I searched for a solution.
Pinterest had a few great ideas like putting inexpensive normal doors there but there's just the teeny problem that the laundry closet is in a standard hallway and they'd be a roadblock (and probably a fire hazard) when open. My searching led me to Johnson's Full Access BiFold Door Hardware Kit. We installed these in September and I could not be happier! We kept the same bifold doors, now they just open all the way, which gives us easier access and more storage space :)
Unfortunately I was not terribly organized in this space either. Our guest bath has no storage, so the extra towels get stored here. Add to that that we're a family that likes to stock up when things go on sale and I refuse to store my cleaning supplies in the basement (it's scary down there). It led to a big mess. Finally while on a Home Depot run with my husband, I persuaded him to buy me another shelf to take advantage of the 4 feet of storage space we have above the only shelf in the laundry closet.
I didn't realized I was going to blog about this or I would have taken a true before picture, but here is what it looked like shortly after we installed the new shelf. That entire shelf that's half empty is usually cluttered with cleaning products, linens, an iron, a steamer, and miscellaneous other household items.
The added shelf space allowed me to get more organized.
I'm sort of ashamed all those hangers are still there but they aren't recyclable, so I feel awfully bad throwing them out when they're still useful.
For an update click here.
Ideas for the future:
Top Pinterest Picks
OR
And maybe
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
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