A VERY BUSY SUMMER...PART TWO

SO…How was YOUR summer?



The season seems to go SO fast!...At least here in the four-seasons’ country…

I hope at least...

You made time for fun…





Were able to slow down...



That you took time to contemplate...





To sit a spell...



To figure out the pieces of your life...



I hope that you made time to enjoy the companionship of family...



Even if the children were tired...;)





SOME HAPPENINGS IN MY SUMMER…PART TWO



PUTTING MY DOG DOWN…

I had to put Hercules down on July 25…

That is never an easy thing to do, especially after I waited so long for the little guy...

But, as we all know…

Life isn’t always easy…



MANY MANY HOURS AT WORK...
.
.
.
MANY LONG HOURS WITHOUT SLEEP…

Because I work nights and also work some days...

The last several weeks have been very busy…

Trying to organize my schedule!

I just finished 80 hours with only 2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep…:/

But, it will be better from here on out, I am sure...:0)

It must!

Otherwise...

You know what they say...

Work your fingers to the bone...

Whada Ya Get???



Bony fingers! Ha Ha!



A SAYING THAT I LIKE…

"I hate when people punch my abs, and they break their hand."



Ha Ha Ha! Now, I only wish it were true!



AN ONGOING CHALLENGE…



For quite a few years now…

Nine to be exact…

I have wanted to return to school...



The Lord has closed those doors to me, in a very real way. I know that He has a plan, but it has been very hard to have the faith that I need to have. If I can’t go back to school to either change and/or better myself for my professions, I would love to be a full-time homemaker…

My home is where my heart REALLY and TRULY is at…It is in my every fiber, and I must admit that I get jealous of the ladies who are privileged to stay home…

Jealousy is not good, I know…I do hope that they realize their great blessing, though.

I really need to get stronger and have more faith….

And…That is what I am working on. :0)



HERBS!...

I have so been enjoying watching my beautiful organic herbs grow! I love them! I didn’t cut them back near enough (was having too much fun watching them get big ;) but am drying some for later cooking.



These mint leaves are from a plant that my daughter sowed last year…The plant is huge!



I planted both regular and garlic chives…



I guess I wasn’t thinking when I planted all of the herbs in an above-the-ground box rather than in the soil…

Likely they won’t winter over…



So, I am going to try bringing them inside…We’ll see what happens.

Lemon Basil…

AND...

Lavender…



A NEW CELLAR DOOR…

The old one was…Well…Old…

DH did such an awesome job in fabricating this new metal-framed door to take the place of the worn out wooden one. The guys then riveted steel over the frame for a super sturdy door!



MY BOY ACHIEVED HIS BLACK BELT!

With all of the worry about getting video footage for him to review, I didn’t get one still-shot! I can’t actually believe that! I am Mrs. Takes-Pictures-of-Everything!

Anyway…Is this one proud mama? Uh Huh! Elliott’s instructor said that he was one of the fastest ever to go from white to black belt (gloat…;)



A plus for me is that I’m able to learn a little bit here and there, which can really come in handy at work.

DB has a great advantage in that he doesn’t LOOK like he could hurt anyone...

He doesn't have the Arnold look...

Or...

The...

Ape look...



He’s tall, lean, and unassuming. A fourth-degree gentleman that he trains with has the same type of frame. But, don't let outside appearances fool...

They can pack a wallop!

Elliott actually received two Blacks that day…

AND…

I was about three feet from him when he broke the cinder-block slabs…Oh yeah!



YUP…One DOUBLE-PROUD MAMA here!



CHERISH YOUR FAMILY, MY FRIENDS…



We never know...

How long...

They will dwell upon this Earth…

HAVE A PRODUCTIVE WEEK...(And bless someone while you're at it;)

WORKING WOMEN PART II

I inadvertantly left out my sources for the first part of this post. They are as follows:

SOURCES

http://cct2.edc.org/PMA/modern_women/.
http://www.msad54.org/sahs/socialstudies/finely/1920s/1920HK/women.html.
http://school.discoveryeducation.com
www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/.../20th/guys
http://www.alternet.org/story/48370/-

Now, more on working women of the last century...

THE 1960s…

“More women are getting jobs outside the home. By 1969, 43 percent of women are in the workforce, up from 25 percent in 1940. And more of these women are wives and mothers. In 1960, over 30 percent of married women work, up from 15 percent in 1940.”

These number surprised me…I didn’t realize that that many women were working outside of the home in the 1960s. Possibly that was because my own mom was a homemaker during this decade…She didn’t have to go to work until my youngest brother was nine. I was a teenager at the time and so consider myself lucky that I got to have my mom at home for the majority of my growing up years.

Oddly enough, history nearly repeated itself, and I was home until my youngest was eight. It is sad to me that he didn’t get a mom who stayed home and cooked for him. Unlike the girls, I think that his memories do not entail all of the homemade dinners, gardening, and canning. But…I can’t turn back the clock.

Feminism was rapidly rising in the 1960s…PAUSE…

I just had a sweet experience…Boy, who I just mentioned and who is leaving tomorrow for college, just came in. He has been cleaning out the attic and brought down a couple of mementos. He had with him a file box, with labels that I made him for homeschooling, and a cape that he used to fly around in…The cape was an old towel that I had sewed a button on. They were dear to him, and that meant a lot to me. So…I guess that he DOES have some fond memories of growing up!

Back to the 60s…



This picture says it all…

You can tackle domesticities and an outside job at the same time…

I’m not sure who they were trying to fool, but a whole nation bought into the myth…

“The Women's Movement of the 1960s and 1970s had its roots in the new opportunities and freedoms for women during World War II. Following war many women who were forced to return to their roles as housewives grew frustrated and suffocated, as the women who began to enter or reenter the workforce grew dissatisfied with their second class status, clearly visible in little to no room for advancement, unequal pay for the same work (fifty-nine cents on a man's dollar), sex-segregated help wanted ads, and the legality of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, which did not exist as a legal concept at the time.”

As to sexual equality, I feel that the Lord made us all equal, as far as our worth. I also feel that men and women are different and were made for different purposes. Due to the latter, the women’s liberation movement was not all good for sure…



I like that my husband is strong and can take care of tasks that I can’t…I don’t feel any need to prove that I am just like a man, because I am not. Likewise, he doesn’t feel any need to prove that he is like a woman…

I also very much enjoyed taking my husband’s name when I got married and feel special when I use the title “Mrs.”. To me, hyphenated names are a ludicrous, and the title "Ms." is ridiculous.

These things all came about during the same decade that prayer got taken out of schools. What in the world are we trying to prove anyway? Do we just want to throw God away and, at the same time, become a unisex society?



SOURCES

http://school.discoveryeducation.com

WORKING WOMEN PART I

THE 1900S...

"At the turn of the century women's social roles greatly expanded. Before then, most women's lives centered on their labor in the household--caretaking, cooking, sewing, cleaning, and gardening. By 1900, industrial society was drawing more and more women out of the home and off of the farm and into the worlds of work and public life."



Many of the jobs that they did were an extension of what they already did in the home, for example, sewing.



Do you remember in Mary Poppins where the lady of the house goes out for “the cause”, which “infuriated Mr. Banks”? Women, at that time (and this is set a decade earlier), wanted a voice. Aside from the admirable desire of getting the vote, what was that voice, and how different is it from the voice women (or some of us) want today?





THE 1920S...

“For 72 years, women fought for the right to vote. Their struggle came to an end in 1920 when the 19th Amendment was passed. It may have been the first step towards ending discrimination, but it was still the beginning of many struggles to come. The ideal role of women was to get married, have kids, and stay home to keep the house in order, and leaving the men to run the country and corporations and be the head of the household. Women set out to step out of the norm and go against the general agreement that women belonged at home.”



How far the pendulum has swung! After having been repressed for so many years, as far as not having ANY voice, women wanted to emerge into main stream.

Now, they certainly have what they wanted! All, in all, it is probably good, for who wants to live as a lesser-than? But, and there is a “but”…

It has gone too far…

Society now relies on a woman’s income…On women working, not only out of the home BUT also IN the home…It is a frazzled life, indeed.

On top of that, if you don’t have a piece of paper saying that you’re valuable, you’re pretty much nothing, as far as working society is concerned. In the 80’s, one could talk their way into a lot of jobs and from there work their way up. Now, if you don’t have a degree to clip your fingernails, you’re out of luck.

So…One ends up in the throws of the blue-collars using your body, until it finally gives out, more than your intelligence, and believe me, you don’t need a degree to have intelligence!

Many of us today, I believe, would rather put our physical AND our mental efforts into our own homes...

On to the next decade...

THE 1930’S…

“By 1932, the Great Depression [had] left 12 million people out of work in the United States. Women [were] discouraged from ‘taking jobs’ from men. Some states even pass[ed] laws against hiring women. But, many women [had to] work—despite low wages and miserable conditions—to support their families. By 1938, more than 800,000women belong[ed] to unions, three times the number in 1928.”

This film was also set a decade earlier than the 1930’s but depicts Mrs. Bucket, of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, who is also a woman who must work out of the house to provide for her needy family and extended family…

So, while women did indeed work in the early part of the century, society did not rely on them like it did during World War II and today.



THE 1940s…

“One such [1940s] worker was Mrs Nicklin, who was described in a booklet produced by Guy Motors in the 1940's as one of Wolverhampton's most hard working women. Although scarcely five feet high and about seven stone in weight, she worked a 55 hour week at Guy Motors, brought up 8 children [she originally had 11, but the others died] and on Sundays cooked, washed, cleaned and mended for her husband and family.”



Women like this flat amaze me.

THE 1950S…

“A baby is born. A child develops a high fever. A spouse breaks a leg. A parent suffers a stroke. These are the events that throw a working woman's delicate balance between work and family into chaos."

"Although we read endless stories and reports about the problems faced by working women, we possess inadequate language for what most people view as a private rather than a political problem. ‘That's life,’ we tell each other, instead of trying to forge common solutions to these dilemmas."

"That's exactly what housewives used to say when they felt unhappy and unfulfilled in the 1950s: ‘That's life.’ Although magazines often referred to housewives' unexplained depressions,…”

Well of course they were depressed! They were only human beings yet expected to do it all! I don’t see any difference today…We are STILL just human beings—not super humans; yet, working women are still expected to do it all. There is one consolation, and that is that I do see and hear of more men helping out some. I definitely believe that that is a minority, however.

And, why do you think that there are so many ads on TV for antidepressants? Part of the population, at least, that they are reaching are the working women.



I remember two decades hence, my own mom having to go to work…Temporarily.

She never quit until she retired 20 or so years late…

She worked full-time and had three of us kids at home, along with all of our homework and school activities to deal with. We helped with the chores, but she was the one who was responsible for them. I love my dad, and Dad always did and still does work extremely hard. That said, he came from the generation where the women did the housework, so regardless that Mom worked, she still did all of the cooking, cleaning (with the exception of what we did), ironing, grocery shopping, and clothes shopping…You name it, she did it. The poor woman was stressed out! My word; how very sad! I applaud her with all I have, as she did it well. The house was always clean, and meals were ALWAYS full-course, nutritious, and beautifully prepared. And...We were always dressed well.

I remember Mom trying to hold down her job and home, while her parents were both in need of physical care. She would travel the 50 miles to their house, over and over again, to take care of their needs. It was a great strain on her.

To be continued...

THE BLESSINGS OF WORK

SCORES FOR WEEK OF MARCH 29, 2010...

There are six days in the week…I have decided not to do anything...Even putting out my laundry on Sundays…(I may do it but am not requiring it of myself)…It is the day of rest…

There are three chores a day…Morning tidying of bedroom…Specified Evening chore…And...Night-time tidying of living room…

There are a total of 18 chores a week…

This week, I got 15 out of 18 of them done for a total of 83%...I have noticed that with such low numbers...

I can only miss one chore a week to be able to obtain a 90%...There is not much room for error there!

I actually did Thursday’s Night chore on Friday, so with that figured in, I did a total of 16 out of the 18 for a total percentage of 89%.

It helps to keep a running daily tally, as I can see where I did well, as above, and where I need to improve the next week…

This week’s improvements will be in eating more healthy and exercising.



Today, I will be focusing on working women…Since I must do it, I am spending some time on it here…

Work days are indeed busy…The pace of the day…The pace of the world is quite unlike that of the housekeeper or housewife who can make her own schedule…



I am lucky in that I have two different jobs, each of which requires a different attire…

At one, I wear tennis/working-on-your-feet-all-day shoes…



At the other, I dress up…



I am so thankful that I don’t have to work in a sweat shop…

And that I get paid more than these poor workers do…(Something to think about when I am bemoaning the fact that I have to work)…



It is, indeed, a fine art combining Fashion and Work…



With taking care of the Animals and Housework…

AND…Making time for Family, Exercise, and the like…





Many women enjoy working…

It is invigorating for them, after previous decades of repression…



Some women like to work…

To get them out of the “drudgery”, as they see it, of house…



A few women have to work…

Disabled husbands, deep debt, and other maladies...

Or...

Just an unwillingness to live below a certain standard of living…Drive these women into the work-force…



Regardless of the reason, there are many of us out there fighting our way up the ladder, battling the female jealousy (And believe me…There is a LOT of that), and trying to keep some semblance of normalcy to our lives and pride in ourselves…

There are perks for sure…

When I worked at the Estee’ Lauder sales counter, my makeup closet was filled to the brim!

All sorts of lipsticks and creams adorned my dressing table…We were sent to school every few months and given free products…

And...Who doesn't like free stuff?!



Uniforms were supplied…And I ALWAYS smelled pretty for my husband!

Their products really were divine, and Estee’ Lauder herself was quite the woman…



As we were placed at the front of every store (a requirement of Estee' Lauder) and amid the other cosmetic and perfume counters, there was opportunity for goodies of all kinds…



The Hospital...

Working at the hospital…I have been able to get Free Health Screenings…Gifts…

And most importantly…Free advice ala immersion…

I hear so much from the experts just by being around them, that my knowledge has exponentially increased over the years…Now THAT is a Benny!



My other job...

At my other job, I am fortunate enough to get free textbooks and am able to learn an unlimited amount on the human body, it’s anatomy, and physiology, and pathophysiology…

Being able to do this and to share it with others is a GREAT advantage that I am blessed with…



Next week, one of the students will be having a cyst removed from her lung and has asked the surgeon if I may attend the surgery to video tape it…I am quite excited about the prospect and am praying that he will agree…

So…As they say…(Whoever “they” is)…

There is a GOOD SIDE to everything…Even work!

Have a wonderful and organized Tuesday!