Lets train: Like

Showing posts with label Like. Show all posts

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Working Like a Man or How American Feminism Failed Part 2

As the 1960s dawned, so did the birth of feminism in earnest. Many arguments exist in regards to how the women’s movement gained steam. One theory is that the jobs were there waiting, so the women’s movement was a reaction to market pressure combined with a loss of national focus on families and childbearing (such as Marvin Harris in his book Why Nothing Works). Another theory, associated with Joan Williams in her book Unbending Gender argues that the women’s movement was a reaction to an actual loss of status of women as homemakers toward the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s which was caused by women exiting the home and entering the workforce in increasingly larger numbers. It was at this time that the seeds of what we now refer to as “the mommy wars” was born (Anticipate an extensive exploration on that topic throughout the month of June). As the movement gained steam in the 1960s, American feminists focused more on redefining and redistributing gender relations which involved challenging the roles that women and men performed in the home and at work on both a public and private front. This in turn gave birth to the concept of equal rights, equal pay and being treated as equals in the workforce. Women at this time began challenging their entry into traditionally male professional positions as well. As Sylvia Ann Hewlett wrote in her book, A Lesser Life: the Myth of Women’s Liberation in America;

The slogans of the day were extraordinary: Marriage was hell, sex was political, coitus was killing, married women were prostitutes, babies were traps, intercourse was rape, love was slavery, families were prisons, and men were the enemies.

The problem with this push for equality is that the workplace was not asked to conform to the addition of women, specifically mothers, but that the mothers were asked to conform to the workplace. As a result, women ARE treated equally. They are expected to work 40+ hours, they are expected perform at the same levels with the same time commitments as men. In many ways they achieved their dream of equality: they compete equally in a workplace that still assumes that someone is at home taking care of the children and the home but without the supporting addition of the family wage. Now there is the assumption that most households subsist off of two incomes, unless the family has enough economic advantage (or is disadvantaged enough to secure assistance) to subsist off of one.

At the same time in Europe, in the 1960s, women and feminists were challenging things on a drastically different front. European feminists contrasted with American feminists in that while they experienced a similar shift of mothers into the workforce it has been supported through government benefits while the United States offers less governmental support for child care than does any other industrialized nation. European women focused their movement on the difference rather than equality and reconfiguring what would be considered the public and private spheres (what is considered private responsibility and what is considered public responsibility) rather than the American re-distribution of gender. In other words, they challenged that the family belonged in the public sphere and that instead of assuming that childbearing belonged within the privatized sphere of the family they fought for the idea that child care should be a publicly supported endeavor. As a result most European countries have generous, paid maternity leaves, easily available part-time jobs , subsidized child care and subsidized preschools for all children. The economic costs of these programs are offset by the reduction in turnover and the wider pool of labor looking to remain in the workforce (Ann Crittenden, The Price of Motherhood). In other words, few of the choices that European women make create an undue burden on their long-term financial future, at least not in the way similar choices would affect women in America. For example, when a woman in America chooses to stay home, she does not just lose salary, but a long-term security because she is not paying in to social security, thus becoming economically dependent on her spouse.

In conclusion (just in case you were wondering if I would ever get here) there was American feminism and its focus on re-coding gender stereotypes through “equal rights” and European feminism which focused on providing specific help for women’s unique gender positions. The result for American women was that they are expected to compete “equally” in a work environment that still operates under the assumption that all domestic labor (child care, domestic chores, house cleaning, laundry and other family maintenance) is being performed by someone who is still at home (an extensive subject to be addressed in future posts). So women are supposed to work 40hrs a week and compete equally without any compensation for having to place children in child care, or having to either hire a housecleaner or add a second shift. Meanwhile, in Europe, women are enjoying their “special status” as women and are much less conflicted in their roles as both mother and employee, seamlessly passing between the two.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I don't know about you, but decorating my house for Christmas is something I look forward to every year. I just love the way that our home feels during December....twinkling lights, Christmas music playing 24/7, baking cookies, the smell of the Christmas tree...it's just a magical time.

Growing up, the day after Thanksgiving, our family would load up in the car and head to the Santa Cruz mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. It was one of my favorite traditions.

Kevin and I did this the first 5 years of our marriage (before we had kids) And we have have done it about 3 times since having kids. There is nothing like going into the mountains & chopping down your tree. So fun.

We hadn't gone since 2010, but because of the California drought (and dry trees) and busy schedule we decided to postpone again (nothing worse than cutting down a tree that sheds tons and tons of pine needles)

When we don't go to the mountains to cut down a tree, we would go to Home Depot (ugh) but 2 years ago, we ended up getting a tree at Lucky (which is a grocery store) It was an awesome tree, so we have gone there the past 2 years. We went there again this year, but the trees they had there didn't look so good, so we went to Home Depot again. All those trees were too skinny, so we left and went to a local tree farm in our town, which is where we ended up getting our tree. It was almost double the price than we usually spend, but I am all about supporting a local business, so I didn't mind paying a little bit more.

Next year maybe we will head back to the Santa Cruz mountains and cut down a tree!

2 years ago, I gave up "control" and let the girls decorate the entire tree by themselves.

Kevin and I put the lights on, but let the girls to all the ornaments.

They do a great job! The first couple of years the spacing was a little off, but this year, the tree looks so great.

It feels good to "let it go" and just let them decorate how they want to. I remember my mom let my sisters and I decorate the tree how we wanted when we were kids.

So, here is a little tour of how our house looks decorated for the holidays!

Christmas cards displayed on the window by our dining room table. I love seeing all my friends beautiful families!

As you can tell, I love using ornaments as decorations :)

One of my favorite decorations is our Willow Tree Nativity Set that we got for a wedding gift 14 years ago. I love it.

For the kids, we have the Little People Nativity Set. They love playing with it!

Kevin's mom made this Advent Calendar for us when Kate was born. It is all handmade with felt & burlap. All the Larson kids/cousins had these growing up.

Nighttime views....because Christmas decorations are so much prettier at night.

Our staircase:

Other Decorations around our house (I like to keep things very simple because I don't like a lot of clutter!)

In our family room, I just have a glass Christmas tree on a side table:

And some JOY letters above our TV:

In our kitchen, I have a Merry Christmas banner hanging up:

I have some ornaments on the kitchen table:

I have a wreath on the kitchen window:

Very simple decorations in the kitchen:

It's a fresh wreath, so it smells good. I added some lights to it so that it twinkles:

Front Porch:

Kate made this snowman with her Girl Scout troop (the other side is a pilgrim, it's so cute)

This year, Kevin's mom snuck into our house on December 1st and put mini trees in each of their rooms.

They were so excited & they think they are from our Elf on the shelf :)

Speaking of our Elf..... that is another main decoration we have in our house during Christmas! Our Elf on the Shelf is named Candle.

For the first 5 years that we had our elf, he arrived on the first Sunday of Advent which is the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Last year we waited until the first Sunday in December because we wanted to have one less week of dealing with the Elf :) We left this letter for them:

(A little background: Marshmallow the Elf is Candle's "sister". A few years ago, Claire wanted us to have a girl elf instead of a boy elf, so I bought an elf skirt at Target. One of the mornings that the Elf arrived, the Elf had the skirt on & a note saying that Candle was sick, but Marshmallow (his sister) would be filling in for a few days. So, since then, Marshmallow makes an appearance 1 or 2 times each December)

The kids loved the letter last year (and Kevin & I loved the fact that we delayed the Elf by a week) so we decided to leave them a similar one this year:

So, just like last year our elf left a letter saying he was asked to be a part of the "N.E.W.T" (New Elf Training Program) Our kids thought it was so special our elf was chosen to be a part of it.
And, I loved that we only had to do the elf for a few weeks instead of a month.
You better believe our elf was asked to be a part of the N.E.W.T again this year.
Feel free to this idea :)

So, this past Sunday, Candle the Elf arrived...He is always in the same spot on day 1....in the bowl of ornaments on the coffee table in the living room.

Hi Candle!

Candle brought their new Christmas jammies & a new DVD.

Candle also brought our 24 Christmas books of Advent all wrapped up...1 to read each night (we will have to double up some nights because we started late!

The kids were so excited to see that Candle had finally arrived.

We do Elf on the Shelf slightly different in our house. Our elf does not "watch" the girls and report back to Santa. That is just not our style. Our Elf just likes to move around each night & the girls look forward to finding his new hiding spots. It is the first thing they do each morning.

And, I don't really do elaborate Elf ideas. Most of the places our Elf hides are simple. Maybe 1-2 times a week I will do something more elaborate, like a snow angel with flour, fill the sink with marshmallows in their bathroom like the Elf is taking a bath, but mostly we just move him around.

And, because I have forgotten to move him in years past, last year I started setting an alarm on my phone...anyone else have an alarm for their elf? Every night at 10:00 it goes off :)

Now that the girls can read (and sometimes play on my phone, I don't have the reminder set as Move the Elf.....I just put "You've got to move it, move it!"
Remember that song?!?

Thanks for taking a peek into our simply decorated house.

I love the way our home feels during Christmas.

The twinkle lights, the warmth, the anticipation of Christ's birth.

December is just a magical month, don't you agree?

++++++++++++

If you haven't entered my $250 Amazon Gift Card make sure you enter {HERE}

Giveaway ends this weekend!

Saturday, June 3, 2017

What Saturday Mornings Look Like

Saturday mornings *might* be my most favorite time of the week.

I think this is because both Kevin & I are working parents, so Saturday mornings symbolize sleeping later and not having any where to go.

We LOVE unscheduled Saturday mornings.

In the Fall, Kate played soccer, so for a few weeks, she had games on Saturday mornings.

This Spring she played T-Ball, so for the past couple months have had games on Saturday mornings.

But now, the season is over, so we are back to our regularly scheduled lazy Saturday mornings & I love them. I cherish these lazy Saturday mornings and I know when my kids are grown, I will look back on these Saturdays with fondness.

Here is what our lazy Saturdays look like....

It really starts off on Friday night, when Kevin & I set up the girls cereal on the kitchen table.

On Friday night we set out a bowl of cereal for each of the girls.

We started doing this about a year ago & it has bought us at least another 30 minutes of sleep on Saturday mornings.

In the fridge, we have 2 glasses of milk poured so that in the morning they can reach their milk & pour it into their cereal. (We aren't winning any Parents of the Year awards here....but this is what we do)

After the girls have their cereal, they usually come back upstairs & jump in our bed. We watch Yard Crashers. They love it & so do we!

Then, Luke usually wakes up, so I nurse him. After I finish nursing, we all head downstairs.

While he snacks on Cheerios, the coffee is brewing.

Coffee. My BFF. Can't function without it.

(LOVE my Anthropologie mug. LOVE.

On Saturday mornings, I like to make fun breakfasts, like cinnamon rolls, coffee cake or my Monkey Bread.

My helpers:

Yum.

Kevin is usually in the backyard mowing the lawn or doing yard work:

While the fun breakfast is in the oven, we watch The Pioneer Woman.

Every.Single.Saturday.

The girls LOVE this show. They call it "Charlie The Ranch Dog"

I *try* to catch up on laundry on Saturdays, so there is always a load of clean laundry on the couch that I fold while we watch.

Love these lazy mornings.

Monkey Bread ready to eat.

After we eat our "Fun" Breakfast, the girls usually color.

I know once the kids are older we won't have lazy Saturday mornings like this because we will have activities, sports, etc.

Our Saturday mornings in the Summertime look a little different, we usually walk or ride bikes downtown to Starbucks, the bagel shop or the Farmers Market.

I really do cherish these lazy Saturdays during the school year when we have no morning plans & can spend the morning at home in our pj's :)

Hope you are having a great Saturday & having a great start to the 3 day weekend.

I am thankful for those who sacrificed their lives protecting our country.

What do your Saturday mornings usually look like?

P.S.

I am LOVING all your responses/votes on this post for what dress I should wear to the wedding next month.

I will ABSOLUTELY let you guys know which ones I order. Maybe I will try them on & have you vote on the finalists :)
This morning I saw this one that is now almost half off. I might need to add it to the list!
I'm going order dresses later on this weekend! Thanks for your input!