A quote

I just found this quote and I love it!


"I've never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. "
RebeccaWest, 1913


It pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole feminist thing.

Man is the weather nice here!

I am writing this now so I can look back on this in July and remember that the temperature is not always blazing hot. It is probably in the low 80's out today and the sky is a beautiful clear blue. I have the windows open all over the house and the ceiling fans on. It has been so nice all week that I think I am going to have to go shopping for summer clothes for my son before too long. Although we always seem to have one last cold spell after it starts to warm up, so we'll see. It is so nice out today that I even hung the diapers on the line. I love the sight of my diapers drying on the line. Makes me feel all earthy and environmentally conscious (which I normally an not too great at).

Last week

Well last week was pretty good for me. I decided to write out a schedule of daily chores since I felt that I was not getting anything accomplished and I always felt that I should be doing housework when I was taking some time for myself. I did really well with the schedule, it wasn't a full flylady weekly home blessing, but it was more than I had been doing and I felt good about it. I even managed to work in anti procrastination day on Wednesday. I had not cleaned out under my dryer since we moved into the house three years ago so I pulled the dryer out and cleaned and vacuumed out the duct, although I didn't get much out and I am probably going to have to call in a professional. I also finished the knitted wool soaker that I was working on for my daughter. I am very proud of myself, it turned out great and didn't take as long as I thought it would. I bought the wool for it on January 17th and finished the soaker on February 3rd. I have already started another soaker for her. I have been enjoying using the wool covers for her.

A couple more pictures

I wanted to add these pictures of my kids to the last post and blogger wouldn't let me, so here they are.

A Few Stashbusting Projects

Well this is the second time that I am writing this post since my window crashed the first time. Hopefully I can remember everything.

I completed a stash busting and scrap busting quilt last week and gave it to my sister on Saturday for her baby shower. This is a string-x quilt a-la Bonnie. This is pretty much identical to one that I have made before. I have been making the string blocks as leader/ender pieces and before I know it I have enough to make a quilt. I intend this to be a quilt that gets used and abused. I used my favorite batting for kids quilts, dream angel batting. It is flame retardant and I just feel better that they are sleeping with something that could help them in the event of a fire.

The other two finishes are both bags, one for me and one for my son. The one for me is from a pattern in the Winter 2006 Quilts and More magazine. I used recycled corduroy for the outside and a reproduction 30's fabric that I just love for the inside. I am using this bag for my knitting. the other bag is for my Cars obsessed son so that he can carry his own toys, drink, snack etc. The bag is made out of some Cars fabric that I bought from Walmart to use for a tablecloth for his 2nd birthday. the inside and handles are made from a worn out pair of my husbands pants. I decided to use the heavier pants material so the bag would have some body without having to use interfacing.

My daughter had her 4 month check up today, she currently weighs 15# and is 26" long. That is 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. I apparently don't make small children, my son has always been big for his age too. My daughter remains an avid breastfeeder and has not been showing any interest in solids, which is just fine with me. My son didn't much want solids until he was over 7 months old also. Today she got 3 shots and an oral vaccine. I feel so bad for her, she has been fussy all evening, I am sure that she is not feeling so well. On top of that she is getting two teeth in the bottom front. The teeth have not broken through yet, but you can see that they are there. Developmentally she can roll from her back to her belly and my husband says that she can roll from her belly to her back but I haven't seen it yet. Also, when she gets on her belly she has been pulling her legs up like she is trying to crawl. I am so not ready to have two mobile kids.

My sons is doing well also. In the last month or so his vocabulary has just exploded. it is so amazing to watch him learn. For Christmas we got him a book about potty training and he has been showing a lot of interest in using the potty so we have been letting him use it when he asks. I figure as soon as it is warm enough here for him to wear training pants and a t-shirt I will make a more concerted effort to get him to potty train.

How lucky am I

I am not exactly a stay at home mom, but close to it. I work 2-3 12 hour shifts a month, the rest of the time I get to be a stay at home mom. I am very blessed that my husband makes enough money to allow for this lifestyle. I often think about how society feels that childrearing is an acceptable profession if you are getting paid for it (as is a daycare worker), but is not an acceptable thing if you are not bringing home a paycheck. This thought process also often makes me think about how much is enough. Since I have a very well paying job, my paycheck for my three shifts a month is often close to what a daycare worker working full time would make. Yet, I encounter people who feel that I am somehow a slacker or lazy because I don't put in 40 (or more hours) a week at a paying job. Trust me I put in at least 40 hours a week just trying to keep up with everything that goes on around here. It's sad how little value society puts on raising kids. I would be deeply dissatisfied if my kids spent the majority of their time with someone other than my husband or I.

Many people would probably classify me as a feminist, but I believe that the feminists have done women a disservice. The whole notion that women can bring home the bacon and then fry it up and put it on the table is totally flawed. In their haste to get women into the workplace there was no sharing of the workload. There was no societal shift of a shared burden. Women were expected to go to work and then come home and do the same amount of work that they were doing before they got jobs. This is bs! If women are to work outside of the home then men need to pick up the slack. Heck raising kids is exhausting enough that even if women don't have a paying job, men need to help out. This is my opinion, if you don't agree then you are entitled to your opinion, but this post has been in my head for a while and I finally decided to sit down and write it out.

Some new pictures

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Williams. This is little boy's first time playing in the snow. We are such warm weather people that I had to borrow the coat, hat and gloves from a friend. The hat that little girl is wearing was made by an Aunt of mine, she also has a blanket to match. I love this hat and keep it in the car so that I can put it on her when we go out.