International Womens Day

Yesterday was International Women's day and tomorrow is Mother's Day, so with that in mind I have decided to reflect on women's current social situation, in recent times I have become concerned by the way women's equality seems to have been subtly eroding in our society.  In spite of the work many amazing women have done for women's rights and women's liberation throughout history women are still discriminated against and their status devalued in the most insidious of ways.  I listened to a radio interview with Columnist Hadley Freeman yesterday and it really struck a chord with me.
Her objection is to the use of the word "mum" or "mummy" as a prefix to many words for example entrepreneur (mumtrepreneur) suggests that the only source of value that an entrepreneurial mother might have is in the fact that she is a mother, as if her entire identity is defined by the fact she is a mother and nothing else.  Motherhood is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon any woman and to talk about it in this way is demeaning, there is even a hint of surprise in the words as if *shock horror* a woman who is a mother can do other things apart from care for children, or even, in the case of the acronym MILF that a mother might actually be attractive!
Here is a link to the really interesting interview:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016089r
I am also a bit concerned by the current fad for an idealised 1950's lifestyle with the woman grinning inanely with a home made cake and a Cath Kidston apron.  It's as is we have gone back in time.  I obviously don't object to women staying at home to look after their children, it's what I am currently doing after all, what I dislike is the image of the subordinate woman with no brain, and of course the fact that in the 1950's the lifestyle was not a choice but more an expectation, where as my staying home is a choice amongst several options open to me.



There has also been a trend for denouncing feminism which boggles my mind a little.  I think some women want to disassociate themselves from an incorrect stereotype of a feminist which they perceive to be butch, aggressive and a man-hater, of course the definition of feminism is about equality for women (who doesn't want this right?) , I wish more women realised this. This again comes back to choice, something which feminists strongly defend.  I recently have read several blog posts and newspaper articles which criticise women for their choice for full term breastfeeding (breastfeeding for 2 years or more) this blog post from renegade mothering explains it much better than me and this one.  (I have more to say on the subject of breastfeeding actually since reading The Politics of Breastfeeding.)  Actually she just writes better than me generally, what I particularly hate is women criticising other women for their choices, now that is messed up.  I know this blog is supposed to be about everything beautiful blah blah blah, but today I feel annoyed. So back to the point, now we are attacking each other!!  That really is messed up, can't we let women choose their choices and let them be happy?
So to summarise this slightly chaotic and angry blog post, over this weekend that celebrates women in all their forms can we start to accept women for who they are and stop trying to change them into what we think they should be?

maternity leave: days seven, eight and nine

Oh dear, I am not keeping up with my maternity leave diary!  Well I haven't really had anything exciting to report.  On Sunday I had the ladies from my NCT group over for another afternoon tea.  It was lovely chatting with other pregnant women, all due to give birth around the same time as me.
Baby has been really active the last couple of days, like crazy active, it's still not in the right position though, it's back is on my right hand side and it is much better for its back to be on my left before birth because it makes it easier during labour (apparently).  I have a midwife appointment tomorrow, so it might have moved by then, we will have to wait and see.  I keep feeling its foot in my side and grabbing it and saying "foot" loudly so maybe it will know what its foot is, or will recognise the word "foot" after it's been born.
Today I spent some time writing my birth plan, or as I have called it "Birth preferences" because nothing ever goes to plan. I want to have as natural a birth as possible, but at the end of the day I just want baby to come out and be healthy and for me to be healthy too.  I am sure that is all any expectant mother can hope for.
Any of you write a birth plan?  What did you include?

Fury!!

I am absolutely furious today to find another letter from the council on my door mat giving me notice of eviction from my allotment!!  I am sure you remember my previous rant about the letter I received saying that my allotment was "weedy and uncultivated"  I am sure you also remember the photos of before and after showing the amount of effort Hubby and I put in to tidying it up and the resultant hole in my welly from the frantic digging that went on.  Clearly all that effort and even a late night digging in the dark session that I did a few weeks ago has gone unnoticed.  I was utterly fuming about it and phoned the council immediately.  Luckily for him the Park Supervisor was not working today; if he had been then he would have had a piece of my mind.  Instead, I ranted on the phone to his assistant and ended up bursting into tears.  Not good at all.  (I think the tears were not just about the allotment, I have had a pretty hard week so far, plus am very tired and not quite right hormonally.)
Anyway, I will be sure to be on the phone to Mr Parks Supervisor tomorrow ASAP to tell him about all my hard work, the fact that the ground has been frozen for the past two weeks and the fact that I have two fruit bushes, a rhubarb plant, two beds of onions, two beds of broad beans and a patch of strawberry plants in my plot that I have lovingly attended yo for he last three and a half years.   Hopefully I will have calmed down a bit by tomorrow as well and will be able to talk sense without crying like a baby. 

Looking for 1940's/1950's clothes

After visiting Winston Churchill's old gaff  "Chartwell"  today I have been fantasising about wearing more 1940's/1950's clothes.  I really like the style, it is simple and feminine. 
At a recent friend's wedding I bought a 1940's inspired dress from a charity shop and teamed it with seamer tights and a faux flower which I wore behind my ear:

My poor old sister had a time taking any photo of me that was half decent because at this point I had had two glasses of Pimms and thus was feeling a little silly!  But I think you get the gist.

So now I am inspired to buy more 1940's style clothes and have been scouring the internet to see what I can find.

Found this website vivienofholloway which has some pretty cool stuff, but it is a bit pricey:

 

Then of course there is ebay which has come up with some pretty cool finds:

But the Ebay is always a risk I feel, especially with clothes and not knowing the size and whether it can be returned.   Anyone have any ideas for good places to buy 1940's style clothes?  I think if I am really to pull of the 1940's style I will need to lose some weight...

Wedding sneeky pics

Well last weekend I went to a wonderful wedding in Cornwall and I am just desparate to share the photos with you because it was such a beautiful wedding, in fact I think if I could get married again it would be just like this, but I have been so busy today, when I got back from work I went for a jog, then cleaned out the guineapigs, then went food shopping, did dinner then had a chat with my friend on the phone, so I am not going to have time to edit and post my best photos, so I am just going to give you a couple as a sneeky peek until I get time to sort them out properly.

Check back soon for lots more pics of this beautiful wedding!

Hen party fun!

This weekend was the second part of my wonderful friend Sarah's Hen Party (she is getting married in two weeks!! Can't wait!) The first part of her hen do was in Cornwall and part two was in Birmingham where she, her sisters and I and my sisters all grew up together.  On the friday night we watched films and had a sleepover (Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman!)  Then during the day on the Saturday we visited an old haunt, a manor house with an amazing adventure playgroud that we used to visit in the holidays when we were younger, it was so much fun going on all the equipment, playing tag in the maze, playing toilet paper bride (see below!) and had a lovely picnic with the mums.  In the evening we went into Birmingham for a good ol knees up, and we certainly did that!  A really amazing amd memorable weekend with some wonderful women who will be my friends forever.

My giveaway is still open today and tomorrow, I will be announcing the winner tomorrow evening. 

Happy Monday

Haven't done one of these for a while:

All from weheartit using "free" as my search word.

Crafty friends

Went to a really fun party of a friend of ours yesterday, Matt and his girlfriend Elora. Apart from taking some photos of everyone there (which I am doing as habit now at every event I go to now) I also photographed some wonderful 1970's ephemera and crafty loveliness made by the fabulous Elora. It was such a joy to meet another crafty lady (in real life) and chat about crochet and quilting and thrifting and self-sufficiency, it was great. Any way here are some of the wonderful items around her house:

Amazing magnetic board made from a tray with button magnets,

Shelf with fab glassware, cake stand and 1970's coffee set,

Awesome notice board with retro fabric, plus motice the crocheted purple fower, she gave this to me!! (it went perfectly with my top.)

Cool clock,

She rocheted this blankey herself!!  Jealous?!

Amazing  crocheted cushions,

Fab 1970's casserole dish, she had several of these.

Cool Brittania Cushion Tutorial

Hello everyone,
Don't forget that I will be doing a giveaway very very soon, follow my blog to make sure that you don't miss it.

The last couple of days I have made this gorgeous cushion, it's actually a present but I wouldn't mind having one myself because I really love it.  If you really like this cushion but can't be bothered to make it yourself (it does take several hours) then I will make one for you if you buy it on Etsy,  here is my shop.  If you do want to make it then just follow the simple instructions below:

First I should tell you that I don't do measurements, maths is probably my least favourite subject so I am afraid I won't be giving you much in the way of measurements in this tutorial. You can judge it by rack of eye.

First cut out your base fabric, cut a rectangle than can be folded in half to create a smaller rectangle in the required shape, then iron about an inch round the edge for seams:

I must apologise now for the state of my ironing board *hangs head in shame*

Next cut out the fabric for the George Cross part of the flag the horizontal and the vertical, leave about a cm either side of the strip and fold them over and press with the iron to hold them down:

Lay them down to check they are right, should look like this:

Next cut some thinner strips for the white bits that go behind the George Cross, fold them in half and press with an iron.

placed behind the larger strips it should look something like this:

And all of them together should look like this:

Next you cut the thin lines for the St Patrick's Cross part of the Union Flag, these are the diagonal ones, make them in the same way as the George Cross ones by folding about a cm of each side and iron flat:

It goes here like this:

Cut four in total:

Next you need to cut eight strips that represent the white parts behind the St Patrick's cross, these are in fact part of the St Andrew's Cross:

These then need to be folded in half just like the strips that went behind the George Cross:

Tuck these behind the diagonal cross strips so it looks like this:

Oooooh lovely:

Pin all these down and then sew them on.

Turn your fabric over and sew together leaving a small gap for stuffing, turn the cushion the right way around and stuff then hand sew the gap.

Then just sit back and enjoy your creation:

 

Don't forget to follow my blog to make sure you know when I am going to do a giveaway.

TTFN

Armed Forces Day in Reading

The Town where I live - Reading - held an Armed Forces Day a few weeks ago, it was a lovely sunny day and they had a Vera Lynn Tribute act (the main reason why I wanted to go!).  The event was mainly to raise money for the Armed Forces as we have a lot of Barracks around Berkshire and to raise awareness of what they are doing. but mainly I think it was to entertain the old folks of Reading so they could remenice about teh war years and when they were young.  It was a really great event and here are some of my pics of the day:

Forbury Gardens in Reading

Vera Lynn doing her thing!

Old people having a thoroughly good time!

See you tomorrow for more Armed Forces related shenanignas, and a gentle reminder that I will be doing a giveaway when I get 50 followers!!  (Or on my 100th post, I have't yet decided, but if you wait for my 100th post and don't follow me then you won't know when it is, so best to follow me anyway! Tee hee)