As our family is growing, and we now have a boy and girl to rear, I've begun to notice the extreme differences in the way each gender is instructed to behave. I'm not referring to boys can be wild and dirt loving while girls must be quiet and neat. Though that does play a part in gender related behavior. No, rather it's the idea that women must be small.
Have you ever ridden on a bus or subway and noticed how men sit; knees splayed covering two or three seats? Meanwhile most women try to touch as little surface as possible, perching on the edge of a seat or worse sucking in their being to avoid contact with anything more than the hand bar.
After seeing this blog I started looking at how we instruct girls vs. boys to occupy space.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/34279-why-do-guys-spread-their-legs-when-sitting-on-the-subway-my-weekend-of-sitting-like
Reflect for a moment on common things we say to children.
Stand up straight
Suck your tummy in
Keep your knees together
Be quiet
Or flip through a magazine and note how women seem to be more slim each year and men are bulking and more muscular than ever before. Girls are perceiving pressure to be thin from a younger and younger age. As explored here when 5 year old girls were asked about dieting (kindergarteners!)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2530935/
It's almost as if society wants women to just disappear.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Hi there!
Welcome to The Sugared Magnolia
Today I am launching into the blog-o-sphere.
Recently, I have had a few people suggest that this would be a great way to share some of the things I love. I have no idea where this blog will land in the future, but for now I will be posting random things that I find interesting.
Currently, I am exploring the world of healthy living and have discovered a handful of ways to use essential oils in my every day life by making various items.
The first thing that was a successful creation is laundry soap. I have always preferred unscented detergents and, have therefore, spent much more money on it than I needed to over the years.
Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 bar Soap (Fels Naptha, Zote, Dr Bronners, Ivory)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
20-40 drops Essential Oils for scent (can be left out if no scent is desired)
Grate the soap bar, mix together other ingredients in a glass jar.
I have found cutting the soap bar in chunks and then pulsing in a food processor works very well, then add washing soda and borax and pulse to blend all ingredients.
Use 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon per load. For extra dirty laundry use a bit more of the powder.
This is enough for my family laundry for 6-8 weeks. The cost to make is $1.75 and that breaks down to about $0.07 a load.
At my local Publix
Washing soda $2.99
Borax $2.99
Fels Naptha $0.99
(the Washing Soda and Borax boxes hold roughly 8 cups each)
I first found this laundry powder at this blog: http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap/
This powder works in HE machines, just use the smaller amount noted above.
It also works on cloth diapers, actually cloth diapers are the main reason I started exploring the world of chemical free detergents. More on that in another post.
Today I am launching into the blog-o-sphere.
Recently, I have had a few people suggest that this would be a great way to share some of the things I love. I have no idea where this blog will land in the future, but for now I will be posting random things that I find interesting.
Currently, I am exploring the world of healthy living and have discovered a handful of ways to use essential oils in my every day life by making various items.
The first thing that was a successful creation is laundry soap. I have always preferred unscented detergents and, have therefore, spent much more money on it than I needed to over the years.
Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 bar Soap (Fels Naptha, Zote, Dr Bronners, Ivory)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
20-40 drops Essential Oils for scent (can be left out if no scent is desired)
Grate the soap bar, mix together other ingredients in a glass jar.
I have found cutting the soap bar in chunks and then pulsing in a food processor works very well, then add washing soda and borax and pulse to blend all ingredients.
Use 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon per load. For extra dirty laundry use a bit more of the powder.
This is enough for my family laundry for 6-8 weeks. The cost to make is $1.75 and that breaks down to about $0.07 a load.
At my local Publix
Washing soda $2.99
Borax $2.99
Fels Naptha $0.99
(the Washing Soda and Borax boxes hold roughly 8 cups each)
I first found this laundry powder at this blog: http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap/
This powder works in HE machines, just use the smaller amount noted above.
It also works on cloth diapers, actually cloth diapers are the main reason I started exploring the world of chemical free detergents. More on that in another post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)