This article has got people talking on social media The Retro Housewife. It paints a picture of educated, intelligent women ditching the board room to stay-at-home and raise children in between craft activities and baking. I stayed at home for ten years. It looked nothing like the pretty images of instagram and homemaking blogs. In my retro … [Read more...]
Girl Power
Last night the television program Q & A featured an all-female panel. It was an interesting mix of old-school feminism (Germaine Greer), conservative commentator (Janet Albrechtsen), indigenous opera singer (Deborah Cheetham), former sex worker (Dr Brooke Magnanti) and online publisher (Mia Freedman). It was somewhat disappointing to … [Read more...]
Ham, Spiders and International Women’s Day
As I was packing ham and cheese sandwiches for my daughters' lunches a cheery announcer on the TV was telling me that preserved meat may be linked to cancer. I tried not to think about the chicken wrapped in prosciutto last night or the caesar salad dotted with bacon a couple of dinners ago. Right, another thing to bear in mind, stop feeding the … [Read more...]
Five Things I Should Have Learnt By Now
Over at Life in A Pink Fibro Alison Tait wrote a post, 10 Things I Learnt Last Week, then Alana at House Goes Home picked up the concept and ran with it to create 8 Things I didn't Learn Last Week. Now in a shameless rip-off due to limited time and little creativity I'm going with 5 Things I Should Have Learnt By Now. 1. When you start bragging … [Read more...]
Letter to Marissa Mayer
Dear Marissa, Congratulations on your new job as CEO of Yahoo. I know it was a real coup securing the job when you were six months pregnant and it is fantastic that Yahoo were willing to see past the baby bump and value the talent and skill of the woman. I want to jump up and down and celebrate the equality of the situation, but I'm … [Read more...]
Should We Raise Our Daughters To Be Nice?
Yesterday I noticed this tweet from writer, broadcaster and comedian, Catherine Deveny and it got me thinking about the way we raise our daughters. I sometimes lament my own "niceness". I like to help people, I'm (mostly) kind, too polite for my own good and don't like to offend anyone. Is that a drawback in modern society? At times I … [Read more...]
Mums on Magazine Covers
It seems putting a Mum on a magazine cover draws attention. There's been a hullabaloo over the latest Time cover. It's a provocative shot highlighting a story on attachment parenting including the headline "Are You Mom Enough?". As I am sure the Editors had expected, woman everywhere took the bait and launched full throttle into the usual mummy … [Read more...]
Life’s Too Short for Uncomfortable Undies
Well I think it's time to accept that age has engulfed me. Today I have decided (a) I need to spend more money on my undies and (b) comfort is more important than anything when it comes to underwear. (We tackle the big issues here at Shambolic Living.) The $5 for a pack of four briefs from the bargain bins at the chain stores just aren't up to … [Read more...]
A Shambolic Birthing
If you had had a blissful pregnancy, a trouble-free birth and slipped easily into the world of yummy mummy step away from the screen there’s nothing for you to see here. On the other hand if you found the whole pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding thing a bit darn hard then open the wine we’ve got bonding to do. It’s been 15 years since I first … [Read more...]
The Quest For Me Time
It's now official women get no "me time". They did a poll. Seriously just asking for "hands-up who doesn't have a minute to themselves" at the school gate would have done the trick but nevertheless 1000 women with children aged 16 and under were surveyed by Galaxy Research for Procter & Gamble. The outcome - mums average less than 40 minutes a … [Read more...]
