What Young Women Need to Know About Beauty Tips

What Young Women Need to Know About Beauty Tips

A Woman's Right to Gender Equality

http://www.helium.com/items/1355466-womens-equality-equality-for-women-womens-rights-equal-rights-for-women

Naming A Daughter

One gift I give will be your name.

A classic name endures,

and brings to mind stability.

So I will choose a classic name.

Self-respect and dignity -

two gifts I hope you'll get from me -

are messages your name should send.

So I must choose a lovely name.

Power, strength, and solid sense;

but also grace and elegance,

a name that you will not outgrow.

So I must choose a perfect name.

With how I hope you'll see yourself,

with all the things I hope for you,

and all the things a name should mean,

there's just one name for you,

Katherine Christine.

A Mother's Simple Advice

A Mother's Simple Advice

What do you see when you look up at the stars?

What do you see when you look up at the stars?

Turbo Jam - It's All Good As Far I'm Concerned

Turbo Jam: Fun Fitness Program for the Otherwise "Non-Gym Inclined"
A positive review of the DVD fitness program, Turbo Jam, sold by Beachbody.com
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1525269/turbo_jam_fun_fitness_program_for_the.html

Do you agree that domestic science should be brought back in to school( eg;teaching kids about how to do their own...

Do you agree that domestic science should be brought back in to school( eg;teaching kids about how to do their own...

Why do girls go to the bathroom in pairs or groups?

Why do girls go to the bathroom in pairs or groups?

Choosing Formal Dresses - Tips and Advice

Choosing Formal Dresses - Tips and Advice

Top Ten Sweets - According to Me

As someone who doesn't particularly have a "sweet tooth", I consider myself fairly fussy when it comes to rating sweets. When my children were little we came to describe candies, desserts, and cookies as "sweeties"; although with my demanding standards for sugar-y goodies, I think only the following deserve the affectionate title of "sweeties":

1. French pastries with crystallized sugar "diamonds" on top and fruit inside

These light, puffy, pastries know just how to wear those sugar "diamonds", and the hint of fruit filling seems to give each a personality of its own. While other sweet delights may seem decadent, these sweeties somehow manage to seem absolutely angelic.

2. Chocolate Mousse

This light, puffy, fluffy, dish of chocolate delight is evil, but caring about calories is close to impossible with this dessert. The only negative aspect to chocolate mousse is that is usually comes in a dish that is far too tiny for my taste. As people "ooh", "aah" and "yum", there's often someone who says how rich chocolate mousse is and how "you don't need too much of it". I disagree. One can never have enough of it.

3. Bavarian Cream

Bavarian cream in a pastry, cake, or doughnut may rival chocolate mousse in it's decadence, but everyone should have at least one Barvarian cream "something" every couple of years. It isn't necessary to look for a particularly fancy bakery to find that perfect Bavarian cream delight. Your local Dunkin Donuts as a Bavarian cream doughnut just waiting for you to finally give in and ask for that special something to go along with your coffee.

4. Cream Puffs

It has been about ten years since I've had a cream puff, but don't let that fool you into believing I haven't been thinking about one (occasionally at least) since then. While there's no need to find a fancy bakery in order to find some good Bavarian cream, the only place to find a good cream puff is a fancy and excellent bakery. I think I'm going to plan to get a good cream puff in 2009. It's time.

5. High-quality Chocolate Truffles

These are the chocolate mousse of candies - only with a hard shell. Dark chocolate is good. Light chocolate is also good. Both dark and light chocolate is the best. It's only natural that the person who loves chocolate mousse would love this candy version of it. There's nothing like a high-quality chocolate with a surprise inside. If you've heard that eating too many of these amazing goodies will make you sick, don't believe it. Trust me. I know. All they do is make you feel great and happy, happy, happy.

6. Cheesecake With or Without Topping

This rich and classic dessert is never difficult to find and is always good, even when it's not of the highest quality. In fact, higher quality cheesecake is often too "cream-cheesy", while more run-of-the-mill versions is always, in my opinion, just right. Strawberries as topping happen to my favorite, although some folks apparently find chocolate a nice addition.

7. Anything Butterscotch

Butterscotch is one of my favorite flavors; and butterscotch pudding knows how to spread that flavor out beyond just the surface of a tiny, hard, candy. With the addition of milk, it's a milder, softer, butterscotch that's less sugar than it is creamy and butterscotch-y.

Butterscotch ice cream wins First Prize in my eyes, particularly if it has butterscotch candy bits through it.

Butterscotch bars follow butterscotch ice cream, and butterscotch candies follow the bars - although I don't want to work that hard to get my butterscotch. That's why pudding is best.

8. Custard

Custard in pies, custard in a little dish. Custard with or without nutmeg. All custard is good custard, unless it's watery (in which case, I would want to trade it in for butterscotch pudding).

9. Hot Fudge Sundaes.

This may not be the most imaginative sweetie in the world, but this classic mix of hot, chocolate, syrup; cold vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, nuts, and (of course) a cherry is yet another treat that should be indulged in at least every few years. (I think I may plan to get that cream puff in April and then a hot fudge sundae in July of next year. Yes, that's my plan. 2010 should not arrive without my having those two treats before it does.)

10. Brownies from a Mix

There are brownies from bakeries, and pre-wrapped brownies sold in convenience stores and elsewhere; but there's nothing like brownies from a mix. The brand of mix doesn't matter. They're all good. The only reason I don't have brownies from a mix more often (at all, to be honest) is that they make your arm tired when mix them. If they stirred up like cake mix does I'd be more tempted to pick up a mix with my groceries, but they're just a little too much effort for my taste. This is just as well, of course, because if I weren't too lazy to mix up that stiff brownie batter I'd have brownies from a mix all the time (and probably eat most of them myself). They say God works in mysterious ways. I think He made brownie mix stiff and hard to stir to keep me from turning brownies into my "daily bread".

Oh - I don't happen to be Catholic, but if I were I think I should go to confession after spending so much time thinking about all these sweeties. Before I began listing the top ten sweeties I don't think I was aware that I am capable of so many sinful thoughts in such a short time.

Understanding How Women Think

An online writing site offered the following title to writers: "Understanding the Female Mind". I, personally, am not a big fan of calling girls and women "females", but I'll overlook that for now. It always amazes me that some people seem to believe there is something complicated or spooky about the "female mind". It has always seemed to me that my mind works pretty much the way a computer works, and I thought that way long before PC's became part of most people's households. Operating on logic and reason, I've never seen any confusing or spooky about how I think; but I've always been quite aware that there are plenty of people who don't seem to understand my thinking. So, objectionable title or not, I wrote the following article:

As the proud of owner of a female mind, I've discovered that understanding a woman's thinking is far less of a challenge for people who don't have preconceived (and incorrect) ideas about how women are "supposed to" think.

Women, like men, are not "one big club" of individuals who "all think alike". Whenever I've read any books that try to offer information on different ways of thinking between men and women, I've found my own approaches to thinking listed under the men's column. Upon considering what such books claim to know and thinking about some of the men in my life, I've also discovered that many of the men I know think in ways some books attribute to women. As the mother of two sons and one daughter, I've also noticed that neither of my sons fits completely into the kind of thinking often attributed to men nor does my daughter's thinking match that attributed to girls/women. Of course, my little circle of family and friends does not a scientific study make, but these are people whose thinking I know well enough to know that the books about how men and women think are simply not always (and in some cases, if ever) correct.

It is not for me to attempt to (or even want to) refute science that has shown differences in male and female brains. Most of us have observed that once children are past their earliest years and before they reach maturity there are clearly many differences in how they think. I did not happen to see any differences in my children when they were babies and toddlers. Differences appeared gradually, once they got past their toddler years. In the case of many of those differences, however, it was often a matter of preferences rather than the thinking process, itself. Even the seemingly obvious differences that divide the genders at adolescence and in the teen years when hormones so often "rule the day" may be related to behavior and decisions but not necessarily thinking style.

From what I've observed about men and women, those who are emotionally balanced and reach maturity often think far more similarly than so many of those books would have us believe. What, then, makes so many studies lead to the conclusion that, in general, there are distinct differences in the thinking between men and women? Sure, brains of each gender may process some things differently, but does that always have to mean that similar thinking cannot be reached through different processes? I don't believe it always does have to mean that, simply because I know too many men and women who think alike in so many ways.

So, what accounts for differences that appear when gender studies are performed, and why do so many people seem to believe that women's minds are different from men's? With regard to the question about studies, I believe part of the explanation is that studies are performed on people who have already been nurtured (or not nurtured) in one direction or another. Studies deal in people who already exist - not in people's potential. I believe that studies more reflect a very high percentage of less-than-ideal nurturing of all types of thinking than they do innate gender differences in potential to reach a universal "style" of thinking. That's not saying that a good portion of people don't receive excellent nurturing. It is just saying there is the chance they don't receive perfectly balanced nurturing. Depending on the child, birth order, parents, and family circumstances; children can be impacted more by one parent than the other and often admire the thinking of one parent more than the other. At least some of approach to thinking is modeled after one or both parents. The point here is, again, not to refute that there are differences between men's and women's brains; but that there is at least the chance that the impact of those differences may be exaggerated by some people (even scientists).

Why is it, then, that so many husbands, kids (especially teens), and even some other women have such difficulty understanding the thinking of women? Why does the guy who throws his dirty socks around and wants to eat in the living room think his wife's preference for clean, tidy, home home is unreasonable? Why do some kids respect their somewhat emotionally distant father more than they may respect their kinder, gentler, mother? Who do people give their elderly aunt or grandmother a foot bath for her birthday, rather than an Mp3 player? Why are women more often the spenders of the house, while men are more often the "cheap skates"? Why do so many women appear not to "stand up for themselves" to rude people? Why do women tend to cry more often? Why do women so often save (forever) every picture their children have drawn?

As that proud owner of a female mind, I can only speak for myself (although I have enough women friends to know that I'm not alone, even if I can't speak for all women). As a woman (and as one who has, I think, a healthy self-esteem), I tend to believe that women are more "others centered", probably because they are the gender that has, and usually raises, the children. Women are often "Big Picture" thinkers, but they also need to focus on the vast array of details involved with the "building" of little humans and families. They need to be concerned with the mental, emotional, and physical well being and development of children, but they also need to be concerned with having those children fit into society, be linked to history, and have a future.

In the mini-society of the home, women must try to be teachers, doctors, psychologists, social workers, clergy, housekeepers, politicians, leaders, and historians. In their wish to offer their family a peaceful home, and with sometimes better developed ability to control anger or manage their own exhaustion, women often believe, for example, that table tops should be left clear "for anyone who needs to use them". Men often view table tops as "mine to use as I want without having to worry about moving my stuff". Whether nurtured as peace keepers or lacking in testosterone, women who are angry often believe it is more important, healthier, and more respectable to control anger than to express it. When it comes to "not standing up for themselves", women often have a good perspective on what is truly important in life; and so may overlook other people's behavior or at least choose to "let it go" in the interest of not fanning a hostile situation. Hostile situations are never healthy for children, and women's maternal instinct is often strong enough to make them muster up the determination to do what is "right" rather than what they'd like to do.

Tuned in the emotional needs of children and to the fact that a wholesome and happy home environment contributes to children's emotional development, women are more often likely to view purchases for the children or the home as "important" and "necessary", while men often believe that man can live by bread (and heat, electricity, and a roof over head) alone. Some men are particularly tuned in to "territory", while many women are more tuned in to the mini-society of the family.

Today's women and men were yesterday's girls and boys. Although girls and boys are often different now than they used to be, a good number of yesterday's boys were rough-and-tumble, macho, kids. The phenomenon of today's "Mean Girls" aside, yesterday's girls were often gentler and more tuned in to other people's needs. Women often remember how important is was to have a new dress for the prom. Yesterday's girls often remember, too, how rough adults could be on their brothers or classmates. As a result, women can often be more tuned in to those not-so-obvious emotional needs of kids. Women who want to take good care of themselves in order to remain attractive wives and good role models for their children can be viewed as "selfish" if they spend on themselves. Women who won't (or can't) spend on themselves are often viewed as having "let themselves go" and "not caring".

Women are often very concerned with the security and future of their family. That can relate to emotional security, the security of being a capable adult who manage a life well, financial security, or the security of having a family legacy. This "security awareness" can explain why women save their mother's 1970's salad bowl set and all the drawings their children created. Images of great-grandchildren finding a couple of trunks in the attic can make women write poems for their children, save favors from weddings, and even preserve dead flowers from proms.

"Security awareness" can be the reason women spend on BOTH the prom dress AND that extra life insurance. It can also be the thing that makes a wife tell her husband to go ahead and buy that car he wants (because women often believe that a happier Dad is a healthier Dad; and they not only want their children to have their father as long possible, but they care, too, about his emotional wellbeing and health).

Just because women are often others-centered, that doesn't mean that they do not have their own healthy self-esteem or dreams for themselves. Being others-centered, women are more likely to put aside those dreams. Caring about not making other people (especially children) feel bad, women often hide those dreams or pretend they don't matter much. Being others-centered, and loving their children as normal mothers do, most women don't hold a shred of resentment about things they've sacrificed for their families, and most will say they have absolutely no regrets. This mixture of feelings towards their dreams, however, is something that women often must process themselves because husbands, children, and even other women don't always understand them.

Single, married, mothers, grandmothers, or none of the above - women are humans. They like music not matter how old they are. They enjoy their work (or not). They enjoy their hobbies and interests. Most want enough money to live comfortably. Sometimes people can forget that women are people - not just mothers, wives, or daughters. All people are different, and all women are different.

I tend to think that solid, steady, thinking of so many women has more to do with their lack of raging hormones (testosterone, to name on in particular) than with the presence of them. PMS and pregnancy have never, for me, brought any particularly dramatic thinking or mood changes (although I did once have a rug I hated and would notice that I both complained about it more and thought about the urgency of getting a new one more at a certain time of the month).

The crying thing: Women may appear to cry more than men do because women's feelings for their children can be overwhelming to them. Women may have more reasons than men to have "sentimental crying", and girls generally grow up enjoying a good sentimental cry, as well as feeling free to cry for sentimental reasons. Women often cry after they have been extremely angry, and I assume that has to do with not really having the testosterone to support aggression or hostile confrontations and feelings. These two types of crying probably contribute to the observation that women seem to cry more than men.

I would assert that women are not always as "good" at "processing" rapid rises and drops in anger as men are. I would also assert that women have more reasons and feel freer to have sentimental cries. Some sentimental crying is also probably related to many women's being very tuned in to people and emotions. On the other hand, with regard to crying in sadness, I can only speak for myself when I say that I do not cry at funerals and generally do not cry when I'm sad. I do, however, schedule the occasional "good cry" for myself when I'm alone and not at risk of being seen or heard. Many women, like me I suspect, would say they actually identify more with Star Trek's "Vulcans" than with the more emotionally-driven humans of that series.

Most of the time, when someone doesn't understand the "female brain" it is because the woman in question has done something he sees as either "uncharacteristic" or "strange". "Uncharacteristic" can seem to be the issue when a gentle, feminine, woman acts stronger or "less feminine" than someone would expect. It can also seem uncharacteristic when a woman who has remained patient and controlled her emotions for a long time is suddenly no longer able to do that and exhibits a demonstration of emotion that is, in fact, uncharacteristic for her. "Strange" can show up when, say, a middle-aged mother who chose not to date when her kids were young suddenly shows up with a boyfriend. "Strange" can also become the issue if a woman just decides to take some time for herself and do something like read a book, listen to music, take a trip, or even go without make-up for a few days.

As a woman who doesn't like to re-hash problems unless there is the hope of finding a solution, and as one who tries to find answers when someone else talks about his problems; I dispute that women "just like to talk it out" while men "think talking means expecting a solution". I know enough men who like to re-hash or else have long conversations, and enough women who approach talking as I do, to believe that assertion is a weak one. I tend to suspect any differences among any individuals has more to do with the maturity, self-sufficiency, and sense of responsibility of the individual (or lack of any of those) than with gender.

As a woman who waits outside stores if a companion is shopping when I am not, I also dispute the belief that being a woman and "window shopping" go hand in hand.

As the proud owner of that female brain I mentioned earlier, it is clear to me that (at least in my case), I have a heavy reliance of the use of words and verbal communication, as well as being very in tune with my own and others' emotions. I, personally, let no emotion go unprocessed; and I process emotions through words, logic, reason, and analysis because, as a mother and as an adult, I cannot afford to operate under the influence of unnecessary emotion.

I've always approach life and parenting with logic and reason, but using logic and reason requires factoring in all available information; and I believe, for a lot of women there is more of that information to factor in because of women's tendency to consider the past, present, and future of others, as well as themselves. The impression that men are more sensible and logical may come from the tendency of men to be able to learn sensible rules and abide by them. For example, a sensible rule is not to spend on a new prom dress when a family is experiencing money problems. The sensible thing would be to save the money instead. That sensible rule, however, is based only on the concept of what is wise in terms of money and does not factor in what is wise in terms of allowing a treasured and wonderful daughter to be the only one of her friends to wear a used dress or not go to the prom at all.

Women have often grown up in a world that didn't always seem to realize that they may have always thought very much like boys or men did. They may live in a world that doesn't understand why "a nice little lady like she" would act so strong, so independent, or so angry. Women live in a world that sometimes thinks they can't possibly be as logical thinking as men, or that they are hopelessly at the mercy of PMS and pregnancy hormones. Throughout history they have most often been the people who nurtured the greatest leaders, scientists, and philosophers - and yet there are still people who believe that those leaders, scientists, and philosophers "just inherited good minds".

Whether they feel victimized, oppressed, or misunderstood, themselves; or are simply particularly aware of how many people (boys, men, girls, or women) have lived, or live, lives of victimization, oppression, or being misunderstood; women can often see themselves as "defenders of the victimized" or "defends of the misunderstood and oppressed". They may see themselves as warriors of sorts, or as executives in positions of making decisions that do not necessarily make sense to people who don't see the big picture.

Secure, mature, women appreciate and value their relationships with other women because they know that only other women truly understand what it's like to be a woman. Insecure, immature, women compete with other women as a result of their insecurity and immaturity.

Understanding the female brain doesn't have to be difficult. All it would really take is simply asking the woman in question why it is she thinks any particular thing. With that all-too-commonly-mentioned tendency to use those verbal skills, most women would - if asked - be more than happy to use those skills to explain their own reasoning and logic. The trouble is it is a rare person who wants to take the time to explain to someone who isn't interested in listening, or who has already decided that whatever the explanation is it cannot possibly be as valid as his own.

Grown women often have partners who just automatically assume they know more than women, parents who believe they know more than their grown child, teen and grown kids who believe they know everything (and certainly more than their mother), teachers who believe mothers can't possibly be objective about their own child, and doctors who believe a woman's concerns about her own health cannot be valid because she has no medical degree. Women frequently deal with the day-to-day, subtle and not-so-subtle, bias in the workplace and/or business world. Because of all these things that women live with on a regular basis, many have learned not to even bother trying to explain their reasoning to any number of people, including their partners. Many, instead, simply gain support from other women, who - at least much of the time - understand perfectly how the "female mind" works.

Just Some Personal Silliness About Wine Glasses

I don't buy a bottle of wine all that often, and a move separated me from my belongings for a while. It was Summer, so I bought a bottle of wine here or there, and I didn't have any wine glasses. I didn't want to buy any because I knew I'd be reunited with my stuff. I tried drinking wine from coffee mugs - really kind of stupid feeling. Then I tried drinking it out of small orange juice glasses, which, somehow, made me feel like derelict. (I don't know why I think derelicts drink chardonnay out of sparkling, clear, cut-glass, juice glasses; but apparently that's what I think.)

I mentioned to my sister that I was drinking wine out of juice glasses, and she agreed that doing such a thing was enough to make a person feel like a derelict. The next time she showed up she brought me two long-stemmed glasses. That was much better, until I broke one of them. It shouldn't have mattered because I still have one, but who wants one wine glass?

I then decided to buy two wine glasses that had less fragile stems, but I saw what I thought was a twin to the singleton glass I had at home. So, I bought two shorted stemmed glasses, and one long-stemmed twin to the lonely one. I got home and discovered that the twin really wasn't a twin, so at this point I had two shorter stemmed glasses (good) and two unmatched, long-stemmed, ones (very disturbing to my orderly brain) - so disturbing, in fact, that even though I bought two bottles of wine a few weeks ago I haven't opened either of them. That's because it's too upsetting to 1) figure out which of my less than perfect glasses to use, 2) be reminded of all the lopsidedness of whatever glasses I have, and 3) be reminded that I need to decide whether to go buy a twin for the recently purchased twin, which would leave me with two short-stemmed glasses, two long-stemmed ones - and the one that doesn't have a partner.

It has occurred to me that I should buy a whole set for myself, give all the losers I have to someone else, and figure out - by the way - how much longer it will be before I can be reunited with my "real" belongings.

Oh - it's enough to make me open BOTH of those bottles of wine and drink them for breakfast!!