Tag Archives: rosies overalls

I have to admit… I would much rather sit around having conversations and working on projects, than take the time to clean. Unfortunately my house has always reflected those priorities, and can be an overwhelming mess of half started cleaning attempts. UNTIL… I found help on the following websites. They have broken down cleaning to quick, manageable, essential tasks that can be squeezed in on a daily basis, so I don’t have to give up any more Saturdays!

Speed Cleaning tutorials- from The Clean Team

http://www.thecleanteam.com/productdetail.cfm?id=books

Rule 1: Make Every Move Count- clean in a circular pattern, don’t make lots of annoying trips back and forth across the room

Rule 2: Use the Right Tools (keep them at hand by wearing them on an apron!)

Rule 3: Work from Top to Bottom (so you won’t have to re-clean anything)

Rule 4: If it Isn’t Dirty Don’t Clean It (mainly just clean horizontal surfaces)

Rule 5: Don’t Rinse or Wipe a Surface Until It’s Clean

Rule 6: Don’t Keep Working After It’s Clean

Rule 7: Put Your Tools Back in the Same Place or Apron Pocket Each Time

Rule 8: Keep Track of Your Time (try to keep improving your speed)

Rule 9: Use Both Hands to Clean

7 Daily Cleaning Tasks you can do to avoid weekend cleaning- from Totally Together

http://totallytogetherjournal.com/the-daily-7-for-a-highly-successful-household/

Number 1: Make Beds Right Away

Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry

Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans

Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty

Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same

Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down

Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

The most helpful tips for me were: to always clean in a circular fashion around your house, cleaning from top to bottom, and to wear an apron with all your cleaning supplies at hand so you don’t have to waste time or backtrack. This has significantly reduced my time cleaning, which makes me much more likely to be regular about it!

Here are the supplies that both websites recommend to keep in your cleaning apron:

• 
• Sturdy canvas apron with pockets and loops. Rosies sells one that is perfect for this!
• Scrub sponges or microfiber rags
• Multipurpose cleaner in a small spray bottle, to attach to a loop in the apron
• Window cleaner in a small spray bottle, to attach to a loop in the apron
• A scraper (plastic putty knife, toothpick, or razor blade) for the caked on gunk
• Microfiber rag, for dusting

The best part is that you don’t need any fancy cleaning products, except for a good apron, and the rest can be purchased at the dollar store!

I hope this helps reduce your cleaning time as well and increases your time to work on fun projects and be with family and friends!

I found this book recently, and was drawn to it because the title matches our Rosie’s moto. The book was written by a victim of the 9/11 attacks and completed by her sisters after her death. It embodies a gusto for life and a go-getter attitude that’s pretty incredible.

The theme of giving yourself a “merit badge” for trying new and brave things keeps rattling around in my mind this week.

During a talk with a good friend, who is a new mother, she admitted that she gives herself an imaginary badge every time she is able to complete a difficult “mom mission”. She has given herself a badge for things like nursing in public for the first time, nursing while balancing on a stool, changing an explosive diaper, and getting an infant through New York City streets with too much bulky equipment. I love that she turned situations that could that cause most women to complain, into a mental badge of honor for getting through it.

A wise woman once encouraged a group of us ladies to start a “victory journal” to record all the minor and large successes that we accomplish in our lives. I only tried writing in my journal for a year, but I was surprised by how many “victories” I actually have in my everyday life once I took the time to examine them and write them down. I usually just continue to focus on my to-do list, and forget to reflect on how amazing it was to get through what I just did. I know many women will agree with me that they share this characteristic.

One thing all of us at Rosies Workwear for Women love most about our job is that we get to interact with so many inspiring and hard working women across the continent and the world! We hear from women who are doing tasks that we might never have dreamed of! Such as leading a team of dogs across Alaska, and leaving the city to start a successful organic farm. So, it makes me wonder, what amazing things we all doing that we might forget to sit back and give ourselves a merit badge for? What kinds of dreams do we still have that we would like to continue to try and reach for to earn another badge?

So, this week, please write to us about some of your victories and merit badges that you have earned recently. Take time to inspire us, and give us all ideas of things to try!

Did you know that Rosie the Riveters real name is Mary Doyle Keefe? The original Rosies the Riveter was made famous after a painting of her by Norman Rockwell first appeared in 1943 on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post and, later, on war bond posters. Keefe, who was paid $10 to pose, came to embody the can-do attitude of American women whose work helped win the war. It is arguably among the most recognizable images of World War II and transformed Keefe from a small-town switchboard operator into an American icon.

In a USA Today article, Keefe tells the story of how she was living with her family in Arlington, Vt., at the time, not far from where Rockwell lived with his family and had a studio.”The telephone office was in my mom’s house, and he would come in to pay his bill,” Keefe recalled, in the article. “He knew who I was and asked if I would sit for a picture. Gene Pelham, his photographer who moved from New York, would take a picture and Norman Rockwell would cut out what he wanted. You didn’t sit there while he was painting the whole thing, which was good.”

Keefe described how she had received endless ribbing about the now famous image of a brawny working woman breaking for lunch with a ham sandwich in hand, pneumatic riveter on her lap and copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf underfoot. Her body looked nothing like that in real life, said Keefe, especially the muscular arms.

Rockwell sent her a written apology.”The kidding you took was all my fault, because I really thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” Rockwell wrote in the 1967 letter.

Now 87 and living in an apartment at the McLean Home, Keefe tells her full story in this article from USA Today.

Hi Rosies Crew,

My little action video of me capturing a honeybee swarm last week, features me wearing my Rosies coveralls‚ make no mistake that I’m trusting my Rosies. Whether it’s a mere 10,000 honeybees or when I’m in the apiary working with about 480,000 of them! The video is too large to attach to an email, but it’s posted on my website here http://www.vtbeekeeper.com/photosyear3.html, at the bottom of the page, You need Flash to view it. I have plans to modify the wrist opening. I’m going to take out a few stitches in the side of the cuff, so that I can put some elastic through it, and then sew it back up. I need to make sure that the little darling honeybees can’t crawl up my sleeves!

Best wishes,
Valarie Wilson

1. You prefer a dirt manicure to a french one
2. Your alarm clock has feathers
3. You consider shiny power tools bling
4. Your idea of a desk job is building one.
5. You literally bring home the bacon (all 1200 pounds)

… how do you know? Leave a comment!

Are you a Rosie?