It’s been hot out, which is why we want to share these recipes with you to help keep you cool while working on your summer projects.

Pineapple Mint Agua Fresca from Serious Eats

Christianne Wintrhop shared this yummy summer drink on seriouseats.com.  It is a “hot weather Latin American tradition” that is sweet and refreshing.  Here is the recipe:

What you need:

• 1 small pineapple, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1/8 cup mint leaves, tightly packed
• juice of 1 lime

Directions:

1.  Combine sugar and pineapple in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for one hour.

2.  After an hour, add the pineapple mixture, water, mint, and lime to a blender. Blend until smooth.

3.  Pour liquid through strainer into a pitcher, pressing on the solids. Serve over ice.

Watermelon Cooler

I love watermelon.  It is one of my all-time favorite summer fruits.  It is so refreshing on those hot summer days, and it fills me up and hydrates me at the same time!  Check out this watermelon cooler from Better Homes and Gardens.  Sounds tasty right?

What you need:

• 3 cups coarsely chopped seeded watermelon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
• 2 cups white grape juice
• 1 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
• 3/4 cup fresh lime juice, chilled
• 32 oz. (4 cups) club soda, chilled
• Fresh mint sprigs (optional)
• Watermelon wedges or balls (optional)

Directions:

1. Place watermelon in a blender or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth. Strain watermelon puree through a fine mesh sieve; discard pulp.

2. In a large bowl combine sugar and mint. Using the back of a wooden spoon, lightly crush mint by pressing it against the side of the bowl. Add grape juice, lime peel, lime juice, and watermelon puree, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in club soda. Serve in glasses over ice. If desired, garnish with mint sprigs and watermelon wedges or balls. Serve immediately. Makes 9 servings.

Sun Made Iced Tea

Growing up, this was one of my favorite parts of summer—my mom’s sun made iced tea.  It is super easy and it is one of those “set it and forget it” recipes you can do anywhere.  Tipnut.com has exact directions for what you need and how to do it.

What you need:

• 1 large glass pitcher or jar with lid (that will accommodate 8 cups of water)
• 6 to 8 regular size tea bags (or equivalent loose tea)

Directions:

• Fill pitcher with 8 cups of cold water then add the tea. Seal with lid.
• Place pitcher in a sunny location so it can sit out in full sun (getting 2 to 3 hours of sunlight–up to 4 hours if you prefer stronger tea).
• After brewing in the sun, strain out the tea and refrigerate until fully chilled.
• Add ice cubes and any flavorings before serving.

by Elizabeth Layton, Rosies Intern

Last Friday we left rainy California and made our way to hot and sunny Puyallup, Washington for the Mother Earth News Fair!  (We thought the weather was strange, too!)  Expecting to head over to the show and set up our booth on Friday, we were surprised and disappointed (to say the least) when we received an email telling us that the truck our shipment should have been arriving in was involved in a hazmat spill.  The truck wouldn’t be able to get to the show until Saturday evening, leaving us Rosie-less for one full day at the fair.  Not letting this new information get us down, we followed our own “Rosies can do it” advice, put on our overalls and acted as our own booth on Saturday.  We met many amazing women and wound up almost selling out of our overalls on Sunday alone!  We really enjoyed getting to meet some of our Rosies girls in person and hearing all of the wonderful stories they all have to share!  Seeing the great turnout at this Mother Earth Fair got us excited for the one in Marin, California in September.  Anyone who couldn’t make it to the one in Washington – we hope to see you in Marin!

Like us, many of you Rosies are mothers, which is why we love Mother’s Day!  It is a day where us mama Rosies can kick up our feet and be treated like queens.  We are often showered with gifts, flowers and breakfast in bed.  In my research about Mother’s Day, I came across some Mother’s Day trivia from mothersdaycelebration.com that may surprise you:

• Anna Jarvis started Mother’s Day in 1908, but soon filed a lawsuit because the holiday was becoming too commercialized.
• Mother’s Day is said to be a $14 billion industry and is the second highest gift giving day behind Christmas.
• In 1870, Julie Ward Howe created a day to celebrate mothers by protesting the Franco-Prussian War because it was taking sons away from their mothers.
• The oldest mother to give birth was 70, while the youngest was 5 years old.
• The highest number of children born to a mother is 69 between 1725 and 1765.
• August is the most popular month to give birth, while Tuesday is the most popular day of the week to give birth.
• Elvis Presley was a mama’s boy and slept in his mother’s bed until puberty.  The two had a strange baby talk they would converse in that no one understood.
• Most of the sweaters Mr. Rogers wore on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood were knitted by his mother.
• A mother giraffe gives birth standing.  The first experience of a newborn giraffe is a 6-foot drop to the ground.

It’s that time of year again! Time for our Dirtiest Rosies Contest! Think you are the dirtiest Rosie? Submit a photo of yourself to info@rosiesworkwear.com and a short description of why you are the dirtiest Rosie. Each week we will post the submissions on our Facebook page. The winner will receive a new pair of  Rosies’ overalls, gloves and the title of Dirtiest Rosie. The contest goes from now until the end of May and the winner will be announced June 1st. Spread the dirt!

Tired of being cooped up for weeks on end?  Do you find yourself daydreaming of falling madly in love? Or do you have a sudden urge to clean your whole house, upside down, inside out?  Then you may be suffering from spring fever.

Spring fever is not just a topic of popular poems, movies and songs; there is actually a science behind it.  Scientists say it is a decrease in the hormone melatonin and an increase in the hormone serotonin.  Combined, these shifts cause a rise in energy, increased elation and a desire to find that special someone.  Melatonin is also affected by the amount of light, and since the days are longer, expect to get a sudden desire to be ultra productive.

So how do you cure your spring fever?

First, I would take all that newfound energy you have and fulfill your desire of planting a garden, cleaning your house, or reorganizing your shed.  Plus, it gets you out of the house and into some fresh air, which you have missed for so many weeks.

Second, if you are looking for love, it is time to spring into action.  Set a date to spend time with your loved one.  Or, take a chance and talk to that someone you have been thinking about all winter.

Lastly, get outside.  You have been cooped up too long.  You may be tired of being surrounded by the incessant flu bugs that seem to plague everyone in the winter.  Take a walk, tend to your yard, or go for a bike ride.  Spring is here so take advantage of it!

In the words of Mark Twain, “It’s spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

What are you aching to do?  Share it with us here or on our Facebook page.

On March 13th, we set our clocks ahead one hour and capture some extra daylight in the evening. For most Rosies this is a cause for celebration. Teresa Kane on Rosie’s Facebook says, “…more time to work outside…Love it !!!!”  Another Rosie, Kerry K. Murphy says, “garden – just got my overalls & I’m ready to start planting! Well, except for the fact that the temps are still in the 20s at night. Oh, and we got a sprinkling of snow yesterday. But there’s always next week!!!!”

The intent of DST (daylight savings time) is to give more daylight in the evening. This simple act of moving the small hand on the clock one hour ahead has widespread impacts, not the least giving Rosies more time to do the things they love. Some reports say DST reduces accidents and injuries, particularly driving. Other reports say DST boosts business and it’s not just because we can work longer. In the case of tourism industry, we can also play longer. DST is even credited for saving energy because less artificial light is used.

With all the benefits of  more daylight comes the downside of adjusting to an hour less sleep. The return to daylight saving time each spring affects the sleep patterns of millions of Americans says, Dr. Aparajitha Verma, in Healthnewsdigest.com. Below are some tips she gives for getting prepared to spring forward:

* Sleep in a quiet and dark environment and set the thermostat at a slightly cooler temperature.
* Don’t allow pets in the bed.
* No reading, eating or watching TV in bed.
* Don’t watch the clock.
* Set a “wind down” time prior to going to bed.
* Don’t take over-the-counter sleep aids and avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol close to bedtime, as these can disrupt sleep. Instead, try drinking warms teas or milk to increase your body temperature, which helps induce and sustain sleep.
* Exercise is good for sleep, but not within two hours of going to sleep.

As for the last tip, exercise, it seems not a problem for Rosies. After planning and dreaming for months in the darkness of winter, Rosies are ready to spring into action. How will you use the extra daylight?

More daylight means more chances to enjoy beautiful sunsets. photo from xasauantoday.com

It’s that time of year when we all reflect on the things we are thankful for.  If we go by what we hear in the news, it seems there is little to be grateful for. But Rosies know that’s far from the truth. It’s not the big things in life but the many daily small things that add up making us so appreciative. For Rosies that are gardeners, we are thankful that it rained when it did and when it didn’t, that the gophers didn’t eat our whole crop and the ground squirrels moved on and that winter is finally coming, giving us some rest.

Rosies founder, Sharon Moore, offers her own list of what she is thankful for: my big happy family, the beautiful view of outside my kitchen window, wonderful friends that get me, a sister that is so supportive and finding something to laugh at every day.

Rosies kitchen window view. Now that's something to be thankful for.

What are you thankful for?  We loved to hear from you. Comment below or join the conversation on our Rosies Facebook page. Thanks for sharing.

Once in awhile between projects, we actually have time to read. And of course, we read about new projects. We came across this great magazine Birds and Blooms, Backyard projects, while we were clearing out our coverall closet.

Birds and Blooms magazine will keep you as busy as a bee with projects like turning an old bowling bowl into garden art.

It has all kinds of great ideas to keep us Rosies even more busy. They also listed some really great blogs for more gardening and DIY tips and projects. If you follow a blog you love, let us know. Rosies are all about sharing.

apartmenttherapy.com

yougrowgirl.com

curbly.com

designspongeonline.com

threadbanger.com

howaboutorange.blogspot.com

instructables.com

thebestofdiy.com

diyinsanity.blogspot.com

As the most famous of all labor icons, Rosie the Riveter represents the can-do attitude of women and marks their entry in previously male-dominated jobs and into the American workforce in mass. So how far have women come since 1942?  Well for starters, for the first time in history, American women workers are more numerous than male workers, reports Yahoo’s Catherine Dagger.   She attributes this statistic to technology at home and at work. She reasons we don’t have to wring wash out by hand with super efficient front loader washing machines, so we have the time to work and manage the house. Yippee!  And we don’t have to lift vats of molten steel to manufacture goods. We have robots for that.

A factor she doesn’t mention in the burgeoning class of women workers is the down turn in the economy. According to U.S. labor statistics, more men have lost their jobs than women during this Great Recession. Unemployment rate for adult men is 9.7 percent. For adult women it is 7.9 percent.  And here’s the rub. More men have lost their jobs because men still make more money than women. (In 2008, women earned 77% as much as men.)

A historical side-note: when the first Rosies went to work in 1942, the National War Labor Board urged employers to voluntarily make “adjustments which equalize wage or salary rates paid to females with the rates paid to males for comparable quality and quantity of work on the same or similar operations.” Not only did employers fail to heed this “voluntary” request, but at the war’s end most women were pushed out of their new jobs to make room for returning veterans. For more about this wage gap, read Borgna Brunne’s article . So as in the past, while we’ve come a long way, we still have a ways to go.

And in true Rosie fashion, we keep moving along despite the obstacles (or lower pay). Take Gloria Georger.  She took over as manager of Ford Motor Co.’s stamping plant in Chicago Heights and became one of five female managers at the automaker’s 27 plants in the U.S.. Her boss is also a woman, Jan Allman.  And there are countless others, many of whom have been featured on this blog. Just check out our Facebook page.

This Labor Day, our thoughts are with the original Rosies who stepped up while their men were at war. And for the Rosies today, who also step up while their men are forced to step out. While a lot has changed since 1942, women’s conviction and willingness to show our strength has not.

If you have a Rosies story, we’d love to hear it. Email us at info@roisiesworkwear.com or comment to this blog post.

Rosies founder, Sharon Moore

It was about 7 years ago when Rosies’ founder, Sharon Moore, enrolled in her first welding class.  It was in this class that she got the idea for Rosies Workwear. When she went looking to buy coveralls to wear in class, all she found were ones designed for men. They were big and bulky and not in the least bit feminine. As they say necessity is the mother of invention, so Sharon created Rosies Workwear.  Since then other women welders as well as women mechanics, builders, painters, DIYers, farmers and gardeners have discovered the tough, durable and stylish overalls and coveralls that is Rosies. While we are thrilled to share with so many “can do” women, it’s welding that holds a special place in our heart.

Unfortunately, we are in a small minority. It was mentioned on carmenelectrode.com, a blog for women welders, that according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics the percentage of women working in the welding industry has actually declined – it is now LOWER than 6%. The news isn’t all doom and gloom. Check out this video we found on Carmen’s website. It’s of a girl’s summer day camp which is called coincidentally, Rosies Girls.  As the blog says, “It’s a place to learn skills (carpentry, welding, etc) that build confidence…This is an awesome way to introduce girls to career options that even today don’t seem accessible to women.” We couldn’t agree more.