Having a svelte figure seems to be a quest that many women over the centuries have embraced.  While I may not enjoy running for miles on end, I do appreciate the value of exercising and trying to stay flexible….but maybe not in a corset!  Lives for women in the 21st century are similar in many ways to women’s lives in the 19th.  While women today have broader access to careers and other areas of society, the desire to take care of a family and maintain a seemingly put-together appearance hasn’t changed all that much.  Even now I am trying to put this post together in between cleaning up after-dinner dishes, fixing lunches, and trying to remember the laundry that is going to buzz in the dryer.    Yet even after all the seemingly endless activities of the day are through, I will still pull out my yoga mat for a few relaxing stretches…you know, to make sure I can fit into my skinny jeans just that much better!

Enjoy these little historical gems!

Oh…there goes the dryer!!….