Blog

I knew I hadn't been doing much shopping over the past couple of years, but I've recently started to notice that a good percentage of my clothes are looking worn, if not downright shabby.

The other day I wore a thin, long-sleeved t-shirt layered underneath a regular t-shirt and didn't realize until I got to work that there were holes in both sleeves of the undershirt. Not to mention a tiny hole in the outer shirt that I'm going to ignore for now because it's one of my favorites.

The evidence has been cumulative: a flannel nightgown from the '80s reduced to a pile of dustrags, a long-sleeved tee looking thin and stretched out, a silk-screened t-shirt design cracking and fading despite being hung to dry after each washing, a spot on a tank top that isn't coming out in the wash. Finally the revelation: I need some new clothes.

My husband is in the same boat. We both wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time, but most of the attrition in his wardrobe comes from t-shirts shrinking over time or getting poked full of holes when Xena jumps into his arms and clings to his shoulder with her claws.

I can hardly think of an activity I enjoy less than shopping for clothes. Yesterday I visited a few boutiques with my sister and niece. Sure, all the clothes look adorable in size 5, but not so cute by the time they've tacked on an extra yard of fabric to get to my size.

I ended up with one top I thought was fairly cute. When I put it on over my Yummie Tummie tank to go to a party last night, my husband's comment was, "It's a little snug, isn't it?" So, yeah.

I've been trying to buy some clothes online, but no matter how detailed the sizing and measurement information are, I never seem to be able to buy anything that fits properly. One way or another, I need to do something about my wardrobe. It's bad enough that I wear jeans, t-shirts and sneakers every day; it's much worse when those garments are also worn out.

It looks like I'm going to have no choice but to enlist a fashionable friend for a shopping trip soon. If you'd like to volunteer for that position, I'm accepting all applicants.

Image of The Shaggy Man from the Oz books found at Wikimedia Commons.

I've been keeping really busy of late (me? no way!) and I decided earlier this week that it would be a good idea for me to make a to-do list of my non-job-related projects to make sure I didn't let anything slip through the cracks.

It filled an entire page.

That is how I found myself at the post office at one o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, mailing dues statements for my community service organization. Once I had the list in front of me, I put my head down and just started plowing through it.

Now I'm mostly caught up on club business (except that I need to prepare a handout for our region conference at the end of the month). Two of my three tax forms have been submitted. Work for my dad's company is under control for now. I wrote a letter to the water company on my dad's behalf and got that mailed. I feel so accomplished.

Tonight all I have to do is make a cheesecake for Cagey's birthday party (they're better if they have a few days to cure before serving) and comb all the cats with my new Furminator for an upcoming blog post.* Anyone who is coming to Cagey's will be happy to know that I plan to make the cheesecake first.

At some point I also need to prepare for a two-hour presentation I'm doing next week on business blogging. I know what I want to talk about, but an outline would be helpful.

That doesn't count the yard work and gardening that looms, nor the weekly volunteer stuff to which I've committed myself. Still, I'm feeling optimistic that I've made some progress. That's something.

*Disclosure: The Furminator was provided to me at no charge as part of a blogger program related to National Hairball Awareness Day (see badge on right). My eventual blog post is guaranteed to permanently cement my crazy cat lady reputation.

Photo credit: Tom Ray

My husband and I spent the better part of the weekend undoing months of household neglect. I know no one cares about this except us, but I'm going to document it here just as a reminder to myself.

The vacuum cleaner was my best friend for the whole endeavor. I used it to sweep the floors, remove the fur coats from the ceiling fan blades, get cobwebs out of the corners, and I even hefted it onto the kitchen counter so I could vacuum all the dust bunnies off the tops of the cupboards.

I mopped all of the floors in the house and cleaned the mosaic tile bathroom floor with a scrub brush. My husband took on the cleaning of all the bathroom fixtures and mirrors. I cleaned out my bathroom drawers for the first time since we remodeled about four years ago.

My new favorite cleaning product is Method hardwood floor cleaner. It's really easy to use, does a lovely job of cleaning (see how shiny my living room floor looks in the picture?) and it smells great. Even our bedroom floor looks pretty good now, and it's almost completely devoid of varnish. Best of all, the product is non-toxic, which is helpful when your cats think nothing of walking over the just-mopped surface.

So now our house is clean enough that it won't be too embarrassing when one of my book clubs comes over on Sunday afternoon. Assuming I can maintain the cleanliness that long. I'm certainly going to try.

Please admire my painstakingly scrubbed floor and baseboards.

This may be the worst spring allergy season I've ever experienced. I've had a solid week of constant throat clearing, coughing and nose-blowing that I am sure is irritating to anyone with the misfortune to be in my vicinity. I know it's driving me crazy. Worst of all, there's no end in sight.

I take a daily prescription pill for allergies and asthma anyway, but it's no match for the onslaught of tree pollen and mold spores that have settled in with the warmer weather. Even with the addition of the neti pot, cough tablets, rescue inhaler and boxes of tissues everywhere I go, I can barely sleep through the night, much less sit quietly while I'm trying to work or otherwise live my life.

Fortunately, my breathing isn't particularly affected, so I can still go walking outside. Whatever is triggering this, it's just as bad indoors as outdoors.

My husband and I have set aside this entire weekend for spring cleaning, so I'm hoping that will serve to cut down on some of the worst of the indoor allergens by the time we're finished. Of course, it will stir them all up in the process, but I can't imagine my level of suffering getting much worse than it is now.

As long as I'm miserable anyway, I've also started taking liquid iron supplements prescribed by my doctor for iron deficiency anemia. (I'm just the picture of good health these days, aren't I?) It is truly horrible, but I've learned that I can choke it down more effectively if I mix it with fruit juice. That doesn't hide the hideous aftertaste, but it's much better than drinking it plain.

So how is your spring going so far?

Photo credit: subtle_devices

We went from snow to warm, gorgeous weather in a week. That's the Midwest for you. I'm thrilled with the temperature change, but I can't quite make myself peel off the plastic that's covering our bedroom window. It's only March and it wouldn't be unheard of to have another ice storm before spring gets really serious.

Let me get the big news out of way first: I'm staying at my job after all. So a huge weight has been lifted and now I can get back to doing what I do without the distraction of having to job hunt.

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who has helped, supported and encouraged me over the past five months. I cannot begin to thank you enough for keeping me optimistic.

Last night I celebrated by lighting two big sparklers I'd been saving and dancing around the yard with them. That was fun.

Earlier in the evening I attended a city council meeting in a nearby town to help support a friend who was there to address the council. She had obtained the council members' travel expense records via the Freedom of Information Act and prepared a damning presentation about the amount this small city spends on lavish restaurants, limousines and four- and five-star hotels.

I was incredibly impressed at the amount of work she had done to go on public record to try to change the way her city does business. It made me think I should be paying a lot more attention to the local politics of my own town.

For now, I'm just going to work on getting back to normal. I need to get our tax paperwork out the door and figure out a household budget that will allow for some much-needed savings but also, I hope, restore a few expenses we cut out over the past months. (House cleaning!)

Happy Spring!

Photo credit: Darren Brooker