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It’s like Gag-Me-With-A-Spoon & Go on a Cruise WIWW

It’s What I Wore Wednesday again and I’m participating. If you’re new around The Domestic Fringe, you may be wondering why in the world I would post a cheesy picture of myself just to show you my outfit. Well, I guess I have a few reasons.

1. I’m a dork.

2. I’m a girl, but not all girls are dorks, so don’t misunderstand me.

3. I enjoy going through The Pleated Poppy’s list of WIWW participants and seeing what all the girls are wearing in blogland, because it’s kind of like having a million sisters, or being in high school and playing dress-up in the mall. You know the deal – gather all your friends and swarm the fitting room with armloads of clothes you never intend to buy. It’s fun. If you’re a girl.

4. There are only so many days my husband can see me in yoga pants and a sweatshirt.

That’s it. I feel like there should be a fifth reason, because I like the number five and I hate the number 4, but I can’t think of anything else at the moment. So, here goes.

I forgot what day I wore this dress, but that’s not really important. I can guarantee it was during this last week. It’s a maxi from the GAP and I bought it at summer’s end last year. In reality, I think I bought it more into the onset of winter, because it was on final clearance (no returns) and with tax, I paid less than $20. That’s a good deal in my book, especially since they have the same dress out right now with blue and white stripes and it’s $74.95.

I will admit, floor length horizontal stripes are probably not the best idea for my body shape, but sometimes you have to wear a dress just because you like it. I like stripes. It’s my downfall.

I’ve been wanting to show you this necklace forever. It’s very cute (cuter in person) and it’s made really well. I know the girl who makes them and she has an amazing variety to choose from. If you’re a Hunger Games fan (or any other book/movie fan), you must visit. You can opt to leave the wood back painted or unpainted, but I love painted. It finished it for me.

They are super-reasonable too. Pretty designs and a great price. Can’t beat that. You can find her shop HERE.

She’ll make customs designs for you and everything. I gave a few as gifts this Christmas and they were a hit. Do stop by and tell her I sent you.

Next up – FringeKid. She’s never shy in front of a camera and strikes a post naturally. Sometimes I think my baby must have been mixed up at birth and I brought home another woman’s (probably a models) child. I smile cheesy and put my arm behind my back because I don’t know what else to do with it, but FringeKid always knows. She’s camera ready!

She thinks 80′s hair and side pony-tails are like totally awesome, gag-me-with-a-spoon kind of cool.

To give her some volume, I attempted sock curls. It’s so simple. I used four of my socks (knee socks) and divided her hair into four sections, one on each side and two in the back. She slept on the curls all night and in the morning she had this hair. So adorable!

It really worked well, but all the curl fell out by the time she came home from school. Her hair is fine and pin straight and I’m used to working with hair that you have to fight with a machete and tame with weed killer. I’m a bit at a loss when working with her hair, but I am trying. I think I will add some curl enhancing gel next time and see if that doesn’t add a little staying power.

Any suggestions are welcomed. After all, she does like her some big hair.

Here’s another fashion nod to the 80′s. If only they would make stirrup pants again…

Kidding! Don’t break out into cold sweats just yet.

FringeMan took this picture. It’s me saying “What? Don’t smile? Really??”

He’s fancying himself my personal photographer and he would not allow me to smile. A smile did not fit into the look he was trying to capture. What’s next, I ask?

Are your eyes crossing from the polka dot shirt and thatchwork coat? Don’t look too closely. You may leave blinded and I’ll bear that guilt forever.

Coat is Ann Taylor Loft (lots of years ago), Blouse is Kmart clearance (I’m fain-cy like that), and the jeans are a story (originally from Macy’s, but bought on closeout at a local shop). Oh, and the shoes are Miz Mooz. Love em.

And yes, I’m wearing a shade of odd neon (ish) purple lipstick. Again, sometimes a girl has gotta wear it just because she likes it and not because it’s fashionable.

This is me pretending I’m about to go on a cruise. I was playing dress-up, because it was cold and rainy outside and I had a fire going in the woodstove, but living in a fantasy world is nice sometimes.

My aunt is having a hearty-tack over all the colors I’m wearing; however, I matched the sandals to my toes to my necklace, so really the only pop of color is my bag. It’s a big pop, I realize, but that’s how I justify things in my head. Be glad you can’t read minds.

I’m pretty much in love with this cute little cotton dress from Fresh Produce. Have you seen their line of clothing yet? It’s adorable. They have an entire line of cruise dresses, and you all remember that I know all about cruises (read my cruise story here). I’m wearing the Sunshine Dress in Augustine.

Here’s why I love it:

1. It’s cotton.

2. It’s easy, just throw it over it over head, no fussing involved.

3. It’s washable – always a plus when you live in my house.

4. The little ruffle on the bottom flounces up and down when you walk down a flight of stairs. So cute! I’d buy it just for the ruffle.

The only thing I’m not thrilled with is the price-point for their dresses. I think they are slightly high for a casual cotton dress, but this is completely subjective. I’ve been stuck in a clearance rack for one too many years and I think that’s showing.

Here’s the message Fresh Produce sends on their tag.

“Fresh Produce clothes are made especially to fit you and your lifestyle. We hope you find yourself wearing them on all your favorite days – as you laugh with friends, play with family, and enjoy life’s sweetest pleasures.”

I think that sums up their spring clothing line perfectly. I can just imagine myself laughing, playing, and enjoying life in this dress. Hopefully it will be on a beach with lots of sunshine and lounge chairs.

Please excuse the goofy photos. I’m certainly not a model. I just try to get a photo with some resemblance of normal. And that my friends is not easy!

Hey, did you notice? I got my hair did. New color and everything. Now you can collectively say, “It’s about time!”

Thanks for putting up with me on this very long Wednesday. Have a blast of a day!

Comments 28 Comments
Categories Passions

Taps For Me

27 Apr

Today I’m writing over at An Army of Ermas.

You simply must come visit me.

I’m talking about our road trip and how past sins came back to haunt me.

Have you ever heard Taps played on a kazoo?

No? Me either, until recently. The tune is about as mournful and haunting as a kazoo can be, and believe me, I’ve been haunted by a kazoo for a quite a few years now.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mom, eyes wild with the look young mother’s get when they are torn between selfless love and wanting to eat their young. …continued at An Army of Ermas.

You won’t want to miss it!

Hope you have a happy weekend. I’ll chat with you in the comments over at the Ermas, but then be sure to come back and check out my baby bat.

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Guest Bloggers

Bat Blood on My Couch

27 Apr

Good glory the end is near!

There was a bat in my house tonight. A. BAT!

Help me Lord. This is not funny. I don’t deal well with wild animals, especially wild animals that carry rabies and fly around in the night. One lone bat could fly into my hair and get lost for a week. I don’t know what I would do if that happened, but lighting my hair on fire would not be too extreme.

That bat could have flown into my children’s rooms and sucked their very life from their small pumping veins. Oh, wait. Maybe that’s a vampire. Same difference in my book.

Now we don’t know how the bat entered the house, a small unknown that will keep me up for the next three months straight. Most likely, it came in on a pile of wood my son carried in from the garage after school. He filled a tote with wood, brought it in and then filled another tote and placed it on top of the first. All evening I’ve thrown wood on the fire from the top tote, but I came up to bed to do Zentangle. FringeMan removed the top tote, so the bat could have warmed itself by my fire and then taken flight to kill us all.

I may never rest easy again.

I know some of you have had bats in your houses and attics, but I really, really, really don’t even like mosquitoes let alone a flying creature of the night.

FringeMan was sitting in his recliner doing schoolwork when something whizzed past his head. He felt the breeze, heard the sound (deadly wings flapping in the night). When he looked up, he realize there was a bat in the room, so he went and got the dustpan. He knocked it out of the air and it landed on its back on my couch. My NEW couch. Could this story get any more gruesome?

Yes, because then he scooped it into one of my nice big glass mugs. You know my lips ain’t ever touching that. After he released the bat, the mug went right to the trash, the outside trash.

The funny thing is that I was upstairs with a set of headphones in my ears listening to classical music. Classical music. Could this night get any weirder? I don’t even like classical music. Apparently FringeMan was downstairs yelling for me the entire time. I heard not a sound. Thank you FringeMan for being my knight in shining armor and slaying my ~~dragons~~ bats.

I’m still totally freaking out. Like gag me with a spoon and throw bat blood on my couch.

Thankfully there’s no blood on the couch. If there were, you would hear my wails of anguish.

Now please excuse me while I go sell my house and move anywhere bats do not live.

Do you have one, a story with a wild animal invading your privacy? Share it please. Tell me you had a brush with nature and lived to tell the tale.

Comments 20 Comments
Categories Life

Working 9 to 5: Stay-at-Home Moms & Career Moms

25 Apr

I don’t bring home the bacon, but I do fry it up in the pan.

When a woman becomes a mom, she’s faced with a most difficult decision – to work outside the home or not to work outside the home. It’s not easy to make a choice, and when you do, you end up doubting that choice for years and years to come.

When Hilary Rosen said Ann Romney never “worked a day in her life,” she was wrong. I don’t know a woman who hasn’t worked a day in her life. To tell you the truth, I don’t know many women who get a whole day off. Life is pretty much synonymous with work. Throw a child or three into the mix and your life IS work.

The decision to work outside the home or be a stay-at-home mom is a tough one. I said that already, but it bears repeating. It’s TOUGH! Today it is financial suicide to have the mom (or in some cases, the dad) stay home to be with the kids 24/7. It can be done, but it comes at a cost. I know that firsthand. Losing a salary isn’t easy no matter how much money you make. When I decided to quit work and stay home, we suffered financially. I don’t think there’s any way to get around that.

Before I left work on maternity leave, I had a too-good-to-be-true arrangement worked out with my company. After six weeks “off”, they were going to come into my home and set me up with a computer, dedicated phone line, fax machine, and anything else I may need to work from home. Other than attending sporadic meetings, I would be able to work on my schedule at home. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? I thought so; however, right after I gave birth, the company was sold and the new owners put a kibosh on our plan. I could either work from 8-4:30 + two hours of commute time or I could quit.

I chose not to work because I didn’t want my son in daycare for ten and half hours a day. For me, the decision was a no-brainer. I didn’t have a career though, I worked a job. Perhaps walking away from a career would have been more difficult, but for me, I believe the decision would have been the same.

Please don’t misread this post and think that stay-at-home moms are better at parenting than working moms. I do NOT think that’s true. I’m just telling my story.

Every time a mom told me “You’re so lucky you get to stay home. We could never afford to do that.”, it would make me crazy angry. I wasn’t lucky. It wasn’t easy for me to stay home. I wore the same outfit to church for a year, because we didn’t have the extra money to buy another. It was a choice. We weren’t so financially well off that we didn’t miss the income. And sometimes, I just wanted to work to get out of the house.

I made a decision to stay home with my children. That’s it. Then we worked through the tough spots. Although I was incredibly fortunate to be able to spend every waking moment with my kids, luck played no part in my day-to-day life.

Now before you get bent out of shape, I realize there are moms and dad raising their children without the help and support of a spouse. Obviously they cannot just make a decision to stay home with their kids. They have no choice, but the moms throwing around the “you’re so lucky” phrase were never sole breadwinner/sole parents. They were women in the same basic position as myself at the time. We were on a level playing ground and chose differently. That is all.

Now I’m twelve years into this mother thing and I can reflect a bit on my choices. I do not regret staying home. Not at all, but I haven’t “not worked” the entire twelve years. When my children were babies, I sold Pampered Chef. Yup, imagine me cooking in front of groups of people. It was always interesting. I’ll just say that. Then I worked for a very short time in a day care. I brought my children with me and they cried every single day. My son was three and he became a cry-baby monster in day care, so when a friend of mine. who is a nurse, approached me about watching her children during the week, I jumped at the chance. My children were delighted to have best friends in the house all day while they were able to play with their own toys and nap in their own beds.

A few years later I worked part-time in Kohl’s. My hours were Mon.-Wed. and Frid. from 8 – 2:30. It was a dream job. Work was my “time-off”. Honestly. I totally viewed my job as a break, but my daughter still reminds me that I wasn’t home to get her off the bus when she was in 1/2 day kindergarten. She is still upset, if that’s even possible. It’s funny because on those days, we arranged things so my husband got her off the bus. It’s not like she became at latch-key kid at five.

So I’m saying all this to say, I don’t have a profession and that’s not always viewed as a good thing. I too often end up feeling “less than” or like I royally screwed up somewhere between graduation and childbirth. I know other people don’t mean to insinuate that I lay on the couch eating bon-bons all day (they would be M&M’s), but I get comments like, “Well you don’t understand, because you’re not working.” Or, and I love this one, “Your job isn’t a career like mine, so you wouldn’t understand the stress, pressure, etc.”

They’re probably right. I wouldn’t understand. There’s that saying about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes and I think there’s a lot of truth in that; however, we all make our choices and live with the natural consequences of that choice.

I do understand that I started graduate school when my daughter was three. Then I moved from Florida to Maine, got a job, and had countless responsibilities in church ministries. I understand that I couldn’t think past the present day or else I’d have a nervous breakdown. I know that there were not nearly enough hours in the day. I know we were short on money, lacking in time, and large on love. We did a lot.

But, I wouldn’t understand stress, pressure, time constraints, child juggling, etc. Not a bit. (Sorry. That was just a hint of sarcasm.)

I graduated high-school at 17 and college at 21. I got a job because I needed money, not because I wanted that particular job to be my life-long career. I was married at 22 and had my son at 25. No career. No profession. Just a job.

I may get another job tomorrow, but it most likely won’t be a profession and that’s the problem. People want to know what I do. What do I do?

I am a wife.

I am a mother.

I am a housekeeper.

I am a taxi driver.

I am a cook (definitely not a chef, just a cook).

I am volunteer at school.

I am women’s ministry leader.

I am a blogger.

I am me.

Happy, but without a profession. I don’t bring home the bacon, but I’ll fry it up in a pan and I’ll certainly help eat it.

I think we all make the best decisions possible for our families during each stage of life. There’s really no room for criticism in that. We all make mistakes and live with some regrets, but we keep waking up every day and loving our families. That’s what’s important. Careers and jobs will come and go, but our families will be around for a while. And, I have a pretty fabulous family.

What about you?

Do you have a career? If so, do stay-at-home moms make insensitive comments about your work?

Are you like me? Although you’ve worked a lot in life, you don’t necessarily have a career.

Were you/Are you a stay-at-home mom?

Do you regret your decision to work or not to work?

Comments 45 Comments
Categories Family

Full of Wonder

24 Apr

Life is pretty fabulous.

I’m not talking about the extra-special things that may or may not happen to you. I’m talking about the ordinary day to day, life itself. It’s great because it’s unexpected.

You wake up in the morning, toast a bagel, ~~argue with the kids over who spilled milk on their homework,~~ and head out into a day of unknowns. There’s no shortage of things that can make you wonder.

It’s a good life.

Take for example, this note that my daughter brought home from school.

Now that warmer weather is hopefully on its way to [my town] again. I need to address the subject of proper clothing for school.

Please, girls should not be wearing any short shorts or shirts with spaghetti straps. In addition, no pajamas are to be worn to school or any shirts or hats with innappropriate phrases on them.

See how they have to tell us not to wear our pajamas to school?

I always assumed that was a given, but I live in pajama-mama world. You thought I was joking the last time I made reference to everyone in my town wearing pajamas as day clothes. No sirree. I tell the truth around here.

Next week, I bet they send home a note asking parents not to wear their pajamas when picking up their children from school. It’s coming folks. I may frame it when it comes, because nobody would believe me.

The other thing that about slapped-me-in-the-face and made me wonder is why some women feel the need to excessively self-tan. I mean, I’m all about looking a shade or two darker than ghost pale, but why not quit a shade lighter than Dorito?

Fritos might be nice, but Doritos are just too much color.

It’s a wonder this thing called life.

Don’t you just love it?

What’s made you stop and wonder lately?

Comments 10 Comments
Categories Life

It’s All in my Head

21 Apr

Yesterday you gave me enough stars to light up the world and I thank you for every single one of them. I’m feeling so great about the stars that I might delete the star option, because I think I’m attached to the stars in an unhealthy way. You know?

Of course you don’t know, because you are normal.

I am not.

For the past 4 days I diagnosed myself with psychosomatic flu symptoms. I woke up during the night Monday/Tuesday shivering and hurting everywhere, including the bottom of my feet, so I went downstairs, took three Advil, and returned to bed. I thought about taking my temperature, but I didn’t feel like I could stand long enough to find the thermometer. My thermometer always hides. It’s easier to run to the drugstore and buy another than it is to find the one already in my house.

For the past four days I’ve oscillated between shivering and sweating and I’ve suffered terrible body/head aches. I told my husband I was projecting sickness onto myself because I wanted to be back on vacation with my family.

Truth. 100%.

Then I picked up the phone and called my aunt because I used the grater attachment she gave me for my Kitchen Aid mixer, Fiona. She said she had a virus all week and hoped we didn’t get it.

And all along I thought I was crazy.

“I got it. I got it!” I yelled.

Same symptoms.

What can I say? Sometimes I get the diagnosis wrong. I have been guilty of doctoring without a license. Thankfully I’m not crazy after all. Not this week anyway. I have a virus, the same one my aunt and her neighbor have. I will live to misdiagnose myself again. Praise God.

So I’m spending the weekend chained to my washing machine. After two trips to the laundromat, FringeMan figured out how to fix the dryer. He’s so handy like that. I love a man who can fix my dryer.

I’m really sick, not just crazy sick, and my dryer is working. Life is pretty good.

I have an exciting weekend of folding laundry ahead of me. How about you?

Any big plans??

And tell the truth, have you ever thought you were imagining yourself sick or am I the only one?

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Life

Enticement, Tackiness, and True Love

18 Apr

I’m in love with a store and I don’t care who knows it.

Charming Charlie knocked the socks off me. It’s an estrogen paradise.

Everything in the store is sorted by color, proving my theory that color-coding life is the way to organize the world. In work, I once color-coded all the files in the electrical engineering department. It was not a welcomed gesture, but I was, and still am, convinced it a superior coding system.

Charming Charlie does bling well, very well. In a world of accessories, it’s absolute perfection.

I may have gone to the store three times in one week, but I’m not addicted or anything. It’s my daughter’s fault.

FringeKid is my resident junior diva. There were so many cute hats, she was positively verklempt.

What is a girl filled with X chromosomes to do?

Buy a cute new bag, that’s what!

This bag is a million times better in real life than it is in this photo. It’s so lovely that my sister-in-law drove to Atlanta from Florida, took one look at my bag, and dragged me out the door to go find another. It’s just that cute folks.

Now we are sisters by marriage and twins by shopping.

It’s a good life.

I walked away from the store with one purse, one of the cutest wallets this side of the Mason-Dixon line, and two necklaces. I couldn’t stop myself. I felt like Eve munching down on the crispy apple. I’m almost certain the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil looked exactly like an earring tree filled with colored crystals sparkling in the sunlight. It was like I had a snake on my shoulder enticing me to give in to my tacky. I need not be tempted twice.

Call me Tacky Tricia and hand me a zebra striped wallet with a large leather 3D flower in hot pink. Thank you very much.

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Passions

Put it in Your Will

2 Apr

I’m getting all Martha Stewart crazy with my bad self today. Not only did I label my totally organized cabinet, but I’m preparing for our road trip down south.

I bet my mom never thought she'd see the day her baby had an organized cabinet. It's almost more miraculous than childbirth.

I. Am. Preparing. I don’t even know myself anymore!

I’ve always admired prepared people; I’ve just never been one of them, but I’m changing my ways, getting older and wiser and all that.

I now have plastic containers (yes, I know they kill all things living, but sometimes you have to take risks) filled with strawberries, grapes, baby carrots, chunked pieces of cheese. Slim-Jims, crackers, pretzels, and assorted nuts and seeds. There will be no stopping for junk food/fast food on our trip. We will eat healthy and live long. Well, as long as it takes for our plastic containers to kill us.

I’m so impressed with myself right now. It’s like I don’t even know who I am. I bought drinks and everything. I went to bed one night, a girl who flies by the seat of her pants, and woke up a responsible middle-aged housewife. Who did this to me?

I just hope this alter ego sticks around long enough to organize the laundry/mud room. I fear I’ll wake up tomorrow and dump everything out of my containers so I feel more at home. Can anyone relate?

I’m a little mentally weary from all this washing, sorting, organizing, and chopping (cheese). I doubt both sides of my brain are communicating clearly. One side of my brain is probably trying to overthrow the mature alien invader. I can’t say I blame that side, because I’m even annoying myself.

Anyway, this weekend was my mom’s birthday – a BIG birthday, like a super-sized, grande, bigga-licious birthday. I can’t give away her age, but let’s say it’s not twenty-nine, no matter how much denial you embrace.

I happen to think birthdays should be celebrated at any age. I mean, who cares if you’re all wrinkled up and you need a cane to walk, it’s an excuse to eat cake and get presents. Who doesn’t like that?

So we went down and spent the weekend with my mom, who does not have wrinkles and does not use a cane. Just want to clarify before she kills me. She does have a cute new hairdo though, which I failed to photograph.

I just stole this from her facebook timeline. Tell her how pretty she looks so she doesn't kill me. Okay?

As much as I love birthday presents, I couldn’t think of anything really special to get her. I already made this ginormous photo collage one year. My mom is stuck with it forever, because although I don’t care if she trashes it, my son does. No grandmother wants to insult her grandson, so I figure it will clutter my mom’s house for another twenty years or so. Instead of another useless gift, I assembled a board of facebook consultants. You should try this when you have a big decision to make. Your friends and family are very wise. Tap into that resource. It’s free.

My friends decided I should get my mom a Keurig. Good idea, huh? I would never have thought of that.

The other night when I was wrapping this big box, my son looks to me and says, “Maybe you should ask grandma to put this in her will, so you’ll get the coffee pot when she dies.”

NOT a good idea!

“Please don’t speak of that idea again.” I told him. “You never put a person in their grave on their birthday, especially such a monumental birthday as grandma’s. Never.”

Then I penciled it into her living will.

Thank God my mother has a sense of humor. I wouldn’t want her face her own mortality every time she wanted a cup of coffee.

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Family

Easter Bonnets, Florals, & All Things Spring – It’s WIWW

28 Mar

Do you dress up for Easter?

Another hairdo I can manage on my daughter. It takes a long time, but it's just a bunch of twisties. If you spray the hair so it's damp when you twist, it will survive anything without falling out.

We do. Except last year. It was the year of the ugly Easter. In all fairness, I tried. I really did. It’s just that I waited until the last-minute to go look for a dress. I put on a hundred, found one I liked, and then decided it was too expensive. That’s the day I became an Easter renegade. I wore something too old and too casual for a resurrection celebration.

You see, I own a lot of dresses, it’s just they are mostly casual cotton dresses. The kind you wear with flip-flops or sandals, not the I could totally top this pastel ensemble with a bonnet and toss eggs from a basket kind of dress.

I have one turquoise dress with little pink flowers, a gingham ribbon belt, and a matching cardigan sweater. It’s my old faithful. That dress has seen at least 6 or 7 Easters, but someone shrunk it. Must have been that broken dryer of mine or something. I just can’t seem to breathe in it anymore. Actually, I don’t think I can zipper it, but you really don’t need all the sordid details. I just folded old faithful up and put her at the top of the closet. I am confident she will see another Easter, but until then, I bought a new dress.

Yes sir-Ree. I prepared early this year! If you know me well, that is nothing short of miraculous. I have a teeny-tiny habit of waiting till the last-minute. It’s a terrible shortcoming and I’m not proud of it, but this year is different. I have an outfit for Easter and so does my daughter.

This is What We’ll be Wearing – Easter Edition.

I did two things I do not normally do.

1. I ordered a dress online. 2. I spent more than $20 bucks on it.

I do not regret ordering this Garden Tour dress from Modcloth. I love it! The fit is very flattering for my body shape and it has charming little birds tucked into that floral print. I assume this dress will be my go-to Easter dress for the next few years.

Notice it’s floral?

Are you digging the flowery rage in fashion this spring?

I’ll be honest. It scared me to death at first. I had visions of my great-grannies closet in my mind, but I’m embracing the bouquet look, little by little. FringeKid and I will be bug magnets. Why not?

After I bought the dress, I realized I didn’t have any shoes to wear with it. It’s a universal female problem, as I understand female problems. I ordered these Miz Mooz shoes online, because I never find really cute shoes at my local stores. I found these on sale on Amazon.

Miz-Mooz Lacey-t-strap Pump

I am officially in-love with Miz Mooz shoes. They are pricey, but I got these for almost 1/2 off the going price, so I’ll consider it a score. They are SO comfortable and not even difficult to walk in. I think I could wear them out and about all day without a problem. They do run 1/2 size small, so size up if you ever buy a pair. They have adorable shoes. Adorable.

FringeKid will be wearing this cute dress from The Children’s place. I wish I could make the photo larger, but we’re stuck with the thumbnail. She’ll also be wearing these cute sandals from K-mart. She’s super-spyched to wear these shoes, because they are “high-heels”. She’ll be very sophisticated.

The best part is…

I think she may wear this hair for Easter.

We’re going to Georgia for Easter!

I can’t wait. We’ll be spending Easter at my aunt’s house and my brother, sister-in-law, and my two adorable munchkin nieces will be meeting us at my aunts. We haven’t seen them in forever! I’m so glad my kids get Easter week off for their spring break. We’ll also get to visit with my husband’s family while we’re away. It will be an exciting week.

So there you have it. I still need to find my son an outfit and FringeMan is stuck wearing something he already owns. He has no female chromosomes so he doesn’t mind a bit. Thank God!

What about you?

Do you and your family dress up for Easter?

Do you have any special plans for the holiday?

Have you risked shopping for yourself online? How did that work out??

I’m over at Monday Mingle…come visit!

Also, join me at The Pleated Poppy and Transatlantic Blonde for What I Wore Wednesday.

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Categories Passions

Washed, Dried, & Waiting to Wear: Why This Woman Sundenly Likes Laundry

26 Mar

Saturday landed me in the laundromat. It wasn’t an all too terrible experience. Besides the machines eating coins faster than I could dig them up from under the car seat (and from pockets of old coats and in-between couch cushions), it was nice to have all the laundry washed, dried, and folded in about two hours, give or take an hour since I don’t own a watch.

Usually I am doing laundry ~~every waking minute of my life~~ almost every day. I know some people pile it all up and save it for a once-a-week marathon, but my washer tends to leak and it would be a full-on flood if I did twenty loads in one day. Besides one of us is always running out of something, especially FringeMan. I doubt he has enough work pants and sweatshirts to make it through a week. So, I wash often, until my dryer died an untimely death and forced me to the laundromat.

I can only hang so many clothes in my house to dry before I get claustrophobic and feel like I’ve been sent to a sudsy purgatory. Because the weather was cold and dreary, outside was not option. It’s really never an option since I have nowhere discreet to hang clothes. I doubt my neighbors want our undergarments waving in their windows. Know what I mean? We just don’t have much of a yard.

All those words and I could have just said, Saturday I went to the laundromat. Why you stick with me, I’ll never understand, but I do appreciate.

So while I’m in the laundromat twiddling my thumbs and keeping my children from using a wayward sock they found as a slingshot to sail quarters through air, I thought how nice it would be to have multiple washers and dryers in my house. I mean, imagine… not one, but two commercial size loaders whipping the dirt from clothes faster than you fill the hamper…it’s almost as good an idea as hiring a housekeeper. Ok, not really, but it’s still a good idea. Too bad Sears doesn’t have a two-for-one sale.

Sears, do hear me? Your washers and dryers are too expensive! Can I become a product tester or something? We have lots of dirty clothes.

After I finished fantasizing about super-capacity red washers, I thought about how lucky I am to have a washer and dryer. I could be walking to a creek to beat the body odor out of my son’s gym socks. Praise the good Lord for modern conveniences!

Then I thought that in the olden days people wore their clothes multiple times before washing. I mean, they must have. They didn’t have many clothes to rotate. My mind kept thinking. I couldn’t stop it. They only bathed once a week and I doubt they had deodorant. Good heavens! They must have stunk like dirty dogs in the rainy season.

I know what my son smells like after gym class and I force him to bathe daily, against his better judgement. Imagine if we only bathed once a week? Our furniture would smell like toe jam and armpits. I have a terrible sense of smell and still, I think I would die of olfactory overload. No amount of candles can cover week-old rot.

So this morning when I woke up to find the hamper full. I did not even complain. I just pushed the pile of clothes down as far as they’d go and determined to buy a bigger hamper.

I’ve decided I like laundry – clean, folded, and waiting to wear.

The end.