Day Three: No Maternity Shirts, Please

At 2:00 Thursday morning, I was wandering around the house looking for this:

I was so excited to put up the site, that I completely forgot to plan for pajamas. Pajamas have always been an issue for me. Could have something to do with the way my mother loved to get my sisters and me into identical pajamas even though I was ten feet taller than either of them, and much older.

I have a 200 year-old dresser that's stuffed with jammies. But I couldn't touch them, no matter how much I wanted to. I finally decided on a tee shirt that I'd bought on my first WM shopping round. $3 Danskin with a leaping figure in tiny rhinestones. Everyone needs a tee shirt for gardening, right? Or cleaning toilets. Or sleeping. But it's short & I thought immediately of a pair of comfy cotton shorts that I got on Ocracoke Island eight years ago when I took the only solitary vacation I've taken in my adult life. (Gorgeous, peaceful, such a gift of a place with an amazing national preserve) A still, small voice inside me that definitely wasn't God whispered, "Go ahead. Put them on. No one will know. You'll sleep much more comfortably." I wrestled with that particular angel for twenty minutes. And it didn't win! I put on an extra pair of underwear and slept fine. Temptation is the worst.

Later in the day I found the pictured $3 sleep shirt (clearance) on top of Scout's kennel, covered up by the blanket we drape over his kennel at night. (He's noisy as a parrot when the sun comes up).

So, yesterday I had to make my fifth trip this week to the mother ship. I found 850 Op pj sets made for teenage elves who have no buttocks. And a similar number of pajamas that looked like wardrobe refugees for Roseanne, circa 1996.  While I was searching, I discovered the cutest little boy hiding behind a mirror desperately trying to open a much-handled package of regular M&Ms. I must have looked disapproving because he ran to his mother immediately. (Really, I couldn't disapprove. When the kids were little, I always opened graham crackers or PF Goldfish as we cruised the aisles, then paid for them at checkout. Kids get hungry!) Suffice it to say, I eventually dug up a couple more comfy tees and some sleep shorts that I can answer the door in if need be.



To the ensemble:

This was a tough one. The weather is still hot, but it threatened rain Thursday afternoon. Had to take the boy to soccer practice, then we went out for dinner. I didn't really want to wear jeans, but they were the best I could come up with.

I like the peasant-style top, but it was a tad sheer, so I put a tank underneath it. Two things about the top: I hate the ties at the 3/4 sleeve. One of the things that can mark an item as being of high quality is attractive detail. I get what they were trying to do here, but there's plenty of pintucking in the front of the shirt. I would've preferred a standard long sleeve that I could turn up a fold or two. (I don't usually wear 3/4 sleeves because I don't have much of a waist, and putting another horizontal line at waist-level just makes a wide-waisted person look wider.) Second thing--I felt like it looked like a maternity top. And I'm way too old for that look. It would've been nice to have a tie at the back to make it less blousey.

Probably would not have bought a similar-style shirt at another store. But it's something I can work with.

Like the tank. Great deep heathered gray color.
Jeans:

Not bad. Good fit. I like the deep blue color, which looks a tad dressier than regular denim blue. I'm not one for embellishments on pockets, but these aren't obnoxious. I washed and dried them first to shrink them a bit and they came out fine. Will probably hang them to dry in the future to preserve the color and texture.

Shoes: Still feeling limited in this department. I have my mom scouting Cincy Wal-Marts for cute ones. (Have I mentioned that all of our area Wal-Marts in Southern Illinois are of the lower-end variety? And that our Plus-Size departments are better-stocked than Misses? Hello, Wal-Mart? There are people of all sizes and tastes down here....)

I bought a pair of brushed silver and a pair of bronze sandals in this style. They're flat. Fit is kind of awkward and my feet tend to slide a bit in size 9. But my toes hung out in the 8.5s. No precision at all here. Cute, though. Understated.

Jewelry: Sterling silver hoops. The closure is very soft, bends too easily. I used the $2 silver slider on the black pleather necklace from Wednesday.

Haven't taken a picture of the black purse yet.

Cost: White Stag Blouse $5 (Orig $10); Miley Cyrus/Maxx Azria (who I keep confusing with Hank Azaria--love him!) Tank $6; Faded Glory Jeans $15; Sandals $7 (orig $15) Jewelry: George & White Stag $12  for a total of  $45

Would have been perfectly comfortable if the blouse didn't have the ties and had better sleeves. (Will def. wash this on delicate.)

Why do I see lots of ironing in my future? (ugh)

A note about habits: Aren't they hard to break? This transition phase is a little much. Early fall is the time when I always have piles of clothes and laundry around anyway because the weather is so changeable. Now I have Wal-Mart clothes all over the guest room, and my closet half-emptied in the bedroom. Shoes everywhere! I hate not being able to roll out of bed and into a beloved hoodie and shorts and flip flops to take the boy to school. (Wait until you see the only flip flops I could find at WM!) So much to plan. And I confess I'm kind of tired of going to WM every day. But I'm pretty sure I'm set for the weekend. Yay!