Twenty-three: A Busy Day

Tuesday promises to be an insanely busy day...after several slower ones.  I have two face to face classes to teach, to students who have belatedly realized how close the end of the semester is.  The excuses are becoming increasingly creative.

Then, in mid-afternoon I sit on a district-wide committee having to do with procedures, regulations, and protocols of the college.

Then, a visit with my mother.  And at 8:30 p.m., I evaluate one of our adjunct instructors, followed by administering student evaluations.  I should leave campus about 10, for the hour long drive home.  Suffice it to say, I will not be blogging much.

All of these items have previously appeared in the remix though not in this configuration.  As I ponder the conclusion of the challenge, I realize that I am far less resistant to the "not shopping" stipulation as I was in the beginning.  Perhaps Christmas shopping helps that.  We were in a local mall on Monday, the first time in probably five years.  I was intrigued by the window displays, but not to the point that I WANTED anything.

Day Twenty-Two: Variations on a Dress

This j. Jill dress was the one item of the remix I was most worried about.  I've come to realize that it is just as versatile as any other piece.  On the far left, I try a "mean teacher" look!

I am less likely to wear the dress this way, with a plunging neckline, but it's do-able!

 

I think I like the dress best with the blue silk blouse, but I also think that I've got some learnin' to do about scarves as belts.

Early on in the challenge, I wanted my readers Cynthia and Rose to figure out a styling algorithm for me, but after three weeks of the challenge, I think I've figured out the basics myself.  I tend to think of my skirts, trousers, jeans, as the foundation of my outfits.  I included 4 tees, 6 blouses, 3 cardigans, and 1 jacket in the challenge.  If I calculate using only the tops, that's 10 unique outfits for each foundation--even before I switch around sweaters or shoes or accessories.  Basically, I've realized that I could keep the remix going indefinitely!  Except that I've finally cured myself of GREY.

Day Twenty-One: After Four Beers!

This is what I am supposedly wearing on my first day of Christmas shopping!  Trying to unsuccessfully channel some Dries van Nooten.  Not!!!  Snapped these photos yesterday, and then after too brief a night, headed out to Christmas shop this morning.  Below, you'll see what I had for lunch:

Our Christmas shopping, for the gang of 19, almost always begins at Moon Marble company, where one can see a marble being made!

Their shop, one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas, features plenty of vintage toys--one reason the grandkids LIKE coming to our house. 

Today, we purchased yo-yo's, something called a Squeeglie, cap bombs and caps, a concert quality slide whistle and a knot game.

On the hour, Bruce, the proprietor fashions marble from Italian glass and those can be had for $25. and up.  It's a one of a kind gift!  This is so much our habit, that they greet us each year as we arrive.

I offer no explanation for the change in my attire, except to say that I LIKE the little boy's clip-on tie.  And, after an afternoon of shopping, I think ALL of the grandson's can safely be crossed off the list!

We keep counting the raptors.  Yesterday, it was 20 in the first 20 miles and 3 spotted in town.  Today, it was just 15.  But get a load of this Kansas sunset::

Day Twenty: Papers are Graded!

The papers are graded!  I had a handful of A's and an equal number of F's.  The most fascinating paper in the stack was by a student from Mauritania, who wrote a paper comparing the different standards of beauty in American culture and Mauritanian culture.  I had not realized that girls there will sometimes be force-fed in order to achieve the "big butts" (quoting her paper) men desire.  In addition, girls are ecstatic at the sign of their first stretch mark--another sign of beauty.  And, they will undergo gum blackening to achieve a brighter smile.

She found though that women in both cultures sought quick beauty fixes.  Speaking of quick, that's what today's weekend ensemble is all about:  black tee, black jeans, and striped blouse that is ready to be laundered.  The silver belt reflects the influence of Serene at the Elegant Bohemian.



We turned our furnace on a week ago and my hair has gone crazy.  It is perfectly straight and so full of electricity that nothing can be done with it for the moment.

A few quotes from Affluenza worth pondering:

"Since World War II, Americans have been engaged in a spending binge unprecedented in history.  We now spend nearly two-thirds of our $11 trillion economy on consumer goods.  For example, we spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education ($99 billion).  We spend as much on auto maintenance as on religious and welfare activties.  Nearly 30 percent of Americans buy Christmas presents for their pets;  11 percent buy them for their neighbors."  (U.S. Census Bureau data)



"In 1986, America still had more high schools than shopping centers.  Less than twenty years later, we have more than twice as many shopping centers (46,438) as high schools (22,180).  In the Age of Affluenza (as we believe the current period will eventually be called), shopping centers have supplanted churches as a symbol of cultural values.  In fact, 70 percent of us visit malls each week, more than attend houses of worship."

"One poll found that 93 percent of teenage American girls rate shopping as their favorite activity."

Day Nineteen: What I Am not Wearing Today

We went for a drive last Thanksgiving afternoon.  On the twenty mile drive into "the big city", we counted 11 raptors.  We counted a total of 21 before it became too dark to see them, perching solitary in the leafless trees surveying all that scurried in the barren fields below.  It was cold.

I snapped these photos yesterday, knowing that I had a commitment this Black Friday.  And no, I am not shopping.  I am not part of that madness.  Instead, I am grading research papers all loosely based on the book, Affluenza.  The book explores the various cultural ramifications of consumer society.  To my students, the book has been like fish suddenly able to see water.  They were born into sometime in the late 80's, while those of us who are older can remember when it took hold in the early 70s.

I found the coat--a Talbot's, made in the U.S. A. at a Salvation Army for $6 after two solid years of shopping for it.  And the necklace in the above photo is a DIY made of a batch of stitched together feathers from our local Cabela's.  The glasses have no lenses in them.  They are a tortoise shell men's frame purchased for .10 from a local food salvage shop we frequent once a month.

For those of you new to my blog, it probably bears repeating that ALL of the clothing depicted on RAGS has come from a thrift store.  Now, back to those papers.  Just as soon as they're all graded, I can return to my usual blogging habits.

Day Eighteen: Blessings Counted

I suppose you could say that I am the "matriarch" of a large blended family.  My husband and I remarried at age 40.  He had been raising 4 children on his own and I had been raising 3 daughters on my own.  A year after our marriage, we assumed custody of his orphaned nephew.

For the first year of our marriage, we maintained two households.  His boys lived in one location and my girls lived in another.  We alternated nights at each household, while we undertook the task of blending families.

Our teenagers each had their own memories of holiday traditions.   We have configured our holidays in various ways.  Some years we have invited them all and set up two extended tables large enough to seat every one.  We have gone out to eat and included anyone who wanted to come.  The past three years we have traveled to my mother's lake home, thawing the turkey by a tremendous wood fire.  By now, our extended "tribe" numbers 19 if you include the grandchildren, children in law and significant others.

It gets complicated.  My mother travels to a jazz festival each year, eating a peanut butter and jelly on the beach, to avoid the problems that invariably occur when you try to make everyone happy.  Increasingly, it seems to me there is a certain genius in her approach.

Five of our children are at a distance this year  (one is at the Jets game!).  The three who are nearby have other plans.  We find ourselves at home, just the two of us.  The hawk is no where to be seen.  We may or may not go out for a meal.

We are thankful for the peace and quiet.  And, thankful that we have raised eight healthy and ornery children, even when that sometimes means we have to hold our responsibilities loosely.

Day Seventeen: What Birds Eat for Thanksgiving

Only two of my thirty remix items have any pattern in them.  As I've been making my way through the remixers list, I've discovered that many of them are remixing patterns and doing it for the first time.  Here you see a fragment at my stab at it, a departure from my master list of ensembles.  That's ALL I was going to post...as the result looked like something an airline steward(ess) would wear.  A new reader, Brett, suggested in a comment on Monday's ensemble that black stockings would lengthen my already long legs.  I tried that--with hilarious results.

Yes, it looks nice, but this particular pair kept creeping down towards my knees.  It was so bad that I openly complained about the problem to my students!  This opened up an interesting discussion.  One of the guys in class offered that he'd run a race in a muddy field in a pair of heels...discovering that they were hard to run in and that the heels tended to sink in the mud.  I guess it provided a bit of comic relief on the day their research papers were due.

It's been rainy and chill here the past couple of days, so I posed with a London Fog raincoat I found in October at a local thrift.  I must say that I DO like the dark feet emerging from the coat, though I wish I had a Victorian looking boot.

On another note, we're having a bit of excitement at our house.  My husband keeps pigeons for a hobby.  We have a substantial dovecoat out back which houses 100+ birds.  About six weeks ago, we discovered the bloody carcass of one inside the house and we've been scratching our heads about it ever since.  DH has speculated that feral cats were doing the damage and he's trapped 5 in the past month.  I didn't blame the resourceful cats.  It thought it was an owl.  We lost three additional birds.

Today, we discover a goshawk in broad daylight perched on the dovecoat!  We live in the middle of a small town of 7,000 and I never would have thought that a predator bird which I have loved to watch fly across the fields of Kansas, would be so brazen and bold.  So, while DH ponders the legality and problem of capturing this beautiful creature, I can blissfully blog.

Day Sixteen: A comment on Comments

I don't often return to see the comments on a comment I leave at another's blog.  Twice in my brief fashion blogging stint have I discovered that my comments weren't appearing, much less receiving a comment on a comment.  The first time, it was on a well-established blog where the comments were moderated.  I racked my brain for anything I might possibly have typed that would have offended the blogger.  Finally, I wrote her an e-mail apologizing for any possible offense.  Turns out, she hadn't actually moderated in a while and that only her established readers were able to comment.  I DO leave comments there now.

More distressing was the discovery that a week's worth of comments were missing from a new blog I had begun reading.  I knew something was wrong because I had left hefty, paragraph length comments and there had been no interaction.  I decided that I had perhaps been in too big of a hurry to see the comment through the "word verification" process.

In an effort to be more thorough, I began to write down the strange words that show up:  sperape, unnale, harroppe, balsina, magamm, nolycla, bruapper, mitaudde, dectier, isdui, untstin, ingers, kelyz, conang, busis, jamande, amsonsp, nogype, micalie, deprance, skin gum, weedis, dinmal, acipriz, olignet, sounche, talli, peref, hothersl, predia, brial, petead, typerb, intar, shexual, patiou, calters, micublec, kolize, cipstal.  My favorites to date would be shexual and skin gum.  Words like that delight a writer's heart.

How I wished I could have played a few of these in last night's Scrabble game.  I was skunked by a hundred points, but then you already know how tired I was.

 

I tried the blue tee first and then decided I'd worn it too much in the challenge, so switched it out for the purple tee.  The first photos came out so dark you couldn't tell it was purple.  This time DH helped set the flash.  Those shiny spots on my upper torso?  That would be the metallic grey brassiere underneath!  Too tired to redo!

I think I have been tremendously lucky to have so many thoughtful commenters at Rags.  One source I read suggested that 90% of a blog's readers only ever lurk.  The women who visit Rags often leave wonderful comments, and frankly that it one of the advantages older bloggers have over the youngsters.

Day Fifteen: In which Hebah saves the day

One of the unpleasant effects of aging is a disruption in sleep patterns.  I've discussed this before in a post I did on nightgowns.  I suspect that my circadian rhythms are disrupted by the hours both my job and this fun new hobby requires me to be online.  Having a full moon out doesn't help much either.  Last night, I took my melatonin and waited a half hour in dim light for sleep to take hold.  Two hours later, I took a sleep aid.  I dozed...but I was up at 5:00 a.m., eating, hoping that would fully knock me out.  Suffice it to say, I have bags, BIG BAGS, today and I don't feel incline to share them with the StyleNation.

This ensemble seemed to need pearls.  The single strand I've ever owned, a gift from husband number 1, who is now deceased, has been given to the middle daughter already. So, I added a jacket.

Both the grey blouse and the off-white jacket introduce remix items I haven't worn before.  The blouse is a heavy silk, made in China and features more of those French cuffs I love.   The jacket is unlined boiled wool, made in Austria!

I "found" this scarf in my mailbox at work last week.  It is a bit of crochet work by my favorite "happy hooker," Hebah. 

 Many years ago,  Hebah was a student of mine.  She has since completed graduate school in English and works as both an adjunct instructor and writing tutor in our Writing Center while she looks for work that doesn't try her patience quite as much as students can.  She's an instructor who dares to show "Idiocracy" in class!  It's great to have students become one's colleague.  The scarf gave this outfit just what it needed.

A big shout out to Hebah for this generous gift!

Now, does anyone have ideas to solve the sleep problem?

Day Fourteen: Meg's Ragged Edge

 

I think I solved the lighting problem.  This was taken in our music room last night about 9 o'clock, the camera on a tripod, with DH clicking the shutter.  I doubt this will be the end of our location shots, but this discovery makes the remix challenge infinitely easier.  

The sweater dress/tunic is made in the U.S.A!  The tights are a pair of what Savers was selling in October and made in China.  The tights are a deeper blue than I thought they would be.  This is my first look, inspired by a page torn from the September Vogue--a Nordstrom's ad.  I found the tunic, without cowl neck, at a thrift store.  You'll see it again during the challenge with some britches.  You are NOT likely to see heels like this in my closet, ever, and no socks.

What you ARE likely to see again is the cameo made by my first steady reader, Sewing Pixie.  Those of you familiar with the "American Gothic" portrait DH and I plan to do annually will understand why this is an important piece of the look.  I am always scouting for edgy details to incorporate into my classroom attire, as a subtle way of letting my students know that while I may be "mature," I understand them.  Isn't that hairy skeleton great?








Check out Pixie/Meg's other cameos and applique work at her Etsy shop, Meg's Ragged Edge.

Day Thirteen: Shades of Grey

I am grading freshmen position papers as this posts.  I am up to my elbows in explaining to freshmen WHY we cannot save taxpayer money by executing death row prisoners.  One, in fact, called for a federal law to do away with state laws on capital punishment to expedite the process.  Sigh...

I took a break midway through the grading because DH was willing to snap a few.  We set out for our local park.  The scarf was tied gypsy style in my hair.

The light was bright, the wind was brisk and the scarf slipped from my hair.  DH prefers the scarf as belt.  I'm posed near a set of WPA era stone bleachers in our city park.

I am not a big fan of low-riding denim, because of little gaps...


I AM a big fan of DH--photographer, dishwasher, cook, and chauffeur.

Day Twelve: Black and Remix Blues

I think all of the pieces in this ensemble have been previously seen in the remix before.  The only thing different in my usual styling would be the scarf.  In the morning, it had been wrapped around my neck twice and knotted.  The tails of the scarf felt too long and the scarf certainly photography "shiny" in my new world of indoor flash.

It is an inexpensive scarf from Savers, the one item I purchased before the remix began with the 30 for 30 challenge in mind.  I'm all about being scarfy, but it's definitely NOT a Hermes scarf.  I kept thinking about it though throughout my work day. 

You'll sometimes see cowboys with a silk square, often in a solid color, wrapped around their neck.  The scarf can serve a useful purpose when pulled up over the bottom half of the face in a blizzard or dust storm.  By the end of the day, I had wrapped the scarf around the neck a third time and thus approached the look of the Marlboro Man.

Frankly, this look feels over-stylized to me.  It is my first timid stab at mixing patterns--the paisley in the scarf with the design in the vest.  I could tell from certain sidelong glances that perhaps I was getting carried away.  However, the outfit was supremely comfortable.  I sat at my computer until midnight last night and realized at midnight that I had not yet removed my boots.

I'm feeling better.  BUT, I wore my black blazer with this outfit.  The rules of the remix permit outerwear to accommodate the weather, but still I feel guilty doing it and perhaps that is why this last, "coming clean" photo did not come out too well.

I discovered that all of the lengthy comments I had left on a new blogger's posts and disappeared into cyberspace, because I had not left word verification.  When I was tired last night, at first I thought I'd offended her somehow...  But there was a quick e-mail from her this morning, confirming my second thought.  I had commented and dashed off too soon.  I'm thinking of doing an upcoming post on the fine art of commenting.

Day Eleven: Janelle Monae or Marlene Dietrich?

I'm still not feeling on top of my game and no amount of dressing up seems to change that.

This is what I actually wore to a Faculty meeting with the Chancellor.  You've seen the slacks, the blouse, and the shoes before.  I think the sweater is new to the challenge ensembles.  The sweater is boiled wool with a velveteen collar.  It's made in China.

I tried to "scrunch" my hair today, but I think cold, rainy days probably aren't the best for a -do like that.

And now, for the big reveal.  Drum roll...
















The husband's top hat!  The polka dot suspenders are thrifted and the bow tie is made from a patterned satin wired ribbon so that it can be tied and positioned as whimsically as possible.



And if you've never seen this Kansas City, Kansas native in action, check out this video of Janelle Monae's live network TV premier.