April

Sunday, I will make my annual presentations to a number of students who have won awards for poetry, fiction, and art at our college's annual award reception.  It is a more formal event than most for the college and I will likely wear this black sheath silk dress by Anne Taylor.  I don't yet know whether I will add pearls, but my hair will have been cut by then.

Privately, I've been thinking of this beautiful dress as my spring/summer funeral dress, although I don't entirely understand why a person would need a dress dedicated for this purpose.  The last few funerals I've attended people no longer seem to follow the dark rule.  And I have attended funerals that were more celebratory than sombre.











I do know that in the past month I have learned about very serious diagnoses of illnesses among current and former colleagues.  And while most of us are obliged to be caught up in the demands of our everyday lives, I increasingly catch myself staring out the window and thinking about the inevitable.  I had planned to work until age 65, but news of this sort makes me wonder.  Early retirement is still a couple of years away though I still feel young and vital inside.  I suspect that no matter how I feel physically, I will trip over this emotional hurdle more and more in the years to come.

Shoes by Nine West, from Melanie at Dressed to IL.  All items thrifted.

Wedding Jitters

I suppose I am very American in my taste for sportswear and separates.  When Rags began I owned exactly one dress.  Since I've pushed myself to include at least one dress each month.  When I found this dress several months ago, I was excited because the fabric seemed to be the crimplene that Vix at Vintage Vixen is always finding at jumble sales.  The mix of pink and orange and lavender I knew would challenge me.  The dress by Worthington is fully lined and appears to have never been worn.  When I finally tried it on, I just swam in this size 10 dress.  I tried to fix the problem with a belt and even thrifted a sparkly pink one to try with it, before I decided NOT to retake these photos.

As this posts, last minute wedding jitters are building among women all over the USA.  My daughters and I have been invited to a 4:00 a.m. "Royal Breakfast" at my sister's home to watch the live stream of the wedding.  From what I have heard of the preparations there will be all sorts of British-y things to eat.  And I would have done well to locate some extreme hat to wear.  Though I have kept my eye out for such a thing, for once my thrifting luck has eluded me.

I read a number of blogs written by women in the UK.  They impress me that far too much hub-bub is made of this event.  The difference between their response and our American one is curious to me.  When we grow up in a country that never had royalty, so many of us seem to crave the pomp and circumstance, the romance we only ever read about in fairy tales.  Or perhaps it is the remnants of our 4-year old "princess phase."

Do any of my readers have a theory about this?

Beetlejuice, a Style Reference

Steph at the Dashing Eccentric had an excellent blog post on the various elements of styling last week.  Let's see if I can remember the list:  silhouette, color, pattern, detail, drape, texture, style references, and accessories.

In this look, I was trying to see out the month of April in my oranges in spite of the cool weather we've been having.  I started with a vivid orange shell and then added a crisp grey and white checked Brooks Brothers blouse/shirt.  Next I added the 3/4 length blazer I've been wearing this month.   I'm not sure I like this sleeve length, but in this case, it allowed me to cuff and I received compliments on my pattern mixing (the stripes in the jacket ARE a pattern to my eye).

The Banana Republic skirt has been a favorite of mine for several summers now, but regular readers will know that 2011's color campaign is all about leaving my love of grey behind.  The fabric of the skirt remains stiff after repeated washings and after this wearing, I folded it up and put it in this month's box for the thrift store.

• For the silhouette of this look, I give it a "C"
• For the color, I give it a "B"--perhaps, too much grey.
• For the pattern, I give it a "B+"
• For the detail, it seems to me that I have more than usual going on.  I don't know what grade to give it, as I not quite comfortable with pattern mixing yet.
• For drape, I give it a "D"
• For texture, it is crisp, I give it a "B"
• For style references...see below
• For accessories, I give it a "C"

Of all of these factors, style references tend to be the factor I least consider, but last month, daughter K. modeled what she called her Beetlejuice look.  That's a style reference, isn't it?  How conscious are you of style references.

And get a load of those orange heels.

Brown Paper Packages

Some of us are old enough to recall this phrase from the tune "My Favorite Things" in the Sound of Music.  From the kimono that arrived from Iman in Japan to the goodies Hannah sent from New Zealand, it has been a remarkable couple of months for packages.  Whether it is something I have ordered from Amazon or Etsy, or a giveaway, or something totally unbidden, I never get over my delight in opening packages.

Over Spring Break, a beautiful volume on Leonard da Vinci arrived from Ofelia in south Florida.  It was a delightful reminder of an exhibit I had seen at the Museum of the Rockies last summer, which featured many of the prototypes for his "machines" made up in wood.

Another package came from Feminine Bravery in Finland.  I knew it would contain a bright red lipstick and that I had agreed to send her photos of me wearing it!  Those of you who have been reading for any length of time know that I am very shy of wearing of make-up.  I gulped and did it, but I'm not going to republish the photos here.  If you want to see them, you'll have to visit her regularly, as I do not know when they are scheduled to post.

I won another giveaway from Interrobangs Anonymous, totally having forgotten that I had written a brief haiku in the comments section to win it!  It arrived just after my "green" month had ended.  The necklace spells out Y-E-S in Morse Code, although I'm no expert in code and wouldn't know. 

And I think I was the first to order from Reva's new store.  I bought four items and was very pleased with all three, as well as the gift she included.  While I had intended this skirt I had lusted after to be part of my April line-up because of it's beautiful colors, you will see that I didn't manage to make it work with any of my oranges.

Several times this month I've worn a new ring I ordered from Clyde's Rebirth.  She makes lovely chain harnesses and feather jewelry.  In this piece, I love the crystal.  And all items come wrapped in a scarf, her green solution to paper waste.

And finally, a package arrived from Christina at Second Skin Style.  I am not a person easily moved to tears.  I knew when I opened it that she is really, truly going out of the vintage business.  And her generosity is a powerful reminder to me that all of us should hold our things loosely. 

Helga's Bag

Those of you who read Helga von Trollop may have already heard of this bag.  Helga stitched up the original bag and sent it on it's way to the first of forty recipients.  It began in New Zealand and made its way to Andalucia, Spain and back to Hannah at Christ Church, New Zealand.  Hannah dutifully mailed the bag on April 11 and it arrived this past Tuesday, April 19, having come 8073.3 miles or 12,992.7 kilometres!  I had so many ideas of the embellishments I wanted to add--a Kansas University Jayhawk or a sequined pair of ruby slippers (Kansans think of their state as Oz).  In the end, I decided to add a simple pin rather than hold the bag up any longer.  Today, I have mailed it off to Ivy Black somewhere in the United Kingdom.

The idea of this bag fascinates me.  By the time forty embellishments have been added to it, it will have been around the world several times.  And, it will have introduced me to more of Helga's rollicking sisters.  I doubt any of them quite realized how remote from them I am.  Each time the bag is sent on, a gift for the recipient is included.  So while I may have failed on the DIY embellishment, Ivy's gift is made by me.

At left, a close up of the lovely bit of crochet Hannah strung on a copperish chain (isn't it a wonderful match for the color schemes I've been playing with this month?).  Above, the bag she included as well.  I loaded it up with the books I'm currently reading:  Manifesta by Jennifer Baumgardner; The Male Body by Susan Bardo and Bowling Alone by RobertPutnam.

The outfit is not the point in this picture, the griege tee is standard operating equipment, the brown skirt is a super soft sort of canvas material with discrete crochet trim on the pockets, bag and jewelry by Hannah.  The booties are new to me, by Soft. One thing that is remarkable about this photo might be the bare legs...after two days of a generic brand of "Natural Glow."

Easter Finery

The Legend of the Dogwood

At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross.

To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said. "Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.

"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember."

from "Sower's Seeds Aplenty: Fourth Planting," # 29, p. 22

When Lilacs Bloom...

Each spring when the lilac and the violets bloom, it means one thing:  Mushrooms!  We watch the weather, wait for the rain, and then head out to traipse the river banks and hillsides, looking for the morels that may be growing under the cover of leaves.  The first time, DH took me looking for morels, it took some time to train my eye to the tell tale signs.  I was frustrated and damp and miserable.  And then, the first one revealed itself.  And then another and another, until I realized that I was in a wonderland of 'shrooms.

We saw some at the city market last Sunday, selling for $15.00 a pound.  We stopped to chat with the vendor who seemed very interested in where we looked for ours.  She would only say that they picked theirs "down South" and that her husband had picked 9 gallons.  Mushrooms hunters do NOT share their prime spots.

Although this lilac color is a bit of a departure from the orange tones I've been wearing this past week,  I wanted to include it in this post in which purple is a signifier of more wonderful things.  Purple, lilac and lavender is probably the least common hue in my wardrobe, but this corduroy jacket/shirt by J. Jill (thrifted) is wonderful for this time of year and I love the pattern that has been cut into the nap.  You've seen the jeans and moccasins before.

I took a break from the non-stop grading of the past two weeks for this photo and afterwards, DH went mushroom hunting by himself.  He had some luck...and we ate this first batch, sauteed in butter, for our lunch on Friday.

Bee Pollen--Nature's Beauty Secret

DH put the pollen trap on our one remaining bee hive last weekend. Honey bees have had a hard time of it in recent years and privately, we have thought that ours was doing well because we had not disturbed it to medicate them or to remove any honey in several years.  Instead, we have made do with stockpiles of comb honey from several years ago.

The plan had been to hoist the entire hive body, probably 150 lbs and containing 30,000+ bees, with a block & tackle DH had rigged up and then to slip the pollen trap underneath.  But, when we took a closer look, we realized that the hive body (the bottom two boxes) was so rotten that the entire hive threatened to collapse if we hoisted it.

Instead, we made a decision to remove the two honey supers (the top two boxes), then the upper hive body, and then the lower hive body from the rotten bottom board.  The process was heart-breaking as our bees have been busy building brood and collecting huge pellets of yellow & orange pollen.  Plus, we ran the risk of crushing our queen

The day was slightly overcast and bees tend to be aggressive on such days, but an experienced beekeeper knows to move with calm and deliberateness around them.  And to keep his smoker burning.  The smoke calms the bees a bit as their home is ever so carefully dismantled.  On this day, as you can see from the photo, I did not suit up, but snapped pictures behind the safety of a window screen.

The entire process from beginning to end took about an hour.  Our trap is set and the bees have plenty of repair work to do to seal off their home.  DH took no stings, although he doesn't mind the stings as they alleviate the inflammation associated with arthritis due to years of "running a hammer."

As the summer progresses, we will take a portion of the bee pollen each week to eat as a supplement.  We give it a rudimentary cleaning for legs and wings and then freeze the cleaned pollen.  We take it by the tablespoon full or sprinkled on cereal or baked into muffins or cookies.

I first discovered the properties of bee pollen while nursing my second child.  My hair was falling out and I felt tired all the time.  A woman friend told me about pollen.  I ordered some from our church coop and after a week could FEEL the difference.  The hair and my nails strengthened and I had a high level of energy.  A chemical analysis of pollen shows that it is a complete vegetable source of all the amino acids, vitamins and minerals a person needs in a day.  Some people take local pollen for their allergies.

So, what natural things are part of your beauty regimen?

Comfortable in my own Skin

 

This shell has been in my closet, unworn, since before Rags began.  I like it, but every time I took it out to wear it, it smacked too much of an animal print and I would put it back.  I can only think of twice in the 8 months I've been doing Rags where I included any animal print in an ensemble of mine--a tiny pair of earrings and an umbrella I used during the 30 for 30 remix last November.   I not only have conflicted feelings about fur, but I also have conflicted feelings about animal prints. 

I own no fur and yet, when I encounter it on people in real life, I am one of those irritating people who want to TOUCH your fur.  So, in some basic way I don't fully understand, I like fur.  But I won't wear it.  And while I recognize the versatility of animal prints, most of the time I avoid that too.  Last fall, I took a series of photos at our local Cabela's of several taxidermied animals, thinking I would make some point about fur.  But I am as inarticulate on the subject as animals are.  The best post on the subject I've ever read was by Papillon Chouette, last November 8.  

The harder I look at this top though, it is simply a swirl of orange and black, an example of a self-created dilemma.  And in the interests of complete disclosure, I have an upcoming dalmatian top, and two faux "snakeskin" items.

Ann Ominous

A week ago, Pam at Over50feeling40 and I agreed to do posts on bullying today. I racked my brain trying to recall a time that I ever felt bullied. I could only think of two tiny examples: the kids doing a riff on my name in grade school, "Terri Fairy", and occasional remarks about my "log legs" in high school. It's easy to think I got off easy, but it is also easy to think that I grew up in kinder times.

My children had a bit rougher time of it. During my single parent years, in the early 90s, we lived in an apartment complex in which WE were the ethnic minority. Some 50 children boarded the bus at the same bus stop. In our first year in this complex, some dynamic developed at the bus stop that concerned me enough to go out and WATCH the kids while they waited for the bus to arrive. Naturally, the problem wouldn't reveal itself with mother at a distance.

But one morning, little E. came to tell me that my P. had called her a 'honkey.' I asked both girls if they knew what 'honkey' meant. E. shook her head no; I assured her that she was NOT a 'honkey.' And then, I tried to school my girls NOT to use language they didn't understand. This is a hard lesson to teach. Children somehow know which words they should respond to, even if they don't know the meaning of the word.

As I continued to ponder the dynamic at the bus stop, I began to realize that my insistence that my girls "turn the other cheek" when any one was mean to them might in fact be the CAUSE of the problem. Their reports of the bus stop taunting continued until in exasperation I told my girls to strike back. The results were amazing. Never again were they taunted at the bus stop. While I am not an advocate of solving one's problems physically, this does seem to be the ethic of the street. Frankly, I am proud that my girls have this "street wisdom" and that they know how to carry themselves.

Later we would move to a suburb where they were no longer the minority, but because of where we HAD lived certain assumptions were made that my girls were part of a "gang." Sigh. As my girls were making friends with the kids in the new neighborhood, I learned that my K. had decked a little boy the first time she met him. Another sigh. Suddenly, my girls were in a safe neighborhood and did not need to maintain an aggressive stance, but they were not wise enough yet to discern what the situation called for. Apologies were enforced.

And then, when we moved to our little town, we encountered the most vicious bullying of all. There is very little ethnic diversity in the small town where I live. But the high school pecking order among old P-town and new P-town could be vicious. This was compounded by kids who drove swanky cars, dyed their hair blond, tanned at the local salon, carried cell phones. My daughters naturally thought they needed all these things. Once again, I carefully attempted to explain. How do you explain class differences to 14 and 15 year olds? The differences are visible to them, but the underlying means (bankruptcies, divorces) are not. I tried to help them understand that we were stable, if nothing else, but as I listened to she said this, she said that, I could see it didn't matter. When had being mean developed among teenaged girls?

Technology only exacerbates the problem. To date, I have been lucky not to encounter the problem of cyber bullying or sniping comments left by Anonymous, but I know of two bloggers who have encountered this in the last week alone. That is why reciprocity is so important in cyberspace. And goofy as emoticons look sometimes, I use them when I worry that the right tone is not being conveyed by words.

With Reva's encouragement, I have taken the following pledge.



And should Anonymous show up, please don't give them the satisfaction of a single "hit" on their blog.

Tulips

When you're thrifting, it's often best to shop off season. This heavy sweater, knit in Ecuador, was a gut purchase sometime in February. I knew I would be wearing brighter colors come April, but not all at once. When I put in on last Tuesday, because there was a chill in the air, I thought uh-oh, I'm becoming one of those eccentric 'old ladies.' Then, I wore it to campus and because no one said anything, I was SURE I looked like one. Kept me warm though.

Sunday, we went for a drive up the length of Troost Avenue in Kansas City.  A friend of mine has made it a civic effort to beautify this stretch of road, which has historically represented the racial divide here.  We drove ten miles and saw over 40 tulip beds, many of them beautiful masses of color.

We strolled through our local city market, buying up starts of celery and purple basil, and a bundle of the slenderest asparagus.  Many years ago, my girls would pick wild asparagus along the fence line in western Montana.  The first picking, before the stocks grew woody was always the best.

On our way home, we stopped for a catfish fry, with greens, red beans and rice.  And only then did I begin to grade the Modernism exams...

Sweater by Over the Rainbow
citrus tee by Cherokee
chino skirt by Gap
clogs by Dansko

Everything but the clogs, thrifted.

Now tell me, what do you avoid wearing because it makes you feel like an "old lady"?

The Perfect Blog: Start Here

It has been roughly a year since I first discovered the world of personal style blogs.  For two months, I simply lurked leaving occasional comments.  Then, I received a new camera for my birthday in June.  Last July, without a word to anyone, I started Rags Against the Machine.  I did not begin to post regularly until September.  Lately I've reflected  on how much I have learned in the past 12 months and who I have learned it from.  While I've not wavered from my original purpose of posting for mature women on a budget, I have found much in the world of blogging I admire.

If I could assemble a crew to put together Rags each day, these are the characteristics I would borrow.  Best Poses-Dusk; I've been working on "owning" my poses as she advises.  Best photos-Emma at Daily Clothes Fix; she and her photographer Pete think each shoot should tell a story.  Best Photoshop-Stef at Diversions; her photographic clones of herself are always amusing and make me wonder how she does that.  Best Street Style Photography-Lee Olivera.  If you want to use illustration and an artistic eye, to brainstorm your next outfit, visit Paula at FashionoverFifty. 

For excellent and honest writing,  check out Serene at The Elegant Bohemian or Lisa at Privilege.  If you're more of a big picture thinker, Susan at My Life Unscrambled or No Signposts in the Sea.  If you want emotional honesty, you can't go wrong with Christina at Second Skin Style or Morgan & Lua, though both of these bloggers are half my age!  If it is humor you are after, Katie at Interrobangs, Anonymous or Keri at the Chronicles of Lady K can make me laugh out loud at my computer screen.

If you have the photography and the writing down pat, you may be ready to network a bit.  Vahni at Grit & Glamour is the go-to gal on the technology front though there ARE other up and comers.  If it is social networking you're interested in, Bella Q. at Citizen Rosebud or Collette at Statements in Fashion are excellent folks to have in your corner.  If you want to see how to grow a blog organically, visit Pam at Over50feeling40; she makes it a point to meet a new blogger daily. 

If you're ready for a challenge, Kendi may be organizing the next 30 for 30 Remix as I type.  Katy Rose at ModlyChic is the moderator for the weekly Fashion Beauty Friend Friday.  Linda at the Auspicious Life, with her sidekick Liz, has organized monthly Every body Every where challenges. 

If you have a specific style interest, such as presentation for academics, check out Academic Chic, Fashionable Academics, In Professorial Fashion, Missy B at Missing in Academia, Cynthia at Be Fabulous Daily.  If feminism & fashion is your interest, there is a relatively new blog, Feminist Fashion bloggers, spearheaded by Franca at Oranges & Apples and Joanna at Mrs. Bossa Does the Do.  I'm interested in travel and travelogues, so Emily at Ruby Slipper Journeys satisfies my wanderlust. 

If you are nervous about putting your face out there for public consumption, Veshoevius at Taxonomy of my Wardrobe or Monkeyface at Hello Monkeyface will show you it is possible not to.    If body image is your concern, this blog is fierce about it, Beauty Redefined.  If you worry that your height creates a challenge, check out Ana at She's Addicted to Clothes, Allison at Tall Girl Blogging, Gracey at Fashion for Giants.  Pam at Over50feeling40 or Sheila at Ephemera may have an answer or two should you want to lose weight.  If you want to see how to carry oneself with Amazing Grace, check out Judith at The Style Crone or Sacramento at Miss Papelicos.

If you're in a style rut, Susie at Miss Vinyl Ahoy, Iman at Mishaps and Miracles, Helga at Helga von Trollop, Bella Q. at Citizen Rosebud, or Desiree at Pull Your Socks Up can help, particularly with color.  If you have a thing for shoes, check out KirstenMarie, Veshoevius, or Sheila's collection of Fluevog's.  For jewelry, check out Ofelia at My Intended Life.  If you're interested in creative styling, Steph at the Dashing Eccentric has a edgy & feminine look I admire.

If you're on a budget, Debbie Burns at ThriftyGirlVintage or Jentine at MyEdit are both thrifters of long standing who will share their secrets with you.  Vixen at Vintage Vixen has mastered the art of boot, jumble, and e-Bay shopping.  Christina at Fashions Most Wanted finds the most fabulous things on eBay. If you're thinking about buying online, I trust these sellers Meg's Ragged Edge, Reva at Reva's Rags to Roses, Melanie at Dressed to IL, and Clyde's Rebirth.  If you are sewing your way out of your style rut, check out Carolyn.

And because no blog is complete without excellent comments, Sarah at Cloud of Secrets and Steph at The Dashing Eccentric leave comments that lead to further blog posts.  I count on RoseAG to help me keep my head on straight about a lot of things.  If it is witty repartee that you like, Clyde's Rebirth and Haiku Ambulance can show you how it is done.  For pure and simple friendliness, Anne and Rad from the Cohabitating Closet cannot be beat.

If somehow, I could combine ALL of these qualities in one blog, it would indeed be perfect!

Citrus

This picture was snapped at the beginning of April.  Tonight we are covering all the baby plants in our garden against the possibility there that there WILL be a frost after our "last possible frost date."  I am facing a stack of sonnets to grade all day Saturday, with occasional breaks to comment on your blogs in 'iambic pentameter'.  Sunday, I grade essay exams on modernism.

I include a couple of "failures of the month" for your viewing pleasure.  When I bought the skirt, I thought it was like my yellow skirt and a similar length.  When I dressed for these photos, I discovered they are skorts!  I will likely keep them, but they will NOT be worn to work.  And while I like the loose see-through crochet of the orange top, especially the ruffled cuffs, I don't think I've yet hit on the right way to wear an item like thi

 

silver print skirt by Anne Taylor
orange long sleeved tee by Cherokee
silver print shirt by New York & Company
copper timepiece is a thrifted sachet on a ribbon

skorts by ? (the label has a series of diamonds, but no writing)
striped orange tee by Ralph Lauren Sport
yellow tee by Cherokee
orange crochet knit by Erica Brooke (made in Oman?)
brown woven leather sandals by Danelle


You can bang the gong now.

The Black Hole

A week ago in an e-mail exchange I shared with another blogger, I complained about bloggers I privately thought of as "black holes."  That is, you visit them and comment, you visit them and comment, and they seemingly never return the visit.  And then, I had a week in which I made no comments!  I became the very thing I had complained of.  Yikes!

The end of the semester is approaching.  I am in the midst of my editorial process for the campus Fine Arts magazine.  Our learning community threatened to implode when students realized that not every character, including their own, would be the heroine of the book we have nearly completed.  On Monday, I worked until 11:30 doing a structural analysis of the 400+ pages we have written to date.  At the last minute, we were given expensive, but free tickets to a Stevie Nicks/Rod Stewart concert Tuesday.  For one evening, I set aside all grading and all blogging and just enjoyed the music.  By the time we got home, I was so tired I was sick.  And last night, I taught American Literature, the beginnings of post-modernism.

I must say that I have very mixed feelings about attending concerts by the music icons of my youth.  This didn't bother me too much when we went to see the Allman Brothers, though the marijuana scent of my hair was troubling the morning after.  It first hit when we went to see Bob Dylan with Phil Lesh.  In my mind, Dylan was frozen in the image of a young man.  He no longer was.

A year ago, we saw Carole King and James Taylor.  They put on an energetic show and Carole King looked much the same as she had seemed on the cover of her Tapestry album.  James Taylor has aged, but the voice is the same gentle, wistful one of "Sweet Baby James."

Rod Stewart is still full of energy (he had a new baby last week!) and Stevie Nicks is mesmerizing to listen to, but I think watching the audience in their grey hair dressed up in their best recollection of younger years, is just too much of a confrontation with aging at once.  And when you mix 40,000 of so of us in the same arena...concerts like this are losing their charm for me.

I'll spare you the concert outfit for now, but it will appear sometime in May, when it fits the color-of-the-month.  And for those of you who hung with me on a week I had no time to comment, my hearty "thank you."

This look begins my transition into a week of orange, coral ensembles.  The skirt is by Banana Republic, the orange tee by Cherokee, and the silver print blouse is by New York & Company.  Silver shoes by Franco Sarto.  All thrifted.

Fashion, Feminism, and Finances, My Two Cents Worth

My first lesson in finance came from my father who made his living as an accountant.  At the age of 6, I began to receive an allowance of .25 cents a week.  It came with a little blue ledger in which I was expected to account for every last penny of that money.  My recollection is that my father went over my books once a week.

As a teenager, money I earned babysitting was sent off to a savings account in California.  Withdrawing any monies from it, required a bit of forethought and second thought.  I didn't spend my savings lightly.

When I began college, some money from this account provided my daily expenses although my parents footed the bill for my undergraduate degree.  I lived very, very frugally.

My first loan was for an IBM Selectric typewriter. It was for a small amount by 2011 dollars, but taught me about regular payments.  I didn't have a credit card until I was WORKING regularly and initially, I only used it for emergencies and it has always been paid off monthly.





One day, in a graduate school seminar, a young writer I envied for the TIME he had to write, pronounced that there are two ways to be rich.  Work hard to acquire what you want OR learn to live on what you have.  His offhand remark make a deep impression on me.

My years as an adjunct instructor at three local colleges taught me to manage my cash flow.  Some schools paid out over four months, others over five months, so my income varied by several hundred dollars on any given month.  I would occasionally use the credit card to manage this cash flow problem, but just as my father had taught me, it was paid off every month.

In some industries, I recognize that one's gender can affect their earnings.  In academia, I like to believe that one's pay is entirely based on the degrees they have earned, the presentations and publications they have made, and the years they have worked.  My early years as an adjunct have taught me that this is not entirely true.    I was once offered a full-time position at a state university to teach writing full-time for LESS than the department secretary earned.  I consider those years, "paying my dues."  I remember this experience every time I sit on a hiring committee today.

The graduate degree I earned is considered a terminal degree in my field (equivalent to a PhD), but because my college does not recognize this degree, I am paid at the rate of one who holds a Masters degree.  While I recognize these inequities, I no longer dwell on them. 

Financially, I am fiscally conservative, although socially, I am fairly liberal on most issues.  I consider myself a feminist.  In the economy in which we all live now, inequities abound.   We all owe it to ourselves to be SMART about our pennies. 





This is one reason why I thrift.  It has served my purposes for over 20 years, keeping my look slightly edgy and feeding my need to feel subversive.  My current attitude toward most retail shopping for fashion is that it is a scam, gamed by coupons and sales.  A person who does not stop to examine this easily falls into the trap of self-imposed poverty owing more than they earn.

I commented on Susan's blog recently that I am fully aware that when I dress in my thrifted silks and woolens I am actually reflecting my working class years as a single parent.  When I am in meetings with administrators especially, I invariably notice that some detail of my ensemble is off.  My nails aren't manicured, my belt is wrong, my shoes aren't polished.  My dress reveals my aspirations rather than the ease of wealth.

Many years ago, I was invited to a dinner for our local opera at a local country club.  I dressed in my best for the occasion, a demure mauve skirt and matching sweater.   I felt elegant.  Then, I arrived and was horrified to discover that every other person at this dinner was dressed in dark colors with pearls.  In spite of my best efforts, my rough edges were revealed.

In the US, I am in good company.  Most of us are not wealthy and yet, by the simple virtue of living in the USA, I am obliged to recognize that the $16,000 poverty level here is many times more than what billions of peoples worldwide live on.

This post is part of the Feminist Fashion Bloggers series.  During the month of March, we posted weekly.  In months to come, our intent is to post monthly.  If you are interested in reading other posts on this topic visit  Feminist Fashion Bloggers.

drawstring khakis by Gap
peach tee--missing tag!
seersucker blazer by tailor, New York
lapel pin--two pennies, DIY by me
hat--thrifted
shoes--White Mountain

All items thrifted



 

EBEW: Forsythias

P. found a maxi dress at F21 on our shopping trip last month  I admired the way it fit and the multiple ways she came up with to style it  Within a week, I'd located a black one myself, albeit without the spaghetti straps.  This business of letting your bra straps show is a generational divide.  So, while most of the participants in EveryBody EveryWear are no doubt styling floral maxi's today, this is the best I can do.  I've cut my head off because my hair was up in rollers.  I'm glad now that I took the picture as it is the only one that shows the way I intended for the outfit to look.

We headed to the Ursuline Convent in my little town, hoping to find a forsythia that still had petals on it.  The wind here has been fierce in recent days.  At one point in our photographing, the scarf I was wearing, which was the "green" packaging for an item I ordered from Clyde's Rebirth recently, blew away in the wind.  I loved the way the wind made me hair look  But getting all the other details to cooperate was a challenge.   We drove 20 miles before we found the forsythias I wanted...

Here we are at our local Caterpillar Dealer.  How well did DH do avoiding the heavy machinery in the background?

Scarf, via Clyde's Rebirth
White Blouse, New York & Company
Maxi by Talbots
Black peep-toe wedges by Rampage
All items thrifted