Challenge Rule 1: Buy No Clothes/Don’t Covet
Did I covet this week? No. Did I break a mostly unwritten rule, though? Yeah. Maybe.
Remember last week, when I confessed to coveting pink high top Converse All Stars? Well, this week, my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told him I wanted high top Converse All Stars.
I didn’t even give it a second thought at the moment he asked. The words just slithered out of my mouth. And then I remembered that part of my challenge this year was to not ask for anything either.
I caught him going through my shoes looking for my size. So apparently he heard me and is in the wings trying to make it happen. I hope they won’t be pink, though. I don’t love pink.
So…my coveting from last week morphed into subconscious conniving this week. I need to be more careful with my thoughts and my words.
Challenge Rule 2: The Inventory
In a rather brutal move, I went through my closet and removed a rather large bagful of clothes I have not worn all summer. They will be rehomed this week, making space for the eventual return of the winter clothes I had removed when I did my first ever seasonal changeover a few months ago. Will I regret this? Possibly. Am I happier when I have fewer choices? Definitely yes.
Challenge Rule 3: Go-To Catalogue:
Several months ago, I accidentally threw together a wildly colorful outfit. At the time, I thought it was too much. It was too much. Tomato red dress and turquoise petticoat. Seriously. Too much.
And yet, with the chillier weather, and, for the first time in a long time, an actual event (a picnic with my musician friends) to attend, what I did I want to wear? I wanted to wear that.
So yes, that was why I wore my obnoxiously loud red patterned dress with my turquoise petticoat and peacock bliss sweater. I wanted to be colorful. And now, that is a definite Go-To outfit…at least for when I am feeling bold.
Challenge Rule 4: Mise en Place/Plan Ahead:
As we transition to a back-to-school rhythm, everything seems off. Although the boys are getting to bed earlier, somehow my Mise en Place time is getting relegated to after they go to bed and I forget to do it until the last minute before I brush my teeth. Thus I panic a little because by then I am pooped.
New season, new habits to form. As we always say, “It takes the whole month of September to get things figured out.”
Challenge Rule 5: Repair and Mend, Alter when Necessary:
I did a round of little boy panic-mending this week…a pile of play pants that have stacked up all summer. Knee patches galore, with one very special mend on a nice pair of pants for my littlest scalawag. The knee patches were messy but adorable (my boys call them “Mama’s Secrets” when I put a contrasting material on the inside of the hole and then stitch furiously over it.)
The other mend I am particularly proud of–the pants were so nice and the hole was not from overuse but a little accident. So the tear was clean. I had just the right color material to reinforce the hole, and just the right color thread. The mend is nearly invisible!
Round-up
Back to school. New habits. New routines. New irritations. New conflicts.
In other news…
Next week will be my first week with our new school-time schedule, built around the drop-off and pick-up times of my scalawags. This will be the first time in six years that I will have reliable morning and afternoon work time, instead of half-days during the school year, or duking it out with my indulgent husband half-days during vacations, or working early early early mornings and during naps.
I have to remember that being available to our children was a choice we made. It seemed like a win-win: the boys never had to go to daycare, and we didn’t have to pay for childcare. For now, my creative projects are not bringing in a salary. If I want to be a full-time creative person, then I can’t also go back into the traditional workforce.
This choice seems like a burden, though, sometimes. Sometimes I forget that I chose this and I get resentful. I was a bit resentful this week.
Since this week was mostly transition, I have very little to report in other news. But next week…next week. Next week I hope to have tons to report!
Sing With Your Feet 