High Fashion Low Budget

While looking online at the various options of stores which are desperately seeking my money, I got to thinking...if a store can cut prices by up to 90% and still make a margin, doesn't that mean their stuff is priced too high?

I digress.

The thing that interested me was that for what appeared to be a mere pittance of the former inflated value, I could possibly walk away with some pretty dang good bargains if I can just get the right fit and the right look.

I am not flamboyant by nature in my clothing. My favorite color is blue and up until a couple of years ago, various shades of blue were the regular mainstays of my wardrobe.

The only thing exotic about me is the collection of tacky and tasteless slogan t-shirts I own.

But I started thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have a couple of things that would make me look reasonably turned out for a reasonable price.

Welcome to the world of thrift store shopping and clearance rack bargain hunting. By the way, 90% off isn't a bargain if it's something you really won't wear or use. That's just finding a cheaper way to waste the moolah.

I got a lovely gray striped women's two-piece suit for which I have some nice blouses and for which I plan to get a small array of solid color shell type tops. And no, they will not all be blue.

Tempting...but no.

I also need to find some black shoes that are actually comfortable to walk in that will look dressy enough for church or going out but not kill my feet during the attempt.

Sadly, this is one area where thrift stores need not apply.

I may borrow the bowling alley clown shoes and watch them spray them to a faretheewell with the fungicidal spray, but I seriously doubt the thrift shop is doing the same. You just don't know where they have been! And they most certainly aren't hosed off with anti-whatever sprays and detergents.

So, I hunt the shoe stores once in a while for a sale that can fit within the budget and on the oddly sized feet I happen to possess. The shoes might fit one foot but drown the other... so I feel an almost sporting obligation to buy them regardless of color or style should they happen to come reasonably near fitting BOTH feet.

Which would explain the reason that I owned half a dozen pair of tennis shoes at one time. I have pared it down to a couple of pairs at the current time.

Athough people who are not fans of Madonna generally don't put their lingerie on display, that is also a money spending opportunity. Women want to make sure that what they have in the line of more 'personal attire' is decent looking and in good repair. While we don't wear it as dinner wear nor show up at the PTA with our bustiere outside our clothing, shopping for something tasteful that does the intended job is also required.

In my case, I do all of my shopping with a jaundiced eye squared situtated over the balance line in the checkbook. I can't afford to bankrupt the family just to be well-turned. Plus, for those who truly know me, it would be ridiculous to suddenly expect me to become a clotheshorse prancing around in designer gear when I am vastly more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt.

Daddy used to say most people spend like they have a champagne budget.

Count me in with the balogna crowd.

While I may have champagne type ideas, they are most assuredly tempered by the saltine and balogna reality that we face daily.

And I truly enjoy saving money.

The question comes down to 'just how much do you have to have?'. And the older I get the more that answer is becoming 'less'.

So maybe a low budget is a blessing that should be considered a precious commodity.

Meanwhile, my catalog looking and web surfing doesn't require any monotary contributions. And, as Martha Stewart says, "that's a good thing".

Petty Distractions

Church today was good. Until I found my sister staring at me oddly.

It was then I realized that shiny objects, conversation and life in general had once again interfered with alleged normalcy.

I had only applied mascara to one eye.

Sure. Go ahead. Laugh until you fall off of the side of the bed, will ya...

Truth be told, she peered intently at both eyes and said "Are you SURE you put any mascara on EITHER eye?"

And I cannot honestly answer.

My attention was diverted.

I'd like to say my attention was diverted by some heroic lifesaving moment where I pulled an entire orphanage from the fire and stared down the flames.

Or that I was swayed from my stated task of making myself resemble an adult female dressed for church by some phone call of a pressing international crises that needed my personal touch to resolve.

It wasn't even as mundane as toast needing to be rescued with a fork.

Nope.

Just stray thoughts and conversation is enough to send my thoughts and purpose fleeing from me like rich people from a slum.

Face it. Pinpoint thoughts and straight line actions are not at home in my brain. They are unaccustomed to the lack of focus, the squalid conditions of odd bits of emotion and strange ideas tossed about in haphazard fashion and the complete lack of a mental road map.

Sadly, I honestly must report to you that I have left my house in a nice pair of slacks, attractive sweater, face full of makeup and cheetah skin slippers.

What a fashion statement!

I don't mean to forget what comes next in the path from A to Z, but I am a lot like the pathetic story of Tootle the train who can't remember just why it is that he must stay on track.

Funny thing is, I recall hearing that particular phrase a LOT in my childhood. Blatantly attached to the 'Train to Nowhere' phase of my life, my teacher reminded me that if I didn't/couldn't/wouldn't stay on track that I would become a dreaded 'Caboose' in life.

Bringing up the rear in a dizzy confusion more than likely with only one eye made up and wearing my cheetah slippers, I am a caboose.

I used to be ashamed of that notion.

Today I'm not so sure.

When was the last time you heard people say that crazy people had stress?

Sign me up for the nut house. I'm ready for a reprieve on stress of all kinds.

But would some kind and focused person make sure I look decent before the men in the white coats come to take me away...?