tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post3439038325345004171..comments2023-10-21T03:54:12.029-04:00Comments on A Gift Universe: Do the clothes make the mom?Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-68833162149326013782013-03-25T19:03:27.078-04:002013-03-25T19:03:27.078-04:00Hmmm...no one to impress? I think I'd live in...Hmmm...no one to impress? I think I'd live in flannel PJs and combat boots. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-65099632475969403992013-03-25T17:11:54.546-04:002013-03-25T17:11:54.546-04:00And someday, you will. I was one to worry about h...And someday, you will. I was one to worry about how others saw me, not only because of my clothes, but my face, weight, everything. Then I realized they didn't deserve that power. <br /><br />But did it ever take me a long time to get to this stage. It's my hope it doesn't take you as long as it took me. (I think by the time I got to the 'gutsy' stage about my looks, I was about 45!)<br /><br /><br />Sugar Coaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501553009099127331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-80170788719226911232013-03-25T16:32:30.027-04:002013-03-25T16:32:30.027-04:00I should listen to you more. Someday I would like...I should listen to you more. Someday I would like to have the guts to say the same!Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-8858157314816864302013-03-25T14:54:53.435-04:002013-03-25T14:54:53.435-04:00Once upon a time, I had to be dressed up to go to ...Once upon a time, I had to be dressed up to go to work. I was in the public eye, and wore skirts and blouses, or slacks and sweaters and such. I was a clothes horse, and had a real SHOE problem. I loved to wear high heels and I wore them alot (still love them but can't stay in them very long). <br /><br />When my job changed to computer repair and handling prisoners, my wardrobe went to jeans and sweaters, and good running/walking shoes. <br /><br />Now that I'm (happily) retired, my wardrobe is jeans and sweatshirts or tees. Oh, and a lot of hooded sweatshirts in different colors. (because I like colors).<br /><br />I wear what's comfortable for me, and don't particularly care if anyone likes it or not. Wear what is comfortable and functional to you, a mom with two youngsters. If that means skirts or sweats and your husband's shirts... well then so be it! :)<br /><br />My motto has become "If you don't like what you see here, look somewhere ELSE." It's been very liberating. :) Sugar Coaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501553009099127331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-73101204773938099632013-03-24T20:04:00.088-04:002013-03-24T20:04:00.088-04:00Oh, yes, the constant size changes! Forgot to men...Oh, yes, the constant size changes! Forgot to mention that. My first pregnancy, I was working, so I bought a lot of maternity clothes. Every day I faced agonizing decisions about what enoooormous clothes that I hated I was going to wear that day. The second one, I just wore the same elastic-waist jeans every day, and lots of my husband's shirts and sweatshirts. It made for a lot less angst. (He is skinny, too, but he has big shoulders, so he always wears large at least.)<br /><br />Knit skirts are neat, they actually let you move normally the way most other skirts don't. (Giant skirts do, too, but I have been feeling claustrophobic in them lately. It doesn't help that kids try to climb up them or under them.)<br /><br />We should make a club. The "stop trying to make me care about clothes" club. We will show up to meetings wearing whatever the heck we want.Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-14439998667222947162013-03-24T19:49:03.100-04:002013-03-24T19:49:03.100-04:00I have a distinct lack of caring about clothes too...I have a distinct lack of caring about clothes too. Of course, up until a year and a half ago my mother had veto power on most of my fashion choices, so there's that. It's hard to find your own style when somebody else is well-intentioned-ly trying to get you to wear MORE COLORS. (I have figured out, through many laborious conversations with my fashion-conscious best friend, that I'm a "summer", which seems to mean that I look horrible in bright or dark colors. Which I knew. But now THE INTERNET is telling me to wear cool pastels all the time, and my mother can't argue with the internet, right?) <br /><br />I currently have nobody to impress (I do some part-time babysitting, which as you mentioned calls for dressing down), and I bum around in knit skirts and various t-shirts that I accumulated at college. (Was that just me, or did everybody come out of college with about 20 school-themed t-shirts?) <br /><br />If I had nobody to impress AND the ability to plan and purchase a wardrobe, I'd wear dark or neutral A-line skirts with very simple, relatively close-fitting blouses in cool pastel colors. (So, maybe a little more adorned than a t-shirt, but not by much. My figure doesn't wear froufrou well.) <br /><br />The thing that most paralyzes me about wardrobes is how you make them FIT. I lost 35 pounds in the last 6 months (treating underlying health problems works better than dieting! WHO KNEW) and have no real idea where I'll end up, and then once I get there I wouldn't mind having a baby or two. (Or six or ten or whatever.) Unfortunately, from what I've heard, pregnancy involves MORE CLOTHES. And my husband is scrawny, so that narrows my wardrobe even more. :) (I'm not at all well-endowed and his t-shirts still look really scandalous on me, even when I'm thinner.)<br /><br />In short: I feel your pain.The Sojournerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04559244806125834569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-67807102979762964342013-03-24T09:27:41.080-04:002013-03-24T09:27:41.080-04:00Ah, so I'm not a total freak then, with my lov...Ah, so I'm not a total freak then, with my love for uniforms.<br /><br />I actually knew a mother who invented what she called the "Our Lady Jumper" to wear every single day, intended to be like a nun's habit. But .... I just loathe jumpers, so I couldn't get behind the idea.<br /><br />The thing is that most childcare workers who are not mothers also dress very casually. The reason for this being that child care is dirty work! And yes, it takes brain space as well, which is in short supply these days.<br /><br />But if I say this, people say, "Oh, but there's Goodwill if you can't afford it! Or online shopping if you don't have the time! There's machine washable stuff for the mess!" And I suppose that *if it were really important to me,* I could dress up. It just doesn't happen to be one of my core values, and I don't like to waste time and money on something I don't find important... I could spend it all on gardening or baking, you know? Why do I have to prioritize something that isn't a priority to me?Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-980981465507256112013-03-24T01:09:26.148-04:002013-03-24T01:09:26.148-04:00+JMJ+
Am I allowed to comment even if I'm no...+JMJ+ <br /><br />Am I allowed to comment even if I'm not a mother? ;-) <br /><br />If I had no one to impress (and a climate that permitted), I'd wear a cross between a novice's habit and a boarding school uniform. But with an A-line skirt because that cut flatters my figure and I do have <i>some</i> vanity. And yet I wouldn't want to have to think about it too hard, you know? The comparison to habits and uniforms is actually quite apt because I'd love to have five versions of it and to be able to wear it all the time. <br /><br />Except when doing my workouts, of course. Then I'd wear baggy shirts and shorts. Or those sweatpants with a drawstring at the waist but no garter at the ankle. <br /><br />On a disinterested note, it seems to me that mothers--especially if they're also full-time homemakers--already have so much on their plates that adding "dressing to impress" to the workload is extremely unreasonable . . . at least without sacrificing something else on the to-do list . . . or without delegating it to a stylist. =PEnbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.com