Exactly the same as yesterday, so no need for a lot of photographic coverage here.
Today's plan:
*Write 500 words
*Walk to the post office to mail my son his inhalers
*Think
*Call my mother
*Make dinner
And also . . . once my husband is off to work . . . try some more fall outfit combinations (i.e., be a complete seasonal fantastist, since it's hot out there and the cicadas are singing away). Yesterday's experiments gave me some good ideas; today I'm going to put together a core outfit –– dress + tights + boots –– and try various different layers over that base to see how many outfits I can make with pieces I own. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: I have just bought some secondhand Birkenstock Madeira fisherman's sandals on Ebay as my fall shoes. I had been going to buy some Lotta clogs as a pair of investment shoes, but I KNOW I will wear Birks, and just needed some closed ones for colder weather, to wear with tights. I spent $40, shipping inclusive, and I'm looking forward to receiving them. They're shoes I can wear right away without tights or socks, but should carry me through the winter, in rotation with my boots.
I'll look forward to putting together some transitional-season outfit ideas to carry me through the weeks when I don't want to feel like summer anymore, but the temperature still says summer. That can be its own idea post. But today in air-conditioned comfort I'll do boots and tights and layers, in long-range anticipation.
OTHER LITTLE INVESTMENTS I'VE MADE LATELY:
*To reduce plastic waste in my house, I have made a Subscribe-and-Save order from TruEarth.com for laundry strips, to replace the plastic-bottled laundry detergent we have been ordering via Amazon Subscribe-and-Save. We'll see how we like these. You're supposed to get thirty-two washloads out of each package, which for two people, one of whom handwashes her underwear as she takes it off and handwashes her one dress about every ten days, should last a long time. I'm mainly just doing kitchen-towel laundry, plus my husband's items, and aiming for one sizeable load a week as a norm.
*To the same end, I've ordered bar replacements for my bottled shampoo and conditioner, both of which are running out (and also some more self-draining soap dishes, because those things are the absolute bomb).
Someone in the Wool& Facebook group was commenting that it seemed as though she was having to buy a lot of stuff to embark on her new minimalist lifestyle, and –– well, ain't that the way of it, which is one reason why I tend not to think much about minimalism. As an end, it's kind of a ruse, really. And it's not, in itself, a virtue, though things like detachment are. I do feel as though I've done nothing but order things since I got home, but mostly they were things I was running out of anyway and was going to have to replace one way or another. I did cancel the plastic-bottled laundry detergent. I didn't buy the bottled shampoo and conditioner. I just bought the other things instead, and I think they're not going to work out to be more money over the long term than the things I was buying before. Meanwhile, in my view, it is completely legit to supply yourself with things you need to make good changes sustainable. Switching to shampoo and conditioner bars would be a lot harder if I let them just melt away on the side of the tub. It's worth it to me to do whatever it takes to make those things last at least as long as a bottle of shampoo or conditioner: hence the self-draining soap dishes (which I love anyway, as they cut down on a lot of soap scum, which I loathe).
And I was going to treat myself to some fall shoes that I could wear before the weather turns cold. I have enough boots –– I mean, one could go on collecting Doc Martens, and maybe another year I'll buy some more, but the ones I have are FINE. I really don't need any more tall boots, either. What I have needed were fall/winter SHOES, which ideally would be shoes I could wear all year. Forty bucks on Ebay for a pair of Birkenstocks in decent condition seems like a reasonable investment to me. I've been wearing the heck out of the $10 Floridas, in not-really-decent condition, that I bought at the start of the summer, so I feel sure I'll wear the heck out of these Madeiras, too.
And this really needs to be it for a while. I am going to continue to assess my cardigan/sweater situation, but verily, it's not as though I have nothing to wear. I have plenty. As I will shortly demonstrate.