All night it rained steadily and hard. My husband got up twice: once to check the sump pump in the basement, once to close our bedroom window because the rain was blowing in. The house was cold when we got up this morning; the weather had changed. When I got up, I took Dora out in the rain in my pajamas and stood under the laurels to keep off the worst of it, while she nosed around and thought about doing her business for a long time before she did it.
Now the sun's trying to come out, but it's colder. The fact that we're all saying what the heck to forty-degree weather on the third of January is some indication of how disordered we've become. Our houseguest who had meant to arrive yesterday is coming today, so we are all in a flurry, exactly as if this visit had been sprung on us instead of planned weeks in advance and then postponed an extra day. I am glad I decided not to make pot roast last night, but to repurpose some chicken in Tuscan cream sauce as a pasta dish instead. Now we have a company meal for tonight.
Two more of my final dopamine hits landed on the front porch today: a blue WoolX small men's tee from Poshmark, a pair of bamboo-cotton-blend leggings from Ebay. Except for the leggings, it's an all-wool day:
My trusty charcoal-gray Sierra over the Poshmarked WoolX tee, with the Ebay bamboo-cotton leggings and my also-trusty, very old, thrifted silver cashmere cardigan. With my Docs I'm wearing a pair of my older son's hiking socks, cut down to fit me.
Here's a close-up of the whole legwear scene:
These leggings are fun, and I anticipate wearing them a lot. They're very soft and warm, despite not being wool. The socks, cut off, roll down in a way I've decided works.
Here's a close-up that shows the color of the merino t-shirt:
It's kind of a sky blue, almost the same color as my Camellia. I haven't put them next to each other, but I could see wearing them together to transform the Camellia into a short-sleeved dress. The cut of the tee is like a men's undershirt –- not the absolutely most flattering, especially in the arms, but I can roll up the sleeves, and the shirt is roomy enough that it will tuck well into skirts or trousers. The color really is spot on. And it makes such a lovely warm layer –– it's the softest of the merino t-shirts I've acquired. I have three so far: long-sleeved navy, short-sleeved v-neck women's tee in grape, and now this blue one. I have one more Icebreaker pink micro-striped women's tee on the way, to complete the collection.
I have been combing through the closet daily, looking for things to remove. Today I took out two Coldwater Creek microfiber long-sleeved tees which still look very nice after years of secondhand wear, but which I have not really worn in a long time. I don't think I'll do anything about the outbox until after I take the kids back to school, but my plan is to choose out items to resell on Poshmark and re-donate the rest. If I had businesswear I'd find a clothes closet that takes such things for the benefit of women needing interview and work clothing, but I really don't have anything like that, alas. Fortunately what I plan to donate still has plenty of life left in it –– having been a thrift customer for many years, I'm a pretty good judge of what will make it onto the racks of my local secondhand-clothing concerns.
I do want to resell as much as I can, though. I haven't ever done this, but I think it would be a good thing to offset what I've spent on clothes this year, and I could opt to donate my earnings as well. We typically divide our tithing between our local parish (though we don't currently attend Mass there); pro-life initiatives like the MiraVia residence and outreach ministry for single mothers and their unborn and born children; the monastery at Belmont Abbey; and literary magazines like Dappled Things, which seeks to further a Catholic vision of art and culture. I also try to keep some funds aside for various emergency needs that I might encounter, so that I can kick some money into somebody's GoFundMe to help in a crisis. I'm thinking that I'd like whatever pittance I make off my own used clothing to go to this kind of thing, and that God will show me where the needs are.
I've been dragging my feet about housecleaning and guest preparation, but I fear the time is upon me. At least I'm nice and warm, and my stripey leggings are fun.
ALSO: Finished a poem draft today (terza rima), so that felt good. More poetry in 2022!