Morning kitchen, the first room I restored to something like order on arising today. The woodwork is dry enough at this point that although I wouldn't put books back on a shelf painted in oil quite so soon, I'm comfortable pushing furniture back into place, not quite touching the painted surface.
Things do look better.
You might not remember how cracked the paint was on this window frame above the kitchen sink, but I do. The baseboards all look instantly neater and cleaner. I could wish that we had bitten the bullet and had all the woodwork done, whether it needed it or not, because now I'm seeing dings on doorframes that I'd never really noticed before (because overtly peeling woodwork tends to draw your attention far more). But truly, it's all so much better, and I'm glad that what we had done could be done in a day.
I washed the curtains on the kitchen window by the table, and they're drying on the line now. I have been a little hesitant to put tension rods back up quite yet, but I think I will do that soon.
At this point I've largely restored order in my office, though there are still stacks of books in here, as well as in the bathroom, that need to be reshelved in the big bookcase in the hall. But the furniture in here is mostly back in place, and the room is useable, which is a mercy. The room does look brighter and cleaner with all the woodwork freshly painted --- this is the only room in the house which hasn't had the woodwork done in Linen White. The Artgirl and I painted the walls Linen White in 2017, but just left the woodwork. It wasn't bad, but then enter Dora, who at one point, in a fit of separation anxiety, broke out of her crate in here and tried to claw her way out through the closed doors. It's good finally to have that damage addressed (the front door still has claw marks, but I live in hope . . . ).
The living room and hallway are the last places seriously in disorder --- the living room needs a good hoovering before we move things back, because they had to do a lot of scraping in there before they could prime and paint. The dining room is also kind of disrupted, but not as badly.
So my chief order of business today, besides finishing an essay, is to put the house together so that I can breathe again. I do not do well when things are out of place. I wish I could say that something this minor didn't bother me, but it does. I hate not knowing where things are. I hate having things out of place. I remind myself of a hamster the Artgirl once had, who was a housewifely soul and despised having her cage cleaned, because it was a disruption of her arrangements. As soon as she was put back in, she would fling bedding around, haul her dishes into different places, and just generally grump about until she had her habitat the way she wanted it. This hamster, I am realizing afresh, is my spirit animal.
Maybe this is a function of having moved a lot, then not moved for 16+ years. We moved house so much in the first two decades of our life together, and I hated it every time --- at least, the stage where my old house was torn apart and I couldn't find anything, and my new house wasn't put together and I couldn't find anything. Ordering the new house was generally more fun --- except for the one time when we had to be out of a rental, and the previous occupant of the house we were moving into didn't get out until the last possible second and didn't clean, so we had to fling all our boxes and belongings into this grimy house, to get them out of the old house, which I had actually meticulously cleaned. I hated that so much. In the two years of our residence there, the new house never felt really clean or well arranged. Never again.
Anyway, I think all that kind of wore down my resilience. Also, as the poster girl for ADHD in women (though I don't have a formal diagnosis), I'm just really stressed out by disorder. The key to having my life run functionally is knowing where things are, everything being in its place. When somebody moves my stuff, it's as though the planets had been rearranged. My cosmos is out of whack.
So although I need to finish an essay, I am going to prioritize order today. My mental health depends on it.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Smock dress (S/M) in Grape Wine, bought fall 2024, last worn in Advent. First wear in 2025.
*Secondhand Icebreaker base-layer tee, bought fall 2024. First season of wear.
*Snag merino tights in Red Velvet Cake, bought summer or fall 2023, I believe. Second season of wear.
*Xero Tari boots, bought summer 2022, third season of wear.
As much as I enjoyed my Levis yesterday, I wasn't tempted to get up and put them on today. I don't see their becoming any kind of default mode. Dresses are more comfortable, and I really love this purple Smock --- the v-neck modification is a nice change from my other two and really makes it work well as a pinafore, although I also like it on its own. This one also has waist ties, and I love those, too, though I don't usually tie them very tightly. I'm glad to be reminded what a favorite this kind of outfit is. I think this is a better combination, too, than what I'd put on my outfit plan for this week. Less clashy, more muted, more like what I'd really feel comfortable wearing.
Of course, wouldn't you know it, just as I was all settled into this outfit, my second pair of secondhand trousers showed up today, so I did have to try them on.
*Secondhand vintage Old Navy wide-leg high-rise jeans, garment-dyed pink.
These are a lot more comfortable right off the bat than my Levis (though I am going to give the Levis time to mold themselves to my body, because 100% cotton denim will do that). They have little button tabs on each side of the waistband (I didn't take a picture, but at some point I will), so that the waist can be tightened, which is good. If anything, I think these will shortly be too big for me, in which case I'll resell them, but for now, for $14, I think they're a lot of fun. They're a much less heavy denim than the Levis, and they have a tiny bit of elastane (like 2%, maybe), so they will have a lot of give, possibly too much, but they are quite comfortable.
It is nice to find wide-leg jeans with a high rise. Most of the early aughts/2010s flared jeans were mid-to-low rise, which I hope never to wear again. These button up nicely and don't give you a muffin top which you then have to camouflage with some kind of long shirt.
These trousers are cropped, which I wasn't sure I'd like, but they go well with these Tari boots. I can also wear them with my Melrose suede boots, which don't work with the Levis (ankle openings won't fit over boot tops). Obviously they'll be great with my Birk Mayaris and other sandals in summer. So these are potentially quite good year-round trousers, not too heavy for warm weather, but quite able to adapt to winter footwear.
I love the color, though it does limit their versatility somewhat. This pink will look good with my green tencel button shirt, my Evening Blue linen button shirt . . . anything soft or navy blue, anything green, anything beige/oatmeal will look good. I'm surprised by how much I like this tee here, because it's generally pretty blah on its own. I look forward to receiving the NPL oatmeal tank I've also ordered secondhand (for an unbelievable $18), because I think that will be wonderful with these trousers, layered or on its own. I need to do some experimenting. But it is nice to have a pair of trousers in a yummy soft color like this. I'll really appreciate them come spring, when it's still cool enough to want my legs covered but I'm sick of feeling like winter.
I am wearing them for now because I'm doing so much cleaning and dusting --- might as well not get my linen dress any dirtier than I have to. They're also just comfortable for movement. I could see wearing them on a plane, where I don't envision myself choosing the Levis.
Anyway, I don't view these as much of an investment piece, because again they could quickly be too big. I don't buy many things that I wouldn't intend to keep long-term, but occasionally I think it's okay to try something out knowing that you might pass it on sooner rather than later. I mean: I might not lose any more pounds/inches, and I might be wearing these until they fall apart. Who knows? But again, I paid only $14 for them, so I won't be heartbroken if I don't wear them for quite so long. Another good thing about dresses, of course, is that they will accommodate much more fluctuation of body shape and size than a pair of trousers will. That's one reason why I love wearing dresses, and why I'm willing to sink more serious money into them. I can feel confident that I'll wear a dress for many years, no matter how my body changes (given that it's not likely to change that drastically --- I'm unlikely either to lose or to gain more than 20 pounds anytime in the foreseeable future).
So these pink trousers are fun for as long as I feel like wearing them --- however long that is.
On to some more ordering and cleaning. I will be glad when it's all back in place --- not least because the house will feel, and be, very clean. Many things are being dusted for the first time in quite a while, and this is also a good opportunity to go in behind furniture that I don't move that often. I might take down my living-room curtains and wash them while I'm at it --- they dry in mere minutes out in the sun, and then that spring-cleaning task is DONE.
If, that is, I get up and do it.