Taking better care....

Weekends... Weekends are my rough time. It just seems everything gets smelly dirty soooo fast. I don't want to workout... Or mow the lawn... Or do the things I should cause then the clothing situation suffers.

I have realized how I care a lot less about my clothes when I have my plethora ready to go... but painting yesterday was so stressful because I didn't want to ruin anything that I still need to wear for two more weeks! I would usually just put on my "crap" clothes that I don't care about, but that was not a luxury I had and is now a luxury that I realize I take for granted. 

In true dramatic fashion... White paint with my Navy ensemble was difficult enough, but then all the mosquitoes of the land wanted to suck my blood at this precise moment, sensing my vulnerability as I needed to focus. Dip brush... paint trim piece... focus on not getting any drips on me... look at my legs... Smack a mosquito... Realize I forgot the brush status... Check to see if I got paint on me... Repeat. This is gross but I had like 4-5 squished mosquitoes on me by the time I finished. There was paint on my skin, but I think the ensemble miraculously survived!

I would say at this point my heart is definitely feeling for homeless people who only have so many clothing items and the struggles that really brings.

Expression and stinkiness...

Over the past two weeks I've found I don't really mind the clothes at all during the work day, but the outside of work clothes bothers me a lot more.

I went for a run yesterday and was frustrated because that meant by just cleaned shirt was immediately getting dirty. It wouldn't be a big deal usually, but when you only have so many shirts, you need them smelling their best! But I also don't want to sacrifice exercise for clothes. Ugh.

Also I realized I care more about how I look outside of work than at work. Probably because I feel like I have alot more freedom and expression in what I wear outside of work. And it's annoying to wear the same outfit just about every day when I have other fun things I want to wear...

Comic relief

Bahahaha. So apparently some people do notice repeat clothes... And that person is me. I picked my mom up and asked her, weren't you wearing that Tuesday? All defensive she replied yes, I wear it two or three times before I need to wash it! 

I wasn't offended, as the girl wearing 7 items there's a lot of repeats. I was wearing the same thing I wore to work Monday... It was just too funny it happened today.

Settling for mudpies

I found this C.S. Lewis quote today which really summarizes my feelings in doing this challenge/fast...

"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

My desires have become sidetracked from infinite joy and glory towards clothes... And food... And following people's pictures... Mere mudpies. I have become entertained by something far less glorious and given it my time, money, energy, etc.

Tomorrow is the first day I will repeat a dress in the same week at work, and you know what? I'm pretty sure no one will notice or care! Ha. The annoying part is making sure things stay clean, but besides that the limited selection has been kind of soothing.  The bigger issue is still my caring what people think of my clothes, not the clothes themselves.

Post camping

It's been awhile because for the most part things have been going pretty smoothly. The lack of selection is nice in some ways... easy to make choices. The main issue was waiting for clothes to dry earlier this week so I had something to wear. Especially because I need to wash my clothes after mowing the lawn so I don't smell like an engine but the rest were dirty too. 

I camped this weekend and let me tell you, packing my clothes was a breeeeeeze! And you know what, I wore the same thing all weekend. With the exception of switching​ my jeans and sweatpants when I wanted to look fancier for my town appearances. It's great... I smell a little smokey, but no one cares. So that's been pretty nice. The whole point of my trip was to take some time to figure out what I am doing with my life, you know, a light undertaking. Nbd. Still working on that...

Hokies!!

We won! Virginia Tech beat West Virginia after years of not playing one another. It was a close game, back and forth, very exciting!

All that is to say, today I realized how much I use clothing to "speak" something about me in certain situations. I wore a different t-shirt earlier today as part of what we wear working with the kids at church. It "speaks", 'I work with your children and have been screened and am approved to be back here'.  Since this isn't a war against the system, I let that slide.

The shirt is an orange staff shirt and I was SO TEMPTED to wear it tonight for the game so people would always know I'm a Hokie! But no... Everything I had was blue or black... Ugh.

It's definitely been an interesting two days realizing how much more I use and value clothing choices than I was previously aware of....

Day 2. Clothes

Wow! Today kind of blew my mind. I woke up for outside yoga and it was very chilly and overcast with light rain. It was frustrating to not be able to grab a hoodie or long sleeved shirt and plan accordingly like I usually would. I rocked my sweatpants, shorts, t shirt and jacket. The drive over made me realize how that is a struggle the homeless or poor face everyday... Not having the luxury of picking the right clothing for the day. You wear what you have, and you make it work... Cold and wet or not! Whether they are dirty and smell a little isn't important because you gotta wear something.

Afterwards I was grabbing a warm breakfast to have some coffee and quiet time but the place was so crowded. When a man in the corner left, myself and another lady were going for the table. She saw I had been looking at it and offered to share until her friend came and another table cleared up. Well we started talking and it was great! The three of us sat and ate together and then just kept talking. It would be so cool if that happened more often, not being in a rush and able to slow down for those sweet moments.

They were such a blessing helping me start the process of thinking through my future... What this whole seven was partially about. Including working through a lot of different thought areas I was spinning my wheels on. They had great ideas and challenged me to visit some places over the next several months. How kind of them to spend their breakfast helping me! And they want updates from each month and the progress I am making :) This lined up perfectly with seven and brought confirmation to some thoughts I was having. Amazing how quickly God met me!