On a happier note

Enough with the health concerns and worries about whether one of my organs (gallbladder) needs to be removed or not.

Let's talk about something happy!

I've tried a couple new things this week. I found a cute blog a while back about how one woman basically gave up shopping for a year, and instead went 'shopping' in her own closet.

I tried that this week.

I bought a really cute cross-body purse on Black Friday. Cute, as in, it's tiny. Not only is it tiny, it's TINY.

I used it for a week, then I decided I hated it. It will become a niece toy in the near future.

Instead of going shopping, I went into my closet, which for my purses, is technically a pile in the corner of one of my spare bedrooms.

There's a purse I bought around five years ago. This particular purse, while cute but not the cutest, means a lot to me. I bought it when I was between jobs. I was freelancing and doing odd jobs for money and to keep my mind occupied, and I had a little, teeny tiny bit of extra cash. So, I bought this purse.

I never used it as a cross-body bag before. I played around with the strap, and for absolutely no money I had a new cross-body purse.

Hooray!

I've gotten several compliments on it this week.

That purse has survived several closet purses and donation bags. I don't think I'll ever give it up.

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The second thing I've tried it black eye liner. I've always been a brown eye liner kind of a girl, but I decided to step out of the box and try something new.

I didn't like it the first day.

Today, I think it's pretty cool.

:)

Idiots and butts

In the end, bad days usually end up being good stories.

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The day did not start out promising.

I went to the bank this morning. I honestly thought the bank closed at noon on Saturdays.

I pulled into the parking lot, and there was no line. Sweet!

Then some jerk in a huge vehicle pulled out of their parking spot, cutting me off in the process, and pulled up to the window right by the bank building.

No problem, I thought. I pulled into the second lane.

Whatever the vehicle was doing was not a simple transaction. They talked with the teller for a few minutes. By then, it was nearing 11:30 a.m.

No one offered to help me. I thought maybe there was only one person working the drive through, so I let it go. I buzzed for help.

After a few minutes, I buzzed again.

I thought about driving to the bank's other location, but I couldn't justify the drive just to deposit a whopping $20.

I waited. The other vehicle finally pulled away. The teller looked at me, then closed the blinds in the window.

It was 11:32 a.m., and the bank closed at 11:30 a.m.

I drove away, kind of laughing, and kind of mad. I can't tell you how many times I've had terrible customer service at random businesses this year.

Dozens, it seems.

I thought about switching banks, but then I realized that throwing a fit would not actually change anything.

I will deposit my $20 on Monday, which is way less than that because after the bank debacle, I went to Hobby Lobby to drown my sorrows in shiny glittery crap.

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I called my mom in the bank's parking lot, preparing to whine to her, but she didn't answer my call.

Mom, what could you possibly be doing that's more important than the problem I'm having at the moment?

I mean, Jesus.

(I'm joking. Kind of.)

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When I did finally get to my Mom and Dad's house, they basically asked me what crawled up my butt and died.

It's not that I'm in a bad mood, I said. It's just that I have this special gift for finding idiots and inviting them into my life.

They laughed.

It's like the more idiotic you are, the more likely you are to live in Monicaland.

(I can have a pity party for no reason if I want to, okay?)

Despite the fact that the world almost ended when I didn't get my way, my day went on. Believe it or not, it actually got better. And by that I mean worse.

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While I was having the bank meltdown, I was doing so while wearing a pretty cute pair of leggings. I wasn't trying to impress anyone this morning, so I threw on the BRAND SPANKING NEW leggings on with a hoodie that covers my butt.

Because leggings are not pants, dudes. Somehow I justified going out into public with leggings and a hoodie. Because, who cares?

After I had the bank meltdown, I went into a store and got a drink, and I went to my Mom and Dad's house.

I sat down at their kitchen table, thinking about how terrible my life is, and I wondered what drink  they spilled on the wooden chair.

It was cold!

I lifted my butt up, and felt the chair. There was no liquid, so I sat my butt back down.

That feeling of cold came back. It was then that I realized the cold I was feeling was of my cheek, and not the cheek that's on my face, touching the chair.

As in, bare skin on a chair. As in, there was a hole in my BRAND NEW LEGGINGS.

I covered my butt, told my Mom not to look at my cheeks, and left in a hurry.

I hauled ass back to my house (get the joke?). When I changed clothes, my bad day got worse.

There was not one hole in my leggings. The butt portion of my leggings had six holes that I counted, and we are not talking small holes.

You guys, my butt just claimed another victim. If my butt in those leggings was any holier, it'd need its own church service.

Leggings that cost $7 for a two-pack are not worth it.

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Sometimes you get a good story out of a bad day.

Mixing it up

I found a blog over the weekend where a woman saved a ton of money by shopping in her own closet.

For a year, she didn't buy any new outfits. She just combined clothes, jewelry and shoes she already had instead of buying something new.

I don't think I have enough clothes to do that. I currently have one pair of jeans that kind of, sort of fit (hooray, weight loss?). If I mow my yard in them, I'll end up mooning my neighbors.

But, I liked the blog well enough to maybe pay attention to the message behind it.

This week, in an ode to that blog I found, I'm going to wear something different, something new or something I wouldn't normally wear, each day this week.

Let's mix it up a little!

I did buy two new pieces of jewelry this weekend, but they were dirt cheap on clearance. I have this system in place where I reward myself with pretty things if something goes awry in my life. (The idea is to not use food as a reward, like I used to do.)

So, I was overdue to buy some pretty stuff.

I used to hate clothes. Now that I'm almost 50 pounds lighter and three or four sizes smaller, I love clothes. I love shopping. I have jeggings.

Weird, right?

Today, I'm wearing a new bracelet. It cost me $2 at a craft store in town on clearance.

When I was doing laundry last night, I took stock of what I had. I pulled some clothes out, switched outfits up, and tried to mix some jewelry pieces to shirts I wouldn't normally put together.

A $6 teal and gold necklace with a red shirt? I think that's going to be the outfit I wear tomorrow.

This excites me.

Beautiful

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to a craft fair in my hometown last weekend.

I took $20, without really knowing what I wanted to buy. I figured I'd find something kind of cool.

I browsed first, and made a mental note of all the things I was interested in buying. And then I turned the corner and saw a booth full of beautiful beaded jewelry.

A lady approached me and talked to me about the necklaces, purses and bracelets that were on display. It turns out a lady in Lawrence, Kan. started a non-profit to help widowed and abandoned women in Uganda.

The women in Uganda make the beads out of paper. Yes, you read that right. Paper!

Don't ask me how it works, because I have no idea. All I know it the jewelry is beautiful and I wanted all of it.

I settled for this necklace, which cost me $10.

I wore it twice this week. When people asked me about it, I got all excited and nerdy. A former journalist wearing a necklace made out of paper?

It was meant to be.

Plus, I'm kind of weird when it comes to jewelry. I'm allergic to metal and can't wear anything that has nickel in it.

I'm special like that.

That eliminates practically 95 percent of jewelry out there. Bummer, right? I hated that when I was younger, but now I kind of like the challenge of trying to find jewelry to wear that won't try to kill me.

Plus, I like jewelry that's kind of eccentric. Anybody can go to a department store and find stuff that's generic.

My jewelry? It needs to have a story.

I'll be buying more from this non-profit in the future. It's called Project Lydia, and it's pretty fantastic.

More info on Project Lydia:

Facebook

Website

Going for it.

I love clothes and jewelry.

I've been trying to stock up on some fall clothes. It seems like every season change I find myself with nothing to wear, so I'm trying to get ahead of the curve this year.

I've added a few things to my closet. The first is an orange cardigan, a brown shirt and a multi-colored scarf.

Adorable!

I've also been keeping my eye on the colored jeans fad. I promised myself I'd never do that. Who wears red or purple pants?

That's so stupid!

People, I'm the proud new owner of a pair of red jeans. I just bought a cute bracelet for a whopping $13 that just so happens to match the red pants perfectly.

I put them side by side last night, and I'm kind of proud of myself. What a happy accident.

I don't know that I can pull off red pants, but I'm going to go for it.

Somewhat related - There was a craft fair over the weekend that I went to. I added a $10 necklace (made out of paper! But that's a story for another blog post) and a $5 bracelet to my collection.

I'm pretty excited for my closet to be expanding.

:)