Be an Elf (A clothes story)

December's coming. She doesn't have any exciting Christmas plans this year. Actually she's not expecting to go anywhere at all, or even to have company over. But she does own this red leather vest.

Red isn't one of her usual wardrobe colours, and in fact it clashes rather badly with some of the pinks and purples she usually wears. And, of course, a red vest is apt to get her asked, "Are you a Christmas elf?" Enough with the short jokes already.

But in December, she doesn't care. She rounds up ten other items of clothing:

Black jeans

Blue jeans

Leggings in a sort of brown-grey

Off-white cotton turtleneck

Grey short-sleeved t-shirt

Longer-style plum shirt

Jean-style Tencel shirt

Striped cardigan

Dark grey Revolve dress/tunic/top from Encircled

Teal green convertible shawl/poncho

(All items were thrifted except for the dress and the turtleneck.)

She also pulls out three scarves, a purse, and a brooch on a chain. (And some tights and shoes.)

Her only real rule is that she doesn't want to wear red with green, if at all possible. (Except for the scarves that combine both.) How many outfits can she make?

Shirt, vest, jeans

Dress, vest

T-shirt, jeans, poncho styled as wrap

Dress worn as top, jeans, vest

Shirt, turtleneck, vest, jeans

Turtleneck, vest, jeans

Plus a scarf

Dress, cardigan

Jean shirt, cardigan, jeans

Turtleneck, cardigan, jeans

Plus the jean shirt

Plum shirt, cardigan, jeans

Or with leggings

Dress as top, jeans, scarf

Shirt, jeans, scarf

Shirt over dress, scarf

Shirt over shirt, leggings

Shirt, scarf (pants or dress-as-skirt not shown)

Turtleneck, jeans, scarf as shawl

Dress, floral scarf

Turtleneck, jeans, poncho tied in front

Score so far: eleven pieces, twenty-one outfits (and you could probably make more).

What would stretch it out to fill ten more days of December?

She looks at her list and realizes that she doesn't have a long-sleeved t-shirt or top there, except for the dress which can be tucked up to be a top. She finds a green one with long sleeves. It can be worn with the pants, or under the jean shirt, although not so much with the poncho (it's more green than teal). So that would be good for another, say, three outfits.

(The green isn't quite as dull as it appears; it's one of those colours that this camera dislikes.)

She decides she wants another warm sweater, and she just happens to have a blue-and-grey cowl neck pullover that came her way recently at the thrift store. The sweater doesn't layer well (and the colour would look funny under the teal poncho), but she does have a lightweight grey poncho that could go over top if she wants to dress it up; plus the poncho itself works with other tops and the dress. So, at least five more outfits.

And after noticing that all the pants are jeans and leggings, she decides to throw in a pair of grey cords. It's not exactly dressy, but it's better than denim. That comes to 15 pieces of clothing, plus the scarves, shoes, etc.

Hmmm...two more days of December?

Oh, rules schmoolz. Red and green rock at Christmas time. 

A walk through Advent with Charlotte Mason

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Just published at Amazon: An Advent-themed 24-day tour through Charlotte Mason’s book Ourselves Book II. There are also readings for the twelve days of Christmas, drawing on her essay “The Eternal Child” which ends the book Parents and Children.

The title Honest, Simple Souls is taken from the chapter “Praise,” near the end of Ourselves.

So, too, do honest, simple souls who bear affliction willingly, or who live their appointed lives with the sense that they are appointed. All of these ways of giving praise we recognise and bow before; but the duty would seem to pass us by as incompetent persons. We are not angels, we carry no harps. But the duty of praise is not for occasional or rare seasons; it waits at our doors every day. (pp. 194-195)

Let’s open the door to praise, both in this rare season and beyond.

Frugal Finds and Fixes: Lights... Action

Since we moved in here about a year and a half ago, a couple of the light fixtures have been on the want-to-change-that list. One is the hanging fixture over the dining table: it's a bit too low and has hard edges, so, bad combination if you're taller than I am (which includes almost everyone). The other problem light is the chandelier-thing that  hangs down from the ceiling in the loft area and lights the front hall. Mr. Fixit's opinion is that it was the original dining room fixture, repurposed for whatever reason. One problem with it is that the lights shine up instead of down (see the photo), so it isn't very effective, and the front hall is dark even with the light on. Also, it hasn't been working quite right; the bulbs burn out too fast.

 When we turned our clocks back on the first of the month, things got even darker (of course).

So we bought a new fixture (with lights hanging down), put the ladder up along the upstairs railing, and changed it. Mr. Fixit said that it was a good thing we did, because the old fixture definitely had some internal medical issues.

Much better.

Over the fall, Mr. Fixit and I have done quite a lot of thrifting. I've decided to step back from my own volunteering, but we have been checking out some of the other local thrift shops and antique markets pretty much every week. Mr. Fixit's finds are generally radios or pieces of audio equipment to restore, or things like power bars (he found a good set of T.V. rabbit ears this week). We've bought some pictures...

some table linens, a few baking dishes and other odds and ends...

An odd-shaped white dish that seems like it would be good for party food, but it can do candles too

The three teapots on the lower shelf were all found this year. Mr. Fixit gave me the first one for my birthday (from a thrift store), and the other two (which are pot-plus-cup combos) were also thrifted.

Candles, 

a DVD of Charlie Brown's Christmas, and three Christmas CDs. 

And a toy Rudolph (that's Mr. Fixit's).

Also some books.

(The Castle of Llyr was off wandering somewhere when I took this. The set is lacking The Book of Three, but I'm sure I'll find one sometime.

(I had a Kindle copy of Essentialism, but I picked up a print edition.)

Some of the things I've bought for myself have already been worked into clothes posts or shared on Instagram, so this is just a roundup.

I have had the best luck lately with sweaters, and sweater dresses.

(My dollar-corner cardigan find)

(Also a dollar)

Talbots striped cardigan. My daughter thinks it's from the early 2000's, and with that cranberry and purple combination I'm inclined to agree.  The funny thing was, I went thrifting with the idea of a multicoloured sweater in my head, and that's probably because I had been looking a few days earlier at a suede-and-handwoven sweater jacket in the vintage-clothes booth of at an antiques market, and wondering if I would actually wear it or if I should just pay my respects to it and walk away. Much like this one:

It was nice, but the thrifted version came close enough, and it goes with a lot of things already in my closet.

Another Talbots sweater, and this one's only a couple of years old. Bought "by the pound," which meant it came to less than a dollar. Yassss (as they say).

Not technically a sweater, but wants to be one. Fleece zippered poncho/cape, with snaps here and there so you can make sleeves, or crisscross the sides.

I've also done well this fall with scarves and earrings.

(That last one is for outdoors. It's getting cold.)

And in general, how are we doing at saving money?

Well, like the rest of the world, there are a lot of things we're not doing, i.e. spending money on. So that helps, I guess.

We are noticing that a lot of things are more expensive than they used to be, and they're not all optional: you have to eat, right? So that makes us doubly grateful for unexpected sales, needed things popping up at the dollar store, and thrifted finds. Things like table runners and candles don't just get stashed: we use them regularly to brighten up the dinner table.

Tonight's menu? Baked potato soup, with bacon on the side.

And that's it for this installment.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Eleven is not just a TV character

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to add your link to the list. 

1. It's the 11th day of the 11th month and bloggers often make lists on days like today. Let's go with a list of eleven things you're feeling grateful for today.

In no particular order:

1 Computer, Internet service, and electricity to run it

2 A writing project to keep me busy

3 Vitamins

4 Chihuahuas wearing Santa Claus suits

5 Freezer that works better than the one we had at our apartment

6 Frederick, the mouse who stored up colours

7 Chocolate covered raisins

8 Thrifted sweaters

9 Not needing to buy new glasses this year

10 Books still out there to be read

11 Shoes.

2. What's something you decided to do or act on at the '11th hour'?  

The above-mentioned writing project, something I decided to start a few days ago but which needs to be finished quickly. So why am I working on this instead? Wednesday habits, I guess.

3.  Apparently the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe contains 11 herbs and spices. What's a dish you make that calls for exactly eleven ingredients? Feel free to share the list and/or recipe. 

OK, I'll bite, I thought, and started browsing through past posts with recipes. Most of them, unsurprisingly, called for fewer ingredients, because that's the way we roll here. I did find a recipe we had made once for Cinnamon Cake, and when you add in our own suggestion of nutmeg, it adds up to eleven.

Then I found one we've made more often: Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies, and these are not-your-average-oatmeal-cookies, but totally worth the making. And there you go, eleven ingredients. Don't skip the coarse salt, kay?

And I just noticed that Pumpkin Pie also calls for 11 ingredients, if you count the pie crust as one ingredient and don't count the whipped cream on top.

4. Something you remember about your 11-year old self?

Not a place I revisit too regularly, but okay. Late 1970's, fifth to sixth grade, the year of a house move. It was the first year I remember wearing blue jeans as school clothes. We jumped rope, played outside, and watched Happy Days and Little House on the Prairie as if they were religious rites.

Enough for today. More on From This Side of the Pond.

Quote for the day: These, too, give praise

"So, too, do honest, simple souls who bear affliction willingly, or who live their appointed lives with the sense that they are appointed. All of these ways of giving praise we recognise and bow before; but the duty would seem to pass us by as incompetent persons. We are not angels, we carry no harps. But the duty of praise is not for occasional or rare seasons; it waits at our doors every day." (Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Book II)

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Less Nasty and Mean

 It's time to ask the weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge questions.  Come on in...it's a friendly space. Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to add your link to the party. 

1. How do you define peace? 

"....I wish to place on record that I am in unrepayable debt to Francis of Assisi, for when I pray his prayer [Make me an instrument of Thy peace], or even remember it, my melancholy is dispelled, my self-pity comes to an end, my faith is restored, because of this majestic conception of what the work of a disciple should be.

"So majestic is this conception that one dare no longer be sorry for oneself. This world ceases to be one's enemy and becomes the place where one lives and works and serves. Life is no longer nasty, mean, brutish, and short, but becomes the time that one needs to make it less nasty and mean, not only for others, but indeed also for oneself." (Alan Paton, Instrument of Thy Peace)

2. November 3rd is Election Day in the US of A, but did you know it's also National Sandwich Day? Let's vote, shall we? egg salad or tuna salad? chicken salad or grilled chicken on a bun? peanut butter and jelly or a bagel with cream cheese? turkey and swiss or ham and cheddar? grilled cheese or pimento cheese? roast beef-corned beef-or make mine veggie? 

Peanut butter is always good, and grilled cheese is classic. But if I were going all out I'd order a sub with mozzarella and black olives.

3. When did you last say (or feel) 'no rest for the weary'? 

I usually prefer the Mitford version: "No rest for the wicked, and the righteous don't need none."

4. This time last year, where were you?

Here, most likely. The fourth of November was a Monday, so I was probably getting started on the week's work in my last university course. (I was learning online before everybody was learning online.) 

5. Share a favorite song, verse, or quote featuring the word 'peace'. 

"People who are anxious, confused, and looking for answers are quick to search for solutions in the pages of books or on the Internet, looking for that 'killer app' that will make everything right again. The Rule [of St. Benedict] tells us: No, it's not like that. You can achieve the peace and order you seek only by making a place within your heart and within your daily life for the grace of God to take root." (Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option)

Linked from The Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond