A while back, I heard the suggestion to “simplify your life” by dressing in a “uniform.”  Not an official uniform, of course – I’d look pretty silly walking into the office in an actual uniform, wouldn’t I?  No, what was meant, or at least the way I took it, was to wear just a basic, appropriate outfit every day.

To that end, I decided that my “work uniform” would generally be dress pants, a blouse, and a sweater.  That’s it.  I’ve been on a quest to find nice (machine washable!) slacks that fit well, and I’ve managed to collect several different blouses and sweaters.  Easy-peasy.

Then I realized that I don’t love long-sleeved blouses.  In fact, if I’m honest, I really would have to say that I dislike them.

I mean, even besides the issue of the cuffs  – I find that my fingers are not as limber as they should be, probably a by-product of my daily wrangling of a dog who, if he doesn’t actually outweigh me, he’s certainly in my weight class (or my ideal weight class, anyway).  But leaving the cuffs unbuttoned is just sloppy looking.  Not my style.  And let’s not forget the lumps and bulges from the extra sleeve fabric under a sweater.  I have enough lumps and bulges of my own, thank you very much.

No, the real problem is that all those layers get HOT!  I don’t know whether it’s this climate change everyone’s been so worried about or what, or if someone comes in at night and adjusts the thermostat in my office, but has anyone else noticed how warm it gets lately?  I’ll be sitting here, minding my own business, when suddenly it’s like someone opened the oven door or something!

The obvious solution here is sleeveless blouses.  I  can wear a sweater over a sleeveless blouse, remain tidy, push back my sweater sleeves – or not – as necessary.  It’s the perfect all-weather compromise – sweater when it’s cool, no sleeves when it’s not.

It seems that nobody has ever thought of this, because it’s virtually impossible to find a basic, button-down blouse, with a collar and no sleeves when there’s still snow on the ground.  Therefore, the MINUTE I saw “summer” clothes at one of the online clothing stores I frequent, I jumped.  There were several different blouses, and I ordered one of each: white, blue pinstripe, black dots, blue pattern, and black multi and white multi.

By “multi” they mean “floral.”  Boy howdy, do they mean floral!

When my package arrived, I could hardly wait to wear the bright, springy “white multi” blouse, so I packed it with its repeating pattern of what looks like hyacinths and tea roses, along with my leaf-green cardigan and hand-knitted socks, into my gym bag and away I went.

I got dressed, and it was great!  Not overly warm, not bulky, neat and tidy – I looked and felt good.

Then I ran into one of my gym buddies, who took one look at me and said, “did your Grandma give you that blouse?”

I laughed with her – it was all in fun coming from a lady with her hair tinted blue, right?

Then I got home from work, Husband saw me, and he said, “you look like your mother.”

I’m not quite sure what he meant by that, but I can only assume it was “how very stylish and cheery you look today.”

Either that, or he meant “I’ll just move my pillow to the guest room now.”

Hard to tell sometimes, isn’t it?

Categories: aging humor parents

Tagged as: aging old's cool true story

kristinebryant