Favorite Things: Step Stool

Time for another one of my favorite things.

As an adult who is 5 feet 5 inches tall (no matter what my doc's asst. says - so rude!) I need a bit of assistance to get items from the top shelves of my cupboards and other places in my house.
I had put off buying the much needed step tool for many years.
Most things in the stores are plastic and ugly. In fact I had one of those. Meh.

Until one day, puttering around a favorite antique store I found this:

Glory!

How cute. It screams 70s to me and I love the lifetime of wear on the front edge of the step!
Only on one side though! Which tells me that this step tool lived with one owner and one house and probably stayed in one place it's entire life.

Now it has come to my home to help me and look fabulous in the process.


By the way, I also love my kitchy all metal kitchen cabinets! Aren't they fab?

Laundry Rudeness

I live in a 22 unit condo building run by an HOA (home owners association).

We are all rather neighborly and kind to one another, but we have a few folks who treat the laundry room as if it is not a shared space.
I won't get into the drippy messes and loads of dog hair some people leave behind. What really bothers the rest of us is the laundry they leave sit for days, weeks, even months.

??? I don't understand.

See, we purchased brand new machines about two years ago, and painted and tiled the laundry room which also serves as the back entrance of the building.
We even bought and installed lockers for everyone to store their detergent and laundry money without hauling it up and down the stairs.



Nice huh?

We figured the cheerful paint job and aesthetically pleasing decor would encourage people to take pride in the space - as well as make it an attractive entry area.

But someone keeps piling up their crap - which gets in the way of our cleaning service for one thing! And is really annoying to the rest of us for another.

No pics of the mess available to share with you.

Am I wrong? Isn't this rude?

I mean, I can understand if you started a load of towels and forgot about them overnight. But how do you forget your sheets for a month? A cute outfit for three weeks? Bizarre.

I'm on the board so I'm asserting my power.

We have posted warning signs like this:

sorry, the text got cut off in the conversion process.











And I just pinned this on two different piles today.











Be honest, would this bother you? Am I out of line? Or is the laundry dumper?

SHOES!

Some friends complimented me on my comfy summer sandals.
Um... are you sure? These are my old lady sandals!

They're Naturalizers - the brand my mom wears.

(wow! I never noticed how flat and big and ugly my feet look in these shoes until I took this picture. Uhh.)



I only bought them (and two other pair of Naturalizers) last summer. I was having a problem with my hip and my doc told me to ditch the heels for a while.

As I explained this to my friends - with vivid details of whining about having to shelve all my three inch heels - one girl interjected,

"You're the only person I know who would complain about NOT wearing heels."

1) Uh. How many women do you know?
&
2) Clearly, I live in Colorado now!

I looked at the feet around me. All six tootsies were bedecked with flip flops. (er - aren't those for the shower? Or maybe getting the mail?) Oh. and excuse me. Not flip flops. Chacos.
$80 flip flops with arch support. Are you kidding me?

I would never spend $60 - $80 on shoes that I feel I couldn't wear out of the house!
Okay, I could wear 'em with yoga pants. All my other pants would drag on the ground. 3 inch heels required for all of them!

My attitude toward athletic shoes is similar. $60 - $120 for shoes limited to one category of clothing?!!! Workout clothes.

Please. With my shopping habits (TJMaxx, Department Store clearance racks) that's like 5 pairs of heels that would go with everything!

Everything:
Jeans
Slacks
Skirts
Dresses &
Shorts



Yeah... everything. Work, church, parties, shopping. All very practical.

Now that I live in Colorado, I actually need athletic shoes. And as I'm learning... not just one pair. One pair for the gym - cross trainers I guess, so that I can suck at my attempts at tennis.
And another pair for trail hiking. It is the mountains after all.

I hate shopping for athletic shoes. I'd rather have a root canal than shop for athletic shoes. I've had a root canal. Not so bad. I don't see the big deal.

Athletic shoes? Ugh. No.

They're so uncomfortable. It seems I lost my arch after years of wearing cute shoes. Now shoes with arch support feel as if though there's a boiled egg in my shoe. If the arch feels okay then something else feels terribly wrong, tight or bumpy. Ugh.

But, a hot pair of heels - they're always just right.
It is a fact that I can run just as fast and probably more gracefully in three inch heels than I can in a pair of sneakers.

But I will acquiesce - that the gym, the tennis court and mountain trails are really no place for high heels. And to be honest, my heels wouldn't go with those outfits anyway.


An Aside: Colorado is so much more casual than other places/cities. It's all Columbia trail pants and t-shirts and fleece all the time.
When I first moved here, and went to the mountains with my girlfriends... I took normal 'going out clothes' along for evenings. Everyone told me I was too dressed up for those rugged, rustic bars. And it's true. Guys here dig on girls who can rock the jeans - t-shirt - tennis shoe look.
Well... skinny, flat-chested girls like me can't really work it in that outfit! My friend who moved away from Denver before I moved here warned me it would be like this! She couldn't take it either!
And... after viewing Sex and the City last night with my other girlfriends... all dressed to kill... one of them noted that NO ONE in Satc EVER wore jeans (or sneakers I might add).
I rest my case.

The Return of Great Style?

Once upon a time there was a catalogue filled with the most beautiful clothes made of soft sweet fabrics and colors in flattering comfortable cuts - that both my mom and I adored!

That was quite a feat circa 1989-1991 - to find clothing that mom and I agreed on! But Tweeds Inc managed it! They had cute, sassy - yet classic looks for me - and tall sizing for mom - a priority for she with long legs and arms - always tricky to fit.

Mom and I would pour over the pages, and pick out a few items so we could share shipping. I was in college by then - the first time we didn't share an address.

Recently, my mom - she who is not Internet savvy - asked me to search for some clothing catalogues featuring 'Tall' sizing and sign her up on their mailing lists. That's my task for today - since reminded me of the request in our last phone conversation.

The Tweeds catalogue mysteriously disappeared. I still have a few issues tucked away. Sometimes I take them out and fantasize about clothing so rich and creamy and soft.
I remember those pages were the first where I saw clothing colors described as 'Eggplant', 'Grass' and 'Wheat'. Their take on a t-shirt was so original and classic and flattering that added shipping costs were justifiable! I loved everything Tweeds. Comparable to many of the items found at today's Anthropology - but not as heavily priced - eek!

Again today... I searched the Internet for possible links to Tweeds. All I find are past articles of the company's demise. Not a lot of information there either.

Yet - I am encouraged. On trips to TJMaxx in the past 8 months... I've found a few items with the Tweeds label. Be still my heart. It's the same tell-tale classic styling and great fabrics. These can't be clothes from some warehouse that closed 15 years ago - can they? I take it as an indication that Tweeds is nurturing a comeback - and these items on the rack at TJMaxx are harbingers of great styling - about to be reintroduced to the masses.

May we bow our heads in prayer - of hope and thanksgiving...

Does anyone have insider skinny of a come-back? Anyone?

Meanwhile... any recommendations for catalogues for Tall women like my mom - that might even feature large shoe sizes? I hooked Mom up with Eddi* Bau*r - J J!ll- Ch!cos and Co!dwater Cr**k. Every other tall size provider seemed to cater to 20-something clubbers! How strange - manufactures seem to think that tall women shrink down to 5'7" once they reach age 65. No wonder my mom and her sisters have such a rough time with pants!

Faith. Life.

I'm a Cradle Catholic. Immersed in the faith from the day of my baptism. Twelve years of Catholic School reinforced the beliefs my parents worked so hard to instill in me. Until I went to college, I truly believed that everyone wanted to be Catholic. That they envied us. Don't ask me why then, that I didn't question that they didn't all just convert.

My Western Civilization classes knocked some wind out of my faith filled sails. The classes exposed bits of history that were glossed over in 12 years of Catholic School. History that reflected very poorly on the institution of the Church. On top of that, going to Mass every Sunday was decidedly not fun and indeed boring. So like many young people, I floundered with my faith a bit in my college years.

Oddly enough, my brother got me back on track before graduation. He asked me to be his oldest daughter's Godmother - but only if I started going to church again. That was all it took.

Years of work and dating - miserable dating followed. Relationships don't last long when you're abstinent. I often had to defend my beliefs. More often than not - others dismissed my faith and following of commandments to be silly and pointless.

I never understood the perspective of people without faith until I heard one of them refer to faith and religion as 'a fairy tale'.
Whoa.
Seriously?!
Well, now I knew just how far fetched they found it. I felt so sad for them.
They see it all as a waste of time. We're oppressing and denying our physical needs and urges for a fairy tale. Hmm. Now I see why they are so confused.

One of the only ways I have been able to describe the importance of faith, and that it is indeed a choice... not brain washing is to compare it to health.

Most of us know that to take the best care of our bodies, we should eat healthy food. We should get off the couch and exercise. Those who are really dedicated to their bodies cut out carbs and lift weights or run 10 miles a day. They do what it takes to be fit and stay healthy. They don't even see it as a sacrifice.

It's the same for your soul.

Bad out. Good in.

It's not some regimented denial of pleasure... it is instead... doing what is best for - not your body - but your soul.

I go to Mass because it nourishes my soul. I abstain from sex because it keeps me pure. I follow the commandments - because - following my analogy - it keeps me from getting fat, ruining my cholesterol, or clogging my arteries.

I know many people who go to great lengths to follow their healthy diet, train for a marathon, chisel their abs - yet mock me for maintaining my soul.
Meanwhile, I wonder how they can put so much effort into their earthly shell while ignoring the one part of their earthly presence that will actually make it to an after-life.

And I'm the one who is silly?

Up in Flames

Wow. My neighbor is causing trouble again. This time- it was very dangerous!

The woman who lives below me is not mentally stable. She's very hard to live with... but we're a condo - she's a homeowner like the rest of us, so it's not like we can evict her.

Last night I came home around 10:00 and all my neighbors were standing outside. What's going on? Miss M. They said. I started looking around at the building for noticable damage - the last big incident involved a broken entryway mirror and landscaping bricks through two car windshields.

No. They said. There was a gas leak coming from her unit. They called E*xcel Energy - and the guy with a meter detected 15% gas in the hallway. He said 10% was combustable. In her kitchen, at the source of the leak from her stove, the meter read 40%.

Okay. That's not her fault. Except she was sitting on her couch - drunk off her gourd - smoking a cigarette! How do you not notice that your apartment is full of gas while you have a fire stick in your mouth?!?!? Thanks for blowing up the building Miss M!

Not only that. The guy from E*xcel told her she had to put out the cigarette and she asked Why? After he finally got her to extinguish the bugger, he turned around and she was lighting up another! He took the cigarette right from her mouth!

At least now we can prove that she is a danger to herself AND others. Maybe we can make some progress.

Our laws are very protective of the mentally ill. And that's a good thing. The only problem is - those same laws sometimes make it very difficult to get them help. And to protect the innocent.

What if she'd have blown the place up?!? Holy cow.

Uh... I don't think you can help me.

I'm still adjusting to the constant varying temperatures in Denver. I just can't get a handle on the 'dress in layers' theory. Even in the summer. If you're wearing a sundress or shorts and a tank top - you have to bring a jacket if you are staying out past 5:30 - I just can't buy enough light sweaters to go with every outfit.

I think most women in Colorado manage with clothes from REI. This doesn't work for me. I was raised in the Midwest. Everything has to be an outfit. I need to look cute and I don't feel cute in t-shirts and fleece. (in the Midwest, I could wear one outfit all day long. if it was 95 degrees when you left the house, it won't be any cooler than 90 after dark! Plus the humidity held the heat around me like a shawl. I must be the only person who really appreciates humidity for that reason!)

So in lieu of matching sweaters and hoards of fashionable jackets I carry a wrap or pashmina with me nearly all times. It's just enough to wrap around my shoulders to ward off the chill when the sun dips behind the mountains (or if a place happens to be air conditioned).

Still, in the quest for having the right jacket or cover for all occasions, I decided I needed a cute trench coat for spring. It would be perfect for church or anything bordering on slightly formal.

I looked all over town. It had to be affordable since my job situation is tight. Both TJMaxx and Ross had moved on from jacket season so no luck there. I saw a really cute trench in the window of Ann Taylor Loft, but it was about $190 and it wasn't very flattering for my figure.

So I went to the outlet mall and poked into a few stores.

In one of them, a young sales girl came up to help and asked what I was looking for. "I'm looking for a light weight spring trench." said I.

When she replied with, "What do you mean?" I was stymied.

Light. Spring. Trench.

I'm plum out of descriptors there sweetie. If you don't know what I'm talking about - you probably shouldn't be working in clothing.

I just stood there for a while trying to think of another way to say it, then I repeated, "A light weight spring trench coat."

"Oh. Like a trench coat?"

Oh boy.

this picture is just a diagram. I ended up finding something really cute at Kohl's - and ended up spending under $25! Whoo hoo. Maybe I'll take a photo of it... I can't find it online.