Cranky Steve probably has rabies

Yesterday I worked seven whole hours, which was awesome, actually, even though Eric and the girls were off for Veteran's Day. Abby volunteered at her grandmother's DAR function and Eric and Johanna worked on fixing the leaky master bathroom shower... and I got to hang out with fun people, meet a couple who were driving from Alaska to Chile on used vegetable oil, get my hand squeezed really hard by a 76-year-old woman who was pretty pleased to have made me yelp (she shook my hand at least four times, and by the end I was all, jeez, I get it already!), ponder how sometimes being at the front desk is like being a bartender without the alcohol with Jody in Sales, save $10 on desk calendars for the office, and write about the latest batch of Jesuit volunteers that have come to town for an upcoming news edition.

And it didn't even seem like work.

Anyway, so Cranky Steve was in a really talkative mood and kept stopping by my desk to share little bits of his life. One of his favorite topics is His Raccoons, which he's tamed to the point of insanity. These things will come into his house, steal his tuna sandwiches off the table, and sit in his recliner. I mean, that's nuts, right?

This article by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
makes me think that Cranky Steve has not read this AT ALL. 

So yesterday he's all excited and tells me about how he got a hug on the leg by one of his little rabid friends. He's all, you know that one who likes to put his paw on my paw? and I'm all like, paw to paw interaction, got it, and he's all, well, last night I brought him out a bowl of kibble and he hugged my leg before eating, and I was like, um, and shared his rabies with you? And then Cranky Steve was offended that I would dare think his little pals would be diseased-riddled varmints, but seriously, you guys...

Raccoons. In his house. They're practically rats.

Except Steve says they're closer to dogs than rats and that rabies does not exist in the Pacific Northwest. Since I am not about to go friend a bunch of raccoons, I'll just take his word for it.

***

11/12/13! That kind of makes me happy.

The Abby Texts: Sophomores

Abby: Dude does nobody else smell the sophomores bc im tearing up and nobody seems to be reacting to the smell.

Me: Maybe that's your superpower.

Abby: And being able to wake myself up from dreams.

Project 333: Week 5 recap

You guys, I have made a serious error in judgement.

Before starting Project 333 (of which I have no regrets, by the way--that's not the error), I would have told you that I wear EVERYTHING in my closet. Every dang thing. And that I am particularly fond of button-down dress shirts. I probably have 15 to 20 of the things with various sleeve lengths because I see them in the store and I'm like, I love that. It looks crisp and neat. Plus I work in an office. If a button-down dress shirt doesn't scream "office," then what does?

Here's the thing, though: I've been keeping daily track of what I'm wearing (because I'm anal, okay? Shut up) and button down long-sleeve dress shirts? I wore a total of 11 days out of 31 (the month of October). Compare that to t-shirts (long and short-sleeved plus my tank tops): 29 out of 31 days. Sometimes, yes, I wore those things underneath a dress shirt, but more times than not I just tossed a cardigan over one and called it a day. Paired with dress pants or a skirt and sometimes a scarf, I like to think I didn't totally embarrass the family.

Basically this month I learned that I don't really like button-down dress shirts as much as I thought I did. So it's kind of unfortunate that I have so many. I think maybe that's why I was feeling so frustrated getting dressed every day, even with a smaller wardrobe to choose from--it was filled with things I thought I liked, not things I actually do like.

Weird lesson. I did not expect that.

Anyway, new plan: I have a fresh batch of 33 items for the month of November. Most of them are the same as what I started out with, but I cut back on the button-downs and added to my t-shirts. And this time, I grouped a couple of things together to get just 33 (looking at you, shoes and scarves). I tried to concentrate on neutrals as a base and rely on my cardigans and scarves for color:

1. Black long-sleeve t-shirt
2. Grey long-sleeve t-shirt
3. Navy long-sleeve t-shirt
4. Black tank top
5. Navy tank top
6. White tank top
7. Orange print tank top
8. Navy t-shirt
9. Black t-shirt
10. Black/white dot button down shirt*
11. White button down shirt
12. Teal button down shirt
13. Dark blue button down shirt
14. Black cardi
15. Orange-red cardi
16. Plum cardi
17. Teal cardi
18. Grey turtleneck sweater
19. Black skirt
20. Grey plaid skirt
21. Denim skirt
22. Purple skirt
23. Grey pants
24. Black pants
25. Twill pants
26. Black cords
27. Dress denim
28. Jeans
29. Scarves: Teal, orange, black, navy
30. Shoes: Danskos, boots, flats
31. Coat and gloves
32. Beige jacket
33. Denim jacket

Well... we'll see. So far, though, Week 6 has been rather less of a chore. I'm giving myself permission to redo the list again for December if need be. There's definitely a learning curve to dressing with less. I had no idea trying to have a minimalist wardrobe would require so much work. ;)

*I bought this shirt--which is a rather lovely thing--at the Goodwill Boutique downtown. It gets a lot of comments. Anyway, the point is that I thought it was navy, but just last Thursday I discovered it's actually black. For some reason the tiny white dots give it a navy look in the sunlight. I don't know, it's still awesome, so whatever. I'm kind of glad because black is easier to navigate.