Moi mommy moight be proud and the cute young woman with the gorgeous red hair at Chico’s oughtta be pretty happy today. Can you count to 400? Dollars, that is? Because once I got over my usual clothing store terrification, that’s what I dropped. I liked her a lot and I hope she got a good commission off of the baggy old kayak woman in the rather dirty REI polartech hoodie, long tie-dyed skirt and dirty chaco sandals, bare feet and all.

First, I am not wealthy and I am not bragging about spending $400 on bizcaz (business casual) clothing. I mean, there are plenty of folks who *are* wealthy enough to do that on an hourly basis. But I’m not one of them and I don’t spend $400 (yikes!) on clothing very often. The wolf has never been at the door here but we have always spent our money to make sure our children had what they needed and clothes shopping is hard for me these days. My brain makes a herculean effort to drag my sorry *ss out to the mall (or wherever) to look for clothes. About half the time I *do* get into an actual clothing store, I have a panic attack, back quickly out of the store, and head for home with my tail between my legs. When I get to all those cosmetic sample sharks in Macy’s, it’s all I can do to will my body not to cut and run like the devil, rodent from hawk! I do *not* do perfume! I wear the same mascara I wore in about 7th grade (no, moi mommy didn’t loike me to wear that then). Thank you Maybelline!

But. The weather changed last week. The four or five mix/match outfits that I was making do with all summer suddenly seemed inappropriate. And too cold to wear for my lunchtime walk. A couple of my usual winter outfits are too warm for now. I think I wore the same skirt FOUR DAYS last week. I can mix/match shirts/sweaters up to a point and accessorize with scarves (a couple of Radical Betty’s are living on in my wardrobe, thanks beloved aunt). But I was running dry. And so.

I made one of my occasional dreaded pilgrimages to Briarwood Mall today. I like Chico’s but I freaked out at first when they descended upon me. A customer? Yes. Let’s get her. Hawk and rodent again. I choked out the words “I know your size system and I hate to shop” and then somehow I got into the groove a bit and the redheaded woman was actually helpful in pointing some things out. And there was a MIRROR IN THE DRESSING ROOM! There didn’t used to be mirrors in there at Chico’s. You had to walk outside to look at yourself show the world how you looked in the stuff you were trying on. That kept me away from Chico’s on many days. Today. A mirror! Inside the dressing room! Thank you god!

I think I am set with some new *comfortable* and good-looking biz-caz stuff at least for a while so that nobody will be wondering why I am wearing the same blasted (beloved) skirt every day. Not that anybody ever did, come to think of it. It is a computing-type place with lots of geriatric employees. Like me?

Love y’all and good clothes shopping to those of you who hate to clothes-shop. I totally understand and maybe then some. Courage! Hmm. Wonder if REI has some more of these hoodies…

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