What do we have here?

Hubby left for Hong Kong yesterday, and I must say, my closet’s been wondering when he was going to leave. This is his first trip of 2013, much to his dismay. Last year he earned platinum status and this year, he’s not gone anywhere for the first quarter of the year? What’s up with that? Anyway, I use the time when he’s gone to do some big project that disrupts the bedroom. I know, I know, I could do these things when he’s home, but then I’d have to clean up my mess every night so that he could actually sleep in the bed. This way, if I get interrupted or lose steam during the day, I can just leave it a big mess and finish it later. And talk about a big mess! I took some pictures, but I can’t post anything until it’s done and I have a clean after picture, or you’d all just gasp and wonder how I can be such a slob.

Anyway, I’m cleaning out my closet, which really should happen once a year, but actually happens about once every 3 years. I just tried on EVERY pair of pants I own, to find out which ones to donate, which ones to put into the “too small, but a girl can hope” box, and which ones actually fit and I can wear them. Some observations..
–Why do I have so many pairs of pants? I mean, really…why? And if I do indeed have this many pairs of pants that fit, why do I wear the same two pairs of jeans every single day of my life? I’m going to have to stretch outside my comfort zone and wear more slacks and other pants, even other jeans, instead of my ultra comfy Target jeans that I can’t live without. And when did I buy these velvety black pants and have I ever worn these. I found a pair of leggings and said to myself, “Leggings? When did I buy leggings? The tag is still on them. Then I put them on and realized WHY people wear leggings. Very comfy, if you don’t care what your bottom half looks like. I can’t even bring myself to wear leggings under a skirt, but I’m working on it.

–When I say “fit” with pants, there are various stages of fit.
**There’s the regular–these fit.
**Then we have–these fit, but I wouldn’t want to wear them all day.
**There’s also–these fit, but I’m not sure I would wear them because they make my thighs look like gigantic watermelons (you could also substitute “butt” or “tummy” for the thighs. I’m sure you get the idea.
**Then we have–these kind of fit, on a non bloated day, probably about a week after my period if I’ve been exercising.
**Things go downhill from there, with –these fit, if I don’t plan on sitting down. Ever.
There are also surprises, like when you look at a size that is actually bigger than the size you are currently wearing, and those darn things are too small. Or the opposite side of the spectrum, when I look at the size and say, oh, those won’t fit, look at the size (one size smaller than I am currently wearing) and they actually fit. Whatever.

But I did manage to get rid of a few pairs of pants, including the beloved pair I wore all last summer and they are now so ripped and threadbare it’s no longer decent to wear them in public. I also filled a box to put away of “pants that do not currently fit”. I’ll put the box in the top of the closet, where it can gently remind me that there are cute clothes to be worn, if I will only stick to an exercise program and stop eating cookies, but yet those pants don’t mingle with the clothes that actually do mostly fit, so I won’t get frustrated when I pull out pair after pair of pants that do not fit. I did the same thing with the skirts and dresses. Box it up, baby. I’m not quite ready to toss them all, because I do PLAN to fit into those things eventually, but better in a box than crowding the closet.

Shoes. Oh, how I love shoes. My shoes, however, are all over the place. I’ve had to get rid of quite a few pairs, which I will offer to the girls in the family before I toss them into the DI pile. I’m also putting away all the boots and ‘winter shoes’, so I can make room for sandals and flip flops. Because I tend to buy things at the end of the season when they are on clearance, I’ve got sandals I’m finding in there that I’ve never worn! “Why hello, gold wedges! Where did you come from?” So, yes, I’m excited to try out a couple pairs of new sandals that I bought last winter.

Shoes, while most of them fit (not like that pants, shoes still fit even if I’m having a fat day–or decade), they have different comfort levels. With sandals and dress shoes, the question is always, ‘could I wear these to bells?’. Because besides having to stand and rehearse for 2 hours, there’s the half hour of hauling boxes of bells and tables for set up and take down, as well as the uphill/downhill walk through the tunnels to get from the parking garage to our rehearsal space under the tabernacle (called the horseshoe, if you are familiar with the undergrounds of the tabernacle). A lot of us end of taking our shoes off during our two plus hour rehearsal, since not all shoes fit the comfort level of “bells worthy”. It’s funny to see a bunch of boots under our chairs in the winter, and many girls standing playing in their socks. Some shoes are ok for church, but not for nursery. Or they could be ok to sub in the junior high, but not for younger grade elementary, where there is a lot of walking. For kindergarten, I wear only my most comfortable clothes and shoes, since I won’t see any other adults, and I will be kneeling, walking, crouching, out for recess, and all over the place.

So, I will continue to try to clean out that closet, getting rid of the random things that are stored in there (a whole box of frames? Really? Why is this in my closet?) and getting rid of the things I can let go of. Hopefully I’ll have an AFTER picture for you by the end of the week. Or I may get lost in there, or worse, injured by things falling from the top of the closet. It’s pretty dangerous.