Week 4 - Shoes, Purses, Outerwear

Eventful times here in our corner of the blogosphere, aren't they? My holiday weekend was intentionally quiet. I hung out here, spent the day with a local friend's family, and accompanied the same friends to see Wicked (probably not something I would have sought out on my own, but fun).

In between times were spent in necessary rest. I was very sick at the beginning of November with what has turned out not to be a bad virus, as it appeared to be at the time, but the start of a flare of a chronic condition (basically this) that previously hadn't bothered me at all in several years. The net result is that for most of the time since then I've been feeling tired, dizzy, queasy and generically lousy with a smattering of aches, pains, sensitivities, weird skin stuff, and hamburger cravings. (Seriously. When the condition is active it messes with my blood counts, and I'm currently anemic enough that red meat is a far better pick-me-up than coffee.) It could be far worse, but there's no quick way to deal with it, so, best case, I'm anticipating a few more weeks or months of generalized Bleh (thankfully, not unmitigated Bleh; some days are better than others).

So, anyway, I'm relieved that I can do this week's piling in my head while lying on the couch. It finally snowed here last night, so I've pulled out the last of the winter-wear. I also broke my snow brush shoveling out this morning. Grr.

Breath: Piles.

• Coats: Good. I have a couple to get rid of, too.
  
• Gloves and hats: Need a better hat (got plans); another pair of leather gloves would also be good.
  
• Scarves worn primarily for warmth rather than for decoration: Good.
  
• Shoes and boots: need to replace brown loafers.
  
• Socks and stockings: re-evaluating my sock strategy. But good for now.
  
• Purses: Good.
  

Bones: One button to sew on, and lots of shoe polishing. Not done yet.

Head: Evaluate the workability of current maintenance equipment and arrangements.
Decided to get a larger drying rack. Otherwise, everything seems to be fine, which means that any resistance to maintenance I still experience is strictly internal.

Heart: Where Wende gets tough:

• What's your Status Symbol? That is, what quality do you want people to value you for?
• Do you want this quality to be reflected in your wardrobe? You're allowed to say "no." It's possible that the role of your wardrobe is to fit in quietly, rather than to make a statement.
• If you want this quality reflected in your attire, how?
  
• Is there any garment or accessory that you always wear? If so, what does it represent to you? What about items that you frequently wear or that you ritually wear on certain occasions?

a) I want people to regard me as intelligent in a manner that's worth respecting.

b & c) I don't want this quality to be countermanded by my wardrobe, so if something about my wardrobe were working against me, I'd want to change it, but otherwise, I'm not up to engineering a message.

d) I wear hoop earrings 95% of the time. Optimum size is 0.5"-0.75". I don't know that they represent anything in particular, but anything with more or less motion (i.e., studs or dangly things, respectively) just doesn't feel right. Out of habit, I also always wear a wristwatch and rings, though my hands have been too swollen for the latter in recent weeks (see above).