Parrot Pairings and Post-Apocalyptic Libraries

Carrot Parrot--Saturday, 9/26/15

Focal item: Beige parrot graphic T

There are a LOT of cute outfits with graphic Ts.  I liked the styling with a solid skirt and a short-sleeved cardigan for a summer outfit.  (Yeah, I'm still working through my summer outfit stash even though it's fall.  Deal with it.  And it's currently 76 F in my apartment, so that's summer enough for me.)

From sarahsreallife.com

I thought I'd pair my parrot T with either my bright pink pencil skirt or my aqua pencil skirt.  But before I could decide on that, I was looking through my closet at my stash of lightweight cotton summer skirts in various patterns for another purpose, when I came across this one.  Beige with coral, bright pink, aqua/light blue, and yellow/orange flowers?  That's perfect!

Beige parrot graphic T (Kohls), $2.24/wear+
Beige/pink/blue floral skirt (thrifted, Kohls), $1.00/wear (yay)
Aqua short-sleeved cardigan (thrifted, Loft), $1.67/wear
Aqua double-strand necklace (Kohls), $3.00/wear
Gold captoe flats by Anne Klein, $1.00/wear (yay x2)

Outfit total: $8.91

When I came into the kitchen wearing this outfit, I announced it to Robert as "Parrot" (pronounced "PAY-rot" in the style that I have long ago decided is how rabbits pronounce words of this spelling in their heads).  Quite naturally, Robert thought I was saying "Carrot" ("KAY-rot").  When he realized his error, he said that from a distance, the long orange colored parrot kind of looks like a carrot.  Hence, this is now the Carrot Parrot T...with something for both bird lovers and bunnies to enjoy.  (Hey imaginary rabbits, no chewing!)

Because of the avian flu, the only birds we saw at the fair were these guys.  But hey, I guess you're not doing the state fair right if you're not stuffed by the end!

In other news...Last night in Fallout 3, I thoroughly cleaned out the Arlington (VA) Public Library.  And by cleaned out, I mean, all crannies explored, all enemies killed, all loot taken.  I even harvested the meat from the radroaches I snuck up on and smashed with one blow from my sledgehammer.  I also accessed their computer systems to download information for a woman writing a book about surviving in these post-apocalyptic times. 

I tried checking in an undamaged book that I found (I collected several hundred destroyed books with small but non-zero resale value), but the computer told me, "Warning. 201 years overdue."  Ain't nobody wants to pay those kinds of fines! 

I also discovered that in the year before the nuclear war, the Arlington library had received a large donation from a dental association that led the librarians to change the Arlington READS: Reading Education and Development System program to Arlington READS: Reading Education and Dental Supplies.  Though I recognize the importance of good dental hygiene, this does seem like a questionable program for a library.  Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that even in a retro-futuristic computer game, public libraries are underfunded and have to make do with the donations they get, like it or not.

Mom, at least your library isn't overrun by giant roaches and (human) raiders who try to kill you on sight!  There were a few guards from an organization whose purpose is to preserve books and book-knowledge from the past, but they were not a match for the raiders.  This organization had also installed a series of gun turrets that start shooting when they sense someone has entered their zone, but they seemed to do more damage to the guards and to me than the raiders.  So, based on this experience, I would recommend against your library choosing to protect its books with automated ballistic defense systems, even though the name "Mark" turret might be appealing to your branch manager.  Friends don't let friends shoot library workers and patrons!