Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Falling Behind

...with blogging, but not falling ON my behind, despite the treacherously icy sidewalks and parking lots this week.  Neither Robert nor I have a mental model for the ground to be enough colder than the air that it can be 40 F air temperature and yet the ground is still icy.

Warning: Slip on Ice/Fall on Ass Zone

The long holiday weekend didn't get photos taken because it was all Pokemon, all the time, thanks to Pokemon walking the local mall.  But on Sunday night, I did snap a shot of my zebra vest outfit to test that my camera situation was copacetic, which it was.  (This Goodwill-purchased vest is homemade and reversible, with plain black on the other side--I didn't realize that it was two two two vests in one when I bought it.  And yeah, that is a sweet little heart zipper.)


"Hounds and Puffins"--Tuesday, 1/17/16

If you have to go back to work after a 3 day weekend, and it happens to the best of us, you sometimes need an extra dose of cuteness to get you through.  I made that happen with my kissing puffins, though you can only see one puffin due to the addition of a jacket this time around.  But the one puffin still carried enough oomph for the day. 


Light grey puffin pullover sweater (Loft), $7.44/wear
Black and white geometric reeds skirt (JCP), $1.88/wear
Black tuxedo jacket (thrifted, Chico's), $0.90/wear
Black and white houndstooth scarf (Target), $1.58/wear
Black tights
Black ankle boots by Sam Edelman, $2.12/wear

Outfit total: $13.92/wear


I love this soft knit jacket, but man does it hold on to fur!  I wore it in the presence of multiple cats over the Christmas holiday, and even though I washed it, I was still finding little tufts of fur all day.  I was very pleased with this outfit, and how a combination of textures and patterns in plain black and white can look so visually interesting.  Plus the neutral color palette lets the orange puffin bill and feet pop.


In a striking black-and-orange ensemble, this Harlequin rabbit is confident and ready for anything.

...Well, not going to work, because that would be silly.

"One of the Easiest Damned Outfit Formulas: A Brief Demonstration"--Wednesday, 1/18/16

Opinions vary on the place for outfit formulas in one's sartorial repertoire, but I think they can be a nice fallback option.  For example, I bought this scarf from Lands End in December, and when I was thinking of how to wear it the first time, I went with the most simple outfit building method--pick out colors from the scarf and wear items in those colors.

In this case, my new-ish pink sweater was an obvious starting point, and navy was a no-brainer neutral.  Rather than wearing navy boots, I decided to punch up the beige in the scarf with its somewhat richer counterpart in the form of cognac boots.  (And I really like navy + cognac anyway.)

See how easy that is?


Dusky pink pullover sweater (Loft), $6.19/wear
Navy skirt (Walmart), $5.00/wear
*Red/pink/navy/beige floral scarf (Lands End), $11.99/wear
Navy leggings
Tall cognac boots by Sam Edelman, $8.44/wear

Outfit total: $31.62/wear

And I didn't even get to the white or red colors in the scarf.  There will be so many possible variations on this formula...and I haven't even gotten to pattern mixing ideas yet.


In other news...This breeding program seems like a long-shot in our current environment, but I'm glad people are working on the issue.

I can't bring myself to talk about my full reaction to the hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for Department of Education secretary.  Instead, I will let you see the facts from CNN.

I will just say that I expected her to be a hard-line ideologue with very ill-advised stances on the issues, and she does not fail to deliver on that promise.  However, I did not expect her to be so completely, utterly ignorant of the most basic aspects of American education and federal law.  I don't understand how she doesn't know more about education than she does by sheer osmosis, given that she's been a major money player for so long.  I walked into my job interview for my current position knowing more about K12 education (after a couple hours on the Internet) than she did walking into the hearing.  She wants to be education secretary but she didn't even bother cramming for the test?  My office mate summarized her position along the lines of: The federal government has the wrong policies on education...not that I know what those policies are.

What is it with Trump and his fellow know-nothing mega-rich buddies?  Has their wealth so shielded them from reality that they don't have even the slightest sense that they need something other than their money and some poorly thought-out opinions in order to do these jobs?

It's completely appalling.  I cannot imagine how the professionals in the federal government feel about the fact that they will be working for these clowns...or the fear and dismay that the clowns will destroy everything that the professionals have spent their careers building.

However, I guess the upside is that her idiotic testimony provided the impetus for Robert to comment on her commitment to the right to "bear" arms.

4 comments:

mom said...

In keeping with my efforts to not discuss political issues, I must say the Harlequin bunny is a beauty.
Love his colors. He spends no time coordinating his outfit every morning. Lucky bunny!

Sally said...

Indeed, he's all, Yeah, I woke up like this.

Tam said...

I'm pretty sure Trump is one of those people who, when he doesn't know much about something, assumes (or fervently believes) there isn't much to know. He seems willing to tolerate this in his associates as well. Another example is Rick Perry admitting that, when he was calling to abolish the department of energy, he didn't actually know what they did.

Sally said...

A lot of people seem to have that mentality, hence the ability of politicians with this belief system to get elected, I guess.