You know that thing where you find yourself thinking "This is a bad idea" while you continue doing it, immediately proving to yourself the wisdom of that observation?
I felt that way while trying to drop a tiny 3" chain necklace extender into its tiny little drawstring bag
in the bathroom over the sink. Buh-bye, necklace extender! It was great knowing you! What's weird is that I didn't see it go down the drain or the water overflow hole -- it just totally disappeared as I dropped it. It was like a strange optical illusion or magic trick. It was kind of cool watching it happen, actually. I felt around in the bag and then turned the thing completely inside out because how could it disappear that way? But nope, gone. Robert and I hunted for it on our hands and knees, and though we found a lot of blonde hair, there was no chain on our bathroom floor.
I ordered a replacement chain on Amazon but it hadn't arrived yet, like 2 days later, when I wanted to wear a necklace over a button up shirt and thick knit top (worn as a pullover sweater). So I dug out my black embroidery thread (to match the black shirt) and made my own extender. It worked just fine, though I am looking forward to the convenience of the chain extender. Tying the thread to the necklace at 6:30 in the morning in the dark bedroom was not the kind of fashion challenge I enjoy. But this was a pretty good "Be resourceful on the fly" effort.
Anyway, about that black shirt -- it's a Walmart shirt (George brand) that I bought at Goodwill. Some people will advise you against buying inexpensive clothing (Walmart, Target, Old Navy, whatever) at the thrift store, saying you should focus on buying costlier/higher quality brands instead. I sort of get that. Certainly it is more satisfying to buy a Banana Republic skirt for $5 (like the microcheck one I wore the other day) than a Walmart shirt for $5 because wow, I saved a whole bunch of money compared to buying it new! Yay me! But even though it's cool to "save" money in this way (even if the savings are only theoretical because you wouldn't have bought the BR skirt new for $100 and it's not really "savings" if you're spending money), I think there's something off about the logic. I mean, bottom line for me is, Is this item worth to me the $X they're asking for it? And the lower the price tag is than the amount I think it's worth to me, the better.
Perhaps there is an assumption that cheap clothes will fall apart faster, so you won't get your money's worth out of the item even at thrift store prices. OK, I can see that as an assumption, but it hasn't matched my experience where Walmart clothes are concerned. My problem with Walmart clothes is that they never die! Old Navy, though...yeah, those things do fall apart pretty easily. Read the reviews of any given item at Old Navy's website and the complaints are pretty much "Why the hell do two ostensibly identical items in the same size have such completely different measurements?" (amen, sister) and "I loved it until I washed it once and it developed holes/unraveled/basically totally fell apart."
In any case, I was happy to (finally) get a black button up shirt that fit well and was in good condition for $5.
Day 29: Never Before Worn -- Wednesday, 12/10/14
The only challenge for me here was picking out a never-worn item from all the candidates. But red and black stripes? Yes, please.
(Note: I wore sheer knee highs with this, not bare feet. It is winter.)
*Red/black/tan/white striped pullover (thrifted, Kohls)
Black button up shirt (thrifted, Walmart)
Black on black striped pants (thrifted, JCP)
Black claw/tooth necklace (Outfit Additions)
Tan captoe flats by Clarks
And here's how the necklace looked with my embroidery thread extender in place.
