Chalk and Cheese Chronicles

Shopping Like a Guy

I have a favorite olive green sweatshirt. It's soft and bit stretchy and sort of makes my arms look Photoshop thin. I wore this shirt Monday on the walk to school. I wore it Tuesday on a late night grocery store run and I wore it... wednesdsaythursdayandfriday as well.

I am wearing it right now.

Ok, so even my husband won't wear the same thing five days in a row,  but the point is, why have a closet full of clothes I don't wear when all I do is cycle through my favorite clothes again and again?

I have been on a mission to simplify my life. I've calmed down my social networking. I've been cooking from scratch. I've been keeping my house in a zen-like state of cleanliness. I bring into the house (mostly) what I think I need; if I don't think I'll use it, then I don't buy it. On my to-do list is to get back into a daily routine of reading books and working out. I've simplified my life by nourishing what's important to me.

For the first time ever, my clothes take the same amount of space as my husband's clothes. All of his clothes would fit in a large suitcase. My clothes would fit in two (or 3! or 4!) large suitcases - plus a carry-on!

Ok, so it's not totally equal, but it's getting there.

I used to have an embarrassing amount of clothes, each item tied to a special moment:

She bought me on a late night Target run, just for the thrill of the buy!

She got me as free swag at a blogging event!

She bought me when she was a working girl, two sizes down and 10 year's ago!

She paid too much for me but I never fit her right. She keeps me because I was expensive!

She bought me in France. I am a French brand!

... and she pulled us out of her closet and passed us off to second hand shops. We are gone!

Yes, they are gone. Well, mostly gone.

I have been purging my wardrobe since forever and finally, I have it down the the bare minimum. My small closet is filled with only items I do wear.

How on earth does one manage to do such a thing?

 Well, to start, here are a few of my rules.

Rule #1 Avoid Costco. Sure, there are some really good deals on quality items, but really, you will end up buying much that you don't need.

Rule #2 Be picky about free stuff. It's not useful if it's sitting in your garage, gathering dust.

Rule #3 We grow to fit the size of our storage area. Bigger house, bigger piles of stuff. With no basement, no attic and no walk-in closet (I know, it pains me, too!), I have to keep my belongings to a minimum. If you have tons of storage space, limit your wardrobe to what will fit into one or two closets.

Rule #4 Always have a bag destined for a second-hand store at the ready. Outgrown something? Toss it into that bag. Hate that blouse your mother-in-law gave you for Christmas? Give it away. Always be moving stuff OUT of your home.

Rule #5 Avoid impulse shopping and stick to your favorite shops and brands. Avoid inventing scenarios in which you might wear something, "This would be perfect for a summer evening in Prague."

Rule #6 Find a friend who likes to organize (a friend like me! I just organized my friend's entire playroom!) and ask them to help you. :)

Rule #7 Only replenish your wardrobe twice a year. My husband makes two trips to his favorite store per year and comes back with everything he needs. Ok, well, scratch that, this would be a tactic for the most disciplined of shoppers only. I'm not like that and probably, neither are you. That would be like detox.

Shopping is like a drug. I get high from it, too. I love to shop! My guilty pleasure is the late night Target run. I never end up wearing the clothes I buy at 9pm at Target. I buy clothes there because my favorite shops are closed by the time the kids are down and I can leave the house. Sure, I can shop online but I want instant gratification. It's hard to resist the thrill  of something new!

That said, I truly am down to just two pairs of pants. Yep, two. Like a guy - or worse, I have fewer pants than most guys. I am a skirt girl, true, but even then, I've parred it down to just a half dozen skirts.

I think I need to go shopping!

 

This is an original post to Chalk and Cheese Chronicles.

Note: I realize that not all guys dislike shopping and not all women like shopping. I like shopping, and my husband does not. So I aim to shop like *my guy*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activion & Bill Nye: Science Fun for the Our Family

I think it was the quicksand that did it.

We introduced our 4 "AND A HALF!!!" year-old boys to Bill Nye the Science Guy via You Tube exactly two hours before we were to meet him in person. My boys are intrigued by science so from the moment they first watched Bill Nye talk about quicksand, they were sucked in and they loved it.

So at the invitation of the eco-friendly folks at Activion, we joined fellow SV Moms bloggers and their families at San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation (we like to call it the Orange museum!) to see our new friend Bill teach us some science. My boys dressed the part, donning their safety goggles and clutching plastic test tubes. Then they practiced working "Bill Nye the Science Guy" into everything they said, mostly because they liked the way his name rhymes.

When we entered, the room all set up with rows of chairs and I had but one thought: We are doomed. For some reason, I'd had it in my head that this was going to be more of a hands-on demo, with centers like in preschool. Would my rambunctious little boys be willing to sit through this?

But once Bill Nye began to speak, my boys snapped to attention, then rushed to the front of the room to join the other kids on the floor for an up close view of science in action. It worked. It was like Science 101 for preschoolers. I stayed on the side, auditing. We watched as Bill in his signature lab coat and bow tie launched into a demo of the Activeion, breaking down the science behind it in simple terms. I glanced back at my science oriented husband who'd stayed seated toward the back and I could tell he was enjoying this event. But Bill sealed the deal with the pint sized future scientists when he brought out the big drum (really, a big rubber garbage can) and banged out huge rings of smoke which hurled across the room like cannon balls. My little guys were thrilled!

Vacuuming My Way to Nirvana

I am one of those weird moms whose car is uncluttered and clean. I'm almost embarrassed about it. I hesitate to open the door to my mini van within sight of normal moms. As soon as the door to my mini-van slides open to reveal a crumb free, clutter free interior, I can see Normal Mom's jaw start to drop. My car is freak show clean most of the time, but as it's mostly a vehicle for transporting 3-year-old twin boys, it's not been easy to keep it this way. As soon as the crumbs start to blanket the carpet of my car, I'm on it, vacuuming the interior like a madwoman until I can get to the car wash.

Today, it rained just enough to keep the car wash closed for business. Cracker crumbs were everywhere, on the floor, in the car seats - it was driving me nuts. My boys were at Grandma's for the day, so when I spied one of those coin operated car washes while driving around this afternoon, I prayed to the loose change God that I'd have enough quarters to use the beautiful industrial vacuum cleaner. In my OCD mind, I could see all those crumbs being sucked up like tiny magnets. Vroooosh! Ah, nirvana.