OK, here's my picture:
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| Oops! My friend snapped the wrong side of me! |
Puppy dog and I bundled up against the elements, to take a very brief walk. He watered the bushes as fast as he possibly could, then we ran back for the warmth and comfort of our wheel estate. Inside, Harley waited for me to clean his little paws, so he would be a tad warmer and there wouldn't be wet paw print tracks all over the motorhome.
The weather just kept getting worse, except the lightning and thunder stopped. Finally, I went out in the pouring rain, cleaned up our campsite and left town. If we were going to be cooped up inside again due to inclement weather, I decided to brave the roads. That is most uncharacteristic for me, as in the Caribbean, we never drove anywhere in the rains if we could possibly help it. People just rarely do that in the Caribbean. If it's pouring down rain, you wait. Appointments often run late because of the rain. I love that attitude, it seemed so much saner. Yet, here I was contemplating battling traffic in the rains, because puppy and I were tired of being stuck indoors. Might as well put some miles under us, besides a friend had invited us up to celebrate their birthday. I had mentioned, I would try to work that in my schedule.
Since the lightning had ceased, I felt fairly confident. We had an appointment to make, about a half hour away. It took a long time, then when that was over, we were headed northerly, when we saw a Goodwill store. They sell donated items. You never know what you might find there.
I've been dressing myself out of Goodwill since coming to America. My payments on my old illness, hospital bills, medical treatments, recovery and all that nightmare, take up nearly all of my meager income, so I've cut corners everywhere I possibly can. It seems I am always robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Nice new clothes are frighteningly expensive, if you want something lovely. By visiting second hand stores and being super careful, I've eventually found really nice outfits for my ever changing lifestyle. I'd rather have unique, pretty clothes, than to shop for generic stuff at discount stores. I go for quality, not quantity. I don't need much at all, but when I get dressed, I want to feel good about myself. Shopping for used clothing has been humbling. On the other hand, I am pretty thrilled with the outfits I eventually find.
Patience. It takes time. I often peruse a used store, only to walk out empty handed. Other times, I strike it rich, finding one maybe two nice outfits. I found a beautiful summery dress one time, that fits perfectly, that still had all the original tags on it. Whether a store donated it, or someone just bought it and never wore it, I'll never know. But it's mine now and it looks great.
I look for nearly new to my liking, then I try it on and it must fit near perfectly, lastly, I must be delighted with it. Then I check the entire garment for wear and tear, to make sure I haven't overlooked a glaring problem such as stains or rips or holes or missing buttons. If all my criteria is met, I throw it in my cart, and think about it while I peruse other items. My small wheel estate has precious little room for a year round wardrobe. I have to be highly selective, so that I end up with a small wardrobe of clothes I like and wear.
There isn't room to haul around unused junk.
I went inside this Goodwill, in Walterboro, South Carolina, picked out a few items, tried them on, which narrowed down the selection, then consulted with the cashier about pricing, as every Goodwill seems to have a different policy. This one seemed kind of pricey to me, so I reconsidered my findings. Finally I settled on a beautiful sweater in shades of purple that fit perfectly. Oh how I love purple!
It takes a while to finally end up with a wardrobe, when shopping second-hand, you find pants one day and it may take 5 more trips and 3 more months to find a top to go with them. Or maybe I am just super picky. So now I had a lightweight beautiful purple sweater to go with some long pants I've had for a few months. Matter of fact, when I got back to the motorhome, I changed into my pants and purple sweater. I was super pleased. It felt great to be nice and toasty warm on this c-c-cold day.
I also found some white summer cropped pants that fit nicely and as luck would have it, I already have a summery shirt, just hanging around my closet waiting for me to find pants or a skirt to go with it. So bingo! The angels were looking out for me. I completed a winter outfit and a summer outfit. I'm ready for anything the elements dish out at me.
I cleaned out my current wardrobe, some of my stuff is just falling apart, no need to keep holey clothes, or threadbare stuff, and some of it is too big. Am I shrinking or did the clothes grow bigger when I wasn't looking?
After we left the Goodwill store, Harley curled up for a nap, while I battled the rainy weather, driving 200 miles to go see my ailing friend for their birthday. The rain had softened up the ground something awful. When I wearily pulled into their driveway, it was soggy, wet and very dark. There is a slight hill to enter their driveway, I almost got stuck in the mud! My friend was thrilled I had made the trip, though I was dead tired, so we only had a brief visit, then I retired back to my wheel estate for sleeping.
Lucky for us both, they have a big flat T-shaped driveway I can park in, without blocking their car. They plugged me into an outside outlet, so I felt rich, having electricity. The next morning, they volunteered their washer and dryer, so I washed all their clothes and my laundry too. We celebrated their birthday, caught up on old times.
Now I have another 70 miles to go to a very important interview. Wish me luck!
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