Before work today, I had to go into a large department store to return something.  It was actually part of one of my children’s Christmas presents and was a pretty costly item.  The item hasn’t worked since day one, but we tried to deal with the manufacturer as was suggested in all the paperwork that came with the item.  The problems with the item were never resolved.  So here it’s been about six weeks since the purchase, I have my receipt, as well as confirmation numbers from conversations with the manufacturer and I need to get my money back.  It was no problem to return it.  The store was very nice about it given the history of the product.  Still, here I was feeling bad about having to return something.

Boy was I stunned at the man who came in behind me.  He had an electronic item that he had apparently had for five years and he wanted to return it!!  Five years. 

Ummm, that doesn’t even make sense to me.  He was politely informed that the return policy was 90 days.  He was adament, however, that his money be refunded.  As I was leaving, management was being called in.  Wow.

Five years.

One day out of each week I really enjoy working with my clothes.  I wash what needs to be washed, I put everything in its proper place, and I assess what needs to be mended or discarded.  There’s usually not anything to get rid of, but sometimes! 

The closets in this old home of ours are not that large, so I have to be very organized with my clothes.  The blouses hang together, the skirts hang together, the jackets hang together, and so on.  If I am really motivated, I color coordinate everything in the closet.

I love this mosaic project that I did last year: the bedside table doubles as sweater and shawl storage.

In the hallway, I keep a Victorian-looking hatstand for things like shawls, hats, scarves and wraps.  Whenever I’m at the thrift store I look for pretty fabric-covered hangers to put on my hatstand.

I think the key to keeping clothes organized is having a set day to focus on washing, and always using the golden rule:  a place for everything and everything in its place.

(If only I could get my children to do that!!)

The bonus of keeping things organized is being able to quickly pull out the things that you want – a certain scarf, a clean blouse, matching shoes…

I love to layer clothes.  I love accessories.  Yesterday I tried putting a pin on a scarf to hold the scarf on the dress in a sort of Regency style.

I like it, anyway.

And the one thing that perhaps I inherited from my dad’s mother is I’ll wear what I want to.

A couple of my dresses dry so quickly, I took them out and put them on the clothesline for about half an hour.  It was a pretty sight…

The purple dress is a new find from this week.  I love it.  The pink dress was thrifted a couple of months ago.  I love it even more!

Another thing thrifted this week was a lovely green coat that still had the tags on it.  It’s a very deep green, has a cute flare that starts high on the waist and it ties in front.  I am considering replacing the buttons. 

I love modest clothes…

Apparently I like big hair as well. 

Enough of me and my clothes.  I was outside yesterday and look what’s in bloom. 

Yes, Heather, it’s crocus.  Indeed.

One last thing.  (This has turned into a novel.)  I really like this page that shows different clothing styles:  Nehelenia gallery.

If you have any cool clothing/historic clothing sites, feel free to leave the links in the comments section!

Lynn