Wardrobe Basics

There are some weeks of the year where between practicing with my own two kids and the piano studio kids and my own practicing I'm at the piano ten hours a day.  Occasionally under these circumstances I have indulged in a little retail therapy, which usually takes the form of internet shopping late at night.  One can hop from one children's clothes boutique to another without even leaving the desk.  The benefactor of these binges is almost always--you guessed it--Mary Ray.  Who doesn't get a small kick of adrenaline buying cute clothes for a little girl?  And I confess that in the past I have probably spent too much, but I'm not a teenage mother and well, I only have one little girl and well. . . I can pass the clothes on to certain other families with little girls. . .

But!  I'm changing my ways.  I, Sara Stephens Kotrba, do solemnly swear to remove certain four letter words from my daughter's wardrobe vocabulary.  Namely: WOOL.  Every Fall I buy the wool dress.  So European and cosy.  Not.  Itchy and hot, even for Minnesota.  What am I thinking.  She's not gonna touch it with a ten foot pole.  As if putting a turtle neck and tights under was going to make it tolerable.  Even hotter. I see the beads of sweat forming on her brow. Total waste of money.  Probably the sweet little girl it gets handed down to is not gonna wear it either.

The other items I'm vowing to give up (it is Lent after all) are long sleeve shirts, jeans and corduroys.  Don't even think about buying anymore turtlenecks. The girl is a walking heater.  She would run naked around the house all winter if we let her.  It's 57 degrees in the basement and she is barefoot on (other waste of money for cute fuzzy slippers) the concrete floor.  We're gonna get one heck of a Good-Will donation receipt for the stack of cosy turtle necks I'm turning over.  Some of these are hand-me-downs from cousin Savannah and I find myself wondering if she ever wore them.

All Mary really wants to wear is a short sleeve tee-shirt with snoopy on it and pink leggings.  We compromise and add a little short skirt over the leggings.  On those rare occasions when it's 30 below and she acknowledges that she might need a sweatshirt at school she leaves behind the Mini Boden microfleece zip-up with matching headband for--you guessed it--Lena's hand-me-down Life is Good hoody which by now is stained and a little too small.

I'm letting go.  From here on out it's short sleeve tee-shirts with peace/love and bunnies, bike shorts, and leggings--most of which you get at Target which does not give you the same high as clicking "check out now" at 11:45 p.m.  Perhaps I can still get the little skirts online.  Footless tights anyone?

I realize giving up internet clothes shopping for one's daughter for Lent is not really that virtuous, but I already cut back on caffeine and giving up chocolate in the winter in Minnesota is asking too much.

One more note to self: cute shoes?  Out.  Done.  All she wore the last two summers was a $3 pair of flip flops from Old Navy.

Some live and learn and some just live.  Bill--we can put her through college with the money I'll save.  Well--at least some books--or knowing her--party money.