How many pair of shoes does one woman need?

A lot....

And I do have a few (not Imelda Marcos level) but certainly enough to give a minimalist nightmares.  My shoe collection is not expensive, there are no Valentino's hidden in my wardrobe...unfortunately.  But I do have enough shoes and boots that I should have a pair to wear for every occasion, however this is often not the case.  Either the shoe doesn't suit, or it's a "sitting down" shoe when I need something I can stand up in for long periods of time,  or it's just plain sad and tired, or I can't find it within the clutter of the wardrobe.

So it's time to face the wardrobe, and sort the shoes, or hunt down those elusive items hiding under the bed. 

My plan is to sort my footwear into four piles:

• Keep
• Dump
• Donate
• On-sell

Finally- I will make a list of anything that I do require to purchase to make my shoe collection complete.

Step One

Face the Wardrobe - yikes!!!  And pull out all those shoes.

Step Two

Sort into groups for keeping

First Group - Sumer Shoes for work and special occasions

Second Group - Summer Shoes for Casual Friday and Weekends

Third Group - Summer Special Occasions (Blingy)

Fourth Group - Summer Casual  - and trips away

Fifth Group - I only hold on to these two pairs for travelling to warmer locations (the slides are old - but I wear a lot of insect repellant when overseas which tends to wreck good shoes)

Sixth Group - Workout/Walking

Seventh Group - Winter work and casual shoes/boots - to be re-sorted at the end of winter

Step Three

Sort the leftovers into Groups for Disposal

Dump

Old, had it - throw away

Repurpose

Gardening and Painting Shoes

 

On-selling

I love the cream shoes but it's the wrong cream for my wardrobe, plus they are a little high

I also love the leather boots - however they are too tight around my calf - causing a muffin top on my leg (not nice!) 

Donate

The strappy black shoes kill my feet.  I thought the aubergine boots would "snazz-up" my wardrobe - it turns out that I'm just not a snazzy kind of person. 

Step 4

Make a List

When looking at the pile of shoes I have left, there is one noticeable gap - and that is a nude pair of either sandles for the summer, or pumps to take me through the winter.  My gym shoes are also on their way out, so this will be my next purchase.  Other than that, I should have enough to see me through the fast approaching Autumn and Winter months.

How may shoes do you own?  Are you a designer shoe aficionado?  Do you have a middle of the road pile of shoes like myself, or are you one on these enviable persons who can make five pair of shoes work with any outfit and any occasion? Please let me know in the comments below.

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Making things easier....for $30 or less

You can buy happiness...

I have a renovation list for my wee home that's as long as my arm.  Big ticket items such as replacing the guttering, reinsulating the ceiling, updating the light fixtures, doubling glazing the windows, insulating under the floor, replacing the wardrobes, replacing the entire kitchen...blah, blah, blah...okay...now I'm curled up in the fetal position on the floor, sobbing, just thinking about how much this is going to cost.

The kitchen is number one on my wish list, because, let's face it, a new kitchen would be so "pretty" to look at, especially as my home is open plan.  Unfortunately it is much lower on the priority list as pretty doesn't keep me warm and dry.

 

Unless I win the lottery sometime soon, I have a couple of choices.  That is to lie here and wallow in self pity thinking about what I can't do, or give myself a kick in the pants, pull myself up off the floor, and do something to make my life a little easier, more practical and a wee bit prettier.

So I've come up with a plan, and that is once a month to do something that will make life in my home a little better, but for no more than $30.  That's 30 kiwi dollars as I'm from way, way down under, in fact I live under the land down under.

Unfortunately updating my flower pots (last week) doesn't count, because I blew an entire $31.22 on that particular venture. 

 

What to do, what to do?  I asked myself while rummaging through the bathroom cabinet drawers in search of a hair tie.  Good grief.  What a mess.  There appears to be stuff of unknown origins lurking in there.  Did something move?  Is there a lifeform hiding in the drawer? If only I was more organised...if only...aha!

 

So off I went to a storage solution shop, hair a mess, as I never did find the tie, and came back armed with plastic containers designed to make my bathroom cabinet a place of serenity and peace.  It didn't actually say that on the labels attached to the containers, but I'm sure that's what the manufacturer meant.
 

 

Step one

Face the fear and open those drawers.....

 

 

Step two

Take everything....and I mean everything...out

 

 

Step three

Wipe clean and re-line drawers, then place the containers in a way that will work for your contents

 

 

Step four

Clean each item and place back in the appropriate container - keep like products together

 

 

Step five

Rehome those items that somehow just seem to creep in

 

 

Step six

Make those hard choices and let the old/had-it/just plain scary items go...I mean, seriously!

 

 

Step seven

Grab some command hooks (I had a couple in my top cupboard for those pictures I never got around to hanging) to place those often used hair items in an easy to reach area (down the side of my cabinet, out of sight)

 

 

Step Eight

Stand back and admire your handy-work - grab some flowers from the garden and place them in a vase (for the "pretty), then enjoy the feeling of calm you will experience every time you open those drawers

 

 

 

 

Yeah - okay, that bottom drawer still needs a little work!  I've never claimed to be a minimalist.

Total Cost - $23.97 for containers
Flowers - FREE from the house of GinnyB
Time saved from not having to rummage through a load of "stuff" every morning - PRICELESS

 

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Walking by...

The Art of "Not Noticing"...

Okay.  So this happened.  You go out of town for a few days...or a week...or maybe two...okay, nearly three weeks, and your pot plants just up and die.  Actually, it was probably more of a slow, painful death.  And it could have been something to do with leaving the watering of these pots up to Mother Nature.  Apparently she wasn't on the ball for those few weeks. 

 

To make matters worse, I've been home for over a week or two...just walking by...and I guess I sort of stopped noticing the tragedy of it all.  Until a friend called in, then I suddenly noticed!  Just like you don't notice the spider web in the corner of the room, until you have guests sitting underneath it.  Then you notice it, and it's all you can see for the rest of the evening, and you just hope they don't look up. 

 

As the pots of death are perched on the stairs to the main entrance of my home, it was kind of hard to believe that I ever stopped noticing.  Now I love my pots of colour, so there was a slight twinge of guilt that I had allowed these plants to waste away from neglect. 

Once, when I brought my first home, a real doer upper, I was contending with a nasty bathroom (see photo to the right showing you just how nasty that room actually was), that also shared duty as a laundry.  It came with its own eco-system, which was pretty cool, because I'm open to creating your own, unique biosphere, if that's the way you roll.  Except that the particular lifeform this bathroom was habouring could up and kill you.  I guess the previous owner hadn't been introduced to the joys of bleach or maybe he just enjoyed fungus.  In amongst the mould there was a bath, with shower overhead.  It  had a two tap system.  As soon as you adjusted the cold water to offset the boiling hot water, you would get an icy blast.  It was all or nothing.  Third degree burns or hypothermia.   

This unique space even had a hole in the wall by the tap.  It allowed you a view of the backyard.  Great for seeing when unannounced visitors turned up.  Nice ventilation in the summer, not so nice in the winter, unless you enjoy cold blasts of air shooting across you, when you are wallowing in your tub.

Of all the issues that the bathroom had, my biggest hate was a small, cardboard box I put in the corner for laundry, as there was no room for a proper hamper.  I remember whining to a work colleague about the box and she said to me "You know?  There'll come a day when you don't even notice that box".  She was right.  The box become a piece of the furniture, and I didn't even hide it when friends and family came over.  It was a sad day when I finally renovated the bathroom and got rid of said box.  I wonder what every became of it? 

There are things in my present home that I try hard not to notice, and I'm pretty good at the act of "not noticing" when there is an expense involved to tidy up that particular area.  However, this is usually a false sense of economy and can end up incurring a bigger expense.  Especially when the "not noticing" can lead to insidious damage to the home (check in another time when I will discuss the tragedy of not priming before painting the outside window frames).
 

Anyhow, back to the pot plants.  There is something I can do which is affordable for me, and will make my home a little more lovable.  So it's time to stop walking by...time to notice and do something about the scene of the crime that's taken place on my front steps. 

Step one

Admit you have a problem

Step two

Prepare to clean up the evidence by purchasing supplies

Step three

Dispose of the bodies

Step four

Double check the scene - make sure there is no sign of the carnage

Step five

Admire your handy-work and wonder why you didn't do this weeks ago!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah...you might have noticed a colour theme going on!

What thing/object do you have in your house that, while it needs fixing/replacing/throwing away, you don't even notice anymore?

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A very weighty issue

Follow my blog with Bloglovin The weighty, weight of weigh-ins!

I made a hard decision the first of this month.  In an effort to get myself back into shape, I faced a horrible decision.  A really terrible, horrible decision.  That was to dust off the bathroom scales and jump back on.  Just like riding a bike, I'm sure.  But more painful than any bike-ride I've ever taken.  Even the one where my older sister was doubling me home from school on the back of her bike, and decided that was a great time to practice going hands free...apparently it is never a great time to practice going hands free when doubling someone (especially your little sister) on the back of your bike!

So here I was preparing myself for some pain.  I was prepared for the pain and the outcome was as painful as I had predicted, but I hoped this would be the kick start I needed to get back into a healthier life style.

 

It got me thinking as to when I stopped the medieval torture of the weekly weigh-in and why I stopped?  I obviously made a decision a few years back, (probably after a visit to my mum's for a scrumptious pork roast and homemade hot, spongey pud) not to go through with my weekly weight check.
 

There had been transgressions in the past, but that particular week must have been a real doozy, as on this occasion I managed to kick the scales under the bathroom cabinet and forget about them (for quite some time, accordingly to the thick layer of dust they had accumulated).

 

For some people, a tight fit on the clothing front would be enough to say "hey...put that piece of cake down, and ignore that sausage roll*" but I wasn't raised to be a quitter,  I'm made of stronger stuff than that!  Helloooooo sausage roll...come to mama. 

 

I obviously managed to battle through the discomfort and straight-jacket effect of my clothing due to my ever expanding waist line.  Over time, I gave up the battle, and started to buy larger dress sizes, but my "skinny" outfits stayed in my spare-wardrobe...just in case.  That was up until this Christmas.  My niece scored big...because there comes a time when you realise, even if you do lose the weight, age has a sneaky trick up her sleeve, and that is back-fat, and middle age spread that no amount of dieting for some of us is ever going to budge.  This Christmas I had the epiphany that no matter what, I will never regain the figure of my twenty or thirty year old self.  

 

I look back on pictures of my younger self.  I was always body conscious, but now I see a young woman who looked pretty damn fine.  To quote George Bernard Shaw- "Youth is wasted on the young". 

 

While I fight the urge to feel I must conform to some ideal, my bad back says "no".  There is also something to be said for not having to lie on the bed to zip up a pair of jeans, or struggle to do up the zip on my dress.  But I think at my age, I need realistic expectations.  I am not in my twenties, or thirties, and very soon I will not be in my forties.  Weight loss should be for health and a feeling of well being, not because we live in a society that gears most products and advertising for youth.

There in lies the problem - to scale or not to scale?  What works for you?

 

On a side note - in my thirties I fancied myself quite the modernist poet, not in the style of the likes of E. E. Cummings or Elizabeth Bishop....but rocking more of a Pam Ayres vibe!  (If you aren't familiar with Pam...check out some of her literary masterpieces such as "Oh, I wished I'd looked after me Teeth" and "Sam and the Paraffin Man").  Anyhow, my slight digression here is due to the fact that one of my poems, written 17 years ago, even then expressed my fear of the scales.  So enjoy....or not!  And by the way, after typing this poem out again...sod the bloody scales...I might just have to toss them back under the bathroom cabinet!!!

 

A Very Weighty Issue:

 

Every morning as I ready

For the busy day ahead,

I have a little ritual,

One I've really come to dread

 

It takes place in my smallest room

Before my morning bath,

And it has the strange ability

To make me cry or laugh

 

Just before I embark

On this ritualistic torture,

There are a few pre-requisites

That I must first endure

 

Like removing heavy PJ's,

A quick pit-stop to the loo,

The adjusting of the dials

On my scale's window view

 

I move them 'round the bathroom floor,

Securing the best post,

Before I step aboard for

The results of last night's roast

 

I wait with baited breath

Until the dial slides into place,

And hesitantly glance down,

Prepared for joy or disgrace

 

Even now I can hear your heartfelt

Feministic scream.

That weight should have no bearing

On a woman's self esteem

 

Get real!  TV and fashion mags

Have made us all aware,

To get ahead, one must look like

One's just survived on air

 

What will that little window show,

Fried eggs upon my toast?

Or back to chocolate diet shakes

To atone for mother's roast

 

A day of feeling really good

In anything I wear?

Or rustling through my wardrobe

For my piece of "fat-day" gear

 

I look...thank God!

It seems to me that I have lost a gram

I quickly jump off,

Just in case I find the dial has jammed

 

On my way to work,

I stop outside the bakery.

Weight loss deserves it's own reward...

Doughnuts for morning tea

*Sausage Roll - a very delicious and not so healthy Commonwealth nation delicacy - which comprises of sausage meat wrapped in pastry...and if you are a true Kiwi connoisseur - dipped in Watties Tomoto Sauce!

How it all started......

I glanced in the mirror one morning, and looking back at me was a face that didn't reflect how I felt.  Those subtle lines that used to ease away after a hot shower had somehow become a permanent daily fixture on my face.  Those few stubborn grey hairs had seemingly multiplied overnight, and refused to stay covered for long after a colour treatment.  Inches (and kilos) seemed harder to loose.  And I have a close friend's wedding coming up where I am the bridesmaid, and for some reason I brought a  sleeveless dress to wear for the occassion (drum roll....chicken wings)!

Let me introduce myself - I'm Ginny.  Someone about to enter my 50s.  And while not exactly in a rut, I am in need of a bit of a makeover - both fashion and health wise.  I've looked at many blogs and YouTube accounts for lifestyle, fashion and makeup information, and found that there is a gap in the market for women of a particular, fabulous age.

So I came up with the bold idea to start my own blog in the hopes that other women would be happy to share ideas and experiences for home, garden, fashion, life and health in general (and if anyone has a cure for that age old flabby arm issue - I'm all ears). 

I am not an expert in any of these fields, but as an end user, am keen to hear what other women have done to revitalize themselves in this journey into the 50s...and beyond!

 
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