A Day Without Water

A day without water is like a day without ... Hmmm ... Anyway, pardon me for looking a bit scattered in this picture ...

shirt — J. A. C. (thrifted)

pants — Impressions Lifestyle (can't remember; older than dirt)

shoes — Dansko (thrifted)

I was in the shower this morning (having a really lovely shower, I might add), when all of a sudden, the water slowed to a trickle and then nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch ... eek! Kari was not a happy girl. In fact, you could even say that she was quite unhappy. EXTREMELY unhappy! LOL ...

 

Ordinarily, I would have been more than unhappy. I would have been freaking out ... thinking, "What the hell happened now?" This time, however, I had a pretty good idea that it didn't have anything to do with my money pit of a house. The city has been doing something with the water lines on my street, and I was pretty sure that it was related to that. I'm not quite sure what they're doing — but they not only shut off my water this morning, but they also blocked my driveway and my street. Somebody just didn't want me to go to work this morning.

My street doesn't look in very good shape either ...

Luckily, I was just luxuriating under the shower at that point (I love when I can linger in a shower), and I was able to throw on some old faithful clothes. I've had these pants for longer than I can remember and the shirt has three-quarter sleeves — so I was good to go, even if I was a bit worse for wear by the end of the day.

I came home to a sign on my front door saying that the water was still off, and they were working on it. You never know how much you need water until you don't have it (I mean, that would be the day that the cat gaks all over the kitchen floor!)...

And speaking about water ... How is your region doing, rainfall wise, this summer? I have friends living in the Midwestern United States, and they are saying that this drought is the big one ... that there is a good possibility that we may run out of corn, which would be devastating.

Rows of corn stalks stand under a cloudless sky south of Blair, Neb., Monday, July 23, 2012.
The drought-damaged field was cut down for silage. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

To end on a happy water note though ... How about that Melissa Franklin in the 100 backstroke? Wow! So happy to see a girl (she's only 17!) who lives at home, living a normal life and succeeding. She refuses endorsements so she can keep competing for her high school. Love that!

Melissa Franklin during the semifinal of the 100m Backstroke
2010 FINA World Swimming Championships.
(Source: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Europe)

I still get all choked up when I see and hear some of these stories.
(Absolutely thrilled for the British men's gymnastic team!)

And I finally have my act together so that I can link up to Patti at Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday.  Yes. I was scattered and wore comfy clothes, but I would argue to say that I did it with style :-)

Summer Survival

One of the best things about going back to work is being able to get out of the summer heat on a regular basis. And this summer, the heat has been unreal! At 8:30 this morning, it was already 88° outside. That is absolutely insane!

shirt —Nine West (thrifted)

skirt — I.Q. & Co. (thrifted)

sandals — Born (DSW)

necklace — gift (Thanks, Mom!)

bracelet — thrifted

Needless to say, that is what I dress for these days — to be comfortable in these kind of temperatures, especially since my house doesn't have air conditioning."Oy vey!" After a couple of days of temperatures over 90°, the inside of my house is literally and figuratively an OVEN!  

With temperatures like that at home? I especially love going in to work! This particular outfit was perfect — sleeveless, loose, and barelegged, with a slit up the front of my skirt to increase air circulation. LOL. (I wore this skirt another way here.)

What may even be worse than hot summer days are even hotter summer nights! There is just no escape from the heat. And I'm afraid that it has also affected my posting. I get home and I just can't move, let alone take pictures or sit at a hot computer to write a post.



What summer survival skills (SSS) have you learned to keep yourself cool and productive?

Thanks for all the good wishes about the new job. And guess what? It's only 4.7 miles away! I could walk all the way there and back in less time that it took me to get to my last job!

First Day of Work

Yes. I got a new job, and I started today! Hip, hip, HOORAY! Honestly? For me, working a 9 to 5 job is one of the best feelings in the world!

shirt — Express Essential Stretch (Express)

pants — Impressions Lifestyle (can't remember; they're older than dirt)

shoes — Dansko (thrifted)

belt — Land's End (thrifted)

I also wore this jacket going in to work, but I took it off as the day progressed — it was just too hot to keep it on.

jacket — Chequers (thrifted)

I really wanted to wear this necklace, but I chickened out at the last moment, and switched it out for something more conservative. I kind of wish that I hadn't.

Anyway, all truth be told ... I'm not so sure of this outfit. I felt okay leaving the house in the morning, but when I see the pictures? I just groan. My hair. My weight. And maybe the belt was a bad idea — it probably cut me in half or some such fashion rule that I flubbed. I dunno. All I know is that it was tough to even find a picture to post because I hated them all — pained expression and all ... I guess I knew what I was going to look like before I even saw the pictures.

So ... now the big question — what happened to me? I disappeared after I was laid off at the end of March. It probably comes as no surprise (you all have probably gone through a similar thing) that my identity is so tied up in having a job that I get kind of lost when I don't have one. I took one day off, which stretched to another, and another, and another ... and before I knew it? I didn't know how to start back up.

 On top of not having a job, I was dealing with this menopausal weight-gain thing, and that totally freaked me out. A couple of years ago, it had started to get harder and harder to lose weight and easier and easier to pack it on. When I had a somewhat normal job, I could eat sensibly and keep up some semblance of an exercise routine, but then when I started commuting to Herndon, Virginia? Everything went to hell in a handbasket at lightning speed. I not only became sedentary (no time to exercise thanks to that hellish and god-forsaken commute) but also started to eat junk food like my life depended on it (and maybe it did ... I was always on a bus or a train or in a car on in a train station). That's not particularly healthy, and I'm paying for that now in spades.

I'd love to say that I got a whole lot done and came to some remarkable revelations during my self-imposed sabbatical, but that would be lying stretching the truth a bit lot. I'm just as mixed up now as I was before. I'll probably be a whole lot better about posting now that order (a job) has been restored to my life, but my underlying angst is just as great as it was before so I will probably disappear again from time to time.