Julian, Bugs and I are all way overdue for some new clothes.

Julian was out with us for dinner the other night and I had him in his old 6-12 month sweatpants, the other options were all dirty. He looked like he was wearing knickers, they came up to his knees. Then he had on some godawful stained rag of a shirt, which was definitely worse for wear after our meal. Oh, plus he's grown out of his lone pair of hard-soled shoes, so he's only wearing soft moccasins these days.

After dinner we walked over to glamorous Santana Row for dessert and a post-prandial stroll with our poor bedraggled child in his ill-fitting rags. Ugh. He needs a haircut too. But I did cut his nails yesterday, so give me some props, people.

I'm not really any better-dressed. I've been buying the cheapest possible clothing at Old Navy for the last two years, since my body has been either pregnant or post-partum that whole time. Why waste money on clothing when your body radically alters itself every two months?

Still, I couldn't just go around naked (unlike Julian), I had to cover myself in *something* and Dan's not crazy about muu-muus, so I've settled for Old Navy. It's mostly ill-fitting stuff that fades after you wash it once or twice. But like I said, it's cheap.

So I think I'm finally back to a stable, normal body size. I've been wearing T-shirts and capri pants and flip-flops all summer. Now that Fall is coming I need some long-sleeve shirts. To my dismay, I looked in the closet and found nothing but the fugliest crap imaginable. I've still been *wearing* most of it of course, but once I looked at it from an objective non-sleep-deprived-mom-who-just-needs-to-wear-something-besides-this-nursing-bra-and-pajamas point of view I was fairly horrified.

Dan had to throw in his two cents, pointing out an orange/pink plaid oversized shirt that I bought when I was just starting to show and still trying to cover up my pregnancy at work. Fugly!

Anyway, I ruthlessly collected a huge bag of stuff and freecycled it to a struggling single mom nearby. Because someone else's fugly stuff looks much better when it's new to you.

So now I have about five shirts left in my closet, but Dan nicely donated some money to his wife's Fall fashion fund, so I am going to go get some new non-fugly shirts whenever I next get babysitter coverage for Mr. J.

I did do some rejuvenation...I took some of my shirts that had nice lines/fabric but ugly colors, or that were yucky grayed, stained white, and I dyed them a deep crimson red color. They turned out fantastic, I have to say. Like beautiful brand new shirts. In fact, I'm going to wear one of my new creations tonight for Date Night. I think I'm onto something.

I got Julian some new clothes too. From Old Navy, but Old Navy rocks the house for little kids. They don't wear it long enough to even matter that it's not the best fabric. I mean, Julian mostly wears sweatpants anyways, so why pay more? He looks really cute when his clothes actually fit him. Their shipping is really slow though, so hopefully his new pants and sweaters arrive before it actually starts getting cold.

And no, I didn't leave out Bugs. Being half-whippet, he gets COLD whenever it drops below 72 degrees. For almost three seasons a year he wears a fleece coat that is still stylin', but becoming increasingly worn and shabby. So his birthday is coming up, and now that he is SIX years old (where has the time gone?) he deserves a new coat.


Presenting Bugs' new Salt & Pepper Berber Cowl Neck Coat! I'm so excited. I can't wait to get it. I've been on the phone with the Duds4Buds lady this morning making sure the measurements were right and everything. Sweet. Julian and I can look like ragpickers, but when my DOG's coat starts getting a bit worn, I'm on the horn getting him tricked out with stylin' customized apparel! Ah well. Then again, he'll wear that coat every single chilly day for the next five years, indoors and out, so maybe I do have my priorities straight after all.