Okay, so lying there recuperating with this fever and kidney infection I am supposed to have been resting which I have done to the best of my ability to rest. I am by nature someone who i s always running around doing 10 projects at the same time and goes from step 4 of project 9 to step 2 of project 48 without a beat all while corraling hcildren and taking them to horseback and library laptime, ect.
So there I am in bed, exhausted, staring at my wall of sweaters.
I HAVE TOO MANY SWEATERS.
I got sweater GUILT.
I have over 30 PINK SWEATERS!!!! I have over 150 TOTAL SWEATERS!!!!!
I have kept every sweater I have had since junior high!!!!!!!! I can't get rid of anything!!!!!!!! They still fit thank god!!!!!!
I am weird about sweaters because of
THE LITTLE GREEN SWEATER
When I was little, we were very poor. Every day I wore to school my little green wool sweater which my Grandma had handknit me!!!!! I LOVED that sweater. It felt like it protected me form the world. It felt like it WAS me.
I wore that sweater from first grade through 3rd grade by which time since I was a wild tomgirl there were stains and holes all over it. But I still loved it just as much!!!!
One day my mother wouldn't let me wear it to school.
When I came home, she told me i t had been thrown away because it was so old & worn.
MY LITTEL GREEN SWEATER!!!!!!
SWEATER *****TRAUMA*****
So... years later...
I have my angora phase sweaters with pearl buttons that I can't bear to get rid of even though I can't picture myself EVER wearing them again.
I have my only-natutral-fabric- linen and cotton vegetarian phase sweaters.
I have my black and charcoal grey turtleneck death poet sweaters.
I have my pastels for once I had kids and tried so hard to be mainstream!
I have these glorious sexy little spiderweb sweaters!!! I love those but I have to be in perfect perfect shape to wear them.
I have my cashmere only sweaters and a whole clothing cubicle filled with Margaret O'Learys.
I have my dead fathers old Norweigian wool sweaters that made him look like a fisherman rather than a PhD.
I have 4 sweaters with significant holes and stains but I CAN"T BEAR TO GET RID OF THEM for sentimental reasons.
So once I got up out of bed, I put all my ACRYLIC sweaters (all 2) in a box to give away. I felt a lot better.
We are not rich btw. Quite impoverished!!! But rich in sweaters!!!!
Best wishes, Sarah
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
OH I FORGOT!!! The MORAL OF THE STORY IS:
NO ONE WILL TAKE MY SWEATERS AGAIN DARNIT!*)!
Take THAT Mom*)!
She is disgusted by my sweaters. She sees them as a sad display of Western consumerism. She is a professor and dresses in ethnic garb from India every single day though... either that or turtlenecks and slacks! So her fashion sense is more than a little suspect*)!*)!*)!
My VERY favorite sweater belonged to my grandma and is charcoal grey cashmere and by the time I found it 15 YEARS ago it had been attacked by MOTHS and it has about 30-40 moth holes in it!!! But I wore it to sleep for years as a nightshirt because it is gigantic. She was a small woman but wore big loose clothes a lot. I LOVE THAT SWEATER. Every lover I have ever had has complained about how unsexy it is as a night garment so I finally retired it after the baby was born... But I take it from it's gray/charcoal/black sweater cubicle and I hug it now and then because it still feels just like my GRANDMA*)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by meg (Member # 22) on :
That's a lot of sweaters
How are you feeling??? Better I hope--try to keep resting! I know, not easy with little ones Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Sarah, I hope you're starting to feel better and I know for sure you'll be warm enough.
So in effect you down to 148 sweaters, right? ;-)
I must confess, I have an unusual amount of T-shirts. (I'd like not to try to explain that right now, lol.)
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Your mom throwing out that sweater has changed the way you think about them!!
I've tried to reform my ways with clothes hoarding by giving away an item when I buy an item. [Got that from Oprah]
Sometimes I get behind. I know it's time to clear things when my closet is so full I can't stuff one more thing into it!
That would be RIGHT NOW! Time to clear out and make someone else happy. [like our library thrift shop ladies!]
Hope you're feeling better, Sarah! Posted by hillaryb (Member # 10049) on :
Wow! That is a lot of sweaters! I have two thoughts:
1. For old sweaters that you love but are motheaten, take them to a reweaver (you can find them at some drycleaners). I had a few of my mom's old sweaters rewoven, and you can't tell where the holes were at all. It's so great to wear something that's older than I am.
2. If you decide to give away any more sweaters that you don't wear or no longer like, maybe those sweaters could become someone else's special green sweater. This could make it a lot easier to get rid of the excess.
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Wow- that is a great idea from Oprah!! I have never once watched Oprah but I am impressed by her personal power. To give away something when you get something new-!!! Yes, that sounds enforceable!!! When it comes to sweaters I need some betetr boundaries!!!!! I desperately need to go through all my stuff and give away a whole bunch!!!!!!!!
I am still all feverish and my kidney is in pain, one was messed up when I was a kid and gets infected easily. But it will pass and I am so so SO grateful it is not the Lyme. I ran 104 fevers when i first got sick with Lyme, Babs & Ehr so that is why I thought it was!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I way overdid it but we were so scheduled and I didn't want the kids to give up anything. I need to put me first once in a while. Naaaw... You know, my older one, despite the years of Lyme and divorce, once turned to me and said, "Mama, I'm having a happy childhood!" Can't beat that/ But I am not back to normal yet. The feverishness is the biggest non-normal thing!!
My husband almost killed me this last weekend!!!! He actually said, "I will STARNGLE you and THEN take you to the hospital!" because I was (with agonizing abdominal and back pain and a 103 fever) REFUSING to go! But of course he didn't!*)
I know that about the dry cleaners person- I have had a few sweaters with minor stuff fixed that way- it is incredible- but these ones are (BAD!). You know what I have done before is used the yarn, unravel the sweater and crochet a hat!!! I am passable at crocheting hats and love doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I OUGHT to give away all my angoras because I KNOW I will never wear them again!!! I know it. But I tell myself I have TWO daughters who ONE DAY will be raiding ALL my clothes- so if I keep items like the angoras then maybe they will leave my cashmeres alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Denial>? *!)*!!
Take care all, Best wishes, Sarah p.s. How many T-shirts*)*!)*!)*!????????????
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Just to add, my husband took off work Mon & came hoome early Tuesday and watched the kids all Sat Sun Mon & some Tues- and made meals (take out mostly*)!*)!*! yum*)! - and even DID LAUNDRY (darn him!!! I had this entire basket full of delicates meant to be handwashed one by one and he put it ALL in ONE HOT LOAD and shrank a bunch of stuff but I thought it was so nicely meant I haven't even- and won't- tell him what he did!!!)
So that comment about him strangling me makes him sounds mean but he has actually been very sweet and even meant that threat in a very sweet way!! Like, "You dummy go to the hospital!"
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