Dewey's Treehouse

The Totally Organic and Only Somewhat True Journals of Betty B. Bunny

2026-05-29T13:40:32.642-05:00

Monday

What I Am Wearing: Purple jacket, mauve tank top, jeans, white sneakers

I was busy this morning at my writing desk in the carrot (what bunnies call the upper floor), and my assistant Tricia brought in a delivery of chocolate-coated radishes, and the rest of the mail, such as it is these days.

There was a Fast Bunny Mail message from my old friend Lucy Pocket, who lives at the far end of Bunnyland. "Can you come quickly? I am being entirely pestered with strange creatures here, and it is most worrisome." As you know, I detest travel, but I'm fond of Lucy and her children, so I decided to go and see what was up.

Tricia is most efficient at booking Bunny Airlines tickets, so I let her take care of those details, but perhaps I shouldn't have, because she got me one of those cheap seats where the luggage allowance is about the same as a three-pound bag of carrots.

So, after five minutes' thought, because that's about all the time I had, I stashed the following items of clothing in my little rolling backpack:

White blazer

Teal tank top

Sage-green pants

Navy dress

Bright green top, because one cannot have too many shades of green tops

Navy t-shirt

A dressy pair of navy shoes

A pair of striped shoes because I really like shoes

William Morris print silk scarf

Pajamas and such necessary things

I threw my big earplugs and a few things for the children into my purse, and we were off to the airport. It is a bit warm today to be wearing this jacket, but it is full of handy pockets and it also keeps one cozy when the air-conditioning blows hard, so there we are.

Now, you may be wondering why I would choose those things; indeed, you may well question my folly in bringing a blazer, or anything white at all, if you know those young bunnies. However, I am not entirely off my ears and tail with this. Since I'm taking the trouble to travel, and I hope that Lucy's critter problems are mouse-sized and easily solvable, I may as well make a couple of other stops. Hence the dress and the shoes and the blazer. And my best scarf. But if you think that means I intend to visit Aunt Aubergine while I'm there, you are sadly deceived.

Later

As Lucy and I had tea, there was a shuffling noise behind her, and I assumed that this was one of the creatures that were upsetting the household.

"Wheek, wheekity." "Is this the problem?" "No, this is our garden club chairwoman, Tufty Tuppence."

"Squeak squeakity."

"You have squirrel intruders?" "Oh no, not at all. This is our English neighbour, Madam Red Squirrel."

"Then what's the great problem that had to bring me all the way across Bunnyland?" "These little red things. They're scaring the children."

"Seriously, Lucy?"

"Oh, do stop glaring at me, Betty. You know I can't stand bugs." "So tell them their house is on fire and send them on their way." "Oh, thank you excessively! I knew you would have the right answer."

You're welcome, I guess. But really? The rabbits who cried ladybug.

Well, let's get some dinner.

Tuesday

What I Am Wearing: Green top, green pants, sneakers, William Morris scarf

Lucy and I did a bit of shopping in the morning.

She was quite taken with this lace-trimmed gown, but it did not have any pockets so that was a deal-breaker.

We also stopped in at the green-grocers. I dislike that rabbit very much, as every time we visit, he finds some way to tease me. Today it was my outfit. "Ha, all green just for me?" Ugh, bachelors.

Wednesday

What I Am Wearing: White blazer, navy dress, navy pumps, jewelry.

I suppose if I went back to the green-grocers today, he'd ask me if I'm joining the navy.

But I will not have to do that, thankfully, as I said my goodbyes to Lucy and rolled my bags onto the morning train. I'm off to a bookstore in the next town, where they've asked me to sign copies of my new book, How to Be Nifty in a Jiffy at Fifty. Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit came and bought a copy for herself and one for Cousin Ribby.

Young Maud also stopped in and sang cheerfully for half an hour.

Well, that emptied the bookstore, so I gathered my things and went back to the train station. The waiting room was full of young rabbits all wearing red capes. Is this the latest trend? I will have to investigate this more fully.

I got off at Cabbage Gate, and stayed overnight with Tricia's sister Phoenicia and her husband Misha. He took this picture of us discussing that new book series, Ima Rabbit, about a Victorian lady's diary.

Phoenicia thinks the Ima Rabbit books are wonderful, but I can't think why anyone would want to let people read their personal thoughts, let alone publish them. Misha said he knows who the author is. Phoenicia said, well, of course it's right there on the cover. Misha said no, that's just her quill-pen name. I said, ever skeptical, how do you know then?

Misha just smiled.

Which leaves all the possibilities open. Who is the secret author? I don't think it could be Misha.

Please don't say it's the green-grocer.

Or Aunt Aubergine. Horrors.

Thinking it over.

Thursday

What I Am Wearing: White blazer, green tank top, green pants, William Morris scarf, striped shoes

Did you expect something red today? No, as I'm still living out of my emergency-packed suitcase, I am mixing and matching from those things.

I am making one more stop before returning home tomorrow. Last year I sprained my paw and had to go to the emergency clinic. While I was sitting on a hard chair, waiting and moaning and being my usual grumpy self (oh, I know!), a family with young rabbits sat down in the seats opposite. I did not pay a lot of attention to them at first, but as we had all been sitting there much longer than any of us would have liked, we began to make some tentative chit-chat. They also allowed me to take a photograph. These are the Ruffletail parents with their youngest child, who, as you may notice, was not a rabbit at all, but a very little baby bear. They had taken it in, but it was "poorly," as we used to say, and they had gotten to know the clinic quite well.

The good news is that, with a lot of love and care, the bear began to flourish and is now a beloved member of their household, although his increased size and appetite (particularly for cheeseburgers and root beer) has caused some difficulties. I may or may not have helped the Ruffletails out a bit over the past months.

He calls me Auntie Betty.

Which reminds me, I had a Fast Bunny Mail message from Aunt Aubergine. She is demanding that I go and see her. I suppose I can manage it before I go home. I was going to wear my purple jacket, t-shirt, and jeans tomorrow for travelling, but Aunt A. won't appreciate that. Well, I'll have a look in my little bag and see what's still decent.

Friday

What I Am Wearing: ~~Purple jacket, navy t-shirt, jeans, sneakers~~x Navy dress, layered with navy t-shirt, and the good shoes, which I have discovered pinch my rabbit bunions after about the first ten minutes. Well, hopefully I won't be at Aunt A's too long, and then I can change back into my sneakers.

"Well," she said. "It's about time you showed up." "How are you, dear Aunt?" I asked. "Don't dear Aunt me. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Some people tell me I have a death stare. I guess I know where I got it from.

"I don't understand. What's the trouble?"

Aunt Aubergine gave up on the death stare, but was still obviously not happy. "I happen to own a publishing company," she began. "Don't I know it, you haven't accepted even one of my books," I said. "Be quiet," she said. "Recently we began publishing a very successful series. You may have heard of it. It's called Ima Rabbit."

See Betty Bunny be very puzzled about where this is going.

"The main character in this series has a very dreadful rich aunt," she says.

See Betty Bunny continue to be puzzled.

"What I would LIKE to know," sniffs Aunt Aubergine, "is why the royalty cheques are going to your address?"

See Betty Bunny be completely rabbitghasted. Also, my shoes are pinching horribly.

"And, moreover, why you found it necessary to portray me in such a fashion? Stop wiggling your rabbits' feet in that repulsive manner and explain yourself."

"My shoes hurt."

"Not that, the rest of it."

"Honestly, auntie, I have no idea. Actually, I am starting to get one idea, but I'll have to do some investigating."

"Humph."

And with that, she let me go.

An hour later

I haven't unpacked yet. I have some thinking to do.

"Answering fan mail, are we?" "Oops. Busted."

"Are you mad?"

"I always knew you had it in you."

P. S. I still haven't figured out the red thing. Maybe that's another story.

Pendelfin rabbits are from my collection. Ruffletails bear and Aunt Aubergine were played by Build-a-Bears. Backgrounds and extra characters are from:

Common Place Quarterly

Better Homes and Gardens Cottage Style Spring 2026

The Ultimate Peter Rabbit: A Visual Guide to the World of Beatrix Potter

From the archives: Don't Fence Me In

2026-05-11T13:31:00.005-05:00

First posted July 2007

On Friday night Mr. Fixit and I went out on a date.

First we drove downtown to a summertime cruise night: a couple of the streets were closed off, and the car buffs were showing off their Mustangs and BelAirs. Since the show was downtown instead of out at the Knights of Columbus hall or the A&W, there was a mixture of life-on-the-street (good, bad and ugly) and the nostalgic-boomer crowd (good, bad, and beer-bellied). We toured around, listening to "Sweet Little Sixteen," and remembering how we used to do this more often before we had Squirrelings. Mr. Fixit spotted a friend's former Corvette (he recognized the stereo that he, Mr. Fixit, had installed years ago). There was lots of chrome, lots of turquoise.

Then we walked over to an eco-hippie cafe--Mr. Fixit says they serve hemp and flax tarts. Actually what we had was fair trade coffee and some kind of lemon bars (I suspect they were gluten-free as well as sugar-free, but they were fairly tasty nonetheless). We sat there, watching a few chrome-laden latecomers driving by, and looking at the things for sale in the cafe: handmade purses and dreamcatcher-type jewelery, herbal lotions, and books about saving the earth by riding bicycles.

I wondered, not for the first time, where we fit into either or both of these scenarios.

Sometimes we kind of wish we lived in the age of chrome: things may not have been simpler then, but they didn't fall apart as fast. The Treehouse is a 1960 raised bungalow, it still has a turquoise bathtub with pink tiles, and Grandpa's toolbox is still in the basement. We have family chips-and-ping-pong parties in the garage on weekend afternoons--that's what makes us happy.

We've had our slightly-crunchy period, but I don't think I'd want to live in a loft and pull little Raven and Moonchild around in a bike trailer. The last (and only) time I went on a protest was over twenty years ago, and that was under duress. We don't spray our lawn, but that's not out of any particular ideology other than thinking that dandelions in the grass smell nicer than chemicals. We've tried out the new kind of lightbulbs, but when the one over the sink started to fizzle and smoke, Mr. Fixit reinstalled the old bulb (which gives better light anyway).

On the other hand, the Squirrelings were born at home, and we homeschool--that's enough for some people to think we're on the crunchy end of things. We don't buy much at big malls or monster supermarkets, and get annoyed by upscale-trendy makeovers to our usual shopping places. (Renovations to a small local mall took out Liquidation World and a family-run coffee shop, and replaced them with Ugly-Home-Things-You-Don't-Need and a Thai restaurant.) If we can support a small business instead of a big box store, we do. If we can hang onto something and fix it, we do. (Grandpa's tools and Mr. Fixit's soldering iron.) Maybe we're still a little crunchy.

But that's what Grandma and Grandpa were doing fifty years ago in the Age of Chrome. Well, not homeschooling, but the other things.

So what does that make us then? Just odd? Or just old?

From the Archives: How Not to Overthink Lessons (and Polaroid cameras)

2026-04-19T07:50:00.004-05:00

First posted in 2014

At the end of School Education, Charlotte Mason does talk very specifically about what a curriculum based on her "educational manifesto"--she jokingly refers to it as the Children's Magna Carta--would look like. Or what it did look like in 1903, twelve years after the Parents' National Educational Union had begun to offer a formal curriculum. I tend to think of this time in the P.U.S. as sort of its adolescence, if childhood was the beginning period in the 1890's, and maturity was sometime in the teens through the time of Mason's death in 1923. Middle age?--the still-going-strong nineteen-twenties, thirties, forties, probably till after the war. Declining years would be the time of increasing school standardization, changing culture, and other things that seemed to de-popularize PNEU methods, at least for a while.

But anyway, what she's describing here is not too far off from the format of the term programmes I'm more familiar with, those of the 1920's and early 1930's. There are some book differences, especially in subjects like mathematics and grammar, and some of the subjects aren't as fleshed-out here as they were later on, but the overall shape of the curriculum had been pretty much set by this time. In fact, she suggests that the PNEU had now been "beta-tested" enough in private homes to be recommended to classroom teachers.

Buried in those notes just before the end of the book, she gives a list of six causes of failure in education.

a) Too many oral lessons.

b) Too many lectures.

c) Too many "text-books."

d) Focusing on any intellectual motivation other than the desire of knowledge, e.g. prizes, liking the teacher

e) Too many gadgets, manipulatives and models

f) Too many "Readers."

Four out of those six items on the list are basically the same thing: read books, real books. Isn't that a relief for teachers? Maybe not such good news for textbook publishers, but doesn't that actually take the pressure off the rest of us?

You do not have to know everything. You do not have to spend hours Googling information and activities to teach the circulatory system or the Elizabethan stage. You do not need to buy out the teacher's store, or have every science kit in the homeschool catalogue. You do not need a rack of expensive teaching posters, or a boxful of stickers. You do not have to depend either on your own superior knowledge, or on the availability of the latest technology. It seems to me that you'd have to put more effort and money into these less productive activities, than you would in simply offering a generous serving of books, sauced with some real things and other "affinities." It's less burdensome to do what's more productive....to let the students dig for themselves.

For some reason that reminds me of one of John Holt's books*, where he had bought a Polaroid camera and decided, on the spur of the moment, to unbox it and try it out right there in the classroom. Here's a package, here's what's in it, here's the camera, here's the instruction booklet, let's try it out together. What's this for? What if we try that? Can I do it too? This may sound like it's getting away from Charlotte's emphasis on books and natural objects, but here's my point: this activity came out of something real. It did not take John Holt hours to plan. It did not come with worksheets or a quiz afterwards. It did not come in a package marked "Afternoon with a Polaroid Camera: Oral Communication and Technology Objectives." It wasn't a lecture, it wasn't even an oral lesson--it was an experience with a real thing that grownups were using. Yes, the kids enjoyed it partly because they liked John Holt, but what they really wanted to know was what was in the box and how it worked.

Charlotte repeats her point on page 247, the last page of the main text: "that the young people shall learn what history is, what literature is, what life is, from the living books of those who know." Yes, she says, many of the best schools did use books, but, in her opinion, not enough of them, and they didn't make full use of them. So she adds appendices to show "how a wide curriculum and the use of many books work in the Parents' Review School."**

*Holt's book What Do I Do Monday? has some fantastic ideas for getting kids engaged with concepts such as size, speed, and strength, using "real" measurement tools.

**What the Parents' Union School was called at that time.

One Bunny

2026-03-25T08:33:00.002-05:00

Spring Ahead (Without Even One Bunny)

2026-03-20T15:00:00.005-05:00

The theme of this spring wardrobe update is trying to use what I have as long as possible, rather than defaulting to discarding or donating.

But it's also about a scarf. I had wanted this William Morris-inspired scarf for quite a long time, and was recently presented with it as a welcome surprise gift from a daughter.

Here it is with this year's new-to-me spring purse and sneakers, and last year's yard-saled purse.

More green...

We all go through life changes, and that includes body changes. Six years ago (no, seven), I bought a green t-shirtdress from Duffield Design. I reviewed it here and wore it a lot, but for various reasons, it doesn't fit me as well as it used to, and I was going to rehome it this spring. Then I remembered how comfortable it was, and how much I liked that bright green. It's still in good condition (even after seven years); and it's a perfect match for the new scarf. So, while I might not be wearing it as a dress this year, it still makes a very good top or tunic (it was designed to be versatile like that).

I used to have a (thrifted) navy sleeveless dress, which unfortunately shrunk (or maybe that was me again); anyway, I had hoped to find a replacement, and Duffield Design happens to be featuring navy sleeveless dresses this year, so I bought one, along with an off-white blazer (shown below). I am definitely not giving up on my thrifter status, but once in awhile it is also okay to choose well-made (and Canadian-made) new clothes. Hopefully I will be wearing these pieces seven years from now as well.

The top under the blazer also happens to be DD, bought last year.

Back to the theme of keeping things going: last year I found a pair of summer pants, and I liked them very much except that their fastening included buttons, slide clips, and a forlorn-looking ribbon waist tie. As another daughter used to quote, "ain't nobody got time for that." I was about to put them in the giveaway bag this year, but then I suddenly had a brainwave and pulled the ribbon tie right out of its casing. Now the pants even fit better. Should have thought of that a long time ago.

And here's one more "keep it, don't ditch it." This is a navy washable-silk shirt, kind of vintage. I had it in the bag to donate because...I'm lazy and I don't like to iron, and while this shirt is easy enough to clean, it does need ironing to look good. Earlier this year, I bought a popover style navy shirt, brand new, which I thought would replace this one nicely. Except that, after only a couple of washings, it's smaller than it was, and this time it's not me. Out of spite to that new thing that did not at all hold up the way I expected, I will be resurrecting my old shirt. I just need to retrieve my iron from the domicile of the third daughter, who has been using it to iron dolls' hair. Don't ask.

So what else goes with the new and old things? Lots of navy, some blue, some white. Here are a few more random photos.

Random note: this long-sleeved blue t-shirt doesn't look like much, and it's another of those things I skip over and wonder if I really need. But when I do wear it, that shade of blue always makes me happy, and it also happens to look quite nice with the new scarf, so it's staying.

Below: linen shirt from Talbots that I found at a yard sale right around the corner from our house.

Below: linen pullover that I've been wearing for several years.

Here's to spring.

Last updated March 20, 2026 (because today is spring!)

Dressing Betty Bunny

2026-01-10T21:54:00.002-05:00

The misanthropic scribbler known as Betty Bunny has been assessing the past year's attempt to fit her cottontail self into the Eiffel-Tower-inspired wardrobe on the Vivienne Files website. As she does still like navy and green, and also brown (though it can clash with her fur), she decides to continue with a similar plan for this year. She is shifting her artistic inspiration to this print by the Canadian artist A. J. Casson.

Rock Pool, Cloche Hills, by A. J. Casson

Betty waa hoping not to have to buy much this year, but even old favourite clothes get worn out, or just need a refresher. As her burrow has been snowed in over the bunny holidays, she decides to do a little online shopping from her favourite store, Rabbit Reflections, which is having a great sale. This is what she orders:

* A pair of dark-wash, wide-leg jeans to replace her standby medium-wash straight-leg pair, which are starting to look not so great. She has a pair of stretchy light-wash jeans that she is also going to keep wearing.

* A navy pullover-style shirt to replace another navy shirt that always makes her feel wrinkled. (New shirt shown with a striped t-shirt underneath.)

* A muted green cotton shirt to match a long-sleeved t-shirt she bought last fall. The store calls this shade Classic Blue, but since the other top turned out to be green, she would have been more surprised if this one had turned out to be blue. But it wasn't, and she feels very clever to have cracked their bizarre labelling code. (Maybe if she orders something in Leafy Green, it will turn out to be blue.)

* Some pretty socks in her favourite colours.

And one day when the snow has melted a bit and the bunnies are hopping around, Betty gets a visit from her cousin, Freeda Frugal.

Freeda tells Betty that there is a new charity shop in town, helping out rabbits who are a bit down on their tails, so the two of them decide to get some tea and pie, and then do some thrifting.

The shop is quite crowded. But it does provide live entertainment.

Betty has noticed that the Fluffy-fashionistas have recently been tying old-style slippery scarves around their necks, instead of the big blanket ones they were wrapping themselves in a couple of years ago. She and Freeda find a few inexpensive scarves at the shop to play around with.

A cowboy bandana looks like fun.

This is one of those long skinny scarves. Freeda picks it out for Betty because of the pretty green colour.

Betty also picks up a few navy and white things: a polka-dot skirt (not shown), which she'll probably wear more towards the spring; a striped blouse, which she thinks will go well with her navy cords; and a striped sweater.

She does have a navy striped sweater, but it always makes her feel like Jimmy Stewart wearing the football uniform in It's a Wonderful Life. Something about the size of the stripes, maybe. This one is more congenial.

Just before the holidays, Betty had stopped in at her friend Harry Hare's shop, Consarn It Consignment.

On her first visit, Harry talked her into buying a pair of taupe faux-suede trousers, which went well with an off-white cabled sweater she already had, and also with an off-white long-sleeved top.

The second time Betty visited Harry's shop, she went home with a lovely navy turtleneck sweater and a taupe suede tote bag. Obviously nobunny is going to wear that kind of sweater after about February. But in the meantime she's wearing it as much as she can.

When Betty was doing her decluttering, she almost got rid of a couple of close-fitting button-up cardigans; but she has noticed that (along with the scarves) they're back in style for now., This one isn't exactly navy--it has more of a teal tone to it, which she sort of likes--nobody wants to feel like everything they own was sold by a uniform shop, you know?

So, Betty's current wardrobe looks something like this:

Long-sleeved off-white top

Long-sleeved navy t-shirt (not shown)

Muted green long-sleeved t-shirt

Long-sleeved brown t-shirt (not shown)

Navy and white striped pullover

Off-white cable-knit pullover

Muted green pullover sweater (shown with blazer)

Navy turtleneck pullover

Navy and white striped blouse

Muted green cotton shirt

Navy pullover shirt

Vintage navy check flannel shirt (not shown)

Dark blue button-up cardigan

Floral print vintage blazer (shown with tote bag)

Taupe faux-suede trousers

Dark-wash wide-leg jeans

Light-wash jeans

Navy cords (not shown)

Navy polka-dot skirt (not shown)

Dark teal jersey skirt (not shown)

Denim skirt (not shown)

Which comes out to about what the Vivienne Files used to call a Garde-Robe du Mois: 21 clothing items that pretty much go together and suit the current happenings and weather.

So Betty feels pretty much good to go for 2026.

Last updated January 10, 2026.

Winter Clothes and Winding up the Wardrobe

2025-10-31T09:28:00.003-05:00

I've been a reader of the Vivienne Files website for years and have learned much from its year-long projects. But I don't think I've actually followed one as personally as I have the Eiffel-Tower-inspired wardrobe, though you might think that this would have been my most unlikely year to think about clothes shopping and colour palettes. In a way, though, a bit of clothes contemplation has been salutary.

I started by following the specific plan as closely as I could; that wasn't too hard, as many of the clothes were similar to things I already had. As the year went on, though, I veered off, not so much from the colour scheme (white, green, brown, and navy), but from the kinds of items being added. Different clothes turned up in real life that fit my own needs better, so I went with them.

Here's Delaunay's 1909 painting of the Eiffel Tower (he painted it many times--this is one of his early versions). I like the muted colour palette, but also the contrast between the structure of the tower and the softer framing of the leaves.

It reminds me a bit of Emily Carr's The Indian Church.

It also has a similar palette to Arthur Lismer's September Gale, Georgian Bay: greens, blues, browns.

So, with all that said, just like one of the VF heroines, I've done a bit of (thrift and consignment store) shopping, trying to fill gaps and also to replace things that have become worn. My Delaunay-esque clothing finds are:

a navy linen shirt dress (with long sleeves, so even though it's linen, it could work through multiple seasons),

an off-white cotton cableknit pullover,

faux-suede trousers in a light brown shade that the store labelled as "mushroom",

a navy fleece jacket with a wrap-and-snap front

and a green hooded, buttoned shirt jacket.

Also (although it's not technically in the colour palette), a knee-length cardigan (coatigan? sweater coat?) made of heavy sweatshirt fabric. (Best way I can describe it.)

And there are some accessories! Besides the navy boots that I posted about previously, I found two small purses (same brand, but found at two different shops),

and two necklaces that can be worn alone or layered, or even wrapped and worn as bracelets.(Shown with a third necklace and some previously-thrifted earrings.)

Also, there are socks.

I haven't found or even worn as many scarves lately. Although I've browsed a few racks, I haven't seen anything that has grabbed my attention. Those I already own that probably come closest to the Delaunay painting are these:

And, since it's getting cold, I've retrieved this vintage scarf, which kicked off the Delaunay challenge for me last February.

Final takes (because I don't think I'll be posting about this again): I've been intrigued by the chance to add more brown and teal/aqua/muted green into a basically navy/denim/blue/white wardrobe. (Navy cords. Navy turtleneck sweater. Blue jeans. Denim-blue t-shirts. Navy winter coat.) I was even brave enough one day to wear a brown-based purse on top of a (nine-year-old) grey dress and the grey jacket. That's probably not something I would have tried before.

Do you think Betty Bunny would approve?

It's also given me a better sense of having just-enough clothes but also a better match for what I'm doing. I am not an athleisure sort of person, but I did need some winter clothes that felt a little more relaxed. Also, a bit of cozy is actually practical here, as I'm discovering that this is not one of those apartments where the heat blasts so hard you could grow orange trees in the living room.

So: it's been a learning curve in more ways than one, but I think it was a successful challenge.

Last updated October 31, 2025.

Fall Clothes: A Different Take on Delaunay

2025-09-01T11:20:00.005-05:00

Robert Delaunay, Saint-Séverin No. 2 (recto); Study for 'The City, ' with the Eiffel Tower (verso), 1909, image found here

I've been following the monthly Eiffel-Tower-inspired wardrobe collection since it began last December on the Vivienne Files website. (There should be a new post on it in the next few days.) I did a couple of posts about it early in the year, and Betty Bunny also had her turn at the beginning of the summer. Then my personal life turned a corner, and, besides many larger and more important changes, I did a closet clear-out. Some things I included earlier are no longer in the story. Also, I've gone from weekly thrifting stops and flea market trips to almost none. Again, that was part of a bigger change than just worrying about clothes and shoes, but it did have an effect on what I had to post about.

However, the lack of shopping has encouraged a greater appreciation of what's already hanging in my (now slightly smaller) closet. Most of what I'm planning to wear this fall has been around for awhile and was mentioned previously.

Checked flannel shirt, thrifted earlier this year

But here's a quick state-of-the-wardrobe rundown, and there are a couple of new things too.

Using the Delaunay "Eiffel Tower," Janice at the Vivienne Files chose navy and brown as main neutrals, and light green and ivory or white as accents. Although brown is really popular this year (she definitely nailed that), I don't have much of it other than a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of trousers, so it will be more of an accent. I did buy a knit blazer and tank top in a colour called Dusk, but that's more of a muted purple-brown. Like...Dusk.

So, I'm focusing more on navy blue, and its offshoots, denim blue and light grey-blue. Right now that's as much colour-decision-making as I can handle.

I'm not a big fan of Walmart clothes, but I found this denim-blue cardigan there and really liked it. (Shown with a vintage rayon blouse.)

I bought a classic denim skirt new over a year ago, but couldn't quite shake the "old homeschooler" vibe it was giving (a little TOO classic?), so it almost got donated. However, one of my daughters saw it in the pile and convinced me to keep it, and now I'm glad I did, because it goes well with the cardigan and other fall sweaters. So, that's one casual outfit which has all kinds of variables: from the skirt to regular jeans or navy knit pants, and from the blouse to almost all of my t-shirts. I have a blue and white striped cotton shirt, and a white pullover that works with the jean skirt, or a dark blue jersey skirt, or the jeans, and so on. Really, I thought, that should be enough. And if I get bored with denim and navy, I can pull out those brown pants. Or experiment with Dusk.

My accessories should also be fine for the fall. A navy everyday purse, loafers, running shoes. A couple of green and brown things I found at yard sales earlier in the year.

A square scarf (I think that came from the flea market).

But I felt like there was still something missing, something that would tie everything else together. Maybe some kind of footwear that wasn't running shoes? Nothing dressy. Boots, maybe? I decided to check out a nearby shoe outlet store, although they were mostly clearing out summer sandals. I looked around at all the not-sandals, and tried on a pair of Mary Janes. You don't want to know how bad those can look on someone pushing sixty with bunions.

Then I saw these navy boots with suede tops. Pointy toes are usually a hard no for me, but these (miraculously) are wide and flexible enough to be comfortable. Zippers to make them easy to get on and off! Block heels, i.e. just enough lift to be fun without getting into anything spiky or uncomfortable! They're shorter than knee length, but with dark tights they still work fine with my skirts. As Janice says, "heck yes."

So, with flashbacks to the days of getting one new piece of clothing to go back to school (I still remember my first pair of super-stiff jeans in 1976), I have my "enough." The one thing still on my wish list would be a solid-colour dress with long sleeves, but that can wait. And maybe I'll get back to the thrift store one of these days.

Last updated September 1, 2025.

Re-Post: What It's All About (from 2015)

2025-07-05T08:15:00.006-05:00

It's ironic that the tenth anniversary (blogaversary) of Dewey's Treehouse falls on the same day as the first U.S. Common Core-based standardized testing.

It's ironic partly because this blog has never been all about education, but, in another sense, yes, it is. It's about the past ten years of watching our children experience different sides of home and government education. It's about the growth and changes of the AmblesideOnline curriculum in those ten years, and the ongoing discussions of Charlotte Mason and "subversive teaching." Even when I'm posting about what's for supper, it reminds me that "education is a life."

Last night I finished reading Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha C. Nussbaum. (Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School at the University of Chicago.) In vocabulary and in some of her suggested solutions to education issues, Nussbaum does not run along all the same tracks as Charlotte Mason or the Circe Institute. She spends a lot of time discussing the Socratic method, and she has a surprising amount of respect for the current U.S. president, although (even in 2010) she said she did not entirely trust his educational outlook. I think that she's not totally into "dead white (Protestant) guys"; she would prefer a more global and inclusive curriculum. She believes in democracy, in spite of what "Uncle Eric" says about it.

However, when it comes to the need for a more humanizing education, and the consequences if it's lost, I'm right in there with her. Charlotte Mason warned against utilitarian education. Nussbaum warns against allowing education to be controlled by economics. This week, the Truth in American Education website posted this:

"Then the vice-chair of the NGA Education and Workforce Committee said something peculiar.

“'The Elementary and Secondary Education Act will allow states to align our needs through early education to higher education with the needs of our innovative businesses, developing a stronger workforce development pipeline, expanding opportunity for all of our people and ensuring that students are prepared for success in all phases of life,' said Governor Maggie Hassan (D-NH).

"There you have it. They believe education is about the needs of our business and not the needs of our children and their families. It’s not about teaching kids to be well-educated, well-rounded citizens. Instead education is to be a pipeline for the workforce. That’s the shift from classical education to workforce development."

A word that Nussbaum uses throughout Not for Profit is "sympathy." In a list of abilities that citizens should have (page 25), she includes "the ability to have concern for the lives of others, to grasp what policies of many types mean for the opportunities and experiences of ones fellow citizens, of many types, and for people outside one's own nation." Next on the list is "the ability to imagine well a variety of complex issues affecting the story of a human life as it unfolds...in a way informed by an understanding of a wide range of human stories, not just by aggregate data." (emphasis mine)

On this day when the success or failure of Common Core will be tested...by computer, no less...let's celebrate sympathy. Let's hold up the failing hands of imagination. Let's have some fun that is funny.

The hardest post I've ever written here

2025-06-29T07:26:00.004-05:00

"The road is hard, and it requires rest...quietness and confidence. I am going to make it to the very end. I know this because the Bible says that He who began a good work in me will complete it. Someday the road will end...Let us follow along behind looking to the hills as a place our help comes from, not as a place to fight or fix." (Cindy Rollins, Beyond Mere Motherhood)

Cindy wrote those words in her tribute to our mutual friend Lynn Bruce, but I'm drawing on them today in remembrance of my dearest husband Bryan, "Mr. Fixit," who passed away suddenly two weeks ago. We had a long, wonderful life together, and there isn't much more to say here except that the Treehouse seems very empty.

When our girls were younger, we had a Judy Rogers music tape called Pilgrim's Praise, based on Pilgrim's Progress. One of the songs was Christian's tribute to his friend Faithful. That's also who Bryan was to me: not only a husband, but a brother-in-Christ and a best friend.

As I traveled on my journey, few and far between, were the pilgrims I found faithful to their loving King.
Soon I overtook a young man walking in the way, and I could see within his eyes that he was there to stay.

He was faithful as a brother, he was faithful as a friend,
Looking for a lasting City, faithful to the end.

Even when the road grew rugged, and the sky turned black, trusting in his King he had no thought of turning back.
In the midst of persecution with his dying breath, magnified the One Who kept him faithful unto death.

He was faithful as a brother, he was faithful as a friend,
Looking for a lasting City, faithful to the end.
Looking for a lasting City, faithful to the end.

© 1988 Judy Rogers.

Betty Bunny Travels Light (But Not Light-Fingered)

2025-06-12T13:59:00.007-05:00

Our favourite grumpy bunny author has a new project that doesn't involve space rodents or whobunny-dunits. Recently she has become very knowledgeable about the rabbit fashion designer Sonia DeBunnay, who was known for her intricate beadwork and innovative combinations of carrot orange and radish red. DeBunnay's super-stylish hats and coats were often bought by celebrity rabbits, who were then painted by Sonia's artist husband Muncha Muncha; so Betty has been busy following some of those research rabbit trails. Sadly, many of the original pieces had been eaten by hungry rabbits, who confused them with vegetables. However, a trunkful of DeBunnay treasures came up for auction last month, and the Rabbit Historical Society bought them. Now they are planning a special display and celebration (because those rabbits always like a party), and Betty has been invited to give not one but two talks over the opening weekend. She agrees to go, partly because she can work in a visit to her friend Lucy Pocket who has a new baby bunny.

Here are her constraints:

It's going to be hot. Not Florida hot, but midwest Rabbit Land hot, which is hot enough. Betty bought a new dress awhile back for such times as these (not a DeBunnay, sadly); but, with this weather, she might have to rethink that, as the dress is a bit heavy for summer. However, the other side of hot could be frozen-food-aisle air conditioning, so there you are.

She's taking BudgetBunnyAirways again, which means the less stuff to stuff, the better, and nothing prone to wrinkling. However, she has to look put-together for the first evening talk, followed by a cotton-tail party, and then also for the next day's talk, after which the rabbit attendees will view the one-rabbit play "Sonia: In Her Own Scarves," starring Betty's ever-onstage niece Maud.

Betty thinks it would be most appropriate to wear some of her own favourite vintage things, in the spirit of the event. She plans to do some mixing and matching, though, so that nobody mistakes her for a museum rabbit-quin. She decides to pack by starting with her two "best" outfits, and then planning something to wear while travelling. Any space she has left will be a bonus (or room for a baby gift).

While a bright pink striped two-piece dress may not be a typical choice for a mini travel capsule, Betty has her reasons for starting there. First, it works with her light blue blazer; but if it's just too hot for a jacket, or if all the other rabbits are wearing party clothes, the top and skirt will be fine by themselves. Second, the two pieces can be worn separately, with other things. Third, the dress is rayon, which isn't the coolest summer fabric, but it does hand-wash easily and dry quickly, in case anything happens to it. For accessories, Betty decides to keep it simple with a string of vintage pearls and her favourite blue earrings. She reluctantly packs a pair of low-heeled pumps, although she would really rather be wearing sandals. Betty remembers an event when one of her rabbit co-authors stepped out of her shoes right on stage and kept going in her bare bunny feet, which Betty thinks was very courageous of her.

Now, a second speaking outfit, which had better be a bit more comfortable as it has to last all day (and this time she's going to wear comfortable shoes). Betty packs a navy polka-dot blouse, with a green shirt jacket she found at a flea market, and a pair of navy trousers. Again, if the jacket is too much, she'll be fine (though less colourful) in just the blouse and trousers. The fancy purse may take up too much room in her bag, but she hears Sonia DeBunnay whispering in her ear, "bring it anyway."

She's aiming for nine pieces of clothing, three to wear and six to pack (something she learned from the Vivienne Files). So far she has six pieces; if she really had to, she could get along without the striped skirt and just wear the trousers with the striped top, but she's being stubborn about wanting the whole dress. So: one blazer, one shirt/jacket, one pull-on top, one button-up blouse which could be a jacket in a pinch (it has an awful habit of coming undone at inopportune times anyway, which she'll have to deal with); one striped skirt, and one pair of navy trousers.

She adds two things: a sleeveless navy top with a collar (it's a golf shirt), and a pair of chambray trousers. Both of those things go with almost everything she's packed so far (the top also works with the striped skirt). It's not a completely get-dressed-in-the-dark capsule, because the green jacket doesn't do much for the striped dress. But, other than that, it's pretty blendable. The striped top can be worn with the chambray trousers, and the navy top and trousers can be worn with either of the jackets, or even the polka-dot blouse. Actually, she likes those two so much with the green jacket that she briefly considers leaving the slightly risky blouse at home and just wearing the plain navy top. However, there's that hot/cold question, so the blouse stays.

She has room for one more thing, and she decides on a navy and grey sleeveless top that works with the blazer and the shirt jacket, and both pairs of trousers. One of those combinations will be her travelling outfit there, and the other (whatever's clean) for back-again. That also gives her enough options for a day in the park with Lucy and the young rabbits.

If Betty had extra room, one thing she thinks she might add is a white lightweight v-neck pullover. She pulled that on one day when she was wearing the navy top and trousers, and thought it all looked quite nice together. She also (briefly) thought about packing her pair of ecru linen trousers, but quickly decided against it because a) ecru linen might be a traveller's worst nightmare, and b) these particular trousers have not only a button placket and slide closures, but a drawstring waist thing; somebody obviously wasn't thinking about tiny little lavatories and the contortions required to get those up and down when they designed them. So, no; she's sticking with the six-pack for this event.

Betty hasn't quite figured out the whole packing plan yet, including how she's going to get that rhinestone-embellished handbag stuffed in along with tailbrushes and bunny-tronics. But so far, so good.

If she weren't such a well-behaved (though crotchety) rabbit, she might be planning a hat heist at the museum. But that's a whole other suitcase.

An Eiffel Tower Wardrobe (Halfway Through the Year)

2025-05-23T13:52:00.006-05:00

Visual inspiration: Eiffel Tower gift box and porcelain dish

I've been following the Delaunay Eiffel-Tower-inspired wardrobe collection since it began several months ago on the Vivienne Files website. My first post about it was here, and the second one was here. Some commenters on the Vivienne Files have been unsure about a wardrobe built on three neutrals with only one accent colour, and I understand the "I'd get bored" position on that. I like variety too.

More inspiration: thrifted earrings

However...I have been finding that my tastes in colours and clothing have been changing. Maybe it has to do with approaching a birthday that includes a zero. Anyway, I'm becoming happier with a toned-down, trimmed-down approach, so the three-neutrals thing is fine with me, though maybe with a little extra blue and a shot of rose or purple?

As of the May post, the Eiffel Tower heroine has 24 clothing items, probably about half of the total she'd be aiming at by year's end. Because the posts started last December, some of those clothes are turtlenecks and warm trousers, and this update is going to focus on warm-weather clothes. Although I think of the later additions as summery, especially the linen things, they're checked off mostly as spring clothes on the Vivienne Files Timeless Wardrobe chart, mostly because of sleeve lengths.

Imagine that I have a fall/winter storage box. This (out of my approximation of the Eiffel Tower clothes) is what would go into it:

Winter white ls tee

Navy ls tee

Navy check flannel shirt

Teal pullover

Winter white mock neck pullover

Dark blue button-up cardigan

Taupe trousers (because they're just a bit too heavy-feeling for warm weather)

Dark teal skirt

2 Turtleneck tops

Brown long knit vest

Navy cords

Frosted teal ls tee

This is what I would be keeping out (an approximation of the warm-weather-friendly items already on the Vivienne Files list):

Brown linen-look blazer. It was a toss-up between this and a brown linen shirt, and you might think the shirt sounds more versatile, but the shirt does that soft droopy unironed linen thing, so it can look a bit sloppy as a second layer.

The blazer holds its shape better, so if I had to choose one for a capsule wardrobe, I'd pick the blazer. (Shown with sleeveless top and shorts from the list below)

Jeans

Navy dress pants (they're not summer weight, but sometimes you need them anyway)

Navy striped dress (although it has 3/4 length sleeves and you wouldn't want it on the hottest days, it would be fine for cooler days or in air conditioning)

Dark blue lightweight pullover (doesn't seem very summery, but, like the dress, it could work on cooler days, or over a dress)

White linen shirt

Ecru linen blend pants

Muted green sleeveless top

Striped blue and white shirt

Sage green rayon pants (shown with striped t-shirt and navy fleece blazer which aren't on this list)

Green shirt jacket

(24 clothing items, if you're keeping count.)

Since it's almost June, we can assume that the Eiffel Tower heroine will soon be going shopping again and she'll probably be adding things from the summer list. So let's imagine that she adds four or five clothing items and a couple of accessories. Like this:

Pair of shorts, navy, mostly for at-home wear

Navy sleeveless top (like a polo shirt but without sleeves)

Frosted teal t-shirt, short sleeves

Sleeveless maxi dress, dark blue floral

Finally: a fast-fashion rayon tunic top, chosen for general usefulness (and stripe-i-ness) rather than high quality. I'm convinced that if you treat thrifted things like this gently (i.e. hand-wash them or at least wash on delicate and hang to dry), you can get enough wear out of them to justify having them in your closet.

Then our heroine hits the accessories motherlode at a couple of yard sales and thrift stores:

Fossil purse, green earrings (detail below), and somebody's grandmother's string of pearls

Vintage acetate scarf (also shown above with the t-shirt)

Do they all work together? Yes, mostly, and the greens are better together than you'd think. The pale green t-shirt works with all the casual bottoms, including the sage-green and ecru pants. The navy shorts and top work with the green shirt jacket or the brown jacket. The navy sweater can be worn over the sleeveless dress.

The year is half spent--and we're not done Eiffel-Towering yet.

Last updated May 23, 2025

Fashion Revolution Week and a Wardrobe Update

2025-04-22T08:48:00.006-05:00

Flea-market scarf

Part One

We are living through an era when many people, for various reasons, are becoming newly aware of where the goods they buy come from, and they want to support their own national or local economy. I'm hearing that conversation applied much more to food items (or maybe cars) than to clothing. Finding a locally-brewed beverage is often easier than finding locally-made shoes, and a little intentionality in one direction is certainly better than nothing at all. However, the trend to more intentional shopping can easily extend to questions such as "Who made my clothes?"

April 22nd begins Fashion Revolution Week, which began as an annual remembrance of the Rana Plaza tragedy, and continues as a way to point out that, in many ways, "things" ten years or so later aren't much better, and in some ways they're much worse. "Things" being the whole story of clothing on this planet, from crops and factory production, to advertising and selling, to the wearing and maintenance of a purchased clothing item, and to its eventual disposal. And, at least until this fairly recent trend to shop more patriotically, I have not seen much to suggest that people are buying less, choosing better, or treating "done" clothes any more kindly. Thrift stores are notoriously full of junky clothes at surprisingly high prices, which pushes frustrated people back to buying more junky clothes that are at least new. Who can blame them?

But it doesn't help things either. And the chaotic state of manufacturing and marketing doesn't excuse us, as consumers, from needing to make the most responsible choices we can. Maybe that's upcycling or mending, maybe that's supporting a sustainable but pricey small company with one or two purchases, maybe that's wearing what we already have more and taking better care of it. My own strategy is thrifting the best-quality clothes I can find at reasonable (sometimes better than reasonable) prices, and sticking to a few favourite colours. It's still possible, still practical. I shrug my shoulders just as much as anyone when I see crazy overpriced stuff, but I keep looking for the things that got passed over.

My wardrobe Kryptonite? It's hard for me to pass up a great jacket or blazer, though in a mostly home-based life, I could survive without any office clothes. For me jackets are just fun, especially the colourful vintage ones, and they often sell very cheaply; but I do try to keep them to a reasonable number.

Eiffel Tower, by Robert Delaunay

Update: shirt jacket found at flea market

Update: linen-blend pants

Update: thrifted earrings

Part Two

This is an update to the wardrobe plan I posted last month, which was based on a year-long Vivienne Files wardrobe project. Most of that was based on cold-weather clothes, and we are (finally, after an excruciatingly long winter) moving into more reliably warm weather here.

The Vivienne Files plan takes more of a whole-year approach to wardrobe building, and in the March update, the imaginary heroine added a navy sweater vest and wool pants, two turtleneck tops, and some accessories. I'm not going to show my versions of these clothes, but they are similar to things I would be pulling out or looking for in the fall.

For April, the VF plan added an ivory linen shirt and pants, a green short-sleeved t-shirt, and a navy cotton pullover sweater--plus a pair of brown sandals, a lovely scarf, and a pair of earrings. I do have a pair of white jeans, but, to be honest, I don't see a lot of women under or over a certain age wearing white trousers around town. At the beach in summer, maybe, or doing the coastal-grandma look for a day at the flea market; but not so much for everyday, at least in this wanna-be-spring season; maybe it's a matter of practicality.

But...I did thrift a pair of sage-green rayon pants, which work well with navy and also with some darker greens.

Also, a lightweight dark blue pullover.

I already have a lightweight white linen shirt, and a brown linen-blend one (trying to add to the brown in the VF plan). I have a sleeveless muted-green top that some people might say clashes with the pants, but I kind of like them together. Also, see the brown sandals in the photo? Thrifted last month, lucky find.

Oh, and I almost forgot--I found a really good spring dress, in the middle of a rack of really ugly and ratty ones. Sometimes you do have to look extra hard.

As for accessories, I did find a vintage scarf that isn't bang-on with the Eiffel Tower palette, but is pretty in its own way. Also a necklace.

So, I think we're caught up with the VF for now.

Again, this isn't meant to be a whole plan for the whole spring/summer. If I were doing a full wardrobe, I'd add in the light-wash jeans that my daughter offered me from a bag of free stuff, and a couple of other recent finds.

But that's enough for now.

Locally-crafted earrings

Last updated May 14, 2025

Green and Leafy: Late-Winter Wardrobe Plan

2025-02-06T11:28:00.003-05:00

Over on The Vivienne Files, one of this year's ongoing wardrobe projects is based on a 1909 painting of the Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay, and uses mainly navy, brown, ivory/white, and soft green. Delaunay's painting, though from early in the last century, has a palette that fits well into the blues and greens that were also popular later on (think midcentury upholstered furniture).

Me as a tot, with my great-great aunt

I recently bought a vintage scarf that, while not exactly the same, does pull in some of the same muted colours. So I thought I would put my own clothes up against those of the imaginary heroine. Because this is a year-long project and it's had only three installments so far, the plan isn't very extensive: there are twelve clothes items and some accessories. I'm trying to curb my impulse to add extra items to this story (such as clothes for spring). So please don't take it as "you could totally live with twelve things and don't add anything else for the rest of the year." It's a beginning, is what it is.

Here's a list of what Janice's "heroine" has so far:

Three pairs of earrings in browns, golds, and labradorite green

Two brown purses

Printed scarf

Shoes, all brown: ballet flats, loafers, sneakers (bronze)

Ivory long-sleeved t-shirt

Brown long-sleeved t-shirt

Teal plaid flannel shirt

Brown shirt

Dusty teal pullover sweater

Ivory crewneck pullover sweater

Navy button-up cardigan

Jeans

Brown corduroy trousers

Navy cotton trousers

Brown midi skirt

Teal striped dress

Looking at my own clothes, I have more navy than brown, especially in accessories, so my take on the colours will be a bit different. Also, it's still the dead of winter here, so snow boots and warm coats are more important than loafers. Plus, I'm Canadian and we wear socks in the house. But we'll pretend to have a normal life where people do wear shoes.

Here's my version:

Three pairs of earrings

Other jewelry: bracelet set (Fierce Lynx); wristwatch; necklace

Two purses: navy bucket bag, sand convertible mini backpack (from Pixie Mood)

As a third option, if I wanted something dressier, I would add my other Pixie Mood purse (the ivory one was bought new, but the backpack came from a Salvation Army thrift store when we were daytripping last year).

Two scarves (besides the vintage one shown above). The first one is smaller and lighter weight; the second is the kind you can bundle into.

Three pairs of shoes/boots, navy and charcoal: ankle boots, sneakers, loafers (not shown)

Three t-shirts: navy, frosted teal, winter white. (Two of those tops were bought new. Most of the rest of the things shown in this post were thrifted.)

Navy check flannel shirt

Short-sleeved white blouse with tiny pleats (instead of a brown shirt)

Dusty teal pullover sweater

Winter white mock neck pullover sweater (not shown)

Dark blue merino-wool cardigan. I do have other cardigans and jackets in a more traditional navy, but I'm choosing this one for a couple of reasons, mainly because there's a skirt coming up soon and this is the sweater that matches it best.

But since the dark-blue cardigan is a little lighter and dressier than I might want for everyday, I'm adding in this fisherman-style hoodie pullover.

Taupe brushed-cotton trousers (not shown). The original plan had brown cords, navy cotton pants; since I have navy cords, I'd put these in instead.

Blue jeans and navy corduroy trousers (not shown). Jeans are usually a no-brainer for me, and I do have a pair of navy cords. If I were trying to live only out of these clothes, though (say for a trip), I might substitute a pair of navy tweed trousers for either the jeans or the cords. Or even a pair of plain navy pants, if I were trying to stay as versatile and dress-up-dress-down as possible.

Dark teal midi skirt (instead of a brown one). I found this at a thrift store--no labels, I think somebody made it at home.

Finally we get to the dress, and that's where I'm going to pass on trying to come up with anything close. If I were going this minimal with clothes, I think the jersey midi skirt would be dressy enough to handle most of what I'd be doing, especially paired with this blouse.

As I said, I don't want to add in a lot of extras to the story just because I have navy, white and teal things in my closet. But there are a couple of things that I do want to include. One is this long knit vest, partly because I like the style, and also because it adds that bit of brown back into the mix.

The other is this vintage tapestry-print blazer that I found last fall at a flea market. Blazers aren't part of my daily at-home lineup, but I would definitely wear this one for church, dinner out, whatever, maybe with navy underpinnings, or with the taupe pants.

It also works with the green pullover.

I'm not going to show outfits, as this is one of those mini-plans where you can't go too wrong. A top, a bottom, some jewelry or a scarf if you're feeling it. I'm not going to be wearing only these twelve-or-so clothes items, but I am going to put them front and centre for the next month or so. Thank you to the Vivienne Files for continuing to inspire!

Last updated February 6, 2025

Apples to Apples (frugally catching up)

2025-01-04T14:58:00.002-05:00

In a time of inflation and shrinkflation, we tend to focus our frugal efforts (including celebrations and complaints) on small everyday things, like groceries. It's easier to blame a package of mushrooms for going bad after only a day in the fridge, than it is to try to make sense of all the reasons that we seem to get less and, often, not what we expected. It helps when we do find good stuff for lower prices, such as at the local supermarket that seems to be on a never-ending reorganization project.

We have been on an early-winter binge of soup making, which meant resurrecting an old-faithful split pea-sausage soup recipe (combining the usual ingredients with a dried-vegetable mix we found at Euro Foods); trying out a friend's taco soup recipe (using our own taco seasoning spices), and adding half-price ravioli to turkey soup.

We haven't been making as much bread lately, but we did use this easy recipe to make rolls for Christmas dinner. (We let the bread machine do the mixing and first rise, then shaped them and let them rise again before baking.)

A few weeks ago, we made a couple of trips to local apple growers. At one of them, I bought a jar of apple butter (besides some apples), and half of that went into a batch of holiday-style squares (think date squares, only with apple butter and dried cranberries for the filling). On our other apple stop, we bought a new kind that turned out to be not our favourites for eating, so after Christmas I cut them up into the crockpot, added a little water and cinnamon, and let them cook down into applesauce. (You could puree it in the blender, but we didn't bother.) But what to do with all that applesauce in the fridge? I could have frozen it, but it was a more interesting challenge to use it up fresh.

The first thing I made with it was an applesauce cake, which also finished off the jar of apple butter. I used this recipe, adjusting the ingredients a bit for sweetness and amount of liquid. The only caution I would make is that you do have to really watch your proportions. Our cake turned out great, but if you're not careful (or don't bake it quite long enough), you could get something sad and soggy. I think the fact that I used demerara rather than regular brown sugar might have helped keep the cake light and not heavy/soggy. I will also say that the teaspoonful of vanilla in that recipe sounds a bit out of place, but it works.

Yesterday, we were looking for meat deals at the supermarket, and Mr. Fixit found a package of pork chops. Maybe it was something to do with a recent writing project involving Normandy, I don't know, but "pork" and "apples" sounded right together, so we translated A Year of Slow Cooking's Applesauce Chicken recipe into "Pork With Applesauce Gravy." (One addition: when we first made this recipe about fifteen years ago, we appreciated the fact that the recipe didn't have any added salt, but now we prefer to add some in with the seasonings.)

So that's where all the apples went.

On a different note, we have been trying to warm up a couple of chilly spots in the house (and the garage when Mr. Fixit works out there), without turning the heat up everywhere. The thrift stores didn't seem to have the right thing, so we bought a small heater at Giant Tiger which has made the living room much cozier. Then today we found a 1980's heater at the Salvation Army store. Mr. Fixit checked it out carefully, and it seems safe and fine and everything, so that's going to go in the garage.

Also, I had been wanting to find something a bit more seasonal, or just a little different, to hang in the spot where we have the William Morris tapestry. I saw a needlework wall hanging at an antiques market, but the price was out of our budget. Then one day we were at Value Village, and I was browsing through the home-decor stuff and found this table runner. Mr. Fixit and I both had the same idea: what would it look like as a hanging? We decided not to take down the tapestry, but just to layer them up, at least for the time being. The colours of the two pieces aren't the same, but the leaves on the runner connect with the leaves and flowers on the tapestry, so I'm happy with that.

More thrift store finds

So, we began 2025 with hope. And apples.

Common wardrobe to festive frolics

2024-11-28T16:01:00.000-05:00

The Vivienne Files recently did a travel wardrobe post for somewhere "snowy and brisk", using classic but casual navy and grey clothes, and jazzed up with burgundy for the holidays.

While my main mode of travel is tiny packing (mainly lightweight clothing that can be squeezed into a backpack), it would be fun to imagine a wider set of options, say for a road trip. Or if checking a bigger bag was an option (and somebody else paid for it). A purse that doesn't have to be flat-packed? A nice hat? Count me in.

So let's start with the VF "common wardrobe." (You can see the original version at that link.) Here are the closest things I could find from my own closet (mostly thrifted):

Navy crewneck pullover, grey vest (not a sweater vest because I don't have one, but this is close), navy boucle blazer/cardigan

Three long-sleeved t-shirts

I might swap one of the solid-colour t-shirts for a striped one, or pack a striped sweater instead of the solid navy one.

Three shirts. I do have a striped shirt much like the one in the VF photograph, but I'm swapping in a vintage flannel check shirt.

Three pairs of pants. The grey pants here are a bit lightweight and loungey. In real life, if I didn't have a more solid pair of grey ones, I might take another pair of navy pants.

So those are the common-dozen clothes. The next thing in the VF story is a travel outfit. I was able to come pretty close with a top, sweater, hat and scarf.

Here's the bottom half of the travel outfit: jeans, boots, tote bag, gloves.

And a coat; not my heaviest all-blizzard one. I thought this jacket would be a bit dressier, if the heroine is not planning on playing in the snow (or digging out of a snowstorm).

Following the additions and options in the VF story, we have a dark red cardigan (looks brighter in the photo, but it should be more of a ruby colour); a boiled-wool vest (subbing for the quilted version in the story); the flannel shirt; a scarf; and (below) the navy cords and a pair of burgundy lace-up shoes. I don't think it would have probably occurred to me to put all these things together in real life, but I will give it a shot if the opportunity comes up.

Another suggested outfit: the grey pants and vest, jean shirt, boots, and a blue and white scarf.

The VF heroine has a burgundy corduroy shirt dress, which isn't like anything I own. However, I do have an eggplant fleece dress with a high neck.

The dress can be worn under this vintage handmade paisley shirt-jacket. The purse doesn't look very good in the photo (the colour seems to be off), but it's better in real life. I photographed this outfit with navy low-heeled pumps, but I'm also not delighted with that, so I might go for a pair of boots instead (photo below that).

The dress can also be worn with the vest (channelling one of the VF suggestions).

If I had unlimited packing space, I'd add in these things: a grey hoodie; a burgundy pleated skirt (which can be a dressy outfit with the cardigan, see photo below that); a winter-white mockneck pullover; and a pair of navy knit pants (to go with all those other navy things). Also, an extra scarf.

Here's the scarf, shown on a sweater that I would also consider chucking into this ever-expanding suitcase.

I would probably pack this navy scarf, and a dressier hat.

The VF story has only earrings for jewelry, but I'm including these Sophisticated Lynx bracelets from Canadian maker Fierce Lynx.

Locally-made porcelain earrings.

A couple of thrifted necklaces.

And a festive-looking brooch.

Happy Holidays!

Last updated November 28, 2024

You Just Need a System (frugality and things)

2024-11-05T11:16:00.004-05:00

Of course I keep birthday candles in the spice drawer. Doesn't everybody?

Many, many years ago, I read some advice on personal Bible reading, that I now know (because you can search out those long-lost things) was written by Peter Kreeft. One of his statements was "Forget commentaries." At least that's the way I remembered it; but it turns out what he said was, "At first, forget commentaries." As in, maybe for the time being you should just focus on the experience; but somewhere along the road, you will find a use for one. Keep that in mind for a minute.

More recently, I was listening to a podcast called Elevating Motherhood, where the guest was Kendra Adachi, author of the Lazy Genius books. Kendra said: "We don't need other people's systems; we need principles that can help us to build our own systems that work for us."

I don't think either person was saying that there is no need ever for cookbooks, guidebooks, menu plans, instruction manuals, or Bible commentaries. Or, shall I be bold enough to say it, teaching curriculum, study guides, and booklists that you haven't compiled yourself.

There has been talk from time to time about interfering with the liberty of teachers to choose their own books, but one might as well contend for everyman's liberty to make his own boots! It is one of those questions of the division of labour which belong to our civilisation; and if the question of liberty be raised at all, why should we not go further and let the children choose their books? But we know very well that the liberty we worship is an elusive goddess and that we do not find it convenient to do all those things we are at liberty to do. (Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education, p. 272)

So what does all that have to do with living within our financial means?

Think of the old story of someone who has just had their kitchen re-organized by a relative--and now they can't find anything. In the words of another popular declutterer, Dana K. White, that "helper" has violated the principle that you don't put things where you should look for them, you put them where you would look for them. If you would instinctively look for kitchen scissors in the knives and forks drawer, that is a system that works for you, and nobody should insist that scissors belong with the foil and plastic wrap.

In other words, a lot of our everyday decisions evolve organically. If we're basing those choices on a few basic principles and on the particular circumstances of our lives at this time, then we're probably good, no matter where we put the scissors. (We hang ours on a fridge magnet.) At certain times, we might decide that we need a little extra help nailing those principles down, or figuring out the details, and that's where the commentaries (and podcasts) come in.

When we combine experience with solid principles, we can stand up to people who want to re-organize our kitchen, our shopping, or our homeschooling. Maybe they're well-meaning, maybe they're trying to sell us something, but, either way, we're already doing fine thank you have a good day. A few years ago we were living in an apartment building next door to a discount store. We didn't have a lot of room for food storage; plus, the freezer compartment didn't work very well; things got freezer-burned after only a short time. So, we did a lot of quick trips to the store, buying just what we needed. It wasn't a method we would have officially recommended, but it kept enough food in our fridge. Now we live in a townhouse (with a better freezer), but we're still close to a couple of food stores, so we've continued to make frequent but smaller trips, looking for whatever's on sale. As a household of two, we don't buy pounds and pounds of meat at a time, but we do look for in-store discounts that let us score a meal's worth of pork chops for (sometimes) just a couple of dollars, combining them with things we already have in the cupboard (like the cranberry sauce we never did eat at Thanksgiving). As another example, we often make enough of a main dish to have leftovers for lunch; and if we don't have any leftovers around, maybe we heat up some canned soup. But if some friendly person came along and tried to move us into some other system, say weekly food delivery, or buying very large packages, or making lunches on Sunday for every day of the coming week, we might wonder if our way of doing things was wrong. Not pretty enough, not environmental enough, not frugal enough.

It's the same thing that makes people buy fancy household organizers, or labelled spice racks, or beautiful bookmarks. In Peter Kreeft's terms, maybe an expensive multi-volume Bible commentary. We want to do things better, more efficiently, more frugally; we may spend a lot of money attempting to do so. Now, sometimes that impulse to learn more, or try new ideas, is money well spent. Maybe we find a good book about car maintenance, or we download information that will help us save on baggage fees by travelling lighter. Other times it's just time and money wasted, and we probably sort of knew that all along, as we somewhat guiltily stick the package of chili powder in the cupboard instead of decanting it into its little jar.

We can learn from other people's systems. In fact, we should! But in the end, we are going to slip the scissors (or the birthday candles) back to wherever we will remember to look for them. We will also probably grab whatever piece of paper's handy for a bookmark.

Because it's enough.

Mysteries of Frugality

2024-10-26T13:30:00.005-05:00

Living frugally sometimes means fixing things you've found. Often it means you just keep plugging along, eating up pantry or freezer food, wearing what you've scrounged or altered or been given, driving the car you locked into several years ago. Sometimes it means you reach into the stash of pinecones and fake acorns you bought at the dollar store eight years ago, and add them to the fake leaves someone gave you a long time before that, to make a fall arrangement in a thrifted basket. (Why don't we just go out and find free, real pinecones, acorns, and leaves? Because of allergies and teeny little bugs. Besides, I already have these, so they don't cost me anything. If you love picking up real maple leaves, go for it.)

Today I have a shoe story with a mystery attached to it. Recently I found a nice pair of leather pumps at a thrift store.

What I didn't notice until I got them home was that the soles were separating from the uppers. See the space by my thumb? So, the first mystery to me is why a pair of shoes, from a good brand, that didn't appear to be otherwise heavily worn, would have that problem. And not just one shoe, but both of them.

But the other mystery, to my frugal mind, was why the original owner didn't either take them to a shoe repair shop (if they were in the habit of buying better-brand leather shoes anyway), or buy a tube of Shoe Goo (if they were tightwads). Which is what we did, when we happened to be in a store today that sold shoe sprays and polishes and things like that. And...they were having a new-location opening sale on just about everything, so we got a discount on the Goo.

Sometimes you have to change your frugal habits because the price of something goes up, or your family size changes, or you move to an area where the expensive thing costs less, or vice versa. When we had more people eating dinner at our house, I almost always had fresh onions, garlic cloves, and a bunch of celery in the fridge, and we used them before they had a chance to go bad. As empty nesters with (often) less ambition to chop things, we've switched over to a frozen vegetable combination that, until recently, was called Spaghetti Mix, but has now been relabelled as Frozen Diced Vegetables. I guess somebody figured out that you can use diced onion-celery-peppers-and-sometimes-carrots for a lot of other things besides spaghetti sauce, though it is good for that too. A package lasts us quite awhile, and we don't have to worry about fresh onions sprouting or celery going limp. As for garlic, we've been using the jarred minced stuff for quite awhile now, for the same reasons. And garlic powder for homemade seasoning mixes.

Sometimes, even if you're frugal, you have to know when it's the right time to spend money (though hopefully not too much).Fixing broken things in your house or on your car falls into this category, and so does medical care. But there are less vital things that come up too. Recently I did a whole blog post about fitting travel gear into a well-used freebie shoulder bag. Although I am not actually a rabbit going to a conference, the packing plan is a real one. After I posted the story, my husband wanted to use the bag himself, and when he was packing it, the zipper pull came right off. Knowing that I planned to use it for that one final trip (because it fits the extremely small size limits of our own Bunny Airways), he offered to try to replace the zipper pull with one scavenged from something else. Being Mr. Fixit, I was pretty sure that if anybody could manage to get one last hoo-rah out of that bag, it would be him.

But no, it was not to be, and we said our final goodbyes to the shoulder bag. I searched around online, but couldn't find anything that wasn't too big or too small. My husband's search was more successful--he found a reasonably-priced messenger bag that fit the size requirements, and that he actually likes as well (it's labelled as a men's item, which to me is like calling diced vegetables spaghetti mix, a bit limiting). The bag arrived very quickly (the wonders of this time we're living in), and I did a trial pack-it-up with about the same amount of stuff I used in the blog story. The doll will not be travelling, she's just demonstrating the size of things.

So, we fix things, or sometimes we don't. We keep and re-use things, or sometimes we don't. We buy fresh things, or sometimes we don't. Call it a mystery, but it works.

Betty Bunny, Master of the Skies

2024-10-16T18:33:00.006-05:00

Betty Bunny has struck gold again with her latest juvenile mystery novel, Burrowed Trouble. She has been invited to teach some promising young writer rabbits at a three-day conference, an idea which doesn't thrill her especially at first. The conference is being held a full day's journey away, and she will have to travel first by bus and then on Bunny Airways. Maybe she should just say no and stay home to work on ideas for her own next book. However, her ears perk up when she hears that one of her writer heroes, Nigella Quottontail, will be the keynote speaker. She could also fit in a visit to the famous Bunnyheim Gallery, something she has always wanted to see. So she says yes.

The conference has paid for her travel, but when she checks over the details, she realizes that those budget-minded organizing bunnies sprang for only a Super-Super-Cheapo ticket, which means she can take only one bag that fits under the tail of the rabbit in front of her. And that's not a very big space. Can Betty do it? Stay tuned.

"Start With A...Coat?"

Betty thinks through several possible iterations of her cold-weather, tiny-bag travel wardrobe, and makes a couple of hard decisions. First, she is going to go trousers-only on this trip, because skirts and dresses require extra bunny underpinnings, not to mention shoes. Second, she's going to go with almost everything in navy blue, for reasons of simplicity. Third, she decides to wear her nicest green coat. The conference is supposed to be indoors; however, the attendees will likely take some time to hop around town.

And that last decision helps her figure out what to do next. She matches the coat with a multi-coloured scarf, which would also look good with her lavender turtleneck top. She adds in a navy blazer (it's stretchy like a cardigan), and a pair of pants that are sort-of-jeans-but-nicer. She thinks about wearing her navy loafers, because they're easy to take off for airport security; but when she checks the weather, it sounds like her waterproof ankle boots would be a better choice. She'll just have to make do with one other pair of shoes.

Betty realizes that, rather than planning her other outfits by possible activity, it might make sense to organize layers of clothes in sequence, so as not to have to do any laundry (outside of emergencies). This is what she comes up with:

First conference day: Pink tank top worn under a navy silk shirt, with navy knit pants, and probably the same scarf, plus navy sneakers.

Second conference day (and the art gallery): The navy shirt worn under a navy and white striped sweater, with one of the pairs of pants and her shoes.

Third conference day, when she is scheduled to give a talk: A t-shirt (doesn't matter much what colour, but she picks teal) worn under the buttoned-up jacket, with the navy pants and a different scarf, plus shoes.

Day of return travel: The striped sweater, with one of the pairs of pants, plus the jacket and coat, and boots.

If you didn't keep track there, Betty is going to pack a sweater, a shirt, a t-shirt, a tank top, a pair of pants, and one pair of running shoes (plus bunny-jamas and undies, and everything else she needs). The clothes, Betty thinks she has nailed now. It's the "everything else" she's a bit worried about.

What Does One Rabbit Need?

After a trial run with the clothes and shoes, Betty figures that she has just enough room left for one small liquids bag, a zippered pouch for charger cords and jewelry, and a small purse that can fit inside the bag and hold small items like a comb, toothbrush, and chewing gum (bunny ears are sensitive to takeoff pressure changes). So, she can take anything she wants--as long as it fits within those limits.

Luckily, the conference will be printing out all the student handouts, and her own notes are on her Babblet (a bunny electronic device). She can put a few things in her coat and blazer pockets too.

Security checks can be stressful.

If you want to watch Betty pack in more detail, here are some photos.

The five items of clothing. (Forgot to include the extra scarf.)

Fitting them into a (thrifted) packing cube, along with pajamas and undies.

Shirt is folded on top.

Cube zipped up.

Things going into a small purse: money and i.d.cards, pen, comb, tissues, and other non-liquid toiletries.

Packed in the purse. (She took the shoulder strap off the purse to make it fit better; the strap can slip into the bottom of the bag. But maybe it doesn't make that much difference.)

(Thrifted) zippered case to hold charger cords and a jewelry pouch, sitting on a knitted hat.

Everything goes inside the hat, for some padding.

Clear bag for liquids.

Everything shown so far, plus shoes, a notebook, and the strap for the purse.

It all fits in. (The red thing is the packing cube.) Betty's electronic device will slip in between the purse and the packing cube. No other space to spare on this trip, though--if anything else goes in, something will have to come out.

Zipped up.

Off she goes.

And here she comes back again. It's always nice to be home.

(She did get to meet Nigella! And Nigellette.)

And she's already busy thinking of plots for the next bunny bestseller.

Frugal Life: When to say yes, when to say no

2024-10-09T18:50:00.001-05:00

Years ago I read a novel about a family facing an economic crisis in 1923. The husband had lost his job, and the bills were piling up.

Finally [Irene] took an astonishing step. Without consulting anyone, she put $5.00 down on an electric sewing machine, which she arranged to buy on the installment plan, paying $8.00 additional each month for a year.
"At a time like this!" her husband fumed. "What are you thinking of, Irene?"
"I'm going to make clothes for some of my friends," Irene retorted grimly. "I know half a dozen women who like the way I dress and who can't find sizes to fit them properly in the stores." (Betty Cavanna, Joyride)

If you do the math, that comes out to about a hundred dollars (apparently about $1800 in 2024 dollars), so it's not hard to see why that made Irene's husband stagger a bit. (He probably also wondered why anyone would need an electric sewing machine.) However, Irene turned out to be right, and the dressmaking business was a success. Sometimes getting ahead (or at least staying on course) means you have to take a calculated risk.

Buying used things can be a calculated risk, or just a regular old random one.

But so can buying new things, especially these days. Mr. Fixit recently bought a new pair of sneakers at a local store, in a brand that has previously worked well for him. However, these ones hurt from the first day he wore them, and even so, the store wasn't especially cheerful about taking them back (they did eventually). Everything you buy, new or used, carries some amount of risk. One of the ways you can minimize that is to try to pay so little for things that, if you hate the taste or the shirt's too tight, you won't feel like you've lost much (even if you bought them at a yard sale and there aren't any returns).

Example #1: I posted in August about some packages of rice and mixed grains that we bought for half price. I was a bit leery of the lentil-ancient grains mix, as it sounded like it might cook up into something awfully heavy or with a weird flavour. I thought I might have to doctor it with taco spices or something to make it edible. However, one night we needed a side dish, and I decided to cook up a small potful to check it out. We actually ended up liking it quite a lot--it has an interesting Thanksgiving-ish flavour and texture. So, you never know.

And, on the other hand, the baked yogurt-egg-fruit thing was too much to choke down, so I had to call that one a loss.

Example #2: On the didn't-work-out side, I bought a winter coat for five dollars at a church rummage sale. It was a good brand and it was in good shape. However...it turned out to be too big for me, so I'm going to re-donate it. I guess I will be wearing my same-old coat this winter. But five dollars is a manageable loss.

On the wins side, though, I found a boiled-wool vest for a dollar at the same rummage sale, and a pair of leather pumps at Value Village (something I really needed).

Example #3: I had thrifted some candles in fall shapes, a couple of years ago, and stored them in a Ziploc bag. We lit a couple of them, and used the rest as decorations. When I pulled them out this fall, I found that most of them had gotten kind of soft and sticky, maybe from the bag, maybe just from age, so I disposed of of them. Well, we probably got our small-amount-of-moneys'-worth from them, so I wasn't too put out; and we have enough other things to decorate with that I'm not looking for replacements.

On the positive side, one of our favourite thrift shops had some new-in-package silver taper candles, which I'm already thinking will be our Advent wreath candles in another few weeks. I'm not a colour traditionalist on that--I think silver could be as nice as purple and pink (and easier to find).

They might even work with these sparkly candleholders I found in the summer. The holders are meant to hold tealight candles, but with some sticky stuff and maybe a bit of padding, they could work with tapers.

Well, one way or another we'll use the tapers.

Example #4: Travel stuff. About a year and a half ago, I made a trip by air, with only an underseat bag, and I bought a new backpack that fit within that airline's size limits. Sometime in the near future, I will be taking off again for a couple of days, but with a different airline, one that has even tighter size limits. Well, I'm not buying yet another bag just for one trip, so I scrounged around to see what we did have that would fit. It's down to a choice between two.

I also thrifted a couple of packing cubes and other gizmos that might help this more-in-less venture succeed.

But that's what the next post will be about.

Experiments in Breakfast

2024-09-19T12:43:00.003-05:00

The supermarket near us is still renovating and clearing out food items. Last week we found a large frozen chicken potpie, a lemon poppy-seed loaf, a canister of steel cut oats, and a tube of tomato paste, all for half price. The tomato paste is in the pantry, and we've been eating the other things

Part One: I haven't seen any deals lately on cold cereal, and with just two of us I don't always feel like messing up a pan with oatmeal. I've tried microwaving quick oats by the bowlful, but they're sometimes too mushy. I thought these steel cut oats would be a good fit for Budget101's Instant Oatmeal mix. You run some of the oats to powder in the blender, then mix them with the rest and add your choice of sweeteners, dried fruit, etc.

I used up a few cups of the oats, plus a bit of cinnamon, brown sugar, and a few stray Craisins. I also added a dash of salt to each bag (the recipe doesn't call for it).

I think it turned out pretty well. You have to experiment a bit with the amount of boiling water you add, as it's easy to get it too thin (you don't want gruel). If you don't feel like the oats are "cooked" enough by just adding hot water, you can try microwaving them instead. (That is, add the mix and water to your cereal bowl and microwave, not nuke it in the bag.)

And it's definitely an easy breakfast option when you're not up to much more than groping for the spoons and the jar of coffee.

The Part Two this week, I'm still debating the success of. I wanted to make something higher-protein, so I tried out a recipe for "pancake bowls." This particular recipe required most of a container of Greek yogurt, several eggs, some frozen fruit, and a few other things like baking powder and flour (no fat, very little sugar); you combine most of the ingredients, top with the fruit, and bake until solid. The results? well, don't expect a Dutch Baby. It's more like...baked yogurt and eggs. (Or Tubby Custard.) Which, I guess, is not a bad thing, and it's quite nutritious; it's just not necessarily a delicious thing.

Each of these little pans is supposed to be one serving, but I can't manage more than a piece at a time. Now that they've chilled in the fridge, I think I'm going to cut them in smaller portions and freeze them, then microwave when I want one.

Would I make this particular recipe again? Probably not, at least not without a couple of modifications. A little more spice or sugar wouldn't be unwelcome. Or just eating some of the Greek yogurt and fruit without going to all the trouble of baking it.

Now there's a thought.

Ten dollar thrift haul, plus a jacket

2024-09-14T16:37:00.013-05:00

Janice at the Vivienne Files website often starts a wardrobe with a small core of neutral clothes. She then lets her fictional heroine go shopping for a few additions, and shows how the new things might be used with the older ones.

But I'm going to start with the additions, then go back. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings for a total of $7 (Canadian). Actually we had a five-dollar loyalty card to use, so it came to two-plus-tax.

This week, I was browsing the dollar rack at one of our usual stops, and I found three items that I thought would work with clothes I already had. One is a pink top with a draped-neck front. It's on the large side, so the draped part needs a camisole underneath. It could be also worn back to front.

The second thing was a navy skirt with kind of an assymetrical, draped thing going on in the front. I do have another navy skirt, and I hesitated just for a minute on this one because it's polyester, and not the nicest kind of polyester, but the different shape got me curious, and I bought it.

The third dollar find was a grey zippered activewear jacket. I do have a grey hoodie, but for a dollar I was not going to pass this one up. I thought the neckline might work for layering when I don't want a hood sticking out.

So, we're up to ten dollars. Minus the loyalty card.

Finally, we dropped in at a for-profit thrift, where the prices tend to be a bit higher. I found a mostly-wool Eddie Bauer lightweight coat/blazer, and I really liked it, so I'm adding it to this story too. I could have done a bit better on the price if I'd had a coupon; but even so, it was a good find. With the five dollars taken off the jewelry, the total of everything came to about $20.

To do a Vivienne Files-type story, I thought I would put together a casual, mostly navy core wardrobe of things I already had. I'll show you those items, but not how I would put them together--you can figure that out.

Two t-shirts

Another t-shirt and an "un-blazer"

Pull-on pants, mixed navy/grey pants, and jeans

V-neck pullover, and grey cotton pullover (given to me recently by a daughter who didn't want it)

Blue and white striped cotton shirt; navy silk shirt

White blouse (vintage, thrifted recently); off-white mock neck sweater

Not terribly exciting, but you could get along with just these things for awhile, especially if you added some accessories. So, here are a few outfit ideas with the dollar finds and the jacket. I didn't include the three pieces of jewelry, but they would blend well too.

Pink top, navy skirt. Boots, purse, necklaces.

White blouse, navy pullover, navy skirt. I'm not as sure about this combination because the navy of the skirt is different from the sweater; but I might try another sweater that would work better. (Boots, purse, necklaces)

Navy shirt, navy skirt; striped scarf, purse, boots. Again, the colour match isn't perfect, although I think you could get away with it here as it doesn't look as formal as the other outfit.

Pink top, navy pants. Purse, animal-print scarf, boots.

Pink top worn backwards under the grey not-hoodie; a pair of grey pants that I substituted because I didn't want to keep photographing jeans; boots, necklace.

Blue and white shirt worn under the grey jacket; jeans; backpack, boots.

Grey jacket zipped all the way up and worn underneath the grey pullover. Jeans, purse, boots.

White sweater, navy/grey pants, plaid jacket. Purse, necklace, navy sneakers.

Pink top worn backwards under the plaid jacket; navy pants; purse, boots, necklace.

Navy sweater (backwards), plaid jacket, skirt. Turquoise necklace, boots. I don't think this is going to be my most useful skirt, due more to the colour than the shape. But playing around like this is good for getting inspiration, even if I end up using a different skirt. Or pants.

So: now I have some ideas for how I'm going to wear my little haul.

Good things happen on the dollar rack!

Frugal is as frugal does

2024-09-09T14:40:00.004-05:00

Last week Mr. Fixit and I had a whole afternoon of errands, and at the end of it we found ourselves near a mundane-looking Chinese restaurant, the kind that does mostly takeout. However, it was handy, and we were hungry, so we got their dinner for two, which turned out to be egg rolls, lemon chicken, chow mein, a whole pile of wontons, and some better-than-average fried rice. I am not a fan of fried rice when its other major ingredient is frozen mixed corn and peas, and even lima beans (heaven help us), but this was not one of those places, thankfully. There was enough left over for lunch the next day, plus a bit of extra fried rice to boost that night's supper. Sometimes getting a meal out is just the right thing at the right time.

As an update on the bag of frozen squash, I cooked it up for dinner one night; we ate part of it, and I pureed the rest to make twenty-four mini muffins. And one supersized one because there was too much batter. We still haven't tried the grains-and-lentil mixture, but probably the next time we have a tortilla meal.

I cleaned out my closet for the fall/winter. It wasn't in terrible shape, as I've tried to keep things minimal, or at least reasonable; but lately I had thrifted a few new things, and even been given some free stuff, so (to my mind) it kind of felt like the clothes were taking over, and anyway it was time to put my shorts and sandals away, so I did a pull-out and put-back, and weeded out a few things that were not going back in at all.

I wasn't able to use all of the free clothes, but I did keep a couple of useful pullovers and a navy top. I also found a couple of things I liked from last fall that had gotten pushed to the back, including a green fleece-lined jacket I'd forgotten I'd thrifted, so that made me feel like I had something new to wear! Just neatening things up can be all you need.

I put some of the most-likely-to-match-things scarves front and centre.

And, finally, we dropped in at a thrift store where we had a filled-in loyalty card, so I got some already-cheap but now almost-free jewelry to jazz things up. I've already worn the turquoise necklace several times.

Tonight's frugal meal is Greek Spaghetti, made with a half-price package of ground beef, canned tomatoes, and a few seasonings. I might make some garlic bread to go with it, and we have some of those muffins.

That's all!

Generally Frugal, A Few Updates

2024-09-03T18:43:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to get back into posting more of our "generally frugal" lifestyle stuff, rather than just the thrifted clothes stories I've mostly done for the past while. So what is there to share? I could say something about our stop this morning at the closest supermarket, which gave us some discounted banana bread and mini muffins (handy to freeze for company), but also a small tray of cut-price beef cubes, which Mr. Fixit turned into an astonishingly good Slow Cooker Goulash. We included some of those red peppers we froze last week, and served it with a just-enough-left container of sour cream.

I could also write something about a couple of odd put-together leftover meals we've had lately, but I'll spare you the details. To misquote Milo in Bloom County, it's food and we're gonna eat it.

But if I'm allowed to talk about thrifting and clothes, there is a Providential side to finding used stuff that I've seen so many times, and I think I'm finally getting smart enough to realize, first, that it's no accident, and second, that I shouldn't try to outjump God on these things by buying something new, or even something used but more expensive than I really want to pay. Because, so often, there it is right in the thrift store, or at the yard sale, that thing I was looking for, or at least a reasonable version of it. Thrifting patience, unlike Slow Cooker Goulash, is a dish best served cold.

On a weekend trip to the outdoor antiques market, I had been looking at a 1980's white short-sleeved blouse with a lot of pearl embellishments. It kind of reminded me of the crazy big shirts we wore during university (think the Brat Pack fashion era). It also reminded me a bit of my wedding veil, which was pearl-bead-embellished. Anyway, the nostalgia vibes were strong, but I know for one thing that a shirt covered with pearls would be a bear to wash and take care of, not to mention looking a bit out-there. It was also more expensive than I really wanted to pay for a crazy big shirt, so I left it in the booth. But the idea of a fancy-ish white blouse was still playing in my head. Today we were at Mission Thrift, and I found a white short-sleeved blouse, German-labelled, probably somewhat vintage. Instead of pearls, it's decorated with a lot of little stretchy pleats, kind of like grownup smocking. Also, it was quite a bit cheaper. So: sometimes you have to say no, and then let the better choice come along.

Also, I was looking at a clothing store online that is asking a breath-sucking amount of money for solid-coloured jersey midi skirts. I kind of liked the dark blue one, and I could imagine it working with some of my fall sweaters; but there was no way I was going to pay that much for one skirt.

So, on the same trip to Mission Thrift, there it was, a longer, dark blue, jersey skirt. This one, I think, was homemade; it has no labels at all, and the seams appear to have been done with a serger. But you know what? I have the feeling that if I bought a jersey skirt online, it probably wouldn't end up being any better quality, or fitting any better. So how weird is that, especially when the skirt rack is not usually my main stop at the thrift store, but for some reason I just thought I would take a few extra minutes on the crazy off-chance that there could be something close to what I was looking for. Actually, if there hadn't been anything with the skirts, I had also thought of scavenging the dress rack there--I've made skirts from dresses before, and it's often not as hard as you'd think. But in this case, I didn't even need to do that, because somebody went ahead and made the skirt I was looking for, and then donated it to the thrift store.

Which makes me both shake my head, and nod it with an "uh huh, I thought that's how it might turn out."

1930's Carltonware Buttercup dish, which I did buy at the antiques market.

Grain Gain: Another pantry post this week

2024-08-28T09:53:00.006-05:00

One of our local supermarkets has been reorganizing, and they put a bunch of odd (mostly organic and health-food) items on a clearance table. We picked up some fancy packages of tea, snacks, and rice, all for half price.

This is organic arborio rice, which is lovely, but not something we use a lot.

I was browsing online and found a recipe for "risotto mix in a jar" at Food.com. While not authentic or anything, it did sound like something we'd eat. I bought a package of sundried tomatoes to chop into it.

The only real problem was getting bouillon powder that didn't have MSG (that's an issue for us), but I did find some at Bulk Barn. Anyway, short version, I used up the whole bag of rice (I increased the seasonings to make it work). That filled six sandwich-sized Ziploc bags.

I cooked up one of the packages for dinner (along with fish sticks, corn on the cob, and leftover salad). It made a big bowlful: looks like we're having risotto leftovers tonight.

We also got two packages of "Ancient Field Blend," which we haven't tried yet. One of the suggested recipes for this blend of grains and sprouted lentils is veggie burgers, which you make by cooking up the grains and blending them with squash and a few other ingredients. (Helpful hint when you buy something unfamiliar: see if there's a website with directions or recipes.)

I do have a bag of frozen squash, but I have other plans for that (probably cooking it into puree and then making muffins). But that recipe made me think that this grain blend sounds like it's going to be pretty heavy-duty, maybe more than we typically want as just a carb side dish. And some of those grains might not be the taste-testing favourites around here, though they're undoubtedly nutritious; so disguising them a bit with seasonings would also be a good idea.

And what that made me think of was the Hillbilly Housewife's Taco-Style Lentils and Rice, which was first posted by Miss Maggie, the original HH. We used that recipe quite a bit over the years, such as when vegan relatives came for tortilla night. Anyway, I haven't tried using the ancient-grains blend yet instead of straight-up lentils and rice, but I'm planning on doing a test run soon. If we like it, I'll put some small bags of grain and seasonings together, like the risotto mix, and keep them in the pantry.

Another way to use up a protein-packed grain blend like that might be to cook it as Crockpot Cereal, something I learned from my friend the Deputy Headmistress, a.k.a. Wendi. Again, it's something I think you'd have to experiment with, perhaps adding some kind of sweetener, dried fruit (like cranberries), or other flavouring. I'm not sure how well wild rice would go over at breakfast, but maybe it would be delicious. A test run is probably a good idea.

A third way I think it would be good, especially in the fall, would be using some of the cooked mixture to stuff an acorn squash. (Not with taco seasoning, although that could work too--but maybe with onions and celery, as you would for wild-rice stuffing.)

Well, anyway, we haven't cracked open those packages yet, but I will do that soon and let you know how it goes.