"Vintage" for the gimpy

When you're limited by a handicap, it effects everything, including what you wear.  You really have to think about what you're going to be doing that day & what you might need. 

 

Do I need a wheelchair or can I just use the cane?

(wheelchairs & underskirts or gloves are a no-no)

 

What kind of floors do they have?

 

How long will this take?

 

How bad am I feeling?

 

Can I get everything done on my list?

 

I have to wear several braces (wrists, knees, ankles & back).  Because the braces use hook & loop straps, they snag things like tights/stockings, crinolines & light materials.  They also stick to each other & I'm always getting my wrist braces stuck to my knee braces, providing endless amusement to my friends.

  

I do the sweater girl thing. Usually with a pencil/tulip skirt, capris or jeans.  It's fast, easy & comfortable.   Vintage sweaters are hard to find, so I try to find modern ones that are similar, then I add appliques or modify them a bit.  Target usually has pretty good, plain sweaters.  Bettie Page Clothing has just released some cute sweaters, but sadly, they're out of my price range right now.  I rarely have any luck at the local thrift stores.  They tend to be more expensive than Target, NY & Co, JC Penny or Walmart.

 

When I shop for vintage items, I have to make sure I'm not getting something with tiny buttons or zippers that I can't work.  If it has one of those things, can I do anything to change it without destroying it?  How easy is it to get on & off?  I do have a zipper pull & button tool, but it doesn't always work with vintage items.  I wear a lot of reproduction items or new items that I've altered.  I can't really say I'm a hardcore vintage girl, though I used to be & still try to be. 

 

A few years ago, one of my friends worked for a large thrift store & would give me a heads up when the good stuff showed up.  She wasn't allowed to hold anything, but I could sneak over on my lunch break.  Unfortunately, due to my injuries & inactivity, I've outgrown almost everything I bought then. 

 

A huge problem I have is I have very long legs and a very short torso (my waist is really high up).  It's common with Ehlers Danlos & Hypermobility.  I can't really buy dresses because they don't fit well.  If I do, I have to alter them, but larger vintage sizes are hard enough to find.  It's a lot of work when you already have limited energy.  I did manage to alter one of my dresses last night.  It has been in the "alterations" pile for months.  One of my "things to do" while unemployed was to get through that pile.  I've altered a whopping three items since March.  Sad.  Just sad.  Why not take them to be altered?  I've had terrible luck with that & it costs money.  The last time I had something altered, the woman couldn't wrap her head around my height and made my skirt 4" too short. 

 

This is what I tend to wear on a fairly regular basis:

 

 

The braces should be in pairs (except for the back brace, obviously).  I don't have the striped top, but I do have that skirt.  It has a cute pleat on the back that makes it a little more interesting than a plain one.  The wedges aren't really retro, but they are comfortable & I have them in that plaid & black.  I have to wear a slight heel when my Achilles tendon is acting up.  I also have a few pairs of Iron Fist flats since I have a psychobilly tendency at times (when I'm feeling more punky). 

 

Vintage shoes are hard for me to wear.  I'm supposed to wear corrective shoes, but rarely do.  I have to add heel cups & arch supports & they don't always fit well.  The bones in my feet dislocate on a regular basis, so I have to be careful about the shoes I buy.  Swing shoes are great if you get the resoled.  They are pricey though (especially with resoling).  High heels are a huge no-no.  My ankles dislocated in any heel over 3". 

 

Money is always an issue.  I spend most of it on doctors, so I rarely have anything leftover for clothes.  My wardrobe has gotten rather sad in the last few years.  If I can lose weight, I'll be able to fit into most of my vintage clothes again. 

 

Hair usually ends up in some sort of pony tail or bandanna.  I can't spend much time on hair because my arms dislocate.  This is where hats come in, though sometimes I'll skip the hat if I don't want to attract too much attention. 

 

Since this has gotten way too long, here's one more "typical outfit" picture:

 

 

Stressed Polska...

Well, my trip home didn't pan out.  I got a call a few hours after I got to my hotel, "You're husband is in the hospital & it doesn't look good."  He's fine now, but I'm exhausted & in bad physical shape.  It's hard taking care of someone when you're sick.  

 

I had be so good about watching my spending, but being under so much stress caused me to go on a small spending spree:

 

2 (one blue, one yellow) $15 each Etsy seller Suzy from the CRAVE yard



Secrets in Lace Vibrant Bullet Bra $20.40



Cherry hair clip from My Baby Jo $6 (I also got pads for the bra)



Mode Merr peasant top in black gingham $33 before coupon

 

Blue Topaz (Dec. birthstone) ring for $4 on eBay



Figgjo Mirror from IKEA $20

 I also have one auction going on eBay, so it might be another $25 & I ordered $40 worth of medical supplies.  I've also had to spend more on food & cooking supplies since the Mr is on a special diet because he almost died (not exaggerating at ALL).

 

While lamenting my irresponsibility at the doctor's office the other day, one of the nurses had a good point.  I spent 3 weeks at wits end, dressed in pajamas to try to stay comfortable while cleaning up someone else's blood & phlegm.  (Ew, I know, sorry!)  I need to feel cute again. Plus there's the ever present issue of my horrible self-esteem.  I'm still getting unemployment and have gone with out a lot of things for a long time.  I didn't really spend THAT much. 

 

Should I have spent that much money with a huge hospital bill coming up?  Probably not. 

 

Was it a help to my terrible self-esteem?  Yes.  I've gotten a ton of compliments on the top & my hair.  The bra is sooo comfortable that as soon as I have more funds, I will order another one. 

Retro Roadtrip

I kind of vanished for a bit.  I've been dealing with depression again & I've turned into a hermit, so there's not much to write about.  We did have an earthquake & hurricane within days of each other.  One of my dogs almost died & that triggered the depression.  While my friends were having their hurricane parties, I was busy trying to nurse my dog back to health.  He's fine now, but we spent a lot of money at the vet & money is really tight. 

 

My doctor keeps telling me I need to get out of town for a bit & my mom reminded me that we're having a family get together in a few weeks.  The Mr is working, so I'm taking the opportunity to go home.  Is it stupid for me to spend the money?  Probably.  I really, really need to go home though.  

 

The problem is my mother wants me to ride with her and stay with my aunt.  Six hours in a car, then countless hours of sitting with those two will not be relaxing.  Both deny that there is anything wrong with me and can't understand why I can't find a job. 

 

Being the mature person I am, I have lied to them & said I will be staying with a friend.  It may not really be a lie, but I haven't confirmed it with my friend.  If I can't stay with her, I will stay in a motel. If I tell my mom I'm spending money on a hotel, she'll flip.  She's already upset that I'm driving separately, but if I ride with her, I won't have a car and I'll be trapped.  There are things I want to do while I'm up there & I don't feel like dragging her along or begging to borrow a car.

 

My plan is to go up, do the family thing for a day, then the next day, go and have fun with or without the previously mentioned friend.  The Mr doesn't understand how I could possibly make the drive by myself, but I'm looking forward to it.  I can stop when I want & visit stupid road side attractions/shops without him whining.  What I'm looking forward to the most is staying in one of the little roadside motels on Rt. 30.  The Mr is a hotel snob.  His father spends stupid amounts of money to stay in hotels based on their name and alleged fanciness, so he's spoiled & is weird about where we stay.  As long as my room is clean, I don't care. 

 

When I was little, my family stayed at numerous little roadside motels.  Most are run by couples and can be as cheap as $30 a night.  Yes, there are some scary ones out there (esp. closer to larger cities), but the worst experience I've had was finding a giant hairball in a towel.  The towel was clean, but the manager brought new towels & checked each of them in front of us, then discounted our room. 

 

Route 30 in (Lincoln Highway) has a ton of little motels like this.  My favorites are the ones that look like tiny cottages.  You also drive through neat little towns & can find cool stuff in the shops.  It does take longer to get to Pittsburgh, especially because I ALWAYS get stuck behind an Amish buggy.

 

I've always wanted to stay at the Grand View Point Hotel.  My grandparents used to stay there when they'd go on weekend getaways (I have a photo of them posing in front of it in the 30's).  It burned down in 2001.  As you can see, it's a river boat on the side of a mountain. 

 

 

 There is another one in Lancaster (Fulton Steamboat Inn), but that is too far out of my way.

 

I'm going through Retro Roadmap to see what places are still there, but they tend to road trip on the Eastern side of the state.  I do like to have some sort of plan in place.  Hopefully I'll have an interesting update to post when I get back.

Goodies...

I had a few things I was going to post about, but they came out whiny.  I was hoping to have some energy back after a few weeks of the super vitamins, but so far, no real change. 

 

Also, still no luck on the job front & unemployment runs out next month.  I contacted a job firm that specializes in placing handicapped people, but they haven't contacted me back. 

 

One of my friends, who is also unemployed, and I decided that we'd hang out every few weeks to keep ourselves sane.  This week we went to two antique malls I haven't been to.  The first one had a lot more crafts than antiques, but the prices were much better.  I found this tiki ashtray in the clearance section:



$5

It's heavy.  I'd like to use it for earrings or something like that, but there's no room in my bathroom. 

 

The second "mall" was expensive & they have a focus on furniture.  I did find this little dog: 



$2

He has joined my flamingo & dachshund on my dresser. 

 

I was trying to be good, but I'm tempted to go back for this pitcher/glasses set:

 

I really wanted this clock radio, too:



$35

I just can't justify spending the money though. 

 

Our weird find of the day was this anatomy picture:

 

 

My friend was creeped out by it, but she doesn't spend as much time in doctors offices.  It is kind of creepy.  I wouldn't want to wander through my house, half-asleep, & see it.  I can see myself shooting it or smashing it with the closest blunt object. 

 

About half-way though the 2nd mall, I started to crash.  One booth had a really nice chair with zebra fabric, so I decided to "test" it.  My friend said it really fit me, so I looked at the price...$700!  Yikes!  We decided to head out and save the 2nd half for another day.  I was exhausted.  It was hot in both stores and that doesn't help me at all. 

 

I made it home & found two more goodies in the mail:

 



$2



Still had the tag on it



The colors are brighter in person



I've been wanting a hair tie from DollyCool for a while.  I was feeling bad one day last week and decided to treat myself. 

Tax-free laziness...

Two weekends a year, Virginia does tax free weekends on clothing.  In PA, we don't have sales tax on clothing or food (unless it's a restaurant). 

 

I forgot about the tax-free weekend until this afternoon.  I need something to wear for job interviews, not that I've had much luck on that front.  I want to make sure I have some to wear in my closet so I don't have to rush out to the mall to find something.  I hate the malls around here.  The people are even more horrible than they normally are & they're much worse during tax free weekend.  You'd think they were giving things away for free. 

 

Fortunately, it applies to online shopping for stores in VA so I can watch an "I Love Lucy" marathon while shopping.

 

I settled on this dress:



$35 (I have a better belt for it)

I've had good luck finding inexpensive dresses with a retro feel at JC Penney.  I got a dress for the office Christmas party there for $10.  It's a dress I could easily dress down for an interview, but it's heavy and is much too hot to wear when it's 100 degrees outside.  

 

They had a few pairs of shoes that were cute, but out of my price range.  I have a pair of Mary Janes that I can wear.  

 

I decided I'm going to wear a cardigan instead of a jacket.  I never wear them and it's a waste of money.  It's kind of a gamble, but I think I can look just as nice with a quality cardigan.  I'll see what it looks like when I pick up the dress. 

 

One thing that really irritates me about JCP's online ordering is they charge you to ship to the store.  It was only a dollar cheaper than shipping to my house, too.  Most stores will ship to their own stores for free.  It's stupid to charge $6 to have something sent to the store when you're already sending shipments to your stores.  I wouldn't have ordered the dress if I hadn't found a coupon for free site to store shipping.  If they'd offer that all of the time, it would bring people to the store where they might find other things to buy. 

I need to get out more...

I woke up this afternoon feeling like a monster truck had snuck into my room and ran me over a few times.  I took my meds and waited for them to kick in and debated whether or not I should tell our friends not to come over. 

This is one of the biggest issues with having major medical problems.  You want to be social, but you have zero energy and feel like crap.  You end up losing most of your friends.  The few friends I have left are very understanding & helpful.  I'm not the sort of person that asks for help often, but they will go all out to help. 

The need for human contact won out, so I showered and managed to pull on jeans and a t-shirt.  I was still dragging, but a few minutes after they got here, I got kind of hyper and started rambling at them.  I'm normally pretty laid back & kind of quiet, but no one could shut me up.  I just kept going until I realized everyone was looking at me with a surprised expression. 

I need to get out more...The Mr doesn't really listen to me since I mostly ramble on about the movies I saw on TCM that day.  I try to talk about news stories, but he just sits there reading his Kindle.  If I talk about a really weird news story, he'll listen. 

Rambling excitedly & waving my hands around for a long time wore me out.  As soon as they left, I felt terrible & my managed to hurt my shoulder. 

Brilliant!

Now I'm "recovering" by watching a bad horror movie & planning a road trip.  I'm hoping once I get some energy back I can do something fun that gets me out of town for a bit.   

Yet another doctor visit...

 I got my lab results back & was good and went through with the physical, even though I really didn't want to.

 

So far I have almost no vitamin D & too much cholesterol.  I have to take a super vitamin & I was given a cholesterol med (that scares me a little).  Vitamin D helps process cholesterol and since I don't have any, it makes sense that the cholesterol is high to everyone except for this doctor. 

 

The doctor also kind of called me fat & is putting me on a special diet.  Well, she THINKS she is... 

 

I know I won't stick to it because she wants me to only eat fish & veggies.  Not much variety there & she told me NO pizza, bread, cheese or meat.  Really?  People do better on diets when they have variety.  I will try to mix in more fish & veggies, but I'm miserable enough without having what I can eat severely limited.  I could see these drastic measures if my weight were much, much higher & if I had a heart attack.  I know it's preventative, but I would be more likely to follow it if I were still "allowed" things I enjoy.

 

She's also told me I MUST join a gym.  With what money???  I told her I do what I can, but I'm still limited while my knee heals.  Once that heals, I'm still limited in what I can do because of the EDS.  The light exercises I do are not designed for weight loss.  My other doctors understand this. 

 

She's a bit overzealous about being healthy.  Eating fish & veggies every day may be great for her, but not for someone like me.  I love bread, pizza, cheese fries, fried food, steak & burgers.  Do I eat them every day?  No.  OK, I do have bread daily because sammiches are easy to make and cheap.  Moderation is a better way to go.  People don't stick with things that make them miserable. 

 

I do have to say she's very thorough in her physicals.  She analysed every mole I have and decided some need to go.  Now I have to go back next week for that.  Even more $ out of my pocket.  

 

It is nice having someone that is concerned for their patients, but I felt really down when I left the office.  I ran an errand and came home to mope until I can come up with a better plan.