Today's Ramblings

Today I took Amy and Emily to Portland and we picked out fabric for school uniforms. Unlike some schools, we choose new outfits every year. The moms take turns doing the choosing.

Some entrepreneur ought to open a big, nice fabric store in Eugene. I mean, the Eugene/Springfield area has something like 175,000 people. The fabric stores consist of:

--three Jo-Ann’s, where once you set aside the fleece, flannel, Christmas fabric, bridal, home dec, and SpongeBob SquarePants, there’s not much left for dresses. The calicoes on the wall don’t hold up well enough for school dresses. And to my huge annoyance they never have more fabric in the back and can’t order any more either. What’s on the shelf is all they have. Other years we’ve called around to almost every Jo-Anns on the west coast to collect half a bolt here and two-thirds of one there. After the year when $35 worth of fabric got lost in the mail, I said ‘no more.’
--Wal-mart, where you can sometimes stumble on just what you want but the only stuff you can get 40 yards of is western prints and huge florals that are not currently cool in the school-age crowd.
--Factory Fabrics, where everything is odds and ends and seconds
--a few random quilt stores where the fabric costs a fortune

I think that’s not nearly enough fabric stores for the population.

So, we went to Fabric Depot in Portland, where they have thousands of bolts of fabric and with a minimum of fuss they’ll order more.

We need a Fabric Depot in Eugene. Or better yet in Harrisburg.

Finding and choosing the fabric was a relatively painless procedure unlike two years ago when in a burst of foolish generosity I took all the older girls along so we could find something they’d all like. Well. They refused to say what they liked for fear their friends would think it was ugly. So this time I just took my two, who are not offended if they like something and their sister doesn’t. (Amy got to add her two bits even though she's already graduated.)

Then we went to two of Portland’s famous second-hand stores and my Find Of the Day was a Gap khaki skirt for me that still had the $49.50 price tag attached, for $3.50. And no slits to sew up. And it’s a size 8. I love it when clothing companies are so generous with their sizing. Normally I wear a size 12 skirt so an 8 makes me want to leave the tag sticking out on purpose like Erma Bombeck used to.

Then we went to Clackamas Town Center and met my sis-in-law Geneva for a 3:30 "lunch." She works at Meier and Frank so to me seems very urban-savvy and worldly-wise. While we were eating, this young black male walked by with pants that seemed like they were made for someone with 2-foot-long legs and a 4-foot torso. I commented on this sight.

"They’re skateboarder clothes," Geneva said. "I’ll bet Security keeps a close eye on him."
"How sad," I said, "that because of people like him, Security will probably keep a close eye on Steven when he’s 17, even if he’s a fine and honest young man."
"No, probably not," Geneva said. "Not if he dresses like Ben and Matt. It’s all in the clothes."

Heed, o ye young people that only want to express your individuality: your clothes send a message whether you intend them to or not.

I tried on some clothes at Meier and Frank, and then wanted to leave, but where were the girls? That store has two levels and is absolutely enormous and how was I ever going to find them? Amy soon showed up, and then by God’s mercy Geneva "happened" to go back by the clearance rack and there was Emily sitting on the floor by the back wall, fast asleep. It was time to go home, so we did.

Quote of the Day:
"If I get scared, I just pray to God. And if I feel this is something God doesn’t need to know, I just tell you."
--Jenny