Plain Dress part One

So I've been thinking lately. Yes, it's rare. Feel free to insert a laugh track here, it may even be appropriate.

I've been thinking about plain dress.  Not A plain dress, but Plain Dress. Kinda like what the Amish people get around in.

At the outset, I should point out that I am not in any way religious in a strict sense, and definitely not in any Christian, Judeo-christian, biblical sense at all.

But there is something in me that is drawn towards the simplicity and honesty of a plain, simple daily outfit, a long skirt, a basic shirt, and even the head covering.

I have been wearing large wide fabric headbands to work every day for a while. They serve a dual purpose - stops the headset I have to wear pulling at my hair and getting tangled, and keeps my hair out of my face.  But I feel naked now, if I go out of the house without one. This is a little weird.

I am not a fashionable dresser at all. And I have always loved long skirts, especially in summer. But this is different to that. It's a whole different yearning, almost.

I want to live a simple, uncluttered, old-fashioned life. Yet there are so many things preventing me from doing so. First and foremost, having to work in a complicated, structured, technologically advanced (or limited, depending on your viewpoint!) corporate consumerist business, to pay my mortgage, to feed my children. Having to drive there, having to don the 'corporate' gear, the 'business attire', the outlook to fit and be part of the 'team'.

I am studying in order to get out of that world. I will be demoted, when I leave. I will have a social standing reduction, so to speak. I am studying to learn the skills of a lower-paid, less-valued role. But it's a role where I can do good. (I may be deluding myself. There may be LOADS of red-tape bureaucratic shite that makes it just as bad as where I am now, but paid worse... I won't know until I get there). It's a role that will always be needed, and needed by INDIVIDUALS, actual people, not voices on phones, not companies. People.


When I get there, I will wear a uniform. It won't be a long skirt, but maybe the simplicity of a uniform at work will meet the need I am feeling now?

In the meantime, if you see a slightly crazy-looking hippy lady with a floral head covering and a long skirt walking around, say hi. It's probably me.

Wowsers, there's a surprise!

So I think I have commented before about how surprisingly different my two younger lads are. One is very much into solo imaginative indoor play, and reading quietly. The other plays better as a follower inside, and loves kicking around a ball and riding on anything with wheels. Hence you will understand my surprise when the ball-loving fellow advised me yesterday that he was glad his impending birthday is on a Thursday, because on Tuesdays and Thursdays he is allowed in the library at lunch time, where he likes to play chess or read with his friends. Chess set for birthday present, I'm thinking. Now I'm goiing to have to try and remember the rules myself!

And not blog here?

Well, it might have something to do with this seriously irritating blog app on my phone, that consistantly eats posts instead of posting them. Or it could be the lateness of the hour. It could be a combination. Anyway, I've been blogging elsewhere rather than here. Sorry all. Will try and update here more often.

Why I can guest blog elsewhere

Today's lesson

has pretty much revolved around the "don't count your chickens before they hatch" scenario.

I paid a bucket load of tax this year. Partly because I worked 3 part time jobs for most of the year. And my tax-free threshold was claimed on the middle-earning one, not the highest earning one.

What this means is, on my highest-earning wage, I paid just under one third of my total income from that employer in tax.

Now, I'm not completely stupid. I understand that these things usually all come out in the wash at the end of the year, it all balances up and you really only end up paying what you are supposed to.

But I was pretty sure that it would work out so I would get a reasonable tax refund.

The estimate I've determined from today, however, shows that there is nothing reasonable about it. Because I earned in total *just* over the amount required to have to pay back some of my higher education accrued debt, the expected refund has all but vanished.


I have a construction project that I'm in the middle of, that I'm sure you all remember. It's stalled because, quite frankly, I need to hire someone who actually knows what they are doing. And now, I can't afford to.

I have no clue what I'm going to do. Everything is crumbling down even further at this stage. I mean, really.

Never ask how much worse a situation can get. Just.... dont.

Have you ever wondered?

What would happen if you threw caution to the wind and just rolled with whatever life landed in your lap?
I wonder lately if I've become to obsessed with safety. Financial safety being a big thing. There's a bit in my head that used to not care so much, and was happier following my impulses. But these days I seem to have convinced myself without a doubt that I AM STUCK.
I can't change anything, because then I wouldn't have a safety net. I work in a role I dislike enormously, but it's SAFE - it's permanent, it's all but guaranteed. It's not budging, and it brings in a set income, and I can pay the mortgage and most of the bills with it.
I have been looking for new jobs all day. There is a potential job just down the road from me. I'm trying really hard to bite the bullet and actually apply for it.
But I'm scared. Because the income will be smaller and I don't know exactly what the flow on effects will be. And I'm scared.
I never really thought that applying for work would be a risky thing. It is when it means you have to leave what you know and do something else, and when that something else comes with a lesser implied $$value.

Ack, I think I just need to man up or something.

windoze take two

Well that was fun. There is an app now for my windows phone thät talks to blogger. So I'm posting from my phone. I don't think I can put pics in the post tho. That's a bit weird. But a simple text blog shouldn't be a problem. I'll have no excuse now for not having something to say. . .