Downsizing

 Reporting in. What have (read this word with emphasis) I been doing lately? Well, shopping, for one thing. I decided that my underwear situation was so dire that Something Had To Be Done. And, so. I ventured into a local shop that sells madly overpriced (to my estimate) underwear and got fitted for brassieres. I bought two, one of which has so much lace and twinkly bits on it that if I am hit by a car and end up in hospital, I hope I am not wearing it. However, it fits and is comfortable. I have used the sizing on it to order more bras online at a more reasonable price. This was not totally successful, as two of the lot I ordered turned out to have thick, foam-padded cups.

This extra shaping is not useful, in my opinion. Padding would have been useful when I was in my teens and stuffing Kleenex tissues into the cups of my bras. When you are completely without breast tissue and the ideal female body belongs to Marilyn Monroe, padding is a wistful thought. The thick padding would also have been a boon when we were building the house and I was carrying large, heavy pieces of wood around, balanced on my chest. But not these days. The dern things were hot as well as a nuisance and I think I looked weird in them. 

So, the padded ones have been packed into boxes and bags along with a lot of formal clothes that I will never fit into again or have occasion to need – things I bought to wear to weddings or parties. And anything more than two sizes down from what fits was also culled. There are a lot of empty hangars in my closet.

When we part with ‘good stuff’, we like it to go to a local organization that runs the Food Pantry Store. Donations go to it, the store offers it for resale at good prices and uses the money earned to fund the local food bank. As well as the clothes, I made one swoop through the shelves in the ‘back room’ in the basement where stuff congregates. 'Stuff' got sorted and boxed and I have some space on the shelves now. Much more needs to be done there.

As to how I am doing this, it is with hired help. A local woman, a musician, is trying to put together funds to go on tour. Like many musicians, she was really hit hard by the Covid lockdowns, and she decided to amass some cash by working at whatever came to hand. I was delighted at the chance to get things done that I can no longer manage to do myself. So far she has washed down my kitchen, walls, cupboards and the grotty bits of kickplate and corners that the bi-weekly clean does not reach. As well, she has packed and lugged off to the Food Pantry store all of this ‘stuff’ I am divesting myself of. The Food Pantry Store is reached across a parking lot and up a flight of stairs that I find really daunting, let alone trying to navigate carrying boxes and bags. So my helper is doing that, on hourly wage. A very reasonable wage, at that. I know what my daughters pay in the city and it is a lot more.

I have more spaces that I have not been able to clean or sort or divest of clutter, and so I am hoping this worker will stick. She will also do gardening, she says. At one time I took pride in a tidy surround to the house, and, if things work out, I may be able to do so again.

JG and I are now in or approaching our mid eighties, and so I am trying to line up what we will need to help us stay here and live well for as long as possible. Including having things to wear that fit. I have a little list. Expect a report on underpants in a later installment.