Wardrobe Malfunctions

My mama taught me right. After about mid-September, regardless of the temperature, a lady wears hose and when it gets cold, tights. So the first clothing issue I will blame on my superior upbringing. I noticed the big hole in the upper thigh of my hose at about 9:00 am. I figured that it was high enough that I could just be careful and keep it from getting bigger and running down the leg. But as anyone who has worn hose knows this is not an easy feat.

Then during our morning meeting to my absolute horror I discovered a hole in the back of my dress at the end of the zipper. I asked my (female) intern to see how bad it was and she said that "they were small holes." THEY! So there were two holes in the main seam in the back of my...wait for it...$115 dress! Anything I pay more than $50 for I expect to a) work and b) not fall apart from normal wear. One hole I could have safety pinned, but two is a fashion emergency.

So I high tail it to the dry cleaner on the Hill where I take my suits. I know that they do alterations and they have a dressing room where I can hide in my tights while they repair it. I blow in there and show the nice Chinese lady behind the counter what is CLEARLY an urgent clothing matter and express how the fate of the day rests on her expertise in handling clothing matters. Her response? "I no do the alterations."

There is only one appropriate response from a true recessionista in this situation. Take the brown thread and needle, get in the dressing room, strip down and sew that bad boy up yourself. So there I sat, in my shoes, hole-y tights and bra sewing up a dress that NEVER should have fallen apart in the first place during my work day. Truly laughable.

Picked up a new pair of hose on my way back to the office and in less than a half an hour I am back at my desk in new hose and a flash repaired dress.

Sometimes when you need something done, you've got to do it yourself.

Treads

I have done it again. Thanks to my trusty, paid-in-Cuervo mechanic and Al Gore's glorious invention I am coming in almost $100 under budget for the great tire replacement project. I have dedicated both the September and October tutoring paychecks to tires so that I will keep it off the credit card. I bought cold weather tires online as per Julian's suggestion, had them shipped to Merchant Tire who is going to mount and balance them for me for under $20 each. Total is $450. I put away almost $560. Conclusion: I. Am. Awesome.

Now if only I could find a way to go home for Christmas without going into debt. It could be a very recessionista Christmas alone in DC....