I did something completely out of character today - I went shopping. For clothes. New clothes. Clothes that fit and are pretty colors. From a department store!

That may not sound very exciting, but you see, I don’t shop if I can possibly avoid it. And never in a department store. Almost everything I own, with the exception of things my mother or daughters give me for Christmas, come from Value Village, a second-hand shop in my neighborhood. I’ve never cared much about clothes, and since I work from home, if it covered me (preferably baggy) and cost less than $5, that was good enough for me. Who cares what it looks like? It drives my middle child, Meredith, nuts.

These days I’m fighting some serious self-esteem issues over my appearance, as you all know from my occasional whining, and I have almost nothing that fits. I’ve even avoided buying anything from the thrift store, feeling that it would be admitting defeat, that I might stay this shape. But today I had to have a new bra, and that’s something I don’t buy from Value Village. So Meredith and I went off to the mall.

Mere and I have never had the same taste in anything, let alone clothes. She’s got a great eye, though, from watching What Not To Wear. As hokey as I always thought that show was, she clearly learned something, because before I could find the lingerie she started pulling things off the racks, styles and colors I never would have noticed, and saying, just try it on, you’ll like it. And she was right. In less than an hour I had my bra plus 3 blouses, 2 skirts, a pair of dress pants and a jacket. Then she pulled out a coupon that knocked 30% off the whole works to bring it down to a price I could live with. I’m still in shock over how nice I look in the new things, and how good they make me feel. It’s done wonders for my confidence. At this rate, I might even let her take a picture of me for this page.

She says tomorrow we’re doing accessories at the dollar store.