A week of skirts...

I had a lovely time with my son last Saturday and a chill out day on Sunday.

Bought this necklace a few weeks months ago in a charity shop, of course!

Everything is charity shopped except boots bought online last year.

Sunday's outfit.

Everything above is charity shopped except boots donated by my daughter. She's given me another pair - black suede with gold doo dahs. I must try and wear them soon! The beads are the ones I bought for £1.49 last week.

 I didn't go walking on Sunday although it was a beautiful day and just right for walking. I'd had a busy week and I find I don't have the same energy levels that I used to so I decided to potter about at home and I didn't even bother with make up. 

 I've also decided that I will stick to just volunteering on Monday and Tuesday and walk Weds, Thurs, and Friday mornings and only do weekend walks if I really want to or if the weather is especially good. This means that I have Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday afternoons free. I do the weekly shop on a Thursday afternoon. Monday and Friday afternoons are limited by the school run and childminding. I'm as busy now I'm retired as I was when I worked - and for the last five years of my working life I only worked three days a week!

Monday's outfit. Day 1 of skirts.

 Goody of  'Eat the Blog' here is doing a week of jumpsuits so I thought I'd see if I could manage a whole week of wearing skirts instead of wearing trousers/jeans/leggings which are my usual go to clothing items. I also thought that I'd concentrate on short (ish) skirts and exclude maxis - which I wear quite often.

Everything charity shopped except the cardigan which was bought online as a present from OH.

I bought this skirt last week in Barnardo's, Great Denham. It's one of those skirts that I'll struggle to find things to go with. I have a yellow blouse, but it's too long; if I tucked it in and wore a jumper, preferably short sleeved, over it it might work. I suppose white would work as well. The thing is I tend to like and buy tops that are hip length to cover the troublesome middle area -  and they just don't go with this length skirt.

I had a free day on Tuesday. I haven't heard back from the Bedford Guildhouse although I had hoped to start there today.

Tuesday's outfit - Day 2 of skirts. I felt like wearing some orange...

These are my orange beads x 2 - again!

Everything charity shopped except the boots and earrings which are from Sainsburys.

The skirt is from the Red Cross shop and I bought it months ago. I bought the blue watch on my charity shopping trip on Tuesday.

I seem to have changed my charity shopping modus operandi. I'm going less frequently but spending more. I should think it will all balance out over the year but spending up to and over £20.00 on a trip is hard to get used to. I usually have a maximum limit of £5.00 for a charity shop item - only to be exceeded if it's especially good/different/unusual/ irresistible! I spent £19.24 in total on Tuesday in two charity shops. I went to Rushden which is about 12 miles away from Bedford. This is what I bought:

•  A deep blue lace maxi party dress - with short sleeves - £3.75
• A tunic in an oyster colour £5.00. 
• A Next scarf - 99p
• Towel and pillow case - £1.50
• A watch - £1.00
• A necklace - 50p
• Earrings - £1.00
• A  small notebook and a knitting pattern - 50p
• 5 books £3.95
• 4 place mats - 99p

I now have a dilemma. The deep blue maxi dress I bought on Tuesday would be fine for OH's work do but it has short sleeves. I'd need a bolero or a stole to wear over it. I could probably find one or the other in a charity shop but I'd need to get my skates on as the do is 4 weeks away. I could (hopefully) return the cranberry bought on line  dress and get a refund. I am unlikely to wear this dress again whereas I am likely to wear the deep blue dress again. I wouldn't have to have the cranberry dress altered....decisions, decisions!

I went walking on Wednesday by myself and did 7 miles. I walked the route I'll take when I lead another Rambler's walk in January 2017. It's amazing how different the same route looks in different seasons and it's also a good idea to check that the footpaths are kept clear and passable. Sometimes walks have to be changed or cancelled because formerly passable footpaths have become so overgrown. It's usually the landowner's responsibility to keep the footpaths clear as many receive a payment from the local council to do so. The Ramblers, too, take responsibility for keeping footpaths, signs etc clear and organise path clearing teams on a regular basis.

Wednesday's outfit - Day 3 of skirts

Everything I'm wearing is charity shopped. I had taken my watch off as the strap had begun to irritate me.

I don't know where I bought this skirt from but it was bought recently. The top is from the Red Cross shop. The boots are the weirdest colour, a sort of greyish brown - taupe maybe? They're Italian leather boots and bought for £2.50 from the Re Use centre last winter.

I bought this necklace on Tuesday for 50p at the Salvation Army charity shop in Rushden.

On Thursday the weather conspired against walking. It was cold, wet and very windy! I will walk on Sunday morning instead - weather permitting.

Thursday's skirt - Day 4

Earrings bought last week in the Salvation Army, Bedford.

Grey patterned skirt from Age UK - now sadly gone from Bedford. Everything is charity shopped except the jumper which was donated by my daughter - a gift which was too big for her.

Friday's skirt - Day 5

I went walking by myself today. It was cold and sunny. I tried to walk the route I walked on Wednesday but in reverse. Of course, I got lost and so I walked 8 miles as I had to retrace my steps.  I'm very good at getting lost! I didn't see this  tree in its lovely colours on my walk but near my grandson's school. It's slowly losing its leaves...

Everything is charity shopped except the boots and earrings which are from Sainsburys. I don't think I've posted a photo of me wearing this plaid skirt before. It's from Principles and I bought it last winter. I'm not mad about it so I think it will be off to the charity shop bag...I might try it on with my navy blue ankle boots and see if it looks any better. I don't think I'd ever wear it with shoes.

This jumper/sweater is 100% cashmere which might explain why it's so creased. My jumpers don't normally crease. I paid about £3.00 for this but can't remember where. I also have a navy blue v neck cashmere jumper  (also charity shopped) which I haven't yet worn. I wonder if that will crease, too? I hope not.

I've enjoyed the challenge of wearing a skirt everyday. I've still got about three or four other (shortish) skirts that I could have worn but I have featured them on the blog before.  As I like a challenge I've decided to have a week of wearing dresses next week and I'm quite looking forward to it.

I've got to Friday with only one charity shop trip but OH has just informed me we are going to Kettering charity shopping on Saturday! I'll try to be good. I can look for a bolero or shrug to go with my charity shopped party dress.

I'm just coming to the end of Jonathan Franzen's, 'Freedom' and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite a tome  at 706 pages, and my next read is equally weighty; Annie Proulx's latest novel:
 'Barkskins,'  at 713 pages. It's a reservation from the library so I need to get started on it soon...

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and wrap up warm!