the Mother's Day outfit from...well, you know where...

Mother's Day is coming soon - 2 days, in fact - and while this is normally not a "huge" holiday in our house, since our kids are too little to cook breakfast or even realize anything is going on, this year we are doing Gabriella's baby dedication on Mother's Day (which is the only day our church does baby dedications...anyway...) and all our family is coming and we are going out to lunch afterward (and I am trying to rival Charles Dickens in paragraph-long sentences...). Sooo...the point is, I want to look nice, because I have to stand up in front of our whole church and family, and...well, I'm a girl. And a mom, but that's no reason why once in a while I can't look nice. I went through my whole closet and couldn't find any post-baby clothes that look good on me...and Robert said I could get a new dress for Mother's Day (probably just to stop having to listen to the whining), so I've went to the mall today. (at 4:00 on a Friday...yeah, that was a good idea. Bad economy, my foot!! I drove around for 20 minutes trying to find a parking space...)

I had a cupon for JC Penny and thought I'd run in, find a pretty dress or at least a yellow top to go with this skirt I'm making out of a dress with a broken zipper (sorry, different story...) I was having one of those "nothing looks good" days with a side of indecision and low-self-esteem on top...plus it doesn't help that buttoned shirts are in and, thanks to 3 babies in 3 years, nothing buttons across my chest anymore. I spent 2 hours and tried on lots and lots of clothes, to no avail. A pretty pink top, which would have gone with my white skirt and was on sale, was too small in medium and too big in large. A blue dress looked nice on me, but the color was too bright to look good on me and I didn't care for the slinky fabric. A pale pink dress was the perfect color for me and fit pretty well, but was a tad too short and very expensive. I got quite frustrated and fed up and was leaving when I spotted a skirt-and-jacket outfit I had tried on the week before and dismissed because I wanted a dress instead. It looked exactly like this:

except with large yellow flowers on the skirt instead of geometic patterns. I grabbed it, bought it, and brought it home. Perfect, I thought. The yellow jacket will go with 3 other skirts I have, including the one I'm making. I tried it on again. Well, it buttoned. But...it just buttoned. Who knows what will happen if I inhale! Now I remember why I didn't buy it last week when I actually tried it on. Sigh. I think I have to take it back. But I can't face shopping again. I will run in, exchange it for the next size, and run out.

And if that size doesn't fit, I will go naked. Everyone's going to be looking at the baby anyway, right??