Thursday, May 29, 2008

And then some

Dean and I were showered with unexpected, utter goodness when a package arrived from Natalie and her family; this never-before-seen-by-Dean Mars Mission Lego set, a precious, collectible brick from LegoLand, and a custom cd of tunes for me that I play constantly, happily. It would be amazing to have received such goodness from family, or from close friends we'd known for years. But I don't know if the word has been invented yet to describe how miraculous it feels to receive these things from friends unmet, from people who have really no reason to be so good to us other than that they simply are so good. Makes faith in humanity such a simple, clear, easy thing.
The -- what? -- twenty or so posts I've composed in my head since last week's post are now scattered amongst all the other things floating through my brain -- thought about but untethered, undone. I'm anxious about my full plate at work; there are two weeks left of school and I can't fathom how I'm going to get everything done. I'm trying to stay calm and take it a day at a time and all that good stuff, but it's keeping me up at night still. And then I'm wondering about appropriate jean length these days -- mine seem too short all of a sudden although when I bought them (whenever that was) I'm sure showing this much ankle was the look. So what's the look now? How long is a pant leg supposed to be? I feel a little hopeless, and highly amused, that I have absolutely no. idea. I don't even know how to find out. We have one niece who's 25 and who is always dressed to the nines and I fleeting thought about checking in with her, although then I thought about the total sign of hopelessness and ridiculousness that is; do you remember being 25 and having "old people" who were trying to be hip ask you totally stupid questions about how long their jean legs are supposed to be? It's the kind of eye-rolling that practically turns your eyes right around in your head.
Biscuit wanted to help, or wanted to bite my pant legs, or wanted me to walk him, or thought I was trying to take his picture and so wanted to be helpful. Hmmm. Maybe I need new shoes?

9 comments:

Donna said...

I figure fashion like so many other things is a combination of two factors: what others near you are wearing, and what you like.... My suggedstion therefore is take a look when you're at the library, the park or some other public space at how long the pants are, and then "mix" that with your personal prefernce... For myself I usually have pants as long as possible -- so they just clear the ground at the back and don't drag... I might be tempted to shorten the jeans (assuming they are in fact too short) into capri pants for the summer months :-)

Diana said...

Can't help on the pant length situation--I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to such matters. As the mom of a former Lego-nut I know your son will have hours and hours of fun with this. What a delightful and thoughtful gift!

Laura Jane said...

I do believe we are wearing our hems closer to our feet these days. Maybe add a little pleated ribbon edging peeping out from behind the hem to fill the gap and add colour.

And Lego. Sigh, happy sigh of nostalgia. I remember Patty being the staggeringly grateful recipient of about a gallon of space Lego in 1991 in WI from a family of boys who had outgrown theirs! It provided years of fun.

We also devoured the annual catalogue every year for bedtime reading. It was the best value! Lego is VERY expensive in Australia - we were in 7th heaven to live in the USA that particular year.

What a thoughtful gift.

Unknown said...

My personal rule is that long pants must cover the back of my shoes even if only be a touch. Certainly the ankle bone should be covered to avoid that half mast situation. At 5 foot eleven that is why buying trousers is so hard. If suddenly you hate these jeans why not crop them into long shorts for the summer and make somthing crafty with the offcuts?

KBG said...

I'm also 5'11" and wear my pants really long. My rule is they must sit on the top of my shoes. That's probably the wrong image, but I want them to more than "touch" the top of my shoes. Also must touch the heel, if that makes sense.

So I have jeans of differing lengths, depending on the shoes I'm wearing - some are good for heels, some for tennis shoes, some for Danskos (aka: shoes of death).

Lego kits are so much fun. L. still regularly plays with his, or at least he did before we packed all of our stuff for the move. It seems to be the toy that doesn't grow old. Gotta love imagination!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Yup, I think they are supposed to be longer than short. New shoes are good therapy, but so are old and comfortable shoes!
We are so tickled to see Dean blasting-off to Mars.

Lesley said...

Those clogs are great!
I'm with all the others: your pants should almost skim the ground at the back. And if you wear heels some of the time, you should have pants long enough to accommodate your extra height!
How sweet of Natalie to send you all that Lego. What a lovely thing to do.
I'm still smarting over Lego ... Will had two huge storage boxes FULL of Lego that he'd collected since he was born, and stuff we'd bought all over the world (where, as Laura says, it is a thousand times cheaper than it is in Australia). He had battery Star Wars stuff, and remote control bits and bobs. I left them with my eldest son in Perth, thinking they'd go to my grandson when he was old enough — and they chucked it all out! Without even mentioning it to us! I still steam up into a fury when I remember this. And they haven't yet told Will ...

Lesley said...

PS ... Now I've ... ahem ... cooled down a bit.
You are NOT old.
And your 25-year-old rellie would probably be thrilled to talk to you about clothes and stuff.

You are NOT old.

UK lass in US said...

I'm fresh from looking up jeans hemming tutorials, which helpfully informed me that jeans should fall below the ankles. I like to wear them so they fall about a finger width from the ground at the back, so there's a single break over the shoe at the front - like I would wear a pair of formal trousers. I'm not 25 any more, though. The local 25 years olds all seem to be wearing those unflattering skinny jeans. Those were awful the first time around...

I've also been cutting and cuffing my old jeans into long shorts for the summer.