This weekend, I plan to do a little clothing shopping for myself.  I figure if I put it in writing, I will resist the temptation to shop only for the children.

As usual, I will spend 99% of my time in the children’s section of the store before dragging a cart (bum wheel implied) full of girlie goodies over to the women’s “active wear” section and wait for it…..pour through racks of long sleeved t-shirts until I find exactly what I’m looking for, or until I find something requiring a minor repair job or with the tag sewn upside down discounting the items heavily. I’m really not that picky.

I stopped shopping for “pretty” things a long time ago. I’m not suggesting you can’t be a stay-at-home-mom and be pretty. For me, it’s a practical realization that my new job requires me to wear stains, spills, finger prints, toothpaste smears so why wear raw silk or faux fur vests when it all ends up in the same chalk outlined heap on the laundry room floor at the end of the day?

So my pretty things hang on a lonely rack in my closet, tags still on but my long sleeved tee collection—that’s where the magic begins.

I wear them because they’re comfortable and my kids (for the most part) don’t judge me based on what I’m wearing the same way my old cubicle did.

I can move freely about the play-doh table (when the play-doh ban has been lifted) without the hassle of tassels.

The long sleeved tee is more versatile than you might have thought. I can wear a different coloured tee for each day of the week but wear the same pair of jeans, thus mixing up my fall collection creating the illusion of something new each day.

You can sleep in the long sleeved tee, confusing your kids about the boundaries between pyjamas and daywear.

You can add jewellery, macramé a fake pocket or wear them under a smart looking blazer.

Move over closet full of long-sleeved tees, company’s coming.

More long sleeved tees.