By Charlotte Byus
As a young girl I learned to shop very well with my Mom and Sister, they taught me the finer things in shopping. Every Saturday when Mom would close the cleaning shop at 2 pm we would take off for lunch and then head straight for Kaplan’s-Ben Hur on 19th and Yale Street. This was in the Houston Heights – if you wanted something in clothing this was the place.

We would first check out the styles in ready to wear and then head for patterns and fabric, all this was under one roof. We would sit and look at patterns forever. Well they would, I would get bored very quickly. Mom and Dolores would pick out patterns and then look for material that would go well with a new pair of heels that was recently purchased. That was how I learned to budget. If you find a pair of shoes you could not do without, purchase them and make several outfits that went with the shoes. Smart!

My very first pair of Hi-heels were just beautiful, but they were a very unusual color, no problem, just find material to match and go from there. I was the best dressed young lady at Easter Sunday service. Well at least I thought I was. I always enjoyed being just a little different in style, Mom always made skirts, dresses and tops that fit me perfect. It wasn’t until I was heading for college that I just had to have clothes that everyone else had.

The point of this story is I no longer enjoy the fun of shopping anymore. So last week in one of our meetings at work we received notice that all ports were to unify our work attire. REALLY! I have been rocking along with the same two pair of pants for two years! Of course, they are turning gray instead of dark black. They need to be more slacks than jean type material and they need to all be at the same length. That means shopping and not sitting at the table on the computer shopping. I have learned that my body is not in any catalog and my feet do not meet any shoe size. I must get dressed and head out in the world of shops! I’m old and I just hate this crap but off I go.

I managed to purchase what I needed by going to three stores and none of them were at Baybrook. So proud, I have a great fear of trying to park this dually in a sub-compact’s spot.

Ya’ll have a great week, stay warm and enjoy the sunshine while we have it. I’ll be strutting my new stuff at work!

[Feb-3-2020]