Hi to all my Gal Pals,
It is hard to believe that I have been doing this blog since November of 2018. Time surely does fly by and I only have two blogs left before I close down my time with all of you. In January of 2026 I will bring it to a close with a little reminiscing. Cognitive aging and memory was one of my favorite topics during this journey so I decided that since this might be my last opportunity to ponder the subject, I would make it the topic of this paragraph. My father had what the neurologist called “isolation dementia”. My father was a proud man and because he didn’t have control over his bladder he was too embarrassed to leave his house. I don’t know if it is a man thing but he would not even consider wearing adult diapers. I would have no problem wearing them if I needed them in order to socialize with others but it was a no-go with him. Sitting in front of his TV all day and evening stunted his cognitive processes. His forgetfulness was scary for him and sad for his family. So every time I have memory lapses I start to think “Should I be concerned?”. It is kind of scary when I can relate to Crabby Maxine who says “I have expanded my skills. I can now forget what I’m doing while I’m actually doing it”. I know that cognitive processing slows down in “mature adults” but what are normal memory “hiccups” for us? So I searched out my favorite resource. According to Harvard Medical School, memory problems are more common than we think when aging. I will address three of the ones I think most of us have recognized in ourselves. Forgetting facts or events over time is normal. It is a ‘use-it or lose it’ quality. It might seem like memory weakness but brain scientists regard it as beneficial because it clears the brain of unused memories making way for newer, more useful ones. Absentmindedness happens when you don’t pay enough attention so your brain doesn’t encode the information, like where you put your keys. This requires attention and concentration and sometimes you forget to do both like when you are in a hurry or you are thinking of something else. Blocking is what I suffer the most with when it comes to memory. This is when someone asks you a question and you feel like the answer is on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t retrieve it from your brain. This is because your brain sometimes retrieves a similar but competing memory which interferes with retrieval of the one you want. I never thought of myself as normal but if Harvard says I am then it must be true. I am no longer going to worry about it otherwise I will end up like Aunty Acid who confessed “My doctor just diagnosed me with anxiety and constipation. Now I am worried shitless!”.
Ok, let’s talk fashion. As I have said before I very rarely follow fashion rules because when it comes to fashion I think we all wear what we like on our body. It is like the quote “You are the artist of your life. Don’t give your paintbrush to someone else”. I like to keep up with fashion trends and talk about them though I don’t always agree with them. Fashion rules are always being broken and then they become trends. I think it was in the last blog I told you about the new trend that broke a rule which was the color combination of orange and pink. Well, for the fall there is another color combination that is breaking a rule and trending. The rule was that you shouldn’t wear black and brown together. I have often worn this color combination especially when I am wearing a cheetah or leopard print. The best way to combine these two colors is to use one as a base and use the other as a complimentary color and/or use accessories to tie the two colors together. One of the outfits I will be wearing in this blog will reflect both these two solutions.
I am going to be showing 4 outfits in this blog so I will keep the landscape design segment to a minimum. First let me tell you that my annuals that I showed you this summer from in front of my house still look just as good. It makes it very difficult to decorate for Halloween and Fall.
I don’t have a picture of the beautiful berm that was in front of my house but it depicted the design element of planting a grouping. Above I threw together a grouping of two plants and a home decoration that goes with the color scheme. Whenever you do a grouping in your yard or in your home you should always arrange it in odd numbers. If you don’t your eye divides the grouping into two parts instead of as a cohesive group. The berm in front of my house had two large shrubs, one semi evergreen and the other a deciduous shrub, with an evergreen spruce tree in the center. It definitely provided winter interest. In your home the grouping can be any one, three, or five items to make a cohesive area of interest. Unlike in your yard, these items can be a combination of live and non-living things. Most of the time when I show my fashions I am wearing earrings and a necklace because the group of three frames my face in a cohesive way.
Alright, let the fashion show begin.
Talk about fall colors! In the fall I wear very lightweight sweaters. This one fits the bill! I got it from Karisma boutique in Naperville. No one is going to see my bulging belly because they will be focusing on all this color. With the cold I am mostly wearing jeans like the green pair in this picture. The pants go perfectly with the green swirling through the sweater. The leather shoes are a great match for this outfit.
I am not wearing a necklace with this sweater because it would do nothing more than become a distraction to this beautiful pattern. I like the mustard yellow bracelet and watch band because it adds a different complimentary color to the colors in the sweater. All the other accessory colors like the orange and green of the bracelets and the rings along with the deep orange earrings enhance all the colors in the sweater.
I love to wear pastels in the fall and the winter. I feel like we get stuck with drab colors during these two seasons so I look for bright uplifting outfits. Here I am wearing a white, lightweight, cap sleeved sweater over top a a lightweight turtleneck sweater. I don’t like wearing bulky sweaters in the Fall because I tend to overheat. The pastel pink pants go beautifully with the edges of the pink flowers. This is a fairly casual outfit so I paired it with my white slip-on Sketchers.
Since this is a very casual outfit, I am accessorizing with simplicity. Sometimes I over think my accessories. For example, I chose the Breast Awareness bracelet because the roundness of the pink pearl beads matches the roundness of the center of the flowers . The pink earrings are the same type of flower as in the sweater and the German yellow smoky topaz ring is shaped like a leaf. The watchband is the same color as the stems.
You all know how much I love Marushka tops. In fact, the top in the introductory picture for this blog is also a Marushka. I get them at their store in Grand Haven, Michigan but you can order them on-line. They are known for their images of things found in nature. Again this is a very casual outfit that looks good and hides my bulging belly. I paired it with a pair of red pants and a pair of my favorite cloth sneakers that I buy each year from Walmart for $20.
I didn’t have to think too hard about the accessories I wanted to wear with this outfit. I wanted to keep them simple, round, and color coordinated. The round pearl of the ring is the same color as the background color of the top. The dark green stone in the ring matches the color of the cherry stems. The earrings, watch and the bracelet reminded me of the cherries. Simple as that!
Previously I talked about the pairing of black and brown and how to do the pairing correctly. I decided on black for my base and brown for my complimentary color. I am using my accessories to tie the two together. First off, this pairing does not work with a very dark brown. This top is more of a light cinnamon brown. It looks like a hooded poncho but there are two side seams hidden by the sleeves. I am wearing one inch heals with the outfit to dress it up.
First, let me tell you that this necklace was $119 at Chico’s. Well, you all know there is no way I am paying that amount of money for an accessory unless it has gems in it. Luckily, it was on sale, I got my membership discount and I used a couple of gift cards I got from last Christmas and my birthday. I know you are probably thinking “I can’t believe Pam was able to hold onto gift cards from Chico’s for so long!”. I just could not find anything that interested me until this Fall. Anyway, all the gold jewelry have oval stones and I used the black beaded necklace to frame the gold necklace and along with the black watch used the pieces to tie the two colors together.
OK, let’s talk weight (although I would rather not!). My first CT scan will be this month. Until then I will probably continue to feed my anxiety. I recently lost a couple of pounds by increasing the length of my morning walks with Matty and decided to try not to eat dessert with every meal. At least I walk each day unlike Crabby Maxine who says “If it weren’t for spring forward and fall back I’d never do any exercise”. I am probably not at the weight that doctors recommend I should be at for my height so each time I see my doctors I am waiting for them to mention it and it stresses me out. The first thing they do when I walk into the office is weigh me. I stopped making appointments right after a holiday. When I am with a group of ladies who talk about their Pilates classes I often think I should follow Crabby Maxine’s lead “Instead of the ‘John’, I call my bathroom ‘Jim’. That way it sounds better when I say I go to the Jim every morning”. Get it? She is such a problem solver!
Well, until next time, have a Happy Thanksgiving and remember God loves you and so do I.
A Peek Into Pam’s Closets 