One more time: How was that spelled?

TZM likes to stay up late--really late--at night. He stays up so late that it's more accurate to say he goes to bed "early in the morning" instead of "late at night." That means he's usually asleep when I get up to get ready for work. I putter around in the mornings watching The Weather Channel and getting dressed while he sleeps completely unaware that the cat that freaks him out the most is pushing open the bedroom door, getting on the bed, and peering intently at his face.

This weekend I decided one of my goals for the new year was to sort through my enormous collection of clothing and pare down a bit. From someone's blog I picked up the notion of making an effort to wear everything in your closet: if you're not wearing it regularly, why do you have it? And, if you put it on and don't want to wear it, then you should get rid of it. I planned to start that Monday morning with a skirt I got from the thrift store long ago but had never worn.

I put on my skirt, picked out a shirt, and shoes. I thought, "Is this skirt too long for me?" but decided I would wear it anyway and decide later. My shirt needed a quick pressing, and I had a little time. I plugged in the iron and got out the ironing board.

I'm ironing when out comes TZM. He's awake so early!
"Good morning!" I say.
"Uh-oh, hot dog," he says--something he picked up from MadTV--as he shakes his head at me.
"What? You don't like my skirt."
Shakes head again. "It's a little librarian, don't you think?"
"Is it too long?"
"You know what you look like?"
"...."
"You know some modern nuns don't have to wear habits...."
"...."
"And those shoes!" Shakes head. "Those shoes look like 1950."
"Well, I have a shorter skirt I could wear."
"You should never wear skirts below your knee. Your length is well above your knee."
"...."
"When you wear a skirt below your knee, your legs look squat. Squat. S-Q-U-A-T. Squat...." (on and on he went for what seemed like 10 minutes).

Gee, it's so great when TZM gets up early!

He kept saying "squat" like I'd never heard the word before. I'm 5'3" (and a half!) with proportionately short--maybe even a little shorter--legs. Believe me, I know from "squat."

Needless to say, my too long skirt will likely be passed on to a longer-limbed friend. (That's you, SQ!) I guess that was my goal; I just didn't want to go about it quite this way.