My Spring T-Shirt Project

Blogger's Note: When I was a sophomore in high school I took a psychology class. One day the teacher went around the class randomly calling on students to stand up at their desk and talk for 60 seconds about a subject of the teacher's choosing. 

When he got to me he chose "bottle caps" for my topic. While for many kids in the class the spontaneous exercise was a struggle or complete failure, the teacher had to interrupt my speech after a minute and a half. 

That was back in 1975. But some things never change. Although bottle caps are, for the most part, a thing of the past, this post is about something that is probably just about as "interesting". 

It's safe to admit that this post tells you more about me, my mindset and behavior, than it does the project I'm writing about. Ironically if you read it quickly enough you will finish it in about a minute and a half. Enjoy. 

The Memorial Day weekend is upon us and that means the "unofficial" beginning of summer. It's time to make sure I have access to the part of my wardrobe that goes with the season. 

Having completed the exchange of long pants for shorts in my dresser there was one more part of my seasonal clothing transition to make. That would be the shirts in my closet. 

For months the OCD part of me has not allowed me to relax completely at night because my side of our bedroom closet was in disarray.

Tourist tees have been mixed in with Disney shirts. Novelty shirts have infiltrated MLB team tees. Randomly hung among all of them are my favorite collard casual dress shirts. 

You know the shirts I mean. Those that are appropriate to wear to church or when we are meeting family or friends for dinner. 

So after weeks of being bothered by the chaos that is my closet, yesterday I found the time to organize my shirts. 

First, I sorted out the long sleeved shirts that I won't be wearing again until next winter. I put them back in our storage closet in the back bedroom of the house. I brought out the baseball shirts I'll be wearing all summer. 

But that's just the beginning of my change over. All the shirts came out of the closet and, still on their hangers, were sorted in piles on the bed. I put them back of my half of the closet in this order, right to left. 

First the long sleeved light weight dress shirts; just in case I need to go somewhere that requires a shirt and tie. Then the aforementioned casual shirts.  

Next are the baseball shirts organized into 3 subsets. First are the shirts with minor league team logos. They include the Chattanooga Lookouts, Louisville Bats, and about half a dozen Bowling Green Hot Rods shirts. 

The MLB t-shirts are arranged leagues by divisional groups like they would be in the season standings. The are in this order: American League East, West, and Central followed by the National League in the same divisional order. Of course the New York Yankees tees are always first. 

As you continue to move to the left you will next see all my Disney shirts. They include my small collection of tees with Goofy on them, all my Mickey Mouse shirts, the shirts I have from my 2004 trip to "The World", and my Muppets t-shirts. 

Among favorite Disney shirts are my very first Mickey shirt and my "Mission Space" and "ESPN Baseball Tonight" shirts. Those last two were purchased during my first trip to Walt Disney World back in 2004. 

You know the phrase "been there, done that, got the t-shirt"? Well, that's what the next group of tees in my closet are all about. I call them "Tourist Ts". I have shirts I bought as a reminder of the great time I had on my vacations over the years. My favorite one is I got at "The Comedy Barn" in Pigeon Forge, TN back in 2001.  

Last but not least are my "novelty" t-shirts. They are unique in a variety of ways. Some have nostalgic advertising for products like "Twinkies" and "Tootsie Pops". Others have sayings on them like the CSI shirt I posted about back on April 3rd. 

A shirt that I bought from a female comedian at Zanies comedy club in Nashville. It has her act's catch phrase printed on it: Just because you can talk doesn't mean you should. 

So there you have the order in which I organized my closet yesterday. Now I'm ready with more than enough t-shirts to wear during the summer and fall months.  

 Just so you don't think I've gone totally "Sheldon Cooper" with this project, I don't have an exact count of how many shirts I have. My best educated guess would be anywhere from 75 to 100. 

So if I make my goal to wear each one at least twice I may be able to do it by Thanksgiving.