About this time last year, when I was doing my annual holy-crap-I-wish-spring-were-here dance, I went to a thrift store on my lunch break to buy some shirts. Basic men's button-front shirts, which I later turned into dresses for my niece. 

While I was there, I remembered all the nifty "repurpose that Godawful thrift store dress" ideas I'd seen around the internet, so I started looking at the dresses. And I found one that is truly hideous but the fabric said SPRING! and so I bought it.

Ain't it a beaut?

(The boots are mine. I thought they added a sort of je-ne-sais-quois to the outfit.)

Your mother wears combat boots!

I apologize for the grainy, craptastic photos. I took them myself. If you can't tell, this little number has pintucks through the front bodice, a tie in the back, and a very long back zip. It's also incredibly wrinkled because it's been shoved in one of my sewing stuff drawers for a year.

It's got the obligatory 1980s gigantic shoulder pads--you know, because every woman secretly wants to look like a linebacker.

It makes me feel pretty.

Okay, not really.

I can't figure out what to do with this thing. I've thought about hacking it up and off and turning it into a short little strappy sundress. Or chopping off the top and making it a maxi skirt. (I wish there were a better term for those--maxi always makes me think of...something else.) 

So help a girl out, okay? Tell me what I should do with this thing. Because if it sits around here another summer, I'm going to give it to my mom for Christmas and act like I really love it and then take pictures of her wearing it and post them on Facebook.