2372 Home again

Monday, April 27, 2009

Short entry.
Got stuff to do.
Back from West Palm Beach.
Sunburned. Chest is brilliant red.
Sun poisoning (streaks and blotches of itchy red) on the top of my right thigh. No big deal.
I wasn't in the sun that long, but I was taking an antibiotic, and forgot the warnings.
Waves too strong to stand in, but water was not cold. Nice sand.
I hate LaGuardia.
The Man has decided he hates LaGuardia, too.
It seems like everything that could go wrong on this trip did.
Everything from reservations to parking to luggage to the tournament.
But we survived.
Nice visit with Sister. She's looking good.
I'm in love again.
With everything else that's going against this relationship, there must be something very right when I feel like this every time I see him, even two years in.

Sister:


The Man - people will say I should have used a fill-in flash, but I like the silhouette effect. It also means I can use it here, since he's not identifiable. Except for the fact that here we are on vacation, at a resort, and he's working. Or maybe he's playing Scrabble. Anyone who knows him will recognize him from that.

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2371 Good Will comes back

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Another blogger mentioned having filled out her summer wardrobe at the Salvation Army store.

A weird thing happened to me. There's a store across the river, I forget whether it's Good Will or Salvation Army, but anyway, when I lost some significant weight in 2006, I donated a lot of brand new and almost new stuff to them. The women there told me that clothing donations go to a central facility where they are sorted and cleaned, and then distributed - so the new-with-tags stuff would be losing their tags in the cleaning, and the chances of any of my stuff coming back to this store were nil.

A few weeks later I was looking through the racks, and I found a dress I really liked. The color was perfect. Not only that, it had been hemmed and the sleeves were shortened, and it was exactly the right length for me. So I bought it.

It was only after I got it home that I realized it was a dress I had donated.

It originally had a long sweater vest with it, that, when I was heavy, was concealing. But after I lost the weight the sweater was way too big and unflattering. The two pieces must have got separated. The dress alone fit perfectly.

It's a little ironic that the way it worked out, it cost me $10 to donate the vest.
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2370 Busy busy

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I took a load to the recycle center this morning (I'm getting the feeling I practically live there), and have to clean litter boxes, pay bills, wash dishes, go to the post office, take the garbage down the driveway, and sort clothes today. Maybe do some laundry if I'm not happy with what's available in the closet.

I'm leaving tomorrow for a weekend in West Palm Beach.

The original purpose of the trip was to visit Sister, who lives in Orlando, but when The Man discovered there was a tournament in West Palm Beach, it all changed. Now we're staying in a fancy-schmancy beach resort, where Sister will join us. And the trip got shortened because he has to get back to the office. Sigh.

Oh, well.

Actually, the flight to Florida is Friday morning, but I reserved a room near La Guardia for tomorrow night because I didn't want to chance the drive down on Friday morning. The Man has accepted my invitation to join me there tomorrow night instead of meeting at the airport (he says he can't wait to see me, isn't that nice?), which pleases me.

The trip is way too short. I figure that the more you pay for plane tickets, the longer you should stay. I've been tempted to let The Man return alone, and stay longer myself, but he's taking nine bowling balls (three three-ball wheeled bags), and will need help wrangling them, plus one of them is "my" free checked bag. Given the weight of the bags, free is very good.

It's nice being needed, even if it is only to handle balls.
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2369 Underwear

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I've been unhappy with my underwear for a very long time. I used the "measurements=size" charts, and what I bought seemed to sort of fit. But my underpants cut in at my waist and rear, leaving lumps above and below (I don't mind a "panty line", but I do mind the lumps), and my bras didn't come up high enough under my arms, leaving spillage, and often made bulges over the front edges.

They were flat out too small to look good.

Maybe those size charts work for younger women with firm flesh, but I suspect that after menopause, and especially after losing a lot of weight, an older woman's tissue is just too soft for those charts.

I had bought most of my underwear from local department stores. Names like Vassarette and Warner's, and I'd even looked at things in Victoria's Secret, who had nothing in my size. Another problem is that I could find white and the occasional tan, but in black I had to settle for almost-fits, and there were no other color possibilities.

I've experimented this past month. I bought all manner of bras and panties in a variety of sizes from various websites, and especially eBay. On eBay, unless I already knew I like that particular item, I stuck with "new with tags", figuring that even though I can't return them if they don't fit, I can resell them.

Discoveries:

• Even though the charts say I wear a 36D bra, I not only fill a 38DD completely, the sides of the cup go back far enough and high enough to contain the spillage, and I don't get squished together in the front.
• The unlined Victoria's Secret with the "infinity edge" is wonderful, and online I can get them in a wide variety of colors (and from eBay, at less than half price).
• Lunaire makes the most beautiful bras imaginable in exciting colors, especially style 14011, and although they retail for about $36, because I wear a less popular size I can get them on eBay for less than $10.
• Going up one size from the charts in panties fits better. Going up TWO sizes is perfect. The elastic around the waist and legs/bottom is downright loose, but that means no cutting in, and they don't fall down because they still cling to my hips. (I prefer panties that go all the way up to my natural waist, because anything lower will roll or fold down under my tummy pad when I sit, and these days high panties are hard to find.)

I'm so excited.

So I spent a portion of today sorting and throwing out the old stuff and setting aside the not quite right, for resale. (Not all 38DD bras fit. Some of them point WNW and ENE when I'm facing north. Weird.)

I set up a small plastic container for the panties, with vertical dividers, and the panties rolled and standing, so I can see the color without having to lift stacks. In the sections on the right are the everyday cotton grannies, then the pretties, then the sexy ones, and on the far left are the "to be worn in the boudoir only, if you need to call 911 for me, get these off me and hide them before the EMTs arrive."
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In all these years, there were a few things I didn't know about bras, things that would have prevented a lot of grief.

For example, bras come in different cuts, the most common three being full coverage (comes up high on the breast, at an angle), balconette (fairly high on the breast, and more straight across) and demi (cut low on the breast). Most of what's available in local department stores seems to be demi.

Surprise! I can't wear demi.

Full coverage with straps far to the sides work on me. Balconette works best because the straps tend to be more to the side, and the underneath support is good.

The beautiful Lunaire 14011, a modified balconette:

They come in various contrasting combinations of colors of net, lace, and embroidery. 940angelica is an eBay seller, from whom I bought these two bras.
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2368 Hypocrisy?

Monday, April 20, 2009

I went to the hospital today for a bone density scan. They had told me not to take a calcium supplement within 24 hours, so I skipped my calcium yesterday. However, I did take a multivitamin, which happened to contain 20% of the daily requirement. The technician didn't want to do the scan because of that. Hey, you didn't tell me not to eat any food yesterday, and in a good diet, 20% would have been less calcium than dinner!

They did the scan.

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Some people think that Mel Gibson, the super-Catholic, is a hypocrite because he and his long-time wife Robyn are getting a divorce. I don't see what's hypocritical about it. First off, she filed for divorce, not him. What's he supposed to do if she wants a divorce, tie her up and lock her in a closet? And second, it's my understanding that Catholics can get a civil divorce. What they can't do is remarry (unless the Church also voids the marriage).

So where's the hypocrisy? (Supposed affairs didn't enter into the discussion.)

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(Arrived in an email.)
The economy is so bad:

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

Even people who have nothing to do with the Obama administration aren't paying their taxes.

Hotwheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

PETA serves chicken wings at their meetings

McDonalds is selling the 1/4-ouncer.

People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

A truck convoy of Americans got caught sneaking into Mexico .

The most highly-paid job is now jury duty.

Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

People in Africa are donating money to Americans.

Mothers in Ethiopia are telling their kids, "Finish your dinner. Do you know how many kids are starving in the US ?"

Motel Six won't leave the light on.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. So, the guy that made $50 million disappear is being investigated by the people who made $750 billion disappear.

Alpo stock is rising.
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2367 If ya got it, spend it!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

I spent almost all of today wrangling paper. Shoveled out my car, unloaded the flat spaces in the kitchen, set fire to the desk (well, no, but I wanted to). Now I have to pay some bills and do some filing, I guess. Most of the paper ended up back out in the car, but this time sorted and corralled in bags, destined for the recycle center.

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I mentioned to Piper the other day how disappointed I was that Marylou Whitney had canceled her annual gala (my post on that here) for the opening of the Saratoga racing season, on the grounds that it was "inappropriate in the current economic climate". He agree that such an extravagant display was inappropriate --- until I explained to him why canceling was absolutely the wrong thing to do. There are a lot of businesses in the Saratoga area that depend on that million-dollar gala to put them over the hump. Not having the gala is going to put a lot of businesses under (beauty parlors, dress shops, caterers, decorators, costumers, entertainers, printers, and everybody they buy stuff from), and that will have ripple effects.

Ms. Whitney MUST have the gala! Because of the economic climate. The bigger the better.

I can understand why some people are spending less, what with lost jobs, lost business, lost investments, or the threat of disaster. But Ms. Whitney has more money than anybody in this world needs, and I figure she has a responsibility to spend it, spread it around. Every time a rich slob buys a yacht, several thousand people benefit from the ripples.

This is a good thing. The more ostentatious displays of wealth, the better.

I figure them what's got it should spend it. They have a responsibility to spend. It's their duty. It's the only way things will turn around. Stuffing it into the mattress (or into savings) isn't helping. I mean, if anyone's got more than they need, and they got it with the support of all the little people, then by damn they should give some of it back.

Of course, they don't want to spread it around.

If the government had it, the government should spend it. Unfortunately, the deficit is already so high that technically the government doesn't have it. So if the government has to take from those that have it, and spend it for them, well, that's probably the right thing to do.

The more money is circulated, the better for all of us. If that's socialism (it isn't really), or communism (it isn't really), well that's what's needed.

The government is distributing money. That's the right thing to do. The money is borrowed. The next question is where they get it from to pay it back. I figure it should come from the upper income levels, because they're the ones that have it. We'll see - but we shouldn't get excited (tea bag, anyone?) until we find out for sure where it will come from.

Piper started out skeptical, but the more he thought about what I said (using Ms. Whitney and the economics of Saratoga Main Street as a concrete example) the more he agreed.

Spending is absolutely the right thing to do. Even if it's by executives at spas. It may "look bad", but if it means the masseuses and maids can keep their jobs and make their car payments, how is that bad?
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