14 posts tagged “clothes”
...and I haven't been getting enough, until last night. After weeks of inconsistant and scarce sleep, I *finally* fell asleep easily and slept all night long! I did wake up a couple of times because my chest is still rattling from that damn cold, but every time I woke up, I was able to lie back down and fall right back asleep. Ten glorious hours!!! I feel so much better! I was really getting obnoxiously twitchy and moody.
I ordered new pants yesterday, in the next size down. WOOT! That makes three pants sizes I've dropped since late July. I *just* bought new jeans about two weeks ago, and I absolutely loved the way they fit on me ...until this weekend when I started having to hike them up constantly. We went out to the park for a walk, but didn't get to walk the trail I wanted to because I was getting annoyed at having to hike my jeans up so much. I actually almost walked right out of them while I was at home cleaning the next day and had to catch them just as they were sliding off my butt. This all amuses me muchly, aside from the fact that these were the best fitting jeans I've ever owned a couple of weeks ago and I'm a little sad to see them go. I did wear a belt with them for a while yesterday, but I had too much of the waistband gathered up under the belt and that got to be uncomfortable after a short while. So, new pants on the way. At least I've been able to find jeans and pants at great sale prices. Maybe I can resell them on ebay and recoup some of my money.
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year. I'm not one to say "never again", but honestly, it doesn't seem likely. I like to write a lot, but there are a crazy amount of things that I like to do "a lot". It always seems to come back to "do what you love", and I've discovered that I absolutely do not love writing enough to deal with a writer's life. I did NaNo for a few years until I finally hit that 50,000 words in one month, and I really feel like I've checked that off my list of things to do. I could see trying it again if I was job-free and had absolutely nothing else planned for the month of November and nothing else at all that I wanted to do, ...which I really can't see happening. I always wish my writing friends the best of luck and fun for NaNo, but I'm pretty much out of that game now.
Found a gem of an old movie on Netflix last night: "Spider Baby". I was skeptical, but I'd seen just about everything else in the horror category, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It was delightfully twisted. I'll definitelty watch it again.
Well, enough yammering. I'd better get back to my day. It's been a superhuman effort in recent days to keep myself moving and out of that pit of despair and depression, but the sleep I got last night has helped a ton, and I'm finally feeling motivated to get some stuff done.
I could totally kill for a cup of hot chocolate right now. I took some Excedrine for my stupid head just a bit ago though, so no additional caffeine (or sugar) for me tonight. I'll probably be up half the night as it is. :p
Had a good day today, despite this ...cold or allergies or plague or whatever the hell it is that's kicking my ass, or sinuses rather. I finally got the thresholds for the kitchen doors painted, so Craig will probably put those in tomorrow. Next on my never-ending project list is staining my china shelf, I think. Depending on how I feel, I might do that tomorrow. Or I might paint the back door, or paint the mudroom ceiling, ...or maybe none of the above; maybe I'll just sit on my ass and read. I definitely want to get my Halloween decor up, and bake a sour cream apple pie at least.
We also did a little shopping today. I got a nice allergen-barrier/mattress pad combo for the antique brass bed Craig set up in the extra room. Found it on clearance, and had a 20% off coupon too so, good shopping! Next I get to shop for a quilt/comforter, which is far more interesting than a mattress pad. That'll have to wait for my next paycheck though. After that, I'll need a bed skirt, sheets and pillows, lots of pillows for that one. It's going to be a far more comfortable guest bed than the tiny futon upstairs. It'll be a lovely place I can lounge under a blanket and read too. :)
I helped Craig shop for some new jeans tonight, and we found some that he can totally rock. They're a smaller size than the last time he bought jeans, so yay for him! ...And me! *wink-wink* ;) I bought new jeans for myself today too, and a cute, purple jacket, but Craig doesn't know that, so shhh! *L* I had a 40% off coupon that was good for online shopping only, so I'm hoping they fit well and I don't have to return them and continue shopping.
We also went to my favorite restaurant for Lebanese food tonight. It was a late dinner and our eyes were much bigger than our stomaches. It seemed like we ordered one of almost everything on the menu. heh. Of course, we brought most of it home. We'll probably get another dinner and a lunch out of what's in the fridge yet. :D YUM!
There's so much I want to do tomorrow, but it's going to be a nice, low-key day at home, regardless of the long to-do list. Maybe I'll get enough sleep tonight that I'll be up to doing at least half of what I have tentatively planned. Sleep would be very good.
So I've finally, in my almost 40 years, caught on to the importance of having nice clothes. It's not about looking better than anyone. It's about confidence and taking good care of yourself and about being able to put something nice on at a moment's notice if the opportunity to do something comes up rather than trying on everything in your closet and crying because it all still looks as bad as it did the last time you tried it all on.
And of course I know it's a good thing to be slimming down and getting healthier, even if it means I'm shrinking out of my clothes before I've worn them out, or in some cases, before I've worn them at all. It's still worth it to me to have a wardrobe full of nice things on stand-by, just so I don't have to feel like a schlump whenever I leave the house.
I'm trying to remember these lessons this afternoon because I bought this *really cute* dress this spring. I had no occasion to wear it when I bought it, I just bought it because I needed at least one dress at the ready and it was really cute! Did I mention it was really cute? It fit perfectly when I bought it, and for the first time in over ten years, I wished we'd have an event to go to where I could wear this dress, like a wedding or a fancy party of some sort.
Well, an event finally came up. It's more of a casual event, but I could still rock this dress there. I just tried on my lovely dress, and I'm swimming in it. The tags are still in it. *sigh* I even went to the website I ordered it from to see if I could order it a couple sizes down, and they don't have it any more, or any dresses I like even half as much.
It's kind of sad that I can't wear this wonderful dress now, but still I'm happy as all get-out that I'm slimming down! And I'm glad that I do have a closet filed with other acceptable options, things I'll still feel good wearing. I might try to take the dress in, or rather, I might take it to a seamstress; it's a lot of flowing georgette that's kind of difficult to work with. ...Or I might start the hunt for another cute dress.
This is me reminding myself that the money I spent on that dress was *not* wasted, and that it's really a good thing that it's too big on me now.
Sunday I cut some lilacs to bring them in, just in case we got the frost they were predicting and it meant the end of lilac season. I've learned that I'm am *REALLY* allergic to lilacs. After feeling really horrid yesterday, I finally noticed the pattern that the closer I was to the lilacs, the worse I felt. I didn't have the heart to just toss them in the compost pile, they're so very pretty and Craig enjoys having them in the house, so I just moved them to a part of the house that I don't spend much time in, and I'm feeling loads better!
And those panic attack like episodes I was having are definitely related to caffeine. I was facing the choice of napping after already sleeping in until after 9am, or having some coffee, so I cautiously went with the coffee. I had a scant 6 ounces or thereabouts, and it really set me off. I was feeling good before I was half through my cup, energized, awake, ready to get some stuff done. Then about an hour after finishing it off, I got the jitters and the shakes, a bit of vertigo, tingling in my hands and face, and the strong impulse to just keep moving ...a lot! I know caffeine is cumulative in your system, so I'm obviously at my max tolerance. I'm not sure how long it'll take to "detox", but I'll tell you what, it's still really nice to not be asleep right now. I'm definitely going to have to be very conservative and careful with my intake from now on though.
Last week I figured out my reading problem, which was finding the time. I realized it's not too tough to read while riding our exercise bike, and it also makes that time pass far more swiftly. It's been far more enjoyable to spend that 30 minute minimum on that strange torture device that goes nowhere, when it also gives me the excuse to lose myself in some tasty fiction. So, I'm pleased to report that that has become a daily activity.
In an effort to get even more physical activity into our days, we're scheduling some fun things for the after-work but before-dinner hours. Yesterday we went to Oak Openings and hiked a quick three mile trail before dinner. I love the Ferns & Lakes trail, but it's very marshy, and unless you have DEET running through your veins, you do NOT want to hike it in the summer! Already yesterday we had a near constant mosquito cloud following us in the damper parts of the trail. We also were up to our ankles in mud a few times. Good times. heh. It's a gorgeous trail in the spring though, with a carpet of huge, lush ferns and clear running water and the smell of the pine canopy from the surrounding area. There were tons of wildflowers too. I had a bunch of pictures I wanted to upload but flickr is being a bitch today. Tonight we're taking a quick bike ride before dinner. Future activities will include more of the local parks, biking for sure, and making good use of the basketball and tennis courts just a few blocks away.
So I am ramping up my efforts to get in shape now, with Burning Man serving as my carrot on a string, but I have been slowly working away at it all year long, albeit in fits and starts. I've noticed that I have to hike up my favorite jeans all the time these days and I'm thinking it's time to belt them. Today I realized I could totally get in and out of them without un-buttoning/zipping them at all. That's a very happy thing, but also quite a bit annoying. In the past I was always reluctant to buy new clothes because I wanted to lose weight and the investment in clothes I'd hopefully soon be too small to wear seemed like a waste. Recently though, I realized that that had never happened, and I got to thinking that if spending some money would help me improve my body image and not feel so shlumpy, it might just give me that extra boost I needed to take better care of myself. Well, that apparently worked 100% for me, and that's really cool. Except now I'm a little peeved that I have all these great clothes that I spent months(!) hunting down and I absolutely adore, but which I'm not likely to fit into for very much longer. Clothes shopping is hard work when you're not an industry standard shape and size, and I HATE shopping! Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to be slimming down, for both vanity and health reasons, but... all my new clothes!!! I'm going to try a hot water wash or four to see if I can shrink some of this stuff and get a little more wear out of it. Yay for getting fitter!!! Seriously! Really. But now I'm back to feeling shlumpy in my baggy clothes, and I really hate-HATE-***HATE*** shopping!
I've been managing to stay off allergy meds so far this season, though the mornings are brutal. My symptoms seem to mellow out by lunch time though, so I'm still not wanting to take my meds and endure the craptastic side-effects.
It's been a rough week or so though. Allergies, hormonal issues, sleeping problems ...all likely related. There have been a few terrifying health crises in the family. There was a yelling match with my dad. (Well, really, he pushed the buttons and I did all the yelling.) My brain has been quite scrambled which makes every minute of work a constant uphill battle. I've had my moments of losing my cool (yelling at Dad, blowing up in my blog, pouting, etc.), but for the most part I've been pretty good about riding out everything going on. What can you do? Life has these cycles. I believe you can choose how you feel about things. I may react in the heat of it all, but when my senses return I choose to believe that everything will work out in the end, and the bigger picture is still sunny and full of opportunities and blessings.
Life has had it's rough spots the past several days, but there's still a lot of good going on.
I spent some time online shopping for warmer weather clothes, and my purchases have started arriving. I have a fun trench coat that I need to exchange for a smaller size, but the dress I fell in love with when I saw it online fits like it was tailor-made for me, *and* the materials and construction are of excellent quality! I *LOVE* my new dress! I don't know if we'll be dressing up for easter visiting, but you'd better bet I'm finding as many reasons as possible to wear my new dress in the coming months!
My interchangeable knitting needles came in the mail today! Just in the nick of time too. The project I'm working on has just about outgrown the circulars I have it on. I love these needles! This was a very good investment! I have to get out my label maker today and label and arrange the storage case. (Organizational lust!) I'm also at a point where I need to make a new set of stitch markers for this project. ...Which brings me to:
BEADS! It's torching weather again! I've got a little cleaning and organizing to do in the mudroom today, and then I'm setting up my torch!!! *SQUEE!* I will be ordering an exhaust fan before next week is over too (FINALLY!) so I can get my kiln fired up here soon! I'm so excited to get back to hot glass though! I've been daydreaming about making ribbon cane and hollow beads for weeks. :)
Craig and I only have two weeks left of art class, and we've been talking about what comes next. We'd discussed taking a break from classes and just practicing what we've learned so far, mostly for the financial reasons, but then the new course catalog came in the mail! heh. I'm 99.99% sure we're signing up for beginning welding! It's not terribly expensive and it's one of the few crafts that neither of us has any experience in. There's an initial five week course, with a continuing second five weeks you can register separately for. It's looking like we're going to sign up for the first five and just try it to see if we want to continue with the second five. ...I can almost guarantee we would though, what with the way we collect hobbies. :)
It's almost noon and my nose has finally stopped running! YAY!!!!!! Now, I've got some work to do if I'm going to set up my torch today. I love weekends!!!!!!!!!!
I don't celebrate April Fools' Day, not from the orchestrating pranks end anyhow. I'm more often on the victim side of the equation when it comes to pranks. I even fell for that whole, "Did you hear they took the word 'gullible' out of the dictionary?" thing... *in college*. I seriously did. I was disappointed my picture wouldn't be in the dictionary any more. Every year this day rolls closer and I think, "Ooo! I should plan something! ... or not. Best not invite retaliation." So my plans for April 1st are generally to lay low and to constantly remind myself not to believe anything I hear or see, even though I will very likely forget and fall for something before the day is over. *shrug* I'd rather be trusting and occasionally the butt of a good joke than cynical and generally unpleasant to be around. ;) Like Rob always said, "If you can't laugh at yourself, you should let your friends do it." :)
I have so much going on in my head these days, some of it significant, some not. I've been wanting to blog for days about bits and pieces of it all, but it's been impossible to organize the noise. I need to get some of it out though, so I'm just going to do it. ...I should probably start writing morning pages again for a while until the thoughts quiet a little, now that I think about it. Hmm. But, since I'm here already...
I made the mistake of investing in really nice clothes for the first time in my life this winter. For the first time ever, I bought things for myself that are very good quality *and* look good on me, rather than just making do with the cheap/affordable/on-sale stuff that looks nice on the hanger. I spent *A LOT* of time shopping for just the right things, and it ruined me. I found that nice clothes really can make me feel good. The bad news is that it's time to put my new favorite winter clothes away, and now I'm looking at my old warm-weather clothes and HATING THEM ALL. I still *HATE* shopping for good clothes, but I do love having them so very, very much. I hate spending the money to! ...But good clothes! argh. I wish shopping was easier ...and cheaper. At least I've also learned to shop smart.
Life's felt really chaotic lately, just like my thoughts. There's a direct relationship there, I know. I keep having fantasies about moving away to some remote (remoter?) little town *far* away from anything, getting a tiny two room apartment, and basically just living an amazingly simple life. I'm definitely feeling like I have too much stuff again. I look at my stuff and think, "I still need this and this and this, and I love this and will always keep it, and this too...", but then I also keep returning to that fantasy of a tiny, bare apartment filled with nothing but some second-hand furniture, a handful of books (like five or six), some paints and paper, and one potted plant. Oh, and definitely my husband! That should go without saying, but I want to say it anyhow just in case anyone was wondering if there was something more to that run-away fantasy. There is not. I really just need to get rid of most of my stuff. It sounds so simple, but it's ***SO*** hard to do! These days though, my happy place is definitely an ugly, small apartment in a desolate location, filled with nothing more than what I could stuff into one duffel bag and one medium sized box. Decadent sparseness and simplicity! Want.
I had a few other odds and ends I wanted to jot down, but I think right now I just want to make a cup of tea and spend some time fantasizing about that tiny apartment. I'll probably be back later. I'm sure as soon as I step away from my keyboard, I'll think of half a dozen more things I wanted to write about. Definitely need to get back to morning pages for a while though.
Ok, so Saturday morning I got up insanely early and went to the museum to glue glitter on stuff. I want to mention that not only did my husband get out of bed with me at that stupid hour, but he made me breakfast and warmed up the car for me. And before you ask if he's for real, I'm pretty sure he's an alien. ;)
After the workshop, I came back home and did a few little things while Craig finished up his work in the garage, then we went into town for the dreaded shopping.
I've needed new clothes for ten years or more. I HATE clothes shopping. I'm not at all fashionable; clothing has always been a practical matter to me and not a matter of style. My closet is filled with "this will do" kinds of clothing and very little that I really love or feel good wearing. I've had a few reasons to dress up a little recently, and I've been frustrated by my lack of nice clothes, so I've spent (literally) weeks surfing the internet looking for some new threads. This past week I'd picked out some stores I wanted to check out, and even noted some particular things from their websites that I wanted to try on. To my complete surprise, the first store I stopped at had all sorts of cute, well-made things in my size, and I was armed with a 25% off coupon I'd found on their website, so I had the best clothes shopping day I've ever had. YAY! ...I think I have a problem though, because now I want to replace everything in my closet with nicer stuff.
After the clothes shopping, we went to Hobby Lobby for a few things, and then we went to Sakura for sushi. Now, I'm perfectly aware that I blogged about how sushi wasn't for me after taking my husband there for his birthday a couple weeks ago, but something weird happened. We were playing PS2 one night last week, and out of nowhere, I started salivating for sushi. It was a vicious and very specific craving, and Craig was not at all disappointed when I told him we HAD to go out for sushi. We went. I ate. It was really damn good. I have no idea how I went from "eh" to "WANT!" in that one instant, but there you have it. Perhaps they really do roll crack into that stuff.
So just on this one particular Saturday, I developed glitter, shopping and sushi addictions. That's a pretty productive day. There will be many future interventions required.
Ok. Sunday gets it's own post. I need a break and more coffee, plus I still have some pictures to sort through. ...Told you it was a busy weekend. ...And yeah, I know, I ramble.
I've definitely already noticed the following benefits to eating more frequently:
- You don't even *want* to snack when you know you're never more than 3 hours from having to eat again, so forget temptation.
- It's much easier to make good food choices and take time to prepare things when you're not even really hungry, certainly not hungry enough to just grab for whatever is fast and easy.
- You can't help but eat more produce (one of my 2008 resolutions). So far today I've had an apple, an orange and a huge pile of mixed greens (2 servings worth), and I still have one snack and one meal to go in my day, which amounts to three more produce servings, four if I get hungry in the evening (get hungry? HA!) and want some fruit for dessert.
So, the healthier eating habit resolution is definitely going well.
I also had a long nap this morning, and I'm feeling better, just achy under my arms now. I think I'm going to get through this without actually coming down with anything. *knock-on-wood*
And, one of the really nice new sweaters I ordered from a clearance sale was delivered today and I'm wearing it now, along with my new mohair socks. These things make me happy. I almost always buy "affordable" clothes for myself, when I can be talked into shopping for them anyhow, so it's a real treat to have found these quality things at really great prices. I honestly don't remember the last time I had a sweater this nice and it was brand new rather than a slightly worn thrift store find.
This Tuesday is turning out to be a pretty decent day.
I'm really bummed about the lack of snow. The forecast looked so great yesterday that I excitedly I planned my day around "things to do while watching the snow fall". Now we have bone-chilling damp and rain and the last thing I want to do is hang out around windows. It's lame to be this thrown by a lack of snow, I know, but still I'm pacing and pouting and I can't seem to do anything more productive than light candles to drive away the gloom and chill. meh.
Green tea seems to be doing a world of good as far as my mental health goes. The book on cortisol I just read had a ton of nutritional suggestions for keeping anxiety at bay. I put in a vitamin order once I saw what was recommended, but green tea was recommended too, and that's something I had in my cupboard and could start immediately. Green tea is high in theanine which increases the brain's alpha wave output and brings about a state of relaxed awareness, emphasis on the "relaxed" for my purposes. Theanine also counteracts most of the stimulating effects of caffeine (and the decaffeinating process removes theanine, so decaf wouldn't serve my purposes anyhow), but I'm getting a lot of headaches since I've upped my green tea intake, and I don't think it's just coincidental. The book recommended 3-4 cups of green tea a day, which is a ton, IMO. I've been drinking two a day, but I think I'm going to cut back to one and see if the headaches go away. I have noticed a *SIGNIFICANT* drop in my anxiety levels (especially for this time of year!) and since the green tea is the only real change so far... If the headaches go away with less tea that'll be good. If my mood takes a dive though, I'll be looking for theanine in pill form. That's good stuff.
I feel all girly because I bought new makeup recently. I rarely ever wear any, but I do like to have some on hand for special occasions. I know you're not supposed to keep makeup for more than six months, but since I so rarely wear it, I've hung on to all of mine for way too long, even though I'm pretty damn squicky over germs and bacteria and all the little ickies. Getting new makeup was a bit of a treat for me, but now some time today I need to go through all my old stuff in every drawer and basket and purse and pitch it *all*. Part of me knows I'll hesitate over the "waste" and the pretty colors, but it needs to be done. Part of me is excited about getting rid of all that old, rarely used junk. I have to remember this lesson and not be tempted by pretty colors and packaging any more. The collection I just bought, which all fits in one tiny 5"x8" bag, should be all I need, and won't be all that painful to pitch when it expires, ...especially not when I remember how nice it is to get fresh stuff!
I've been wanting to go through my closet too. My wardrobe is sad. I want to buy a few new pieces, but what I *REALLY* want is to sew some nice things for myself. I have some great ideas and I have a huge fabric collection, lots of raw materials I really love. I want to get deep into design and sewing so bad right now! My machine is borked though. I ordered a book on sewing machine repair because I have enough problems with that machine that it frustrates the hell out of me, and I'm pretty sure my problems are all my fault and should be things I can fix myself. I have a sewing machine ignorance problem I'm looking to remedy, but in the mean time I'm terribly unsatisfied with my crappy clothes.
I spent some time in recent days shopping for pretty clothes online. I checked out the crappy sites and the way expensive sites and a few in between, and I'm coming up with NOTHING. I wanted a nice skirt and top for the holiday visiting, or a basic dress, maybe a good sweater. I thought I'd check out what the stores are pimping this season online first, and then head out to any stores that offered *anything* that caught my attention, but I'm just not liking anything. (WTH is up with sleeveless/short-sleeved dresses for WINTER holidays???) This is why I'm never very happy with my clothes. When I'm in the mood to shop for something nice, I can't find anything that appeals to me. If I wind up buying something it's usually a "settle for this" kind of a thing. It's probably because I can sew, so I get these ideas in my head about exactly what I want. argh. I really need to get my sewing machine singing again before this mood leaves me and I fall back into the rut where my schlumpy, old clothes all hang. In the mean time though, if anyone wants to share their favorite place to looks at clothes online with me, I'd appreciate having something options to look through.
ARGH! I'm so frakkin' cold! Wet and cold together sucks.
The fact is that I could use a light-weight spring coat anyhow, travel reasons aside. The one I have is a very nice coat, but it is significantly bulkier and heavier than my husband's new raincoat (which I tried on last night). A lighter weight coat would be better for trekking around Ireland. Pockets would also be ideal. So I haven't decided which coat would be better for the trip, but I went ahead and bought a new coat anyhow. It wasn't that expensive, and besides... I GOT A RAISE!!!
I'm finally going to be making a decent wage for the technical writing I do, and just in time to get a good couple of paychecks in before we go to Ireland! So I celebrate with a pretty new raincoat, which will get used regardless of whether or not I decide to take it on my trip.
