A Rant About Pants

Pants are difficult for me to buy. I have hips and a waist, you know, like a woman. (Duh.) Though the time of the extremely low-rise seems to be coming to an end, I still find it difficult to find pants that a) come up high enough on my hips, b) are long enough -- 'cause I'm tall, and c) have a hip to waist ratio that fits my body. So, here's my thing:

Why, oh why, can they not sell women's pants the way that they sell men's pants? Men's pants are sold by waist and inseam. Women's pants are sold in arbitrary sizes that differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. If they would tell me things about the measurements of the waist, inseam, hip, and rise, I would have a much better idea about which size would be mine.

All of which is to say that I bought two pairs of pants this weekend at Old Navy, which are men's pants. They fit ok, other than having no waist (since men do not have hips/waists like women).

Anywho... Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Haircuts

This post is of positively no consequence, but here it is anyway. Topic: haircuts.

I have lived in this state for more than three years (incidentally, the longest I have lived anywhere since college). However, I have scrupulously avoided getting my haircut here, only getting 2 $15 "super cuts"-type haircuts in the state, plus last spring's charity chop for free. For my other haircuts, I have waited (and waited and waited) long enough and got my hair cut when I went home to New Hampshire. Like other things in my life (choral singing comes to mind), I am picky about haircuts. I both want a good cut and do not want to pay an extravagant amount. I admit, I use NH as a guideline for price, despite the fact that I live in a more major metro area now.

I spent the last few weeks asking everyone I know about haircuts. Do you like the place you get it cut? Can I have the name/number? (I'm going to try this technique with doctors & dentists next.) One of my roommates gave me the number for the place that she gets her hair colored & I went there on Saturday morning. Result? Good haircut, evening out some of the issues with the growing out previous haircut. It's good enough, at least right now, that I'm actually considering going back, perhaps giving up the "voyage home for a haircut" thing. Sigh.

I've been spending lots of time on weekends baking. Today's projects: chocolate chip cookies & the filling for a Greek desert. Looking forward to Thanksgiving...

Weekend Roundup

Crap week at work. However, since I am working on not being defined by my job, I shall skip talking about that.

Weekend roundup:
- Massive cleanup of the kitchen on Friday. It was a scary place.
- Saturday errands to the post office, Target, and the supermarket. I didn't go to Trader Joe's like I usually do -- there is the occasional item that TJ's doesn't have. I needed phyllo dough for Thanksgiving-esque projects.
- Went to the bookstore on Saturday night and devoured almost half a book in the store. Needless to say, I bought it: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Then I finished it this morning when I got up. Beautiful, clear writing, lovely story. (Reviewers, apparently, did not care much for the book. I liked it.)
- This morning, I went to TJ's for the week's groceries. I decided to make lasagna for this week's lunches/dinners. However, they didn't have any lasagna noodles. I bought a pound of long, flat noodles instead. They made a pretty good dish, though it didn't quite stick together in the same way that lasagna is supposed to and there was a tad too much water in the dish at the end of the cooking time, probably as a result of the fact that the noodles were pre-cooked instead of "no boil."

The weather here is beautiful, after several days of rain. Sunny, bright, clear, 70 degrees. Windows open. Fresh air.

Nearly finished with a pair of wool mittens, which seem at odds with this beautiful day.

New Music

Coming home from DC this evening, I heard a story on NPR on the band Paper Bird. Came home, downloaded 2 most recent albums. Love so far. Thanks, NPR!

Things that have made me happy this week:
- New music
- Friday, a consistently exceptionally pleasant day of the week
- Phone call on Thursday evening
- The realization that Christmas is 7 weeks away
- Explanatory footnotes
- Pleasant coworkers
- The gingerbread latte
- New cell phone, though irritated initially to have to purchase it
- Getting her money back from the gym, who has been charging me for the last 6 months even though I canceled the membership
- Good weather both weekend days
- Being approved for the tuition discount so I can start some more schooling for free
- An alumna was named the new President of Mount Holyoke College!
- The voters of Washington state, who seem to have approved their "everything but the word marriage" option
- The knowledge that although Maine turned down their gay marriage law, the election was close, more people's eyes were opened to the critical nature of this issue.

Plus, remember this, from Dr. King: "When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." (8/16/1967)

At the moment, despite small day-to-day irritations, I am happy, pleased with the life I am carving out for myself, and glad for family & friends.

Best Friend

I have been friends with my oldest friend in the world since we were 2 years old. We're coming up on 30 years of being friends. Most of that friendship has been spent at least a half-continent apart, most of the time more. But she's like family and we can pick up even after a long time apart like we lived together for many more than 2 years and like we speak far more often than we actually do.

The most exciting news as of late? She and her husband are having twins, girls, due in March. I'm so so so so excited for them. :)

Crazy Week

What should have been a normal kind of workweek got sillier by the day. Tuesday, you know about. Wednesday went like this: now that I am a corporate warrior, I work in an office with office culture. Part of our office culture is apparently this: there are contests at Halloween. Apparently, one of the Florida offices goes ALL OUT. Each office has two contests: cubicle decoration and costume. I am so not into the costume concept, but I have come up with an excellent idea for decorating my cube. I shall be sure to take pictures and post them, fear not.

Thursday was a normal sort of day at work other than the parent conference from hell, then I got to have dinner with a high school friend who was in town for business. Much fun.

Last night I suffered from a bout of insomnia and was awake between 3 and 4:30 in the morning. Which then led to oversleeping this morning, getting up 45 min late, but only getting to work 5 min late. Thank goodness I can turn on the speed if need be. To balance out the parent conference from yesterday, there was an excellent 1/2 hour IM conversation with a student in one of my AP US History sections about section differences that emerged during the Era of Good Feelings. I wear my history teacher dork label proudly, thank you very much.

Here's to a good night's sleep tonight, followed by a few fun activities over the weekend. Who doesn't like the silly?

Fun on a Slow Tuesday

It's amazing how one little suggestion can make your whole day into a ball of fun, even if nothing ends up happening as a result of that suggestion. Exhibit A, from today:

- K's dad forwarded her an email from an airline about a sale they were having. Said email was intended to alert her to fares that could be used when her mom visits for Thanksgiving.

- K looked at the email and said, "Hey, fares to Boston are wicked cheap. $39 each way!"

- K forwarded me the email and pointed out fares. "Wouldn't it be fun to go to Boston for a random weekend?"

- C looked at fares and the suggestion and said, "Yes! Let's go bug (I mean visit) E!"

Before you knew it, plans were in the works. A weekend was picked! Time off was requested! The fun began bubbling up! We could visit E and go out to western Massachusetts to visit "the motherland"!

Then, real life got in the way of the fun. Something came up for K's work.

Now it looks like we won't get to go. However, even if we don't go (offer up some prayers to Mary Lyon, whydoncha?), the thought was there and brought some fun to an otherwise uneventful Tuesday in October.

Now I've got some days off in November. What do we think I should do with them?