Our Weekend...

First to update, K3 was feeling much better although K1 came home from school on Friday and wasn't feeling good. He was passed out on the couch by 6:30p.m. and after a brief period of semi-alertness to get him to move to his bed continued to sleep until 7:00 a.m. the following morning. K2 also proved to be rather emotional and whiny Saturday evening which was justified when she woke up Sunday a.m. with the same thing. Now all 3 kids have had this 24 hour bug... that leaves just J and myself... oh joy!

Saturday afternoon we ended up driving to visit the in-laws. On Thursday I had put out an SOS to my MIL for clothing help. I still am not sure what K1 will be wearing to Homecoming but I know that I am NOT buying him a suit coat for $150-$225 (before sale price). Insane! Yes, Kohl's had them on sale for 50% off but that is still way too much too spend on a boy who is GROWING at an alarming rate. So we have all learned that if you want something bought and you don't mind if it is used call Mom. She has an uncanny knack for finding the best items at ridiculous prices at St. Vinnie's and Goodwill. When I go to Goodwill, it's all crap. However, she can walk out with the best pieces. She did not fail us this time either. She had called on Friday to say that she had found not 1, not 2 BUT 4 suit coats PLUS a suit. And all of this was done with just having K1's measurements. We had decided that it was worth our time and gas to drive up to see them and check out the treasures she had found.

Out of all that she bought only one item didn't fit... a black blazer that we were hoping for because K1 needs it for concert band performances this winter. As for the other items, there was only one that he didn't like... a black houndstooth blazer. The suit was a dark green and his first thought was "Green?" But once he tried it on, it looked rather sharp on him so he changed his mind about that one. The pants need to be let out just a bit which thankfully my MIL is a fantastic seamstress as well so that will be taken care of (just not in time for Homecoming). K1 ended up coming home with a navy suit coat and vest and a taupe one as well. Two to choose from for Homecoming. And the grand total for 3 items we took... $25!! I told you she has an uncanny talent for thrift shopping.

We spent Saturday night exchanging pics with my SIL. She got to see ours from Yellowstone and we finally got to sit and view hers from her trip to Europe when she met her hubby who is stationed overseas. Very cool pictures. Someday I would love to visit Europe but probably not with J. :) My SIL did so much in such the time they had and admitted to running through some stuff just in order to see it all. J is the type of person who has to stop and READ everything and examine it all. It would take us a week just to do one of the cities she visited. Maybe I will get my chance with the kids. K1 and K2 are both taking Latin. Their high school trip travels to Rome... maybe I will offer my chaperone services and at least get to see that small part of the world. Actually, if the kids do it in separate trips then J could chaperone one trip and I, the other. However, it could be K1 and K2 going together their senior and sophmore years respectively; in which case, J is screwed because I will be going.

Other than going to a vintage car show, we spent Sunday being completely lazy. Along with K2 who wasn't feeling well, I had a major headache and just wanted to lay down all day. We waited for mom to wake up (a 3rd shift worker), enjoyed another slice of her apple pie and then came home.

Yet Another Downside to Exercising...

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.
-- Bo Derek

OMIGAWD! Can I just say I now LOVE going shopping.

I have always loved going to stores... looking around, seeing what was new and unusual, it didn't matter which department. However, when it came to clothes shopping... forget it! All the great clothes were in the Misses department and forget looking there. I needed to head directly to the Women's department, which is always, always so much smaller in size than any other department in the store. Then you can discount half of what is there as K2 said to me today... "old lady clothes" (now, so not to offend anyone...let's say old lady as in 90+... is that okay?) But seriously you know what I mean... polyester... big floral prints. Then if I was lucky enough to find anything, I hated having to try it on on... was it going to fit? If it fit who would it look? Would it show all the rolls in my legs, abs (what abs?) and waist (again... what waist?)? Then invaribly I would find something I love and they wouldn't have any left in my size. Then how many times would I try something on doing the little jumping dance trying to get up and over my hips... then came the delicate part of pulling up the zipper... suck in the gut and wiggle, wriggle trying to get the zipper to slide up... leaving the side of your finger raw and red.

HA! This was so not the case today! I have a meeting with my potential new employer tomorrow morning. I am to go into the office to meet the rest of the staff and most importantly the two people that I will be working the closest with. Well, this means that I need to dress appropriately. I already wore the only halfway decent thing I own (and to tell the truth the pants were too big) to my interview/lunch. Plus, truth be told from what I gather it really was not "professional" enough for this office. At the very least, I needed new dress pants, preferably black. So the girls and I headed off to some stores after they got home from school.

Now I don't really want to spend a fortune on clothes. So I decided to go cheap first, which meant Dress Barn... not great quality stuff but I knew I would be able to find some deals there. Plus, they have always had a fairly decent section dedicated to the plus size woman. Now as what seems to be the norm with cheaper items... they tend to run smaller. So when I first went into the dressing room I took a size 16 in with me. And guess what... they were HUGE! So on went the 14... and there was no dancing, jiggling, wiggling, wriggling or bruised fingers. They went up and over the hips... the zipper glided easily into place and they looked fabulous! So I went thru the entire selection that I had taken in with me. It was so much fun to actually put things aside... not because they didn't fit but because I actually didn't like them. What a novel experience!

I ended up leaving that store with 4 pairs of pants (3 on clearance for 12.99), one skirt and jacket combo (pink and black though... but K2 said it looked great... but for $30, it was worth a shot) and one brown with ivory piping blazer (that again, K2 insisted that I needed to have... on clearance for $27). The only thing not on sale/clearance were the black dress pants ($30!!).

I still wasn't sure what I would wear tomorrow... I had some great pieces but nothing that necessarily went together well. So after dinner at Noodles & Co and an appearance at Family Night at school, K2 and I headed to Kohl's Department Store. Talk about a sale!! Most items were 50% to 65% off. I must have taken 20 items into the dressing room (I didn't see that sign that said limit 5 items at a time!). The only thing I took in to try on that didn't fit was a blazer which I had already suspected wouldn't fit.... while I have lost weight and inches from the top... I am still on the larger side up there. But that was okay... blouses and tanks that I took in at XL (instead of 2XL or even 3XL) fit... and in fact, one tank I took in I discovered was a L (a larger?!?! I haven't worn a L without an X or two in front of it for so long that I can't even remember the last time). I had so much fun trying things on... going out to the 3 way mirror (YES! My gawd...even the 3 way mirror was used!) and even better was not afraid to face Ms. Honesty herself, K2. I bought so many things(3 pants, 2 skirts, 6 tanks, a dressy shirt), then added a new purse, some boy short style panties (do they really not show panty lines??? Because they sure are ugly on a fat person! I hope they are worth it.), and some nylons, a denim skirt for K2 and so as to not piss off the drill sargent, a guinea pig t-shirt for K3. All in all... just over $200! Then to top it off... Kohl's was running one of their promotions... for every $50 spent, you received a $10 voucher on a future purchase ($40 for me!) And there was one pair of ivory pants that I really wanted but they were $80 on sale for $35 but I thought still too expensive so I passed on them. Now I can go get them if I so choose.

I almost can't wait to go dress shopping but as for that other seasonal purchase... the dreaded swimsuit... not sure if I am ready for that! But because I have always loved the water and having 3 kids who do as well, I will have to purchase a new suit (because my old ones are bound to be too big! hee hee!). But I think I will wait til I am a little more ready... not quite there yet.

Oh and the $30 black dress pants from DB are being returned tomorrow... because I got 2 pairs of black pants at Kohl's for the same price.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will look okay in my new duds or at least appropriate for this office, but gawd knows that I certainly will be feeling great! Exercising tonight was so easy with the incentive that I had today!

But wait... the what about the title of this post, you ask?? What's the downside??? Well, duh... not enough money to shop like I would now like to. It was easier to go to a store and not spend money when stuff didn't fit or I looked like crap in it... now it's a whole 'nother story. I will want to try stuff on and will want to buy, but won't be able to. Oh well, it will be fun just trying things on anyway!

I love all my kids but today K3 gets special KUDOS!

Today it was a beautiful day! After my interview, I pulled out a pair of capris from last year to wear. Imagine my extreme delight at discovering that they were BIG!! Time for some new ones, so K3 and I headed off to Kohl's. As I was browsing the capris and picking some out to try on... K3 says to me...

"Mom, are you in the Misses department???? REally? You are wearing Misses? When's the last time you shopped over here? Was it like before K1 was born? Way to go... woo hoo! "

Now don't get me wrong... it was great to hear this support from my youngest child however, she wasn't exactly quiet about it and other people start turning around to see what the commotion is about.

But it felt good to have her notice and say something... Gawd, I love my kids!

My New Washing Machine

We really weren't planning on having to buy a new washing machine...our old one was only 5 years old... a baby really. However, it started to bang during spinning out and J said it was time to take it apart and fix it. Originally, it was supposed to cost us about $140 for repairs (J's a do-it-yourselfer) however once he had it completely apart, a few more problems became visible. Repairs were now up to $400 with a huge potential one on the horizon. It wasn't worth our time or money to fix it and decided to upgrade to a larger machine (my laundry loads are only getting larger). We spent the better part of Sunday shopping around at different stores only to find that we had the best service and best price at the very first place we had looked at... an appliance store (which I thought for sure would have higher prices than Home Depot or Lowe's). We went back on Monday night and now just needed to narrow down our choices. We were deciding between a GE and a Whirlpool when J mentions that he had seen a slightly larger machine at a different appliance store for a better price. This store didnt' carry that particular model but had the next upgrade to that one.. the Whirlpool Duet 9400. He immediately offered it for the price of what J had seen the other one (which meant bringing the price down $100) and then said there were an additional $150 in rebates on the machine. Sold!

Our old machine was a front loader as well but a Kenmore and only 3.1 cubic feet. The salesman at Sears told us that our machine was actually made by Frigidaire. He then proceeded to tell us that Sears had switched to Whirlpool made Kenmores a few years ago because they had lots of problems with the Frigidaire ones. Hmmm... maybe that's why ours only lasted 5 years. Whatever the reason, I wasn't going that route again.

Our new machine is once again a front loader... I love the spin (my clothes are better spun out with the front loading) and and the water saving factor as well. However, on this machine we have increased our size to 3.8 cubic feet. Compared to our other one...it is HUGE! My first load of laundry in it was towels. I put in 5 beach sized towels, 8 regular ones and some added dish towels and still had room left for more. The only problem however is that our old dryer doesn't have nearly the same capacity. Hmmm... I wonder if I could talk J into a new dryer. LOL! Our Maytag is over 25 years old! However, that won't work after our delivery man commented on how we had one of the last great dryers. Thanks, dude! I tend to hang most of my laundry during the summer months anyway and J just set up a clothesline in the basement so I can hang some stuff now year round. It will work.

So for the time being, I am loving the laundry. But I'm sure within a week, I will be back to that ho hum factor of it all.