The Best Laid Plans (or 10,000 words on how I spent my week)

So have I even been IN the sewing room since my last post? Uh, no.

Most of my spare time this week has been spent looking at houses. I think I've decided on the very first one I saw a few weeks ago. More on that in a minute.

I saw a different house last night after work and really liked it. The kitchen was updated and really nice, but there was no screened-in area outside. I don't have to have a screened-in pool but I do want a screened-in something. It's Florida. Bugs. Need I say more? I also decided that pretty much none of my living area furniture was going to fit. I liked the layout of the place, but it doesn't have long expanses of walls for my big wall units. That's not the end of the world because I'd really love to just leave most of my stuff behind and start new, but realistically, that's not going to happen so I do have to make a lot of it work for a while and it would be difficult to do there.

I saw another house earlier in the week and it had a beautiful screened-in pool, a great self-contained upstairs area for Alex, but no fenced-in yard. The fence is a MUST. I want to be able to let the dogs out in the morning by themselves while I get ready for work. I also counted 5 bedrooms when 4 were advertised, which is way too many, and each room had different laminate which was just too weird for me. I know I can't get perfection in a rental, but some things would just bug me forever. That's one of them.

I saw a couple others but nothing really worth detailing. Some people are just hallucinating is all I can say. lol

So, back to the first house. I loved the location when I first found it. I've lived within a 5-mile radius for 22 years. More importantly, so has Alex, and he's not ready to leave his home turf, so it's been a priority for me to find something very close to where we are now. Haha — I just re-read that and since Alex is still 19, he hasn't lived around here for 22 years, but it has been his entire life.

At this house, the pool is screened and self-cleaning, and the front yard is big and gorgeous, set back from the street. The back yard is even bigger, private, fenced, and great for the dogs. It's about an acre total. (Yard service is included in the rent.) It's got 3 good-sized bedrooms, a nice laundry room, wood flooring in the family room, and a fireplace. But it has a butt-ugly kitchen. No, I don't cook all too much anymore and it's only going to be the two of us, and Alex isn't into sit-down dinners much anymore, but still — it's going to be harder to leave my current custom dream kitchen than my current husband (hee hee) so I really, really didn't want to go so far backwards even though I loved the location and the privacy. And, how could I go for the first house I ever looked at without seeing any others?

I was so close to putting a deposit on the house from last night after weighing pros and cons, but decided to call house #1's owner (not really the owner, the my-age nephew of the out-of-town owner who's acting as his go-between, but it's easier to just say owner) before I did. I was honest with him and told him it was between his house and the one from last night. His would win, except for those horrific green Formica counters. I asked if his uncle might be willing to split the cost of new counters with me. He told me to forget about splitting the cost of new counters because his uncle was already planning to completely update the kitchen - counters, cabinets, appliances, etc. Well, as you can imagine, that sealed the deal. Let that also be a lesson — it never hurts to ask. And lesson #2, most men are not detail creatures. You have to force it out.

So now we're going over the fine points and I will meet the nephew tomorrow to give him my formal application and deposit. Tentative move-in date, May 1. Good god, I have to start packing like yesterday.

So, did I start packing? No. I had important shopping to do. Industrial underwear, remember? Holy cow - trying on shapewear which requires contortions to even get on is so NOT fun. Having to do it multiple times because you have no idea what size you are anymore is even less fun. I gave up in the middle and bought 3 that I was pretty sure would fit based on the too-big ones. Plus by that time I really had to pee. They do fit, but I've decided I'm keeping none of them and not wearing anything under my dress other than pantyhose and a bra. Control top PH is all the "shaping" I want. The industrial shapewear just squishes me in ways that make the dresses (yes both teal and red) not fit as well. And let's not even mention the ordeal a visit to the Ladies would bring on. Or the comfort level of a hook and eye crotch. If I wanted a bra in my crotch … I should just stop there. ;-)

I did find a Vanity Fair balconette bra for $12. It's perfect for under the teal dress - no straps peeking. I'll probably never wear it again because it's got those stand-up at attention formed cups and I hate those, and do not need them, although, I'm losing more in the boob department than I thought I would. I've gone from a 42DDD to a 36D now. I thought I was still a 38DD this morning so before I found the keeper bra I had to try on a bunch of 38Ds that were hilarious on me. Pretty soon it's going to be GOODBYE FBA. Hahaha!

If only my thighs would disappear at the same rate as my boobs. As you'll see in a minute.

Since I was already in Macy's, I decided to have a look around for casual clothes. I wasn't expecting much since my last trip to Macy's was a huge bust. No pun intended. But I learned that UPSTAIRS is where I need to shop, not main floor. Again, I hit the mother lode. I may never sew again. Everything fits and the stores are filled with MY colors. Have I mentioned how much I love orange and other bright hues? And it's instant gratification, baby. Does anyone want to buy a fabric stash? JUST KIDDING! My sewing desire will return. Probably at the exact time I start packing up the sewing room.

So, here's what I bought. All of the capris are snug, on purpose. They are a size smaller and I plan to be wearing them for the next 4 months at least. They will fit better in a month. I even bought a second pair of white in TWO sizes down, because they were only $27 each and I know I will kick myself if I shrink out of the whites and don't have a back-up plan.

White capris, $27, which do nothing for my thighs but this is Florida and white capris are The Law. But this is also after 5 minutes of wearing. They are denim and I know they will stretch out some. Jeweled turquoise print top, which I was willing to pay $49 for but I was surprised by a sale price of $36.

I love casual clothes with built-in jewelry.

Same $27 capris but in denim. Darker is definitely more slimming, but also more hot. And not in a good way. Print tee, $20, which is textured but you can't see that. It also goes GREAT with the orange skirt I bought a few weeks ago.

Different brand of capris, $36, although I did also buy khakis from the same line as the white and denim above. These are snugger in the thighs but will also stretch out after 20 minutes. The top, $18, is smocked around the neckline but that wide smocking - what's it called? Bonnie?? Are you out there?

You can't really see much more detail here, but I tried.

So, as you can see, my thighs are still holding on to their girth, even though the scale continues to move downward. I could live with my much flatter but still not flat tummy just the way it is now, but damn, I wish those thighs would go away. It's just not gonna happen. I've always had them and always will. All I can do is work to tone them up, and the pool in my soon new house will do just that. I'm looking forward to jumping in it every night after work. I don't need to be presentable after I get out and there will be no one around to see me in a bathing suit since Alex works most nights and the dogs don't care. In fact, they'll probably jump in with me. lol

I'm hoping to finally get into the sewing room tomorrow, but I can't promise. My life is about to take off again and it's exhausting.

But have I mentioned lately that I love my job! ?? :-)