Layout:
Home > Archive: April, 2007

Archive for April, 2007

Sizing it up

April 11th, 2007 at 04:08 am

Back in my university days I was a size 14, just an normal sized woman for my height. It was no problem going to a store and getting clothes, and if I wanted something a bit different I sewed it myself from a standard dressmaking pattern. The only problem was the average woman was supposed to be 5' 5" and as I am taller, the arms and legs tended to be a bit too short. I learned to live with that.
Over the years an interesting thing happened. I gradually put on a couple inches all round, top, middle and bottom - BUT, according to the labels I was still a size 14! it wasn't till my waist got to 33" that I went up to a 16. I suspected the manufacturers of becoming more generous in their cut as the Western world's waistlines expanded.
Having now dropped some weight I was looking forward to getting back into smaller clothes. I did a quick googol to see what I should be now. Oh me! I couldn't decide if I was an old size 14, a size 10, or, if I wanted to go to Europe; a British size 16, a Spanish 38 or an Italian 42. The entire system, it seems, has gone nuts, with each company deciding for themselves what they will label their clothes - except they are all trying to one up each other by flattering the consumer they fit the smallest size. There is even a size 0!! Round here the only people with a chance of squeezing into that are tiny Asian students.
Being accustomed to thrift store shopping and being a bit conservative in my taste, I hadn't quite caught up with this. But one I started looking I realized the labels were actually no help at all. One labels Petite fitted me quite well; another's Large was far too tight. I even found a skirt boldly labelled 28" waist that fitted my 31" waist very nicely thank you. I now realize why I'd so often grabbed a bag full of size 16s, only to find they didn't fit me at home - previously I thought they'd shrunk in the wash. Grr, the money I've wasted. I'll never buy without trying again.
In the end I got a size 6 jacket, a size 14 pair of pants, and several blouses in 8-10 sizes. All for $2. Iterestingly, they all looked as if they'd never been worn. Maybe somebody else has the same sizing problem?

Bright Ideas(long)

April 8th, 2007 at 11:29 pm

Ooo pretty new colors. Somebody's been very creative. Me like.
Was chatting with a friend yesterday who is forever coming up with new schemes, but never acts on them. She's been stuck in her job for 20 years and hates it, but always finds a reason for not getting a new one. She is a very arty crafty type in her spare time, and many of her ideas revolve around setting up her own small business. Well, that certainly works for some, but you need good business skills and strong motivation to carry it out - and I don't think she's got them. I guess she knows in her heart it's all a dream and she'll never do it; she's what they call an innovative thinker but not strong on carry thru, and doesn't pay enough attention to detail.
Lately, she has got it into her head that instead of looking for a job, I should become self employed as well. She keeps coming up with all these bright ideas for me whenever I do something a bit creative. "You knit beautifully; sell your work to craftshops." "You give great speeches at Toastmasters, become a public speaker." "You do good writing, you could be a bestseller."
I think she overrates my skills and underestimates just how hard it is to make a living on these things. Even if I started making some money on them, I would probably need to continue working a regular job to have a regular income until I became sufficiently rich and succesful. Most self employed start out as parttime hobbyists. It's not that I dont' play with the ideas sometimes; it's that I'm not sufficiently interested in doing them to put in all that time and effort. Call me lazy. Or maybe it's that I prefer the security of a regular income. And I like my laid back daily routine. Like the proverbial Mexican fisherman who refused the offer of a well paid business job so he could work hard for 20 years, make a bundle, and then retire and go fishing in Mexico. He was doing that right then. We hear so much about work/life balance nowadays; I think I'm pretty well sorted on that one the way I live now.
The one idea that really appeals to me is the last one. I enjoy writing in my spare time and I'd like to have a book published some day, even if it never becomes a bestseller. And writers are often asked to do public speaking.
Here's what my friend said when I floated the idea: "Write a book on knitting! There's heaps of them being published right now. You could be a best seller!"
Um, I personally think a lot of the new knitting books are terrible and I could certainly do a better one; but there are also some brilliant ones by real experts. How do I make mine stand out? I need a creative approach.
Second suggestion from my friend. "You're really good with money. Books on money sell well. And you've just lost weight. Diet books sell well. If you write a book that talks about both money and weight loss you'd make millions!"
Bingo! I'm off to write the Accountant's Diet. See you on Oprah in 18 months.

Speechless!

April 6th, 2007 at 02:48 am

Well, no, just that words strong enough to express my disgust are not exactly - family friendly.

Text is
http://www.unemployedloser.com/
and Link is

http://www.unemployedloser.com/

I cannot believe the nerve of this guy. I certainly wouldn't put up with that behavior if he was my son; I'd tell him to either start slinging burgers and pay me board, or he'd have to move out. Life is tough enough for people who have genuine hardships to deal with, and there are plenty of folks out there who deserve sympathy and help, but this guy has potentially every advantage. Where does he get away with thinking he's entitled to freeload?

Blah

April 5th, 2007 at 06:52 am

Oh I'm feeling rotten. I've got la misery virus. Neverthless I forced myself to go to the interview where I was informed the job had already gone (Gee thanks - you let me drag myself into town to tell me that?) I'm going to curl up in bed for the weekend - looks forward to chocolate on Easter Sunday.

However, I have now reached my goal of 160 pounds - maybe not too much chocolate.