But I went to the loathsome Kroger yesterday  to purchase chicken, milk, and a few odds and ends. And managed to keep the trip short, and spend half what had been the average  cost of purchases before The Reset drove me to online ordering. I did buy some canned goods. But today I am checking out online grocers, besides Amazon and diapers.com.

Netgrocer.com, which I have used before, does not work on Android. So it is out for now. And so far, it appears that for delivery to my zip code, Amazon and Diapers are the best deal.

Over the weekend, I bought a pair of jeggings at Macy’s. They are Hue brand.

The QVC pants that I ordered two weeks ago, three different styles, didn’t work out the way I imagined. Two of them were huge . So I returned those. And one pair is perfect. I ordered another in that style, different color. And of course they are marginally smaller – enough to be somewhat annoying. But not enough to return. Ugh. brand. I would have preferred the pocket style that I did purchase, in black or medium wash, with boot cut. But, I went with dark denim, skinny legs, because the wrong pockets can really kill a pair of jeans. Due to the skinny leg opening, they look far better with heels, than sandals. C’est la vie.

Ah well. At least I finally have three pairs of pants, reasonable to wear in public. And they are all stretchy enough that sitting on the floor minding DD1 is not a problem.

I can now resume my search for a bed for DD1 without looking like a bag lady. Although, the cool Fall temperature has vanished. And it is so muggy that I feel like the outdoors is a greenhouse. This is not ideal weather for pants.

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She said, oh, not at all.  You should see what others bring in here.  She changed her mind when I returned, and hadn’t been able to get them on the hanger.  I said sorry for the tangled mess.  She said, thank you, in that way that says F you.  lol.

I felt sorry for parents shopping with teen children.  One boy was grumbling about having to model for his mother what he had chosen.  Several mothers of girls said that next time they’d drop the girls off and come back in an hour.  But if the girls had picked out anything inappropriate, that next time mom would just buy what she found acceptable and the girl would be stuck with it.  This seems a universally acceptable mother statement.  I was hearing it all over the store, with various interpretations of what was encouraged, forbidden, and would happen if the forbidden clothing made its way home.

Playa Del Carmen – Swimsuit Issue by ex_magician

After reading all of the buying tips in How Not to Look Fat, by Charla Krupp, I decided that I don’t have it so bad.  Apparently, there are women out there who are too mortified of their imperfections to go all summer without wearing shorts.  And who will wear dark colors from head to toe, every day, with shapewear underneath.

Yeah, I’m not doing that.  I’m far from perfect.  But I’m not willing to roast.

The thing about fashion advice, is that you have to figure out which things apply to you, then which things you’re willing to endure.  I can work with navy blue dresses, but not usually black.  I refuse to give up white shirts, peach and turquoise in the name of “No Fat” dressing.  I need the brighter colors to keep from looking like a corpse.  Looking thinner, but anemic is not a good look, imho.

I found oil – argan, linseed and flax – for my hair, a knock-off brand for nine dollars.  Wee!  The Aveda that the salon sells is 25 dollars for a tiny bottle.  It’s great stuff.  But ouch, expensive.  It’s funny that I actually put oil in my hair.  Curly hair is such a challenge.

I ended up buying two suits, and the oil.  I took two of the suits out of the dressing room, so I could find them one size smaller (hallelujah).  But I wasn’t able to, put one back on the rack, and picked up another that I hadn’t been able to find in the correct size, as I walked up to the registers.  The one I hadn’t tried on fits – and looks positively matronly!  Ugh.  That one is going back for certain.  It’s cute on the hanger, a turquoise, black and white print.  And the top fits great.  The bottom has boy legs that go straight across like a horizontal line in front and back.  So unflattering!  The other one is a two peice with a black bottom and multicolored halter top.  It’s a little bit too big all over, so doesn’t provide much in the way of support.  And I’m concerned that it might sag and become revealing when it gets wet.  So I haven’t decided if I’m going to keep it.  I think now that I have overcome my fear of trying on bathing suits it’ll be okay.  I’ll find something that isn’t too mortifying to wear out in public.

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Ugh.

I decided to cover my grey hair.  This is fairly stupid, since my hair is very dark.  Miss Clairol and I do not agree on what dark brown looks like.  To me, my hair looks nearly black.  So I looked at the box and did my best to choose the same color (as my natural color) 4N.  Yeah, not so much.  My natural color has a lot of red.  But… being completely clueless about hair color, I read several articles all of which said use a neutral color to cover grey.  Well, it came out darker than my natural color and washed out in a week.

Really, permanant should last more than one week.

My new hair color. by lizzie1326

A month later, I tried again.  L’Oreal this time I think.  5N.  It did cover the grey, and absolutely every hint of red that was in my hair.  I look washed out and tired.  People are asking me if I feel okay – like when I wear black.  I am very fair with dark hair.  Wearing black is Elvira-ish in a very unflattering way.

Yeah, covering grey is not supposed to make me look older.

Will try one more time, with a reddish shade.  If this is unsuccessful, I will accept hair color defeat.

I checked out a half dozen books with hair and fashion advice.  Most of it should be obvious and therefore is not.  Such as that wearing clothing that is stretched out or doesn’t fit makes you look fat.  I read this and thought how silly that I haven’t noticed that my bras are all stretched out.  Duh, I haven’t purchased a new one since before I got pregnant!  I went shopping.

Shopping sucked.  The bras are flattering.  The baby hates them.  She cannot gain unauthorized access to the food source.  She’s quite ticked.

I went back to the same store a few days later.  The baby was done shopping.  I was not.  I got four tanks for layering.  I attempted shapewear – also a fashion magazine recommendation.  I could not get any of it over my head.  This prompted me to workout, which is far more pleasant than the thought of stuffing self like a sausage and being unable to remove garments to pee.

Sadly, I still need to shop.  I need a bathing suit that does not make me feel like troll.  Because I must make sure my kids know how to swim.  And pool avoidance has gone on long enough.

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Doing laundry at a friends is what got me interested in having a front loading machine.  Jennifer’s is really quiet.  Although, eventually, I ended up with a really noisy Kenmore.

I researched all the advantages of a front loading machine.  And at first, I thought they were just plain overpriced.  But I was won over by the fact that the front loading machines use about one third of the water per load than the top loading machines.  The monthly energy savings is something like three to five dollars – not enough to seal the deal for me.  But the environmental impact of 40 gallons of water per load compared to about twelve was a quantity I found persuasive.  I do at least two loads of laundry daily.

Laundry is not typically a chore that I mind.  I like the feel of fabric.  And I can turn on the washer or dryer and then go off to do something else.  And right now, I use these appliances as baby soothers.  DD-1 loves to listen to the sound of the washer.  In the mornings, I usually lay her down in front of the machines on a blanket and do the laundry.  She gets really drowsy and usually falls asleep as soon as I move her to her little nest.

Baby likes the washing machine.

DD-1 wears cloth diapers.  I was hoping that she would escape the sensitive skin that is so common in our family.  But she has not.  Consistent use of disposable diapers gives her a mean rash.  And me too – on my hands.  Real cloth diaper devotees carry around a wetbag to carry the dirties home.  But I use disposables when we are out and cloth at home.  I do have a wetbag though, that I use to hold dirty clothes and burp clothes.

Getting to my point, the washer, a Kenmore 4027, has temperature control and a heating element.  So the diapers always get appropriately hot water.  I typically use the whitest-whites setting.  My plan is to use the sanitize feature, which gets even hotter and takes longer to run, once a month.  But at the time of this writing, I haven’t tried it yet.

I did a lot of research before buying this washer.  I had intended to get a different model from the Sears Scratch and Dent online.  But discovered after hours of shopping that I would need to go to the store to schedule a delivery.  This information was not posted on the website in any logical manner.  I only discovered it when I called the store to ask about delivery.  Kind of defeats the purpose of buying it online doesn’t it?

Right, no way in Hell was I going to drive 50 miles (one way) with a newborn to look at a washer when I could just buy a cheaper, well reviewed new one online and have it delivered and installed the next day.  To which I say, Sears service rocks.  We’ve had our dryer serviced by Sears Repair before and were happy with them.  Anyway, I purchased online and scheduled the whole thing in a few minutes.  And it arrived the next day with two very cordial installation men.

Why I am writing so much about my washer?  Somebody might need to buy one.  Also, because when I posted about it on Facebook a number of people had something to say about it.  And Google reports over a million searches on washing machine per month.  So washing machines must be of some interest.

The things people seem to dislike about front loading washing machines are the noises of the less expensive models, and the potential for odor.  I am not bothered by either of these issues.  I leave the door open overnight so the washer doesn’t get a stale smell.

I washed it for the first time last night.  Total work time was about ten minutes.  But draining the water out took about fifteen minutes.  And running the clean cycle took 50 minutes.  I put the drain tube into a bowl and went about my business, then came back later and put the cap back on and ran the clean cycle.  So including wiping down the rubber gasket and rinsing off the filter, it took about ten minutes out of my evening.

I went handbag shopping at lunch instead of running to the craft store for a frame. Eating lunch at my desk, then running an errand did not sound fun.

The B. Makowsky bag I thought I wanted weighed a ton – so did a lot of his bags. Then I found one that was beautiful, and on clearance, but had a pen mark. The sales lady couldn’t get the mark off so she took it away. It was very disappointing.

Instead of a large bag that will fit my laptop, I got two small party bags. That’s what I call them anyway. They remind me of when I was much younger, thinner and better looking and attended parties. lol. Then I needed a small bag for just essentials like keys and lip gloss that I could wear crossbody and not lose. Now I want them because DD is older. So we can go to more outdoor events. And I don’t need to drag around a huge bag with diapers.

Of course, I have conveniently remembered that I still have a lovely bag that I bought in Italy that will fit my laptop. That is if I didn’t give it away in some mad attack of cleaning.

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The damn thing doesn’t work. Gaah! Now I can’t jump back into the car to return it either. So much for combining trips.

Last time I went to Target, I stupidly mistook friends unemployed brother for employed husband. And stuck my foot in my mouth.

Before that my photo order got messed up.

Apparently, I should avoid the place.