more on jeans...

Yay! I found jeans! I browsed around Lane Bryant's website and then was able to swing out to North Olmsted after Mass today. Sean sat in the car with the kids while I ran in.

When I went in someone asked me if I needed help and I replied that I was just looking for jeans. Quickly glancing around I notice that they are all distressed, otherwise known as full of holes. For real? The sales woman tells me that they have some great styles, blah, blah, blah. I smile and nod my head and then ask the young whippersnapper for the jeans without holes in them, telling her I tear them easy enough myself, but I'm looking for something more age appropriate without holes in them. She laughs with me and then tells me that they're mainly all distressed, but they have a few left of the ones without the distressing, but that it's slim pickings as they won't be getting another shipment of the Right Fit jeans until July. Yikes! I go over to the one stack of the blue (that would be blue for curvy) and discover that they do not have the size that the online sizing chart tells me that I'll need. So, I grab some that are two sizes smaller than the online chart tells me that I'll need. I also found a few more pairs within the clearance racks, one of which was just one size too big. The sizing chart online runs WAY big, so I'm glad that I went in.

I venture back to the fitting room and I put the one size smaller pants on and um, HUGE. Hey, that's a nice feeling! Then I put on the first pair that are on clearance that are two sizes smaller. A bit loose, but not bad. But they're LONG. I mean, they were marked long, but me being 5'7" you'd think that they wouldn't be super long. Um, wrong. They're about a foot too long. I try on the other pair that are two sizes smaller but a different style. They also fit nicely except for the length. I take both of the two sizes smaller out and have the sales clerk tell me how much they'll be (one is on clearance). That's where I find out that the other pair is also on sale. It's really like getting two for the price of one! So, I bought both, despite knowing I'm going to have to bring out my broken sewing machine. Or maybe I'll have to run over to my mil's house if my sewing machine won't work.

Oh, and not only are there some crazy distressed jeans and some bleach stained jeans, there are gasp.....zippered ankle jeans. For real! The pair I saw in store were much lighter, very reminiscent of 1988.

jeans....

My favorite pair of jeans bit the bullet recently. They wore out in the thigh area. At first, I patched, like any good seamstress would. I matched the thread to the color of the jeans and patched on the inside. You couldn't tell. I was thrilled. But then two more spots popped up. Now, it wasn't like these jeans were tight - they fit perfectly. I knew that they were destined to rip when I bought them, back in October. I knew because the material was just too soft. But, at $8, who was really going to complain about a pair of jeans that fit. And why did these jeans fit so well? They fit because they had a built in elastic in the waistband. You know, like the one for your kids? Pull the elastic on the inside and put it through the button hole? Yeah, like that. Well, I get horrible back gap in most pants, no matter my size. My hips are large and my stomach is smaller. It's not exactly hour glass right now, but when I'm smaller, that's what I'd call myself. Right now, yeah, not so much.

Anyways, so the jeans were patched again. When two more spots popped up I knew that it was over. The middle portion of the jeans were practically a patch job now and the material was just breaking down everywhere. I have several pair of jeans that fit, but none that are comfortable. One the waist comes up too high. Another is just a smidge tight in the thighs, etc.

Last week, I decided to make a quick trip into the mall on my way to class. AKA = time without the kids. So, I walked in by the store I knew wouldn't fail me - only, Lane Bryant did fail me. Why? Because they closed the store! This particular mall is slowly dying and now my favorite store was gone. How come I wasn't warned? Why didn't someone call me to tell me that they were closing? Surely there were some great sales that I could have scored some good deals at! Alas, no one called and I was sad, but decided to trudge on. I went into Sears (my now retired jeans were bought at Sears) and JcPenney. Why is it that the pants that they sell are only granny style or cut so low that they don't cover my crack?

Hello, designers? I'm talking to you. Yes, I'm a plus sized woman, but I do not want to feel like I'm 70, when I'm only 30. And designers? I'm 30, I have no desire to show my crack. Her's a good litmus test for you - when you design a pair of pants, ask yourself, if a mom was wearing these, can she bend over and pick a small child up without showing off her crack? If so, you've got a winner. Oh, and one more thing, not all of us like jeans that are cut slim in the hip. So, maybe have more than bootcut - slim in the thigh available. Mmmmkay? Thanks.

I'm going to venture to the bigger mall in the next county over soon to check out Lane Bryant. I hope they don't fail me this time.

PS - I hit up two thrift stores later that night. I was able to get some cords and a dressier pair of pants but no jeans. It's slim pickings in the thrift stores too, unless you want to pay $7 for some jeans that had a bleach stain on them.

Time Warner Cable

Recently, we got a bill from Time Warner Cable that drastically increased our monthly bill. From $106 to $131 per month. That's for basic digital cable, DVR and high speed internet. I called and was told that I was on a promotion package and it's done. The best that they can do is take my bill to $117.84 (before taxes). I told them that I was considering other options. They didn't care. I guess that they'd rather no money from me than the same amount? Unfortunately, I called AT&T and Verizon, neither of them are in our service area. Which means, we're stuck with TWC if we want the joy of high speed internet. What's that? There's DSL? Um, yeah, which is rather like dial up. Been there, done that and we went back to cable.

Unfortunately, with Sean being laid off, we can't exactly afford the increase - either one. I mean, we justified cable right now because it's pretty much our only form of entertainment. The cable internet is easy to justify, I'm taking so many online classes that if we didn't have cable internet, I wouldn't be able to watch the streaming lectures, so I would have to go to campus to take classes. Going to campus = more $ for the sitter. Needless to say, the internet is cheaper than the sitter. ;)

So, we can:
1) Go with the local phone company and get a phone, DSL and satellite dish. It's about what we pay now. The cons are that the DSL is way slower than the cable internet and we'd get next to no channels. I mean, no Bravo? Adding more channels would put us more than we're paying now, which isn't an option (at least not combined with the slow internet).
2) Cancel the cable and DVR and just have the internet. We can watch shows on various websites (abc, cbs, nbc) or on www.hulu.com. We'd also get the converter box to pick up the local channels and PBS. The internet price would got up, but we would still save about $30 per month this way. Cons - no DVR! I love having a DVR. No Nick Jr. Which means we'd need to buy a new DVD player (thanks to the kids, it's broke) and buy more DVDs to keep the kids company for 20 minutes here and there while I get things done.
3) Suck it up, lock into the 2 year rate of $117.84 plus taxes.

I'm thinking. If it was soley my decision, the cable would already be gone, even though I'll miss shows like House Hunters.