I had the day off and nothing to do until a vet appointment at 3 pm, so I did a little shopping for some spring clothes. Not very successful...as I guess you can tell by the title containing the word "rant". I was mainly looking for tops as I already know that pants pretty much have to be ordered. First of all....bless the stores that include lengths in the online description of their tops and blouses. Seriously, I love you. Sites that use things like "mid-hip length"..... Really? On who? Mid-hip length on me or on somebody who is 5 ft tall? Because my biggest rant is tops that are too short. I hate, hate, hate that!!!! I try to abide by the rules of decent fit that specify that most tops need to be crotch length to give the body a good balance. Ahem. Ralph Lauren, you miss that by at least a foot on me. And to get a halfway decent length requires sizing up to the point the shoulders and neckline are huge. I got so freaking frustrated today trying on about 100 different tops and finding just a couple that would do. That would do....IF I never put them in the dryer.

On the flip side, I ordered a few tshirts from a "tall" women's site (long tall Sally). Their tops are pitifully few as they seem to concentrate on long inseam pants. But these tshirts come to my knees almost! I still wear them for bumming around the house but is there NO middle ground?

My second biggest gripe is the tissue thin fabrics everybody uses these days. I don't want to wear a tank or cami under everything I own. I am terribly hot natured. Hell, I can barely stand to layer a jacket over my clothes even on the coldest days. Is it too much to ask for tops in fabrics that are not completely sheer? And long enough? Apparently it is, because I can't find much of what I am looking for anywhere. Neither cheap or expensive....at this point price is the least of my concerns.

A few other of the rules of fit that make it so difficult for me to find clothes:

Pants should always fall within a quarter inch of the floor WITH shoes on.

Nothing, not dresses, skirts, or capris should EVER fall to mid calf. It cuts the body off, and looks awkward and frumpy. Lengths should be above or below the calf muscle.

Tops should be crotch length, Tunics should completely cover the hips.

Leggings are NOT pants. Nothing can make them pants. They are essentially hosiery without feet. If you insist on wearing leggings, at least put on a tunic that covers your booty. Nobody should have to look at that, EVER! If you are in doubt whether your skin tight, Lycra spandex
Leg coverings are leggings....they probably are. Cover your behind accordingly.

Women over 40 should leave the short shorts to the younger people. Even if you are in relatively good shape.

Banded bottoms on tops look good on about 5 people in the whole world...it's not me and chances are its not you either.

Just because you can get it on and fastened doesn't necessarily mean it fits.

Sigh......I'm over it now!

I think I posted before how much I LOVE my Droid phone. It's been solid since I got it over a year ago. There are newer Droids out there, but I get comfortable after finally figuring out some newer technology and don't want it to change unless its an absolute necessity. I get a new phone when my old one is no longer functional. I don't rush to upgrade every couple of months. I know a lot of people who do, and hey...if that floats your boat then go for it. I just hate the awkward phase of figuring out a new phone.

Anyway, like I said my Droid has been rock solid, reliable, nary a glitch. So I was completely surprised to find it on and frozen on the start up screen first thing this morning. It was plugged in to charge overnight...something my old non-smart phone didn't need. It would last for days. But my Droid lasts a full day even with heavy use. I just need to recharge every night. When I saw the screen on and in a mode that it was not in when I plugged it in last night I panicked. Not my phone! My cats were swarming around my ankles frantically trying to persuade me to stop delaying their breakfast, but I was as frozen as my Droid's screen running through the scenario of the day. Busy! How to find time to run into our local phone store?? How long will I be without a phone until I can get there? I broke out in a cold sweat as I started feeling cut off! What if somebody was trying to reach me at that very second?? Would I be able to use a loaner phone until mine could be fixed? Should I upgrade to something new? Oh Dear Sweet Lord this day is starting to suck before even that first cup of coffee!!!

What actually happened was that I took the battery out while I fed the cats ( yes they finally got to eat after a 5 minute or so delay....tragic!). I held my breath when I put the battery back in and turned it back on. But it booted up normally and has been fine all day since so maybe....knock on wood....it was just a crazy little glitchy thing. I haven't turned it off to reboot in months, and I know it's a good idea to do that occasionally. So hopefully it's fine. It made me nervous though.....

I was sick all weekend with some little old virus o' death. I went back to work today and it rained ALL DAY LONG! A cold dreary rain that made it feel like the day would never end. It didn't help my mood any. But all that is over and done with. Surely spring can't be too far away....right? I mean seriously.....right?

It's all fine though. If I can just get through this week, we get to see Jon Stewart in Durham on Saturday. These tickets sold out in 10 minutes. I was on the phone the minute they went on sale, got put on hold for what seemed like an eternity and was told no seats were available. Then a couple of tickets showed up on the ticket sales screen. There were 3 seats left. I got 2 and then....I don't know. A lot of people were disappointed I guess. These aren't great seats. We are up in the balcony, but I had no choice in the matter. It's Jon Stewart! Live! And we already made reservations to have dinner at Brasa. So it's all just a matter of making it through this week....

I think life should have background music like a movie. It would help me know what's coming, like scary music means something creepy is about to happen. Happy music means I know I can relax because only good things are coming my way. Background music never lies...if something is supposed to be sad, you will know it without awkwardly wondering how to behave. It would make everything so much simpler. For instance, when I got out of bed this morning, if I could only have heard the threatening soundtrack from "Jaws" I would have known to call in sick and go back to bed because work was going to be an unpleasant ordeal. Because it was that....unpleasant and ordeal-ish. We were closed for President's Day yesterday so it was double the never-ending unpleasant ordeals all freaking day long. I am so glad it's over. I am going to lie on the couch and try to recover so....cue some kind of boring music for this evening ahead. LOL!

Yeah this is a pretty good description of my day:

I am feeling a little like Spring, so I am trying to coax it into being with a new spring template.  Do you like it?  I mean, I am so over the snowman theme.  We had snow Saturday night.  Only about 2 inches or so, but it stuck and is still there in a few shady spots in the yard.  It was pretty and all but it kind of messed up our plans.  Hannia's birthday is today!  Happy Birthday Hannia.......so I had invited the kids over for dinner, cooked most of Saturday and had ordered the cutest Hello Kitty cake for her.  I ordered the cake from a friend who is trying to start a bakery business on the side (she works full time already).  I am always willing to help out local small businesses, especially ones that are being run by women.  Ok, I am a tad feminist, but seriously?  Women have gotten the short end of the stick for way too long in my opinion. 

Anyway, I cooked up a storm, literally.  About 3pm it started raining, and a little bit of snow was mixed in.  By 4:30 it was snowing like crazy and the roads were getting mushy.  I talked to Stephen on the phone, and we finally decided that it wasn't worth risking an accident.  I wouldn't have wanted to go out driving in that.  It kept right on snowing until almost midnight.  The roads were pretty clear by Sunday though so the kids came over and had leftovers and cake.  There was no great loss.  The only hard part was trying to keep Bruce from cutting her cake for 24 hours.  LOL! 

So, we were off work today....in honor of Hannia's birthday, and a little thing called President's Day.

Its been nice, having a 3 day weekend.  I could work so much better and more efficiently if we had 3 day weekends every week.  I had a day to get stuff done around the house (Saturday), a day to be a bum and get some rest (Sunday), and a day to go out and run all the necessary errands (today).  Perfect!  Of course, with all the news about the post office being broke, going to a 5 day week...etc, etc....that might be a case of be careful what you wish for. 

I hope everybody is having a loving day, being kind, and wonderful to each other. I woke up to cards hidden in all the places that I frequent in the mornings. ALL my cards had a cat theme and yes, I absolutely love them all. Bruce only got a single card, but I ordered a bouquet of heart shaped cookies for him all done up with ribbons and stuff. I was going to take a picture, but the cookies have been sampled. A friend of mine at work has a sister who bakes and is starting a business doing cakes and edible bouquets, etc....she uses fresh eggs from her Mom's farm and her treats taste so delicious. I will definitely keep her in mind for any kinds of sweet things when we need them. She also lives just down the street from us too so how convenient is that?

So I was contemplating a new blog template, maybe a spring theme because I am so over these gray chilly days....but I re-read a post about how excited I was to have a beautiful live Christmas tree this past Christmas. Our cat, Omen started sneezing terribly after the tree was up in the house. She already has food allergies and will break out in itchy rashes if she eats cat food with grain fillers in it. A few days after the sneezing began, she started lying around all apathetic and dejected. She ran a fever. She barely left her favorite napping spot. She ended up needing a trip to the vet, a whole slew of meds for a sinus infection, etc....The vet thinks she was allergic to our tree. I was horrified but not about to take our beautiful tree down with Erica and the whole family coming. We gave Omen her meds and hoped for the best. We did take the tree down right after Christmas though. I didn't wait for Epiphany on January 6th like we usually do. The moral of this story is....artificial trees will just have to do from now on. That poor kitty was way too sick to risk it again.

This year is flying by. Wasn't it just New Years like last week? We have all been busy around here, but everything is good. I had intentions of blogging more this year, but haven't lived up to that yet. The kids are crazy busy too. Hannia is loving teaching Spanish and French to her middle schoolers, and Stephen is enjoying his work and studies too. But we haven't seen that much of them since this semester started. Erica is doing well, too, but I think the rainy cold English winter is grating on her nerves. It hasn't been terribly cold here....but so much rain! I hope spring is sunnier. Here and in England.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great rest of the week. If you celebrate Valentine's Day, have a wonderful one. If you don't, then have a great day anyway. It's such a commercial holiday. I don't need candy and restaurants are way too busy to even think about going out that night. Just show somebody a little love on Thursday, even if its yourself. :)