Thank you, my peeps, for the bra recommendations. Reader Kathy pointed me to LadyGrace.com, where they had MY bra on sale for under $15, so I ordered a buttload (and then I think I offered to marry Kathy, who ROCKS). And now that I can stop worrying about finding a good bra, I’m going to start looking for replacements, which I can take my time about.
I hear those of you who recommend the Lane Bryant Cacique and the Wacoal bras. I will definitely be giving those a try in the future!
I absolutely refuse to be measured by a professional, because the most recent time in my life when I was measured by the so-called “professional” bra fitter at JC Penney, a woman who came highly recommended, she measured me and then gave me these little lacy bras and I tried them on, they didn’t fit worth a shit and I had flabby skin hanging out in all directions. I don’t remember much about the first time I was measured by a professional at a fancypants bra shop, but it was a similar experience for me.
I measured myself using this page, and I tried six or seven bras, and when I discovered the Olga I’ve been wearing for the past few years, I thought my troubles were ALL OVER.
Not so much. Hmph.
I know it’s going to take some looking, and I’m willing to keep trying on bras ’til I find what works for me. And did I mention thank you, y’all, for your suggestions? You guys always come through. Who’s got better readers than me? NO ONE, that’s who!
When I win the lottery, I will buy each and every one of you the bra of your dreams. Promise!
I measured the rest of me the other day, because I need to buy a shaping garment like such before my next appointment with the surgeon (after 5 weeks, I get to discard the binder, woot!). So I was curious what size I’d need, and so I measured my hips and my waist.
My waist is a size 2X on the Flexees size chart, and my hips are a size large. I look kind of hourglass-y to myself when I look in the mirror, but apparently I’m more of a rectangle.
Yeah, I’m still swollen and I can’t really depend on those measurements as yet, but still. Hmph.
By the way, I’ve consolidated and moved my links page to make life easier for me. It’s here now, and it’s updated (as of yesterday), but as always there are probably sites I read that aren’t listed. I’ll add them as I think of it! The link on the left sidebar has been updated as well.
Things that happened while I was recovering from surgery that I never told y’all about:
1. We got a new septic tank. Apparently the field lines in our old septic tank were shot and the guy who’d pumped out our septic tank was all “Oh hai, may I have some moneys?” And Fred was all “If I gives you the cash, a price break?” And the guy was all “Oh hellz yes, pls.” And then Fred was all “The sooner the better!” And the guy was all “Hold up there, hoss, I cannot be tied down! Maybe by the end of the week!” Then time went by, the pages flew off the calendar and Fred was all “WTF? Whyfor, when we’re all HERE HAVE SOME MONEY! do the contractors vanish into the distance?” and he called the guy and the guy was all “Uh, I was waiting! For a part! Yeah, a part! Maybe Wednesday!” and they worked it out so that when we were at the hospital all day, the guy would be here installing the septic tank and field lines, and so by the time I got home Friday mid-morning, it was pretty much done except for the smoothing of the dirt, which he finished Friday. And Fred put grass seed and straw in the front yard to encourage a lawn to grow, and it’s slowly, patchily growing in.
2. The Saturday after I got home from the hospital, Fred put out a sign indicating that we had “Fresh Eggs $2.50”, and a family stopped and they wanted both of the dozen eggs and they just happened to ask if we had any chicks they could buy so they could take them home and have their own source of fresh eggs in a few months. Fred thought about it, and decided to sell them five of the chicks we’d hatched ourselves, and then he came in and told me about it, and here’s the kicker: we felt (and still feel) kind of bad about selling those chicks. And what’s STUPID is that those chicks are going to live longer in their new home than they would have here, because those chickens came from the batch of chicks we decreed would be our meat chickens, but still – who knows what conditions they’ll be living in? THOSE POOR DAMN BABIES.
3. I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned it or not, but Fred has been selling eggs on eBay. Not for eating, for hatching. Eggs! On eBay! Have you ever heard such a thing? He’s sold, I think, four dozen eggs, maybe more. And he carefully wraps each egg in bubble wrap, then wraps the egg carton in tape and buries the whole thing in styrofoam peanuts. Eggs have gone to Washington State, Milwaukee, and New York. The woman in Milwaukee actually bought a second dozen from Fred. It’s kind of neat that there are babies from Mclovin and the girls being born all over the country, but at the same time, I’ve gotta wonder – are fertilized eggs really at such a premium that people need to buy them on eBay from some weird guy in Alabama?
I bought blueberries on sale at the grocery store on Monday, and like ten minutes after I bought them they started growing mold, so I was able to make one blueberry coffee cake out of the one non-moldy pint of blueberries I had, and ended up tossing the other two pints to the chickens.
There is seriously nothing cuter on earth than little bitty baby chickens running around with blueberries in their beaks, shrieking their “I HAS FOOD! I HAS FOOD!” sound.
Very important words of advice from Mia regarding the Tylenol/ Advil combo:
On the tylenol/advil combo. My assvice to you, from someone who works in pharmacy is to be very careful about how much tylenol you’re taking between the combo and the vicodin. You should never take more than 4000mgs of tylenol in a 24 hr. period. Your vicodin may have 325mg or 500mg per tablet plus whatever strength tylenol you take in the combo. People are under the assumption that tylenol being otc is that it’s safe, that’s why some people use it as a choice for a “call for help overdose” problem being is that it doesn’t take much before you end up on the liver organ donor list. That’s the end of my pharmacology lecture.
Thanks, Mia!
I made a kitten movie last night, and when I was done and it was processing, I found that it was SEVEN minutes long. I can barely bear to sit and watch a two minute movie; I’m not going to subject anyone to a SEVEN minute long kitten movie. So I made it shorter and I’ll post one a day for the next week or so.
Wild Things playing:
I actually shot this last week, so they were 6 weeks old at the time, even though they’re… well hell, they’re 8 weeks old today!
You can also download it in mpg form, here.
I call this series…
Drama Kitten is Very Dramatic.
She will be appearing in the local Catspearean production of Romeo & Juliet. Above, she’s practicing for her big death scene.
A few more Zoe-in-bowl pics over at Flickr.
Happy Joe.
Previously
2007: “nom nom” is HILARIOUS.
2006: He’s such a nosy little fucker.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: Wouldn’t it be funny if as soon as we put all the flyers out in the neighborhood, he came swishing home?
2002: “NO,” he said with great certainty. “That was YOU!”
2001: But look at that little face. How can you not see it and just grin like a fool?
2000: Which is better than it could have been – we were afraid his foot was slowly rotting off.
It’s not that eggs are a premium, it’s that I’m selling them cheaper. Capitalism, baby.
I have to sing the praises of the “Green Bags”. https://www.greenbags.com/ They have really helped my spoiled fruits and vegetables problem. I had a head of iceburg lettuce, which normally gets all “rusty” in about 3 seconds flat, in a green bag for A MONTH and it was still fresh, crisp and not rusty at all. I LOVE ME SOME GREEN BAGS. I haven’t tried them with blueberries, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped.
With all the fresh produce you guys have coming from the garden shortly, I bet they’d be a good investment. They can be reused several times by just rinsing them out and letting them dry.
-Nancy
I worked with a girl who had to have a liver transplant because she took too much Tylenol.
The transplant Dr. told her he sees it -all the time-.
I often take tylenol and advil together for my migraines and it usually works within 20 minutes. I only do this once or twice a month so not to worry about killing my liver!
Robyn,
Check out these slimmers. They are very very comfortable and hold it ALL in.
http://www.spanx.com
What Pat said–plus, Target sells less expensive versions of Spanx–made by the same people. I think they’re called Assets. I’ve been wearing them and they’re really comfortable.
Also, Lane Bryant sells Spanx now, so if you’re going there to check out the bras, you can check out the Spanx. Those Cacique bras are da bomb for my 3ds.
I pulled an extremely dumb-ass stunt when I was about 20, and swallowed about 75-80 extra-strength Tylenol. Fortunately for me (and my liver, knock wood), I started vomiting almost before I’d finished swallowing the last handful, and continued vomiting for nearly 3 days (lived on the bathroom floor during that time) but still. What a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do. I still ask for LFTs every time they do bloodwork, because I’m paranoid about getting some kind of late-developing liver disease, even though everything I’ve read indicates that my “critical window” would have been in the 48-72 hours after having taken the pills. But especially now that I’m on all different pain meds and anti-inflammatories and whatnot, it’s nervous-making.
Don’t fertilized eggs have to be kept at a certain temperature? I remember you being worried because the momma hen would go sit on the wrong nest; how does Fred ensure the temperature of the eggs as they’re in transit, or does the temperature only come into play at a certain time during the incubation period?
Darn, that video of the kittens playing is too cute. I love the videos. I’d forgotten how playful kittens are. Any kind of pain medication is bad on the liver but sometime the good outweigh the bad. Thanks for keeping us posted on happenings around the farm.
Elayne, you can store eggs at room temp for several weeks before you incubate them. They’re pretty tough.
I’ve bought eggs off of eBay — and Fred, you should check out listing on http://www.eggbid.com as well. To be honest though, I never thought about buying mixed breed eggs — I always got the rare breeds that are hard to come by as chicks 🙂
And I’m sure the poor babies that Fred sold will be just fine. 🙂
Oh man. I’ve always maintained that Zoe is my favorite, from the beginning. Now I see she’s inherited my drama queen gene, too. We’re two children made by the same spirit-mother or somesuch New Agey thing …
I’m completely clueless, just so you know in advance… 😉
How do you know which eggs are fertilized, and which eggs are just regular ole eggs for eating?
I love how Fred popped in to say WHY people would buy his eggs but said nothing about you calling him a “weird guy from Alabama”! Y’all crack me up!
If you ever visit Atlanta, there is a store called Intimacy that does a fabulous job with bras and bra fittings. Granted, they sell some pretty expensive bras, but who says you have to buy the expensive ones. My sister-in-law has a very large chest and has had a hard time finding bras that hold it all in and she loves the ones she bought there. (just a thought)
I don’t know if I’ve shared with you the story from when I was 11 yrs. old. !!11!! yrs old and my mom took me to a lingerie store in Youngstown, Ohio run by these two elderly Jewish sisters. The fact they were Jewish is only important because I had lived such a sheltered life that I had never met anyone Jewish and they made quite the impression on me. First thing, they made me go to the dressing room without my mother, then take off my shirt. They measured me and let me change into the new bra with 4 hooks. 11 yrs old and 4 hooks. I was crying. Then, once I got it on, one sister came into the changing room with me and lifted my breasts from the bottom, tugged on the straps and the band, then REACHED INSIDE THE CUP AND HOISTED MY BREASTS UP. Eleven years old. I was a 38D at that point. As a matter of fact, I went from a B cup to a D cup without even saying Hello to the C cups. Anyhow, I was scarred for life, although my mom took me back to them for over 10 yrs to buy bras. Going to get fitted at JCP or LB just can’t compare. They used to talk about the TV (transvestite) men who would come into the shop to buy nighties and undergarments for their “wives” and how mean they treated those men. They also talked about their holidays. I was like, “Don’t you feel sad about not having a Christmas tree?” My mother didn’t let me go out in public much.
Unreal that ebay will even let him sell them.. very odd. I thought animals were not allowed to be auctioned on ebay. Very interesting. And interesting that they can survive the delivery to be further incubated! Rather cool though..
Just so you know, I would not have a problem watching a seven minute movie of your little kittehs playing so cutely. Nope, not at all.
And I wish we were set up here so I could have my own hens laying organic eggs for me (and my friends)to eat. I cringe every time I go grocery shopping these days.
Isn’t it uncomfortably warm to wear these compression undergarments that have been mentioned?
If you find any on sale, do try Wacoals. They are absolutely amazing — and
they go through the wash dozens of times and come out just as good as new.
For bras with the wide straps and the three- or four-hook backs, you should
really check out Goddess. They are made for “abundant” figures, and my sister-in-law,
who is very well-developed, thinks they’re the best bras around.
I’m so glad your recovery is progressing just fine. You look really good in the
picture.