Gettin' Down to Business

So after calling the Insurance company Thursday evening, we had QUITE the quick response. Our Adjuster called McStudly Friday afternoon, and they had someone at our house Saturday morning.

They came in and we quickly discovered that the damage was even worse than previously thought. I'm SO glad we called them!! So we signed a few papers, wrote a check for $250 (thank GOD I set our deductible as low as possible), and they got to work. And by work, I mean they began wreaking havoc on my poor little house. :-(


BUT... there's a little twist in our story - Do you want to good news first, or the bad news?


Okay, fine. We'll start with the bad news and get it out of the way.


They brought in these mega jumbo-fans to "dry out" the house. In our tiny little two level, 2 bedroom 1.5 bath townhome, we are the current foster parents of 9 of these bad boys... AND two huge-mongous dehumidifiers that seem to have the power to suck the blood RIGHT out of my body, through my nose, of course. ...stupid little devilish heaven-forsaken pieces of you know WHAT!! *gathering my wits*

We were told we had to keep these puppies on for 3 days. 3 FRIGGIN DAYS!! *sigh* So they've been on. And let me just say how much sleep I got the first night: 0 hrs. 0 minutes. and possibly about 27 seconds. Yeah... NADA!! I tried going to the spare bedroom, the only haven I currently have in this place. Nope. Didn't work. I went downstairs to sleep on the couch. Nothing. Okay - that is where I finally got the 27 seconds of sleep. Oh Emm GEE!! I was a BASKET CASE that next morning (just ask McStudly... he'll tell you, I'm sure). ha ha


Anywho - the bad news is shown here:


The giganto-hole in our ceiling to dry out the rafters.

The lack of carpet where my dining room once lived.



Our new dining room table??



Beautiful new bedroom/hallway flooring technique.



Our successfully remodelled bathroom - the entryway.



A sidewalk in my bedroom??



Papa dehumidifier dwarfing the size of our bathroom.



The newly remodelled bathroom, sink-top decor.



At least they left the throne in for us.



Yeah... very child friendly, eh?



One of the foster children at play. (This one's name is Moe)



Stanley counting to 10 before going to find the others.



So, yeah - that's the bad news. It's ugly. It's giving me a headache (literally... all the Claritan and Excedrin in the world cannot work as well as just leaving my house, right now. It's totally ridic!


Howev', there is a bit of a silver lining, and then the good news. Are you ready for it??


Silver Lining:

We finally got the spare bedroom organized!! If I had a before picture, you'd be thrilled. It looked like one of those storage places you can rent month-to month and put whatever you want in it. Seriously. It was so stressful that we only ever went in there to get Austin in and out of his crate. That was it. It. Was. Awful.

Although it's not "finished", it is SO many leaps beyond what it was (sorry... forgot to take before pictures!). So, now it looks like this:


Our pretty new futon that took a degree in Rocket Science to put together.



The desk that was left with the house... eventually we'll move the TV onto an entertainment stand and actually use this baby for our computer... but that's down the road a bit, since for now we have a laptop.



That fun shiny spot on the closet door (which hides all of our boxes and other things until the attic is done) is where the previous owners thought they could "touch up" the off-white doors with white primer. *sigh*



This is currently my FAVorite spot in the house. Seriously... and a copy of "Adam" by Ted Dekker - the book I plan to start reading as soon as I can get a minute to relax! And yes, we are OU fans - GO SOOOONERRSS!!!




The Good News:

I know this is what you've been waiting for, so I'll get right down to it. Because of the little mis-hap, those guys came in Saturday morning and started firing off all kinds of what-if's and kinda-sorta-maybe's and were very nice to answer any questions we had. Well, they started out by telling us that they had to remove the padding from under the carpeting, because it was have to be replaced, to avoid molding, etc. Fine by me. And I just through in a "If you want to take the carpet, too... by all means, you will not be breaking my heart!"

This carpet that came with the house is nasty!! It's got this dark ring all around the edges of the rooms and it's not quite the color it was originally (thanks for Mrs. Smoker that sold it to us). We thought we'd try, ya know? But the guys told us that "unless there is furniture stains, from the water, or delamination under the carpetting, we can't replace it. But I'll see what I can do to work with you all..." Whatever that means...

A friend of mine (Thanks Renee!!) came over to help me load up the Escape and make a dump and Goodwill run. When we returned... that's when I got the awesome news!!!

The carpet had to be replaced. WOOHOO!!! Apparently there was delamination (???) and they had to cut out the carpeting (as you could see in the pictures). And since they cut out the carpeting, they have to replace the ENTIRE bedroom, the ENTIRE hallway, and the ENTIRE 1st floor's carpet. SCORE!!! So basically, we are getting all new carpeting for only $250!! .

And That's not all - We can pay the difference and have them replace the carpet on the stairs as well, but if the carpet that they find won't match what's already on the stairs, they have to replace it for us for FREE!! So that's what we're hoping for... but if we can't get that, we'll bite the bullet and pay the difference.

That ooogly laminate flooring in the bathroom? Yeah, we had planned on eventually tiling and whatever whatever. Well, they have to replace the laminate in there, now. SO - instead of having them put in new laminate, we can just pay the difference in cost, buy the tile, and have them tile it for us. SCORE AGAIN!!!


So that's awesome, right? One little "oopsie" (little is DEFinitely an understatement...) by McStudly and we get new carpet, new tile, new baseboards, and a freshly painted 1st floor ceiling all for only $250 and some change. How sweet is that?? Yeah - I'm pretty stoked. Or at least I will be once it's all said and done with.


So for now, McStudly's grandparents are staying with us starting tonight and they've already seen the damage to the house. They're so laid back they just laughed and said it was fine. "We've lived in worse. Don't even worry about it!" How great are they? *sigh*

So I'll keep you updated on the status of things, and let you know how it all turns out. They probably won't start doing any of this stuff until the grandparents leave on Thursday. Until then, we'll keep relying on our bathroom-rug walkway (you can see in the above pictures) and looking forward to finally turning these beasts off Tuesday afternoon.


Oh!! I almost forgot to tell you!! Since they are going to tile the bathroom for us, and the new vanity we planned to purchase down the road will be a full two-sink vanity, not this weird on with the open area underneath, we're going to go ahead, bit the bullet, and buy the new vanity and sink-top as well. Just get it over and done with already!! We'll definitely be taking a BIIIIGG break from ANY home remodelling in the near future once all of this is finally completed, but our house will definitely be a-buzzin' for the next week or two. THAT is pretty much all we can count on at this point.




Well, that's the update on the whole sitiation (pr: sit-chee-AY-shun). What do you think? Wanna sign up and do one of those "house swap" type-a deals? No? Well you're sure missing out!


Catch you guys later. Toodles! :-)

April Showers

I almost don't even know where to begin. If I seem a little spotty, please forgive me. My mind is in about 5 gazillion places, right now.

*sigh


So as many of you know, we've been doing some home-remodelling lately. We've hit bump after bump in the road, but things were finally progressing. So imagine, if you will, that we've finally taken about 5 steps forward. Well... now think 8 steps back.


My Husband has been living the "Manly Man" dream in wanting to do things himself. I'm not allowed to do them, but it's not due to any fact other than he just wants to be able to do it. Fine. Whatever. I've got PLENTY of other things to do around the house...


Yesterday, McStudly had plans to install the new light into our bathroom. That's fine, but I couldn't keep myself from worrying - so I called.

Honey, I know you're going to laugh at me, but I just have to say it - please don't forget to turn the breaker off before you install the new light.

*sarcastic silence*

"Babe. Seriously. I'm not stupid."

Okay - that's fine. I just had to say it. Laugh at me if you want, but I feel better.

(end of conversation)



Well, apparently it shouldn't have been... in installing the new light, he ran into a bit of a snag and had to make a home-depot run in order to take care of it. While at the Home Depot, he decided to go ahead and purchase a new shut-off valve for the water supply to our new toilet, since the old one was, well, old and needed to be replaced anyways.

Upon arriving home, he decides to switch jobs and install the new shut-off valve instead. (Some of you probably see what's coming. Unfortunately, I didn't know what he was doing, or I would've said... well... you'll figure it out)

He starts taking off the old valve and SQQWOOOOSSHHSHHHSHHSHHSHHHHHSHHSHHSHHHHHHHH (that's my squirting water impression, for those of you not following).


Apparently, Mr. Manly Man himself forgot to SHUT OFF THE WATER!!! He thought that shutting it off on the shut-off valve... the one he was replacing... would shut all of the water off to that pipe. ???


Natural reaction - he sticks his finger in the pipe. I don't blame him. I would've done the same thing... oh wait... no. No I wouldn't have.


ANYwho - he has his finger in the pipe and calls... My Dad. Mr. fix-it-yourself. Probably the best choice, really. So he finally figures out that he has to take his finger out and go shut off the main water... but he doesn't know where it is.


He runs down to the utility closet... then down to the basement and finds three water lines. Shuts ALL 3 of them off. (again - probably the best choice, at this point) But, by this time it had been probably around 5 minutes since "the incident" started. So you know what that means...


Water - EVERYWHERE!!



So I happen to call, and he answers the phone like this:

"I feel so stupid."

Why? What happened?

"I can't believe I didn't that..."

What? You did what? WHAT HAPPENED??

"Ugh - I feel SO stupid!"

Would you PLEASE tell me what happened?!


As he starts to relive what happened, I BUST out laughing... what else can you do? But then he tells me how bad it is.



As you can imagine, 5 minutes is a LOOONG time to have water BURSTING out of an open pipe. It was ALL over the place... literally.


Bathroom - covered in water





(with the new shut-off valve finally in place)


Bedroom - carpet totally wet and soggy at the door and along the entire wall that meets up with the bathroom



Hallway - carpet completely wet and soggy outside of the bathroom door




*sigh* I wish that was where it ended.


Moving downstairs:

Dining room - water rushing down through the new chandelier, through the fire-sprinkler, ALL over the dining room table, ALL over the carpet





Utilities closet - it's raining men in there

(Sorry - it's a bad pic, I know)


Living Room - let's just say you can see all of the seams of the dry-wall on the ceiling. AND where any screw-holes may have once existed.







(the chandelier and one of the sprinkler heads)


(the cieling where the dining room meets the kitchen)


(the floor next to the utilities closet)



Now, McStudly WAS quick to not only turn off all of the water, but also flip the Main Breaker to the entire house. Than the Lord... I didn't need him getting electrocuted on top of all that had already happened (which was my first concern when he answered the phone the way he did and sounding all delirious).



Our HomeOwner's Insurance will be earning it's keep in the near future, that's for sure. Unfortunately, there's no way it'll be done by... TOMORROW, when his grandparents fly in!! But at least they're not staying with us until Monday evening. We'll have a few more days for clean-up and getting the house livable, again.



I'm just glad it was nice outside. A neighbor's kid ran the dog while we cleaned up and when we checked to make sure we wouldn't get electrocuted, we cut the power back on so I could cook some dinner.

On the plus side - the new light is almost installed int he bathroom, and the new toilet (and shut-off valve!) has been installed. I also got a lot of re-organizing and re-arranging in the spare bedroom while McStudly, a Neighbor Man, and Papa Bear worked.






Oh yeah - AND it looks like I no longer need to mop the bathroom floor!! :-P

Oats and Canola Oil

Last night was the Fusion Christmas party. It was a good time.

Well... it was at least "interesting". That I can honestly say...


No really, it was fun. But I have to say that my least favorite part probably would have to be sponge bathing in the church bathroom while soaking my unmentionables in the sink next to me.


Let's recap.


Apparently, in order to show your "love" for your small group leader (notice I used caps... I felt loved, but I have a hard time believe that the other two leaders felt loved with the way their small groups went near-homicidal on them), you have to completely cover them in... well... seemingly anything that the youth pastor could grab from the church's pantry.

We played a game called the "Christmas 12 Days of Doom". If I could remember all of the actual items, and in order, I'm sure it would be SO much more fun... but alas, I was a bit distracted as I was being lathered in Maple Syrup.


What I can remember:

- We were told to come on stage as they brought in the tarps (Tarps? Never a good sign at a youth event!)

- Then, we were each assigned our very on kiddy-pool. Here I was thinking 'Hey, maybe they're going to re-enact a beach getaway for us, since it's so stinking butt-cold outside! How thoughtful... I really DO feel loved!' ... so I got cozy.

- In came the table... on the table sat 3 bins, but the three bins were covered by a big black cloth. (again - this is not usually a good sign)

- They started singing... and it all started with a box of Betty Crocker Cake Mix. Why were they name specific? I think it was to ensure that we knew they weren't going cheap and just dumping the Richfood brand of cake mix over our heads... oh no! They went WORLD class, splurged, and bought the name brand stuff. Because, after all, they loved us.

- Then came the two "things" canola oil (so shoot me I don't know what carton-thingies are called). Were they going to bake me in a 350 degree oven at the end? Well, there's no way to know. But I started-a-mixin' just in case. I was NOT going to be the leader that tasted the worst. If I was going out - I was going out tasty, my friends!

- and out came the whipped cream. At this point, I was BEGGING and PLEADING my girls not to put this gunk on my hair... "I'll bring you SOO much candy next week! SOO much candy! What do you want?! I'll totally bring it for you..." Yes, it was low. Don't judge me. You know you would've done the same thing. And unfortunately for the guys (the other two leader that were sentenced selected for the "activity") weren't with it enough to try... plus they didn't have NEARLY as much hair as I did... it only seemed fair.

- As I'm sitting and happily eating the mixture that has thus far been poured over my shoulders and a little bit down my shirt... loving the whipped cream... out comes the nastiest piece of the puzzle. From this point forward, I looked like I was the closest trash can to the tilt-a-whirl after a ride mis-hap caused everyone aboard to get a tad bit nauseous. What was this awful mess of an "ingredient"? Pork & beans. I know... totally gross, right? *mini-gag*

- After this point, it's all quite a bit fuzzy. I remember ketchup (which made the whole thing look more like a murder scene than a youth group "love" fest).

- I know somewhere in there were bags of popcorn. I tried to catch it in my mouth, but ended up gagging on a kernel and then spitting it all back out onto myself. I'm thinking I just made it worse on myself... but at least it was tasty?!

- Applesauce! I was smart enough to not put my hands into the "mixture" since the whipped cream, so I caught a few things of applesauce and had a bit of a snack. Hey - a girl's gotta eat, right?!

- Maple Syrup. I hear it takes DAYS to get this funk out of your hair. I'm SO glad I had some awesome girls doing this ... whatever it was to me. They were very gentle. *sigh*

- Oats. Alone? Probably not too shabby. But mixed with all of the above ingredients? Including Maple Syrup? Yeah... it got REALLY "icky" here... so I start making some oatmeal cookies for the friendly girls of mine. I'm not so sure why they didn't want them. I guess they were full from all of the free cookies and hot cocoa we handed out before service.

- Speaking of which... hot cocoa (powder only) was in there somewhere, too. Not so sure where... but it was there... and again - this mixture was just so nasty! Have I mentioned that I was SITTING in this gross-ness?

- Cornmeal. I think this was added earlier on, but it was FAR from the worst of the food items I had to swim in last night!

- and finally (and I mean finally!), they added the dozen eggs. In reality this wasn't as bad as it sounds. They slid RIGHT off of me (I actually had this awkward little puddle of eggs inside my indian-crossed legs - slightly inappropriate, right? Again - don't judge me). The worst part about this stuff?? It was FREEZING!!! Tell me... why do you feel that you must refrigerate the eggs that you are planning to pour over your leaders? Were you worried about them going bad?! Let's re-evaluate this decision. Ponder on where they were destined to end up... and now let's think again... did they need to be refrigerated? You people are cruel. JUST cruel!


SO there we have it. It was a pretty good time - up until they were finished with us, that is. I was whisked away (almost literally, since they had me lay on a tarp and then drug me to the bathroom) to clean myself up. And folks, this was NO easy task.

Sponge bathing in general doesn't seem like a very pleasant thing to do. Now add the setting of a church bathroom with no locks on the door and NO more than just a few little sinks. Yeah. Nice, right? At least the water was warm last night, because it's usually like liquid ice when you turn the faucet on.

Thankfully one of the other lady leaders stood guard to make sure that the door was not opened for ANY reason WHATsoever! And she did a great job. I stripped down as quickly as possible (which isn't very quick at all when you are covered in maple syrup and ketchup and trying to avoid getting it all in your hair and all over the bathroom floor) and put my unmentionables into the left sink to soak, in hopes of removing the strong smell of nastiness enough to be able to wear them home.

As I stand in the church bathroom buck-friggin-naked and trying to scrub this... pukey mixture off of myself, I realized just how little my clothes spared my body. I found gooey cake-mix caked (pun not originally intended) in places I didn't know it would ever be. I scrubbed and scrubbed, stretched my feet up into the sink to clean the funk off of them, and then finally felt as though I'd gotten as much as I could. Good golly, miss molly, that took forever!


I emerged from my whole in the bathroom to find that not only had service ended, by this time, but I also discovered that apparently in the boy's bathroom, there was a janitor's closet. Yes, folks - the guys had a nice little drain and I do believe a hose as well in order to wash off.


Fannntastic.


Ah well. At least I still had my blinky-Christmas hat. Wait... where IS my blinky Christmas hat?! OH NO!!!


Thankfully, the girl I had given it to entrusting it's safe-keeping had left it with another girl that was hanging around for a bit. It was returned safely to me just after we took our leader's group picture. Whew! That was close!!


So after being practically attacked my a nose-strong dog, last night, having him somehow manage to drag my funktified clothing over onto the carpet, leaving a trail of nasty-goodness behind him, and FINALLY getting to take a REAL shower, I felt clean and normal again.



...well, as relatively normal as I was before this whole thing, anyways... which isn't really saying much.



Good times were had by most. I stop short of saying all, but only due to the fact that I do believe that the middle school boy sitting in front of my was just shy of having a coronary over the fact that they just wouldn't put it in my hair and the high school boys were, from a distance of course, quite nearly as displeased at the "unfair"ness of the situation. Silly boys... if only you KNEW - I do believe you would've left well-enough alone.





And even better times, still, will be had next week by my girls when they embark on their MUCH earned sugary appreciation celebration. I'm sure you'll have some pretty good times, too, once I get my hands on some pictures to post from the incident... I bet you can't HANDLE your excitement!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


PS: The only warning I was given of what was to come was an e-mail that said "bring a change of clothes that you can get messy". Am I the only one that thinks that this doesnt' even remotely prepare one for what is coming? I would've brought another pair of unmentionables, at LEAST!! *sigh*

Enough is Enough

This whole thing with my Neighbor has gone far enough.


No. Scratch that - it has gone WAY past "enough" and straight into "completely ridiculous" territory.


I got a call from the Health Department again this morning and it went something like this:


Mr. Moulton (MM): Hello Mrs Puhl, this is Thomas Moulton with the Health Department again. How are you today?

Me: I'm doing alright, how about yourself?

MM: I'm doing well. Hey listen, I had a voicemail waiting for me when I came in this morning, again. Would it be possible for you to just clean up every day, now?

Me: Well, I actually cleaned it up everyday this weekend, but my dog does still have to go again, even after I've cleaned it up. I even cleaned it up yesterday, so there's barely a pile back there from when he went this morning. I am not able to clean it up daily while my husband is away, as my schedule has been pretty crazy, but I do clean it up as soon as I have the chance, so I'm not sure why she's called again.

MM: I understand. That's fine. We will need to come out again and take another look.

Me: That's totally fine. Actually - I'll go ahead and leave what's out there so that you can see what it looks like when she calls and complains. There's barely a pile - I'll call it a pile and a half, because he spreads it around sometimes when he's not done, but that's really all. You are welcome to come and take a look, and pleas feel free to call me at work. The number is... [insert work number here]. I should be at that number in about an hour, and then all day.

MM: Thank you for your help, Mrs. Puhl. There was no violation last time I came out, but I will be taking another look today.

Me: I understand, and if you wouldn't mind also working with the HOA regarding the matter as well...

MM: I've spoken with them, and they've just requested a copy of the report.

Me: Great. Well I look forward to hearing your report later today. And please do let me know if I can help in any way. Again, I do clean up whenever I can, especially since we talked last - it hasn't gone more than 2 days before being cleaned up.

MM: Thank you Mrs. Puhl. I'll give you a call when we've finished the inspection and report.



Well - not very exciting (he's a very enthusiastic man *pretty sarcastic on that one, by the way*), but you get the point. There's no violation, but they are following up again, anyways.

What kind've got me was that he just started with a "Can you just clean it up everyday?" Umm... no. The whole point of the matter is that she's trying to dictate how we handle our backyard. It doesn't work that way. We are homeowners. She can't dictate to us, just as we can't dictate to her, what is done in OUR property.

This has gone far enough. She's gotten smart enough not to say anything to me, but if I know her like I think I do, she won't be able to keep her mouth shut long enough. And you'd better believe that the next time she says anything to me, she'll get not only a piece of my mind, but a nice visit from the police for harassment. It may sound something like this:


Neighbor Lady (NL): Blah blah blah

Me (M): You know, you are being very silly about this whole matter. And I'm not tolerating this any longer. I've been patient with you and tried my best to be a good neighbor, but it's just not enough for you. We will not be pushed and bullied around. We live here now, and we will be living here for a long time. I don't come and complain to you about everything you do that I don't like, and I CERTAINLY do not call the HOA and the HEALTH department about the things I do not like that happen in your home and in your private backyard. This whole thing has gone far enough and I will not sit back and take it for another minute.

NL: (probably trying to cut me off, though I'll keep talking and not let her stop what I'm saying) blah blah blah... wah wah wah...

M: *walk away, even if she's still talking, and call the police*



Yes. It's very simple. And very short and to the point. But I have had it. I am done. Everyone involved is now tired of the situation. The HOA has no further interest in the matter, beyond keeping things documented, as they have informed her that we are NOT in violation. The Health Department has informed her once already that there has been no violation, and will probably have the same report later today. And they, too, are just tired of the situation.

I don't know who else she can call. She's got nothing. She's been told by ALL of her avenues that she's got nothing. And yet she presses on. I've had it.


I may look young and seem innocent, but when I've had it - stay clear. And that's the point I've reached today. The funny thing is that I'm still having a good day. I laughed when I got off the phone with Mr. Moulton, and I even laughed on the phone with Keri from the HOA. It's still a good day. And it will stay that way because she's got nothing.

But I tell you what - it may be a different story for her, today.


I have a question for you - why are people like this? I mean seriously? Why do people make it their goal in life to make other people miserable?






I'm just SO done with all of this.

Fall Fashion Fever

Am I the only one who gets it?


Not only do I LOVE the fall season, but I LOVE fall fashions (weather my budget agrees with me, or not)! I am addicted to SHOES, but am not allowed to buy any, unless I already have an outfit to go with them... because trying to buy things in the opposite order never works for me, and I'm stuck with these awesome shoes I can't wear.


So I've already got my eye on a few things, and am hoping to have my wallet on them as well, as soon as I can find a place to shop that carries clothing which actually FITS me the way it's supposed to!! (I'm not bitter, or anything)


But I thought I'd let you all in on a bit of my dilemma, when it comes to clothe shopping.

I am a pretty small girl.

*NEWS FLASH*, I know... but seriously... I'm not teeny tiny, but I am on the smaller end of things, with a smaller chest, longer legs, and I still consider myself an average sized person (unless I'm "undergarment" shopping, but I'll spare you that drama and detail).


I am also 22 years old.

*SHOCK AGAIN*.... yeah yeah yeah... bear with me. This means that I no longer want to dress like I'm in high school (not that I dressed all that well back then, but you get my point).


This brings us to my dilemma: finding clothes that FIT properly, without having to buy clothes that add to the misconception that I'm freaking 12 years old.

Okay - I am glad that I'm on the smaller side of things, DON'T get me wrong, but do you have ANY idea how hard it is to shop? To just find a simple pair of jeans that fit me - that aren't butt/skin tight, too short, crotch-cut-low, hoo-hah huggers, or on the flip side of things - mom style high cut, baggy on the "abdomen", or oddly colored... it's like IMPOSSIBLE!! And like I said, I'm pretty average sized - as in I know lots of people that look to be about my size or so, but I can't seem to FREAKING find out where they buy their FREAKING jeans, without having to pay $80 per pair!! And I'm almost to that point, but now I'm running into this problem - even places like Banana, Express, and Ann Taylor don't sell my FREAKING sizes!!


And don't even get me started on the sweaters and tops/coats/jackets. I absolutely LOVE them ALL, but again they're either too short, too baggy, too "old", too hoochie, or too stupid expensive.

I sware - if I had the money (or the even REMOTE ability to sew my own clothing), I'd start my own fashion line and make my OWN clothes. I just can't take it anymore and I can't be the only girl with this problem!


I'm sorry. I hear people say all the time "Oh I'd LOVE to have your problem", and what have you, but it's so frustrating! Just ask my husband... he thought I was exaggerating, but then he went shopping with me... I believe I tried on at LEAST 15 - 20 different styles and pairs of jeans between a few different stores, and none - count them: NONE - of them fit me. And see some of the CUTEST outfits, and get the most AWESOME ideas for clothes, but still... nothing. My mother and I were at Goodwill last Friday night, and I tried on at LEAST 10 pairs of jeans (and at goodwill, you know that's a TOTALLY huge variety of styles and sizes and what-have-you), but none... NONE of them fit me. And I don't mean like they kind've did, but I didn't like any of them, no - I mean none of them fit me properly.

It's just something I have to get over, but it's so hard. I see other girls that seem to be my size or at least close to it, and I LOVE their clothes!! But then in reality, they're either not really my size, and I just have a distorted inability to estimate that kind of thing, or they paid like 5-million dollars for it (obvious exaggeration here, people) and I both possibilities suck!


So I've resorted to trying to shop in European-esque stores like H&M and what-not, but I don't like skinny jeans, and I'm no 8 feet tall, which apparently they all are (according to the "regular" length pants, anyways). I'd LOVE to go into stores like United Colors of Bennetton, but I don't think I'd even be able to afford to breathe the AIR in that store. So I'm stuck drooling at the clothes in the window as I walk by... sullen and depressed at my "luck" in finding clothes.


Am I seriously the ONLY one with this problem? Or is there a widespread epidemic that no one seems to care about...











Woe is me.