Thursday, May 22, 2014

My Goal to Fit Into a $6.99 Dress


"What just happened here?!"  The dress that was supposed to bring me happiness was making me sad!  The dress that fit me nicely in the dressing room last week now looked like a sausage casing and the sausage was unflatteringly lumpy!

Is it only me or do you ever have a "simple thing" turn into a long term investment of time and energy?

It started on a Tuesday at Ross in Honolulu.  Yes, I try to shop at Ross only on Senior Discount Tuesdays.  As usual, I entered the store saying, "I really don't need any clothes because I don't go out much and my closet is FULL."  Nevertheless, I found myself searching the dress racks for a dress that I already had two of: a simple rayon sundress that was insanely comfortable and would be well-used this summer, judging on how hot this May has already been.  I was ecstatic to find FOUR dresses...all the same style but in different prints.  There were actually a few more, but I discarded the offensively ugly/gaudy prints that I'm convinced were painted by Siberian prisoners who had never seen a tropical island and were probably color blind...or maybe one of those elephants or chimpanzees who paint pictures.  Anyway,  I tried all four on and they all fit to varying degrees because two were size Small, one was a Medium, and one a Large (this one I later gave to my sister, but in retrospect I should've kept, seeing how suddenly I'd grown).  Oh yeh, a big part of my "ecstasy" was the fact that they cost $6.99 each...$6.29 after the Senior Discount!  Come on!!!

The Medium was in my usual cool colors--blue with turquoise, but it was the two Smalls that made me feel happy: one a bright red with orange dragonflies, and the other a pleasing melange of bright pinks and orange. Although I rarely wear warm colors, I couldn't wait to wear them!  
At left, the older "big" Small; middle and right 
are the"too Smalls" that failed to make me happy.


As soon as I returned to Kauai I washed them, using the delicate cycle.   When they came out of the dryer, I noticed that all three already needed mending due to cheap labor practices.  I had expected this since one of my old ones had to be fixed in the same place.  Apparently the same incompetent seamstress had sewn each of these dresses.  So yes, a simple inexpensive pleasure was now going to require some time investment.  Valuable "Facebook DoubleDown Casino" time...or "HuluPlus" time!  

Fixing three back openings was not simple because it involved removing buttons, removing stitching, re-stitching, and sewing buttons back on.  Despite earning a living for over 20 years at a sewing machine, I have never liked sewing and least of all, mending and fixing.  I was so eager to wear these dresses, especially the red and pink ones, I did not procrastinate as I usually did.  (There's a pair of Jordan's shorts that have been sitting in my sewing room for a year now.)  I wondered if I should contact the manufacturer and tell them to I'd be happy to pay $12.99 instead of $6.99 if they'd fire that incompetent seamstress who sewed my dresses.  Ok, ok, that sounds mean.  I'll tell them to put her on thread clipping duty instead.

A few days later--ok I did procrastinate a tiny bit--"Yippeee, I finished the mending!"  So here I was trying on the dresses just for fun and..staring at myself in the mirror in disbelief. Evidently the two size Smalls had shrunk and my gaining a couple of pounds in Honolulu (vanilla shake at Likelike Drive Inn, saimin, Ted's chocolate haupia pie, La Tour Cafe's chocolate almond croissants, etc.) just made matters worse.

On the other hand, I could say, like my favorite Stephanie Plum character, "...not my fault!" because the old size Small dress (same brand, washed/dried several times), still fits me fine.  The new Smalls, when compared to the old, are narrower!  How dare they scrimp on fabric and make us feel and look like flabby sausages?!  Could it be some Indonesian plot to play with American women's minds?  Is the NSA aware of this new subversive strategy?

I refuse to let them win, so I'm determined to wear these two Small (or more accurately Too Small) dresses.  I have multiple plans: 1) Lose a few pounds, 2) Stretch the fabric somehow, 3) Swallow my pride/dignity and look like a lumpy sausage.  I'm still debating.  I had recently lost 10 pounds without much effort, so could I lose more?  Stay tuned for my minimal effort weight loss thoughts.  We all need goals, and mine right now is to fit into my $6.99 dresses!
The Fault des Croissants Amande Chocolat

P.S.  For the past year, no Honolulu trip is complete without these Chocolate Almond Croissants from La Tour Cafe Bakery.  I buy them at the KCC Farmer's Market.  I usually buy 3-4 packages and hide at least one in the very back of my mom's refrigerator.  I bring them back to Kauai and freeze them.  Yummmm!!  Not quite as good as Eric Kayser's, but still satisfyingly delicious! 

Check out Pomai's food blog review of La Tour Cafe.  I borrowed his croissant photo.  La Tour's macarons are also delicious as well as most of their baked goods.  Their lavosh comes in several intriguing flavors.  Okay stop....



2 comments:

  1. Wow, new post!! And it is still 2014! Keep it up, you are on a roll! (or a chocolate croissant) Not sure how the pastries figure into the fitting in $6.99 dress.....maybe a $6.99 muumuu? Regards, Cuz AL

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  2. LTNS Cuz Al--one of my three readers! So ok, as I mentioned very fleetingly, perhaps I could no longer fit into the $6.99 dress because of all the food I ate in Honolulu such as the chocolate almond croissant---ooh that almond paste!

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