Catching up - The Brassiere

Imagine the spam I'll get on this entry LOL.   We've all been getting in to the new routine.  I hadn't realized how much stress I was under at my old job.  When I used to finish work, I was absolutely whipped.  Even doing laundry, on my day off, seemed to take a mammoth effort.  I spent my days off work, 'getting ready' to go back to work.  I began to realize how much of my life had been sucked up by work when a snow storm started on Sunday and I caught myself dreading how much work was going to suck on Monday.  In my old job, we would frequently have sick calls on snow days, but the calls about patients kept on coming.  I would inevitably log in for a 10 hour day and work like a crazy woman ALL DAY because we were short staffed.   Last weekend, the phone rang on Saturday, and the first thought in my head was OH CRAP! what does work want now?  Luckily, those problems are no longer a part of my life.  I work with kind people that are committed to their jobs, and we work as a team.  I feel very lucky that I found this position.  I'm slowly feeling the stress fall away, learning about my new job, and getting to know these neat people I work with.  In the past, when people have said work "is like a family" it made my skin crawl a little.  I'm o.k. with being considered a part of this family :0)  The crazy dogs are getting used to going to their day care place more often.  We all need to get in better shape.  I never imagined that getting ready for work, driving to work and walking around an office occasionally would make me sore.  It did make me sore for the first 2 weeks.  I received my first paycheck on Friday  HURRAY.  It's a lot less than I'm used to.  I think the quality of life improvement will be worth it. 

So let's get down to the catch up.  I promised I'd explain my bra adventure and here it goes.  Any men reading, I will warn you, it's not about what goes into the bras, only about the item of underwear :0) 

Right before I started my new job, it was time to go shopping.  I had been wearing, what amounts to, jammies for many years.  I had 2 pair of knit pants, with elastic waist, that I would put on with a nice T-shirt when I had to go in to the office.  I never wore make-up or did much to my hair.  I was going to be working with patients again, and scrubs were not an option at the clinic.  I HATE to shop.  Let's not even talk about the fact that I've mostly avoided mirrors for the last several years.   My mom has a knack for picking clothes that look decent on me, so I took my mom shopping with me.  It became painfully obvious, after the first couple of blouses I tried on, that my breasts were not where they needed to be :0)  The saleswoman quickly offerred to measure me for a bra.  I had a bra on.  Obviously it was woefully inadequate.  I have not purchased a bra in about 8 years and about 80 pounds.  I was an A or B cup and would never wear 'molded cups' (a new phrase in my vocab now) or underwires.   I ended up with a DD cup and an item that appears to be more, a piece of equipment, than an item of underwear.  I will say that it is comfortable, and it makes my new tops look great.  Between you & me, I can't see my feet when I wear it LOL.    Another thing I learned.  When you first put a bra on, it should be tight.  The heat of your body quickly makes the material loosen up.   I haven't worn ANYTHING tight against my body for years.  It took us about 7 different bras before we found one that fit right.  Mom was no help.  She has always been the president of the itty bitty titty committee.  She is truly flat as a board and I don't think she has ever worn a bra.   Well, maybe a padded one, to fill out a nice dress.

I still need to clean out my chest of drawers, to fit my new clothes.  Until there is a space for my new bras, they hang in the closet.  I laugh EVERY time I see them.  Every day, about 0500, there I am, locking things up and bending over to shimmy it all into place.  Nothing like starting the work day off with a smile :0)

BEFORE

and

AFTER

Hope all it well out it blogland.  I'm working towards fitting regular blogging into our new schedule.  I miss talking at ya.

Catching up, Cookies.

When I last left off, I had just gotten the job I wanted and was off to bake cookies.   Everyone got their cookies for Christmas.  Choc chip, Oatmeal Raisin and, sugar cookies.  That's 3 batches of cookies made with Goodwill purchased equipment, by a non-baker.  Come join me on this journey, will you? 

BEFORE

AFTER

I found the baskets at Goodwill for 91 cents a piece.  Simple, Right???   Not so much.  To give you an idea.  I grabbed my camera, for the first time since the cookie baking adventure, and it's slimed with cookie dough.  I'm still finding chunks of cookie dough on the cabinets in the kitchen.  The mixer I found was one of those electric hand mixers.  I had to get a big bowl to mix the dough in, and I found a huge plastic one.   Plastic does not make a good mixing bowl, it's not very stable.  I'll tell you, that hand mixer is powerful.  It can fling flour and dough further than I would have ever imagined.  Maybe I can start a 'Punkin Chunkin' type event. 
I started with the sugar cookies, figuring they would be the easiest:

Red sugar ended up everywhere even though I tried to only use it over the sink.

Can you see the small chunks of dough all over??   The goofy dogs weren't sure what to think, they aren't used to seeing me in the kitchen.   They did help keep the floor clean. 

And here are the oatmeal raisin cookies I promised. 

Notice I went through 2 rolls of paper towels :0)

Here are the keepers:

They weren't fabulous.  The sugar cookies were a little too sweet and the choc chip cookies were probably not cooked quite enough.  They did have lots of love in them, and family was generous with their praise.  Got all my Christmas gifts in for under $75 and some good fun was had by all.  I'll say, if I have the choice, I'd rather have a job so I can spend a little more money and buy gifts.   That was how I spent my day before Christmas Eve :0)  Only took 6 hours to make 3 batches of cookies.  I think I'll keep my day job (now that I have one).  There is not a closet baker, inside me, fighting to get out. 

Settling in

Dogs and I are getting in to our new routine.  If I may say... this whole bra thing is just bizarre!  More on that later :0)  I promise to get the blog all caught up this weekend.