Yes I have been AWOL but with good reason????

It has been a very busy last few weeks and aside from reading several books between the crazy go go go times I haven't really done much of anything else. I got our PODS loaded and stored and I got myself and my dogs driven to New Mexico with a stop for a full day in Broken Arrow to visit my daughter and her family there. Now I am again in a short limbo waiting for the folks I need to talk to about housing to get back to their normal routine. I really want to get into a place as soon as possible so I can set up my office space and get back to writing and blogging. I also need to have a real address to give folks and to do all of the other things necessary for day to day living.
Tomorrow I am taking my beloved chihuahuas to a doggy daycare so I can drive around in the heat looking at potential homes for us to settle into. Wish me luck because I really want to get this part done. I have to settle in and then get over to the campus of the local Community College and get signed up for classes this fall. I feel I will lose all the momentum I have built up with studies in the last year if I don't get that done quickly.
Do I like New Mexico? I really don't know yet. I have not explored much because its too hot for the dogs to be out for long and they need to be walked every two hours which doesn't leave me much exploration time. Once we are in a house then I will get to see what this state can show me. I did like seeing the Southwestern designed overpasses as I drove into the state. They are truly unique and pretty. Right now because of all the fires around the state the air quality is bad. I understand that this is not the norm so once the fires are out and the air clears I will get a better concept of the environment. Wish me well and lots of luck. house hunting has proven a challenge so far.

New Mexico Here We Come!

After a long two years of sending out hundreds and maybe even thousands of résumés my dear hubby finally landed a really good job. This recession we have all been experiencing has been difficult but we persevered and now we have finally gotten through it. Now our adventure begins. Health insurance comes with this adventure too. Oh boy!

We are moving to New Mexico and in less than four weeks. We have to have him there by the 13^th. Fortunately, there will be movers involved and paid for by the company. Yeah!…..Yikes! I can deal. We have done this before. So, for the next week I will be organizing things to get them ready for packing. I will be going through our storage space and pitching like a mad woman. I even have the good fortune of our storage facility’s annual ‘yard’ sale happening on the 4^th of June, so I might be able to sell some things and lighten the mover’s burden.

It will be so neat to go to a new place where no one will have known me as a fat woman. I will get involved with support there but outside of that I will meet people and they will all just see a somewhat normal looking person. Okay, once they get to know me they will certainly ascertain that I am far from normal but at least they won’t see me as fat. When I set up with dentists, doctors and other health care people I won’t get the dreaded eye rolling and lectures. For the first time in 30 years I will  not dread having to go get a physical, at least, not as much.

Next thing to deal with in this is a delay in finishing school. It is not that bad. I have to wait a year to get residency status to attend the college at the residency rate. I am allowed to take 6 or fewer credits hours a semester at the in-state rate so I can just take one or two classes for fall, spring and then summer and then be able to jump in full bore and take a full load beginning Fall 2012. I may be able to go right on in to the university after that year is done. There is a good degree program similar to what I was looking to complete here in NC. During that waiting period, I think I will work on learning Spanish. I have a start from taking it here in college so I might as well try to get better at it.

It is so nice to not be in limbo any longer. Now I feel I can begin to breathe again and start taking real action. I am looking forward to having new things to ponder and write about. Stay tuned.

The Waiting Game or AKA Limbo

I dislike waiting for anything. I am not a very patient person. To make matters worse I find myself waiting for several things and even though the end result will most likely be satisfactory, I just don’t like the edge of my seat feeling I am getting from this waiting.

First, I am waiting for my grades to be officially posted. I have a pretty good idea of what they are but until I see it in the actual can’t take it back transcript report in about two days from now I will absolutely drive myself crazy. I feel stuck in mud and cannot move forward. My family thinks I am a bit crazy because of this but it is my neurosis and dammit, I claim it as my own.

Second part of all this that is driving me a little crazy is, I do not know where I am going to school in the fall. I will not know for at least another week or so. My hubby has been out of work for the last two years and has had nearly zero interviews during most of that time.  Seems his industry has gotten a bit more productive and now his phone has not stopped ringing. He has interviews by phone set up with now several companies this week and two of them today alone. The locations include Utah. Oregon, New Mexico, here in NC, and Texas. Any one of these jobs would get us back on track and that is a good thing. It can take a month or more for the hiring process to complete so I feel I am limbo, not knowing where I will be living in two months and/or where to sign up for my classes. On top of that I have a great class schedule all lined up for fall right here so I do not want to drop those classes until I know what is next. I did drop my only two summer classes I had lined up though. No matter what happens, I am certain this summer will be way too crazy for school even if it is just an English and PE class. Still it breaks my heart a little to take this hiatus from classes for the summer. No matter what though, I will be back to it in the fall even if I have to pay out of state tuition.  Fortunately, for my dear hubby, he is a baby boomer and will be able to retire in just a few more years. I just want to complete my degree before he does so I can pay the bills with my degree.

Clothes and other options

As a teen and young adult, I had a style of dressing that was probably inappropriate but I had a body for that then. Moreover, at that time it was somewhat okay to dress somewhat sexy and show a little bit of midriff and all. Then I got fat and had to learn how to dress a completely different way. First, I was a mom and a wife (still am of course) so I changed my look accordingly. No more sex kitten attire as that was just juvenile and then the fatter I got well it would have just been gross. Problem was I never really learned how to dress beyond sweats and stretchy pants and oversized shirts. Face it my body just did not feel like a fashion body. The best I could do was to sport really good hair.

Now that my body has recovered from being oversized, and my muscles have been toned up to go with it, I still don’t know how to dress it. It’s nice that I am a size eight or even in some cases a size six, but the skin suit is still at least a size eighteen for heaven’s sakes! Tailoring it isn’t an option (have you seen the cost of plastic surgery?) so what’s an older gal to do? I am too old for the cute look and I wouldn’t show off my midriff now anyway on a bet. Where is Stacy or Clinton when you need them? How do you find a style that works for the new busy life of the full time student in her fifties? Is it even possible to be hip at my age?

Jeans are a conundrum for me. I have several pairs of jeans, but the style doesn’t seem to work for me quite right. The girls are wearing their jeans really low cut and, well, I suffer from a bit of the muffin top issue with the oversized skin suit thing going on. Then there is something called jeggings. They are kind of a jean/legging thing. They are really comfy and do rise higher but after twenty minutes of wearing them they sag in all the wrong places. Sigh! Then I found a jean that is made for older women and I bought one pair to try. They fit really well when I got them (size eight) and so I went back and got the last two pair in that size. But, I have short legs and have to have them hemmed and now they are too big. They don’t have any in size six left and I don’t know if they will ever get any more of them in. Again, it is a conundrum finding clothes and on top of that, I can’t just go out and buy clothes. I am a starving student after all.

Okay so I have ranted well enough about the bottom half but I have much more to say about dressing the top half too. Now that I desperately need things with the three quarter length sleeves, they have gone out of style and therefore, out of the stores. Where are the cute tops with the empire waistlines that are flattering when you have that little extra fluff in the middle? The fashion show that says my body type needs this doesn’t tell you where they found them. This should be fun but it’s not. Shopping for clothes is still a nightmare except that I get to have my nightmare in normal size clothing stores. Don’t get me started on bras because that is a whole other blog.

At some point, someone is going to have to take me by the hand and teach me how to find clothes that are appropriate for my age that look professional and attractive without looking completely ridiculous. Do those clothes exist? I hope so.