New Trends

There are a few things that I really don't enjoy.

Some are not surprising...beastly children, annoying neighbor dogs that bark ALL NIGHT, seeing rising numbers on the bathroom scale, etc.

Then there are the things that some people like that I don't. Green beans (don't even get me started), cleaning house, clothes shopping, etc.

Saturday, I got to remind myself WHY I don't like clothes shopping. I dropped Chad and the three older kids at the movies and took Rebekah with me to the mall to look for maternity dresses for church. I have to assume that people have started betting behind my back which dress I'll be wearing each week. It's probably getting pretty predictable.

There are 4 anchor stores in our mall...JCPenney, Sears, Macys & Dillards. Macys and Dillards don't even have a maternity selection. I couldn't find one in Sears (nor could I find a sales person to ask). JCPenney had one corner (3 racks and some wall displays) devoted to beached whale fashions. No dresses. I stopped into Old Navy to remind myself that they don't have anything nice enough for church. (I realize that this doesn't stop some people, but I do have something against tight screen-printed t-shirts, short, ruffly skirts and flip flops as fitting for Sunday worship.)

So, I'm tired and frustrated, and heading to one last store in the mall. I've avoided it to this point because I expect it to be higher-priced as it is a maternity clothing store. I'm thinking, "Maybe there is a new trend in maternity fashions. It could be anything. Go naked? Don't go (to church) at all? Don't have kids? (Now there is a tempting one at times.) Wear your regular clothes and show off just how large every part of you has become?" In the last store I only found short dresses (you don't want to see above my knees from the front OR the back) in weird patterns and revealing styles.

The sales girl recommended wearing skirts. I get irritated by my slip sliding up higher and higher over my bulges. I really don't want to be tugging on skirts for 3 hours, not to mention the heat factor. I'm pregnant and hormonal and I want to be comfortable...darn it!!!

At this point, I had about 30 minutes before I expected the movie would be over. I slipped into Subway (Our mall doesn't have a food court. It does have a Subway and a PretzelMaker directly across from each other. Maybe you call that a food stop.), grabbed a cup and put some money by the register as I told the kid I was buying a drink. I figured he could ring up a drink when he got done with the 15 people in line (I was too cranky to wait in a sandwich line for a small lemonade.). From there, Rebekah and I headed to Hancock Fabric and bought 2 patterns and 6 yards of fabric.

Incidentally, the maternity selection in the pattern books is incredibly limited, too. Each pattern maker offered 3-5 patterns for maternity clothing...total. Maybe one style of dress per book.

Sheesh!

So, in case I didn't have enough to do around the house, I can make myself some dresses. Maybe I should start my own trend and just wrap up in a blanket (a nice one of course...no screen-print for church).

P.S. This is my 200th blog since starting in October 2005 with a sleeping 6-week-old Rebekah in my arms. She's going to be 2 years old in a month and I have gained at least 5 (ok, maybe 6) faithful readers! We've come a long way, Baby!