Is it political correctness, an international standard, or simply the internet causing all the confusion?

Through most of my life, there have been three size categories of women's clothing. There were "Misses" clothes, "Petite" Clothes, and "Women's Clothes."

Petite was the same as it is today. Women who are short wear petites so they don't have knee-length dresses hit at mid-calf, or extra fabric bunching above the waistline. It makes sense to me.

Misses was everything from size 0-16 or 18, but often you can't find anything smaller than a 6 or larger than a 16.  I'm not sure where truly tiny people are supposed to shop.

Women's clothing was about 16-18 on up to the biggest, depending on the clothing line. Sometimes marked with a W, a 16W would be bigger around than a 16.

Now, instead of Women's clothing, many manufacturers, stores, and websites are calling it Plus size. I guess that's more polite than calling it "chubby" or "husky" like children's clothing used to be labeled. I get most confused when I am browsing online. I can go into a store and quickly determine where the larger-size clothing is, but online the terms get all confused.  I'll see an ad for an adorable "Women's Coat" and click on the site, only to find out it is made no larger than a size 14.

Is this more of an international standard?  It makes more sense, really, because the whole "Misses" thing has no logic to it.  I am just having trouble at times sorting it all out.  Some websites clearly say "Plus Size"  which I like--as long as there is an adorable coat.  I found a red one on Groupon, and have been sorely tempted to order it.

For clothing, I am more prone to shop locally, so I can try things on, so this shouldn't matter. However, I like to get ideas of style and put things on Pinterest from the comfort of my computer chair.

Any great warrior is also a scholar, and a poet, and an artist. --Steven Seagal

Link for credits

Today in yoga I managed to do one "downward dog." Just one, before I had to start babying my wrist again.  But hey, that's progress from three days ago!  Today's workout, 30 Days of Yoga, day 5, was a fairly short one, with several warrior poses. I could do them!  I thought about the significance of that. I am a warrior. I am fighting for my health, my strength, my very energy and quality of life.

Hangaku Gozen

I love the in the title above, because though I am still fighting depression and lack of energy, I can see progress. I suddenly started getting all sorts of great ideas for home decorating I want to do. I am beginning to open up the heart of an artist. I had to start making a list so I can pick a project and start on it instead of going in endless circles.

According to Google Translate, Hangaku Gozen (see picture at left) means "half the morning."  I think that's cool, the way it fits into my morning routine, which I am trying to narrow down to only half the morning. 

The following quote applies to my battle for fitness:

Jeanne d'Arc

I do what I do because it is the right thing to do. I am a warrior, and it is the way of the warrior to fight superior odds.  --Paul Watson  

It's not easy changing habits and health at my age, but it is the right thing to do for myself and possibly for my family. 

The next quote really reached my heart.  

“Whatever you are physically...male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy--all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

The light will shine brighter if the glass that contains it is clean and either unbroken or repaired.  I'm at repair stage myself. If you're reading this and you're young, please don't let yourself get into such a state of disrepair before you start mending and cleaning.  This is not the easy way, but I am a Warrior.

Believe it or not--she was 95 years old and had been doing yoga for 75 years.

And the train went merrily along the track, until it got derailed by a flat tire.

Illustration from pixabay.com

I've done my morning routine for a whole week. Today I was on track for a record time with few distractions, and then the phone rang. I could not just ignore the phone, because my husband took the car to the shop to get a tire repaired, so I had to talk to him. 

It turned out that the tire shop was very busy. The first real snowstorm here apparently brought out all those people who suddenly realized they needed new tires, or snow tires mounted. Or, like me, flat tires because they ran over something they could not see?  The man at the shop told my husband that it would be 1:00 at the earliest before he could even look at my tire.  This was around 10:30 a.m., so naturally my husband didn't want to wait that long.  I paused in my journal writing, jumped in his car and went to pick him up. It was only about a 20 minute drive, round-trip, so I wasn't entirely derailed. It's just that an interruption like that can lead to other distractions, causing me to put off or not do the rest of my routine.

We got home, and I went right back to my journal and then personal study.  I won't be done by noon, but close to it.  A three-hour morning routine seems a bit long, doesn't it?  I'll blog another day about what I do during those three hours.

If I'd had such an interruption a week ago, I don't know if I would have gotten back on track.  I can already see the power of determination in habit forming, and plan to continue to implement my morning routine.  It feels so good, and now I have the afternoon ahead of me to do other things.

What's with all these animals doing yoga anyway?

Image from Pixabay.com

With my sore left wrist and sore right knee, yoga can get interesting at times. I modify, and then modify some more, but I am getting a little stronger.  

Downward Dog

Photo from Flickr, by Sarah Siblik.  License: Creative Commons

My version: Not even close, even if I put my weight on my fists instead of hands flat.

Photo from Flickr, by Mike Lewinski. License: Creative Commons

Plank  

By Kennguru, on Wikimedia. Photo and Licensing.

Me: On my elbows. Or just on the floor. 

Cat and Cow

Photo Credit: stylescrazy.com

Me:  I'm okay if put my weight toward my left knee and right hand. I probably list a bit.

CatChannel.com

Child's Pose

I can do it! The pressure is off of my knees, and my wrist stretched out, so it's easy. I'm sure I don't look as pretty as this girl: 

Photo by Anne Wu, Flickr.

However, you're just as likely to find me like this: 

Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
I love Mary Cassatt's paintings.

Or this--now, that's a comfortable child!  Interestingly, this photo actually demonstrates a neck exercise.  

Asymmetrical tonic neck reflex

But hey, at least I'm stretching, right?  I've started following the "30 Days of Yoga" with Adriene.  I won't get done in 30 consecutive days, since I alternate it with a walking program and take Sundays off, but I just finished day 4. 

Adriene, Day 1

I figured out I can get YouTube with my Roku, so I can stream the videos to my TV without having to download them to a DVD.  The best part of it is that after the first two, there were no ads. I guess the advertisers figured nobody sticks with it. But I am!  Modified, yes, but I am doing something!

What I hate about being fat--the things we don't talk about

"Lynn loves long, hot showers."  From Bitstrips, a Facebook app.

It's a rather delicate subject, things that in the past we didn't talk about much, but today we can mention nearly anything, right?  So, I am going to mention the issue of personal hygiene.

All I have to say is this--it's harder to keep clean when there are places that are hard to reach.  Of course I manage--as other people do--but it can take a little longer. It's not just reaching, either. It's moving that roll of fat that is my belly and cleaning under it, and so forth.

One blessing I have is a shower with a hose. I highly recommend it. It's great for pregnant women too. It's great for anyone really. Now I can soap up and then pull down that shower head and rinse all the nooks and crannies to get the soap off.  It makes life easier and infinitely more pleasant for me. And I'm sure the people around me appreciate it that I don't smell. And then toweling dry--again with the reaching and stretching and moving and shifting body parts just to get dried off again.

Let me tell you a secret about that shower head. It also makes cleaning out the tub and shower so much easier!  You just scrub everything down and then lift off that shower head and let loose with the spray and voila! All rinsed off! I do recommend closing the door or shower curtain first though--or you'll need a few more of those oversize towels!

Did you celebrate Nollaig na mBan yesterday? Interesting that I could be celebrating a holiday that I never heard of.

Yesterday a Facebook post from "Find My Past" asked the question,

"Are you celebrating Nollaig na mBan today?

In Irish tradition, January 6th is 'Women's Christmas', the day when women, who shouldered most of the holiday-related workload, finally get the chance to kick back.

"Even if you're not fully celebrating the tradition, it might be a good day to do something nice for whoever in your household worked hard over the holidays!"

I laughed when I saw it, because I missed part of the daily routine I'm trying to establish as a habit, and then mostly goofed off all day.  Well, it looks like I had a great excuse.  Now for the other 365 days of 2016...I wonder what other holidays may come my way.

I found some interesting links about Little Christmas, or Women's Christmas, as it may also be called.  

Of course, there is Wikipedia, but for a modern take on it, check out How to Celebrate Nollaig na mBan (Women's Little Christmas) Today.  

Think about the song that says "Have yourself a merry little Christmas." Though the song appears to be written for Christmas itself, all but a few words apply equally well, if not better, to Nollaig na MBan. It's not just a day off, but a social day, in which the women go visiting or go out to tea. Next year I would like to truly take such a day. 

Just be sure you don't call it Little Women's Christmas!  

You already have my life history and two copies of my social security number and my wedding license and now you want to know my weight?

Getting a driver's license in a new state is a hassle, but my most recent move really took the cake! (Watch out for those food expressions, folks! Now I want cake. Chocolate.)

To shorten a terribly long and boring story, it took me three trips to the BMV to get my driving license and register my car.  On the third trip I finally got to the step of taking the written test for the driving license. The first question had to do with the stopping distance of trucks!  I was sure I was going to fail, but the rest of them were quite a bit easier. (I looked up the stopping distance of trucks later and found out I actually answered it right.)

My first driver's test was in this kind of car, 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air.
Photo Credit

In our state, you don't find out your score. It's simply Pass/Fail.  Fortunately, I passed, thus saving a fourth trip.  Then came the dreaded 'mug shot' picture, and the question that would have been even more dreaded if I had not forgotten that they ask it.

So there I am, sitting next to my husband, and they ask the question.

How much do you weigh?

While I know what I look like, I have avoided giving my husband a specific number. I really did not want him to know the exact number, which incidentally is about 40 pounds more than he weighs.  I thought briefly of lying, but really?  Is it worth it to lie?  Besides, the shape of my body gives evidence of the lie, though I could have gotten away with ten pounds or so I suppose.

So now he knows. 

And you know what?  He has not said one word.  Not. one. word.  The shame is all in my head.