Where can a zaftig woman shop now?

It's sad to see a store chain die - especially when it is one that you depended on for clothing that fits.  In my case, it was Catherine's, a brand of the Ascena Group.  This firm also owns the Lane Bryant chain, and will be keeping many of their stores open.  Unfortunately, there will be no Lane Bryant stores near me, nor will there be any stores left that cater to the larger, plus size woman.

Over the years, shopping has migrated to the internet.  For many, this has been a good thing.  But I've yet to believe that this is the case with women's clothing lines.  There is little standardization in sizes, and one firm's size 2X could be another firm's size 5X.  This is one of the many reasons why I didn't like a former friend buying clothes for me.  Not only did this former friend's taste differ from mine in important ways, but she didn't know how to make sure something would fit me (or look good on me) once it was given to me.  Her heart was in the right place for the most part, but she didn't understand that I didn't want to get caught up in needless gift giving - her friendship was the gift I valued most, not the goods she gave me.  Since this woman is no longer a friend, I have the memories of the friendship and some of the little gifts I found use for.

In the past, I never thought twice of making a run to The Avenue in Newburgh, Catherine's in Paramus, or any one of the many Lane Bryant stores.  By the time you read this post, The Avenue will have been gone for almost a year, all Catherine's stores will be closed, and only a handful of Lane Bryant stores will be left open.  Even so, it was a shock to see the Lane Bryant in the Palisades Park Mall in West Nyack devoid of 90% of its merchandise.  I thought that was going to be one of the few stores that would have survived.  But with internet shopping the way it is, and the Pandemic hurting Mall sales, I shouldn't have been surprised to see this store being closed.

Luckily, I get a lot of paper catalogs from "successful" online sales outlets such as Woman Within and Ulla Popken.  However, once I lose weight, I'll probably internet order the plus size offerings from Talbot's and JJill.  Eventually, if I get to a size 18 and stabilize at that figure, I'll probably invest in a few Eileen Fisher outfits.  But that won't be for a couple of years....

An interesting end to a week....

This past week, I had the pleasure of being able to get up late from Monday to Thursday, having been scheduled to work evening shift these days. Yes, I was able to watch my Perry Mason reruns, as well as a little bit of Morning Joe when I was awake by 8 am. But this is an aside to what my week was like.

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The week opened up with me having a discussion to the woman in Queens that I've had several dates with. We cleared up some things, and agreed to get together over the weekend for a sort of field trip to Eastern Long Island for the day. Next, I found out that the woman I dated from the Hudson Valley in Marian Mode wasn't available to lunch during the week, so we agreed to get together next week to do something. However, I found that she took her profile down from OK Cupid. Did she find someone special yet? (After two dates, I can't say it was me.) So we'll see when I am contact with her next. And then there is the woman from New Jersey that I dated for the first time last week. We have been chatting online on and off, and we scheduled a date for Saturday evening. This will give me just enough time to change into Mario Mode and relax a little before driving to the restaurant to meet her.

There was a diminished amount of work for me to do at the office. Will I be renewed for another 8 weeks? I'll let you know when I find out next week. Since I'm on the schedule for the whole week, I'm assuming this is the case. However, working in the evening has interfered with my ability to be on zoom meetups with my friends from Texas. Luckily, I am able to do this for a half hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays when things are slow at the office - I go out for my "lunch" and get on to the zoom meetup using my cell phone.

My original work schedule request for the week had me working evenings, so that I could take TCL to the clinic for an outpatient procedure. Unfortunately, this procedure couldn't be done at the clinic (I won't do into any details here - TCL deserves her privacy). So, I'll be taking her to the hospital for a different procedure to accomplish the same goals in September. Hopefully, this time, the doctors will be more successful than in the past.

After a quick lunch with TCL at the local Panera Bread, it was off to New Paltz for a meetup with the Live Music group. Traffic was much worse than usual (even for a Friday), and taking side roads didn't help much. In fact, my car started to overheat because of the hard driving I was doing, so I stopped off along the way to give the car a chance to cool down. (It's time that I consider buying a new car.) Eventually, I made it to the meetup, and I was 90% of the way to my ex-girlfriend's house. If I had known the place was this far out of New Paltz, I'd have skipped the meetup, as it was in the woods. And even with bug spray, I was getting eaten by the bugs - something I've always hated when hiking or spending time in the woods

While chatting with the gals in the meetup, I started to sign up for other meetups being held by this group. Although there was no conflict, I noticed that my ex signed up for events after I did. I won't say anything to her. But if she comes when I'm there, I'll note that she has her dinner group, and I now have this group. If she wants to attend while I'm there, she'll have to accept me in Marian mode. Otherwise, she can stay in her group and leave me alone. (Now, to figure out what to say if we're in the same place at the same time.) I only wonder what things will be like when the weather gets cooler. Her group will likely have zoom meetups, and this one won't. At least, I now have some ways of being in contact with people during a lock down.

It's easy to see that I haven't taken the time to straighten up my apartment. Not being able to lead a full social life has caused me to be a little depressed. And the state of my apartment reflects this. Sooner or later, I'll finally get around to cleaning up the apartment. Then, and only then, can I start things up with my cleaning lady again. I look forward to that....

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PS: I told the woman from New Jersey about my bi-gendered life, and she didn't run away. Instead, she did her research, and still wants to see me. There is hope yet.


PPS: The woman from the Mid Hudson region is still interested, but she is awaiting the results of a COVID test.