Category: Personal

Dress for the weather

It’s past 8:00 pm and it’s still over 30C, and humid. It’s been like this for days. It’s officially a heat wave.

I must admit I don’t suffer that terribly during these. Fact is, I leave my air-conditioned house for my air-conditioned car, then drive to my air-conditioned office.

But also, I’ve been wearing dresses all week.

People, there is no better hot-weather garment in the world than the dress. Naturally, I do not mean the uncomfortable, bedazzled type of dress one might wear, say, when getting married.

Pink wedding dress
Not this kind of dress! (Also, hadn’t realized that “pink wedding dress” was a thing.)

I mean the plainer, looser type of garment that rests on your shoulders and just flows down from there, making a natural breeze as you walk.

T-shirt dress
OK, this one might not make a breeze when you walk. But you get the idea. It’s a very simple dress.

Obviously, the dress must be worn without any hose. Nylons would absolutely ruin the whole thing, in every way. No longer comfortable, no longer cool.

But just the dress, with some little sandals (and some undergarments, one assumes, but that’s really your business) is the next best thing you can wear in the heat. There’s a reason people in warm climes wear robes.

Buddhist man in robes

So pity the poor men-folk among us, who must make do with shorts–if their workplace even allows those, that is. Shorts are just not as good. They are a recipe for sweaty inner thighs. Who wants that?

The ability to wear dresses in summer is one of the very few advantages our society offers women over men.

And yet, I observe, not that many women take advantage.

Some, I suppose, may fear the air conditioning– that this outfit so perfect for the 33C degree, 40C humidex weather outside will only leave them shivering with cold while inside. A not unfounded fear (I actually sometimes bring in a sweater (!) just in case).

But an awful lot more, I think, either don’t realize how comfortable a dress can be (maybe they haven’t worn one since the prom?) or simply don’t feel comfortable in such a feminine garment. It’s undeniable that there’s nothing much more girly than a dress—even a simple dress—and girly just doesn’t sit well on every woman.

Fortunately, I am a lipstick feminist, totally in touch with my girly side.  (And no fan of sweaty thighs.)

Don’t worry; you’re in the right place

Just trying out a new theme for this blog. I was tired of the narrow column limiting the width of image I could use.

This one should be more readable on a variety of devices. May do a bit more tweaking in the coming weeks (not sure about that header image), but I think it basically work.

Join the Quiet revolution

I finally got around to reading Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking, which is just out in paperback. I didn’t really need the book to confirm that I was an introvert, but if you’re not sure, she does include a quick test. I answered true to almost everything.

Cover of QuietThings became a little murkier as she explored related but not identical concepts such as shyness and sensitivity. Isn’t shyness the same thing as introversion? No, actually, though many individuals are both of these. But introversion, generally, means gaining energy from your own mental devices rather than from other people (who tend to tire you out), while shyness is a fear of being judged by others. I happen to be both introverted and shy, but it’s entirely possible to be a shy extrovert (which must be a special kind of hell, I would think).

Sensitivity, though, characterizes people who are “highly reactive”; who tend to get overwhelmed by stimulus. This is another characteristic that is often but not always associated with introverts, and I finally concluded that I’m not all that sensitive, really. Sure, I avoid ultra-violent movies because I find them too disturbing, but I can’t say I’m super empathetic, have great depth of feeling, or notice subtleties in my environment. (I’m a bit of a self-centered, shy, introvert, I suppose.)

But apart from helping you to understand yourself and others better, the manifesto behind the book is that North American society idealizes extroverts, making it difficult for introverts to find their way in the world, and particularly, to attain power. She argues that not only would it benefit introverted individuals if society recognized the strengths and abilities they brought to the table, but that society as a whole would as well.

At first I was somewhat resisting the idea that I had suffered prejudice all my life due to my temperament, but she did bring some valid points. The years of complaints about me “not participating in class” during school (and thank goodness I went through before “group work” became such a thing); the low cubicle walls at work so we can better “collaborate” (which results in so many being head down in earphones as they work); and the louder ones, rather than the smarter ones, tending to get their way at meetings.

And she gives advice for what you can do, from acting more extroverted than you are in certain circumstances to building in “down time” for yourself for rejuvenation to changing seating arrangements at your parties to make them more comfortable. (I’ll add one of my own: Apparently introverts are less likely to exercise, which I found confounding, because I quite enjoy it. People, you can do that alone in or around your house, to your own tunes, in your own way. You don’t even need that much space or equipment. Exercise does not have to mean sports or gyms.)

So yes, with nearly half the population in this boat, I can see why this book has had a lot of legs. Any thoughts on how to get the extroverts to read it? Hmm?

Bad year to skip the flu shot

Jean managed to stay up for over 12 hours straight today!

Normally this wouldn’t be worthy of note, but for the past three days, sleeping has been his favorite activity—over eating, computers, everything.

At first I had misdiagnosed his lethargy, sniffles, and moaning as a particularly bad cold, but the missed work day on Monday, the third day he spent mostly in bed, convinced me it was actually the flu. I suppose the signs of fever (too cold, then too hot) and the reports of sore muscles should have been a clue, also.

Not that it particularly matters, as the treatment for both is about the same: Rest. Fluids. Tylenol. Citrus.

He finally seems to be somewhat on the mend today, though not exactly feeling well yet, but gotta say, this past weekend didn’t look like it was much fun for him.

And yes, for the first time in many years, he didn’t get the flu shot. To be fair, he did try to get it one day, but the timing didn’t quite work out, and then he dropped the pursuit. Unfortunately, per KW Record, turns out that this year, “Waterloo Region has 103 confirmed flu cases, the highest number in the province at about a quarter of the Ontario total.”

As for me? Well, I did get my flu shot, and long enough ago that it should have full effect. So knock wood and all that, as I know the shot doesn’t offer guaranteed protection, but so far so good. I feel fine.

In the dresses

I did occasion to wear a couple of the newly purchased dresses recently. First this one, to a dinner at Verses (photo taken after, faded makeup and all):

Wearing black, red, and pink dress

Dinner there was great, of course. First time with their new winter menu.

And actually, I also wore that dress to work one day, with camisole underneath, to cover up the cleave…

The purple one I did wear to a Christmas party, as planned. I was the only one in that colour! (Red seems popular this year. Black always is, of course.)

Thing is, the only photo I have showing the entire dress, I don’t really like. So instead, here’s a couple of just the top of the dress. You’ll have to just imagine the rest of it.

Photo with Mr. B

(Her I’m with someone Jean works with. An important someone.)

Dining in dress

The blue one has yet to have an outing, but I’m sure its day will come.

Dress shopping

Though I am interested in the US election, there’s nothing I can do about it, and I really have nothing to add to the huge, huge cacophony of voices on it.

So this is a politics-free post. About dresses.

This year, I decided to shop for a new Christmas dress. I’ve avoided having to do this for a number of years now, thanks to dresses acquired for other occasions (weddings) or on a whim (vacation) or so long at the back of the closet they’ve come back into style (more or less).

But this year, a new option seemed in order. It had been so long since I’d deliberately gone out dress shopping that I wasn’t sure where to go, but it turns out the web is pretty handy source for that sort of information. Chateau style was just not me, Bay just had too many options, Cleo not enough, Fairweather’s website sucks… But Laura looked good. So that is where I went.

Only… It turned out to be a factory outlet, so not too many of the dress styles I’d noted were actually available. Still, there were a lot of dresses, all neatly organized by size.

I grabbed some, tried them on, and found a pattern emerging: The dresses fit (good), didn’t look terrible (good)… But none were that great, either. I wasn’t too excited about any, and certainly couldn’t settle down to one.

But I didn’t want to have to find another store to shop in either (did I mention that though I do quite like dresses, I’m not overly fond of shopping, per se)? So back to the racks I went, picking out a few more options. I nearly ignored the sparkly, poofy prom / bridesmaids dresses, except… One sort of called to me. So what the heck. It joined the pile.

Round 2 in the dressing room went a little better, confirming that only one dress from Round 1 was really worthwhile. It fit well, flattering the figure, and had a fun color scheme. But it just didn’t seem quite dressy enough for Christmas, you know? It looked like this:

Black, red, and pink dress

Round 2 also included this flapper-style dress in a striking royal blue, which the saleslady said was quite popular this season. It was probably the most comfortable dress I tried on. It of course has that straight style, but it didn’t look bad on me. On the hanger, it looks like this:

Blue flapper dress

And then, there was the confection dress. Mauve, short, poofy, a bit sparkly… And completely adorable. Fit perfectly. Very flattering, really, as it hugged my thinner parts and poofed out over my thicker ones. Ended just above the knee, covering thigh, showing calf, all good.

I kind of loved it. But I also kind of thought I was 20 years too old to wear it.

Did I mention I was shopping alone? So except for the very busy salesladies, I had no one who could give me a second opinion here.

And at factory outlets? All sales are final. And, there aren’t multiple copies of each dress. Mostly, it was one, maybe two left. If you leave it, you might lose it.

On the other hand… At a factory outlet? Prices are way lower!

So you know how this story ends. I went shopping for one dress, and I now have three. Hey, I ballroom dance, I go to fancy restaurants… I’ll have opportunity to wear them. (You hear my justification.) Plus, all three together were less than the price of many of the new ones I was considering.

That night, I modeled them all for Jean, to see which he thought I should wear to his company Christmas party. This was his pick:

Mauve dress

So I’m thinking… a black throw of some kind, black hose—maybe with the seam up the back, if I can find that—and a cool bracelet. Even though I find bracelets annoying.

And quite importantly: Fresh dye job on the hair. Because this is not a dress that will go well with gray roots.

The reno

It’s been nearly a week since the new flooring was installed. The house is not all put back together yet (much remains to be “unpacked”), but it’s quite serviceable now, and we’re pleased with the results so far. The stress level in the household has gone down ten notches.

The most surprising thing was what a big difference the hardwood in the hallway makes. This was more of an aside to the whole thing–hey, why not also have these guys install that hardwood we bought for the hallway years, that’s been sitting under a bed ever since–but they did a great job, and the hallway really looks fantastic.

(Which you can’t probably tell that well from this mediocre picture taken by me with my phone. Maybe a better one by Jean will get substituted eventually.)

Hallway and stairs in hardwood

Almost worth the glue smell we’re still trying to dissipate!

The focus was actually on the downstairs, a now much emptier room–and not only because we haven’t unpacked everything yet. The extra floor space was a deliberate attempt to create a new exercise space for me (and Jean), by moving the main computer and accessories, the big desk, and the file cabinet upstairs to the former exercise room. (Which I hadn’t been using as such in months, since the DVD in there died.)

Here is an even worse (blurry!) phone picture of the a corner of our emptier downstairs, with its new (less glamorous than hardwood, but functional) flooring–including some leftover pieces:

Exercise room

What you can’t see on the other side of the treadmill is my big weight machine. And yes, there is still a computer in that room–the secondary one.

It’s a big room, so the other half remains a TV area, with couches, fireplace, and media storage. Even when unpacked, that part is going to look unfinished until we get the new TV purchased and mounted above the fireplace. (Maybe a Christmas prsesent?) And add some more shelving. And, OK, get the fireplace area finished with a stone overlay.

But hey, the hallway is definitely all done!

Alone for two days

Jean was away on a canoe trip the last couple days. He was asked a lot, as he usually does on these occasions, “What does Cathy do when you’re gone?”

When obviously, I just sit in the corner and cry.

No, actually… I’m not really sure what to make of the question. (What do they think single people do… all the time?) But to answer it: I do pretty much the same things I do on any other weekend at home. Only alone.

Like, I run errands. I read (especially on my highly addictive tablet). I watch TV and DVDs (especially those programs Jean  doesn’t care for). I cook (and eat. And drink wine.) I exercise (inside and out). I call up my parents.

Now, on some of these occasions, I do get together with friends and do stuff (dinner or concert out, or whatever), or get myself to Toronto and meet with a sister or two. I am even capable of taking myself out to a movie or concert—something I occasionally do even when Jean is home, actually, to give him a break from attending events he’s only semi-interested in. (Try it sometime, if you haven’t. Turns out, once you’re in a crowd at an event, it’s really hard to tell you’re a loser with no friends. 🙂 )

I guess that’s what they’re really wondering, eh? How I handle being alone? Well, for an introvert, there are worse things than alone. My weekend was not exciting, but know what? I was never bored.

Getting it done

We’ve never been the fastest at completing home renovations, and the work on our downstairs TV room has been no different. We got the new fireplace put in some time ag0, but there’s no visible sign of progress since. Doesn’t mean no progress at all, actually, as some of the new cabinets have been built and painted. But they’re not in place yet. Because first, we have to change the flooring.

To finally kick that into gear, we decided, finally, that we would pay someone else to install it. Then the shopping part went surprisingly well and much faster than we expected; we really didn’t have much trouble agreeing on a style. (Frankly, it’s similar in look to the upstairs kitchen tile. Our tastes are consistent. Once we went shopping for couches, and without realizing it, ended up buying the same ones we already had, just in a different color and fabric.)

We toyed with the idea of installing vinyl tile before returning to tile laminate, on the thought that might make for a better exercise surface. (The TV room is to become a combo fitness/TV room, the former fitness room an office.) We got it all quoted, throwing in the installation of hardwood on the stairs and hallway upstairs (a project that has been languishing even longer than the downstairs work). It’s not cheap, but we do have sufficient funds set aside for it.

We’ll try to book it for the end of September. So now our troubles begin.

Just because someone else is installing the flooring does not mean we don’t have work to do. Au contraire. The room is pretty big, it’s full of stuff, and a lot of that stuff weighs a ton. And the flooring guys are not going to move it all for us. Frankly, pondering where the heck we’re going to temporarily store all that stuff is giving me slight palpitations. (Not to mention how the two of us are going to manage to lift certain things…)

And to add to the fun—though it’s not really related—we’re also looking to change our bank accounts. RBC bank fees have doubled and tripled on us lately (still not entirely sure why), and a visit to them brought only an offer of temporary, partial relief. BMO, though, has a no-fee bank account with no strings (no minimum balance, or anything). And, there’s a BMO bank machine at our next-door mall. The only thing we would have small fees for would be the rare instances when we actually have to get a teller to do something for us.

So, it makes sense to switch. But man, switching bank accounts is a pain. Even though BMO also has a service to help with the switchover, attempting to do it is still somewhat boggling my mind. How do you juggle the two accounts in the interim phase, keeping sufficient balances in each to make sure all the bills are paid—even keeping track of what bill is being paid from where? Gah. More palpitations.

September should be fun.

On things sporting

Have watched The Olympics, but not obsessively. I prefer the winter ones, as more of the sports are more interesting, and Canada is more competitive. The time difference is also difficult, as most events take place before I’m up or when I’m at work.

Live-streaming is a nice thing, though. The most thrilling thing I did get to view live via that technology was the end of the women’s soccer match, including that one goal! Though I didn’t watch much of the heart-breaker soccer match between Canada and the US, I heard so much about it after, I felt like I had. So I was vested in that Bronze medal match. Christine Sinclair is a good choice to carry the flag.

Another fun live-stream was that incredibly long tennis match between Miloas Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Live on TV, I enjoyed the men’s 1500-meter swim, which was surprisingly exciting for such a long race, and I managed to catch the women’s eight rowing team final.

But I am really looking forward to the Closing Ceremonies, with its promised focus on British music, including Ray Davies, Queen, and The Who. Great Britain proved themselves athletically in these games with the amazing performance of their team, but they long-ago demonstrated that they were unsurpassed in producing great rock musicians.

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For various reasons, my main workout choice these days has been via exercise DVD. I like to get new ones semi-regularly to shake things up, and avoid boredom. Looking up my collected titles, you might think I’m desperate to lose weight:

  • Dance Off the Inches! Hip Hop Party
  • 10 Pounds Down! Cardio Abs
  • Fat Burning Fusion!
  • Super Slim Down!
  • Secrets to a Great Upper Body!

Which is just starting to get on my nerves. I know it’s all marketing, and there are a lot of overweight people that might be sold on such promises, but… Does “thin-ness” have to be the only selling point for these things? I mean, I have one called Fat-Burning Yoga, for heaven’s sake. Yoga. And it’s not some funky fusion of yoga and aerobics or whatever; it’s just your basic yoga stretches and holds, maybe  a little more peppy. But not so you’re going to break much of a sweat.

Thing is, inside, they’re really good workouts that will do good things for your heart, lungs, muscles, stress level, sleep, and so on. In most cases, by the end of these workouts, I feel great. That’s why I do them. Yes, I’m sure it’s helping me maintain a healthy weight as well, but that’s not what’s motivating me to keep it up.

Is that so unusual? Reminds me of having been stopped by someone selling gym memberships, and asked why I exercise. I said, “To stay healthy”, and she looked down her list of possible answers and said, “Huh. That’s not on here.” So maybe it is that unusual…

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And that big toenail that I damaged on my Amalfi hiking trip? Gone! Leaving just the stub of toenail that had been growing underneath it.

It’s kind of gross, of course. And the timing is really bad, because it’s still sandal season. (I’m thinking, cover it with a Band Aid, I guess?) But it’s still making me feel unusually athletic. Me, the marathoners, and the cross-country skiers: Losing toenails in our pursuit of extreme sport. 🙂