A little light reading

Riley visited with his Mimi and Poppy and twin cousins yesterday and I was left with an unexpected block of time to do as I wished. As usually happens in these rare autonomous hours, I was briefly unable to think of what in the world I'd do with myself. When I finally I came to I decided to go find some pants that fit me.

It may be motherhood or my age or a combination of both, but my body has changed enough in the last several years that I'm no longer comfortable in the pants I have. My mission yesterday was to find something that wasn't cut so dang low, because no one wants to see my belly, I can assure you. (a ten pound baby at 40 years old can really work some irreversible magic!)

The problem I had is that I don't know what they call pants like what I'm looking for. I found the juniors stuff, front and center regardless of what store I entered. And I found the plus sizes, the stuff for the business woman, the maternity wear and the things well suited for a first grade teacher, but I didn't find anything for me. Maybe it was just the post-taxes fatigue that I was experiencing, but I couldn't find the stylish pants which come up at least to the general area of my belly button. Where are the pants that have some of the style of the juniors pants but a higher rise? Perhaps boot cut, indigo dyed, even sporting some type of nifty button or snap?

I searched but found little. I did find one pair of pedal-pusher type pants (As we called them when I was young. There! A hint to the demographers!) but nothing else. I seethed as I walked around looking at pants that I wouldn't or couldn't wear and finally left, too annoyed to bother trying anything else on.

So what did I finally do with the rest of my free time? Why, I went to the library, of course! Ah. The quiet, peaceful happiness of browsing the shelves in the adults section. Speaking to the reference librarian without fear that the child is again opening the drawers on the copier to examine the inner works. It really is quite a treat to occasionally go to the library sans Riley.

Birmingham is currently holding a Big Read and everyone has turned their attention to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. At first I wondered why we'd need to read that book yet again, given that it's assigned to high-schoolers everywhere, and most folks I know have read it many times, but apparently there are legions of folks out there who have never read it. Imagine! I found a bio on Harper Lee herself called Mockingbird, by Charles J. Shields. I've always had a number of questions on Ms Lee, so this looks like it'll be good.

I also checked out The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I've wanted to read for years. I become aware of her writing just before I started packing to move to B-ham. Then, of course, I had a baby and my steady stream of books slowed to a trickle. She has a new one out but I decided to start from the beginning instead.

And the librarian also sent me with her favorite from last year, Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. She described it as a remembrance of youth from the perspective of an elderly man, which sounds interesting, but I think it'll probably make me cry too.

In other news, we've continued to get quotes to replace our lame old drafty metal casement windows and are amazed at how the prices differ. We've finally found a company which has a good price, and seems to have less of the BS factor we've encountered with other bidders, so we'll likely give them the go ahead. They also gave us a quote to put metal siding over the fascia and other wood on the house. There's not much, given that it's brick, but what's there needs painting, which means scraping, and we're loath to scrape lead paint. It'd also put an end to the carpenter bees which return every year to make swiss cheese of the fascia over the garage.

Riley, proud of his tattoos. And check out the boxer briefs! Too cute!

And now on to our day. Groceries, weeding and house cleaning! Yahooo! ;-)