<p>I think I look my best at the supermarket in my gym shorts/ tee shirt and sweaty after an hour at the gym—good thing I don’t live in a town where one is expected to dress up for shopping</p>
<p>Well, I see a parade of pretty fairies, edgy fairies, hippie fairies. There were all are – like one of those fantasy movies in which only we can see each other’s true fairiness.</p>
<p>I love the little 8 year old sort of Jewish yogurt eschewing Communist. I think I’ll write him in as my candidate for the democratic primary. He sounds like he wandered out of a Salinger story.</p>
<p>I wear some version of the same outfit to class everyday – one of my gazillion black skirts and a black, brown, pink, green soft shirt of some kind. Finally had to assure my students that there were many black skirts because the girls were starting to get that “Does she wear the same skirt every day?” look in their eyes. </p>
<p>Today a student asked me if I’d ever been to San Francisco. When I answered in the affirmative he said, “I knew you were a hippie. I saw a documentary on you guys.” So hippie fairy still walks the earth.</p>
<p>Who knew that going to Woodstock would be my best teaching credential?<br>
Students are properly reverent and awed. Hehe.</p>
<p>I don’t go shopping, that’s H’s job.</p>
<p>I do, however, wear a bright pink plastic hat whenever it rains, and Afro-American students compliment my “pimped out look.” Hmmmmmm.</p>
<p>Cheers to cheers and everyone else. I resently had a fabulous bottle of Portuguese sparking wine at a dinner with friends. I’m sending a bottle to your table.</p>
<p>Alu: You’re so brave. Walking down that runway with all the bronzed, manicured ladies. Wow. </p>
<p>My goal: To never wear lady clothes or have lady hair.</p>
<p>
So, what do such ladies wear to the supermarket? Just wondering.</p>
<p>I’ve never gotten over my first foray into I. Magnin’s. (You ladies of the SF Bay Area will know whereof I speak). At that time – early 1970’s – while the hippie fairies were reigning supreme in other not-so-distant sectors of San Francisco, the ladies of I. Magnin customerhood were wearing gloves (and we are not talking to protect them from the cold) and ensembles which I would have selected for an audience with Her Majesty the Queen. To shop. As in, to go into dressing rooms, take it all off and put on something else. I mean, can we spell “inefficient”?</p>
<p>Can anyone explain to me the beauty in looking like an Umpa Lumpa?</p>
<p>jmmom,
My ex-roomie actually lives in a New England small town where this “dressing up for the market” goes on. I believe that a lovely slacks and sweater set would suffice.</p>
<p>Umpa Lumpas need love too…
I can’t figure out all of the orange, but it works for them.</p>
<p>Hey Alu,</p>
<p>Raising my glass to you for showing them what ya got. As Tim Gunn would say “make it work” and you did.</p>
<p>NYmomof2 - welcome to the alley. You know your son does not need all of those parts that he has hanging around in his room. Could you please let him know that my chicken bucket could use a little spiffing up. Hey! it’s my best hat so tell him to toss some classy junk my way.</p>
<p>Aly,</p>
<p>I took Chicky (your east coast daughter) back to her people. We got a late start because she did not start packing until about 10 this morning (talking about blowing the plan to leave at 7 am and get back early in the evening). I had no make up or socks and some really chipped polish on my nails. I had barely comed my hair. Just stuck my keys and my wallet in the pocket of my jeans, grabbed a sweater and left. Chick had on a polo shirt and her favorite Old Navy jeans (she swears they fit her better than any other jeans she has bought), left with her hair wrapped and threw on a scarf, nodding falling asleep in the back seat. We pull up, she says she has to pick up her keys, she comes back out I noticed that her hair is combed,her Gucci horse bot shades are perched on top of her head (don’t ask because her grandmother told her to buy herself something pretty) her shirt is knotted and I asked her “who are you fronting for?”</p>
<p>I stayed just long enough to help her get her stuff into her room. Her bed was not even made and she asked if I could drop her off at Collis on my way out because she was meeting people. So yes, I was bum rushed out (was it something I was wearing??)</p>
<p>As I was leaving she yelled out call me so that I know that you got home ok (I could not believe my voice was coming out of her). Call her when I got home and the first thing she told me is that she forgot her “interview shoes” and if I can send them to her on monday before giving a quick love you and hanging up (I asked her at least 5 times if she had her shoes and her suits but I guess she thought I meant the 15 pair of ballet flats :eek: ).</p>
<p>Chicky and her people are happy in Hanover (some arriving for pre-season and the others coming in saturday) and I did not have the chance to have dinner at Molly’s but hey, let’s not loose sight of the big picture here -she can now legally drink those $2 margaritas and they eat that great Molly’s bread.</p>
<p>Um, if your chest enhancements are too big, the dark orange minmizes them?</p>
<p>I only have two things to say.</p>
<ol>
<li>Thank heavens for new talent. You guys are making me cackle out loud.</li>
<li>If I had to dress up to go to the supermarket I would kill myself.</li>
<li>The good thing about being an Ooompa Loompa is you get to be on YouTube.</li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey6qquwcoPk[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey6qquwcoPk</a></p>
<p>OK. Three things.</p>
<p>Momof2sons - I would never have thought I could be impressed by a tattoo, but your son has done it. I’m especially impressed because I share the heritage.</p>
<p>Thank you, Alumother - now I know what a Oompa Loompa is!</p>
<p>mythmom, your students’ comments are priceless. Do you take notes?</p>
<p>sybbie, I’ll steal a few of the less unattactive parts for you.</p>
<p>momof3sons - What a poignant description of your oldest’s abandoned desk! </p>
<p>" I love the little 8 year old sort of Jewish yogurt eschewing Communist. I think I’ll write him in as my candidate for the democratic primary. He sounds like he wandered out of a Salinger story." He’s actually quite a delightful child, sweet, loving, happy. We really don’t know where he came from. If he had been the IVF baby and the older one had been the surprise natural pregnancy, we would have assumed that someone had mixed things up in the lab.</p>
<p>My sister was visiting last year, and she took both of my sons into NYC for the day with her kids. She told me that on the train S2 (the communist) had everyone in the vicinity laughing at his comments. One woman leaned over and asked my sister for his name. She said that when he was famous she wanted to be able to say that she saw him on the train. She then expressed sympathy for my older S, whom whe assumed got no attention. Actually, the older one is very high maintenance and gets more than his share.</p>
<p>
Yes. I am thinking that Management needs to nab a building permit for a little expansion around here. We need more bar stools, more naugahyde booths, a bigger screen for our YouTube spots…</p>
<p>And do we have a separate area for the Little Guys? Up til now, I think SB’s “Littlest” has been one-of-a-kind, outnumbered greatly by the testosterone-leaking 16-plus-year-olds. Now he has a Buddy! Non-yogurt eating sometime-observant-left-of-center. Another sweetheart, not yet inculcated into the communication-by-grunts methods of his elders.</p>
<p>“Littlest”, meet Buddy. Buddy, meet “Littlest.”</p>
<p>When we go visit my parents, I wear makeup when I go to the grocery store (or anywhere else). It’s just not acceptable for a woman to go out without her “face.” I wear earrings and get dressed up. DH finds it quite amusing, as at home I seldom wear makeup and am usually in shorts and a t-shirt, rain, snow or shine. </p>
<p>I paint my nails after all the old color comes off. We won’t talk about my roots.</p>
<p>I have a neighbor who does yard work dressed up. I’ve never seen her in jeans or shorts. She sometimes mows in a skirt and shoes I consider fancy. Somewhat surprised that she actually does the mowing I had to ask why. She said the people her husband hired to do it never got it quite right. How can one mow wrongly?</p>
<p>The blondes in my town have natural tans, year-round. They also have beach houses. I am fish-belly white year-round, but not nearly as wrinkled! </p>
<p>Loved the runway report, and the son with the spare parts. There are still computer parts, picked up on the side of the road, in my college seniors room. I haven’t been able to throw them away. </p>
<p>I garden without gloves, so usually have a reverse french manicure. Toes go naked.</p>
<p>Computer parts from the side of the road? I fervently hope my S1 doesn’t catch on to garbage picking.</p>
<p>Reverse french manicure - what a lovely description!</p>
<p>He has one good quality. He is always willing to cheerfully help with anything. We started putting together a piece of exercise equipment that was delivered several weeks ago. This has been a “one step forward, five steps back” kind of job. The equipment came with an exercise video that included assembly demo/instructions at the end. I thought it would be a good idea to watch it before tackling the job. Insert tape into VCR, plays for a microsecond, ejects itself. Put it back in, repeat. After a few iterations the tape is jammed and the VCR/DVD player will not work at all - the dreaded H02 error message appears on the display. Reading the manual and Panasonic’s website do not help. Give up on that and decide to start the assemply using only the written diagram and instructions. After 2 hours we have accomplished Steps 1-3 of 15, get stuck. S1 is much better at this than I am.</p>
<p>Today I take the VCR/DVD player to repair shop while S2 is getting braces off. He asks me to ask them whether they have any broken, unfixable players that he can have.</p>
<p>Just catching up in here, my we’ve been busy, ladies (and gentlemen, ahem, Curmudgeon, who I didn’t know knew the way)… Need to quickly say, Alu, thank you for that fashion show report. The two-bra dash from girl to girl was priceless. And the Edgy fairy, love it. And, finally, walking down the runway with your S happy and having fun… tears in my eyes. Thank you for sharing. </p>
<p>Mootie, so glad to hear your S2 is finding comraderie at college and that he’s calling you! And that he’s admitting to homesickness… what a great phonecall. </p>
<p>The fact that he’s watching sports WOULD be a little surprising to me if it weren’t for the fact that my S, who couldn’t have been less of a sports fan before college, just joined his university’s radio station as a… sports announcer. </p>
<p>He made his first broadcast last week and we tuned in on the internet to hear it. I think it might have been the first time in sports journalism history that the word heretofore has been used, (unless as H suggested it possibly was uttered once by Keith Oberman, whoever that is). But I heard S say something like “And coming to campus this weekend are the heretofore undefeated Cardinals…” and then I burst out laughing and knew for a fact that he’d written his own material.
Sigh.
Wonk meets jock. And I have completely thrown in the towel with what to expect next from that kid. Perhaps it’s time for a sequel to the Sophomore Disaster thread of last winter or whatever it was called. I’m getting Phoenix rising from the ashes vibes with S… though I’ll probably wait for tomorrow’s phone call (mandatory once a week now) to be a little more sure. I mean, it’s a whole 24 hours away and a LOT can happen in that time to the hopes, prayers and dreams of mother’s of S’s.</p>
<p>I’ve lived overseas before but this is the girliest place I’ve ever lived. They wear jeans to the grocery-- styly jeans with sexy boots, darling tops and accessories. And lippy and nice hair. Oh yeah, they are much thinner than 'Mericans, as a rule. I wish they were Oompa Loompas but they’re mostly darling women who spend huge amounts of time and energy on their appearance.</p>
<p>Speaking of homesickness, in our Sunday call, we asked our freshman if he was homesick.</p>
<p>“…??” (as in: “Homesick? What’s dat?”)</p>
<p>followed by </p>
<p>“Ummm…I’m too busy and too tired to be homesick.” </p>
<p>He did travel to the big city with his new best friends where he met up with his senior brother and his friends whereupon I assume they all partied till 1984. Sensible best friends (engineers) made it to the football game, my chickenlips did not. Oh well. H said very few guys actually made it to the game when they travelled to see out of town games. </p>
<p>And here’s a toast with that Portugese sparkling wine–to momof2incas who never fully revealed what went down last year but we’re still glad her SFH is rising to meet another destiny. <em>clink clink</em></p>
<p>And another sidelong glance down to sybs…hoping she’ll fill us in when she finds out who the dancer girl is dolling up for.</p>
<p>LOL. I’m enjoying all ya’ll’s stories. Add my voice to those who do NOT dress up unless it’s absolutely required. At my DD’s wedding, I can assure you I looked stunning. Other times, not so much. No makeup, comfy shoes, and my favorite pants are cargoes from the teen boys dept. at Old Navy. (They are SO comfy, and seem to go with all my tops. 
) I do like to wear earrings–I can put them in in the morning and feel “accessorized” all day, tho I may be deluding myself.</p>
<p>I love the “reverse French manicure” image. Being a pianist, I always have short nails and can’t stand the feel of nail polish, so there you go. In the summer I do treat my toes to a round of polish or two. Poor neglected toes.</p>
<p>I’m sort of on pins and needles with S#1–he is undergoing a round of interviews for a BIG job. In a week or two he will know for sure what he is doing after college!</p>
<p>I know it’s terribly early, but pass the hard stuff.</p>
<p>mommusic: I’ll bellly up to the bar with you. Have time for just a nip. Trip to see S on his birthday already a bit off schedule because we forgot to check the post-labor day ferry schedule! DH thinks it’s his fault, but for onde ooohhh I was so understanding, “Said, well it’s nobody’s fault.” And now I have time for that quick drink.</p>
<p>First time I’ve ever not seen DS for a whole month. Bag of goodies: Fisherman’s sweater (it is Williamstown brrrrrr), a new, simultaneous translation of Dante (this kid read the entire Aeneid in Latin), the Heroes First Season DVD (it was a little week last night) and Instant Karma, CD compilation, two disc cover of John Lennon songs, proceeds to go to Darfur.</p>
<p>And we’re off. Big birthday treat: trip to Great Barrington to get bow rehaired. Sounds somewhat off color!</p>
<p>Have a round on me to celebrate S’s birthday. (Boy, it used to be you could buy your kid a drink at 18. Well this one hates the smell of liquor, so his excitement will be filling out his absentee ballot for the primary.)</p>
<p>mythmom–and registering with Uncle Sam. :(</p>
<p>Happy birthday to mythson! I’m toasting him with my favorite beverage, Vanilla Coke.</p>
<p>Who will take a pledge to stick around here until S2 (the 8-year-old, half-vegetarian, formerly non-yogurt-eating Jewish communist) gets through college? I gathered from one of the posts that there is someone else with an 8-year old? </p>
<p>S2 is also a jazz-loving pianist. His teacher occasionally gets the music for his current favorite piece to learn in between all the classical pieces. He has learned Maple Leaf Rag (Joplin), I’m Beginning to See the Light (Ellington), and he is now begging for Bumble Boogie - don’t know who it’s by, but:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZNsvJQtfqU[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZNsvJQtfqU</a></p>
<p>Far above his level, but there is apparently a student version.</p>
<p>I own absolutely no jewelry except a plain gold wedding ring (now too small). I have never seen the point of jewelry.</p>
<p>Oh no, Cheers, I did pretty much reveal all last year on the sophomore blues thread… and it felt good! But I’ll still toast to the possiblity of S pulling himself up from the brink of disaster as a junior. It’s still just a possibiltiy though, little more than a whim, so sparkling wine sounds about right. :)</p>