Clothes Alterations

OK, so I was at a local dry cleaner's shop to have some new-bought pants shortened.  There is the line to pick up or bring clothes to be dry-cleaned and there is a seperate desk for alterations.  I stand at the alterations desk a few minutes and people in the dry-cleaning line are staring.  

I get the message and ask a clerk if the line is for both.  It is.  Not anywhere else I've ever been, but it is here.    

So I leave the box at the alterations desk and stand in line politely.  8 people in line and giving or picking up dry-cleaning is not a fast operation.  *sigh*.  A guy enters the alterations area and paws at my box.  I run up and explain my request.  He tells me the price (which was fine), but I have to go stand in the line.  OK, I'm retired; no problem with some time.

15 minutes later, I get service.  The clerk says (about alterations) "well, you just should have said so".  ARGGHHH!  But she processes my order.  I'm a new customer (obviously, I wouldn't go there a 2nd time) and she needs information about me.  My phone number is a problem; it is not a smartphone and they want to text me when the alterations are complete.  I say "just call me" but that is apparently not part of their process.  She finally figures out how to make the computer tell them to "just call me".

I'm annoyed.  The alterations cost as much as the pants.  I'm used to that.  I'm not "normal" (family of short-legged people).  From the waist down, I should be 5' 2".  From the waist up, I should be 5' 10". So, I'm 5' 7".   I researched that once...  So my inseam is 25".  No one sells anything less than 30".  I'm used to that, but it still aggravates me.  😩

Why  was I having 8 pairs of pants to shorten, you ask?  Because sometimes I buy stuff and forget about them.  My favorite pants are "woodland camo".  I spent too many years wearing the standard men's office wear of beige pants and a medium blue shirt, navy blazer and tie.  So, being retired, I think "camo" is nice.  

And mine are so old and faded they just looked "smudgy greenish".   So I bought 4 new ones (even a blue camo and a desert camo!).  After they arrived, I discovered I had done the same thing a year ago, setting them in a box for alterations.  So I had 8 camo pants to get shortened.

I almost have to laugh at the (imagined) view of a professional tailor shortening blue camo pants to a 25" inseam.  "What is the Navy coming to, to have such weirdly-shaped people" he must wonder.  Well, my choice of clothes may be a bit weird, but it is my own.  I am retired and single; I don't have to answer to anyone.  And the cats don't care.  😄

They (the dry-cleaners, not the cats) will call me in about a week.

Which leads me to my next annoyance (closet-hangers), but that's the next post...

Dyed

Yeah, I dyed.  Rit "Emerald" to be specific.  I toss and turn at night.  Really rip out the seams of my undershirts twisting around.  So I bought some XL size undershirts.  Not loose enough.  So I bought some A Shirts.



Look immune from turning and tossing.   But really boring.   So I dyed them.  That was an adventure.  An hour in the laundry tub, 4 rinses in the washr.  I used to tie-dye. 

My hands are sort of green right now, LOL!

Cant wait to try one on, but they are still taking a trip through the dryer...

Gardenweb

Everything I like goes away.  TV shows, beverages, internet discussion forums, clothes, appliances, etc...

Today I discovered my favorite garden discussion site is essentially "gone".  Oh, I never visited every month, mostly just at the start of each year to talk about "new" heirloom tomatoes I was trying, building raised beds, starting seeds under lights.  I was an "irregular" (very active at times, but absent later in the year).

And it just isn't there anymore.  Well, it exists in name but it was bought by some sales site called "Houzz" (a house improvement sales site).  Gardenweb is there in name, as I said, but they trashed it, deleted all the archives, killed all the usernames, and simplified the format to unusability. 

I had a NAME there "yardenman".  I had a history.  There were people I KNEW!  (And argued with or agreed with).  THAT part is just gone.  And I feel stupid that I'm sitting here crying about it and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it.

I put the site name as the post title in case it grabs someone using it in a search...

I tried to keep up with the change and re-register.  Can't have a handle; gotta be a plain boring real name.  Goodbye "yardenman".  You could know stuff about people with handles like TomatoLover! You have to choose housing interests and give TMI.  I even did that.  And only then did I find that there wasn't much there.  No one I recognized.  No sense of community...  I deleted my new account.

Doing some searches, I found the place had changed August last year.  Some people had gone to another site that apparently (from comments I read) is run by a (and please forgive me here) religious fundamentalist.  If he doesn't like your tone or disagrees with you, the next time you sign in you are shunted to a Disney site.  Seriously, you get automatically redirected to "Disney" forever after.

I wish I had the skills (and time) to set up my own discussion site...

BTW, about the other things I miss?  I might as well explain. 

TV - M*A*S*H ended, Babylon 5 ended, MSNBC essentially became a "Breaking News" channel 24/7, The Discovery Channel became a weird medical stuff site, National Geographic became a fake nature reality show site, The Science Channel became a fake reality show site, The History Channel does famous people drama, etc, etc, etc...  I watch baseball and a LOT of science/nature/history DVDs now.

Clothes and Kitchen - Bell-bottom pants?  Forget about it.  I wear a lot of camo now.  Bet those disappear soon.  Faded Glory shirts with ample armpits?  Gone.  I liked soft velcro "Shark Leash" watch straps.  Had to go to eBay to get a new one.  Blue Libbey glasses?  Forget it.  And I dropped a soapy coffee mug this week and broke it and 2 of my remaining 4 short blue Libbey glasses!  My old Rival crock pot of 40 years finally died a few months ago.  The new ones are junk and burn everything.  Found an old one on eBay...  Tried to find canned grapefruit lately?  Don't bother.

Beverages - Remember Tom Collins Mix?  I used to drink the stuff straight.  Its gone.  I used to make Singapore Slings using Pomegranate Brandy; discontinued.  You've seen those no-cal water flavorers?  I liked the pineapple one.  Gone.  Caffeine-Free Coke?  Gone.

It's not like I'm looking for VHS tapes and saspirilla.  I just want some things *I* like to stay available.  Speaking of camo pants, they are all cargo pants these days.  I have a 25" inseam.  When the tailor shortens the 30" ones (shortest I can get) I have pockets around my ankles,  LOL! 

I'm trying to stay in good humor.  But damn I miss that gardening site...