2-4-6-8... whatever...

I would like everyone to know that I’m wearing a pair of size 4 jeans right now. This is not to say that I’m a “real” size 4… at least not a size 4 of old… not a size 4 of twenty or thirty years ago. It seems that since we Americans have been growing larger and larger, clothing manufacturers have been getting more and more generous with their sizing. But Gap says I’m a size 4, and who am I to argue? And since these jeans WERE snug when I bought them a few months ago (back when I was wearing a gigantic size 6…) I feel that I’ve accomplished something here. It seems a little silly though – if I lose a few more pounds (as I’m attempting to do) I’ll soon be buying Gap jeans in size 2. And on what planet could I ever really be a size 2??

I was also really happy the other day as we were cleaning out the closet and I discovered an old pair of pants I’ve had since I was about 20 years old. And I wasn’t happy about the pants themselves – they’re really horrible pants… blue and red plaid, with tapered legs and a high waist. I mean, I’ll never actually WEAR the things out in public again. But I’ve kept them around because those pants were in my wardrobe at a time when I felt semi-thin. Soon after I was married, they began inexplicably shrinking… within two or three years, I was no longer able to button them. Eventually, they shrank so much that I could barely squeeze into them even with the button AND the zipper undone. At some point, I decided it was my mission to fit into those pants again. Even if it took years and years and they were ridiculously out of fashion by the time I was able to do so. Over the last decade, I have occasionally pulled those ugly pants out of the closet and tried them on, with disappointing results. But when I found them again a few days ago, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pull them on, not sure if I’d be able to hike them up past my knees. To my surprise, they were easy to pull on… not only that, but they were easy to zip up… and not only THAT, but I was able to button them with no problem. I couldn’t believe it – my totally-ugly semi-thin pants fit again! They haven’t fit since I was about 22. (So, like, three years ago or so…)

Anyway… the reason we were cleaning out the closet is because our house is now officially on the market. We’ll either be moving to Chicago in a few months (I can only hope… except I don’t WANT to hope, because then I’ll be disappointed when it doesn’t happen…) or moving into a new house on the other side of the neighborhood. Either way, we needed to put this house up for sale now. As a result, we’ve been crazy busy this week. They wanted to take pictures for the listing on Wednesday, and had originally planned an open house for Sunday (which has since been moved to next Sunday), so we had to get the house ready. They recommended we pack up knickknacks and as much extra “stuff” as possible, to make the house look bigger and less cluttered. So we pretty much worked nonstop for a few days, packing whatever we could live without for a few months and cleaning the entire house and throwing away a whole lot of junk that we should’ve thrown away a long time ago.

So my house looks better now than it’s looked in a long time… actually, maybe it looks better than it’s EVER looked. But it’s rather difficult to KEEP it looking this nice – besides constantly wiping down counters and dusting tables and trying to keep up with the little tufts of dog hair that materialize on the floor, I’ve also been forced to store most of the bottles and jars in my bathroom underneath the counter so everything is out of sight, and I’ve even placed my kitchen toaster in a cabinet to make the kitchen look more spacious. This means that any time I want to make toast, or wash my face, or use some hair gel, I have to search for whatever I need in my cabinets, and then replace it when I’m done – instead of just leaving everything out where it’s convenient and easily accessible. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but things have a way of eventually migrating from their hiding places back to their handy locations, which means the cycle of “cleaning, de-cluttering, searching for needed items, leaving them out, cleaning, de-cluttering…” is never-ending…

But I have no doubt that all of the work I’ve done this week has helped me burn a few extra calories, and made these fake-size-4 jeans possible… so I can’t complain too much… :)