Oh, man. Please don't even get me started on the "joy" of dealing with doctor's offices. The office staff at my neurologist, in particular, is a nightmare. Crossing my fingers that yours gets their act together and takes care of you today!

Sorry - Since I have a personal policy of not giving Jeff Bezos more of my money than absolutely necessary, I just have to pop in here with a recommendation for Libro.fm. It functions quite similarly to Audible -- in fact, I like their app better -- but it is not owned by Amazon. And all of your purchases support an independent bookstore of your choice. The one thing I don't love about Libro is that there are no options for subscription levels. It's a flat fee per month, and you get one credit. You can buy packages of additional credits, but you can't bump the monthly subscription to two credits a month, like I used to have with Audible. My solution to this problem is to have two accounts, but it's not ideal. Otherwise, though, I really love the service. And I love that my money is supporting real bookstores instead of Amazon.

Another evening of trying to balance school work and time for a walk last night, complicated by the fact that I needed to get out of bed in the middle of the night to collect my adult kiddo from the airport (scheduled 1:45AM landing). I did a chunk of schoolwork -- not enough to save me from needing to spend a good deal of weekend time on it -- then walked for just short of 4K, then locked myself and the dog into my office for a nap. Picked up the kid and went back to bed for a few hours. Given the above, I think it's fair that I got a late start this morning. I decided it's easier to make up walking/steps throughout the day than it is to find time and energy to do other kinds of exercise, so I shorted the walk (only about 2.75K) and did about 25 minutes of strength and stretching. Fortunately, I have no work meetings or other appointments today. It's looking a little overcast, and the barometer in my head says we may be in for rain, but if the weather holds I should be able to sneak in a couple of short walks with the dog during the day. Then the usual longer walk and/or stationary bike session sometime this evening. Winter Warmup 2022 Challenge: 261.6 of 500KWalking Streak: 38

I'm working on this one. I'm hoping, in addition to being a fun way to track books for this year, that it works as a gateway to getting me back into the habit of crafting.

Also, a quick sartorial follow-up: Thank you all so much for encouraging me to wear the blazer. As it turned out, one of the two managers with whom I met was wearing a blazer in a very similar pattern. Twinning with your potential boss can't be a bad thing, right?

Thanks for asking. I feel like it went reasonably well. This isn't actually the one that I am most enthused about, but it would be a way out of where I am and into a large company where I might have room to move around and grow for the remaining decade or so of my career. I actually interviewed with two managers, who between them have three roles to fill. I for sure have the skills and experience necessary to do the job, and I would be a good fit for the company culture (and vice versa). The money is better than what I'm making now, but not earth-shakingly so. And it's a contract position, which makes me nervous. Mind you, virtually everyone I know who works for this company either got in the door through a contract position (including one of the managers I met today) or was outsourced/insourced at least once. And both managers made it clear that -- no promises -- they technically have open head count, are going through a contracting agency only because a hiring freeze prevents them from hiring directly and intend to keep fighting to fill the roles permanently. They are back in the office most days, which is fine for me. (I don't really like working from home full time.) And it's very close to my house. It would offer a lot more variety of task than what I'm doing now, which would also be nice. I'd get opportunities to go out into the field to meet users and observe the things I'm trying to write training for. That would be cool after three years of sitting in a chair trying to guess or scrounge online for answers. I should hear something from them within a week or so.

Well, it seems we have a consensus. I'll see if I can find a way to add a little color. Thanks, all!

Thank you all again for jumping in: I got the call yesterday offering me the job. (I would be excited, except that (a) this really was my second choice, and it seems my first choice is "moving forward with another candidate"; (b) I had to tell the boss I like so much and have worked with so closely for the past 3.5 years that I'm leaving her. I feel like a rat deserting that sinking ship.) So, I start in a little less than three weeks. I'll be making a bit more money, get my foot in the door with a very large company where there should be room to move both around and up and be doing something in my field but distinctly different from what I've been doing for the last few years. All good things. Oh, and I'll be in the office a few days a week, a good thing for me, since I don't thrive working at home. This does mean the need to buy some clothes just became more pressing, but I'll figure it out. Anyway, I figured you all might want to hear how the story turned out. Many thanks! ****************************** Original Post ******************************************** I have to leave for a job interview in an hour. Normally, my elder adult kiddo is my fashion consultant, but they are off in NYC on an interview of their own. I have two options. I'm posting a full-body and torso of each. Two things: The office environment is business casual, and I know folks who work, not in this specific office but for the same company. I am confident that either one of these options would be okay. Also, please ignore the wandering beasties who photobombed my session and the mess in the background. We are in the middle of a big closet organization project, and there are piles of stuff all over the room waiting to be donated or put away.

I finished four books in January: The Whalebone Theatre, Joanna Quinn (Royal Reading Room selection) You Just Need to Lose Weight: And 19 Other Myths about Fat People, Aubrey Gordon (Fulfilled my popular science prompt for the StoryGraph genre challenge) Butts: A Backstory, Heather Radke City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert (Royal Reading Room selection) I enjoyed and would recommend all four of them. As of whenever I go out for a walk later, I'll start Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. In general, throughout the year, my plan is to read at least one or two of the Royal Reading Room selections and check off at least one of the prompts on the StoryGraph challenge until I finish all 10 of those. I was looking for a way to give my reading some slight sense of direction this year.

I got out for a good (5K) walk last night, which wasn't quite enough to meet the daily step goal. But I took a break and watched some dumb TV while putting one eye on my school assignments for the rest of the week. I then rode the stationary bike for about 10 minutes just before bedtime to finish off my steps. I really, really didn't want to get out of bed today, so I ran late getting started with the morning routine. I managed just barely over 4K of walking. I then decided to try a different seated upper body video, which I ended up hating and abandoning half-way through. By then I was cranky and running very late, so I just did a couple of Chair One Fitness songs and called it enough. More walking and/or biking later, I suppose. (Still extremely open to suggestions for other kinds of exercise I could do that won't aggravate my arthritic knees, require a lot of specialized equipment or increase my risk of falling down due to the neuropathy and general balance issues.) Winter Warmup 2022 Challenge: 254.3 of 500KWalking Streak: 37

Just a heads up that I started the new thread for February:

@Soror I'm so sorry about the sciatica. I've only ever had that when I was pregnant, but it was miserable. And, following my assorted stuff over the last few years, I completely understand how demoralizing it is for someone who is accustomed to being active to be restricted or grounded by pain. I hope the PT and other accommodations help you recover soon and start being able to gently add back more of the things you want to do. (And please don't worry about whining. There are several of us doing our share of that here.)

Yoga last night was good. The teacher worked parts of me that needed it, apparently. And it was a nice brain break after the gross week I've been having. I took the time to walk my remaining steps before forcing myself back into the office chair to finish my school assignment. Had to wake up early and take my adult kiddo to the airport this morning. They are flying back to NYC for a job interview. 🤞 I walked with the dog a teeny bit before and after, then went out by myself for as long as I could, but I still logged only a little over 3.5K total for the morning. Followed that with about 25 minutes of strength and stretching. I'll look for some breaks in the day to squeeze in more walking. Winter Warmup 2022 Challenge: 242.2 of 500KWalking Streak: 36

If someone else already started a new thread for this month, please ignore me. I'll hop over there. As usual, all are welcome here! Check in as often as you wish . . . or not. Share specific goals . . . or not. We're just here to cheer each other on.

Too early to tell just yet whether my story has a happy ending (although, given the distinctly "eh" vibe I got from the folks I interviewed with today, I'm guessing not), but I recently decided to take a shot at following up on a job about enough time had passed that I assumed I was out of the running. I sent this basic email to the recruiter who had been my primary contact: Hi [Name], I just thought I would take a second to say hello and check in. When you get a moment, I’d love to hear from you about any updates on the [title of job] position we discussed on [date of interview]. I am still very enthusiastic about the possibility of joining the [name of company] team and believe that my commitment to [brief restatement of my relevant skills] make me a great fit for this role. I would be happy to meet with [name of hiring manager] at his convenience. And please do let me know if there is anything else I can provide to assist you in considering my application. Thank you again for your time and attention, The recruiter called me within 20 minutes of my sending the email to schedule an additional interview. Could definitely be coincidental, and your situation is different. And, as I said, I still may well not get the job. (I happen to know they are also considering an internal candidate, which doesn't help my chances.) In general, though, I think it couldn't hurt to just check in and restate your interest.

I think, as long as you are polite about it, contacting the person to check in and let them know you saw the position is still listed and that you are still interested can't possibly hurt.

Things eased up here a little bit yesterday, in terms of emotional tone. The familial situation more or less resolved, and I got an interview for the job that I was kind of excited about that I assumed I was out of the running for. I still crashed pretty hard in the evening and spent the last couple of hours before bed fighting tears. I did not finish the school assignment -- so that is still looming for this evening -- but did take a good walk and finish the step count for the day, at least. Walked this morning, but did not make my 4K+ goal due to getting a late start. (My husband is back in the office as of this week, and figuring out how to work my morning wake up and exercise routine around his getting ready for work time is an adjustment.) I walked only 3.5K and followed that with a 20-minute upper body workout video. Yoga tonight, thank goodness, and I will attempt to work in some extra walking before then so that I don't end up with half my steps left and also facing a very late night to finish the school assignment. Winter Warmup 2022 Challenge: 234.9 of 500KWalking Streak: 35

Well, no, I understand size inflation. (Although, for the record, I dug up a few of my old suit jackets from the days in which I used to wear suits to work decades ago, and they are the same size as what I am finding fits me in stores now. So, if there is significant size inflation, it must not have hit brands I typically purchase.) What I'm saying is that when I take my measurements, look at the size charts on the websites of the clothing manufacturer from whom I am about to purchase, select the size that their own size chart tells me I should buy . . . it's often too big. As I understand it, size inflation is a strategy intended to make women feel better about themselves and want to buy more from the brands in which they wear smaller sizes, but that strategy doesn't work if I have to incur costs in time and additional shipping fees to exchange things I have purchased online. Those Lands End jeans, for example? I was irritated that they didn't fit when I had made a point of checking the size chart. I considered exchanging them for the smaller size, even though they would not have been here in time for the interview, just to have them on hand. However, neither the return form nor the how to return information on the website offered "exchange" as an option. I would have needed to return and re-order, paying for shipping this time because the single item wasn't costly enough to qualify for free shipping. So, instead, I tossed them in the prepaid return envelope and didn't bother ordering the smaller size. These days, knowing what I do about how few returns actually get put back on the shelves and how much waste this process generates, I don't want to order online at all unless I have a pretty high confidence I will want to keep what I buy. That's why I strongly prefer to shop in person, so I can try on items and not end up in this situation. However, so many stores now carry such limited merchandise that it's become really hit or miss.

Looks like Banana Republic and J. Crew (and a few others) have stores at one of our local outlet malls. Next time I have a free weekend (ha!), I'll go explore.

I really like Loft for tops. Pants just seem to be harder, especially now since so much of what's trendy is absolutely not what this boring, middle-aged person wants!

Yep, exactly. The age thing makes this especially challenging! And, yes, I miss Dress Barn dreadfully. I used to buy jeans there that I loved, but they have closed their stores, and the website requires me to sift through a lot of clothing that is, to say the least, not what I'm looking for. (Sadly, it looks like Christopher and Banks does not go small enough for me. Having spent my entire life fighting my weight--and mostly losing--I can't tell you how weird it feels to say that, but their smallest size is a petite 4, and the measurements look like they would be a bit large on me.)

I know a lot of folks who love the whole Starfish line, but they have never fit me properly. The jeans I have that I like are these. I have them in a size 6, but should probably have gone for a 4. The problem is they don't come in black. So, I poked around and found a style that looked similar and ordered those in a 4. They were slightly too big all over but also just kind of droopy around the butt. My adult child, who is my fashion advisor when they are around, told me the size and placement of the pockets was also just wrong for me, that they made my butt look "too long." And none of those things were likely to be solved by going down a size. The cut was just wrong for me.

I used to have decent luck in the kids' departments, too. I had a couple of pairs of jeans from Gap Kids that I liked a lot. Recently, though, I'm finding that most of the kids' styles are too trendy for me. Thank you for the reminder, though. I'll look again.

Exactly. That's why I appreciate being able to order from sort of mid-range places like Lands End. The quality is decent, pricing and sizing are consistent. I always know what I'm getting. I think part of my reluctance to spend a lot, too, is my history of big fluctuations in my weight. At the moment, I'm about as small as I have been in my adult life. I think I've been close to this weight maybe three times since my teens? And sometimes I have been heavier by as much as about 70 pounds. I like to believe this time is different and I will be here for the rest of my life, but . . . I also don't want to end up with a closet full of expensive clothing that is too small.

I was just poking around on the J.Crew site, and even the sale stuff was pretty pricey. It might be worth trekking to the outlet mall, I suppose, to see if things are better there. At least it does look like they stock things in smaller sizes. What I'm seeing on Lands End and Coldwater Creek and a bunch of other places I associate with good quality but fairly bland stuff (what I tend to like) is that a lot of them just don't stock anything smaller than a 6, or at least a lot of individual styles don't come smaller or are sold out. Comparing my measurements to size charts at a few places, it looks like I'm hovering between a 2 and a 4 at most places. And, for reasons I don't understand, I often actually wear a slightly smaller size than what I would assume based on the size charts. I haven't been to a Penney's or Macy's in a while, but the last couple of times I tried, the experience was pretty disappointing. A lot of the local stores seem to have moved towards being primarily bargain/closeout centers with very limited stock and everything in a mess that makes it hard to shop.