My 39er Pet Peeve - Fashion Frustration

Originally posted on 39AndHoldingClub site July 19, 2014 - please enjoy again!

Most of the time as a “retiree” (excuse me while I laugh into my coffee), I have no need to wear anything other than the sloppiest of casual clothes.

However, I’m not (yet) a hermit and there are those times when I must face the public. I would like to do so in something other than my 20-year-old halfway decent fashions.

But shopping for clothes is no longer the fun past time that once showed off my bargain finds, demonstrating fashion sense for mere cents.

I have … ahem … “matured.” While I enjoy the added wisdom of my mental maturity, I do not appreciate my body’s insistence on keeping up with my bulging brain.

I will not soon again, however, don a mini-skirt (stop laughing! I once rocked 'em ... and yes, young’uns, you are simply regurgitating our '60s-revolutionary style) … yet nearly all of the current fashions fit me like one! I would like to find something “in my size” in our department stores. 

Does it truly escape the attention of designers and retailers that the FIRST sizes to sell out in a popular style are the AVERAGE and PLUS sizes?? Do you not recognize that “average” sizes in reality, are 12 – 18, NOT sizes 6 – 10?

Have the clothing manufacturers adopted the same stick-it-to-the-consumer ploy as grocery suppliers? 

Do they REALLY believe we don’t notice that we’re paying the same price for a loaf of bread – in which the slices are SMALLER than they were five years ago?!

Are Fruits and Veggies a Natural Time Machine?

Take me back to 39 … take me back to 39 … take me back to 39 … no, silly, not the year, the AGE.

If I say it three times and munch a couple blackberries, will I be 39 years old again?! Slim, tennis-worthy, shiny hair (without L’Oreal’s auburn color)? Hmmmm … nope. Didn’t work.

Ah, well. However, I still believe aging is as much attitude as it is an unstoppable physical progression.

This doesn’t stop us from trying every miracle drug or food combination the next anti-aging guru puts forth. Bottom line (and I do mean the bottom pun) is our overall health and slowed aging benefits from offerings of the garden.

“… while many foods from chocolate to popcorn promise these health benefits, your best bet for a long, vibrant future begins with produce,” says Oprah.com on Yahoo!’s Shine.

Do I eat tons of fruit and vegetables? Sadly, no. As a kid, I consumed the standard veggies when forced to, and many basic fruits. But for some reason, they never became a standard in my diet. 

Although I’m told I look young “for my age” (appreciate and loathe that statement), and I’m relatively healthy, it’s possible my “extra” stubborn weight hangs on likely because I do not eat the good-for-you foods at an age when it truly matters.

How about you? Have your eating habits changed as an adult? For the better or worse? Or like me, have you tried to eat better, to no avail?

Fruits and veggies won’t turn back time, but …