#13 Splurge on a "Good" Bra

I rarely do it, but something compelled me to click on one of those Facebook advertisements not long ago. So far, I'm pretty happy. The ad was for a place called True & Co...where you can select bras, have them sent directly to your home, try them on, and send back any that you don't want. Pretty slick.

First they have you take a survey thing to determine your fit...not using just your bra size, but actually useful questions like how your current bras fit and whether you tend to spill out the sides or sag or bust out the top. ;) Using that information, they assign you a category and recommend bras based on that (you can still shop all of their store, but they list recommended items and sizes just for you). 

Then you can pick up to five bras to try. They ship them to your house in a lovely box like so:

You try them on and fill out feedback (letting them know what worked and what didn't and why) so that they can tweak their recommendations. Send back any that you don't want within five days in their easy-peasy return envelope (which also comes with a return mailing label...all shipping was free).

If you keep any, they charge you at that time. Done. :)

So. I tried four with my first box. I kept one. And now I can check that off my list. ;)

(Yeah, they're definitely not the cheapest bras but I really enjoyed the experience and the no hassle/no required purchase aspect of it all. I have codes for $15 off your first order. If you want one, email me!) 

Thanks, Dad!

So. It hailed last night. ;) Remember how we just planted all sorts of new plants? Yeah.

These pictures were taken this morning. I'm waiting for the hail to melt to decide just how gone these are. The plants in the pots actually held up considerably better than the ones in the ground, though there are definitely some losses.

The storm went through here last night from about 11-midnight. Boys had just gone to bed but the younger two promptly popped back out of bed to hide downstairs with me. Noah was amazingly still asleep (it was VERY loud)...was woken up by Micah so that he could see what was going on...and then went back to sleep. Took some convincing to get Micah to go back to bed after things had died down...he was, unsurprisingly, convinced that the world was ending, lol.

Let me also point out the many pieces of roof shingles...

Yup. Call's already in to the insurance adjuster (for the roof and also for Nathan's car, which unfortunately was parked in the driveway rather than the garage last night...it's quite dimpled but not as bad as some we saw on our walk this morning). I'll keep you posted.

And here's the back deck. You can see pieces of the roof here also. (Even the grill is dimpled.)

And this last picture is just because I thought it looked cool. ;)

I don't have the hail stone in the hand pictures like so many others, but trust me when I tell you there were definitely golf ball sized stones in the mix last night.

And it would be so easy to decide to just pave over the area out front that's now been decimated...to join the ranks of other locals bemoaning the loss of their gardens and plants. (And, yes, those new plants aren't looking so hot and most don't look like they even have a chance of struggling through.)

But. You know what? I'm a farmer's daughter. :) I can't count the number of times I watched my dad hope and pray that it wouldn't rain only to have a single storm take out most of our cherry crop. Acres and acres of cherries. Or the times he'd be up in the middle of the night to light the smudge pots to try to keep the fruit from freezing in the spring...only to have a single bad frost destroy buds. And, still, he'd smile. It's just Mother Nature, he'd shrug. And he'd repeat the entire cycle again the next year...full of optimism. And even when the crops were gone and income was thus severely affected, we managed. I had a full and happy childhood. :)

And, so. I'm choosing to be happy this morning...to delight in the faces of my neighbors who were out this morning cleaning up the mess with looks of "what can you do?" and smiles...to be thankful that we were safe and dry inside (some of our neighbors had skylights that were broken and, thus, water in their homes)...to marvel at how Noah could sleep through all that (and is, in fact, still asleep), lol...to appreciate the fact that we don't have to garden for food or livelihood...to laugh about the fact that I now don't really have to worry about those rabbits any more... ;)

Whew. Happy clean-up, y'all!

Ten on Tuesday

1. I need a fox. A week or so ago, I discovered that our neighborhood rabbits really like some of the plants we had so carefully planted out front. Apparently, the rabbit population in our neighborhood is high this year, as a number of our neighbors have also been having problems. Upon talking with them and thinking on it, we used to have some foxes in the neighborhood. I haven't seen any lately. Do you suppose I could call animal control and have them drop a fox or two in our parts? ;) 

In the meantime...two things. First, thankfully the nursery we bought the plants from has a one year guarantee so we went and exchanged our poor eaten plants for new (hopefully rabbit-resistant) plants. Two, I read somewhere that pepper repels rabbits so have been sprinkling both black pepper and red pepper flakes around the remaining plant we have that matches the ones eaten by the rabbits. So far it's doing well. Fingers crossed.

2. While exchanging plants to replace our poor eaten ones, we also bought more for a few more pots for out front now that the last bush is gone. I've assured Nathan I'm mostly done (with the front yard, excluding wanting a new front door and such, lol) for now. ;)

3. My youngest two regaled me with their newfound skill yesterday. Yup. They can burp the alphabet. I'm so proud. ;)

4. I mailed off our completed PASS tests for the year yesterday! Whew. Glad to have that just done. (I administer the PASS tests every other year as a means of meeting the homeschool law testing requirement here in Colorado. I don't actually much care about the tests, as I already have a very good idea what the boys know and don't know, lol.)

5. Randomly, Micah has decided to start drawing Pokemon characters. He's not bad. :) I'll take some pictures soon. He's already got almost a dozen.

6. Though he's miffed at the rabbits now, Micah continues to try to get close enough to hug them. Well. He alternates between trying to hug them and chasing them away with enthusiasm, lol. His latest tactic is to use his stuffies...holding one out in front of him in the hopes that the stuffie is less intimidating than the boy. It actually appears to work a bit...as he's gotten much closer (like within a foot) than ever before. He's still not succeeded in catching any, though. (I've pointed out that we have plenty of friends with rabbits who would be happy to let him hold them. He's stubbornly continuing to try to catch the neighborhood rabbits.)

7. Last week, I finally had a chance to go see the movie "Mom's Night Out" with friends. It was co-written/directed/produced by a homeschooler and is a touching, hilarious, fun story. If you can still find it in a theater, go see it!

8. Nathan and the boys bought the supplies to make a simple fire pit in the backyard. The goal is to finish that up in the evenings this week. I'll keep you posted. :)

9. I actually did some "back to school" shopping with Noah today. I know it's still only June, but I had one of those super cash coupon things that expires tomorrow, so we went and picked up some more tees, a hoodie and some khakis (that he'll need for JOAD). I know I joke about how he's a pretty picky dresser and all, but I have to admit that he's pretty easy to shop with...his very specific requirements limit the selections quickly, lol. So. It's easy to tell when we're done looking. 

10. Noah got his new bow today. He's happy...

This one *should* fit him for years, and he's got it mostly all tweaked the way he wants it for now.  

Whew. 

Comic Con: Things Learned

So. As you can tell, Comic Con rocked! ;) Asher, Micah and I are already planning to go again next year. In efforts to wrap things up, here are some random things we learned and observed...

• Go over the map in advance. (We missed a section entirely and definitely want to hit that next year. It was probably okay for this year, as we were already pretty overwhelmed with the newness of everything and I'd have had trouble getting boys back out of the gaming section, lol.)
• Apparently bodysuit costumes boost confidence, particularly those with full face masks.
• Fishnet stockings do NOT equal pants. ;)
• If you plan to purchase prints or posters, it might be a good idea to bring a tube or portfolio to carry them in.
• Go ahead and park in the convention center parking garage...so convenient and I don't really think I'd have found parking for that amount of time much cheaper anywhere else nearby.
• Bring a water bottle. There are fountains near every bathroom with faucets for refilling water bottles. Much cheaper than the $4 little bottled water at the concessions.
• In the panels and presentations, perhaps don't sit right next to the speakers (which we did twice in trying to make sure boys could see, lol).
• Thankfully, my boys recognized that paying for autographs and photo ops seemed extravagant. They still enjoyed learning about who was there but have decided that really only a few people would be worth paying for...Stan Lee, Robert Downey, Jr., the Mythbusters, Picard/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and/or Gandalf/Magneto (Ian McKellen)...along with other members of the Avengers and the Lord of the Rings casts, lol. 
• Relatedly, they were quite bummed to have missed their old karate instructor who was there at a booth with another comic artist. (MJ is an artist whose work the boys have hanging proudly in their rooms.)
• Be careful with capes and long skirts on escalators. (Fortunately, we didn't have any issues with this, but I could so clearly see that we could have, lol.)

Whew.

This was the final picture we took as we were leaving Comic Con.

Awesome. :) 

Five on Friday

Taking a break from the Comic Con posts (which are *almost* done, promise!)...just five other random things in my head:

1. I find it hilarious that Noah is bothered by the fact that our silverware drawer isn't organized "properly." He'll deny it, but he's mentioned it to me on more than one occasion lately. He thinks the spoons should be on the right and the forks on the left, as they are when you set a table. ;) (Nevermind the fact that we rarely set a proper table...) Being as Micah is in charge of putting away the silverware, though, we'll apparently leave things as they are. :)
2. Asher was texting a friend the other day and suddenly asked the room at large, "What the heck is colon capital P?" :P
3. Micah's been projecting his troublemaking on Koaly of late...blaming all sorts of things on him and having him get into trouble. Needless to say, Koaly's been receiving a good bit of instruction and disciplining lately. ;)
4. If you happen to see Nathan these days, he's switched to contacts...after losing his glasses in the Pacific while in Hawaii for work last week, lol.
5. We're *this* close to finishing up our academic year! (Just one (light) week to go...) Soooooo excited for having July off!

Happy weekend to y'all!