Try This on for Size

Okay, so several factors have converged recently to bring me to my next post.

1. I have lost all the baby weight. In fact, I am actually down a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.
2. I got some Christmas money, and had some money saved up in our "Clothing" envelope for our budget.
3. I needed new clothes.
4. I would be in Columbia, where the variety of clothing is just a tad better than Harrisonville Wal-Mart's selection of Tweety Bird t-shirts and Wrangler jeans.

This weekend, I shopped! The Columbia mall, Target, Kohl's, Dress Barn, Old Navy, the Gap Outlet. There were some okay sales and I did manage to find a few things. I was perplexed, however, by the lack of uniformity in women's clothing sizes.

Though I appreciate Dress Barn, New York and Company, Target and Old Navy telling me I am a size 4, it makes it that much harder to take when Lee tells me I wear a size 8 jean and whoever made my jeans at Wal-Mart tells me I am a solid size 11. How is it possible for the same woman to be both a size 11 and a size 4? Can anybody answer this for me? Men's clothes--34 waist, 32 length. Simple. Easy. Precise. Why can't they do this with women's clothing, too??? Because as it stands, I have no idea what size I REALLY am. Also, it makes it nearly impossible to just go grab clothes off the rack without trying them on, looking into fifteen dressing room mirrors in bad fluorescent lighting, buy the clothes, then take them home and realize they don't fit right in natural lighting and without the "skinny" dressing room mirrors.

Whatever the case, I got a variety of different sizes--a new dress, skirt, pair of dress pants, pair of shoes (which thankfully I DO know my size in--6 and 1/2), and five shirts. All for under $100. Thank you to my dear husband, and my in-laws for the Christmas money. Shawn, on the other hand, was quite dismayed to purchase a pair of jeans that had a 36 inch waist. It was a sad day for him.....