Shopping

As a general rule I hate to shop for clothes. I don't like going to the mall, it holds absolutely no interest for me whatsoever. I'm not a fan of driving from store to store. I also don't enjoy shopping online because whatever I buy I generally end up sending back because the color, size or material isn't what I thought I was getting.

This little problem of mine has finally created an issue in my life.

When I purchase clothing I generally purchase something classic that isn't going have to go in the Good Will box the next year because it was trendy and no longer in fashion. The end result of this is that I get clothing that (A) is high quality material, (B) something I know I will wear forever and (C) convinces me that I don't have to shop again for years.

The little problem I'm having? It appears that the last time I truly went clothes shopping was when my son was still in eighth grade. He's 23 now. My clothes are beginning to wear thin and I'm slowly losing pieces. (I know, how in the world do you lose clothes?) I'm going to wake up one day to go to work and have to show up in my underwear.

So I decided to go shopping. I used to be a size 6. According to today's sizes I am still a size 6 (despite my 20 pound weight gain) (I am also tallish). If this is the case and the clothes I'm buying are the size of the clothes I used to wear why can't I fit in the size 6 clothes I have in my closet that I refuse to part with?

I picked up two pair of capri pants, by the same manufacturer, tried them both on and while they were different colors they were also different sizes (which I didn't realize when I picked them up). They both fit perfectly. So I can only surmise that not only do you need to possess a general knowledge of what size you THINK you might wear but somewhere there is a chart that shows what sizes go with what colors and I'm not in the proper "girl" club to have this information.

Clothing manufacturers are screwing with my mind.

I'm going back to online shopping.