I think I may have found pants I like, finally

Well, this is a good thing. I've been buying pants for DH at Haband, he likes the knit pants with elastic waist and drawstring and pockets. They actually carry them in several colors (black, navy, burgundy, heather gray, charcoal gray) and go up to a size 6X, and you can order inseams from short (28") to X-long (33" - 34"). Now, I don't like the idea of an elastic waist with a drawstring, but the drawstring can be removed.
So I was looking at the pants and trying to decide if I wanted to order some for me. DH told me to go for it, but to order a size bigger than I would normally wear because they shrink when washed and dried. So I ordered 3 pair for me and 3 more pair for him (he already has 3 pair we ordered a while back). All 6 pair only cost $61, with shipping and handling. They came in the mail today, and I tried a pair on, and after washing and drying, they are going to fit me awesomely, and I love the way they feel (they're 100% cotton). They aren't a really heavy pant, so will work for summer wear (and if it's too cold in the winter, I can always wear my leggings underneath for added warmth). I think I'm going to have to say to hell with looking for the pants I want at LB or WW, and go with the ones from Haband. I got black, charcoal, and burgundy, and will go back later on and get the other colors they have so I will have a variety to go with my tops. Now I can go through my closet and throw out the knit pants I've been wearing that have the tiny holes in them from being worn and washed so often over the last 5 or 6 years (and other small holes from where our dryer was eating them, got that fixed so no more eating clothes for it).
Haband does carry clothing for women, but their pant sizes stop just short of fitting me (and they don't carry talls for women). Most of their pant sizes stop at a 42" inch waist (their size chart says they go up to a 46/48" waist, but I haven't found any that do). They only carry petite and average lengths, with no inseams listed for those. Their prices seem to be pretty good for the women's pants, slightly higher than the men's pants I ordered, but not outrageously so, comparable to Lane Bryant Woman Catalog and Woman Within pricing.

Wynonna shilling for Alli

Ok, I have to admit, I don't watch television during the day unless DH is home (he's the TV addict). So, he had today off and was watching TV, and one of the commercials was Wynonna, talking about how she's taking Alli, and doing it for her kids, and how she wouldn't recommend anything that isn't safe (and says how Alli is FDA-approved).
Now, I'm not much on country music, but I have seen Wynonna when she was thinner, and I've seen her when she wasn't thin. Either way, she's a talented woman, and I think she's gorgeous at whatever size she happens to be. For her to be taking Alli (with its "wonderful" side effects) just makes me so sad for her, and for all the women who will follow her example because she's a star. That kind of pressure to be thin has to cost so much in self-esteem.......it makes me wonder how a woman who knows she has talent and is good at what she does can believe she's not worthy of her fame just because she isn't stick-thin. Or does that pressure make her think the fame she got when she wasn't thin was just a fluke, and in order to keep that fame, and keep working, she has to get thin?
I don't understand it, because I never thought I was worthless because I was fat, I thought I was worthless because nothing I ever did was good enough for certain people in my life, everything I did could always have been done better if I had just worked a little harder, no matter how hard I worked. My diets weren't ever to improve my looks, I never thought I was cute, or pretty, or good-looking, so losing weight wouldn't have made me any better-looking, at least, not in my eyes. My diets were always for my "health" because doctors were just sure that I was either going to die any minute or I was going to end up with diabetes or some other debilitating disease, and they pushed the fact that losing weight would prevent any of that happening to me. So to try and lose weight to become better looking (or more acceptable in others' eyes) just is not comprehensible to me. I guess I was pretty lucky when I was working too, in that my weight was never an issue at any of the jobs I ever had. Never prevented me from getting a job I wanted, never prevented me from doing that job to the best of my ability, and didn't matter much to most of my co-workers (at least, if it did matter, none of them had the balls to say anything to me about it).
I am getting so fed up with the entertainment industry and their unattainable, unrealistic ideal for how women should look in order to be able to work. If a person has talent, they should be allowed to use that talent, and shouldn't be pressured to meet model-thin standards. I like diversity when I'm watching a movie or listening to music (if I didn't like diversity, I wouldn't listen to Jimmy Buffett and Metallica and Brule' and Blackmore's Night and Johnny Cash). So to deny diversity of talent and body shape/size in entertainment seems short-sighted to me. After all, if you look at the world around us, there is a huge amount of variety in sizes and shapes and colors, and that should be reflected in the movies we watch and the music we listen to and the books we read. I'm really sorry that that isn't the case, and I'm sorry that Wynonna has bought whatever bullshit her doctor spouted to get her to take Alli (how on earth do you perform on stage if you're taking a drug that can make you unexpectedly shit yourself?).

chicken noodle recipe - new to me

Ok, I've been looking for more ways to fix the groceries we buy (I get stuck in a rut sometimes, mainly because it's easier to cook the same old things all the time, and I hate to cook). So last night, I had set some boneless, skinless chicken thighs out to thaw, and had some broccoli cuts (Bird's Eye Steamers) in the freezer that weren't that great steamed (lots of stem chunks, not a lot of florets). I also had a bag of kluski noodles (man, I love those). So, I boiled the thighs in salted water, and while they were boiling, I cut up the broccoli florets and used my food chopper to mince the broccoli stem chunks (worked like a dream). When the thighs were done, I took them out of the broth to cool, put the 12 oz bag of noodles in to cook, and tossed in the cut up/minced broccoli. When the noodles/broccoli were done, I added a can of cream of chicken soup (I drained off some of the water so the result wouldn't be too soupy), tossed in the chicken I had diced, added onion and garlic powder to our taste, and let it heat through. Turned out rather well, I thought (and DH liked it too). There was enough that we had dinner, there were leftovers for his lunch today, and leftovers for my lunch today and tomorrow. Total cost for the whole thing was less than $8 for 5 servings (and there was plenty of chicken, the 2 packages of thighs I used were on sale, buy one get one free, love meat sales like that).
I think I might try this same dish but substituting a small roast for the chicken, using beef broth and cream of mushroom soup with the broccoli and noodles. Damn, that sounds good, maybe dinner tomorrow night..............