Shoulder cutouts

119 Shoulder cutouts

Months ago, I noticed a fashion trend that exposed the shoulders about six or seven inches on each side of the garment. I thought ‘wait and see how this plays out.’

Well, guess what! It is everywhere. Shoulder cutouts first showed up on television and sometimes that does not translate to everyday life. But somehow, someway this exposure of the top of the arms has made it into most stores and brands.

From Target

Sweaters, dresses, tee shirts, and any covering of the upper body for women are showing up with the shoulders, sticking out like beacons in the night. When I see something on a rack in a store that catches my eye due to appealing fabric or style, I am often turned away as I realize the shoulders are missing. Often the item may be hanging a little lopsided due to the lack of the top of the garment on both sides so I have learned to not waste my time.

Surely, this trend will not make it through the winter when a cold breeze could blow through the opening and chill the rest of the body. Is this part of the body attractive and needs to be exposed? I don’t think so,

From Macy's

Thank goodness, I have not seen the trend in outerwear but you never know. It has made it to the racks of children’s clothes which is a little odd. Of course, children are cute in just about any style, but not grownups who often need to hide various parts of their bodies.

I like sleeves in my clothes. In fact, I wear them even in warm weather to hide arms that aren’t what they used to be. I shop high and low to find just the right sleeve length to flatter what I have left to flatter.

Some of the items reveal not only a few inches of the shoulder but plunge down the arm for eight or ten inches. I wonder how the sleeves stay in place or maybe they don’t. I have never tried one on so maybe that will be my challenge this season --- to see if the should cutouts will hold up through daily life, such as driving, cooking, computer work, etc.

Evidently, shoulder cutouts have a place in fashion history. This look surfaced more than 20 years ago but was prevalent in more formal attire such as an evening dress. In fact, Hilary Clinton wore the look. According to The Guardian, Donna Karan’s cold-shoulder dress was a favorite of Clinton’s. We definitely see the resurgence in today’s fashion.

Some fashion writers exclaim that exposed shoulders look great on everyone while others say it is time for the trend to bite the dust for now. We all know it will probably resurface again, maybe in another 20 years.

Also, if you look deeper into fashion information, directions are available on how to cut the shoulders out when making or remaking garments. The Pinterest site offers 201 examples of cutouts. You just can’t get away from it.

But we have survived many fashion trends that were not practical --- many really aren’t. I remember the high necks and low cut backs that required various bras that had to be purchased, usually at a high price. I learned to ignore those. I have also learned that if you wore it when you were in your 20s and 30s (such as mini-skirts and strapless dresses), it won’t happen later in life and really shouldn’t. 

Comfort is now the name of the game for me. I recently went on a hunt to find denim pants that looked like jeans but are more like stretch pants. I was successful, but I am not sure they really look like jeans. I will keep trying for the sake of comfort!

So shoulders you may not be bare much longer! Fashion will dictate and cover you back up probably very soon. But don’t worry, you will be exposed again some day.

Frances              

118 What you are reading

A logo that was never used

What YOU are reading (that we wrote)

This is our 118th blog posting, a nice even number to reflect upon your preferences in our blogs. I have tallied the number of views each the blogs had. We use our Three Savvy Broads facebook page to encourage people to view the blog. In fact, sometimes some of us have promoted a facebook posting to reach more potential viewers. The count also reflects multiple views--if one of us or one of our readers revisits the page, it is counted again. And some blogs keep getting more views even when they are a couple months or years old. Our first blog appeared August 4, 2014.


I have decided that the number of viewings of one blog is not as meaningful as the total views by category of blogs. Here are the categories of blogs that were viewed an average of 250 times or more:

Categories           Total      Average.view            blogs       by category Clothing 2 1014.5 Pets 4 530.3 Politics 3 509.7 Entertainment 13 472.6 Food, restaurants 6 454.3 Holidays 8 452.6 Travel 13 447.3 Books, literature 10 426.7 Family 8 397.3 Famous people 9 354.9 History 10 349.2 Shopping 3 345.7 Our blog 4 322.3 Language 10 299.0 Home & garden 7 252.4

We wrote 17 blogs about Human nature but that fell a little behind the top categories, garnering just 207 average views. Other topics that had lower totals include:

Exercise--average for category--197 (who wants to?)

Technology--188 (you were not as frustrated as us!)

Nature--165 (more into nurture?)

Health--157 (you healthy enough?)

Religion--145 (guess I don't need to comment)

Personal care--nails, hair--139

  (you are better groomed than us?)

Education--95 (done with that?)

Random thoughts--71

  (That should be popular; all our blogs are 

   random thoughts!)

Seriously, we appreciate all the readers of our blogs and especially like hearing what you do or do not like. And soon I can add one more tally to the Our blog category!

Trish                        

171 The bottom of us

Getting to the Bottom of Us 

Dear Readers, I was having a really hard time thinking of something for this week’s blog. You are aware of my liking for lists – 10 ten, most popular, etc. Googling some lists the past few days, something caught my eye: most often items for which people shop. 

Well, lo and behold, I had not thought much about it, but toilet paper was high on every list. Everybody needs it. It is also one of the needed staples collected by Red Cross and FEMA and other aid agencies for victims of catastrophes. So…

Although paper was used as padding and wrapping in China as early as the 2nd century B.C., it was not used for human cleaning until the 6th century A.D. The evidence was found in 589 A.D. when a scholar wrote that “no paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from the sages” could be used for personal cleansing. Jumping way ahead in Chinese history, during the Ming Dynasty (1300 -1600s), sheets of paper (two feet by three feet) for the royal court. Meanwhile, the Japanese were using chugi sticks pictured here.

During these early days, other cleaning sheets for the wealthy were lace, wool, and hemp, while the poor used their hands and afterward washed them in the river. Some Middle Eastern cultures still use this method of hand and water.

Native Americans used wood shavings, leaves, hay, moss, ferns, and seashells. 

The Romans used a sea sponge on a stick from a bucket of salt water and vinegar placed in the public latrines. Use the stick, insert in a bucket, and pass it to the next person. (Oh, those glorious days of Rome!)

Meanwhile, the Greeks were using small pottery shards (three/person) with a scraping motion. Warriors often etched their enemy’s names on the shard before using. (Beware of Greeks….)

As the agrarian society developed, plants husks and corn cobs were the most popular items sometimes used indoors but mostly outdoors. My friend Walt, a world-traveled hunter, described something similar even today. 

If there is no outdoor toilet, find a good tree and then use biodegradable special toilet tissue made for this outdoor use. Maybe I should give Walt a Farmer’s Almanac for Christmas. 

Apparently, the Almanac used to have a small hole in the upper left corner so it could be hung on the outhouse wall.

And the Sears catalog – well, yes!! 

On to modern toilet tissue which also has an interesting and truly rough evolution. Toilet paper, as we know it today, first hit the market in America in the 1880s. Several brands and designs were offered which varied in size, roughness, weight, and water absorption.

John Gayetty introduced his brand in 1857 – flat sheets - which he advertised as “the greatest necessity of the age.” 

The first brands in rolls were one ply thick and often contained splinters due to crude production techniques. It was a man named Sam Wheeler from Albany who obtained the first patent for toilet paper and dispenser in 1883. The Northern Tissue Company used in their ads: “splinter free.”

Looking again at my many lists – Charmin Ultra Soft is the number one selling tissue in the United States. Here is a quick Charmin evolution. 

And remember this man? And my final factoid is that more than seven billion rolls are sold yearly in the U.S. alone with an average of just under24 rolls/person/year. Wonder if I could figure out how many trees that would take?

Finally, we need to once and for all time resolve the “over or under” question of how to hang the roll on the dispenser. The patent shows the paper OVER (Wheeler 1891). And you know we need least one cartoon for an industry that generates $6 billion per year!

Hope I have gotten to the bottom of a few historical facts. 

Glenne             

170 Roll tape

Roll the tape!!

It is rare that we watch a TV show live. We either tape it (as we refer back to the old days when there really was a tape) to pausing the show while we run to the kitchen or to take care of other chores around the house.

Then we return and fast forward through all the commercials – the number of which has increased or appears to have doubled or tripled. Therefore, it only takes about 20 minutes to watch a 30-minute show.

We do catch up with the taped (recorded) shows when we have the time to enjoy the productions while fast forwarding the commercials. Not only is the frequency of
the commercials concerning but also the types of ads–-drugs, insurance, law firms. 

When did prescription drugs become the target of the TV-watching population? You used to go to the doctor, get a diagnosis if there was a problem, and maybe take a drug if needed. Now we are constantly assailed with the latest drugs that will make our lives so much better. These seem to drag on for minute after minute, showcasing grandchildren who patiently wait for the grandparents to take these miracle drugs. 

But wait for it--a longer list of side effects is accompanied with music that tries to soften the blow of stroke, dizziness, vomiting, etc. I know this is probably required but it makes you wonder is it really worth it! I keep waiting for a drug commercial to list one side effect as death which is inevitable in the long run.

I definitely push the pause button on these commercials especially since the same ones are shown over and over and over. I guess they think if we see it often enough, we will run to our doctors and beg for this medicine that will cure all our ills or possibly cause more problems with the side effects. Really, how stupid and gullible do they think we are or maybe we are.

My second most hated commercials are ones from the insurance world. Goofy characters and small animals portray agents of various companies trying to convince us they are the best. Again, the ads are shown over and over and over and sometimes within the same few minutes of a break from a TV show.

Would I really believe these people who grovel and grumble as they try to present the very best deals available for car, life, house, boats, and other coverage? I have had the same insurance company for about 40 years. The agent has changed but the service hasn’t. I can trust them to let me know when an adjustment is needed. In fact, they go out of the way to try and compensate me when I make a claim that I know is not covered but I try anyway!

Now medical insurance is another animal. We recently had our Medicare advantage insurance change so I decided to do the research. After hours of phone calls and online searches, I found out certain policies were not available in our state and sometimes in our city. If we lived in the neighboring county, we could have been covered, but not within the city limits. Figure that one out. 

They don’t tell us that on the commercials. My research took us back to the policy we had originally, but of course with a higher price tag. When we visited our agent, she basically said the same thing I had deduced. Again, I warn don’t depend on the commercials, do your own research.

Cost of these ads is reported to be growing in leaps and bounds. One of the most sought-after ad times is during the Super Bowl with costs rising 76 percent over the last 10 years, according to Kantar, a tracker of ad spending, as reported by Variety. In 2006, the average for a 30-second ad during the championship football game was about 2.5 million. In 2017, the price was from $4.5 million to more than $5 million.

I am sure these commercials I have referenced don’t cost that much, but what if these companies saved all that money they spend on ads and put it to work on policies they offer us. Would the premium go down? I doubt it but it would be nice not to be insulted hourly, daily, and weekly with these sometimes untrue or clouded sound bites constantly beamed across the TV screens as well as on radio and the Internet.

Join me in my crusade to not listen to these constant harangues--pause the show, turn it off, tape it for later watching and fast forwarding, or come up with your own way to make a personal statement.

Frances        

169 Hacks & an update

A couple hacks, an update

I see a lot of household hacks on Facebook--many of them seem to be about baking soda and/or vinegar.

I have a few I think are clever, but who knows--everyone may do the same thing.

Cell Phone Hacks

Those round, annoying small disc batteries whose numbers I can never remember, those air filters whose size I can never remember, etc., are all in my photo gallery on my phone. When I go to the store, I can view the image and always buy the right size!

We had to move a hutch for some floor work. I had things arranged in it just the way I wanted so I took a photo so I can easily reconstruct.

General Household Hacks

We use frozen plastic soda bottles in our
portable coolers. We use them over and over. The size in the photo on the right fits perfectly in the bottom of the large cooler, and I just smaller bottles in smaller coolers. The bottles keep some ice frozen for 24 hours. For trips to the store, I keep a few bottle in a grocery bag so I can easily pop them in and out of the cooler.

One of my go-to cleaning tools is the plastic knives that come with take-out food. They scrape surfaces without scratching. Wrap a paper towel or cleaning cloth moistened with water or cleaning solution, and the knife cleans out those narrow spaces around sinks and wooden trim.

Speaking of paper towels, we prefer to dry our hands on paper towels instead of cloth towels. It is a wasteful habit so as soon as they are dry, I store them in a drawer. The damp or dry ones are great for wiping up spills on the floor or wiping food off a plate into the garbage or other jobs that don't need a clean towel. Stepping on a few damp towels and shoving them around the kitchen with my foot is a great clean up between moppings.

An Update

In blog 154, Collecting Nemesis, that was published in July 2017, I shared my obsession with collecting reading figures. To quote myself: "I cherish all those gifts and early acquisitions. The problem is that now that I go to yard sales and thrift shops and can't seem to pass up a reading figure. When they are just a dollar, they don't seem as tacky! I do have standards."

So below is a statue I saw recently at a thrift store. Think I bought it?

Okay, I had not completed my blog today when I went out to a couple more thrift stores. It was a trifecta!

Obsessed but tasteful, Trish

168 Concussion!

CONCUSSION!

My mind, like that of too many NFL players, seems to be in a muddle. I have always enjoyed watching football. From high school days, our team was state ranked with a number of winning seasons. From 1961 to 1965, the Clarke Co. High School Eagles team had a record of 47-1-1 including four undefeated seasons. I grew up with “Friday night lights.”

When I was at William & Mary, the coach was none other than Marv Levy who ended up as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills from the late 1980s through the 1990s. I saw winning football. 

Why is it that a sport that encourages fraternity and loyalty (do you know any Hokie fans?), has plenty of dramatic, emotional action, shows the physics and poetry of the human body in the confines of geometric space (i.e. the field), and encapsulates the unpredictability and electricity of life has become so rife with a problem that must be addressed? 

This photo from the recent Sunday NY--Denver game shows both the beauty and the potential harm. Note the head positions as well as the balletic leg.

This chart shows the problems. What can be done? What is being done? Football causes brain damage. What a simple sentence! 

What a tragedy and what a travesty! Here are some scary facts from a variety of magazine articles and internet sites:

· Most concussions occur without losing consciousness

· Common symptoms which may or may not show up include imbalance, headaches, confusion, vision and hearing changes, and mood swings

· Statistics on diagnosed concussions from the NFL:
  2012 – 261

  2013 – 229

  2014 – 206

  2015 – 275

  2017 -214

Way back in 1994, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue created the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. The doctor who was chairman had no prior experience in diagnosing brain injuries. Not much happened except acknowledgment by the “men upstairs” that brain injuries were an issue. 

Then Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, along with others founded the Brain Injury Research Institute and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) publicized a report on the examination of the brain of Steeler Mike Webster, aged 50, who committed suicide. This was in 2002. Three years later, Dr. Omalu identified CTE in both pro players Terry Long and Andre Waters in autopsies after suicides.

In the fall of 2007, the NFL held a medical conference on concussions and issued guidelines. Particularly noted was an established hotline for players to report if they were forced to play against medical advice.

Moving along, Congress, in its infinite wisdom, held a House Judiciary Committee hearing on legal issues relating to football injuries. The NFL Commissioner defended the League. In 2010, Dr. Ira Casson, a member of that 1994 committee of Mild Traumatic Brain Injust denied the link between repeated head impacts and long-term brain damage. (HUH?! Still in denial?)

In 2010, 2011, and 2012 saw more suicides and collateral brain injuries. The issue becomes more public and controversial – 80 plus concussion-related lawsuits were filed on behalf of 2000 NFL players in federal court in Philadelphia. (Multi-District Litigation Case No. 2323)

The NFL filed a motion to dismiss and donated $30 million to NIH for research on “medical conditions” of athletes. In the class action lawsuit of 2013, the NFL agreed to pay $765 million to fund medical exams, concussion-related compensation, as well as litigation expenses. The lawyers continued their days in court with Dan Marino and 14 other NFL players suing the NFL over concussions - claiming the NFL knew for years of the link between concussions and long-term health problems. In 2014 a doctor released his report that NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher had CTE when he killed his girlfriend and himself. This was followed by Frank Gifford’s family saying that he suffered from CTE.

Last year - 2016 – they’ve been passing this issue around since 1994 – a policy was implemented to enforce concussion protocol. This past July a study in the medical journal (JAMA) identified CTE in 99% of the deceased NFL players whose brains were examined. That was 110 out of 111 brains.

New helmets are being designed as you read this. Some of the best identified are: 

Before I close, let’s go back to Dr. Bennet Omalu. “Every child who plays football has a 100 percent risk of exposure to brain damage. It doesn’t mean all will get CTE, but some damage.” 

Ridley Scott, noted film producer, was so taken with Omalu he produced movie “Concussion” starring Will Smith. I recommend this movie to learn about Dr. Omalu and his findings.

So, my fellow sports fans and savvy readers--does football stay the popular sport it is?

Do you want your child to play football? Will new helmets help?
Because I love cartoons, I ask: is this what is coming? 

Glenne            

167 Tree hugger redux

Still hugging the trees

The tree hugger in me loves this time of year for the vibrant colors and shades gracing the landscape. I really don’t like fall because winter follows, but I can’t help but embrace the unbelievable tones that assault our senses from many terrific, tremendous trees.

The view from my front porch is especially gorgeous as the cherry trees that explode with amazing vibrant blooms in spring also put on a colorful show in the fall.

I had always heard those wonderful trees were the same as the ones that line the tidal basin in our nation’s capital. I never knew for sure until Savvy Trish was doing some local research and found an article detailing how the trees were acquired.

The information reinforced the stories I had heard. The D.C. trees were donated to the U.S. in the early 1900s by the government of Japan and are famous for the color display around the Tidal Basin each year.

An article by Wayde Byard was printed in The Winchester Star’s May 4, 1982, edition. He explained how two local residents, Withrow Legge, Handley football coach, and Stewart Bell Sr., a member of the Winchester school board, had the idea of obtaining some of those beautiful trees for the Handley High School campus.

With some contacts and ingenuity, the gentlemen pulled it off, and area residents have enjoyed the trees for decades.

Horticulture students at the school planted the trees along the Jefferson Street side of the campus (which is basically my front yard). They have remained there since that day in the 1920s when they were trucked to Winchester and later planted on the campus. Reports were made yearly to the government about the condition of the trees that have survived many a harsh winter.

So that settles that rumor --- those are part of the Japanese trees that came to D.C. so please enjoy them just a little more now that we know for sure the history.

But there are plenty more trees to enjoy around the area and basically anywhere your travels take you. I have made that my mission the last year or so to photograph as many as possible. I even went back through my photos to pull out ones taken in past years.

I started a Pinterest board called Amazing Trees where the photos tell the story. My latest addition is a tree sculpture in the National Art Gallery’s sculpture garden in Washington, D.C. It is a silver color and towers over the landscape. There is something intriguing and appealing about the tree even though it is not real.

I recently found a three-trunk tree that I added to the collection that was part of a miniature golf course. The shade was appreciated in the summer, but I had no idea what was providing it until I looked a little closer --- three trunks.

 

I can even enjoy the palm trees that populate the beachside locations along the southern states. Not any shade for sure but the effect is striking. 

Also, I have to mention the table tree (the name my grandchildren have given it) on the other side of the Handley campus from the cherry trees. The branches have formed a space in the middle with enough space for at least four of them to take a seat --- bench tree might be a better nickname. 

There you have it--the tree hugger is still on the prowl for more amazing, tremendous trees. Take my advice and make the time to look up and around for some special woody friends that you didn’t know existed and maybe you took for granted. But also look down to make sure you don’t trip or fall while gazing upward at the trees. 

Always a tree hugger, Frances