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Now that we have FabGrandpa all set for the wedding, I have turned my attention to getting MY outfit ready. With less than six weeks to go before the big day, as of this morning I still needed to get my undergarments and get my dress altered.

I spent loads of time searching for just the right dress. Because I am a big, fluffy girl, I do NOT do sleeveless or even cap sleeves. I wanted a dress with sleeves. I know other big women who have not problem displaying their bare arms, but I am not that girl. I just don’t feel comfortable going sleeveless in public. Hell, I hardly ever go sleeveless at home. So, after searching in stores and online for over a year, I found this dress back in the summer and ordered it (mine is amethyst):

My Mother of the Bride Dress

Before I placed my order, I went down to Kanab, Utah to the fabric store that lives in the Ace Hardware Store there, and had the lady who worked there measure me to determine what size to get. She did a fabulous job, and when my dress came, it fit perfectly, EXCEPT that the sleeves were too tight. And it is a little too long.

My mother of the bride dress

So, because I thought whoever altered the dress would have to take the sleeves off and put on some new ones, I ordered a yard of the fabric from the manufacturer. Yes. A yard. Because that is the minimum purchase of matching fabric that they will sell you. And you do not want to know how much that yard of fabric cost me!

I found a pair of shoes to wear when we were in Atlanta on Monday: They are Anne  Klein flats, like this, but not exactly this:

Pewter Flats

I have no desire to wear heels. Well, I’d like to wear heels, but the last time I wore a pair of heels was in 1991. I was late for work and running through the lobby of BellSouth Center in downtown Atlanta. I slipped and fell and slid like a football field length through rush hour traffic on that polished marble floor, with my feet in the air and my dress over my head. I was praying to myself that no one saw it happen, when two young men leaned over and asked me “Mam, are you ok?” I never wore another pair of high heeled shoes since then, and I never wore that dress to work again because I was so afraid someone would remember it. Ahem, so…Where was I? Oh yeah, the bra…And you KNOW how much I hate to shop for bras!

Today all I had to do was go to David’s Bridal in Tuscaloosa, buy a Longline Strapless Bra and then go to the alteration shop for a fitting. Except that David’s didn’t have one of those contraptions that fit me. They DO carry them in my size, but they didn’t have one in the store. And they said it would take eight weeks to order one. 8 WEEKS! I need it today. So, off we went, looking for something like this:

Not EXACTLY this, but something LIKE this

We went to three different stores looking.  No stores in Tuscaloosa had anything like this in stock. I did eventually find a regular strapless bra, that fit better than any of the others I had tried on all day, and bought it, just so I could get to the alteration shop and be fitted today.  Notice I did not say it fit. I was able to fasten it around my body, but the cups were a bit too big. I got no support, I tell ya, no support.  I am hoping to order that one pictured here, and have it arrive in time to wear it the day of the wedding. My girls need all the help they can get.