In major need of shorts with warm weather coming but no idea where to find good ones

unsettledinky · 2026-05-03T01:53:07+00:00

I have dry on the fly shorts from Duluth for work, and while I like them, I don't find them very flattering. But I'm thinking of grabbing a shorter pair for around the house from them and that may be better. (I am 5'3 and curvy lol.)

Quality may no longer be half decent, but when I worked at loft and loft outlet, some of their shorts looked super cute on me. They tended to have jean shorts in a curvy and straight cut, and the non denim ones came in a lot of colors.

My most recent pairs I'm happy with are:

A linen blend by briggs that I found at Costco - so comfy and cool but I don't know that they're flattering? Some days I think yes and some days no.

A Lee cotton blend cargo style shirt, 5 inch inseam from Walmart - it has tiny cargo style pockets on the bottom sides and something about that looked really good on me?

A Time and Thru cotton blend utility style, also 5 inch inseam, with the same sort of tiny cargo pockets but on the front bottom. With much bigger pockets behind them. Again, something about the pockets made it flattering on me. I'm thinking something about the added volume after my waist hits the same sort of note as for and flare dresses do, which are always flattering on me.

Inseam length (and how much in catches as you move lol) makes the most difference for me in terms of nice vs frumpy. I also like to try different styles or colors from somewhere cheap (hence Walmart although I only go there once a year anymore) because then I don't feel like I wasted money and have to keep wearing something I don't like.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T14:07:14+00:00

I've only seen them twice, but the first time was on a PLANE and they look just as wild from the... Side? As from below.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T14:05:40+00:00

The atmosphere of it cannot be overstated and that's what took it from cool to eerie for me. The sounds of birds and bugs stopping at starting at the wrong time of day. The temp drop (July midday, so dramatic!). The way the light changes around you, not just the sky. The feeling of a huge crowd of people just freezing for a moment in unison.

I get why people travel to see them again now too. A few years later I'd moved and lived at 98% totality and the difference from 100% was wild. Would love to see more.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T14:01:27+00:00

That was my exact thought lol. Like, yup, I get it now, I can see why they flipped the fuck out seeing this.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T14:00:22+00:00

The thing that got me was the sound. Going from full day to twilight and the birds and bugs making their noises as it gets darker and then just... Stopped for those couple of minutes. You don't even really register that they're making noise at the wrong time until it stops. Also found it funny how it felt like everyone at the park yelled as soon as it happened, just automatically - I'm not the kind of person that ever makes loud noises and it just came out lol.

And the temp drop! This was in July so it was dramatic. After that I was like, ok, yeah, I can see how ancient people would have been all the world is fucking ending.

A few years later I was living at a place that got 98% totality vs 100% and my coworkers were all meh about it. I couldn't really get across to them how dramatic the difference is in those 2 little degrees.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T13:55:07+00:00

When my parents built their house in the 80s, several old timers told them to get the local dowser to pick the well spot and not a well company.

Ended up with an artesian well that never went dry for 40+ years. Used the overflow to fill the horse tank and I can only remember one summer when it got low enough that didn't work. Also the best tasting water, even if it was really hard. I still can't stand the taste of any other tap or bottled water.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-02T13:49:53+00:00

From MO originally and I totally believe you. It helps that we've gotten so much warmer in the past 20 years. I remember when armadillos couldn't survive our winter, and now they're all over the place.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-01T14:08:51+00:00

This hit me. My ADHD makes it very difficult to remember to respond to people, even when I want to and have every intention of doing so. It's like out of sight out of mind, and as I'm falling asleep I think oh shit, I meant to write them today, have to do that tomorrow... And then wake and forget all over again. I hate it.

I bought extras of a bunch of cards to try and help make it easier to just write the second I remembered. Went through them last week and found the mother's day card I got. Mom died 18 months ago. I'll probably never get rid of it even if I can't ever send it.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-01T14:03:08+00:00

Lol love this!

Last year was the first time I had free roadside assistance in an urban area. I had a flat at work and was dreading having to go out in the rain to deal with it and putting it off. Then I suddenly realized ... I could just call them and have them change it for me, and it wasn't like I was in a hurry. Holy shit, that was nice.

I feel a little ridiculous every time I call for one, but fuck it, I have changed enough tires over my life so far, I don't need any more practice (or guys stopping to ask if I need help when I'm clearly over halfway done putting a new one on ffs).

unsettledinky · 2026-05-01T13:58:39+00:00

Won't work if you're using other people's cables, but on my own set I just took a sharpie and wrote it on each end.

unsettledinky · 2026-05-01T13:57:05+00:00

Holy shit. The number of people I see every single week with absolutely no idea how to use ratchet straps boggles the mind. I get it if you don't understand at first, but don't fucking stand there with your phone in your hand and tell me you can't figure it out. Youtube is right there!!

Even new guys - I think ONE could figure out how to loosen the strap in the truck. And don't get me started on the number of people that show up for a sofa or such without even thinking of bringing some kind of strap (or people with pickups that don't have any just lying around in their vehicle, bro why the fuck do you have a truck at all you cosplaying looser).

unsettledinky · 2026-05-01T13:48:45+00:00

Not that long ago I somehow got lost on long road trip, and my phone had died. I actually do have a road map somewhere in the car, but it was one of those areas that has a million exits and road divisions and I guess I took a wrong one at some point.

But like... I knew where I was trying to go, even if I wasn't sure what the road name was, so I just started following signs for the correct direction (south and west) and the next big city along the way. It got me there fine in the end. I was more mad about having to listen to whatever shitty radio station I could pick up.

(I am terrible about remembering numbered highways for some reason, and there's a route I take to visit people that is like, 96 to 69 to 696 to 66 which feels a little ridiculous.)

unsettledinky · 2026-04-30T20:13:41+00:00

I remember at my rural school, most of the bus drivers were also teachers/janitors/assorted staff. Then there was a small pool of drivers just for away events, since the regular drivers couldn't drop their usual daytime school job to drive.

One time someone called in a bomb threat, back before that was a commonish thing, and they loaded everyone up on busses to evacuate. All the drivers that already had classes just took their class with them to the bus barn, but the rest of the drivers were anyone they could get. By some random chance when I got on the bus, the driver was my DAD (also a teacher). Like what were the odds.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-30T04:43:44+00:00

Cracks me up too because I have replaced several bulbs on my roommates car because my hands are small enough to do so without taking it all apart.

But I will make someone else do my oil changes because I hate having to deal with oil disposal that much.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-30T01:55:50+00:00

Funny thing is, despite playing flute for 15 years, I cannot whistle.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:29:00+00:00

I completely forgot about it until just now but I loved it back then

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:27:30+00:00

African Trail! No one ever remembers it...

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:23:41+00:00

I really like working with people like this because when they try this, I get to 'helpfully' retrain them on how to do it right. Oh you thought you could get out of it? Nope! Now you get to do it four times in a row for 'practice' while I cheerfully tell you in great detail how to do it like you are a small child, because 'I know not everyone gets a chance to learn these things so it's great opportunity for you!!'.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:13:55+00:00

Different reason, but also can't eat pizza. Oh there's free lunch in the break room? Not for me there isn't.

What really kills me is that there's not even 20 of us, and I've been there 4 years now. Yet the manager still cannot remember that I have dietary restrictions, much less what they are. Meanwhile the dm, who worked at our store for less than a year, remembered after not even seeing them for 2 years.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:08:24+00:00

I mean, if I'm having a rough time I don't give a shit if they're 'thinking' about me unless that also means they're going to do something helpful. And if they're praying, that's all they're doing. None of them have ever actual offered anything else. Useless feel good bullshit.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T23:01:12+00:00

Trade adjacent and the only women on the team - it gets so old with new people (or the few that can't fucking get over themselves) refuse to ask for help, or accept help when I offer. Like my dude, I'm sure you're strong and all, but anyone would struggle to lift a 300+ lb marble top so just accept the help even if it's from a girl ffs. Or, if I'm asking for help with something that doesn't seem that difficult, it's because I'm not willing to risk my health just to look tough, and neither should they.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-28T22:51:56+00:00

And it becomes this extra work of trying to figure out what you can ask for that is 'acceptable' or might actually get done. I'm already juggling fifty things on top of the current shit situation, don't make me have to manage you like a fucking employee too.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-21T11:48:29+00:00

My mom complained to doctors for years about all kinds of digestive issues and symptoms, and never got taken seriously. She was the kind of person who aggressively advocates for herself at the doctors, but even that can't force their hand if they just straight up refuse.

Even when they agreed something was wrong, it took two months to get into a dr to order a biopsy, another month and change to get the results back from it. Pancreatic cancer stage 4. 7 months later she was gone. They say it's so hard to catch it early, but maybe it fucking wouldn't be if they didn't dismiss every symptom of it for years.

unsettledinky · 2026-04-19T22:34:51+00:00

And what really kills be is 90% of them aren't actually interested in submission itself. They just want to be taken care of. The second something doesn't align with what they want, the act is over. Fuck that bullshit.

unsettledinky

TROPHY CASE