Windows: The Stash, The Dream and The Wardrobe

 

ver the years I have, apart from going
on about my stockings, nails and heels, mentioned more than once my frustration about having my Stash in boxes in the cellar.
If you are new here, or would like to refresh a six year ago read, I recommend a quick detour to my last post on this subject (Her Stash and Me).

[Ed: I’ve just gone through it again to make sure you don’t repeat or contradict yourself too much.]
Should I also read it again?
[Ed: Why?]
Good point..

The Dream I
Ever since I started to buy online I have dreamed of having a wardrobe just for my girl clothes and to be able to line up in a row my heel collection without them being cooped up in cardboard shoe boxes all the time. I think the dream was triggered not only from the frustration of not having my clothes easier accessible and with everything that could get creased being creased in boxes, but also after seeing pictures of walk-in wardrobes and wall to wall high heels.

[Ed: Note. This is not Madam's collection.]
No unfortunately, although when I saw this I must admit I went all funny inside. It didn't last long knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to get any of them on with the size of my feet (9UK/43UK/9.5US), even if I had the opportunity to try.

Okay the wardrobe would not be totally box free. There would have to be transparent containers used for the rest, like makeup, wigs, shape ware and the other accessories to make one presentable.
The idea to just be able to open a door and see all my dresses, skirts, blouses and heels in one go seemed to be so far away for so long.
Well the dream came one step nearer to reality in Summer20.

But before I talk about that a mention of my Stash Storage Logistics (SSL) up to that point.
[Ed: SSL!]
Bear with me a while.
[Ed: I take it that it is Madam’s want to partake of Tea?]
Excellent suggestion! That is something I could have thought of.
[Ed: Any particular Mug?]
Go by the title of the post.
[Ed: As Madam wishes.
I will select something appropriate for the occasion.]

SSL Level 1
In the post linked above from Jan16 I mentioned four cardboard boxes plus two blue plastic containers where I kept my Stash. Well, after I realised that I would lose my work ‘post box’ following retirement at the end of that year, I started a long run of panic buying. The result was that after leaving work there were now eight cardboard boxes plus the two blue ones to keep undercover.
I did the maths. Just a little over 1.7 cubic meters in Stashables!

The cardboard boxes were stored on top of a set of Ikea shelving and therefore not within easy reach without a bit of climbing. As you can see the shelving is full to capacity, four wide by two deep. Also, the boxes were a tight fit which made it difficult to grasp when removing.
Some were also quite heavy due to high concentrations of Heels.

[Ed: At lease you didn’t try to get up on the chair in heels.]
I maybe a little dotty at times, but I’m not that daft!

And yes that is a box from the local English Shop which has now had to close due to prices going up, extraordinarily long transport delays and tons of C&E paperwork all because of Brexit.

At the begin of a session I was pulling out boxes from the shelving system, bringing them down to either get to the back boxes or open and search for a garment or heels, then extract if found and close. The box or boxes would then be left on the floor ready for repacking before being replaced on the shelving at the end of the session.

The main problem with everything in boxes was not only the creasing of fabrics and physical access difficulties, but also, quite literally, transparency. You couldn’t ad hoc see what was stored where.

Sometimes I would realise I had very little time to repack and would just do a 'panic pack' disregarding from which box I had extracted what.
Also I complicated it further by not replacing the unlabelled boxes back on the shelve at the same location. This sort of randomised any patterns/locations I might have remembered which meant by the next session …
I think you get my drift.
Apart from the exercise, all in all, a somewhat frustrating experience.

Accessibility was easier with the two blue containers which were stored among other similar blue containers full of electronic stuff, kites, train set, telescopes, drones etc.
Here the advantage was that in the cellar content in general was stored chaotically in similar blue containers and in random places around the room,
- a sort of controlled cluttering.
The strategy behind keeping it this way was, if you want to hide a tree put it in a forest. Over the years it proved to be a workable solution and detecting-deterrent.

In the above mentioned post I also went on about my first attempts at listing and indexing my Stash. Well with these lists I knew, theoretically at least, where everything was..
[Ed: Unless you had a panic pack attack.]
Which was, I have to say, most of the time. Hence my use of the word 'theoretically'. One loses all sense of time when one is in a parallel world..

Heels, which are about half the bulk of my Stash, also lead to further delays in dressing. The heels that came in their original boxes were easy identifiable. But with heels from e.g. New Look, they arrived at work in thick plastic bags. One time I found a package on my desk with stiletto heels poking through the plastic! The yellow heels in the picture below.
Fortunately nobody said anything, they may have had thoughts about it, but nothing was said.

At first I stored the heels in the same bags, with any holes duct tapped up, which made quick identification more difficult and time consuming having to open them and peering in. Later after a mass mailing at work I took home about twenty of the empty envelope boxes as they were ideal for a pair of heels (see picture). I never got round to labelling them with their contents, which as you will see later was fortunate.

SSL Level 2
Following a few frustrated aborted sessions I decided to try another approach. The frustration was due to still relatively long search times caused by having to move around an increasing number of boxes per session. This was mainly because I couldn’t decide what to wear!

I got the idea to organise everything as far as possible by colour.

All whites together tops, dresses, heels etc.
Shape-ware, makeup and wigs etc. being stored in separate dedicated boxes.
Reorganisation and indexing was more elaborate than before and therefore took more time than just filling a box and starting a new one when the other one was full. But in the end it was an improvement when in search and pick mode. I had, let’s say, ‘optimised the dress work flow’.
If I decided on a mint outfit then as starters dresses, heels and accessories were together in the Mint Box. For the majority of colours there was no need to split a colour between two boxes. Odd colours ended up where there was space. For black however I used the two blue containers. The blue container covers were transparent, which wasn’t a problem as the content was all black and without close scrutiny undefinable.
Here we have in my shorthand the contents of the eight cardboard boxes and the two blue containers: B=back, F=front, LL=left, LM=left middle, RM=right middle, RR=Right. Also for the contents: H=heels, D=dress, Skt=Skirt, Jkt=Jacket etc.
If you want a better look at the lists just click on them.
[Ed: Probably not sure now what everything means after so long.]
Well yes a little cryptic now, but I understood it at the time..

SSL Level 3
After a few colour-coded sessions I found it to be quicker and more effective than before but I was still frustrated that I couldn’t just spread everything out to choose and combine for a session.
I still had limited space to manoeuvre due to everything being ‘multi-box based’.
And I also had limited time due to having to make sure I had enough time to repack in an orderly fashion before Mrs.A would open the front door.

After a while I realised I was usually combining the same clothes and heels and so decided to organise
and store by outfit.
The idea was prompted after starting to pin outfits on my Pinterest page as with the example of the Orange outfit above.
[Ed: Note. This is not Madam's outfit.] You don't have to rub it in!

The idea of storing per outfit would allowed me to be more flexible in what box an outfit could be stored.
If I had outfits that I wore more often they would be stored in boxes at the front, while the rest could be strategically stored at the back.

This also allowed me to think beforehand of an outfit and with the minimum of box shifting go, at least again theoretically, directly to the correct box and everything would be in there as a ‘package’.
This last reorganisation took the most part of a weekend while Mrs.A was away for a seminar. Even with the fun factor it takes time, as all girls know, on deciding what to match to what.

Here are two of the resulting ‘packages’.
Above with red heels, red silk blouse, grey pencil skirt, all packed together under ’Business’. Grey seamed stockings and matching jewellery not shown.
And to the right a silk blouse, pink slacks, two pairs of heels (just could not decide which pair and so packed both) and a pink handbag primed with of course a compact, pink lipstick and pink earrings.
All packed together under Pk1:‘Casual’.
Pink Jacket listed not shown here.

Even with all this store, search and find optimisation of my Stash, how much better to just open doors and choose without having to first consult listings and shift boxes around like in the computer game Sokoban.


The Dream II
As said above the dream came one step nearer to reality after Mrs.A mentioned that it was about time that our guest room was redecorated. And as we were about it, have a built in wall to wall wardrobe with sliding doors, a new guest couch/bed and proper lighting. I was fully decor with this, not only as it was well overdue, but I immediately had an idea with what I could do with the old four door wardrobe in our guest room.

I tentatively mentioned in passing to MrsA that the wardrobe could go in the cellar and I could use it for de-cluttering the cellar of boxes and get at last the chance to see what the floor looked like. I also thought it would be a good idea to keep and move the old bed/couch to the cellar.
She was somewhat sceptical about this as she thought both should be thrown out. She went on about the wardrobe almost falling apart and the couch too hard for guests. And why in the cellar? There was hardly any space down there and if so, where would they be placed etc..
I tacitly left it at that point and we went about making plans for the renovation. Parallel to this I started a ‘feasibility study’ to see if my idea for relocation of the wardrobe and couch would work.

The Wardrobe
As it was an ‘Ikea clone’ type wardrobe it would be easy to dismantle and modify if needed and rebuild two floors down. I measured the wardrobe as it was and the place where I wanted it. The width of the wardrobe was two metres. The space behind the cellar door two metres and one cm! A close call but it would fit, so I thought at first.
Also no real problem with the couch, although there was only a ten centimetre margin where I wanted to place it.
Looking at the wardrobe upstairs there was plenty of head room above it. What I had forgotten is that the cellar ceiling was way lower than the other rooms in the house. The wardrobe was, after measuring the height of the cellar, three centimetres too high.
This would mean, so I thought, some modifications by taking off three centimetres from the doors and walls after dismantling and before the rebuild.
Well it was a little more complicated than that.

My main reason to recycle this particular wardrobe was not only it was there in the house but because the doors were also lockable! Not your heavy duty padlock, just a simple one so the doors would stay closed and didn’t fly open as one went by.
The cellar is also my music studio not just my boudoir. Having the addition of a bed/couch it would also become a potential place to have an overnight guest. It would be a big advantage (if not a necessity) to be able to lock and remove the keys so as to stop anyone, especially younger members of our family, from taking a causal look when alone down there for whatever reason.
If I cannot stop myself taking a peek into a colleague's parents wardrobe while staying the night I can't expect others not to do the same (see The Wardrobe).
I didn’t really fancy doing any woodwork on the doors or locks and so I searched in the Net for a wardrobe where I wouldn’t need to do any form of modification. Well no such luck.
I found out that wardrobes are not usually made for cellars and come in general at a standard height and would therefore not fit without modifications. Also I couldn’t find anything lockable whatever size.
So I had no choice but to be prepared to do a bit of carpentry and to work out how to modify the simple locking mechanism so it would still function.

Over the months up to the renovation Mrs.A got round to letting me have my way. It turn out that at least keeping the couch was a good idea. Due to the heat waves of the previous two summers she thought about going down here to read and relax on the couch while I gave her some background music.

I started to fine tune my reorganisation plan. What was to go where and what had to be got rid of. A friend gladly took the IKEA shelving as I would not be needing it; only the space it took up. I temporarily rearranged the Stash boxes to the other end of the room and covered them with a blanket, hopefully out of sight and out of mind.

On the first day of the renovation our carpenters were a little surprised that instead of having only to dismantle a wardrobe and couch and take them outside to be disposed of, they were instead diverted to the cellar and asked to rebuild them.
I told them about my idea of shortening the doors and the locking mechanism. They listened and nodded at all the right moments and when I had left they just took three centimetres off the base pedestal on which the wardrobe stood leaving the doors and walls intact!
It turned out to be a perfect fit!

I had now, I thought, plenty of room to store all of my Stash. With two meters of hanging rail I could have hung almost double the amount of ‘hangables’. And with 2x2 meters of shelving I could just about line up all my heels.
Well over the following weeks while the renovations were in full swing upstairs, I spent time noting what was in each of the boxes scattered around the cellar and where the contents should go.
It slowly dawned on me that apart from my Stash I had also to ‘stash’ non Abi stuff. I also realised Mrs.A would quite likely want to see how I had put the wardrobe to use and not just be content that she didn't have to slalom through the room trying not to fall over boxes to get to the back door.
The consequence was I would have to be able, in the presence of Mrs.A/family members/friends, to open at least one side of the wardrobe without letting the cat out of the bag. This, I realised meant I could only use one side for my wardrobe and the other side for other things.

With this in mind my first task was to see if I could store all the Stash boxes as well as the other stuff in the wardrobe and close the doors. I didn’t expect the need to hire a subway pusher but I really wasn’t sure it I would get everything in.
It was a sort of pack and pray volume test.
I removed the shelving and rails and every now and then when I had ‘cellar time’ I would move boxes and stack them in the wardrobe.

Well it didn’t take long to realise that I could not store all my Stash boxes in the right hand side of the wardrobe. There were still a few boxes that would have to be stored on the left hand side. The next task was to see if by empting the boxes I would have more flexibility to optimise the storage on the right, e.g. hanging up my clothes and storing heels boxes on the shelves.

There was a time slot coming up where Mrs.A would be away for three hours. I would use this to remove all Abi boxes from the wardrobe, extract hangables and see if I could squeeze them all lined up on the rail.

Luckily for some time beforehand I had started to acquire appropriate coat hangers for each dress and blouse. They sort of just disappeared slowly over time from the wardrobes upstairs. I had to make sure I acquired clothes hangers with hooks and lashes appropriate for hanging up dresses with e.g. spaghetti straps. This was another learning curve as I now had at last the opportunity to hang them up!

Well after getting everything up on the rail I could see that I still had enough room to be able to stack on one side transparent containers for makeup, wigs, stockings, and shape ware, etc. all the way up to the rail. The extracting and hanging process took time and I must admit while doing this it was somewhat surreal realising that all this was mine. All the different fabrics, textures and colours was quite overpowering.
I don’t think I was so happy for a long time.
As I had come this far it was either pack everything back into the boxes and pack the boxes back into the wardrobe or try and store the heel boxes above the rail on the two shelves. Looking at the clock I decided to carry on and not go back.

Less than half of my heel collection in their boxes fitted into the right half of the wardrobe and I had to use both shelves in the left half for the rest.
Luckily most of the heel (ex-envelope) boxes were nondescript with no markings or labels indicating what was in them. I'm glad I forgot to do that.
I made sure that the original boxed heels remained at the back and the plain ones at the front.

Was I relieved as I started to flatten out the eight large Stash cardboard boxes.
I never thought I would get so far..
Well my dream become at last a reality.
My wardrobe was now in a wardrobe!

I can now at least open and look at the contents even though I have no real chance to wear what I see at the moment and in future there is all probability that Mrs.A's out-of-house hobbies will end and she will be home 24/7. A slight shift in the nature of my frustration, but on the whole I’m very happy with the results of a dream come true.

Earlier this year I decided to see how many pairs of heels I could line up on the two shelves. It turned out I could place ten pairs per shelf. That is over half of my collection which is better than I thought. It’s a shame but the rest must stay boxed on the left.
At least now when working in the cellar I can quickly select a pair to wear while there. Hey, that rhymes!
As the two shelves are 50cm deep I could place one heel at the back at a slight angle and the other slightly overlapping so the heel of the second one was positioned just at the edge of the shelf.
The angle makes them quite presentable.
[Ed: Presentable? To whom!?]
To me! You don't count! I doubt if anyone else will see them live. Unless I forget to remove the key when we have visitors. I can't remove the key all the time otherwise Mrs.A may ask the silly question
"Where is the second key? Have you lost it?"
My answer would be "No!" Then there would come..
"Then why don't you leave it in the lock? Then you know where it is!"
As you can imagine I don't want to go down that road..
The consequence is I leave it in most of the time. If she wants to have a look inside there is nothing to stop her. Maybe she has had a look, I just have no idea.
[Ed: You're becoming paranoid.]
Don't we know it..
Thinking about it, I need to order the heels a bit differently.
Maybe by colour or height or type or maybe ….
[Ed: Amadán!]
?

[Ed: So, are you going to get round to telling your reader how to get a look at the inside of the wardrobe before they click away in frustration?]
Woops! Almost forgot. Yes of course silly me.
Rambling on about the contents and not a dress or heel in sight!
I could have just added the pictures here but I thought I would give the contents of the wardrobe its own page as with my Heel Collection.
Maybe dear reader you have already cottoned on and are taking a look. If not please just click on the wardrobe doors here on the right. →

Twilight Zone: Stockings VIII

s this is the first time in four years since I’ve posted..
[Ed: You posted in February!]
No I didn’t, that was you! You found the story and all I did was give you the go ahead to post it. Go and put the kettle on. This is going to be at least a two pots of tea post. That is if I can get it up and running.
[Ed: Your problem is it takes ages to get moving and then you ramble on and on and it ends up, by the look of the title, as an eight part trilogy!]
Stop complaining! And where’s me tea!?
[Ed: Which mug would Madam like?]
You know very well..
As said it’s been sometime. This is mainly due to nothing really happening on the Abi front apart from the usual rare opportunities to dress. Added to that in the last two years, due to MrsA having her weekly painting and theatre 'out of house classes' cancelled because of lockdowns, my very rare dressing 'in house classes’ were also cancelled.

As Ed: observed correctly, yes, again a post about stockings. But this time, more about my experiences with attempting to keep them up.

[Ed: As Madam is a Brit, Madam will be using the term suspenders and suspender belt for garters and garter belt. Also in general the term tights will be used to cover pantyhose, sheer hosiery and of course tights.
I won’t mention that Madam is also an Essex girl as it is irrelevant to this post.]
Shu'up!
That’s bang out of order!
Struth..

Please note dear reader that, to Ed’s: and everyone else’s relief, this will be the conclusion of my stockings saga.
[Ed: Believe it when I don’t see it!]
Going by the last few years I don’t see it either, as there isn't anything new in my daily routine legs wise. Even if, through either accident or design, I come fully out to MrsA I don’t think my limited ‘exposure’ in the cellar, even in my white stilettos, will change. Knowing about Abigale and seeing her around the house are two different things.

If any of you have followed my previous stocking posts, I mentioned that my phlebologist gave me my first pair of compression stockings. It didn’t occur to me at the time to try other colours. Their colour was not relevant as I was quite frankly just trying to get use to wearing stockings and not considering what colour they were.
But when I was at work I thought it would be a good idea to go for black as they would look just like black socks when my trousers would inadvertently slide up when sitting down. When I was ordering them I realised there were other colours available.
[Ed: See the story in Stockings V]

After that I started to work my way through all the colours in the chart except for the last two, Magenta Rose and Palm Green. Apart from the cost, they are far more expensive than the others, I think the colours are more suited for a number of generations younger than me..

As the rest of this post is about my experience with suspender belts and could be somewhat boring, I thought I would add a few pictures of my legs in some of the colours from the above Jobst chart..
[Ed: Please note that this post is in no way sponsored from Jobst.]
Was that necessary?
[Ed: No idea, you tell me.]
As you’ve heard all this before go and select a few leg pictures to scatter about below.
[Ed: That will take time as there are 7,625 pictures from the last 6 years to go through, most of which are just badly shot. Also as the pictures were not all taken in daylight but in the catacombs of the cellar, the colours will not always match the chart.]
Oh! Ok then do your best.
But first lets have another pot of tea..

[Ed: What’s all this flogging this stocking lark to death anyway. Haven’t you anything else to go on about?]
Well yes I have a post in the making which, as far as I can remember, doesn’t mention directly stockings or suspenders. Well at least there are no pictures of them.

Ok let's get on. I’ll back track a bit so as to get up to speed.

Caramel

The reason for ‘all this stocking lark’ as Ed: puts it, is because I have to wear compression stockings to help my veins do what they should do. Unfortunately this 'should do' has been going downhill since about 16 years. The valves at the top of the legs have slowly given up and on top of that the other valves started to follow suit so I also developed varicose veins.
And as this wasn't boring enough I found out last summer that I have severe lumbar spinal stenosis (L4/L5/S2) which mixes in nicely with my CVI.

Over the years my surface leg veins have complained but thankfully my deep veins have stayed healthy and would take the brunt of the blood circulation in my legs when I eventually got round to having the varicose veins stripped.
Well, all things were going smoothly.."
[Ed: They do look smooth don't they. Must be all that elastane in them.]
Yes, 47% Polyether-polyurea copolymer but it's also because I shave me legs..
[Ed: My remark was about the stockings!]
So was mine..
As I was saying, all was going well until Spring19 when my veins really started to complain with bouts of thrombosis that had to be treated over a year with blood thinners. I won’t go on about the OP only to say the thrombosis problematic is still there but not so drastic as before the OP.

My suspenders timeline started at the end of 2015 when I ordered my first suspender belt from Rago (see left) which was recommended from one of my readers. Well it was the second one as the Welsh Post decided to keep the first one. (See the full story Stockings VI).
I know it's some time since that post but if any of you recall the suspenders had arrived but I kept them out of sight of MrsA. I finally go around to informing her that the first pair was lost and that I had ordered a new pair from another company (Sockingshq) which could send them directly to Germany.

Natural

After they arrived I wanted to wear them a few times before officially informing MrsA that they had arrived. I'm not sure why all the secrecy. I should have seen them as a medical 'support' to keep up my compression stockings and that's all.
I think my problem was, and still is, that fastening stockings to suspenders has always been for me an act of pure femininity. My adventuring into this realm was up to now, apart from my Airings here, a private matter. And now I was doing this ‘act’ on a daily bases in broad daylight even if they were only medical stockings.

In my mind it was all somewhat embarrassing, especially if MrsA would catch me infraganti bending over doing up the straps or unclipping them. Well one morning she eventually caught me in the act.

The caught in the act was interesting; it showed that MrsA hadn’t worn stockings in a very long time. As I was fastening my suspenders to my stockings MrsA came out of the bathroom, she looked at me and remarked “the straps go over the underpants!”
I stopped and looked up.
I was a little taken back that she hadn’t come out with the ‘what are you doing!?’ phase. Thinking about it, it was obvious what I was doing and so I suspect she skipped it and went straight to the logistics.

Bronze

”No” I said, “under not over” and carried on pulling the straps down, through and under my underpants and fastening them. I explained the difference between adverts and practicability and of course she agreed.
With all this she didn’t give me the impression that she had a problem with it all and I realized this cloak and dagger farce was rather stupid. I told myself that I would be putting on stockings and suspenders for the rest of my life and should deal with it!

I could of course glue up my stockings all the time, but apart from the keep up functionality, I wear a suspender belt because I like to wear them!
Also a suspender belt, even with wear and tear, is in the long run cheaper than glue. They range from about 28-40€ depending on the number of straps and what I call, the frilliness factor. The Rago which are rather plain but with more material cost about 50€. A 60ml bottle of ‘adhesion lotion’ costs about 18-22€ and lasts about 30 applications (roughly 1 ml/leg).
Both have pros and cons. Gluing is not so fiddly and is quick as long as one remembers not to bend down too much before they dry otherwise you can start over. Also as it’s a sticky procedure it needs to be washed off every evening. I tend to glue when going out of the house and, just in case, carry a bottle around with me..
[Ed: Why not carry an emergency suspender belt in the coat pocket?]

Anthracite

Oh that would be fun. I go to take out a handkerchief and don’t realise until the last moment I had pulled out instead a pair of my cute silky suspenders!
On me Tod, no problem, but in company there would be some explaining to do. Especially after the first question ‘Are they yours!?’
No, I’ll rather stick to the bottle … no that doesn’t sound right … anyway you know what I mean..


Fastening suspenders can be time consuming, especially with contortions and my arthritic fingers. As I have mentioned before the straps don’t always hold, it depends on the strap tension. That’s why I strap mainly when I’m at home. When one gets free there are at least two others per leg as backup.
[Ed: Why not go for tights, would stop all this gluing and spontaneous strap uncoupling?]
I have thought about it and have decided to add a pair to my next buy. As you can see from the chart they have a slightly different colour range to their stockings. What also makes them interesting is there are two colours with a pattern, but I can just imagine the look on MrsA's face when I would come down the stairs in them..(sigh).
Tights have a different logistic than with stockings, a combined effort so to speak. You have to work alternately on both legs at the same time. With normal tights a little more complicated than stockings. But with compression level 2 (18–24 mmHg), I suspect it will not be an easy task getting them on. Compression stockings are bad enough.
[Ed: Whatever colour you choose for the tights you should have matching panties.]
Never thought about that..
Ok, as it’s you, I must have.
But its good that you brought it up..
[Ed: Why?]
New Post..
[Ed: Me and my big mouth!]

Well that was my experience with my first proper suspenders..

Silver-Grey

[Ed: Sorry, they were not your first..]
We are being fastidious today aren’t we?
Yes, there was another pair, but they were made for me by MrsA. Hence my reference to the Rago garters as ‘proper’.
[Ed: As this post will be more about suspenders than what the title suggests.
I think you can further elaborate on those first suspenders that were briefly mentioned in Stockings VI and in My first heels.]
Really?
That was sometime ago and all pretty hazy.
But if you think it fits here then let’s have another go at it.

It was the beginning of the 80’s and we had bought a VHS cassette of the film Rocky Horror Picture Show. We have always been fans of the show. The music and the story are quite brilliant and what made it unforgettable for me was seeing all those black high heels waving and walked about on.

[Ed: Not only the heels..]
Yes, the rest of their attire was also nice, but it was mainly the heels..

MrsA mentioned it would be nice to dress up for our private viewing at the weekend, as with the ardent fans at the cinema.
I was slightly taken back with this. I certainly would not have made the suggestion, well not out loud.
MrsA checked her wardrobe for appropriate accessories. The result was that we had to go shopping for a roll of black elastic band and black lace to make suspender belts and also a trip to the local drug store to buy black stockings.
I knew where to look as they are a part of the display with socks. Of course when I just so happen to past the display I am looking for socks and not eyeing the patterned tights and shiny stockings. Unfortunately we didn't find any with seams.
On returning home MrsA measured me up for my suspenders. While she spent the afternoon sowing I went through her multi-coloured collection of nail varnishes for a later painting session.
I was again surprised when it was suggested that I should wear my black patent leather heels.
[Ed: Although Madam keeps going on about her heel collection, these heels and a second pair are the only ones that are officially known to Madams misses as she bought them for Madam.]

So we got dressed and added a little mascara and lipstick. This was followed up by painting each other’s nails. On reflection doing each other's nails is something girls would do together. I’m not sure after so long if I showed my enjoyment in this one off bit of fun, or I tried to play it down so as not to give the impression that I was eager to do this more often.
MrsA decided she wanted a different colour per nail. I would have liked to have used only the colour matching the lipstick, but was just glad we were varnishing at all!
I must admit I was a little high with officially walking around our flat with makeup, coloured nails, suspenders, stockings and my matching black heels.
To date, a one-time experience.
As the film ran I think I was more occupied with my inner girl feelings and my appearance than taking in the film. As it was late when the film finished we left the varnish on until the next morning. We didn’t want the leftover smell of nail varnish remover on our hands throughout the night.
That was a weird feeling waking up to polished nails, similar to a nail weekend while MrsA was away (see Nails I). I would have liked to have kept them shiny until evening but I couldn’t push my luck after MrsA started to remove her own.

Espresso

The feelings on the previous evening were complex and similar to now whenever I get the chance to dress. It’s a mixture of joy, nervosity, but not only of the getting caught kind, also sadness, homecoming, and a longing which I can’t really pin down. All this accompanied with a state of detachment as if I am an observer to what I am doing.

Although dressing sessions are strenuous/tiring with trying to get in and out of garments while taking a glimpse at the clock every five minutes, afterwards I’m again happy and somewhat content to have had the chance to recharge my girl batteries.
[Ed: Excuse me, but can we carry on. The focus at the moment is suspenders.]
Yes of course. May I remind you that you started me off on that tangent..

So now to the Rago suspenders and their performance. I bought this model because they had XL plus sizes. After measuring my waist I followed the size chart and ordered. I was thinking of ordering black but thought better of it. I didn’t want MrsA asking why black when all my underwear was exclusively boring in white. When they finally arrived the fit was good but as soon as they were put under stress they lost the battle to the pull of the stockings.
As I would need at least a second pair, I thought I better order the second one in a size smaller to see how they would cope. Unfortunately it was not that much better. It was ok when sitting but when walking around they would slowly fall down in sync with the stockings. If I had hips it may have worked. After a few weeks of having to go frequently to the restroom at work to rectify the situation, I officially vented my frustration to MrsA of the situation and mentioned that I would try my hand, sorry legs, with other suspenders.

I started to look at the other suspender belts on the Sockingshq site. They looked sexy as they should, but if they were more robust than the Rago I could not tell. This of course didn’t stop me ordering four; three in white and as wildcard one in black.
[Ed: Come off it! You had a good idea they would be useless for your heavy duty stockings didn’t you?]
Well yes you're right,
how could you be anything else...
I just fell for the lace and the little bows at the top of the straps. When they arrived I kept them under wraps until I had tried them on. I wanted to report a success at least with one of them before letting MrsA see them.

For my purchase I even got a gift of a pair of one size black stockings. Of course I tried them on when I got the chance with the black suspenders.
They laddered almost immediately..
[Ed: Madam's nails again!]
No! That's behind me now! As you very well know
I now wear silk gloves when I put on proper stockings.
Maybe they would have lasted a night out, that is if I ever went out..
[Ed: By the look of the gloves, maybe the Opera?]
Nice one.. But they need to be a black pair, to go with my LBD and heels.

Well after trying the different models funny enough the winner, if we can call it that, was the one in black! I let MrsA see the collection and the black stockings (pre-laddering). She was somewhat amused with it all and as I had hoped positive that I had found something at last to keep up the stockings. Actually they all worked better than the Rago which may have something to do with size, as I could only get them in a normal XL.
They were much tighter, but the material was silkier, and I have to say it, sexier than the Rago. But that’s the price you have to pay to keep ones stockings up!
It’s a shame that most suspender belts are either black or white. I did find one model that was coloured, but not unfortunately available in my size. Would liked to have tried to match them to my stockings.

Well wearing them became routine and they became a part of our normal wash program. Here they are air drying in the bathroom (Rago on the right end).
[Ed: Not really. Madam just hung them all up in a row to take the picture.]
Hey!
As the suspenders sort of worked but not that well, I found myself sticking more and more. This was mainly to dampen the frustration of the repetitive uncoupling. The uncoupling is sometimes due to a lack of tension on the straps (e.g. at the front when sitting down) and/or a clip-ability difficulty due to the thickness of the stocking tops.

I have now in my collection four different variations in stockings not including colour. I have two different lengths: Petite (halfway up the thigh) and Normal (high thigh) and two variations of stocking tops: Sensitive (on the right) and French bijou (below). When I started out having to buy them I kept to the first pair I was given from my phlebotomist which was Ultra Sheer from Jobst in Petite and Sensitive. I don’t think she picked out this model just for me but it was probably due to only having this model in my size (Stockings I)

Later when I was branching out into different colours I inadvertently ordered Normal length instead of Petite. I found they went right up my thighs and looked better when glued, especially when I had on a short dress. After collecting enough Dutch courage I went for French Bijou. Wasn’t sure how MrsA would react to them until I could report that with the wider top they stuck better. Again my worries were unwarranted.

Navy Blue

As the suspenders were having a hard time keeping my stockings up, I thought more drastic measures were called for. As I have some experience with shape wear, especially corsets, I considered getting a girdle to hold up my stockings..
[Ed: Not just for your stockings.]
No of course not. I needed also something to keep my tummy in.
With a girdle it was unlikely that the stockings would win the tugging battle. I looked at the Sockingshq site and found a nice patterned one I liked, again from Rago and without really thinking it through I ordered it (see picture below).
After the little thrill I get when buying for Abi, I started to have reservations about getting it and wearing it ‘in the open’. I wasn’t really sure how MrsA would react to this further development in the stay-up battle. And on top of that I didn’t really have this time around a plausible reason for having one.
Ok later, if my stenosis gets worse, some form of support for my lower back in combination with holding up my stockings could justify wearing a girdle, but not at the present time.

So when it arrived I just packed it away with my Stash. I of course at the next opportunity tried it on. I must say I was mildly surprised how well it held me in without the feeling of being restricted in movement or when sitting down. Of course there was a feeling of constant restriction but a pleasant one letting you know what one was wearing.

Somehow when ordering I let Abi take over and it was only when I had it on that it dawned on me that with my thigh high stockings in no way could they be fastened to the straps on the girdle, as they went up and under the bottom of it!

Cranberry

Then I had an idea and exchanged my high thighs for a pair of my petite stockings and they were just the right height for the girdle’s straps. I spend some time in the combination while trying on some of my dresses. I was pleased that now my tummy was now not as prominent and also the straps held with all the undressing and dressing.

What also hit me was that I realised that the girdle is of course appropriate under dresses or skirts but not under trousers or shorts, unless that is, they are very baggy! I think I just got carried away here. Anyway I have now added another item to my shape-ware collection.

I order my compression stockings here in Germany and by my last order I just happened to find on offer a ‘stocking holder’ as they call them. It looked rather primitive and nowhere near as pretty as my others, but as it is made for use with my type of stockings I thought I would give it a try. The waist band is adjustable using Velcro as fastener and the clips looked a bit sturdier than the others I have.
In use the band stays up and the stockings are easier to fasten but the clips are no real improvement on my other suspenders. It’s either the stocking clip or the clip used to adjust the length of the strap that loses its grip and initiates an excursion to a secluded place to re-clip.

Well that concludes to date my suspender adventure.

[Ed: Aren’t you going to say something like
'The suspense-r's were killing me to the end'?]
No, but the girdle.
[Ed: Does Madam need any help with the zip?]

Yellow

Would you, it won’t budge.
Ah, thats better!
Ta ever so.

By the way the gallery selection wasn’t bad.
[Ed: Thank you. Any legs wouldn't look
that bad in compression stockings.]
If you say so..
I don’t have any compression stockings in yellow.
[Ed: As if I didn’t know.]