The Chronic Consumer

When I was in high school and college, I was very concerned about wearing brand-name clothes. Back then the most popular brand for shirts, tops, and jackets was Gap, while Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Girbaud were the only jeans the “cool kids” would wear. (I’m really dating myself here, aren’t I?) It seems so shallow now, but back then it just went with the territory.

These days, however, I really don’t feel like spending $100-$200 for Diesel jeans or any of the other hot brands out there. I would just rather buy jeans that are comfortable, durable, and fit well — which is why I now wear Lee Riders.

I bought a pair of Lee Riders Relaxed Fit jeans at Wal-Mart about six months ago. I had heard that these jeans were pretty good, so I wanted to check them out. I tried on a pair in the dressing room before making my purchase, and immediately noticed how great they fit. I was hooked almost from the start.

Now that I’ve had plenty of time to evaluate the jeans properly, here are some more thoughts on them:

• They are extremely durable, and have held up very well in the washer and dryer. After six months of use, the Riders are only slightly more faded than before, and have no noticeable signs of wear and tear, such as loose seams or whatnot.
• The jeans retain their size and shape better than any other pair I’ve owned. With most other brands, I have to struggle to get into them when they’re fresh out of the dryer because they’ve shrunk a tad in the process. But my Riders are always comfortable, no matter when I put them on.
• Riders have a relatively flattering fit. With most other brands, the term “relaxed fit” means you end up with jeans that make your butt and thighs look huge. Lee seems to understand that there’s more to relaxed fit than simply adding extra material to the backside. The result here is jeans that are comfortable and make you look good when wearing them.

I loved my first pair of Riders so much that I went out a month later and bought 3 more of the exact same style. I highly recommend these jeans, and at less than $16 a pair, you can’t really go wrong!

My husband and I had a lot of work done on our backyard over the summer. It’s not very big, so we wanted to have a professional landscaper come in and show us how to make the most out of the space we’ve got. We were able to put in a small garden, paved walkway, and a nice deck, and are pretty happy with the results.

But we’re not quite finished with the upgrades yet. Since several of our friends rave about their hot tubs, we’ve been thinking about getting one of our own. We only have enough room for a 2-person tub, but that’s really all we need anyway.

I was checking out some products at HotTubHeadquarters.com today and loved this particular model. It’s affordable, too, so maybe we’ll be able to buy it soon!

I wrote a post about NFL GamePass back in August before the 2007 season started. To get an overview of the service itself, please click the above link to go back to that earlier entry.

Right now I have a couple of friends living in England, and one of them is actually a GamePass subscriber. She thought my readers might be interested in a follow-up post, so she sent me an email telling me that Yahoo Sports is now offering a half-season discount on GamePass subscriptions. If you can subscribe now, you can see all games for all teams from now until January for just $99.99.

There are still seven weeks left in the regular season, so the $99.99 price represents a pretty solid deal. It basically comes out to $14.28 per week, whereas if you signed up at the beginning of the season, you would have had to pay $239.99 for 17 weeks, or $14.12 per week — pretty similar.

And my friend tells me this deal started before Week 10, so that would make it an even better deal, going on a per-week basis.

Anyway, if you’re an overseas NFL fan, you might want to check out GamePass!