24/7 startups, and unexpected pitfalls?

[oznl]

“This Be The Verse” by Philip Larkin springs to mind.

I fall into the other camp: those who were diaper trained spectacularly early.  By a mother who I only began to understand after I’d reached adulthood, had a constellation of her own issues and probably should NEVER have become a mother.  I think this is reflected today in our shattered, scattered childhood family rent by ancient sibling rivalries and disputes.  No chance of any sisterly conversation here.  It’s been years since I’ve seen any of them, or indeed any other relative.

God only knows what kind of dysfunction we have inflicted on our own progeny.  This helps me from becoming overly judgemental.

Like yourself, the DL bias was dialed in from early single digits.  Really as soon as I could lay down memories, I can remember hints and signs.

The whole subject is in a bit of an academic vacuum.  The little that is out there we know within our cohort to be far from universally accurate.

There are a handful of Rosalie Bent – sponsored publications that whilst lacking formal academic rigor, do hint at one factor that may span the experiential chasms between different DLs:  impaired maternal bonding…  I do wonder about that.

Get thee to a therapist?

Using humiliation as a lever to try to resolve bedwetting obviously seem neanderthal today but it's not entirely fair to judge that generation's choices in the light of present-day values.

A few generations earlier and you may have been dining on boiled mouse as the avant garde parental weapon of choice.

[Little Sherri]

11 hours ago, oznl said:

Using humiliation as a lever to try to resolve bedwetting obviously seem neanderthal today but it's not entirely fair to judge that generation's choices in the light of present-day values.

A few generations earlier and you may have been dining on boiled mouse as the avant garde parental weapon of choice.

I agree with this, fundamentally - like you, I realize that, while we try our best not to, we are probably laying the groundwork right now for a forest of thatched undergrowth that future therapists will profit from helping our kids disentangle... nobody emerges from childhood unscathed. 

What's interesting to me is that I actually knew some poor bedwetting souls whose parents leaned a bit into humiliation, and I knew of horror stories from the generation prior to mine where hanging wet sheets in public view was what the doctors suggested. But I thought that my parents chose the route they chose specifically NOT to humiliate me - it all seemed rather pragmatic - no rubber sheets, no damp bedding, just a nappy quietly disposed of. But maybe they were trying to walk a delicate middle ground where I would be exposed to some social radiation by way of MY knowledge of, and shame for, my infantile underpants requirement, while at the same time, for the most part, nobody actually knew or cared that the nondescript kid down the block sometimes had diapers on. IF they thought that maybe I liked being in diapers, perhaps they were trying to subtly discourage that, taking almost a "now smoke the whole pack" approach to finding a kid with a cigarette? If you enjoy being in diapers, lets see how much you enjoy it on a cross-country car ride? Although, once again, evidence suggests that pragmatism was perhaps as much of a driver for this as any overarching plot to discourage diaperism - I did fall asleep in the car from time to time, and I did wet my pants when I fell asleep from time to time. It never seemed to me to be anything other than an unfortunate practicality, but, from my sister's perspective, at least, it was an attempt at social engineering. 

This also raises questions about whether I can broach this further with my mom, or my sister... IF they think I liked wearing diapers, back then, how much of a stretch would it be for them to start to suspect that it might still hold an interest? The mind reels. 

[Little Sherri]

Some quick notes today... first, my million dollar idea: we have a heated towel rack in the bathroom; having just moved in, I hadn't really played around with it, but I was taking a shower and I turned it on to warm up my towel - why not? And then it occurred to me... I had a diaper sitting on the counter for afterwards... hmmm... why not? So I hung the diaper (a Bambino Classico) over one of the rungs on the rack, and took my shower. I have to say, a pre-warmed diaper is a bit of decadent pleasure after a shower. I will be doing this again. Next step: to the patent office! I have seen baby wipe warmers but not diaper warmers. Maybe I should fire up a Kickstarter. I very excitedly told my wife about this, but she clearly wasn't as enamored of the possibilities as I was. 

Speaking of that bathroom, this being an older house, we have very little storage in there, so my wife proposed the purchase of a tall cabinet for a space behind the door, and she was reviewing what we could put in there, and one of the things she said was "you're... pads and stuff." I gathered that she was talking about diapers, but "pads and stuff" was an interesting way to put it. I thought it was funny that on some days she's willing to throw around the "d" word, even going so far as to call me "diaper pants" on a couple of occasions, but, some days, she stops herself. I felt like saying "It's okay, you can call them diapers."  

Lastly, I had one of those very rare situations when I briefly wished that I maybe wasn't wearing a diaper... The process of moving is very stressful, and my wife was having a moment when she felt like maybe she wasn't getting the help she needed, and meanwhile, I felt like I had been working nonstop for about the previous three weeks. She commented that something I was looking for amidst our transplanted debris was at the "bottom of her list", and I said that some of the things she wanted - changing out light fixtures and such - were lower on my list than getting organized at the new house, and getting the old house empty and clean. I won't bore you with the blow-by-blow transcript, but it escalated from there - we were both tired, we probably should have just gone to bed, rather than conducting a rapid-fire grievance review. My main point, though, was that I was standing there - actually in another Bambino Classico, and a t-shirt - making my points and fending off hers, and I started feeling a bit self-conscious. Maybe it's inaccurate to say that I wished I didn't have a diaper on, maybe it was more that I wished I had pants on over it, but, it's hard to get strident, indignant and red in the face... when your diaper is decorated with blocks that spell "b-a-b-y" repeatedly. Eventually it all blew over and we're friends again, but, that is, thus far, probably the one circumstance I have encountered where I sometimes don't feel comfortable in my diaper. 

[Little Sherri]

My wife has added another word to her lexicon this weekend; we were discussing the layout of the storage area in the basement, and I pointed to my 3.5 cases of diapers that had been taken off of a shelf and stacked up in a corner, and said "Those can't be in direct contact with the concrete floor - it would be better if they were up on shelves." She ruminated on that for a moment, because she clearly had other plans for the shelving, and wanted to be able to stack my infantile underwear off in a corner somewhere. "What about if we put the Pampers in plastic totes? Then could they be safely stacked on the floor?" 

So I said, yes, my, um, "Pampers" could be stored in plastic totes - preferably opaque ones. She asked me how much space I thought I needed, and I had to ponder that for a moment. I currently have about three cases in inventory, in four boxes measuring roughly 3 feet by 16 inches by maybe a foot deep, two of which consist of bags of various diapers that run the gamut from unopened to one or two diapers left in them, and then one 80% full case of Lil' Monsters and one case 50% full of Prevail Breezers and 50% full of Rearz Elite's. I had been planning to order a couple of cases shortly; Rearz has a new "daytime weight" version of the Elite, which will probably be slim, comfortable, and reliable, but that's a plain white diaper, so I also want to get something printed. Rather than going in on another full case, I might instead buy bags a la carte, and essentially build a case of maybe Bambino Teddy's and some Rearz Splash and Alpacas or something. 

But that does raise the question... what, exactly, is "sufficient" inventory? The pandemic numbers have started trending upwards here, although that doesn't worry me deeply, because even at the previous peaks, I could still get diapers via curbside pickup or by having them shipped. But I don't want to commit to "only" having four totes... although, really, that's probably somewhere around 250 - 300 diapers, which isn't exactly living on the edge, when I only use two most days, sometimes three. Conservatively, that's 100 days worth of inventory. Stretched, it could be 125+ days - four months. I wouldn't have to buy diapers until almost March.

The other consideration is that, if I say I "need" five totes worth of diapers, I might inadvertently trigger the opening of a Board of Inquiry into how much, exactly, my plastic underwear is costing us, which is a conversation I probably want to avoid, lest my future posts here pretty much always read along the lines of "Wearing a Tena Breathable again, because they were on sale at the superstore, so I have foregone pants, and am once again sitting on a garbage bag topped with old newspapers..." 

 

[oznl]

Generally, I like to have around a month's supply buffered but somehow I always seem to have more than that.

A quick inventory today:

65 x ABU Simple

76 x BetterDry

56 x Molicare Elastic (these don't get used much)

20 x Abriform L4

So there's about 187 diapers floating around and I'll probably order another 48 Abriform next week.  I guess we must take into consideration that for two days per week, I'm generally in cloth diapers.  Based on that, I have a cruise range of 18 - 19 weeks.  The wardrobe in my study (which is really a disused bedroom) has been repurposed as a nappy cupboard for disposables.  My "underwear" drawer is now my "plastic pant" drawer and cloth are spread around various bits of the walk-in-robe.

Finances are a threat for me.  Paydays will be a thing of the past from next week.  Although I have considerable investments and low debt, non-existent interest rates and low stock yields are a problem that will force me to dip into capital instead of the yield I was expecting.  I suspect my beloved would gleefully pounce on this (if she thinks enough about finances) as another reason why my evil perversion will wreck our lives...

[Little Sherri]

@oznl, you should quietly divert some of your severance into placing a massive nappy order - explore bulk discounts - and then put it into storage and draw from it. If you can save, say, 25% by buying essentially a retailers quantity... well, if you put that money into the market you sure as hell wouldn't be getting 25% on it, unless you play with penny mining stocks, but that inevitably ends the way most nights at the casino end, with longing glances at high ledges, a sigh, and a decision that it's not that time. Yet. 

I've been sitting here in a Rearz Alpaca - a most capacious garment - once again asking myself how anyone does a marathon morning of back-to-back Teams meetings and phone calls and doesn't resort to diapers. As a mildly entertaining side project, I've been ticking a box on a spreadsheet every time I dribble, and it happens with amazing frequency - my kidneys are evidently in good working order. Or, there's something badly wrong. Although, in fairness, most people haven't set out on a course that inevitably erodes their fluidic capacity, as I apparently have. Oops - there it goes again. Tick. 

Speaking of dribbling, I jumped out of the shower last night - I already had my night diaper (this Alpaca) on the counter - and I was standing in front of the sink when I dripped a couple of times onto the floor, and not due to shower water. So, I stood in front of the loo (an uncharacteristic stance for me these days) and tried to force a stream, which was moderately successful. However, it tapered off... into more drips. Try as I might, I couldn't get them to stop with my force of will - I gave it about a minute, which is a fairly long time to stand there and ponder oneself, at least for me. Then I shrugged and put my diaper on. At some point later, reading in bed, I probed the front of my diaper, and there was some evidence of light wetness there, but try as I might, I couldn't detect anything happening through any "internal" feedback systems. But I also hadn't deliberately gone in a while, and I didn't feel any need to. When my wife got up and went into the washroom, I pulled up the front of my diaper and had a look; it seemed to have stopped of its own accord. Interesting. 

Two things I need to sort out: first, the new bathroom doesn't have the floor space of the previous one, because it lacks the soaker tub that we never used, anyway, in exchange for a much nicer shower stall. But, where I used to have a 6-foot bathmat to use as a changing table, I now have only cold stone, so I have been diapering myself standing up, but I am pondering - with some trepidation - broaching the topic of my using my side of the bed for diapering myself, because I really prefer to conduct the procedure lying down over standing up. But I do wonder if this would upset the delicate balance I have achieved. She has seen me in diapers hundreds of times now, but, and while she has undoubtedly heard me diapering myself, because we've had conversations through the door while I'm doing it, she hasn't seen it. I wonder if that would change anything for her, or if it would just be shrug-inducing at this point. I could use the guest bedroom, but that would mean chancing running into my eldest daughter in the halls. Unlikely, but it could happen. It also means making my way from the shower, out of the room, and down the hall, which, if the dripping described above occurs again, would require me to hold a paper towel over myself, not a picture that anyone wants in their heads. 

Second, I just scheduled the appointment for swapping my winter tires. I do it myself on my truck, and my wife's rig now rides on "all-weather tires" - essentially all seasons with a severe snow rating and a compound designed to remain flexible down to very low temperatures. They wear faster than all seasons in the summer, but really do a good job holding the road in snow and ice. However, my car has the tire pressure transponders in the wheels, and the cost to have them reprogrammed is almost the same as the cost of having them also swap the wheels, so I have stopped doing it myself on that vehicle. Why do I bring this up at all? Because that bag of boxer shorts resides behind my winter tires. Decision day is a week away. Do they go into the dustbin, or do I find a place for them in the rafters of my new garage? 

 

[Corwin]

On the topic of diaper stash, I've been using Tykables' "Diaper Box" for my supply, since Covid means I'm not leaving my house except for very short trips for which I can accommodate the sound/bulk. Though I'd ordered the "Base" level of absorbency, the majority of the summer saw my monthly box come packed with Tykables more-absorbent options (for which I am not complaining!). And because of this, I both lacked "daytime weight" options, and my stash dwindles to just a couple bags by the end of the month. And I'm using this Quarantine period to explore my desires (And distract myself from the stupid apocalypse). Because I didn't like the idea of not going to bed freshly-changed, I'd find that I was going commando for a couple hours in the evening, or finding a pair of underpants to save the new diaper for bedtime.

Well, this month saw Tykables split the case into 4 bags of each "level" of absorbency, so that excuse is gone. Instead, I'm finding myself take more time off during the day because-well- I've started wetting the bed, and I'm finding it much easier to fully relax to wet during the day. Unlike a lot of other reports, I've had rather strong pelvic floor, and it's only recently, after wearing constantly for 9 months that I'm starting to see what others report in, like, 2 or 3. I still clench up when other people are around, but alone I'm seeing real progress on "releasing."

However, I don't think that I want to be diaper dependent, I'm not putting myself through any "diaper training," (at the moment). I might go that way eventually, but the idea of needing to wear overnight is scary enough for my frequent (pre-covid) travel that I hope will become frequent again. So I suppose I'm making sure my potty training doesn't become too rusty despite still wanting to wear a diaper the majority of the time. I'm probably going to expand my options for something approaching a pullup, when the world opens up again, and figure out how travel works in a post-Covid world (whenever that comes).

[BedWetMark]

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

 

I've been sitting here in a Rearz Alpaca - a most capacious garment - once again asking myself how anyone does a marathon morning of back-to-back Teams meetings and phone calls and doesn't resort to diapers. 

 

 

Absolutely!

Since being at home full time and on calls literally 9am to 6pm EVERY day, forcing myself to have a short break to get lunch, I can't imagine not wearing a nappy. Sometimes mid afternoon it's getting a bit full and (I think I've said this), but I've found myself moving out a meeting by 5-10 mins just to allow a quick change.  

My wife even brings me cups of tea during the day if she's at home - I do feel properly lazy and definitely not looking forward to going back to the office. 

On the subject of cost, we never discuss that and when I did an outgoings spreadsheet the other weekend as we wanted to explore finances, my column marked "healthcare" was hidden ... it was better that way.

[oznl]

 

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

@oznl, you should quietly divert some of your severance into placing a massive nappy order - explore bulk discounts - and then put it into storage and draw from it. If you can save, say, 25% by buying essentially a retailers quantity... well, if you put that money into the market you sure as hell wouldn't be getting 25% on it, unless you play with penny mining stocks, but that inevitably ends the way most nights at the casino end, with longing glances at high ledges, a sigh, and a decision that it's not that time. Yet.

IF this becomes an issue, really I have to "man up" and claim what is mine.  Not to put to fine a point on it, 90% of the familial state (and pretty much 100% of its investments) is of my work.  Whilst she also works, that money seems to dissipate largely in shoes.  It wouldn't be any kind of fair for her to start laying down financial road rules.  I think I'd better stick with cases though.  The cost of a lock-up is not inconsiderable and the paperwork would raise more than a marital eyebrow.  I also think I'm probably jumping to the gloomiest possible scenario.  She's never shown the slightest interest in family finances.

I should probably move some severance into a simple share index fund and chase some dividends.  Bank rates are effectively zero.

6 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Speaking of dribbling, I jumped out of the shower last night - I already had my night diaper (this Alpaca) on the counter - and I was standing in front of the sink when I dripped a couple of times onto the floor, and not due to shower water. So, I stood in front of the loo (an uncharacteristic stance for me these days) and tried to force a stream, which was moderately successful. However, it tapered off... into more drips. Try as I might, I couldn't get them to stop with my force of will - I gave it about a minute, which is a fairly long time to stand there and ponder oneself, at least for me. Then I shrugged and put my diaper on. At some point later, reading in bed, I probed the front of my diaper, and there was some evidence of light wetness there, but try as I might, I couldn't detect anything happening through any "internal" feedback systems. But I also hadn't deliberately gone in a while, and I didn't feel any need to. When my wife got up and went into the washroom, I pulled up the front of my diaper and had a look; it seemed to have stopped of its own accord. Interesting. 

 

This sort of thing seems to come and go these days.  I notice that shower time in particular (running water) can make it see such an effort NOT to pee any between getting out, drying and re-diapering.

4 hours ago, Corwin said:

Well, this month saw Tykables split the case into 4 bags of each "level" of absorbency, so that excuse is gone. Instead, I'm finding myself take more time off during the day because-well- I've started wetting the bed, and I'm finding it much easier to fully relax to wet during the day. Unlike a lot of other reports, I've had rather strong pelvic floor, and it's only recently, after wearing constantly for 9 months that I'm starting to see what others report in, like, 2 or 3. I still clench up when other people are around, but alone I'm seeing real progress on "releasing."

I'm never sure if "congratulations" is the right word here.  I never really sought to become a bed wetter either.  It just kind of happened.  Like yourself, it was NOT 2 or 3 months, more like 7 but I think peoples optimism and enthusiasm can cause them to misinterpret earlier events.  My experience is that by the time you think something MIGHT be changing, it already has so if you want to pull-out, now is your time if it isn't already too late.  I still think I'm day continent but really, how would I know?

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

so I have been diapering myself standing up, but I am pondering - with some trepidation - broaching the topic of my using my side of the bed for diapering myself, because I really prefer to conduct the procedure lying down over standing up. But I do wonder if this would upset the delicate balance I have achieved.

A "change your life" trick I can take no credit for because it was somebody on DD that clued me into this is that standing changes become a LOT more viable if you take advantage of a wall or a door.

I pull the nappy up between my legs whilst standing and once it is positioned correctly over my bum, lean my bum against the immediately adjacent bathroom door which holds it firmly in place, letting me deal with the tapes using both hands.  Honestly, this is now my preferred position for changing.  The only time I will change myself laying down is if I am in pinned cloth or for some reason, those velcro Rearz omutsu (which I am about to change IN to).

[Little Sherri]

17 hours ago, oznl said:

I pull the nappy up between my legs whilst standing and once it is positioned correctly over my bum, lean my bum against the immediately adjacent bathroom door which holds it firmly in place, letting me deal with the tapes using both hands.  Honestly, this is now my preferred position for changing.

Thanks for the tip - I don't know why I didn't think of this. One of the diaper brands that I have had a passing acquaintance with - I can't remember if it was Tena or Attends, but anyway, of the sort that, were they the only options left on earth, might have me in cloth full-time - one of them had a diagram on the bag that showed how to conduct a standing diaper swap... on someone else. Apparently it's a two-person task, I think based on the assumption that the poor sap in the diaper isn't going to be of much help. Although obviously he can stand around under his own power, or why would you rouse him, just to swap his nappy? 

On the topic of suspected bedwetting, I *think* I wet the bed last night; I was in Lil' Monster, not normally an overnight diaper for me, but since we've moved in and my diapers have been consigned to the far, far corner of our haunted basement, I've been running off of the contents of my drawers exclusively, not having set up any shelving in the closet yet, to use as a buffer, as I did at the last house. Exhausted from climbing up and down ladders and carrying boxes and sorting out why the power company doesn't know we exist, and other things, opened the drawer, saw a Monster and nothing else, shrugged, put it on, and then fell into a deep sleep. I woke up with a wet diaper, not, itself, a very uncommon occurrence, but, I had no memory of doing it, and, it was wet at the top of the very front, nearly to the point of spilling out - if this had been a medium rather than a large, I'd have been changing the bedding. I never, ever intentionally do that. Particularly if "pointed" in the wrong direction, as it seems I likely was. 

Responsibility for what happens when semi-awake is nebulous, legally - people have mounted arguments that they've killed while in that state and weren't culpable. So, maybe I partially woke up and decided to throw open the gates, but, my years of sleeping in a diaper, which go back at least two years prior to my 24/7 journey, have taught me never to trust a lying-on-my-tummy pee. So it doesn't sound like something I'd have done, your Honour. 

[Cruiser 03]

Alex I'll take ghosts of diapers past g

For 1000, 

 

[Little Sherri]

I've been cogitating on the topic of "nose blindness", to use a term that has been popularized lately in commercials. I don't want to deliberately go and crack open Pandora's box, but I have been wondering if I should start a conversation on the topic, or, if it would be better off going unspoken. Specifically, what I am after, is an answer to the question, do I smell at all? I don't believe I do, but, it is rather hard to smell oneself, just at it can be hard to know what ones house smells like, or ones breath, etc. 

My habit since the onset of the apocalypse has been to use two to three diapers a day, usually one larger overnight diaper that I can be in for about 14 - 16 hours, and then a medium-weight diaper that I can wear while running errands with reasonable confidence that I don't have an obvious diaper butt. Sometimes, particularly with the overnight diaper, if it's noon or 2 PM and I've been in it since 10 the previous evening, if I sit in a chair and expel a puff of air from it, or if I have it off to attend to the other of nature's callings, I note that it definitely has a bit of an eau de diaper bouquet, although good disposable diapers really do a fabulous job of halting whatever processes normally take place when a quantity of wee is held at body temperature for half a day. An occasional dabbling in cloth diapers has taught me that, in a state of nature, diapers can go feral with astonishing speed. 

That said, I do wonder... if I can occasionally detect a wet diaper smell about me, and I am, lets face it, generally wearing either a recently-wet, or a long-wet, diaper, the question becomes... could someone with a "fresh" nose detect the scent much more readily? 

The only comment my wife has ever made about diaper-related scents has been with respect to being able to tell I've changed, because I smell like baby powder. She's even gone so far as to say that she prefers me overlaid with the classic baby powder scent, rather than the lavender or other options on the market - we have a couple of bottles of those that I've coopted from time to time, and she's now consigned them to the kids' washroom, having recently bought me two giant bottles of the regular stuff. 

I know that a lot of you folks here wear diapers at least some of the time, and that some of you live with people who wear diapers, or you wear diapers and live with people who don't - have you experienced any commentary from your immediate family, or from anyone else, on the topic? When I run out to pick up some lunch in a diaper I've had on since the night before, do the people in line detect anything? If I'm in the car with my wife, buying paint or whatever, is there something going unsaid, or, am I giving this too much thought? 

[oznl]

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I know that a lot of you folks here wear diapers at least some of the time, and that some of you live with people who wear diapers, or you wear diapers and live with people who don't - have you experienced any commentary from your immediate family, or from anyone else, on the topic? When I run out to pick up some lunch in a diaper I've had on since the night before, do the people in line detect anything? If I'm in the car with my wife, buying paint or whatever, is there something going unsaid, or, am I giving this too much thought? 

I've had the odd complaint from my partner about cloth and there have been occasions where I've been able to smell myself after marinating in wet cloth (eg: overnight).

These have died down somewhat but I suspect this is more to do with her resigning herself to her fate rather than any real improvement.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the "Rockin' Green" anti-funk stuff has done only a little bit of good.

I've caught the odd chemical whiff of a well-used disposable when I've sat down in bed with a morning coffee for example but nothing has ever been said.  I'm not sure she recognises it for what it is.  It sure doesn't smell like pee.

Early on, she told me she'd let me know if there was an odour problem because "someone has to cover your back".  I'm hoping she hasn't forgotten or resiled from this commitment but who knows...

 

[BedWetMark]

19 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

 

That said, I do wonder... if I can occasionally detect a wet diaper smell about me, and I am, lets face it, generally wearing either a recently-wet, or a long-wet, diaper, the question becomes... could someone with a "fresh" nose detect the scent much more readily? 

The only comment my wife has ever made about diaper-related scents has been with respect to being able to tell I've changed, because I smell like baby powder.

My wife has told me both; 1) that I smell and to go shower and change and 2) that I smell really nice and fresh when I came down freshly powdered. 

I think the former time, I'd been sat in the same nappy for too long and I must admit even I could start to smell something wasn't right. 

Although surprisingly, when we've had 'intimate' times and I've stripped off, even I can smell it but nothing is said - we have our fun - then I put everything back on and carry on as normal. Although my sense of smell is considerably better!?

[Little Sherri]

A brief (wink) product review... I'm coming down to the wire on the closing of my previous house, and I spent the day emptying a garage and setting up a new one, a fairly vigorous activity with a lot of walking back and forth, carrying stuff, jumping in and out of the back of a truck, plus, on top of that, the shoveling of a large quantity of heavy wet snow. I did all of the above while wearing a Rearz Lil' Monster, and I have to say that, first of all, the improvements that they made to the tapes are real - these are much, much better, and can be repositioned repeatedly to account for sagging or out-of-diaper sojourns. Secondly, the stuffing has done a good job of staying more or less in place, and the inner lining has not parted ways with the plastic exterior at the gathers, as happens with some diapers. These are definitely designed for active day wear, and not just sleeping, or tranquil end-of-life gazing at the ceiling. 

[oznl]

1 hour ago, Little Sherri said:

A brief (wink) product review... I'm coming down to the wire on the closing of my previous house, and I spent the day emptying a garage and setting up a new one, a fairly vigorous activity with a lot of walking back and forth, carrying stuff, jumping in and out of the back of a truck, plus, on top of that, the shoveling of a large quantity of heavy wet snow. I did all of the above while wearing a Rearz Lil' Monster, and I have to say that, first of all, the improvements that they made to the tapes are real - these are much, much better, and can be repositioned repeatedly to account for sagging or out-of-diaper sojourns. Secondly, the stuffing has done a good job of staying more or less in place, and the inner lining has not parted ways with the plastic exterior at the gathers, as happens with some diapers. These are definitely designed for active day wear, and not just sleeping, or tranquil end-of-life gazing at the ceiling. 

Interesting...  Since the "medium" runs up to a 44" waist, technically that should fit me.  They are available downunder but they seem quite expensive.  A double-case (72 diapers for "large" or 84 for "medium") runs to AUD253 delivered (about CAD245).  How does this compare with shopping locally?

Now that I'm working around the house in the heat, mobility and flexibility is important to me but I also need good absorption.  I've been hydrating like hell to try to stay cool.  Yesterday I completely killed my BetterDry.  It just about fell off me at change time. 

There's also the question of the spouse going ballistic if she sees an infantile pattern on those "things"...

[Moochie]

Two small drops of concentrated scented oil in my diaper keeps me smelling sweet and clean all day at work while I wet.  Just search for scented oils and you will see that there are many different scents, including baby powder.  I never leave home for the office without two drops in my diaper, that is all you need.  Some coworkers have actually commented on how nice I smell.  If they only knew how wet I usually am, my little secret.

[Little Sherri]

Good tip, @Moochie -  I will have a look for that. 

@oznl, a case of Lil' Monsters, which is comprised of three packages of 12, so 36 diapers in the medium size, is $89.99 CAD here, so 84 of them would be about $210 CAD. So $245 is not insane for sending them to the other side of the planet. 

I would recommend that you go with the large size, though, based on what you've said about sizing before; I use the mediums as daytime diapers because they conceal pretty well, but, I wear them as single-tape diapers for that purpose (which does me no good while sleeping, as an aside, because the rise at the front is low enough to take me into the danger zone - if I sleep in a Monster, it is always a large). This may have to do with my atypical dimensions, though - my waist size is solidly in the medium range, at 36 inches, but I have tree trunk-like legs that mean the lower tapes for most medium diapers won't get far enough onto the front panel to hit the landing zone. The exception to this is diapers with stretchy wings (like Bambino Magnifico's). So I won't engage the lower tapes on a medium Lil' Monster until I reach the point in its life cycle where I know that I will absolutely not have to take it off again before I retire it. However, they are very comfortable and resistant to leaks when worn as single-tape diapers, and as I noted before, that single tape on each side holds on heroically. I just fold the remaining flap with the other tape up and under the side panel, and the look becomes very much one of a single-tape diaper, not that that really matters much - I think if they had 8 tapes on each side, my wife wouldn't note it or care. 

If your legs are of normal proportions, you may be fine in a medium. I was raised in the land of ice hockey. 

The print on the Monsters is not exactly babyish... maybe it could be more aptly described as cartoonish. It's not as on-the-nose as Bambino Classico's, for example, with the word "baby" spelled out in alphabet blocks all over it, or the aforementioned Magnifico's with baby dinosaurs in blue, pink and green, wearing diapers themselves. 

[Little Sherri]

Well, I had to prematurely bid adieu to a good diaper, taken too early, because there was asparagus in the chicken pot pie last night. I am scheduled to help friends of my wife move a bunch of flooring up a couple of flights of stairs (the things we do for love), and I had put on a Rearz Elite size medium last night, thinking that I could probably wear it for most of the day today, and that it would work as an out-of-the-house diaper, it being cold out, under bulky clothing. Well, that asparagus was an unconsidered confound. I really, really wanted to just go with it, but when I went back just now for that other of nature's callings, and opened the diaper, there was no question, at least in my mind, that I would be stretching the boundaries of what I could get away with. I had to toss it, even though it probably had 50% of it's life left.

And, I took a shower.  

I've put on one of my gym diapers, a Prevail 360, under a onesie. If I can stretch this one into the evening hours, I can swap it for something that will carry me through to tomorrow morning. 

I'm really, really down to the wire on my decision with respect to if I'm tossing my big boy underwear or not. I've taken down my tires and swapped them, and the summers are going up in the new garage, not back in the old one, so right now all that is on my tire shelf in the old house is a tied off garbage bag containing all my boxer shorts. I still have a few days until they absolutely have to be dealt with. Right now, my plan, if you can call it that, looks like this: scan Black Friday online sales for a good deal on diaper shirts (t-shirt onesies), buy like 5 of them in black, then, toss the underwear, secure in the belief (which is different from "knowledge", I will grant you), that there will be no circumstances under which I will want to have the option to go back to underwear. I've gotten this far without dragging out the ladder to retrieve them, so, in theory, I think I'm ready. 

One of the considerations for me was asking myself how I would feel in a medical situation, wearing a diaper. I have been very lucky up to now that I've mostly traumatized my hands and my head, so what I had on below the waist has never come into the picture, but I know that I'm aging, and that, statistically, ending up in an unanticipated medical situation is becoming more likely, not less likely. 

I wore a diaper to an MRI, which I detailed previously, and it wasn't a big deal, and I've worn them to the doctor, although never in a trousers-off situation. But I have had thoughts, earlier in my diaper "career", when engaging in risky home maintenance tasks, that I wouldn't want to, say, fall off of a 24-foot ladder, wearing a diaper, and get transported to the ER, with the inevitable removal of clothing that entails. But I think I'm past that now. I'm not going to go looking for an opportunity to have to discuss my strange tastes in undergarments with some poor EMS technician, but, my thoughts on it in general, now, are that, in that moment, both I, and the EMS person, will have bigger things on our minds than the pink and blue sea creatures on my diaper. I think I could live with having to "own" my infantile underpants in such a moment, assuming I'm even conscious of it, although I'm sure my wife will request a do-not-resuscitate order if she ever gets called to speak for the broken idiot splayed out in room 3, in just a body cast and a printed diaper. 

Realistically, it's not like having a bag of boxers in the rafters of my garage would be of much help... am I picturing trying to drag my broken form into the garage, maybe? And up a ladder? Or imploring some good Samaritan or family member to please get them for me? It's not very likely going to go down like that. If it ever goes down at all, which, hopefully, it won't. If I have a heart attack at 70 or something, at that point, I'll be well within the "could be back in diapers" demographic, and the absurd print can be ascribed to whimsy. 

[Little Sherri]

Quick entry today; I am copying this over from a reply I posted to someone's thread elsewhere, because it refers to a time I haven't thought much about, but writing about it brought back some memories. 

The topic was sleeping poorly when not wearing a diaper - the member was talking about having a skin issue that precluded sleeping in diapers, and how his Fitbit told the tale of how poorly he was sleeping, compared with previous nights in a diaper. 

I remember as a kid when I finally outgrew bedtime diapers, I had the same issue - I didn't feel "right", sleeping without a diaper on - I had worn a diaper to bed my entire life up to then. But after a stretch of maybe two weeks without wetting, my parents declared victory, and said that I didn't have to wear diapers to bed anymore. However, I had some diapers in my dresser, and no move was made to immediately dispose of them. So, after a couple of nights, I got up after tossing and turning, and put a diaper on, just so that I could sleep soundly. I stretched those last few diapers I had for at least a couple of weeks, because I wasn't wetting them anymore so I'd wear them in bed until the tapes were a mess, sometimes with underwear over them, because in those days the tape technology didn't allow for repeated reuse. 

Looking back upon it now, with insight that I didn't have as a kid, I think that, though I was unwilling to admit it to myself, I wanted to wear diapers. But that epiphany didn't strike me until probably 1.5-2 years later, when I made a diaper for myself out of a large white pillow case, some towels and a white plastic bag, and secretly wore it to bed. 

[Little Sherri]

Another quick update; I had an "acid test" of my now not-so-new "diaper pants" (as my wife calls them) when my in-laws stopped by the house unexpectedly. Today was supposed to be a "diaper day" - the kids at school, my wife out running errands, a pile of month-end paperwork to get through on the computer, some visible-from-the-waist-up online meetings, and a general lack of concern for what diaper I have on, which, in this case, is a Bambino Magnifico - not a small diaper. Well, when I roam the main floor of the house in just a diaper, or in pajama pants or other clothing that does a poor job of camouflaging the lumpy lower half, I always have a "crash kit" - a pair of my oversized jeans - slung over a chair somewhere, in case the FedEx guy comes to the door or the house catches fire or whatever.

I must have felt a disturbance in the force, because something drew me to have a glance out a window on the other side of the house from my office, and behold, my in-laws' car was parked on the driveway. Cue the Benny Hill music as I made a mad dash for the dining room, where my pants where hanging on a chair, thence to pull them on and cinch up my belt just as the doorbell rang. I thought, okay, no problem, let them in, quick greeting, back to the office. But, no, they had stuff in their car, heavy stuff, that they had brought for us, and, my father-in-law wanted to assist with the moving of it, while my mother-in-law supervised. So there I was, walking up and down flights of stairs, sometimes holding things over my head, wondering all the time, is this massive diaper detectable? Has my shirt ridden up at the back? 

When I know I'm going to be hanging around with them, I usually shift over to my gym diapers, the slimmest and quietest of my collection.  Something about their presence makes me self-conscious like nobody else does. AND, I would have worn a onesie, had I known I'd be bending and lifting stuff.  More proof that the universe has a sense of humour. In fact, as I type this, I have also just reminded myself to check the trash in our ensuite bathroom... definitely at least one diaper in there. Lest my mother-in-law seek to "help out" at some point. 

In related news, I did indeed find an amazing Black Friday deal on some onesie t-shirts, so I have bought seven of them, in pursuit of my goal to toss my bag of boxer shorts in the trash sometime next week. Would that I had had the foresight to put one on this morning, but as I said, it was supposed to be a diaper day! I also bought some diapers - Rearz has some killer BF deals on today, 36 piece cases of Lil' Monsters and Splash for $50 CAD ( @oznl - might be worth a look). I would buy a few but my wife would have a stroke. Or wish one on me.

[Little Sherri]

Somehow, having gone over 40 years without ever having done so,  I have now helped with the moving of two pianos in as many months. Pianos are godawful things to shift, particularly up flights of stairs, where they struggle valiantly to kill you if your wits (or your hands) slip for even a moment. I can report a couple of findings: first, I will reiterate what I said before about Rearz Lil' Monsters, which is that they are designed for, or at least, will tolerate, VERY active wear. Second, onesies are, in my opinion, vital to living the diapered life. I put a black t-shirt onesie on under my sweatshirt & jeans yesterday, and when I was huffing and puffing on that staircase, and crawling on my hands and knees securing that piano in the back of a van, all while my buddies assisted, I never once thought, is my diaper showing? My order of several more of them is, I think, a nod to optimism, and a belief that the world will go back to normal at some point, and when it does, I will still be wearing diapers. 

I've been in diapers now for 19 months, but a sea change came for me post-pandemic, when I realized that I much prefer plastic diapers to the slim cloth-backed ones that I had been using for practically all out-of-the-house forays, back when I travelled for work and such. Having gotten used to wearing true ABDL diapers most of the time, which being at home every day makes relatively risk-free,  I don't want to abandon them when (if...) things return somewhat to normal, and I think onesies are the key to that. 

Also, I'm almost down to judgement day on my bag of boxer shorts - they need to either come to the new house, or get tossed, in the next few days. 

[oznl]

6 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Somehow, having gone over 40 years without ever having done so,  I have now helped with the moving of two pianos in as many months. Pianos are godawful things to shift, particularly up flights of stairs, where they struggle valiantly to kill you if your wits (or your hands) slip for even a moment.

I once received similar advice from one of the affable gorillas who was moving us out of our last house perched up three flights of stairs and drilled into a cliff face.

He and a mate were shifting a rather large 120 gallon aquarium down a steep, narrow flight of stairs.  Constructed of 12mm glass, the tank was well over 100 kg and truly awkwardly sized, a construction unforgiving of bumps or drops.

I apologized for what was clearly the worst item of the move.

“Oh no worries!” he said cheerfully.  “At least it’s not a @#$% piano!”.

6 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Also, I'm almost down to judgement day on my bag of boxer shorts - they need to either come to the new house, or get tossed, in the next few days. 

Is it even a question?  Have you checked yourself lately?  I think I've caught my day nappies starting to follow the pattern I went into with my night nappies months ago.  Once or twice I've found myself considerably wetter than I can recall authorising...

[Stroller]

10 hours ago, oznl said:

Is it even a question?  Have you checked yourself lately?  I think I've caught my day nappies starting to follow the pattern I went into with my night nappies months ago.  Once or twice I've found myself considerably wetter than I can recall authorising...

I agree with this.  Your call of course Sherri, but you're probably still holding on to a rope when there's nothing on the other end any more.  And thick nappies during the day, and onesies as a matter of course seem no-brainers too.

Easy for me to say of course, as my working days are over.  But it's worked out well for me.

[Little Sherri]

On 11/29/2020 at 5:40 PM, oznl said:

Is it even a question?  Have you checked yourself lately?

 

On 11/30/2020 at 4:12 AM, Stroller said:

you're probably still holding on to a rope when there's nothing on the other end any more.

With these words of wisdom in my mind, in the end, after months of careful consideration, it came down to an impulse decision. I loaded up the bed of my truck with debris from the old house, destined for the dump, and also some "keep" items, which I stuffed into the passenger seat footwell. Once at the dump, I backed up to the designated bins one at a time, to dispose of the metal, cardboard, wood, paper, and then, the "general waste" bin. As the last of the big bags gracefully arced into the bin, it occurred to me that I had a small trash bag hanging behind the front seat, full of coffee cups and tissues, and that, given that I don't drive the truck every day, some of them had probably been there for a while. So, I opened up the passenger door, reached in, grabbed the small bag of rubbish... and, as though fated, the bag containing my boxers shifted so that when I went to close the door, it was a bit in the way. I paused. I seized it. I looked around, almost as though I was considering disposing of evidence from a crime. I was balanced on a knife edge; a slight breeze could have tipped me either way. But then, I became annoyed with myself, with my indecision, and that annoyance was what toppled me over. I swung the bag, my hand opened, and it was flying. In a second, it was gone from my sight, swallowed by the bin, consigned to an eternity intermingled with broken lampshades and spent coffee pods. 

So, there you have it. I wear diapers. Which I have already done, pretty faithfully, for about 19 months, but now, I no longer have any other options readily at hand. Clearly, this paradigm shift occurred some time ago, but strangely, there is an "exciting and new" feel to life, today. I suppose there is no point in trying to overlay rational waypoints on what is, clearly, an irrational trajectory.