Shoe Blitz......

I have never thought of myself as a high-maintenance woman, at least not compared to some women I know. I tend toward clothing that is serviceable and comfortable, and I wear things long after they stop being fashionable. (I had a former co-worker who felt duty-bound to point out to me when something was outdated. And she wonders why we aren't friends anymore?)

I don't consider myself much of a shoe person either. (I know, Maggie, it's scandalous. Sorry!) I don't set out to go shoe shopping as a rule; it occurs naturally as a tangential activity to other shopping.

Because I don't shop for shoes very often, I don't usually buy just ONE pair of shoes. That was the case today when I went shopping with both sisters, my mother, and my niece. I bought FOUR pairs of shoes, but the store was having such a good sale that I couldn't pass them up. They will all be called into service, I promise.

(Please overlook the fact that I really need a pedicure. I've been trying to save that hunk of money by doing them myself, and I haven't taken the time to do it lately.)

These may be my favorite out of the new shoes. They were labeled black, but to me they appear more navy in color. And they're Crocs. As a rule I'm not a big fan of Crocs, mainly because they tend to be big and clunky-looking. My sister the nurse will wear nothing else, and I do have a knock-off pair that I wear when I go kayaking, but I don't consider most Crocs worthy of wearing out in public. I really like these, though. They're comfortable (Crocs' main selling point, I think), and they're cute enough to wear with skirts and shorts. Plus they're made of trademark Crocs material (rubber?), so they should be easy to keep clean. And it won't matter if I have to wear them in the rain.

I wanted a new pair of white sandals. The two I had already are in pretty bad shape, and they don't have a strap around the back of my foot. Sometimes I need that strap to keep my shoes from flopping against the bottom of my foot when I walk. And sometimes I need it to keep from walking right out of my shoes. It doesn't show up well in the photo, but these are "shiny," sort of a fake patent-leather look.

I also wanted a pair of brown sandals to wear with khaki shorts and skirts (not that I have many of THOSE). Like my white ones, I have a pair of brown sandals, but not only have they seen their better days, they have become dangerous. They are so slippery that some floor surfaces are precarious. I call these new ones my Roman sandals. Now we just need to go to Rome.

And now for the piece de...... I don't know.

I didn't get a very good shot of the platform portion of these shoes, and the flash makes the color not show up very well. They are sort of a PINK. Maggie, does that get me bonus points? I have two occasions coming up for which I need to dress up a little: one of Hubby's golfing buddies and his wife are renewing their marriage vows, and we are invited. I have a sort of burgundy (or wine) colored dress that I wore to my niece's wedding last August, so I think these shoes will go nicely. They aren't nearly as uncomfortable as it would appear. The platform part has a lot of padding in it, so it's kind of squishy. To be sure, I won't be running any 10K races (or races of any length, to be precise) in them, but I think I'll be able to master walking in them before the event. The week after this ceremony Hubby and I are leaving on a cruise, and I enjoy dressing up for the "formal" evenings on the ship. Hubby does not. I will win.

In addition to the shoes, I bought a cute skirt (what's up with THAT?) and a top that do not go together. So now I will need a top to go with the skirt and a bottom something to go with the top. Sigh. I guess I will have to force myself to go on another shopping spree.

More Chores......

I don't like to make this a "what I did today" blog, but when I manage a bit of industriousness (is that a word?), I feel so proud of myself that I have to share. Besides, as I often say (probably way too often for your general comfort), it's my blog.

First of all, let me say I love the concept of retirement. I'm considering this summer a dress rehearsal for retirement next year. I love the idea of waking up when I wake up, getting up if I feel like it, going back to sleep if I don't. Yesterday it was 5:30 when I felt like getting up. Today it was 7:00. And it doesn't matter which one I choose, because I can take as many naps as I want to!

Sorry. I digress.

This morning I had my coffee as usual and read the newspaper. I remembered that the goodwill folks were coming this morning, and I had not completed The Great Shoe Purge. Because it's the way I roll, it wasn't enough just to go through my shoes. I had to empty the entire contents of my closet and start from scratch. I took pictures initially, but that was slowing the process down too much. I'll post the ones I did take tomorrow night. I may even post a photo of the shoes that Hubby wondered why I DIDN'T give to goodwill.

Anyone want to guess how many pairs of athletic shoes I found? Go ahead, leave a guess in the comments.

I also found several rolls of crumpled wrapping paper. So glad I saved THOSE.

In addition, my closet contained a plethora of tote bags, some gently used, some barely recognizable, and one with the tags still on it. I found a bag that would be the perfect size for BRAG next week, one that would stay flat (everything gets jumbled in my duffel bags). Then I noticed that I had written my name on the bottom .... my name from a previous wifetime. Into the goodwill stack it went, perfect or not.

My other major accomplishment for today was cleaning out the refrigerator. Man, I HATE that chore. Every time I get it all nice and sparkly clean, I tell myself I'm never going to let it get in that shape again. If it gets dirty in the next week and a half, it will definitely be Hubby's fault, since I will be gone most of that time.

What I didn't manage to do today was exercise. I could still go get on the elliptical, but it's downstairs in the basement. And baseball is up here.

From Our "Too Much Time on their Hands" Department Part 2......

Below is the text of another email from above we received at school last week. The reason I had so much trouble finding it last night was that it was in my DELETED files. Now why on earth would I delete something so important?

Workers comp issues:

Our workers' comp. consultant has noted that staff wearing flip-flops is a safety hazard. At the principals' meeting, we concluded that a shoe is a flip-flop if it bends... So, bendable flip-flops are not allowed (for staff only). Thong-style shoes that don't bend are not flip-flops... Open-toed shoes are okay.

Also, we have been asked to remind staff that anyone making a workers’ comp. claim for a fall must pass a drug test within 24 hours of the fall. Insert your own comments on that one.

Wouldn't you just love to be in that meeting of principals as they debated just what constitutes a flip-flop?

This reminds me of a school where I taught. The dress code said students could not wear "rubber flip-flops." When I sent a girl to the office one day for shoes that were clearly flip-flops, she and her mother took them to the school board meeting, where it was determined that they were not indeed made of rubber, but of foam.

The school board later voted to change the wording. The new policy said that students could not wear THRONGED flip-flops. I told my students (because I knew I was leaving the next year) that they could interpret that to mean they could wear flip-flops all they wanted, just not in large numbers.

Back to the current shoe issue. I just cannot understand why these folks have nothing better to do with their time. It makes me wonder if a workers' comp claim has been filed because a staff member had on flip-flops and fell. Hell, I can fall off a floor wearing sneakers. I once fell off a horse that WAS NOT MOVING. I don't see why my own clumsiness has to dictate the footwear of everyone else in the county.

My first reaction to the email was to say, "Wait....don't all shoes bend?"

I stand corrected. I think our new uniform shoe will be this:

Those suckers surely won't bend.

Or how about these?


Or maybe these?


Those suckers are guaranteed not to bend.

And another thing.....

Just who is going to be the checker-of-shoes-to-be-sure-they-don't-bend?

High Heels are of the Devil.....

I very, very rarely wear heels anymore. Hell, I very rarely wear anything that would LOOK good with heels.

Today, though, I decided to wear a pair of heels that I've only worn once before. They were one of the 42 pairs I bought last fall right before school started. Not really, it was only 7 pairs.

Is it 7 pairs? Or 7 pair? You'd think an English teacher would know. One pair is two shoes, but it seems that if you bought 14 shoes, it would be 7 pairs.

Anyway, I have this really cute jacket that sort of requires dressy brown pants, and dressy brown pants require dressy brown heels.

I took a spare pair (that one I KNOW is singular) of brown shoes (flat ones) to school today for that moment when I couldn't take the heels anymore.

But I never put them on.

Having a spare pair of shoes is sort of like having the granny gear on my bicycle. I like knowing it's there, but it's a point of pride not to use it.

Yes, I realize that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. About the bicycle OR the shoes.

So I managed to wear the heels all day. And it wasn't really all that bad.

Except that my day has now mercifully come to an end approximately 5 hours later than it normally does, and approximately 12 hours and 8 minutes since I put those damn shoes on.

I didn't realize when I put the heels on to go to school that I would NOT, as I usually do, come straight home and kick off my shoes.

Today's schedule included a trip to the tanning bed (don't tell my nurse sister), a visit to the hospital to see my mother-in-law (she's still not doing well, but she's in good spirits, for whatever THAT'S worth in the medical world), eating out (a blessing and a nice mid-week surprise), and an unexpected trip to the store with the big red bullseye-looking logo to buy paint for my hoodlums at school so they will FINALLY finish painting the ceiling tile they're doing for a project and get back to real work.

My puppies are tired.

As is the rest of my body and soul.

Goodnight.

Shoe Shopping Spree

I don't normally consider myself a shoe person. In fact, I'm not much of a clothes person at all. I typically have one pair of black shoes, one pair of brown (hey, I'm not COMPLETELY fashion ignorant), and then I come up with as many excuses to wear sneakers to school in a week as I can manage. Because my teaching job actually requires that I sit at my computer for most of the day, I am occasionally without shoes at all. I have even been known to walk across the room barefoot if I think the question I'm answering will be a short one and the superintendent isn't in the building. And my pedicure is fairly recent. (Note to self: Add that to the things-to-do-before-school-starts-back list.)

In the past week, however, while doing my back-to-school-clothes shopping, I have purchased seven.........count 'em, seven....... new pairs of shoes. And I can't wait to wear each and every one of them.Although I didn't particularly like the heel on the above pair, I loved the style. They are for wearing with black pants that lean more to the casual side. I bought two new pairs of black pants. One is rather ordinary; the other is almost denim-like with big legs and white pinstripes. They are awesome. I'd include a picture of them, but they are at the alterations shop having approximately nine inches cut off the bottom. I'm not exaggerating this time.

The above shoes I would have to characterize as "so ugly they're cute." It's hard to see the shiny, almost patent-leather part in the middle. These look like they're straight out of the 90's...... the 1890's. And I love them. They are for wearing with dressy black pants. Those too are being hemmed. Sigh.
I don't usually do heels, either, and the heels on the above aren't as high as it looks. They are very comfortable (so far), and although it's hard to tell in this picture, they are brown, for wearing with dressier tan or brown slacks. Oddly enough NOT being altered, but I didn't think about trying them on with the shoes until after I started this blog. And I'm not getting out of this recliner.

Another black pair for wearing with jeans, casual slacks, capris, or even shorts. Since here in the South it stays warm enough to wear sandals all the way through October, these will probably get a lot of wear. Yes, I can get away with wearing shorts to school. I love my job!
Ironically, the shoes pictured above are the LEAST comfortable out of all my purchases. Go figure! Something about the heel rubbing. I've been trying to wear them around the house to break them in, and all I can manage is about 15 minutes. After that I'm walking kind of like Frankenstein, not bending my leg so the shoe doesn't have an opportunity to rub on my heel. But aren't they cute? They're actually lighter than navy blue, so they may not work with navy slacks. Jeans and shorts perhaps. And bandaids.

These brown shoes are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo comfortable. I'll wear them with casual brown slacks (as soon as I buy some), khakis (as soon as I buy some), and jeans. I had to get over the velcro fastener....makes me feel ancient. But I think these will hold up all the way through winter, if I wear socks.

And naturally, new Reeboks for casual Fridays, when we can wear jeans or denim capris. Or any other day of the week when I can manage something casual-but-not-jeans and wear my sneaks. I usually have one pair of sneakers that look nice enough to wear to school for a few months, and one pair that I don't mind wearing to the park for our daily walk. When the school pair starts looking grungy, I start walking in those and retire the others and buy new ones for school. I have tried other brands of sneakers, but Reeboks are the ones that work best for me. They are true to size, comfortable, and I don't need a long time to break them in.