Where Are My Shoes?!?!?

  

 Not too long after Marv and I were married, I was asked to be in the wedding of my friend who had been my maid of honor. I was looking forward to the whole event. We lived in Paradise and Jo lived in Tulare, so it was a bit of a drive.

Jo’s mom made the bridesmaid dresses and I LOVED the pattern and colors. That was one of my favorite dresses for special occasions, since it wasn’t a typical bridesmaid dress.

We were all packed and had the car loaded and we took off. My parents were Jo’s godparents, so they made the trip as well in their own car.

We got to the motel and unloaded the bags. When it got close to the time we were to be at the rehearsal, I looked for the cute green plastic tote with ALL MY SHOES, as well as Marv’s dress pair. THE BAG WAS NOT THERE. I remembered setting the bag next to our suitcases in the living room by the door. Where it had apparently remained back at the house…

Thankfully, there was a Kinny Shoe Store in Tulare. We didn’t have a whole lot of extra money for a bunch of new shoes, but we did need something decent to wear for the wedding. I had planned on wearing the shoes I wore for my wedding, even though they weren’t the most comfortable. And of course, I had shoes for every other outfit I had packed as well…*sigh*

So, one pair of nice shoes was all I was going to be able to get and they would have to do for the entire weekend.

I got a cute pair of dressy sandals that I LOVED WITH ALL MY HEART! They became my favorites right from the get-go. They were so comfortable! I wore those shoes until they were completely worn out. I was so sad the day I had to finally throw them out.

I still miss Kinny Shoe Store. We had one in Oroville and I really liked their shoes.

And yes, the green tote of shoes was waiting for us when we got home…

Good Times With The Moo

As I said in Monday’s blog, the entire week I was in Fresno was a good one, full of many positives and many things to be thankful for. As for the title of this blog, one of Lia’s many nicknames is ‘Missy Moo’ or sometimes just ‘the Moo’.

Aside from the joy of just being there and playing with Lia, my main side agenda was to find shoes for the wedding. I have humongeous ‘special’ feet that require a certain type of shoe and Walmart and Payless just wasn’t cuttin’ it…SO…I deemed it appropriate to go to a REAL shoe store and get some decent shoes. There was a SAS shoe store in Fresno and I had gone online and knew the style I was going for. They had just what I wanted. They even had a sale going on, so I got the black dress shoes I wanted PLUS a nice white dressy sandal for the summer. It still put me back over $200, but I expect to wear these shoes for a long time to come. AND THEY’RE COMFORTABLE!! In the future, I’ll need to get another pair of black shoes for winter wear, but now that I know of the existence of that store, I can save up for the next shopping trip.

The other big agenda I had was trying to find some neighbor kids for Lia to play with. The last time I was down there, we had gone on a walk and I noticed some kids playing in one of the yards down the street. They weren’t there this trip, but down another street, I noticed some kids and an older adult playing hide and seek. Lia and I walked down there and it turned out that the grandma watched the 2 kids in the mornings. We introduced ourselves and chatted a bit and then I had to get Lia home for lunch. That evening, Sarah went over with us to meet the mom. The next day we went there a bit earlier and Lia had the time of her life with these kids. The girl is almost 3 and the boy is almost 5, so Lia fits right in the middle at 4. Unfortunately, that was the last play time while I was there. The next time we went over, they had something else going on, and after that Lia developed an ear infection and wasn’t able to go out for the next couple of days. So hopefully, Sarah will be able to keep the connection going.

Since next week is Holy Week, and then after Easter Marv and I are going to Virginia for Paul and Anne’s wedding, this will be the last blog until April 20^th. I’m sure I will have lots to write about when I get back!

So until then, God’s blessings to all. Happy Easter. Christ is alive!!

I love men's shoes!

I have big feet. There, I've said it. Not only are they big, they're wide and fairly flat after going barefoot or in sandals most of my life. Once the weather starts getting a little warm, I can't stand to have shoes enclosing my feet. It's hard to find cute shoes in my size that are comfortable. I can't wear pointy toed shoes, or even most closed shoes other than tennis shoes. And I can't wear heels. They kill me. If I have to wear dress shoes, they have to be open-toed with a heel no more than 1½ inches high. I've seen some nice shoes in magazines with closed, square toes, and Aravon makes nice, low-heeled, square toed shoe--but YOW! they're expensive. For something casual that's nicer than a tennis shoe, I shop in the men's department at Walmart. That's where I get my tennis shoes too, by the way. Many years ago, I got my dad a nice pair of velcro strap tennis shoes, because he was no longer able to handle laces. I really liked the style and got myself a pair as well. And we both wore the same size! And I have to admit, it was kinda nice to get a pair of shoes in size 8 (mens) instead of 10 (womens). I later found a real nice pair of casual black slip-on shoes in the mens department that I could get away with for casual dress for church. So that's where I started shopping. I would still wear open-toed women's shoes for wearing with dresses and such, but I just loved the comfort of the men's shoes for everyday and dressy casual. Recently I needed to look for a new pair of casual shoes. So there I was, in the men's shoe aisle at Walmart, in my socks and trying on shoes. I saw a nice, elderly gentleman with a turban and fluffy beard start down the other end of the aisle where I was. He was slowly looking at the shoes and darting glances at me. I had found what I thought was the perfect pair of shoes in brown and was looking to see if they also had them in my size in black, when the man arrived to where I was. He politely said "Am I in the wrong place, or are you?" I explained the reason I was looking at men's shoes and showed him the brown ones I had already picked out and said I found men's shoes more comfortable than women's. He seemed to think that was reasonable and went on with his own shoe search. I found the black shoes I was looking for and bought both pair. THEY ARE GREAT!! I just love them and wear them all the time. In fact, I've worn the brown shoes so much, they're starting to get a bit scuffed, and I've been thinking of going back and getting another brown pair. Although it won't be much more than another month and I will be in sandals until nearly October.