While living in the middle of nowhere near a dairy farm might be a nice way of life, this is not what I'm talking about. I just had the worst shoe-shopping episode of my LIFE. Sigh...
It's fall, which means cooler weather and warmer clothes (which, for me doesn't mean too much since I wear sweaters and long sleeves year-round) in richer colors and fabrics. It also means it's Boot Season, and boy are there some lovely specimens out and about!
Since I had to go to the mall and pick up the prizes for next week's Pumpkin Party I decided to look at Burlington Coat Factory for some good boot deals (I love that I can usually find $60+ shoes for $20 or less). I have a pair of black micro-fiber boots from 2 years ago that are still in great shape, but an update would be nice, especially in light of my show size going from an 8/8.5 to a 9 this year. Do you see where this is going?
My calves are too big for any boots that require zipping up and/or have no stretch. Even the ones with stretch and zippers I could only get half-way up. I started to realize that even though my foot is a size 9, my calves--are you ready for this?--are a size 11. Eleven!!! I'm in freaking darg-queen territory by then. I'm going to have to shop at those special 'adult' shops and then stuff the toes and heels so my feet don't slide around. Oh the humiliation.
There is one shining bit of hope: full-stretch knee boots. I found one pair at another (non-mall) store but they were a little more Detroit Rock City than Southern Sophisticate. After wiggling them on (a pox on department stores with shoe sections and no benches/chairs to sit while you try them on) there were no fitting issues, even with the 9.5 I had tried, but the bulbous toe shape and extra 1.5" platform at the ball of the foot (which made it a total 5" heel) were just a little too glam-rock for me. Oh, and did I mention the subtle rose lace pattern screened onto them, only visible when you look closely otherwise it just looks like faux-distressed leather. I left without then, even though they were 30% off.
My favories of the day though were the Pierre Dumas boots (both short and tall) that were multi-colored, very Mondrian. One style had red, black and white color-blocking (a combo I wear quite often) and the other was 2 shades of brown. Both of the short-boot varieties would have come home with me if they'd only had a 10 in each (the nines were just a tad biting at the top edge, just below that dreaded calf muscle).
In my defense, though, I've always had very definied calves and not the shapliest of ankles. Wearing heels a lot has further developed the calf muscles to the point that, now with the extra weight I'm carrying, it's just outside the realm of designer probablity I suppose.
Unfortunately the suede-finish skirt in dark caramel and mock-vest caramel knit/white linen shirt I bought will be unworn for a while until I can find the perfect brown boot. And the I-Must-Wear-Something-As-Soon-As-I-Buy-It gene in me is having real fits with that!
Okay, so I get a lot of junk mail through the USPS as well as email, and plenty of them are offers to join one book/movie/recipe/music club or another. Most of these I skim for the free recipes/patterns included (meant to entice you into buying but I'm too cheap for that...yeah, I take the pennies some places are dumb enough to send too: they're shiny!) and toss the rest of the fluff. A few I might set aside to think about, then throw away later, and a very select few I will join...usually those requiring only the initial purchase and lots of free goodies on the side.
Then yesterday came a blast from the past: the good cook club. Ah yes, in my pre- and during culinary school days I was quite a good customer of theirs. At least half of my cookbook inventory came from them. Anyway, even though I'm not so heaviliy into cooking as I used to be, I still dabble. Then there's the entertaining...I really want to do more of that and I get all gooey over books with menus and recipes for entertaining groups large and small.
Maybe I'll join again...just for a little while. I can quit anytime I want, right???
Granted, I do prefer it to the alternative--don't get me wrong--but returning to it means returning to things like work, school, and 7am wake-ups. Now it's not that I don't like my art class, and work has that whole being-paid-for-your-time thing going for it...but those are small in comparison to being able to sleep in until 9 or 10 am, not to mention the oh-so-wonderful afternoon naps.
What I am waxing somewhat eloquently about? Well, being ill. I know it sounds strange, and believe me when I say that I would have settled for one of the three maladies I was currently cursed with (sinus infection, bronchitis, and double ear infections), but the time off and sympathy were awesome!
Now, of course, things are pretty much back to what passes for normal, and working the last three days have absolutely worn me out! I did finally get the invites out for BYOP^3. and re-connected over at NaNoWriMo for next month. Now to just finish my research (and the album for the CBX contest!).