Shoes

Inevitably we trip over a huge pile of shoes as we walk in to the house. There is a wooden box of shoes on the back porch in the garage and then there is my handy-dandy shelf inside the back door packed with shoes. The problem? All of a sudden everyone in the family is having a shoe crisis. My husband wore through the sole on his work shoes -- does lovely things to socks. Mandy has one pair of shoes that fits. Jeff asked me Sunday morning what shoes I wanted Mandy to wear and we tried on about 5 pairs from sandals to boots and only 1 pair fits, size 7 already! And Emma has worn through her shoes so that she looks like a refugee from a manure farm. And then there is me; I am happy throwing my pudgy, swollen feet into my Chaco sandals, but winter is coming. My stock of shoes have been purchased on the cheap and I almost get blisters looking at the fine selection.

We have all these shoes cluttering up our lives and we can't wear most of them. I'm coming around to "quality over quantity" thinking and wish to get rid of the piles of nasty shoes and have good shoes that will last and not give blisters or wear through the soles after 3 months.

Kids are hard because their growth spirts are unpredictable. Emma has grown 4 inches since early spring! But her feet have grown pretty slowly over the years. For Emma we purchased some good quality Roper boots. Try to wear through the soles on these babies! They even have a steal toe. We purchased them a little big, so hopefully she can wear them for awhile and then Mandy can wear them. So far, Emma has worn then every day this week with shorts, skirts, and her currently high-water jeans (on to the next problem).

We haven't decided what to get for Mandy and she will continue to wear her one pair of shoes that fits out in public until I have a moment to think about it. At home she can be barefoot -- the sad life of a second born. She tried on some killer cute boots too, but they were too hard to get off and on. Mandy is a hard one to keep up with. On her last birthday she was wearing a size 3 shoe. 4 sizes in a year makes me less inclined to spend "real" money on shoes for her.

Then there is me. I am so very tired of my blisteringly cute shoe collection. I have one pair of tennies that I wear for walks and the rest are painful. Painful, I tell you. I decided last spring to buy some good shoes and my requirements are that the shoes should go on and off easily, be comfortable, and look good with jeans, jeans, and um, jeans and my multitude of neutral colored shirts and sweaters. I'm a wild one and wear both black and brown, so I imagined a shoe that is bold. Hold on to your seats:

I really like these shoes from Keen in "Matter Brown." But what color are they, really? On all the sites I've looked at they vary from red to pink. But the description is brown. I would do burgundy/red, but not pink. Hmm. My birthday money is already simmering a hole in my online shopping pocket.

I need to find something for the hard-working man in the family too. The flapping sole doesn't look too quality. It should be pretty easy to replace his shoes, but I just need to get to the store.

I think shoe issues are a common problem for families. And today I am going to go through our stash and eliminate the nasty and give away the salvageable. Next time you see us, our feet will be singing and the fear of accidents caused by back-door-entry-shoe-pile-tripping should be completely gone.