Because I cannot for the life of me find the camera cable (which must be with Barry’s laptop in Reno) I needed some picture to post. So, here are my new boots, newly arrived from Zappos.com several days earlier than I had expected them. I have been searching for the right black shoes for years. My poor Simples (which they don’t make the same anymore, unfortunately) were purchased way back in the day Barry and I lived in our first basement apartment, just freshly married. I have tried to find something to replace them because they are in a sorry state, and quite uncomfortable to wear these days with the holes in the insoles and all, but I am very picky about shoes. They have to be the right shape, and the toe shape is the most important of all. They can’t be too skinny and make my small feet look silly at the bottom of a pair of properly shaped pants. Anyway, I guess people in Dayton just don’t have good shoe taste because there is ONE store in this entire metropolitan area that carries shoes I like. They did have a sale on Saturday, I went to look for something to spend my Christmas money on (thanks Mom) and almost settled for a pair of Dansko oxfords, but they were so tall and just not me. I have a favorite pair of shoes that I found at the Sierra Trading Post outlet in Cheyenne Wyoming (which is the ONLY thing that makes driving across Wyoming worth it) for $13. They’re Earth shoes and I wear them almost everyday. So I ventured to find another pair, balked at the price (especially after paying $13 for my first pair), but bit the bullet and typed my card number into Zappos.com. Great selection, free shipping, and I just order them on Saturday. They were well worth what I paid. New shoes always add a little twinkle to my eye. I remember sleeping all snuggled with my new Cabbage Patch Kid velcro sneakers, taking in that new shoe smell, for several nights as a little girl.
On the home front, I am surviving single motherhood so far. We’ve had good school 2 days in a row, made a visit to the library, took the dog and all 3 kids for a walk/ scooter/ bike ride quite successfully, listened to 4 CDs of Harry Potter 5, kept the house picked up, sorted, washed, dried, folded and put away laundry, and got everyone to bed on time without ANYONE crying or yelling. Oh, and today it rained, but I let everyone play outside anyway. The kids did a good job of keeping their muddiness outside, but Ellie was COVERED. She was so dejected by her filthiness and my attempts to wipe her off in the garage, that when I decided she just needed a bath I had to carry her upstairs because she wouldn’t budge. The dog bath went as smoothly as a dog bath could go, and no dinner got burnt. I will be very excited to get to run away to New York when Barry gets home though. This is exhausting. I would NEVER EVER want to be a single mom on a permanent basis EVER EVER EVER.