New Shoes, Whose Shoes?*

I am a sandal-holic. I admit it freely. And not just any sandals...UGLY ones. Yes, I rock the Birkenstock. It's hands down the best part of being a stay at home mom - not having to wear work shoes. Still, every year around this time, as it starts to get wetter and chillier, I think to myself, "Self. You should get some shoes for winter." And every year around January, I'm still pulling on thick wool socks and rocking the 'stocks. 

And every year my mom and sister die a little inside when they see me. (And maybe Tim, too. Though he may also just simply not notice what I'm wearing on my feet.) It's not that they're fashionistas, it just seems they expect me to be one.

A couple of years back, right when I started the whole mom gig, I traded in my Birkenstocks during the winter for a low heeled boot. This was necessitated more by the fact that my new jeans were about an inch longer than I would usually wear them and, rather than hem them or roll them, I just got taller shoes. Problem fixed. But they were a pain to deal with because, hello? Heel. And also? Not slip on - you have to put everything down and zip them up and you can't wear the thick socks you were wearing around the house because they're a completely enclosed shoe so you need a more normal sock and that's not enough for schlepping around the house all day in the winter and, well, I just honestly can't walk long in even an inch of heel because the balls of my feet start to die.

Thus ended the boot. But I gave it the better part of a year. I really did try.

This spring I bought some cute flats for $20 at Target. I think I wore them four times before I donated them because they ate my heel. In fact, I still have the last remnants of the blisters from my last expedition in them trying to heal on my right heel.

This afternoon, while splashing around the car to get the kiddo into his seat and grumbling about how icky Birkenstocks feel when they get wet (cause it's really not pleasant), I determined that I was going to get some winter shoes this year. And so I have ordered these.

They may be too preppy. And I'm not entirely sure what you wear with them...do you wear socks? Do you not? I'm kind of thinking not, but I don't know. You obviously can't wear thick socks. Or white ones. Trouser socks? (Which, of course, I'm out of because they all died shortly after I quit working and I just embraced the fact that I didn't need them and have never replaced them.) Help?!

Now all I need are some new jeans and I'll be set for the winter. (My old jeans are fine, they're only about 18 months old. Except for the whole I don't actually have to unbutton or unzip them to put them on or off. Which is a good thing, mind you, but they're baggy to the point that they look really stupid. And also instead of being about 1" too long, they're about 5" too long because of how far down they slip. Thus, new jeans. Maybe I can find some for shrimps this go-round. )

*It's a riff on Fox in Socks, if you were wondering. "New socks? Two socks. Whose socks? Sue's socks! Who sews Sue's socks?" and so on and so forth.