Turquoise?

I redid my toes recently, and the bottle said the color was turquoise.  I thought it looked more green, and still do, but liked the color and went with it anyway.  What do you think?  Turquoise or more toward the green family?

 

 

Outside, in natural light, they look more green to me.

 

 These are the shoes I wore to church today (not on all the way for the picture, which is why my toes are scrunched), and I definitely thought they looked green in comparison to the shoe, but in this picture, I'm leaning more toward turquoise again.  Go here for a better view of the shoe, although be prepared for creepy first.



 

Inside.  Bathroom light.  Turquoise background.  Looks pretty close the same color.  So what do I know?  Maybe the bottle was correct.

 

In other news, today marks the 6th month anniversary of writing this blog.  I started December 30th, and have only missed 1 day since then.  It's been fun.  Except for my mom, though (hi, Mom!), I'm not really sure anyone actually reads it.  Which is maybe OK, but it seems kind of silly to keep putting stuff out there if no one actually reads any of it.  My page views are definitely on a down-ward trend.  This isn't a pity party (what kind of shoes would I wear to a pity party?), just a throwing it out there kind of deal.  If you read on a regular basis, and would like to continue to read on a regular basis, would you let me know?  Thanks!

 

I Heart Books

If you've met me then you know that I love to read.  I would rather read than do almost anything else, and often I wish I could read while doing other things.  I read novels, mysteries, memoirs, historical fiction, fantasy, and I have a whole list of favorite authors.  One of these authors is Jane Austen.  I love her.  Charlotte Bronte, too.  Emily not so much.  I struggled through Wuthering Heights, and wanted to slap every character in it.  I have read the Jane Austen books multiples times, especially Pride and Prejudice.  I even read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies just for kicks.  I've read some of the Jane Austen fan-fic stuff, too.  Some of it is good, others not so much.  I bring this up, because the other day I was on Pinterest poking around (I still have no idea if I'm doing it "right") and found this:

 

 

Which, I thought was really cool, but it was filed under the Jane Austen section, and these dates range from 1890-1920.  NOT the right era.  But still, we all know how I love a good button hook, and the shoes to go with them.  I would totally wear those boots.  And I've posted some similar shoes to the ones in the top row, before.  I'm sure those decades had some lovely books attributed too them as well.

 

Follow-Up

Hey, remember these?  Today on facebook my second cousin posted this picture for me:

 

It's the same kind of shoe, but this time with actual feet, so I can see how they fit.  I still wouldn't wear them, and I still think they are crazy, not to mention, probably horrible for your feet, but hey, the pictures are fun!  Someone go find a pair and try them on for me, kay?

 

In other news, I finished my Prednisone and antibiotics this week.  Anyone want to place bets on  how soon my next prescriptions will be?



Buffy

The hubby is in OH for a couple of weeks for a family reunion.  I did not get to go because the Sr. Pr. is taking vacation in July, so I'm hanging out at home, parking in the driveway, hogging the bed, and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my free time.  I've seen every episode a million times, but it doesn't stop me from watching again from time to time.  I got sucked into the show when it was in season 5 and I was living in TX.  Thankfully it then went into syndication and I got to catch up on re-runs.  So...Buffy is a vampire slayer (if you didn't catch that from the title, then you probably need more sleep) who also fights demons, and other forces of darkness.  And she tends to fight them in heels.  She also tends to change  her clothes before she goes off to fight.  She hears of some threat that needs to be taken care of, and off she goes, but in the next scene she's wearing a different outfit.  That's some dedication, although, sorry victims who may have died while she was having a wardrobe change...  Anyhoodle, of course there are fan shoes:

 

 

Every time I go searching for shoes for a specific franchise I'm surprised when I find them.  I don't know why.  People have too much time on their hands, and they like to do some strange things with that time.  Apparently I'm not the fan I think I am of these franchises since most of the time I say no way would I wear those shoes.  Although, come to think of it, usually when I say never I end up doing exactly what I said I would never do.  So, look to this blog in the future to see pictures of me wearing shoes with science fiction characters on them...

Ups and Downs

Is anyone else having emotional whiplash from all of the political craziness of the last couple of days?  One friend summed it up this way:  yesterday SCOTUS took us back to the 50s in terms of race and voting issues, while today they brought us into the 21st Century in terms of equality and marriage rights.  Throw in Wendy Davis' filibuster in TX yesterday over a bill about abortion, and holy cow, it's been crazy.  I don't normally talk about politics here (or anywhere, really), because it is so very divisive.  I'm not going to go into it much now, but I will say that I am not the kind of pastor that is normally featured when people complain about Christians.  I'm a liberal feminist.  And a Christian.  And a pastor.  So there.  In honor of all of those roles, here is a picture I found of these shoes in multiple colors:

 

 

Despite their ankle imprisonments, I'm pretty sure I need them in every color.



Love-Hate

I hate these.   I hate the shape and the ankle-imprisonment straps.  I also love these.  If it weren't for the awful black straps, if they were just a multi-colored, graffiti printed pump, I would totally wear them.  Yet one more example of my wishy-washy nature when it comes to shoes.

 

So, I did the 2nd funeral today.  It was long, but nice.  Definitely a different experience from last week.  Sadly I'm still feeling yucky, so my voice started to crack at the end, and I think I might have had a fever.  Oh well.  Now I'm off to a council meeting, and then I take the hubby to the airport.  Such a glamorous life I lead.

Shiny

Today's calendar offering:

These are from the 90s.  I like the shiny, but the overall klunkiness does nothing for me.  I never wore huge shoes in the 90s, but I had a friend who did.  We worked at summer camp together for 2 summers...the 2nd together in the kitchen as Head and Assistant Cook (I was the Assistant).  She wore the biggest shoes of anyone I knew at the time.  They were big and clumpy and loud, and she was the coolest person I knew.  I often wondered how she could walk and stand in those shoes all day in the kitchen.  This was in my Birkenstock phase of life, so I was in awe of her shoes.  This post is dedicated to her, even though I don't know if she actually reads this blog.

Faith Restored

About 5 minutes after I posted my rant about funerals on Friday, I got a phone call from another funeral director asking me to do another service on Tuesday.  I called the husband of the woman whose funeral it would be and got voicemail.  During intermission at the play that night I listened to a message he left asking if we could find time to get together so he could bring pictures and tell me about her so I would know a little something of their lives.  He and his grandson just left after our meeting, and he was totally the opposite of Friday's experience.  He and his wife had been married for 46 years after meeting in Germany while he was in the service.  The met and were married within about 3 months, and she left her family and her country to move here to the states with him.  It was clear from talking to him how much he loved her, and how he wanted to share his experiences of their life together.  After my rant the other day, I want to reiterate that I understand that everyone reacts differently to grief.  I know I was judgy the other day, and I was speaking out of a lot of frustration.  Today's meeting helped to heal a bit of that frustration.

 

So...shoes.  Not an easy transition in this case.  I decided to look for wedding shoes from the 60s, in honor of his sharing their wedding story with me.

 

 

Usual disclaimer...this is what popped up in a search.  I don't take a lot of time to verify that they actually are from the 60s, or are, in fact, wedding shoes.  Hey, Mom...do you still have your wedding shoes?  Wanna send me a picture?

 

Off to See the Wizard

The hubby and I went to Music Circus last night in Sacramento to see The Wizard of Oz.  It was a lot of fun, despite both of us being sick and feeling fairly awful.  We managed not to cough (too much) through the whole thing, and actually had a decent date night.  You know what's coming next, right?  Yep!  Ruby slippers!

 

 

 

Presented to you without comment as I really need to go write about demons and pigs (aka finishing tomorrow's sermon).

 

Awkward

I did a funeral this morning, and it was awkward.  I frequently get calls from funeral homes asking me to do the funeral of a person who grew up Lutheran or was baptized Lutheran, or who might have sat next to a Lutheran person once in a movie theater, but who wasn't very religious. The family then wants a Lutheran funeral, which is fine, and usually they go OK.  It's always slightly awkward to only interact with people while you are burying their loved one, and to speak in a homily about someone you've never met.  Sometimes the families are really engaged and fill me in on stories about their loved one, other times, not so much.  It continually amazes me how so many families have nothing to say when asked about their family member.  I understand they are grieving and that makes things difficult.  I understand that every family has different dynamics.  I understand that if you didn't grow up in a family that went to church you are going to want me to choose scripture readings for you.  But lately it seems like most of these that I do involve an awkward conversation where I ask them to tell me about their loved one and I get a few mumbled responses in reply.  I'm also noticing that the obituaries are frankly pathetic.  The last 5 or so funerals I have done for non-members have literally all included some variation on this obituary:  Birth and death dates, who she married, and that she liked to garden.  Seriously?  8 or 9 decades of life and that's all you can say about your mother?  I'm not saying you should write a novel, and I know obits can get pricey, but can  you try to put some life into it?  I then have to give the most generic homily ever because I'm not going to stand up and say, well, she was a child of God who apparently liked to garden.  Today's was also awkward because the family clearly didn't want to be there.  No one participated in any way, even when things were printed out for them.  Not much eye contact.  And the sound system gave out, which means I had to basically yell for 20 minutes.  That did not help my bronchitis.

 

OK, enough, complaining.  I was happy to see the calendar picture for today, because it gave me some much needed levity:

 

 

I've seen this shoe in lots of various places, but still giggled when it popped up today.  It's a slide shoe shaped like a slide!  I would have to have a very specific reason to wear these, but they do crack me up.  So I leave you with this today:  wear funny shoes occasionally, and come up with better stories for your loved ones' obits than that they liked to garden.

 

Amazing Preschool Teachers

As the post title suggests, we have some awesome and amazing preschool teachers here at church.  We have a program for 3 year olds, 4 year olds, and Kinder-ready, and our entire staff is really wonderful.  I'm giving them a shout-out today, but they deserve it every day because they are so creative, patient, and loving with our children.  Today I could hear one child having an absolute fit about something, and the teacher dealing with him just kept using the same calm voice to talk to him and help him until he calmed down.  They deal with temper tantrums, transition issues, separation anxiety, children on the spectrum, and much much more.  I know they get frustrated a lot, but I have to commend them on how they handle both themselves and the children.  I try to take tips from watching them interact with their students.  I know I'm not always as patient as I could be, and I know I get frustrated too easily, so they are all wonderful role models.  In honor of them and the work they do, here are some creative, hilarious, and somewhat weird foot crafts for preschoolers:

 



Blech

I mentioned the other day that I was pretty sure I had bronchitis and another sinus infection.  Sometimes it sucks to be right.  I saw my PA yesterday and my pulmonologist today, and sure enough, I have both.  So I'm back on Prednisone and Augmentin.  I really hate my body sometimes.  Now the husband is sick, too.  I'm totally jealous that he gets to stay home while I drag my whiny butt to work.  I preached tonight, and I have a funeral on Friday, and I preach again on Sunday.  I deserve new shoes.  OK, I don't deserve shoes.  But a girl can dream, right?  Here are a few selections from the site that shall not be named because it attracts spammers:

 

 

I'm just *sure* that any or all of these would make me feel much much better!

 

Cake Shoes

I love it when my facebook friends provide me with some inspiration for posts.  Today it was our music and worship director at church who tagged me in this picture:

 

Cute!  And these are some fleep flops I could get behind.  I don't have to worry about the thing between my toes because I would just eat it!  Or throw it away, depending on what it was made of.  This cake looks much easier to make than the one I showed awhile back:

 

 

And a lot prettier and less disgusting than these cake shoes I've also shown before:

 



 

So there  you go.  Cake and shoes; shoes and cake.  In case you were looking to combine your love of all things culinary and shoe-related.



Catch-Up

I haven't blogged about the calendar in over a week.  Mostly because I keep forgetting/am too lazy to take pictures.  So I will catch you up today.  They've been pretty interesting, both good and bad.

 

 

Between the heel shape and the colors, I'm sure you've already guessed that these are from the 80s.  Not my favorite.

 

Also not my favorite.  Unless I needed to kick someone, and then maybe these would be my go-to boot.

 

Also from the 80s.  I find these oddly intriguing.  I hate them, and yet a tiny part of me thinks they're kind of cute.  Except they aren't.  Gaaah...they've brain washed me!

 

Shoes that can stand up on their own!

 

This is a terrible picture, but these are green, velvet boots from the 90s.  Love them.  I had a green pair of heels with an ankle strap that were this same color green velvet and I loved them too.

 



Love the color, like the shape, hate the material. 







 

Love them.  Want them for my retro shoe closet.  Maybe not in pink.

 

LOVE them!  They remind me of an embroidered skirt I once had.  I also want these for my imaginary retro shoe closet.



 

Holy cow, these are hideous.  They are a leather shoe with an upper made of woven, plastic garlands.  Why on earth is this necessary in life?

 

More 80s.  Cute, but they don't necessarily need a place in my closet.

 

Fuzzy Socks

As usual, post-camp, I have gotten sick.  Feels like another sinus infection and possibly bronchitis, but I won't know for sure until I see the doctor on Tuesday.  Being sick makes me want to snuggle in bed in comfy clothes and fuzzy socks.  At least if it wasn't summer, and hot.  But, I've been thinking about fuzzy socks so here you go:

 

 

Yay stripes!  I would like a pair of each, please.

 

Usually I love polka dots, and I like these just fine, but not as much as I love the stripes.

 

Oooh, stripes AND cute animal faces!  Actually, the hubby got me some like these a couple of Christmases ago.  He got the frogs with variegated green stripes, and pink striped ones with pigs.  I called them my Fighting Frogs of Fury.  I had a name for the pigs, too, but now I can't remember it.  Something with P alliteration.  For now, though, I will take my non fuzzy striped sock feet to bed and try to feel better.

 

Calendars

I have missed out on so many page-a-day shoe calendars the past few years.  So many possibilities for crazy.  Here are just a few that I snagged when I did a search.

 

Clearly I have not been paying attention.  Clearly I will have to look for next year's versions.

 

I'm still tired.  I slept in this morning, but I haven't caught up yet.  The hubby and I went to a graduation party today for the daughter of a friend.  It was nice, and we enjoyed ourselves, but I was drooping by the end.  I finally had to make the hubby take me home before I fell asleep right at our table.  I'm contemplating going to sleep right now and it's only 8:10.  Wild and crazy...that's me.