Earth Day

So, it's been a month and 20 days since I last posted.  I've thought about it a bunch, but like so many things right now, I don't seem to get around to it.  Work has been crazy, life has been crazy, things have been super stressful.  Blah...I won't bore you with the details because they are numerous and they don't even seem plausible when listed all together.  I'll just say that prayers, as always, are appreciated, and if things don't change soon, there will need to be some major changes in our lives.

Let's move on.  It's been forever since I posted, so you don't need to read a bunch of my whining.  Today is Earth Day, and there were lots of Marches for Science around the country.  I didn't march, but had good friends who did.  Instead I will post some earth-themed shoes.  Which is a little ridiculous, and I don't mean to make light of the day, it's just a theme for tonight's post since I'm actually getting around to posting something.

Let's just look at shoes, k?

If these had better arch support (I'm assuming they don't), they'd be great to wear for a march.

I love these.  The colors are so fun.

These would also be on-point for a march.

Love the green.  You know my thoughts about the rest.

These crack me up.  Earths wearing glasses!  I love the Tom's above, but these might be my favorite.

Not my most in-depth post, but hey, I had to start back somewhere.  I can't guarantee I'll post more frequently, but wouldn't it be nice if life calmed down enough to let me?

Seems Fishy

A friend (a new friend!  Yay new friends!) posted this on my Facebook wall yesterday:

She said she was interested in knowing what I might write about it.  And I don't know what to write about this thing.  It's a fish shoe, obviously.  And it's fairly hideous.  It should be filed under WHY?  And WHO BUYS THIS??  Oh Nike, go home.  You're drunk.

You know I went in search of more:

Well these just look dead.  Depending on whose feet have been in them, they might smell dead, too.

Noooooo!  Poor fishies.  It said the sole slides back so you can feed them, but why would you make them slosh around while you danced on your stripper pole?  So wrong.

Also wrong.  That fish looks shocked to find it's been made into a shoe.

These at least have some whimsy.  And they're blue.  They're still a world of no, though.

Um...why?  Is there  Vegas showgirl outfit that this goes with?  Because I don't want to see it.

So, thanks, new friend for this crazy post that made me laugh!  I've decided her nickname on the blog will be The Canadian.  First, because she's Canadian and I'm not creative with the blog nicknames, and second, because THE Canadian (with the definitive article) sounds way cool, and she is way cool.

Cable Cars

One day last week (I think?) was Cable Car Day.  I'm too lazy to go back and check. Anyway, I started a post for that day because I don't live that far from San Francisco and cable cars are awesome.  Unfortunately I got sidetracked that day and didn't finish the post, and also haven't had a chance to get back to it due to either busy-ness or just plain forgetfulness.

I'm at the office, currently on hold with customer service, so this seems like a good way to pass the time.  Let's look at shoes, Okay?

Love the scene.  Still hate that I would be stepping on the pretty part.  Oh, and flip flops in general.

Blue!  Zazzle always has my theme.

I love these, too.  I need to wear them the next time I go to San Francisco.  And then I would have to ride a cable car, of course.

Or these, but I like the whimsy of the above pair better.

Very similar, but I really like the red colorl

So there you have it.  Cable Cars.  Way late, but that's not the shoes fault.  Hope your week is going well, and your upcoming weekend is great!

Miser Brothers

You want to know something cool about having a family who owns a movie theater?  Watching Christmas movies on the big screen!  Tonight Double, Dad, the Brother, and I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Year Without a Santa Claus.  Ostensibly it was to make sure that the new doohickey was working because the last time we watched a movie the sound was all wonky (yep, those are totally technical terms), but mostly it was just to go watch Christmas movies on the big screen.  I've already done Grinch shoes, so tonight I went in search of Heat Miser and Snow Miser shoes.

Fleep flops!  I won't even make my usual snarky remarks.

Both Double A and The Bean are quite good drawers and painters.  Maybe I should get them started on all of the themed, hand-painted shoes I need?

That's all I could find for shoes, but I found a few other things:

Usually I say cookies like this are almost too pretty to eat, but that Heat Miser cookie might be too scary to eat!

Hilarious.  The brother needs these.

I would totally do this on my toes!  Again, Double A can paint, and often does fun things on her fingernails, I wonder if I could talk her into trying this on my toes?

If you've never seen A Year Without a Santa Claus then your life is sad.  You need to watch it so you can learn the words and sing along with the Miser Brothers!

Sleigh Bells

After helping with last night's post Flower suggested that tonight's post should be sleigh bells.  She didn't get a chance to help me choose this time, but here are some of the shoes I found:

I'm not sure I'd classify those as sleigh bells, but hey, what do I know?  My feet would cover them up anyway, so it doesn't really matter. 

 Zazzle comes through again!  You know I love the color.

I think this is adorable, and it would be an easy DIY project.

More Zazzle.  Love the plaid.

And again with the DIY.  So cute.  Of course, the jingling might drive you crazy if you have an overly exuberant kicking baby.

 

These are velvet, and probably my least favorite of the bunch.  I don't hate them, but they aren't grabbing me tonight.  

So today was another good day with the nieces and seester, except for the fact that last night was awful.  I woke up at around 2:00 with a massive headache that finally caused me to throw up around 4:00.  That was actually a good thing as only then did the headache subside to a level where I could sleep for a couple of hours.  I made it to church with the family, which was lovely, but the headache has never fully gone away today.  I'm about to go to bed because it's still lurking.  Poor seester feels terrible because this same thing happened 2 years ago when I was staying with her.  I don't think it has anything to do with her house.  It's most likely a combination of tension, sore muscles in my neck and shoulders, and hormones.  It was a weird headache, though, because it felt like something(s) were stabbing me in both temples, through the bridge of my nose, and in both eardrums.  Rude.  Oh well, any day with niece snuggles is a pretty darn good day despite my not being the most fun auntie in the world.

All Saints

November 1st is All Saints' Day on the liturgical calendar.  This is the day when we remember all of who have died, especially those who have died in the past year.  If you are Lutheran (and a few other denominations), chances are good you'll be singing  this hymn on Sunday:

"For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest"
by William W. How, 1823-1897

1. For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confess,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Or, if you're like me, you've been singing it all day today because it's been stuck in your head.  At any rate, I went looking for saint shoes for tonight's post:

Of course, the majority of what pops up are along these lines, which isn't exactly what I was going for, so I had to look a little harder.

This is more along the lines of what I had in mind, but it seems extremely disrespectful to be stomping around on icons and the faces of the saints.

Less disrespectful (?), but I'm thinking I'll stick with icons that sit on a shelf or hang on a wall rather than go on my feet.

Today I've been thinking about my dad's sister who died unexpectedly recently.  As always I also think of my grandparents and many other loved ones who have died.  I hope you are able to celebrate the lives of your loved ones who have died as well, even as you grieve them.

Xylophones

I've talked to my mom (Hi, Mom!) a few times this week, which is always nice, and first, she said that the seester had a Is-It-A-Werewolf-Or-Is-It-An-Owl? experience yesterday, which is hilarious in it's own right, but also hilarious considering yesterday's post was ALSO about werewolves.  Great sisters think alike?

We were also talking about my Great Uncle Charles' (Uncle Chuck - my dad's mother's brother) upcoming 90th birthday party next week in Oregon.  This man was one of my absolute favorite people when I was growing up.  He would just show up sometimes to say hi, which always meant I got lots of snuggle time and often got to go to the store to pick out a toy.  What's not to love in that scenario?  Here we are in 1986:

Notice I'm plunked on his lap, despite being 11.  I think the look on his face says he thought I was OK, too.  As Mom and I were talking, I was also telling the hubby about Uncle Chuck and his visits, and it made me think of one time when he came and I got to pick out a toy, so of course I chose the most annoying thing (for everyone else) I could find:

A xylophone pull toy!  (I was NOT eleven when I chose this, in case you were wondering)  It not only made noise when I played, it also made noise when you pulled it around.  How fun!  I could be musical and annoy the whole family in one fell swoop!  Sorry, family.  I hope you don't still hate me.

This memory made me smile, and then go look for xylophone shoes.

Kind of blah, but hey! Xylophone shoes!

Not blah.  Absolutely adorable.

Cute and colorful, but again with the fleep flop issues...

Less cute colorful.  Still same fleep flop issues.

This isn't a xylophone shoe per se, but it kept coming up in my searches and it certainly evokes some of the more colorful options up above, so I decided to include it.  Because it's cute and strappy and rainbowy.

Thank you, Mom, Uncle Chuck, and Xylophones for inspiring today's post.

On a much heavier note:  yesterday's bad day turned into today's truly horrible day.  My screw-up went from not good to monumentally bad, and I'm not sure I'll be able to fix it.  I'm sorry to be vague, but I'm talking life-altering here, and not just for me.  Prayers would be appreciated greatly.

I Wasn't Aware

NO I'M NOT YELLING AT YOU, IT'S JUST THAT TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY AND THIS SEEMS LIKE THE BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE.

That's enough celebrating.  I can't type in all caps, it drives me crazy because it looks angry.  Yesterday was Reptile Awareness Day and I clearly wasn't aware.  Poor bearded dragons should have gotten to celebrate, but I was lacking in awareness.  I might have to give them meal worms today to make up for it.  In the meantime, let's look at some reptile shoes.

So first the bearded dragon gets split in 2 and then we step on its face?  Sooooo rude.

Oh. Dear. Gods.  Why do these exist?  And who buys them?

I need a palate cleanser after that last pair.  Baby turtles (turtle baby shoes?) are much better.

Poisonous frog rain boots!

Zazzle really does have everything.  Orange gecko high tops.  Black, orange, and white were my school colors, and are the school colors for all of the nieces (3 different schools in 3 different towns, all the same school colors). I should get these for the nieces.

 

OK, I know dragons aren't real, but these were too cute to pass up.  No one said reptile awareness day was only for real reptiles.

Enjoy your Saturday, whatever it might entail, just please don't type in all caps.

Dogs and Cats

Today is Assistance Dog Day, International Cat Day, and Happy Odie Day, so today's shoe choices, at least to me, are obvious:

I just realized that the flip flops don't actually have Odie pictured.  Rude.  I always liked Garfield and Odie.  Poor Odie always gets picked on by Garfield, but he's such a sweet, dumb dog that I had to like him.  Which is kind of funny as one of the things I always disliked about dogs growing up was that they licked and Odie is a slobber machine.  Oh well.

In other news, now I have puppies and I actually like them.  I realize this is not news to those of you reading right now.

In other other news, once upon a time we had a cat.  The cat hated me.  The end.

In other other other news, it's Monday and I'm tired, and a little bit grumpy for reasons that may or may not be reasonable. I haven't decided yet.