Puppy Love

I have never liked dogs.  Mom says I had an encounter as a small child that scared me, and I didn't like dogs after that.  I don't like dog hair all over everything, I don't like how they lick or how they jump, I don't like dog slobber.  And yet here I sit with puppies next to me.  They jump up on me, they lick me, they sleep in the bed with us sometimes, and I have dog hair on all of my clothes.  Oh, and sometimes I break out in hives when they hang out with me.  Which makes me wonder what the hell happened to me?  I can't explain it other than the fact that I've fallen in love with the little buggers.  I'm still not fond of dogs, at least not other people's.  No offense to those other dogs, but the big ones still kind of freak me out with the jumping and licking.  I like them better than I used to, but mine are the best.  (of course).  Don't tell the hubby any of this or he will never ever let me live it down.  Ever.

Here's a little puppy love from me to you:

Now let's just be clear.  All of this mushy love stuff could just as easily go out the window if they ever decide to start chewing on my shoes.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a blogger.  A blogger who doesn't actually have a story to go with that first sentence.  But, I was thinking today how when the nieces and I tell stories, we always start with "once upon a time," just like in fairy tales.  Sometimes the story goes somewhere, and sometimes it's just silly.  After watching the movie The Croods, The Bean and I started ending all of our stories with "and then they DIED!"   (it's not as totally morbid as it sounds, if you've seen the movie, and it makes us giggle)  Before we did this, though, we found ourselves lying on the side porch at my mom's house one summer day and making up a story about her armpit, the horrible Finger that would periodically attack, and the princess who figured out how to befriend the Finger so it would stop attacking the poor land of Armpit.  Then she made me write it down, and we still have.  It's very silly.  And no one DIED!

So, all of this sent me looking for fairytale shoes.  Not Disney Princess shoes, because we've already done those, I just wanted to see what would come up if I typed in fairytale shoes.

I think these have fairy somewhere in their name.  These are definitely happily ever after for me.  Love the color combination.

Are those fairy wings?  They might be, but I prefer to think they are butterflies, because Double A loves butterflies.  Plus, they were definitely a recurring theme in the search.  I can't see myself wearing these for any reason.

But I love this one.  You can just see where it says happily ever after on the heel.  These combine books and shoes, and the color and pattern are fabulous, so why wouldn't I love it?

Wow.  These are crazy over the top.  And they have tights to match.  Want to know something crazy?  I don't hate them.  I'm not going to wear them or the tights, but these make me smile in their insanity.

See?  Another butterfly!  This is dainty and pretty, and I like it better than the first one.  But I think it's almost TOO dainty and pretty for me.  This is a combination that is rarely applied to me.

We finish where we start!  And try not to be frightened, but I like the green ones better than the blue.  I know!  It's like a sign of the apocalypse!  But I like the contrast of the green and blue.  These are cute, but they don't pop quite as much.

So, once upon a time there was a blogger who wrote a post about fairy tales and shoes.  She found interesting shoes and wrote about them.  And the she DIED!  Oh wait, no.  And then she lived happily ever after.  Yeah, I'm thinking it's going to be somewhere between those two options.

Annivesary

Today is my ordination anniversary.  On May 17, 2008 I was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran church.  Usually I don't think a lot about it.  I acknowledge it, usually have a Facebook status about it, maybe blog about it, but I don't usually celebrate it in any formal way.  This year is different, though, and I'm struggling a bit with this day.  Today marks 6 years of my being an ordained pastor, but I haven't actually been doing "pastor-y" things in over 3 months.  I'm still ordained, yes, but I'm not currently at a church, I'm not even currently going to church, and all of my pastor stuff is packed up in boxes in the spare room (which I really need to organize so my sister and brother-in-law have a place to sleep when they get here).  I know I'm still a pastor, but today feels like a weird limbo place, and it's put me into kind of a strange mood.  The hubby may need to entertain himself today as I am total mood swing girl, going from grumpy to pensive to annoyed to whatever, all in the space of a few minutes.  Good times!  So...weird day.  Let's look at some shoes and maybe I'll feel better.

These are the actual shoes I wore for my ordination.  I still have them.  They might be the shortest pair of heels I currently own.

Here are my shoes in motion (weird motion, but still).  My mom made that skirt, and my clerical shirt that is also red and which you can't see in this picture.

And now some red shoes that I liked and thought I'd share.

 

By this point, you can probably pretty much guess what I would say about each shoe, so I'll leave you to your own shoe-thoughts today.

Today is also Syttende Mai, so go do something Norwegian-y.  I would recommend eating lefse or krumkake or rosettes, but that's just me.

Follow-up

I'm tired and would very much like to be sleeping.  Despite actually going to bed at 10:00 tonight, I just couldn't sleep.  So blogging it is.  Here are a couple things that relate to some of my recent posts.

After my post about gingham, Mom said I might like it because she used to make me gingham outfits.  She mentioned a few, but this is the only one I could find a picture of.  This is my 4th birthday.  Not only did my mom make the shirt, but she made the cake (I think that's Cinderella).  I was clearly sassy back then.

Last night's post was about wedges, and I said these reminded me of an outfit I used to have (also made by my mother), but then I found these tonight:

I think these might be closer to the material.  I wish I could find a picture of the outfit.  I'll have to look next time I'm home, because I'm just sure you all want to see it. (that was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it)

This last picture has nothing to do with a previous post.  I present these to you because they were pinned to a board called "Weddings."  Go ahead and take a moment to ponder that wedding.

Wish me luck on the sleeping.  Of course, most of you will be reading this sometime tomorrow, so your luck will be after the fact, but maybe I can stockpile it for tomorrow night.

Down the Pinterest Rabbit Hole

I've been neglecting the recent contributions of the Pinterest Friend, so let's take a look, shall we?

Blue. Polka dots. Ankle straps. Does the PF know me or what?

She was horrified enough by these until she found an entire board filled with them, and then she was even more traumatized. I'm sparing you the whole board because I don't want you to need therapy.

Um...it's a good way to use the doilies around your house...?

I love these in blue! I have them in coral!

See?

Speaking of coral, this is the perfect segue into the party where I got excited about wedges and went searching for more on Pinterest.

I want to like these. I like the colors and the straps, but they just aren't quite right.

Sigh. Love.

Love the color, love the straps, sad about the slingback.

I really like these, but I'm not sure I could pull them off. The fabric reminds me of an outfit I had in junior high. It was shorts, a tank top, and a jacket. My sister had one in different fabric. We were awesome and wore them for Easter.

Enough shoes for the night. I now have to be mean and make the puppies wake up and go outside.

Memory Jogger

Some of the questions my Dr asked when we were talking about my leave and disability were about memory and concentration. Could I focus? Was I forgetting things? Did I know what day of the week it was? I did ok on the stuff he had me do to test all of this, but lately I've been noticing a decline. For instance: I have a hair appointment tomorrow at 1:45. Since the fabulous woman who cuts my hair is in the same town as the church I planned a couple of other errands since I would be making the trip. Imagine my surprise when my phone went off at 1:15 today reminding me of the appointment. Thankfully I had screwed up and put it in at 1:30, so I got a reminder a half an hour before instead of fifteen minutes. But since it's still 35 minutes away, I was late, even with some creative interpretations of the speed limit. Thankfully she was still able (or kind enough) to fit me in. Memory, concentration, and knowing days of the week? Not so much, apparently. But I have found the solution:

Shoe memory games!

They're fun for the whole family, and good for your brain!

Do we really have to specify that they're "lady" shoes? Can't you pretty much tell? 

It even comes in a handy app so I can play it on my phone!

It's the perfect solution. If only I could remember to buy one...

Oooh...Purty

After last night's (fine this morning, whatever) post, I decided that the gingham needed it's own post.  Oh man, was it fun to look through pictures for this one.  I didn't even know I was this big of a fan of gingham until recently.  Maybe it's a phase?  Maybe it's been there all along and only now making itself known?  I don't know, and I don't really care, as I'm enjoying it now.

OK,  so I'm starting out with some polka dots, too.  The first shoe is OK, but second 2 are adorable.  I really need to start wearing heels more often.

Orange!  These are cute, but sadly they are slingbacks.  But I still like the bow on the back of said slingback.

Same shoe as the first picture, only this time in black.  I actually thought this was navy when I found it, but it looks more black to me, now.

Oh dear.  Yellow deserved better than this ugly-ass shoe.

Again, thought it was blue.  Love the shape, even though it obviously would have been better in blue.

OK, these I KNEW were black.  They're a bit superfluous what with the other 2 pair, but I liked the wedge on these.

How fun are these green shoes?

I didn't find any adult shoes in purple, but that's OK, because these are seriously sweet.

I thought yellow needed some vindication.  These are much better.

And some orange that I could actually wear.

I just realized that this post contains no blue.  Please excuse me while I go rectify this horrifying mistake.

There. I feel better now.