brother can you spare a dime.......

It's been said that money makes the world go round, and there is no doubt that one who has wealth has an easier go on their budget, than one who does not. There is a certain amount of freedom that financial affairs can tend to, making the stress of everyday life untroubling monetarily, if you are part of the 1% who acquire a yearly wage of $100,000.00 or more. The other 99% of us make much less and are mostly part of the group commonly known as "middle class", which only means that most of us are living just above the poverty line anyway.

We are the group that essentially pay for every side of the spectrum. Taxes taken out of our paychecks ensure that medicaid carries on (although it has it's own issues to deal with), while our federal government can willy nilly away money to projects that will never really affect us in our lifetime anyway. Large corporations who make millions upon millions of dollars have artful tax accountants and lawyers that know the loop-holes of deductions.... therefore the middle class tax dollars are usually the funding element that supplements revenue needed.

Most households contain two income family members that see to it that food is on the table, the mortgage is paid, and taxes are dealt with. It has become a way of life for many middle classers, because without the income of two people to keep the family structure afloat, it can become to easy to drift into the ocean of poverty if we don't generate revenue to the contrary. Heck, we can easily float into poverty even if we have two incomes, yet spend too liberally. It's all too easy to fall into the vicious cycle once we get started, especially if we want "stuff".

I've worked hard all my life, and this is no secret to anybody who knows me. When I was a freshman in High School I started working by cleaning summer cabins, babysitting, and generally doing anything that would earn me money. I've even picked apples off the trees in an apple farm so that I could earn $10.00 for the day. Needless to say, I quit that job after the first day, as I knew I had a better capacity to be more useful in other areas. Regardless, it was a job I took on because I was $10.00 short of the money I needed to pay for driving lessons the following Monday at school. I also babysat houses for people who were going away on vacation for the week that didn't want to leave their house empty...... one which included a ghost that liked to play funny tricks on me. I filled in for my Mother at my Dad's office, doing accounting work, typing letters, and answering the phone.

After my High School graduation, my Father sat me down on the front steps to our house and had a long talk with me. It was here that he explained the real meaning of life I would have to deal with in the future. He asked me what my plans were for my future, and silly me, I told him that I would probably get married, have a few kids, and that wonderful white picket fence house I always wanted. "Geez," he said, "What if your husband decides to leave you for his secretary.... or better yet, what if he succumbs to an early death and leaves you with children to take care of, what are you going to do then?" I had no answers, and the tears started flowing easily, because he hadn't drilled me like that before, and all I could see was my future down the drain, when I hadn't even really lived yet. He told me that it was important the I come up with a salable skill.... something that would always earn me money, even if it wasn't a lot, but something to get me into the work force and sustain me if the worst possible scenario happened. Starting at the bottom of a company would surely lead me to the top, as I am a quick learner. To this day, it is still one of the best pieces of advice I've ever had, and I made sure to have the same talk to my son, who poo-pooed my lecture with a shake of his wrist. Not to worry, one day it will all come back to him.... of this I have no doubt.

So instead of going to college, I went into the working world, and never looked back.... except for a small class I took in Interior Design while I was still single. When my son was born, I did take time off to be with him for the first couple of years. Since I was against having anyone raising him but myself, I took the helm and stayed out of the work force to teach him the alphabet, numbers, and even made charts of objects he knew so that he could learn the words. We made wonderful progress, and a lot of Sesame Street programs later, his vocabulary was astounding. Then I noticed a major change in myself. I could no longer communicate with adults.... I was, for lack of a better term, a mental midget. I did not have any friends who had babies the same time I did that lived close, and no real adults to talk with on a daily basis. This condition was so bad that I actually invited some Johovah's Witnesses in one day to have tea, as I needed to talk with someone who was my own age. Hubby worked 2nd shift as a chef in a hotel, so he mainly slept during the day, only getting up at 1 pm to get ready for the 3:00 shift. So, yup, I got bored too. It was here that I decided to make another change and reinvent my lifestyle just a tad. I entered my son in a Mothers Morning Out program (very new at the time) where he was able to be with peers and learn structure outside the home. During my freedom of 4 hours in the morning, I went back to work cleaning apartments, as I needed to generate some revenue into the household without having the constraints of a 9 to 5 job. If I ever wanted to move out of the apartment we lived in and into a real house with a yard, I had to do something other than be at home... I had to earn some money somewhere. Besides, babies aren't cheap, and we were just scratching by on the salary hubby generated.

No, I didn't make a killing, but I was able to enroll my son into a structured daycare school ( and I emphasize school here) where they took great care of him. I had a hard time in the potty-training area, and they took completely over. How wonderful peer pressure can be when you have a stubborn child. To me, it was a great relief, and well worth the $75.00 I shelled out every week. And he loved it! The teachers were wonderful souls who took the time to bring the children on field trips, taught them to swim, and held structured classes. Needless to say, my son flourished, and I could get a real job so we could move out of the apartment we were living in and give him a real yard to play in. When he turned six, we finally were able to take that leap and buy a little house that was a bit of a fixer-upper. The fixing up part would still take many years to achieve, but at least we were out and on our way.

I went through a variety of waitressing jobs (easy, quick money) and was finally able to secure a loan so I could buy a restaurant I was working at that the owners had had enough of. Along with two other partners we kept the restaurant afloat for 18 months before we closed the doors in 1998, and went strictly to catering. With the overhead unloaded off our backs, we did flourish in our field, and started making some serious money. Now I could afford to fix up the simple house and bring it out of the 1970's brown "rut". I could also afford to pay off ALL my debts and buy the 4th vehicle I've ever owned so that I would no longer have to run catering orders and equipment in a hyundai hatchback. Things were starting to look up, yet I still did not squander my money away. I didn't move out of my house, I didn't book trips to Europe, I never have gone to a hairdresser or spa for special treatment, and I don't wear jewelry. I sunk money into a Roth and IRA SEP account, putting it to work for me, while I learned to landscape my yard, and renovate my house. Then 9/11 happened, and catering was considered a perk to corporations who bought lunches for their employee meetings. Revenue went down ever so slightly at first, then the bottom dropped out in May 2005 when my biggest account found a caterer who would charge 50 cents less per person for dinner entrees.... leaving only a voice mail to the effect that they wanted to try other options, and never returning my phone calls to see if we could still compete. Since they were 50% of my yearly revenue, we suffered a big hit. It was time for a re-tooling our business, and we are still in the process of keeping ourselves afloat over this today. Easy come, easy go.... but since I come from meager roots, I never let it get me too far down, because I still know the power of bargains and inexpensive shopping techniques.

So, did I make the wrong move to become my own boss? Did I compromise the welfare of my child because I put him in daycare to pursue a piece of the American dream? Not on your life! I have been able to teach him many things in spite of the fact that he spent some years in daycare. I made sure to verse him in techniques of home economics early, and explained that it was my job to send him out in the world ready to tackle simple tasks such as laundry, baking, cooking dinner, yardwork, credit card statements, check-writing, thank-you notes, job expectations, car problems, and a plethora of menial and daily tasks it takes to get through the day. I did this to ensure the fact that one day he will become a husband, and I didn't want his wife to point a finger at me and say, "Why didn't you teach this boy anything?", because I knew that between his father and I, we have covered the basics. In all of this, he still maintains a 3.8 GPA in college, and I don't anticipate that he will ever be standing on a street corner asking passersby if they can spare a dime. One day he may even be his own boss.... he's just that willful, and I'm just that lucky to have him for a son.

the big easy, part deux.....

It has been a year since Katrina came slamming into the Gulf Coast, leaving behind devastation the likes of which were hard to comprehend. For days we sat by our TV sets to watch the events unfold before our eyes.....as we did on September 11th. It seemed impossible to comprehend the miles of drowned and destroyed towns, as well as the landscape that had wiped away during the destruction of this hurricane, yet it was before us in every news telecast and cable news broadcast. We heard stories of people stranded at the Astrodome, and we saw countless images of other folks trapped on rooftops with signs pleading for help. All the time we wondered in the back of our minds why these people hadn't left. Didn't they know this was the "big one"? We were to find out plenty, and not enough, in the days that followed.

To say our hearts went out to these unfortunate people caught in the path was an understatement.... our hearts bled for them. How could they not? This one storm redefined the term "ultimate natural destruction", and will forever go down in the books as the measure to which all storms going forward are measured by. We did that with the "big ones" of the past: Camille, Andrew and Betsy to name a few. They pale in comparison to Katrina now.

So today we mark the first anniversary of Katrina; which will include a few speeches, pats on the back, and photo ops for the powers that be. And what do we know a year later? Well, we do know that it will still take a long time to put this area back together. That houses were leveled to their foundations, and others that did survive are uninhabitable due to mold and unsanitary conditions, means this project is not something we can clear away as easily as we have done other disasters in the past. This is not something contained to a mile radius..... as it continues on through miles and miles of towns and villages located on the coast, as well as far back inland.
This one storm also came to redefine the charts of insurance coverage. Most insurance companies that you might have been happily paying to for the last 20 years or so are now dropping coverage if you live within 5 miles OF a coast, or raising your rates to astronomical heights.

We also came to find out that people who had no connection to this event used the disadvantage of others to get a piece of the voucher pie that the government issued to the victims. One person was caught spelling her name in a variety of ways in order to receive multiple vouchers. Since there was no real way for the government to check the identity of the people, this practice was easy prey. We also found out that many people who used the vouchers did not do so for the purchase of necessary supplies, but rather for new toys from their wish list.

We know that there are still many displaced folks who still haven't moved back into the region.... as a matter of fact, the phone book for the greater New Orleans area has shrunk to 1/4th of what it previously was. We can't really blame them for being a little leary, after all, one rarely wants to return to the place of fright and ill feelings. For those who called the Gulf Coast their home, and wouldn't let a little hurricane drive them away, have stuck to rebuilding as best they can.... and with whatever help and resources they can get. That takes a lot of guts, a lot of sweat, and a lot of love.

For the folks who used this disaster as personal gain, shame on you for taking advantage of those who truly needed the help. You are a blot on society for your actions. For those who put down their hectic lives and joined in to help out others more needy than yourselves, consider yourself anointed to a higher level human standards. You are the heros, and you will be the folks who bring this lovely piece of real estate back to it's former glory.

And now we wait to see what Ernesto will do......

life in the fast lane.....

Words to the wise.... my sign this week has nothing to do with the way I lead my life. If nothing else, it should read: Hey stupid! You're too old to be moving that fast!
But alas, I'm too stubborn to pay attention.... beside there's much to do, and too many people counting on me to get it done. Nothing worse than being your own OCD counselor.

I've been absent from the blogsphere for the past several days for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost was that blogger and I had a strange relationship to deal with. When I was ready to comment or post, blogger decided to shut down. When blogger was ready for me, I was off getting ready for back-to-back weddings I was catering this weekend. Does the phrase "two ships in the night" ring any bells here? I finally decided to get done what I could, and leave the rest till I could get to it. It compromised my OCD tendencies, but the little fellows on my shoulders were having a hard time keeping up with the arguments, so the brain finally stepped in and took control. Lucky for me, I still have that safety net in place.

It hardly seems like a week from my mini-vacation.... and all I have left to remember it by is a two inch bear I bought in the mountains. (Well, that and plenty of good memories of a great trip, and lots of beautiful birthday presents.) Hubby and I decided to prolong our return home last Monday, and stopped many times on the way to view the pullover vista sights, as well as a few gift shops. It also gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs from the ride. Since we are reaching the age of trick knees and warped hips, it did us well to stop. Nothing hurts more than driving too long, then hobbling out of the car to the creaks of bones and muscle trying to straighten out and remember what walking is like again.

Since I decided to slack off one more day, I took an extra vacation day (Tuesday) to do stuff around the yard, as well as the house. The gardens did well in my absence, as there was a hard rain that passed through. I bow to the rain Gods once more for saving the farm, as it were, and saving me an extra job of watering everybody. The flowers greeted me with their boldness of color, as their long stemmed arms reached to applaud my return. Did they actually miss me? Who knows, but I was pleased that they survived well. A little mow to the long haired lawn, a little nip and tuck to the trimming of the beds, and all was beautiful in the land of Ellen again. Woohoo, except for the tired muscles at the end of the day.

Then it was time to throw myself back into catering work, and there was plenty of it that needed straightening out. My partners did a good job of taking the orders, but it all stopped there. I was left with tablecloths to wash (which I am just getting to now), papers to file, messages to return, money to deposit, silverware to roll and equipment to pack for the two weddings we did this weekend, as well as supplies to gather. I felt like the old woman of the shoe, who had too many kids, she didn't know what to do.... except my kids were all tasks. Setting the priorities, they were all tackled, and I only have one catering to deliver today, then I can enjoy what's left of my weekend..... all few hours of it.

So I hope you will all forgive me for not responding to your wonderful comments on my last post till today, while I have the few moments between tackling the mountain of laundry I was left with from the weekend. I did finally get into blogger (which seems to work nicer in the morning), and will travel around to see all the wonderful posts you all have written as well.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend~

saying goodbye to my forties.......

One always looks forward to the single day of the year when it's time to bring out the cake loaded with candles, in order to celebrate the passing of another year. We always feel a little bit more taller, a little bit wiser, and a little bit more older, and with good reason........ we are!

As a child, the day never comes fast enough, and it seems like an eternity before you can claim the day as yours. It's almost as bad as waiting for Christmas. You know the presents are in hiding, the preparations readied, and the treats already baked or ordered, but the waiting part of the equation drives you into high anticipation. That is until you get to my age. At this point, you do all you can to recall the days, months, and years.... to bring back some semblance of youth and agility that were captured and taken prisoner to the age-Gods. Whether you like it or not, the process is non-negotiable. In order to get here, you must surrender your youth. Not that this is a bad thing to do, as the wisdom you gain is a very big part of the payoff in your favor.

This year I say goodbye to my forties. I turned 49 last Sunday, and I have exactly 362 days left till I hit the half century mark in my life. To say it's been a wild crazy ride would be a slight exaggeration, as the roller coaster knows no bounds to the bends and turns of the track. Whether it's been a fair one or otherwise, it's a ride I strapped into once I left my mother's womb..... and it's been a lot of fun no matter the consequences I've stumbled upon. I'm not wealthy, but I am very rich in other areas. These were always the sustainable factors that kept me from doing things that could have put me into far deeper trouble than I ever bargained for. A good set of standards and morals, a wonderful, loving family, and great friends from all over the globe have been my survival technique..... even though it has taken me this long to realize the secret of my wealth. Perhaps I knew it all along, but for some reason, was never able to identify the actual recipe. What matters is that I know this now.

So being 49 is not a bad thing at all. There are some days I still feel like I'm the 20 year old carefree girl, and some days I feel 80 (especially after a long day on my feet). It really doesn't matter, as it all balances out at the end of the day. I'm only too glad hubby didn't decide to order a cake with all the candles, as it would have resembled the burning of Atlanta all over again. We couldn't have that now, could we?

As for my little get-away to the Smokies...... I had the best time! Nothing greater than a trip to the mountains, family singing Happy Birthday (twice), and lots of cool presents to open. If this is any indication of how the year will go, then bring it on!

time for the getaway......

Waiting all year for vacation moments to arrive has most of us preoccupied, in our stolen moments, from the everyday bustle of life.

Finally I get to go out of town for real.... out of state even. No one will be able to reach me, cause I'll be at a cabin in the mountains for 3 whole nights!

Yippee!

I hear cell reception is not so good up there so that little advise that Karl left on my last post is worthy of doing: Leave the cell phone on my kitchen table, as reception is better there.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend in advance, and I'll be back on Tuesday to check in and read all the wonderful posts you will leave for me.

and..... A very special Happy Birthday to my friend, Neo. May you live long and prosper, grasshopper!

xo~

vacation time......

Well..... four days off in a row will qualify, even if it isn't a full week.

Wouldn't I love to be that fat cat on the couch, one paw on the remote, and another on a cold drink. I'll opt for something different than the beer though. Just the thought of not having to answer a phone for four whole days is making me giddy with glee. It's time to decompress for a bit, and vacation time is a drug you won't find in a pharmacy.

Of course there are a million things to prepare for. Making sure you have all the right outfits, shoes and personal items, and for me, it would be my hairbrush. I cannot get any other brush through my hair successfully, and with hair as long as mine, it's an essential personal item.
I also pack the car with drinks, some snacks, and pillows. We might as well make the best that we can to be comfortable with a long ride ahead of us, as this year the family chose The Smoky Mountains. It wouldn't have been my choice, as we all know how much I love the beach, but this was something decided months back. I wasn't even sure I could take the time off, so the chance to leave town for any reason (even if it wasn't the beach) is a good excuse to not be around for a few days.

In the meantime, there are chores to be completed to ready for this trip, and the pile gets bigger everyday.... no matter how many tasks I seem to complete. Being the bee is the order of the week till Friday when I take off. I can be the cat in the car..... nestled in my pillow, and sleeping peacefully. Yup, I am long overdue for the time away........ but for now, I must return to work.

Four days till TGIF......

rumblings from the sky.......

I don't know about you, but I love to watch thunderstorms ......from the safety of my porch, of course. If I didn't have to worry about being struck, I'd stand out in the middle of a field to watch them.

Hubby and I had the opportunity to pull up front-row seats to a storm that passed through this past weekend. We opened up the garage door, set up comfy chairs, a couple of tea cocktails, and waited for the show to begin. We were not disappointed in the entertainment or antics of the many bolts that came close. A few times we inched back further into the garage because the sound was deafening, and the flash of light (followed by counting to ten) was revealed that the lightening was indeed closer than we thought. The electricity flickered a few times, until it went out completely. There went the air conditioning inside the house..... but at least the outside air had cooled down to a comfortable 80 degrees, compared to the 97 degrees it was just minutes before.

Every night this past week, and several before that, the sky has rumbled and rocked. It hasn't always produced rain as I wished, but I live in a weather void area.....which means it might rain at my neighbors house, while I have full sunshine. I've always wondered about the line of demarcation when it came to storms. What is the actual point where bad weather stops, and good weather starts? I have finally found that spot in my state; it's somewhere near my yard. Strange, but true. I have driven home in a blinding rainstorm, only to get to my street where the birds are chirping, and the squirrels are frolicking about to gather nuts in the gracious sunshine..... not a care in the world to the impending onslaught that may or may not happen.

Maybe they know something I don't, or maybe they are like me. I've gotten to the point where I don't have too much trust in the weather report unless I'm watching it first hand from my window. Yes, it's nice to know about tornados heading my way, and I am grateful to the weathermen who let us know when to evacuate to the basement.... but for the little stuff, I part the curtains. Somehow the map they have is a bit inaccurate to the landscape I'm familiar with. Well, at least it's that way when I watch the Weather Channel. Local news is a better indicator..... they know street names and neighborhoods I can identify.

Yet, hubby is a Weather Channel-watching fool. He could watch it for hours. I like the Storm Stories they have on from time to time, and it's peaked my interest to do one of those dare-devil storm-tracker vacations..... but otherwise, I'd rather snap in a good movie, and wait for the real thing to dominate the sky. That could be a little dangerous, as tornados have popped up out of relatively small storms, but living in that weather-void area, they seem to tumble all around me, not on me. I did have a close call when my son was little. A huge bolt came down and hit the neighbors yard behind me, and traveled in their house via their outside light system. It fried every piece of electronics that was plugged in. I watched it unfold before my eyes, as I just happened to be looking out the window at the precise moment the bolt struck the ground. It was a bit scary, but I'm on a different electricity system than they are, and it never affected me. You see, my house and yard is the line between my little hamlet and the next town north. My back fence is the town line..... another reason for my silly theory about weather-void.

Tonight was no different. The sky has been rumbling for a few hours. We did get enough rain so that I won't have to sneak out and water the poor thirsty gardens, but so much damage has been done by the heat and sun already. My grass is hanging in as best as it can; I've been afraid to take the mower to it, lest I stress out the roots more. The flowers still get all the attention, so they are doing well, but it is a struggle to keep them happy. Most of the beds contain impatiens which are colorful, lovely, and proven growers. The only problem is, they are thirsty buggers, and demand gallons of water on a daily basis.... sometimes twice a day. So when the skies open up, I am grateful to the rain Gods, that I have been spared another chore for the day.

What's that I hear..... more droplets coming down..... ahhh! If this keeps up, I won't have to break any water banning laws for another day or so. Great! Now I can snap in the new Batman movie I've been dying to watch!

thursday funny.....

I was sent this via e-mail this afternoon:

Subject: Political Science Lesson

John, the farmer, was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called pullets and eight to ten roosters, whose job was to fertilize the eggs. The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot, and was replaced.

That took an awful lot of his time so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distrance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

The farmers favorite rooster was old Butch, and a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bell-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. BUT.... to Farmer John's amazement, Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of Butch, he entered him in the county fair. Butch became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result: the judges not only awarded Butch the "No Bell Piece Prize" but they also awarded him the "Pulletsurprise" as well.

Clearly Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.

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Hope you are all having a wonderful Thursday!

heat weary..........

Yes, I'm still here spanning the blog world to read in the few available minutes between orders and phone calls. It's nice to have a computer to play with while I wait in those in-between moments. You'd think I might write, or keep updated more since I have the apparatus and time that allows me to..... but to be honest, I haven't been able to finish any posts I've already archived. I find myself spending the quiet afternoons surfing in and out of the web, and next thing you know, it's 5 PM. Some things are written, but I suffer the affliction of not knowing how to end them... so they are archived, to be edited again and again before I find the magic words: The End.

The heat is playing a major role in my apathetic conduct, and that bothers me most of all. I was once very capable of putting Martha Stewart to shame with my organizational and "done today" attitude. I cold wiz things off a list faster than I could actually think them. These days that list is short or nonexistent. It's far too hot to even care most days. Perhaps it's because I really need that long awaited vacation to loosen the grips of procrastination... to get away from work and phones. Yup, that's it...... I need to decompress....... find a way to rejuvenate.

How nice it would be to find myself by the ocean.... sipping tall iced teas, and nose deep into a book. While cool ocean breezes wash sunshine all over me, I listen to the echoes of sea gulls after a good catch. Glimpses across the water for oncoming boats or dolphins would be my only real distraction, while the sun is allowed to set the day.

Well, that's enough vacation for me for one day. Hate to cut it off, but duty still calls, whether I am ready to come back or not. I have been around to read everyone's posts, which is still my favorite distraction of all, but haven't kept up with comments as well as I'd like. I will make a more concerted effort in that area.

Hope you all are having a peachy Tuesday!

happy feet.......

There are some days when duty calls, and there is no hitting the snooze button to stall the summons. You must hit the door running, and it requires the most comfortable pair of shoes you own to see you through the day. Nothing seems to fit the bill more than a good pair of sneakers.... or as they call them in Atlanta, tennis shoes.
Since I am not a tennis player, and have a New England vocabulary still, I call them sneakers, or "sneaks" for short.

I am very lucky that I get to wear them everyday..... as no caterer is worth a darn in high heels. With as much running around that we do, and slippery kitchen floors to deal with, it's required footwear. When I get home around noonish to do paperwork, I can slip them right off and walk around barefoot; a perk when you have a home office. No matter how comfortable sneakers are, even by noon, your feet are weary of shoes altogether. Slipping off the confines of footwear lessens the barking your feet yell to your legs.

No amount of comfort has been afforded me this week when it comes to shoes. The amount of running around has increased due to a co-worker on vacation, and thankfully due back tomorrow. What started out as a slow and quiet week, actually ended up in a lot of last minute orders. Whoopie! Job security at it's finest. Yet, it takes a toll on the dogs, if you know what I mean. Perhaps it's time to go shoe shopping after all, as I hear switching off shoes throughout the day is the best thing you can do for your feet. Or maybe, I'm just getting foot- cranky in my old age. Naw..... I need to go shoe shopping!

It's not one of my favorite shopping sprees, and I'd rather go grocery shopping if I had my druthers, but we do need foot protection. Since I only own a total of five pairs of shoes, two pairs of dress oxfords, one pair of good sneakers, one pair of yard shoe sneakers, and flip flops, it's time to expand the wardrobe in that area. I actually did venture into a store a few weeks back and loitered through the shoe department. All of a sudden the world went from black and white to beautiful color as the loveliest pair of dress shoes stared back at me from the rack. They were perfect in every way, except they were brown, and I was looking for black shoes. The heel was just enough so that toppling over wouldn't be a problem, and they were even in my size. Best of all, the price was within my budget...just not my budget for that week. I left them on the rack.... not without trying them on first, and doing a little runway walk, of course.

I did buy a pair of new sneakers (Dr. Scholls), and have been spending my time breaking them in a little. New sneakers are nice, but they do require a few wears in order to tame them of their stiffness. Perhaps with this week being busy, it wasn't a good time to give them that test run. Regardless, I never remember that rule when I purchase new shoes. I'm only too happy to wear them immediately.... mostly because I've already over-worn the last pair. (Don't we all, though?)

It should only be a few more days before the sneakers are in comfortable mode, and I won't be running around as much as I have this week. There is light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, and home chores can get some attention before the midnight hour. Thank goodness I can do the home stuff in bare feet..... my favorite attire of all. As hubby says: If your feet aren't comfortable, nothing's comfortable. And I'll be darned if he isn't right about that!