Shoes blues
For a few years now, I've taken to refreshing my shoes over Memorial Day weekend. I'm a little late this year, but Saturday was the day to replace my gel liners as well as to shine them up. I worked on 8 pairs of shoes. All got shined and I had 6 sets of replacement liners; I'll need to get two more.
One of those pairs isn't one I wear regularly. They fell out of favor quite some time ago, though I don't recall why. I rediscovered them last year or probably two years ago, likely when we painted the hall closet downstairs, and went, I should wear these! And I did. And promptly discovered that the insoles in that pair had disintegrated, where the rubber lining oozed up around the top part and got on my socks and the inner part of my shoes. It was pretty gross. Upon removing the liner over the weekend, I had to grab a knife--I sacrificed a plastic one--to scrape the stuff out from inside the shoes as best I could. They were not the Dr. Scholl's liners I typically use. This reminds me to only use that brand, as I've not had that same problem with the good doctor's items. I think that's one of the pairs that didn't get new liners since I know I wear the other shoes regularly.
And that would be the other thing I noticed, that I'm to the point where I should replace several of the shoes. My brown flats have not been in great shape for a while; the bottom has been separating from the toe area for several years. It's to the point where I've not been wearing them to work, but flats are great when it's really hot out and I put on a skirt. My other shoes are too clunky for that, plus if I'm in pants, I'm likely in trouser socks and that's not a good look. Another pair of brown shoes, the bottoms separated years ago. There's an actual break between the toe portion and the heel portion of the sole, in front of where my arches would be. That's not good. And, my favorite black shoes are so worn down that there's a hole in the sole by one of the big toes. When I pulled the old liners out, I was able to confirm that it goes all the way through the shoe. Yikes. And never mind that I must walk unevenly, as a number of the heels on my shoes are slanted to some degree. Hmm. That's mildly concerning.
At some point I'll need to go shoe shopping, which is always an exercise in frustration. Most of the time I cannot find a plain, basic style, which is what I prefer. I'd like to find something similar to what I have, but those shoes are old enough that those styles are not available in stores any longer. I haven't purposely gone shopping for shoes in a while, though I did come home from Kohl's last year with a pair of brown boots, which I have worn regularly and are working out okay. They're what I've been choosing to wear instead of the flats. But I'd really like to have decent brown flats again. Now that I'm starting my summer schedule this week (work late Tue/rehearsal Wed/concert Thu), maybe I'll start running errands again on Wednesdays, where I have a little more time to do things. Thursdays, I prefer to get there earlier so I can get a decent parking spot, and I don't know how well-attended our concerts will be now.
One of those pairs isn't one I wear regularly. They fell out of favor quite some time ago, though I don't recall why. I rediscovered them last year or probably two years ago, likely when we painted the hall closet downstairs, and went, I should wear these! And I did. And promptly discovered that the insoles in that pair had disintegrated, where the rubber lining oozed up around the top part and got on my socks and the inner part of my shoes. It was pretty gross. Upon removing the liner over the weekend, I had to grab a knife--I sacrificed a plastic one--to scrape the stuff out from inside the shoes as best I could. They were not the Dr. Scholl's liners I typically use. This reminds me to only use that brand, as I've not had that same problem with the good doctor's items. I think that's one of the pairs that didn't get new liners since I know I wear the other shoes regularly.
And that would be the other thing I noticed, that I'm to the point where I should replace several of the shoes. My brown flats have not been in great shape for a while; the bottom has been separating from the toe area for several years. It's to the point where I've not been wearing them to work, but flats are great when it's really hot out and I put on a skirt. My other shoes are too clunky for that, plus if I'm in pants, I'm likely in trouser socks and that's not a good look. Another pair of brown shoes, the bottoms separated years ago. There's an actual break between the toe portion and the heel portion of the sole, in front of where my arches would be. That's not good. And, my favorite black shoes are so worn down that there's a hole in the sole by one of the big toes. When I pulled the old liners out, I was able to confirm that it goes all the way through the shoe. Yikes. And never mind that I must walk unevenly, as a number of the heels on my shoes are slanted to some degree. Hmm. That's mildly concerning.
At some point I'll need to go shoe shopping, which is always an exercise in frustration. Most of the time I cannot find a plain, basic style, which is what I prefer. I'd like to find something similar to what I have, but those shoes are old enough that those styles are not available in stores any longer. I haven't purposely gone shopping for shoes in a while, though I did come home from Kohl's last year with a pair of brown boots, which I have worn regularly and are working out okay. They're what I've been choosing to wear instead of the flats. But I'd really like to have decent brown flats again. Now that I'm starting my summer schedule this week (work late Tue/rehearsal Wed/concert Thu), maybe I'll start running errands again on Wednesdays, where I have a little more time to do things. Thursdays, I prefer to get there earlier so I can get a decent parking spot, and I don't know how well-attended our concerts will be now.