I have a terrible time buying shoes. My foot is skinny, the only thing about me that is skinny, and  finding narrow shoes is difficult, especially at a price I want to pay.  I'm used to paying full price for shoes and I'm used to buying a pair of shoes that fits whether I need them or not.  The chances I'll be able to run out and buy a new pair of shoes when I actually need a new pair of shoes is very slim.

So last week when my very best, very favorite Clarks red clogs totally self destructed I was disturbed.  The sole of one shoe broke in half and the top of the other shoe separated from the sole.  What are the chances that both shoes "went bad" at the very same time? They weren't even worn down or shabby.  They actually looked great until the minute they were unusable.  It was like they had some internal expiration date that said, "make this woman go buy a new pair of shoes."

Today it was raining like mad, with giant puddles, so I pulled out a pair of heavy Eastland slip-ons that I could use to traverse the grocery parking lot.  As I was wandering through the grocery I thought that I had stepped on something soft so I looked at the bottom of my shoe.  The heel had separated from the sole and was sort of dangling and then as I walked I felt the shoe get bigger and bigger on my foot.  Now the top had separated from the bottom along the stitching!  It happened again!  I gingerly walked through the grocery hoping that my shoes didn't literally fall off my feet before I made it to the car.

Once home I chucked them into the garbage bin and now have resigned myself to going shoe shopping in the midst of all the Christmas shopping.  This was something that I definitely did not have on my to-do list.