I was a little irked the other day when I went to sign up for my overtime to find that not only could I not do the overtime on Wednesday so that I had Thursday & Friday all to myself, I also couldn’t do 4 hours, only 3 & 1/2 on Thursday, this is not too bad because last week I couldn’t do overtime at all unless I wanted to come in at night – like 7 to 11, this week there were still daytime hours available, they were just short, 10 am to 1:30pm.

I arrived early enough to ensure that next week I’ll be doing my overtime at the time I choose. Then off to the phones, not ever fun & even less so after I got a look at the weather maps & saw what’s headed for VA tomorrow, lots of rain, maybe thunder storms etc. Never a good time & less so with the roof issues caused by the tree which fell back in February. Working when my co-workers are there is always a lot more fun & I was glad to see the first couple of them at 11, by the time it was time to go at 1:30 I was in the swing of things & not at all sure I even wanted to leave, the calls had dropped off a bit & we had time between them, but because of that very thing, I couldn’t stay on the phones!

When I left work I called 18 who told me she was home & the the BF has found a new job, starting Monday so that was a relief, I decided that since they were home for 11 & 8 I’d go run an errand or two, I was expecting my new hammock today & so I went to pick up rope to use to hang the hammock, then I decided after walking around Home Depot in my 2 year old sandals to go to the bank of stores to the side of HD & see if they had any sandals which I could stand.

I’m picky about shoes, especially for someone who kicks them off at every available second, I don’t like thong style shoes because I don’t care for the piece between my toes (I have some, but I wear them less than the other type) I don’t like shoes with a buckle or clasp at the back which will cause me to have to bend over & hook them up or unhook them when I want them on or off.

I prefer something with an elasticized back or no back at all, I have a pair which are elastic straps over the top & at the back but one of them is missing, no one will tell me where it is & I think that Chrissea’s dog might have chewed it up & no one wants to tell me that’s what happened. I liked these shoes so much that last fall when the back on one of them started flapping I glued it back together with tub caulking & held it together in a vise until it was stuck back together permanently.

The pair I wear regularly are more than 2 years old & they’d be perfect if they weren’t just a little too big, the back strap doesn’t fit my ankle & it hurts when it gets under my heel which it does constantly.  They’re a little too strap heavy in the front too- they make my feet sweat, I have a pair of wrap around strap shoes which I bought at the local pharmacy for a quarter a few years ago, but they’re old & they were so cheap I worry about them breaking, plus the straps are colorful & don’t always go with everything.

I’ve been looking at my regular stops, Wal-mart, Target & in the catalogs some crazy shoe company sends me every few weeks, I paid $6.96 for my favorite sandals (the ones with the missing one) & I would never consider paying $59.95 for sandals out of a catalog that I haven’t even tried on to see if they’re comfy or not! I did look though & none of them are even close to what I’m looking for, there are a few I guess I’d settle for if they were within a normal price range.

So I went to the first store, Rugged Wearhouse, which everyone tells me they find great deals at, I never find much of anything there except for 11. I saw some skeetchers which 18 would have loved, but I wasn’t shopping for her, she’s got more shoes than I can even get my head around, she’s one of those people who will wear heels, which I will not. Not comfortable, not on my feet, that is my rule.

Then it was on to Rack Room Shoes, I don’t shoe shop like many people & don’t frequent shoe stores for the most part, so I was a little confused, because I think this store has a branch at the mall about a quarter mile down the road, so I wondered about that as I was walking up & down their 4 aisles of women’s sandals, I’d have been excited if more than half weren’t the thong variety & about another half of the style I want either were only available in browns & tans (I wear a lot of black & one of the few things my mother & grandmother succeeded in drumming into my head is no navy blue or brown with black)

I found one style which I wouldn’t have minded but they only came in silver & gold & I’m just not putting either of those colors on my feet! I found two others which were ok, but one was $49.99 & the other was $59.99. That is just crazy to me! I have bought expensive sandals before & had them break in just a couple of weeks. I got the whole ‘they’re sandals what do you want’ when I took them back. So the shoe store was no dice either.

I wasn’t going back to Target across the parking lot because I’ve been up & down their aisles every time I’ve been there since January & haven’t seen a thing I liked. Payless is right next door to Target but I’ve checked them out recently too. I don’t usually care for their shoes too much anyway. So on to the next place, TJ Maxx, I used to work for Marshalls back in the 1980s & Just walking in the door brought back so many memories, the woman on the jewelery counter even looked like the woman who ran the dressing rooms & answered the phones at the place I worked!

I expected to be disappointed & I wasn’t surprised, they had the size 10 & 10 & 1/2 shoes on the back wall of the shoe dept. As if these sizes were evil pariahs & not good enough to be located with the other shoes! I had restrained my urge to sit in the other stores but I sat down on the bench & ruminated on the shoes.

Another thing I was noticing was that while I loved the looks of the toes of many of the shoes, the backs all had these insanely high heels, I thought a little about using the electric saw to cut the heels off some of the really cute shoes I saw but I tried that exactly once & it was a terrible mess. I wore the shoes a couple of times but I was terrified someone would notice the raw heels or that I’d scratch the linoleum & someone would notice that.

I stumped back to the car back straps flapping on my heels & headed home. Maybe I can find something online!