Thursday, May 7, 2009

Gwennie, Your Challenge Has Opened A Pandora's Box Of Emotions

One of my favorite Blogger buddies Gwen, over at Everything I Like Causes Cancer has reached a blogging milestone. She hit the 600 mark. That's right, 600 posts and still going strong! Way to go Gwen, and a hearty Daily Dandy Congrats for keeping us laughing. Gwen is seriously the best! She is not only completely HILARIOUS, but sweet, smart, generous and caring. The blog world would be so much more of a LOL wonderful place, if there were more Gwens in the bloggersphere, but make no mistake, there is only one Gwen. Go check her out and tell her I sent you. (and if I ever get my butt to St. Louis Gwen, I am so looking you up for a round of drinks)

In honor of her 600th post Gwen asked us to join her in celebrating with her by finding a piece of clothing/footwear/accessory that you can't get rid of.

As she put it:

I suspect everyone has at least one piece of clothing like my pajama top: that pair of shoes you can't seem to throw in the trash despite them being broken down and soleless; that ratty-ass three-quarter-sleeve tee-shirt from the 1986 AC/DC Fly on The Wall tour that is covered in paint stains the same color as your second bathroom; that pair of jeans you finally had to make into cut-off shorts and now you can't get rid of the shorts even though your ass hangs out the bottom like a $2 hooker.

So I want you to do me a favor. Tonight when you get home from work, or today while the kiddos are napping, go find your clothing/footwear/accessory equivalent of my pajama top and take a picture of the revered item. Post the picture on your own blog tomorrow and tell us the story behind it. You don't have to link back to this post because I don't get fussy about stuff like that but please do come back and leave a comment so we can find and enjoy your stories.

I am more than happy to oblige. BUT, little did I know that the item I chose would cause a cacophony of emotions from deep inside me.

You see those raggedy-ass clogs in the picture above? Yeah, they are what's got me into a lather. See, I bought them about three or four years ago at a DSW Shoe Warehouse (read:discount). They are Michael Kors $89.00 cloggy things but I loved them to death....literally. Look at the heel of the shoe on the right, you will see that it has snapped, almost off, just barely hanging by a thread. The thing is, this is not the first time the heel on these suckers have snapped, while I was wearing them. Noooo, this would be the second time, only the first time it was the other shoe's heel that gave out. I contemplated throwing them into the trash then, but decided to research the cost of gluing the wooden heel back on because I became quite attached to the little clogs.

I loved them because they have a great wooden heel (that apparently wasn't strong), and in their prime I wore them to work with dress pants or jeans, as they crossed over into both the casual and office dress genres quite nicely. Not to mention that they are slip ons!! Yahoo for slip ons, I tell you. Easy and looked great. I was in Clog heaven. I always felt great pairing them up with my sexy jeans, they elongated the legs nicely and made be feel sassy.

Now, the good Lord above knows that I own over 6,372 pairs of shoes. Each one unique, some breathtakingly expensive, some not. The initial $89.00 investment on these shoes will be nearly doubled after I have them repaired for the second time, as the first repair cost $45 at my shoe guru's shop. But I can't let them go...After I broke the second shoe, I put them in a bag and threw them in the trash......Then I went back out the garbage can and retrieved them. Yes. I. Did. And I retrieved them again today from my car, so that I could photograph them for you. They've been in there for about a month now, the intention is to get them to the shoe guru, but I keep wrestling with the justification in my mind.

WTF is it with these shoes???? I have bought shoes twenty times more expensive, in less than three seconds, that have never let me down and performed to perfection on command. So what is it about these, inferior, cheaply made, soooo way past the season, clogs that has me in an emotional tailspin?

Christ, I need a shoe psychologist.

17 comments:

Gwen said...

Hahahahaha! You really do love those shoes, miss! I hope the shoe guru can get them fixed again.

My mom wouldn't let me have clogs, arguing that I would turn and break my ankle, which is exactly what I did in the first pair I bought when I got out from under her rule.

Thanks for helping me celebrate! It's good people like you that keep me going!

wigsf said...

I just got me a new digital camera and I've been dying to have something to shoot. So I'll probably rip off this post with an ugly piece of my own.

wigsf said...

Oh, and I've said it before, I'll say it again: if women ruled the world, shoes would be currency.

Heff said...

Women and their shoes (sigh)....

Sass said...

I had a pair of hooker boots that were the same way.

The heel kept breaking, but I loved them so...

And now, I shed a tear. ;)

Tuesday Taylor said...

Wait one minute. Don't EVEN start with the 'shoes/needing a psychologist' issue...

Whiskeymarie said...

I have the same problem- I'll wear the cheapos to death, but the fancy shoes just sit in the closet and pout most of the time.

Whiskeymarie said...

Oh- and I have been known to repair shoes myself, in a pinch. I've used super glue, a stapling gun, duct tape (the shame), and a needle & thread.
Yes- I know how pathetic that sounds.
;)

Anonymous said...

This post does nothing for me without a pic of what goes in them. Shut up Heff!

Wil Harrison.com

Fancy Schmancy said...

I understand the shoe thing only too well. I have at least 20 pair in my closet that I love that either no longer fit or aren't comfortable or are hopelessly out of style that I cannot part with!

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

I am roflmao! Shoe psychologist! Our brains must think that cheap equates a good $$ deal and we all want to feel good about not paying a fortune for our fetish. Ooops...that was my thinking I was talking about!

Btw, the word I have to type in to leave the comment is "keds". What computer brain thought that one up?

Cora said...

Candy, I love you! :-)

Rescuing shoes from the garbage is about the cutest thing I've ever heard! :-)

MJenks said...

Oh. The injustice of it all...

Pop and Ice said...

I could have shown you my absolute fave two pair of sling-back flats from Nine West in which the elastic and buckles hung on by a wing and a prayer, but my shoe repair guy took one look at them, said they couldn't be repaired and dropped them in the trash! I was in shock! My favorite shoes not repairable?! I left without asking for them back but you can believe that I will hold tighter to the next pair of shoes I bring in for evaluation. Also, I haven't been able to find replacements in the same style!

The Dental Maven said...

Girl. I wish I had no idea what you were talking about. But, unfortunately I do.

Furtheron said...

hmm I think the Marillion t-shirt the family all hate is somewhere in this post

I still don't forgive my wife for the numerous rugby shirts that have "disappeared" over the years

~E said...

I have shoes that I bought in 9th grade that I still hang on to and never wear.

Shoes are like the perfect accesory. No matter how much weight you gain or lose, you always fit into your shoes.

I have about 17 pairs hanging on my shoe rack right now...and those are just the ones with heels over 3 inches...

If you find a shoe shrink, send them my way will ya?