I Love My Boots

So I don't know what's up with this school district. Yesterday was a throwback to the panic/reactionary times of a few years ago. (One winter they canceled school the night before and it never did anything--no snow, no ice, no rain. It was infuriating.) We had predictions of an ice storm, and it came, but they did a one-hour early dismissal even though nothing was happening yet, and nothing did happen until a couple of hours after the kids were home.

Today, with an inch of ice on everything, freezing rain still coming down, the roads fine but with patchy ice and slipperiness--far more than the nothing we had yesterday!--we only had a two-hour delay. I just don't get it.

Anyway, with the ice storm, I got to try my new boots. I have a pair of cheap men's waterproof construction boots that keep my feet dry but have NO tread, and an old pair of hiking boots that have good tread and are lightweight but have no waterproofing and even if I spray them, they're uninsulated so my feet get cold

So we were shopping for shoes last week, and due to a rockin' discount we had four pairs of sneakers, a pair of sheepskin slippers, and a package of socks and were still under budget. I tried on a pair of boots that I knew I'd be getting for less than half the "suggested retail" and the first pair fit perfectly, cradling my feet. Now, this never happens. I have weird feet. Before I had my kids, they measured 6EEE but I wore a 9C or D, depending on the style of shoe. I haven't done an actual measurement since, because I know my feet and I worked in a full-service shoe store so I know how to fit shoes, but with the normal loosening of the joints that pregnancy causes, and the fact that I've only worn flat shoes for the last 10 or 15 years, they've spread even more. So finding a pair of shoes that's wide enough without being too freakin' long or pinching somewhere or having the arch hit me wrong is a miracle. So I bought them.

Today I got to wear them, and OMG, they are awesome. So warm and dry and light and I have no fear of skidding on the ice. I mean, even the best tread is going to allow occasional slipping, but these at least have some grip. So today, I got to start off gleeful. :)