Before I had children, as a professional young woman, I loved shoes. Open-toed, high-heeled, strappy, and always keee-ute!
As a stay-at-home-mom, I still love shoes. Especially those fashionable, outfit-making shoes that make me feel like hot stuff when I slip them on. Problem is, I rarely have the occasion to do so, and when I do, my feet hurt. When I was pregnant with Joshua, my arches fell, and my feet are quite a bit flatter than they use to be. So “normal” shoes really hurt my feet, and going barefoot is worse than wearing heels. So, most days you will see me in shoes like this:
Or this:
They’re so comfortable, and I soooo love them. But let’s face it, they’re not that cute. And I do miss the cute ones. ‘Cause I love shoes.
But I also hate shoes.
When you have a family, shoes become clutter. To try and combat this, I have a tub in the corner of my living room, which I have nerdily cleverly dubbed “The Shoe Box”. I know, I’m brilliant. The Shoe Box works great, when people put their shoes in it. Problem: I’m the only “people” that puts my shoes in it. So, I find shoes here:
(in the closed seat of our old school desk)
And here:
And here:
(my shoe is there because Joshua loooves to get my colorful shoes out and play with them. I swear!!)
And here (with perfect accessory, sparkly toy Cinderella phone):
And when I get tired of tripping over them, I return them to their home, here:
Yikes!! Looks like it’s time to get rid of some shoes…but I love shoes…maybe we’ll just get a bigger Shoe Box!
(Hey you know what rhymes with shoes? Reviews! And I just posted a new one over at Reviewin’ It Up! SO go check it out!)
when you find a solution, let me know. We have laundry baskets (3) in our living room… one for me, one for Faith, and John and Lucy share one (since he only has 3 pair and hers are small).
Don’t feel bad about wearing shoes that aren’t so “cute.” I’ve never been able to wear cute shoes as my feet hurt ALL the time (bad genes I guess). I have no solution either…some are thrown in my closet, the front closet, heck even my husband’s closet (until he yells at me to move them!). Others that I wear more often remain in the kitchen or hallway or wherever…yeah I think I need a solution too!
i found that magic erasers clean up those foamy plastic shoes really well (my brain went completely blank when i tried to name them….) when the kids step on my feet and leave scuff marks and stuff it cleans them like new…i love shoes too. but hate wearing the cute ones…
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerddddredrddwrrer right by the shoe bin. Was that extra 3 inches too far to go??? (sigh)
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerddddredrddwrrer —–let this be a lesson to you. Never eat a Sonic coney dog while you’re on your laptop. I got chili on my “e.” 😉
Ok, now, where was I? Oh yeah, shoes….
We have a (creatively named) “shoe bin” by the door. And, like in your house, it seems to sometimes have a “shoe repellant” in it. What cracks me up (or makes me scream) is when shoes are sitting right by the shoe bin. Was that extra 3 inches too far to go??? (sigh)
Not sure what happened to the rest of my comment –1/2 of it was eaten! So I’ll try again.
We have a shoe box, too! I feel like I never see them at other people’s houses – but what do they do with their shoes if they don’t have one? 🙂
We have ****8****Shoe boxes – 1 per person – soon to be 9 since Isabel needs one too. The punishment for not putting them away is 1 hour on their bed or the shoes “disappear”. I am a softy though at times – after all shoes are a necessity – right. AND my box over floweth…..I love shoes too….
I have a lock box…
(this is funny if you could hear my crappy Al Gore impersination
Too funny! We too have a shoe bin or rather here it is a shoe basket (I worked for Bath and Body Works and have the luxury of having one of their HUGE wicker baskets that was used to store their products) sooooo, anyhoo it is located in the mud room and remains shoeless unless mom is picking up and putting things away… if anyone figures out how to get others to put their own shoes in the basket besides mommy…LET ME KNOW!!
no lie, once when cleaning up and being the ONLY one to put shoes in the bin ( I do the same thing! must be a mommy thing) one of my boys asked me, “where’s my shoes?” I would not tell them and when they found them, it kinda cured the problem, but not all the way. they at least keep me from trippin on them now! lol
I got one of those 3 drawer plastic storage things at Wal-mart. Each kid has a drawer where they keep their coat, backpack, umbrella and 1 pair of shoes. My daughter is fanatical about putting her stuff away, but the boys could care less. After franticly searching for their shoes 5 minutes before the bus comes, I came up with a solution. If they forget to put their stuff in their drawer before bed then they have to wear the shoes I pick out in the morning. Usually the church shoes, because they both hate dressing up! After wearing snow boots with shorts one day, they have never forgot again!!