Shopping and Soap and Really Happy Feet

First, sorry for not keeping up better.
Spring break may be over, but there's always something to be either getting ready to take to work or bringing home from work or organizing for work.

Tomorrow, for example, I am taking a car full of pool noodles to work with me. I will cut them in half and on Tuesday afternoon, the kids will be able to build the world's biggest marble run in the cafeteria.

I've been planning it for awhile, I think they'll love it. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with. Life is busy. About to get busier, the school year is winding down, meaning it's time to figure out this year's tie dye week, start closing down my site for summer, consolidate all the stuff I've collected for summer already, clean this, do that.

Of course things never really slow down, do they?

It's all good, though.
You already know I love my job.
I've certainly fought hard enough to keep it.

Yesterday morning, Eric and I were out the door a little after 8. We needed to visit our local Sprawlmart, which is a task best accomplished early in the morning. Seems that a lot of the crazies sleep in or at least aren't out and about that early.

We had to be out of there a bit after 9 so I could stop by my soap lady's house. My one luxury is Calendula soap. Lightly scented without the harsh chemicals and paint thinner that makes my old lady skin feel like sandpaper. I don't know how many bars I bought. I called her from the car to let her know I was on the way, she is dog-sitting and right now there are seven in her house. She doesn't like them charging the door, so she met us at the curb. I pulled up, handed her two twenties, and she handed me a paper bag. It occurred to me that it would probably look funny to anyone watching, but I don't actually care that much about how things look.

If you were to see the shoes I wear, for example, you'd know.
Men's shoes with tie dyed girly laces. I'm going to need to dye some more soon, too.

I have mentioned my big chunky orthotics before. $400.00 worth of custom orthotics have helped my feet feel better than they did in years. Pronated ankles and no understanding of anatomy contributed to some pretty serious foot pain, necessitating the manufacture of the things I must wear in my shoes at all times.

Actually didn't notice it for awhile, thanks to knee pain replacing the foot pain. Apparently your body can only feel one horrible pain at a time. Since my knee isn't right and won't be until I get the knee replaced, something I am putting off for as many years as possible, the knee pain pretty much rules every waking hour and many hours when I should be sleeping.

Feet feel pretty good, although it's time to visit the podiatrist again. My shoes are wearing unevenly at a pretty fast pace. I'm walking on the outside of my feet and I have no idea why. In addition, there's something odd in my right foot that locks up and causes an amazing amount of pain at unpredictable times. Makes it a lot of fun to walk long distances (like in airports) without having to stop and wait for it to slack off a bit.
Happened when I came back from Phoenix.
Fun.

But I have to wear only certain types of shoes. Okay *a* certain type. I wear men's 4E mesh shoes, usually New Balance, as they seem to fit best. The footbed in a woman's shoe isn't deep enough to accommodate the orthotics.

So yesterday, we went to Big 5 sporting goods. It was early, about 10 AM, not long after they opened. There was one kid working in the shoe department, and he was trying his best to find a specific boot in a specific size for a customer. Making phone calls to other stores to see if they had it. He was busy. I understand that. I was waiting patiently. Then an elderly lady and her about-my-age daughter came to the shoe department, followed by a family with three kids. A store manager came to the back of the store to help 'whoever was next' and the "gentleman" with the family tried to say he was next.

I didn't allow that to happen, saying, "No, I was here first. And those ladies," gesturing to my left, "were here just after me."

The guy who'd tried to say he was first let his children smack the price checker electronic thingy, climb on the tables and racks of shoes and run around the back of the store like little beasts while they waited. They actually left after about 10 minutes, bringing peace to our little corner.

The manager apologized to me for the wait. I assured him that the wait wasn't an issue, I could see that the kid was trying to help the other customer, but that I didn't like someone trying to jump ahead of me.

After trying on three different pairs of shoes, painstakingly putting the orthotics in and trying each of them out, I was about to give up. Asked him if he had anything else in 4E, preferably mesh.

He presented me with a pair of shoes that actually fit, although at $59.99, it was more than I had intended to spend. I asked if he had another pair of them, though, because it *is* so hard to find the right fit. He did. And I've never had anyone do for me what he did next. He said that they'd been on sale last week. And that if I wanted three pairs, he would give them to me for the $39.99 sale price from last week. And would give me a 10% off coupon as well. I ended up with three pairs of shoes that fit for $107.00 and change.

So my feet are happy.

I have a post fermenting... it's about foster care kids and compassion. I'll try to manage it this week while events are still fresh in my mind.

And that's it. Off to finish the laundry. Or fight it to a draw for now.

Posting may be sporadic this week, Tami. Don't be alarmed. Lots going on. A lot of busy-ness.

Okay. Washing.