Such a little house, yet so much can go wrong on any given day.

Nora has just summed up home ownership in a single sentence.

I think it's been at least 10 years since I bought dress shoes. I haven't worn a dress or skirt since 1998, when I started my own business. One of the many reasons I wanted to leave corporate America was that the shoes hurt my feet.

I have a new Debet Original tiara with the Leo glyph on it.

I'm glad it got there in a timely manner!

wrt Character shoes: Have you looked into any sort of non-skid-type things you could put on the bottom that might help with reducing the wearing?

any sort of non-skid-type things you could put on the bottom

I did not know that these existed -- do you have more details so I could froogle?

Mmmm, Jars, good idea.

Happy Birthday, Aimee!

Susan:

At least so far I'm not even trying to peg my characters' regional British accents. I try to avoid Americanisms and anachronisms, and I do subtle vocabulary shifts to show education levels and some regional variation, but that's it.

That's an excellent choice. I throw away or possibly across the room, in great disgust, books that annoy me by shallow, stupid attempts at dialects that I have a passing familiarity with. Books with too many modern or American idioms will get talked to, out loud - i.e. "Oh, come ON, she so did NOT say that!". Those are more tolerable, and won't get thrown unless the rest of the writing is poor as well.

I throw away or possibly across the room, in great disgust, books that annoy me by shallow, stupid attempts at dialects that I have a passing familiarity with. Books with too many modern or American idioms will get talked to, out loud

Doesn't that leave a messy middle ground where eschewing dialect means you are putting American idiom into the characters' mouths? Or do you prefer the writers to avoid writing characters for whom they can't nail the dialect?

I want cake NOW.

I say this at least three times a day. Every day.

I think it's been at least 10 years since I bought dress shoes.

The last two pairs of dress shoes I bought were purchased at Target. I figure if I never wear them, aside from the occasional wedding, why spend good money on them?

I am such a flip-flop girl.

I did not know that these existed -- do you have more details so I could froogle?

Something like this: [link]

Fluevogs are not very comfortable for me. Pretty, yes, but no arch support.

The rage among theater geeks when I was in college was to buy character shoes, then take them to the shoe-repair place to have street soles put on them. That worked fine. I just wore them on the street, then had the heels and soles repaired as necessary.

The rage among theater geeks when I was in college was to buy character shoes, then take them to the shoe-repair place to have street soles put on them

That doesn't compromise the comfort? I wonder if I can get a nice bendy sole that doesn't die. That would rock.

Raq, check out Naturalizer and Easy Spirit as well.

ita, there are flexy street soles; I never buy street shoes that don't flex.