WS - perhaps you hate shopping for shoes because there aren't enough of those family-owned stores.

And so covered I don't start until next week. Head desk.

Hey, so you were early!

Paid weekly is nice.

WS, small family-owned stores are worth waxing poetic about! There has to be a shoe store like that here in this old town.

WS, thanks. I'd be more worried about my washer than the shoes. It's a delicate creature. Maybe I'll take them to the laundromat. I'm usually a fan of local shoe stores too, but the last time I went to the local sneaker shop I couldn't get anything to work with my braces, and they just gave up on me. So I ended up at a name brand hiking store and found something that worked perfectly.

I had a lovely dream last night, dinner with Jeremy Renner. We talked about houses and historical recreation and archery, and he was fascinated by my stories of SCA combat and being on the battlefield. There are worse ways to spend time than to have a gorgeous man listening to you intently.

askye, you are making progress. It's definitely good to be proud of that.

Connie, that does sound like a good dream.

perhaps you hate shopping for shoes because there aren't enough of those family-owned stores.

Not exactly. If we could go back to cobblers making your shoes to fit your feet, that would take all the unhappiness out of it. But I have size 11 EEE feet, wide enough that sometimes a 12 fits better. Far too many shoe manufacturers give up after size 10. And the ones who do offer 11s do not often go as wide as I need them. My wonderful local shoe store generally sends me out the door with a pair of men's shoes. In fact the time I was in there during a women's "duty whites" sale, they said, "you're getting these for work, if you buy 'em in white, we'll give you the discount, men's shoes or no." The shoes I danced in at the Madison F2F prom were men's sandals to which I had affixed mother of pearl ornamentation.

I have size 11 feet too. Sometimes I need a wide, depends on the shoe. Plus bunions, even after the surgery to fix the bunions (they were really bad). It makes it hard to find shoes to fit and feel good.

The New Balance 928s have been my go-to work shoe for several years now. Of course, arch support is a bigger issue for me than for most people, I think. The black ones would not look too bad under black dress pants but if you wear skirts much, I don't think they would look right.

Another bigfoot here! I usually wear 11s, get them in wide if possible (I find that Reeboks fit well). And I can't wear heels any more (arthritis in one foot), so I'm wearing mostly sneakers and boots, although I occasionally find dressier shoes that fit. I find having something that laces lets me buy shoes large enough for comfort that can be laced tightly enough I don't walk out of them.

I dream of having enough money to have a cobbler make custom shoes for me that fit perfect, supportive, and cute.

Yes, we need cobblers.