Shoes galore!

I know, I know, I know. This whole "the blogging week starts on Wednesday" needs to stop. I know. Trust me, I do. But you see, and yes, here comes the whining, I've just been so busy! And so tired! And (to stay in the tween-girl-whining-mode) I barely have time to think, let alone blog! My life is so crazy, you just don't understand! There's so much to do!

Besides having obviously spent way too much time among my adorable, but queens-of-whining- students, I do think I have taken fatigue to a whole new level. The past few mornings I have been unable to stir when my alarm goes off, and this morning, not even husband-dear's cold wet hand shoved under my shirt unto my warm back was enough to get me up. In fact, this morning it took him prancing around the bedroom imitating a one-man marching band, and flickering the lights on and off for me to slide myself out of bed. Hey, it may sound ridiculous, but he thought it was hilarious, the dogs were excited, and it woke me up.

As I dragged myself into our walk-in closet, lamenting once again that I did not know what to wear! And that it was unfair that I had to dress up every day! And that I really needed to iron my shirts! And that it was unfair that I had to dress up in uncomfortable hose and blazers -and- spend hours ironing! And that one day I will honestly show up in jeans! Well, while I was doing all that, I happened to look at my shoeboxes. And just looking at them made me happy to be here.

You should probably know that I don't like messy closets. Well, I don't really like messy anythings, but my clothes are on a special level. Trust me, if you had to get dressed up the way I do every morning at five, you would feel the same way. Now when I lived in Holland and had to make do with a tiny narrow standalone closet, there was little I could do. I had my turtlenecks rolled up into little piles, my shirts were bunched together so tightly I had to pull at least ten out to get to the one I wanted, and my pants were stacked three deep. But once I acquired a roomy American walk-in closet, all that came to and end. There is no more digging through full drying racks for me anymore. Everything is either folded or hung up where I can see it. I even have all my blazers hanging together, all my dress shirts are in the same corner, and I have three shelves for pants: one for dresspants, one for jeans and less formal pants, and one for capris and shorts. Now the same sort of organizational skill (or freakiness, if you will) has been applied to my shoes. I got so tired of having shoes sit on top of either shoes, scuffing and denting each other, that once I acquired said American walk-in closet, I started to organize my shoes using the shoeboxes they came in. It's practical, it looks nice, and I can usually always find what I want, providing I remember to not put my pumps in the box that usually houses my sandals.

So this morning, as I was griping and complaining about the early hour, the lack of ironed shirts, and life in general, I noticed the price tags on some of my shoeboxes. Did you know that I own a pair of black pumps, purchased in Europe, which cost me 99 euros?! Yes, 99 euros! (Steve, that's about $150, give or take a few dollars). I'm sure all of my Dutch readers are shrugging at this point, saying, "And your point is...?", and they may even be wondering what sale I got them at, or how long ago I purchased them. But you see, right next to that box, was a box from DSW, which holds very similar black pumps, only its pricetag read $34. The only two shoeboxes that were remotely similar in price were those containing my running shoes, and now that I think about it, the only reason they looked similar is because one said 129.99 euro, and the other box read $119.99. Hmm..I'm telling you, it feels really good to live in a country where I can buy a pair of shoes, have them last for years and years and years, and still have enough money left over for groceries. Long live shoes!