Who Spends $250 dollars on SHOES???

So I’ve always been a Payless Shoe girl. Or Kohls, they have good deals. I don’t recall ever buying a pair of shoes that had insoles separate from the shoes themselves. Nor do I remember buying shoes that had quite a bit of wiggle room in the toe area. I’ve always tried to find the cheapest shoes with the best arch support. This hasn’t always really worked out for me. My favorite shoes ever were my Columbia hiking boots, and they were stolen from right outside my room at work in the middle of winter.

The main part of my job is working in the infant room at our hospital’s daycare. The floor feels like carpeted concrete and you cannot wear your outside shoes in without footsies covering them. I HATE the footsies. (Not sure why, don’t really feel that strongly, just don’t like the things). So I wear knitted footsies that my Oma made me instead. This worked out until I realized they weren’t really padding my feet one day and looked at the bottoms… I had worn the thread through completely. I could patch them and continue wearing, but it seemed I needed something more permanent… I also do a lot of walking around the hospital campus because we take the infants for buggy rides (the buggy is a six seater stroller) and I walk from the main daycare to my room at the other side of the campus every day… and then back to where I parked my truck. My winter boots were getting pretty worn out from this daily hike and my feet were paying for it.

The nerves in my heels and my sciatic nerve have been getting very irritated. To counter this, I put more pressure on the fronts of my feet and now they are giving me trouble as well. So James took me to the Athlete’s foot. The Athlete’s foot here in town is run by a father and his son and they have a computer that is hooked up to a fancy mat that you walk across. The mat tells them where you put the most pressure when you walk and if you aren’t walking properly. Based on what they see, they can recommends certain types of shoes and provide you with insoles that help correct any problems.

The son, who had helped James a few days ago, was able to figure out my actual shoe size, match me up with proper insoles and ideal shoe selections, and ultimately made a huge sale. He and his dad agreed that my wearing James’ socks to save money is hurting my feet, not to mention looked ridiculous when you could see the gray heals of the socks hanging over the heel of my shoes… they found me shoes with lots of room for my feet to be able to swell while I’m pregnant… hooked me up with socks that are MY size, laces that are elastic so I dont have to tie and untie a million times a day… sold me a pair of running shoes for my daily walking back and forth and working and a very white pair of walking shoes for just in the infant room. No booties necessary if they are only in that room.

I’ve upgraded from a $20 a trip shoe budget to a $250 shopping spree at Athlete’s Foot. My feet still ache from damage done, but boy do they feel good otherwise. The father and son say I should bring the baby in as soon as he/she is born to be fitted. All in due time…

The funniest part of it all… I still need to buy a new pair of hiking boots.