Flip-flops, R.I.P.

On rare occasions, I come across a person who is under the misapprehension that people from large families usually have a sort of cookie-cutter sameness. This is a load of poppycock, in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.

As a very minor example, let me share with you one of the personal delights of my youngest sister, Miss V's mom. My sister loves -- LOVES -- shoes. All sorts of shoes, though she is especially partial to shoes with high heels. She's probably got upwards of 100 pairs right now. In fact, she has so many that if she misplaces a pair she usually doesn't notice its absence for months, if at all. She lounges around the house in high-heeled slippers, she loves the idea of exercising in stilettos... you get the idea. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I discovered we were actually the same height; I'd always assumed she was taller, because she always wears heels.

Now, just for comparison's sake, my in-use-until-today flip-flops:
I've been wearing these things around, off and on, since at least 2003. It might be even earlier than that, since I can't remember which summer I picked them up (though I do recall I was living in Utah at the time). My footprints are indelibly etched into the things. They're comfortable, lightweight, slip on easily, they go with nearly everything I might want to wear -- and as you can see, the soles are completely grotty, decrepit and disintegrating at this point, but who looks at the soles anyway, right? So I still wore them. Well, at least until the toe-strap of the right shoe suddenly gave way today. ('Tis sad. Now I must wade through the slough of despond that is the shoe store, hoping to find something anywhere near as comfy for my 7 1/2 W feet to shlep around.)

My personal philosophy is that nobody really needs more than four pairs of shoes: all-purpose tennies for everyday wear and exercise, a simple pair of dress shoes, maybe a pair of boots, and a set of nice-looking flip-flops will get you through 90% of what life throws at you. Anything else is gravy. I'm almost certain my sister would be horrified at this philosophy, but it works for me.

And hey, in almost completely unrelated news, I got stuff from Gretel today! (Thanks Gretel!) Beeyootiful cards which I had coveted for some time. Pix later, as I'm frankly too lazy to hook up the scanner.