The Queen's Rambles

The Good: I ordered a pair of clogs from Endless.com yesterday and had very little hope that they would actually fit. All the reviews stated that they ran narrow. Narrow is a scary word for my poor, giant feetsies. I ordered the 11WW and guess what? They fit! In fact, I may need slightly thicker socks to keep them on. What a relief! I need to learn that I should Just Do It when it comes to ordering shoes from these free shipping/free return places. I have nothing to lose. Mainly, I just hate getting my hopes up that I might actually get a pair of shoes that are more fashionable than men’s athletic shoes. Oh, the woes of the big footed. You people with your normal sized feet have no idea what a luxury it is to be able to go into a shoe store, try on some shoes and come out with something you like that actually fits your foot. At least that means I don’t spend much money on shoes. When I do buy a pair, I usually drop at least $100 on them, but I buy them so rarely that it doesn’t add up to much.

For the curious, I got THIS PAIR. More of a heel than I would have liked, but fairly fashionable for a clog and oh-so-comfortable. I was drawn to the brownish color, but black is more practical in my wardrobe. Now to buy some black socks. My ankle length, white athletic socks just aren’t going to cut it. It’s too cold to go sockless.

Did I really just go on for two paragraphs about shoes???

In The Bad category, I wasted my kid free afternoon chasing down things my town doesn’t offer. Erik is begging for a pillow pet. I didn’t even know what the hell a pillow pet was, but it turns out it is a stuffed animal that unfolds and turns into a pillow. Christmas was two weeks ago. Why they hell would I buy him something new at this point? I don’t know. He so rarely asks for anything that I thought I’d see if I could track down one of these mysterious creatures. I remembered seeing them at Bed, Bath and Beyond before Christmas, so I headed over there but they didn’t have any. Probably a good thing. I don’t need to buy him something like that even if he does keep asking for it. Right?

I am feeling slightly guilty because I believe his Puppy was left in the hotel in Gothenburg. We haven’t seen it since that evening. Yikes! He doesn’t want it often, but when he does want it he WANTS it. You know? At least for now he is satisfied with his Panda named Bucket. Yes. Bucket. Don’t ask. I don’t know.

Strike two was at the bookstore. Carol Berg, my current favorite writer, released her latest book yesterday! She’s not popular enough to have a whole horde of books stacked in the front of the store but apparently she’s popular enough to be sold out of the few copies the store ordered. Bah! Granted, I’m still reading my Juliet Marillier so I have some time to order it from Amazon but I really prefer to support my local bookstore, big chain or not.

I did end up buying Erik a couple of preschool math workbooks that were on sale. He is very interested in numbers and always wants me to add double numbers. “Whats 6 +6? What’s 12 + 12? What’s 24 + 24?” And on and on and on until I get stuck.

He was underwhelmed. “Mommy, this is just boring. Why would a little boy want a book like this?”

Why indeed, child, why indeed?

Other disappointments include my quilting issues. My quilting room/guest room is really not set up very well. I discovered that the afternoon sun is totally blinding, so I can only work with sunglasses on. Not ideal. Plus, the height of the table is uncomfortable. And the outlet situation makes the ironing situation less than ideal. And I can’t find my scissors.

I made a block for Ofenjen’s Batiks on Black lotto yesterday and am not pleased. I have been out of the quilting game too long! I made lots of rookie mistakes and the block didn’t come out the right size. Bah! I’m going to make one more tonight and hope it turns out better. I felt the need to be creative and I love batiks on black so I couldn’t resist entering. I need to flex my quilting muscles more in the upcoming year. How? I don’t know. We need to really think about the arrangement of our bedrooms and where everything is going to go. Where are we going to stick the new kid and all her clothes? Where does my studio fit into all this?