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Here for the record are my challenge heels - my 12cm knee boots

Let us know how it turns out. Fortunately I don't have much experience with defective heels. And if so, only on cheap ones which weren't worth the repair.

That is very disappointing indeed. Over the years, that has happened to me a number of times (usually just flat-out breaking rather than twisting). The problem is, I don't know what you can do about it, other than never wear the shoes. I'm sure this could theoretically somehow be fixed, but by whom, and for what price? I hope you find something soon.

I’ve just been researching the possibility of repairing my boot and it seems it is possible if you take it to a good cobbler - so I’m taking a bit of heart. It’s worth a shot!

Oh what a pity! Hopefully you'll be back with some new boots soon. Unfortunately 12cm+ heels ain't that widely available for good prices as the lower ones are...

Yes, they can’t read a map or tell time on a traditional clock. If we brought those two things back, plus stick shifts on cars and cursive writing we could take down the whole western world

Oh, it gets worse. I also have a blackboard in my music/shoe room upon which I chalk out what my son and I need to practice for the following Sunday, and then it also has on it the five meals we've planned for the week, referencing the cookbook and page number, where applicable. That reminds me, I really need to go clap the erasers sometime soon. The one thing that it might be nice to convert to some sort of spreadsheet is my walking mileage data. That is currently on a "note" in my phone, but it's a true note--there's no smartness to it. If I make a mistake, or fat-finger something, data is corrupted or simply lost. When I say that I've walked 2,700 miles in heels since I started doing this in 2013, I cannot guarantee that whatever the exact number it is that day is 100% accurate. That's because I cannot guarantee that I haven't made a mistake with my arithmetic at some point in the last 13 years. It seems very likely that I would have made at least one error in that time. Still, it's a very close approximation. That's a whole 'nother discussion right there. How GPS has influenced Gen Z's perception of the geographical world.

Some of my lists and schedules are written in Latin on vellum with a quill pen. (Wax tablets have proved increasingly hard to source.)

This morning I was back in my 12cm stilettos and as I was tottering about making breakfast I realised that something just wasn't right with the left boot. It's not just lack of practice or an inability to make the jump from 10cm to 12 cm, but something wrong with the heel itself. I took the boots off and gave the left boot a thorough examination. When I placed the sole flat on my table, so I could crouch down and see how the heel met the surface, it was obvious that the shank has twisted slightly. The heel is definitely a few degrees off vertical. It wasn't just my imagination or lack of talent. It's a relief in some way, I've been feeling frustrated, thinking how @mlroseplant and @higherheels have made such splendid progress while I seem to be getting nowhere. It's depressing too. This is my only pair of 12cm heels. I've been looking at the offerings of Fuss-Schuhe as recommended by @higherheels in another thread, and I like some of their boots very much, but alas the magazine world is not so brilliant at the moment and it might be a while before I can afford to buy myself some nice new 12cm stiletto boots. In the meantime I am going for immersive practice in my 10cm heels - hoping to maintain my abilities!

Great to hear your still kick'in it Johnieheel

Haha you're so funny 😀 I also like hand-writing. Writing on the PC may be more efficient, but a hand-written paper is just something different than a file or printed file.

Yeah, there's the rub. If you want something truly great, it's going to take your artistic imagination, and way more time and effort than I will ever spend trying to photograph my own heels. I always end up doing the same three or four poses on my back deck, junky extension ladder and all. The most exciting thing about the pictures is keeping everyone guessing whether I will get my heel caught in the gaps between the boards. But then, the purpose of my photographs is not to be great art. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be. I share them with you guys and one other person, my friend from university. At least I don't take pictures in a dirty mirror anymore.

I have a sweater dress that I use as a long sweater with side pockets. it has it uses on very windy cold days. BTW this month's manicure is a brown bases with magnetic red glitter. The glitter forms waves by the magnets design. Love material science.

My first was a Minolta then a Canon AE-1. I loved film and could disappear into a darkroom for hours. I studied photography at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque back in the day when Route 66 still ran through the heart of the city (Central Ave). Lots of cool stuff to shoot. Much as I loved my hours in the darkroom I wouldn’t go back to that - I like digital. i want to try some shots in heels, but I want them to be stylish - artistically speaking even if the subject is not stylish at all!

I am the same. I use a laptop for writing and editing my photos, but I’ve skipped the whole GPS thing entirely - I use paper maps exclusively.

It's a bit of silly personal history, but I bought my first SLR (a Pentax K1000) when I was 11 years old, with money I saved from delivering newspapers. I've never been a good photographer, but I've always appreciated those who are. Until fairly recently, I've always had a decent camera around. But can you believe, I've got nothing but a 4 year old phone now? How sad!

I have thought about what you have suggested for many years. But still, I persist with my Old School method. If I still owned a fountain pen, I'd probably use that as well. Yes, it would be far more efficient to record all of this information electronically. And still, I choose to write it out in longhand. I'm a weird guy. But I'm the most normal weird guy you'll ever meet!

I was barely an adult and at a funeral of all places when I first saw a sweater dress and ever since then have appreciated the style of that particular dress. My wife has a few, but my favorite is because of how we got it. We were having lunch in the food court of a mall and beside us was a boutique store. Way up high was this garment and so the gently quarreling that my wife and I so began. I said it was a sweater dress and she said it was a long sweater and so we went back and forth during our meal. Afterwards I asked the clerk at the store which it was and she said it was a very short sweater dress then asked us quickly if we wanted it. Needless to say, that very short sweater dress came home with us. That one was gray in color, but I admire the boldness of red too, in both the Red Dress and Fire Engine Red manicure. Good for you though the color defies your username! (Just teasing you Bluejay) I saw a woman at the store the other day wearing a bold red dress with red beret… something else I love for no apparent reason except I have always liked berets, and wanted to compliment on her outfit as she was older, perhaps 65 or so and wore it stunningly well, but did not want to sound creepy so I stayed mum. But I thought she looked sharp.

Wow, that is quite the inventory system you have there. IF... and I am in no way saying you have too... but if you switched that to an Excel spreadsheet, and then added a few columns for dates, hours worn and miles treaded you could have a detailed list of your heel's life history. Of how many miles on them, what days they were worn and where. By akl means, add what is important information for you. Compile that date into a graph and you could see just which shoes were worn the most, or how many had the most miles, and even in actual miles or by percentages. I do this with my money and it has its uses. You could do it with shoes...

That's a very detailed inventory you did! I never actually did an inventory of my heels. If I find that a pair is worn out or I don't like it anymore (which never really happens...) it has to go. And new pairs come by themselves anyways 😀

Just got my new mani for Valentine's. I got my usual clear/pink gel on my fingers, with special decor on my little pinkies. On my left pinkie a white base with a red heart and on my right pinkie a red base with the word love and two very small hearts in red. I decided that I was going to add something new to my mani. I had her add a fire engine red top coat in acrylic to my ring fingers, so that if my wife disapproved of the red on my ring fingers, I could easily remove if for her. So far she's OK with the red. BTW I wore my red Lands' End sweater dress with creme colored, fleece lined, tights with my red patent knee boots and a creme colored puffer jacket. I got a couple compliments from both my nail tech and another woman customer on both my mani and my ensemble I was wearing. Happy Heeling, bluejay

I do that often enough with my professional work! I’ve been very remiss with my challenge heels this week. We’ve had some truly vile weather here and my nice warm heavy suede OTK boots with mid heels have been calling to me when I get up!

For those who are curious, this is what the first page of my inventory looks like. Obviously Old School. This one took me several days to complete, working a couple hours a day. It seems like once I get going, it's actually kind of fun, but it is such a daunting task to think about, it's difficult to get started with it. I have a "slot" system, in which the number on the sheet corresponds to a numbered spot on the shelf. As you can see, No. 23 line is blank. That means I actually have a space there to put more shoes if I so desire. At the moment, I believe my mechanical metronome lives there, but I digress. I have at least three pairs which are not long for this world, I'm afraid, so the number may drop even further in the future. Or it may not. Who knows what my mood and finances will be in 2026?

Of course the beauty of it is, if you hate the results, or they're not up to your professional standards, you never have to admit having done it in the first place. I'll certainly never tell!

There are also differences in clothing and shapes from region of the world to region of the world. I only know this because I once watched a real-life crime show where skeletonized human remains were found in an extremely remote area. One of the few clues they found was the metal button on a pair of jeans. It had a special insignia similar to how Wrangler puts the W on its button, but it was one none of the detectives ever seen before. Finally, a friend of one of the detectives, an importer of goods recognized it. It came from a denim jeans manufacturer operating only in Asia. Ultimately from that they found a missing Asia woman (a mail order bride murdered by her husband who had ties to that remote area) who only liked the special cut of the jeans this manufacturer used. So she imported jeans from Vietnam to wear. It was because the curve of an Asia person’s bottom is different and that particular manufacture made the seat of the pants for that region of the world. I did not realize the European sizes of shoes were unisex though. Thanks for teaching me something new!