mlroseplant

The outfit of the week is a boring earthtone theme. The short sleeved button-down has fallen out of favor these days, and I'm not 100% sure why. I believe it has gained a reputation of being something only old men wear, young men evidently preferring to roll up their long sleeves with a technique I've never really mastered. Less old man are my Buffalo (Costo) skinny pants, which are also evidently supposed to be going out of style.

What shouldn't go out of style anytime soon are my BCBGirls "Poland" sandals. The feature I like about them best is that they have these little medallions at the ankle strap which bounce off the skin of your feet as you walk, just underneath the ankle. It's an oddly pleasant sensation. I haven't worn these sandals since they broke last year, but I finally got round to fixing them. A simple glue job, with no cobbler needed.

I dunno, I guess I just felt like wearing pink today. Some of it is technically salmon or coral, depending upon your eye. Aldo mules, Loft corduroy pants, no-name Vietnamese shirt.

14 hours ago, SF said:

Well not to sound contrary, but I do.  A beautiful Grandmother clock that stays wound for 7 days and chimes every quarter hour.  Keeps perfect time too.  I love that sound.  

And yes, I see no sense in Tick Tock either.  Seems like a tremendous waste of time, but that's my two cents.  sf

What kind is it? We've got two Seth Thomas "humpback" mantle clocks, one of which chimes every quarter hour, and one Seikosha wall clock.

I have many several pairs of leggings, but for now they have been relegated to the status of undergarments, and for that purpose they work very well. I just haven't figured out how they can work in my normal preferred wardrobe at this time. Of course, mine aren't shiny.

21 hours ago, ohnoberty said:

So 2 things, first regarding egg rolls, and I'm sure I could dig through the forum and find out myself but could you narrow down the location? Even just to the State would be a start.

 

And secondly shouting at the TV or computer, oh yes! Not generally about anything in particular but just often, maybe hurling insults at the stupidity of people on the news,or even just the stupidity of people. Tiktok seems to be the home of stupid and time wasting, not that it's everyone but from what I've seen it's rife.

Do you mean, where was the above picture taken? I think it used to say right on my avatar "Central Iowa," but for some reason they made us change it a while back. At any rate we're in the Des Moines metro area.

I only ever got on TikTok in order to study the mechanics of walking in high heels, using those Chinese street fashion videos that were popular a while back. Maybe they still are, who knows? But yes, TikTok is a very, very silly place. I have no idea why people find it so entertaining. Also, I don't even understand the name. I mean, who, besides us, actually still has clocks that go "Tick, tock?"

Do any of you remember your fathers yelling at the TV? Maybe you've done it yourself. I caught myself yelling at the computer screen this morning. Do you know what it is in this world that really bothers me? When people try to sell a European shoe, such as Jimmy Choo or some such thing, and they convert size 39 to USW 9. I'm sorry, it is not, despite what half the conversion charts say. It just isn't. In fact, I'm trying to recall ANY purchase of size 39 I've ever made where I didn't regret it. I am done yelling now. In fact, I am done buying shoes for a while now.

That looks like something jazz pianist Connie Han would wear.

On 6/1/2023 at 1:27 PM, Peeptoe said:

And whatever you do.... DON'T GET THEM WET! 

 

I'm always nervous about leather soled shoes and the potential for traversing catastrophic terrain. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.  

In my younger days, I always wondered why my ex-wife was so concerned if it rained a little bit when we were out on a dressier occasion. My only experience with leather soles had been with traditional men's dress shoes and cowboy boots, neither of which seemed to be bothered by getting wet. Maybe you wouldn't want to ford a stream, but ordinary weather was not a thing I ever thought about. Until Halloween of 2013, when I discovered that women's shoes are built far less durably than men's, starting with the fact that the thickness of a leather sole on women's shoes is about 1/3 the thickness I feel is necessary to have a leather sole.

I used to think leather soles were the way to go, but I have done a 180 on that opinion. Unless you need them for dancing or organ playing, in which case you can't wear them on the street anyway, they basically and fundamentally suck.

I guess that nothing is impossible with Steve. The real question is whether anybody will still wear heels. Will humans even exist? I guess I'll be dead and won't care.

I can remember being disappointed for the first time about the durability of what were some pretty expensive shoes. It was Halloween, and a friend and I were taking our kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It had rained earlier that day, so everything was quite wet. I had a brand new to me pair of Via Spiga chunky heeled boots that I wanted to wear. I almost didn't, but then I thought, "Eh, they're boots! They're designed for this sort of thing."

Uh, no, they were not. I pretty much ruined those things in the space of two hours. The uppers actually fared pretty well, but the leather sole and the heel covering did not. Since I did not buy them new, I didn't have the opportunity to write any sort of review, but if I had, I really wonder if it would have been fair of me to pan the boots.

Naturalizer and Söfft cater basically to the same market, and I have sort of gone with the latter brand for all of my lower-heeled needs. I used to believe that there was something extra durable about Söfft, probably because my very first pair of Söfft sandals still had the original heels on them when I finally had to trash them, after over 100 miles of use. Since then, I have acquired numerous other Söfft products, and they're not necessarily bulletproof, especially when they get to be about 10 years old before they're worn for the first time. However, they are reasonably durable and I've never had a Söfft product bite me back--they are very comfortable for extended periods. I assume Naturalizer is similar.

This is even more true, if, like me, one prefers to buy his shoes on Poshmark or Ebay. In that case, all that matters is whether the thing got there on time or whether it got there at all.

I concur with Shyheels. Most reviews are useless. However, if you notice 50 bad reviews, and most of them say, "The strap broke after only 3 wearings," then it's probably useful. Otherwise, it's a waste of time. I don't know how many shoe reviews I've seen that have some saying that these run large, so order a size smaller, and a short scroll down, you'll find others saying that these run small, order a size up. By the time I feel qualified to write a review, they have usually quit making the product that I liked. I'm only about 80% kidding.

I am probably a little bit biased, but my wife, despite all her faults, makes the best product available locally. I think it's because she has the perspective of having grown up in Asia, but also having lived in the West for a long time. She understands how to modify the Asian food to cater to the Western palate. Also, to be clear, I did not come up with the business name, "Egg Rolls Yum!" That's about the dumbest name I could ever imagine, but, like my own presence as an ugly old guy in high heels, it doesn't seem to have hurt sales. I do seem to have mastered saying, "Thank you! Y'all have a good night!" in an enthusiastic way.

A standing offer to Shyheels and all other hhplace people. While I seriously doubt we'll ever take our van to Sussex, if any of y'all ever make it out this way, you eat for free. That's not my decision, that's my wife's.

Last night was the 4th week for the "big" farmer's market. For those of you who don't know, my wife has a side hustle making egg rolls and crab rangoons. The "big" farmer's market is not really a farmer's market at all in the true sense of the word, as about a third of it is food vendors. At any rate, it's on a city street that has been blocked off for the evening, so I always wear heels of some sort to work the evening. It can involve up to 5 hours of more or less continuous standing, with loading and unloading bookending the evening. We actually bought a full size cargo van to accommodate all of the necessary equipment to make this operation run.

I have not been very brave so far this year, and have been very conservative in my choice of heels. I have not worn anything so far but my Söfft "Calvados" mules, which are effectively 3 inch heels. I have them in 3 colors: Black, silver, and taupe. The reason I haven't ventured any higher yet is because I have been slacking off on the endurance training this month, and also because our sales volume so far this year is a big upstep from last year. We set up at 3:15, start selling at 4:00, and so far, every week by about 4:45 or so, there is a line of 3 people or more from that time until closing/teardown time at 8:00. I am pretty much tuckered out by then, and ready to go home. Achy feet would be a big liability in such a situation, but nevertheless I'm sure I will wind up pushing it by summer's end.

The Söfft mid heeled mules have not disappointed so far. It is very difficult at that height to notice that you're even wearing heels, and I've suffered no ill effects at all from any of the 3 pairs so far. I hope to get some pictures at some point of me actually working instead of taking a mirror selfie in the bathroom.

On 5/23/2023 at 1:24 PM, Jkrenzer said:

They are, provided it's an up and down day. I wouldn't be able to walk or stand 8 hrs in these in all honesty. 

These are a hot trend on alliexpress right now. They are obviously Chinese which is why I pushed the heels hard before plunging into more colors.

Once the heel tap is worn I'll insert a cap screw tap for replacement. They'll be very loud of course but won't require constant replacement. Besides, who doesn't want to be seen and heard anyway. 

My personal test for heels is my wife's farmer's market booth, and that's only 5 hours of 95% standing. If I can work that in relative comfort, then I have something there. I have not been brave so far this year, sticking with effective 3 inch heels.

I am definitely way behind on introducing new shoes to this forum, so after I finish writing this, I'll be slightly less behind. Since this is my latest pair, I guess we're going in reverse chronological order. I wore these for the first (and only, so far) time a few days ago to church, documented elsewhere.

The facts: Brand is Caressa, which appears to be made in Spain. Never heard of them. One shoe is labeled Caressa Prestige, the other simply "Caressa." I don't know if that's on purpose or not. They are size 9 USW, and they're pretty much a perfect fit, perhaps a little snug. Leather uppers, manmade liner and sole. Not a super high quality shoe, but not terrible, either. 4 1/8" cone-ish shaped heels, that taper to about 5/8" at the bottom, so not super thin, either. They were comfortable enough for the 3 hours I wore them. I did have to punch new holes in the straps because they were too big by 1/2". These are my first Mary Janes ever. I think I like them.

I will be honest, I am reserving judgment on these until further notice. I don't love them right off the bat, but I don't hate them, either. The fact that there is absolutely no curviness to the heel, and that the top of it doesn't line up with the back of the shoe is a little off-putting to me. But you never know, I've changed my mind before.

I am still trying to determine how they attached the heel to that plate, and then how they attached the plate to the shoe. Obviously, they couldn't run pointed screws down from the top like they do with a normal heel.

Believe me, I slew nobody, but everybody who had anything to say rather liked the shoes. In fact, there was one woman who said something about them, and I replied, "Well, Marcia, I actually thought of you when I bought these, because they looked like something you would wear." She said, "Oh, you're right, those are exactly like something I would wear!" Although I don't think I've ever seen her wear anything above 3 inches. On rare occasions, 3 1/2. Maybe. It's funny, all the women who sing in that early church service band wear heels pretty much every week, but not Heels. About 2 1/2" average.

Here is the outfit of the week, featuring my new Mary Janes, which I will post about later in the New Shoes section. Here is one regular picture, and one picture of me doing my very best pissed off looking model impression. Why do those people always look irritated?

22 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I remember having to learn the prologue to The Canterbury Tales in Chaucerian English... 

As did I. I believe I can still get through the first eight lines of it.

11 hours ago, Puffer said:

'Mary spent more than an hour with her make-up before going out on her special date.   She killed the look with extra blue eyeshadow.'

So, did she improve her appearance or ruin it?   (No peeping allowed.)

10 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

In that context, it's good.

In sports if a team kills another it dominated it. So Mary dominated the look she was going for.

I will have to disagree. It's still ambiguous. It probably means Mary did a good thing, but extra blue eye shadow is hardly ever a good thing. Setting aside my own biases, with the addition of one little word, "but," it would possibly change the whole meaning, and would be unambiguous. "But she killed the look with extra blue eye shadow."

Ah, the age old discussion of what is masculine and what is feminine. There is some room for discussion about that. I do not think anything I wear looks particularly "girly," but others would violently disagree with that self-assessment, the most important of these being my wife. Body type definitely plays into the whole thing. I don't think I look very feminine, but I am small, so finding so-called "men's" clothing and shoes has been a bit of a problem all of my life. What I wear on a daily basis would probably look ridiculous if I were 6'3" and 220 lbs.

I was more referring to the above picture that has the crocs with the nails sticking out the bottom, but since you brought it up, yeah, some of those pictures look ok. It kind of brings to mind the expression "She'd look great in a flour sack," but ok.

What a pity you can't enjoy your footwear of choice wherever you feel like it. Most of us have been in that place to one degree or other at some point. It even crosses my mind every now and then that I don't have the mental energy to wear heels in every situation.

I am sure it is only a matter of time before somebody makes a comment that, in additional to being awful, those jellies are not high heels at all.. While this is true, it does not materially change the content or context of the discussion.

19 hours ago, spikesmike said:

mlroseplant: George Burns was not ever funny. Gracy Allen was the comedian of that couple. She wrote most (all) of their material. After her death George never had much of a career. Mike

That's sort of what I meant in reference to my comment. It wasn't really very funny. It was me attempting to play it straight with the word(s). What I do find funny is that now we seem to be using a slang meaning to define slang, and it's still being debated (and misunderstood, although that might be on purpose, it's hard to tell).

I can remember the first time I ever looked in the mirror (at approximately age 20, or 35 years ago) while wearing high heels, and thought to myself, "God, I look absolutely terrible, I'm never letting anybody see this." And it was true, I did look terrible.

It had nothing to do with the actual clothing or shoes, it had everything to do with the way I carried myself. I guess I've always known it, but for most of my life, I have looked terrible moving through the world--bad posture and a funny walk with bowed legs. I still catch myself doing this from time to time, I have to work at it constantly, and I'm never really satisfied. It's even worse now that I'm on livestream video every single week, I get to see what happens when I'm thinking about what's going on in the moment, and not how I'm carrying myself. "Wow.  .  . did I just walk down those steps like that?" (Involuntary shudder).