BobHH

The candidate photos and message I received in an email from my brother.

I like Burger King for salads and for the Original Chicken Sandwich (chicken puck or patty). Those can't be found everywhere any more. Burgers are better from In-n-Out or Jack in the Box.

But if you vote for McCain ------------------ You get this: Any questions?

Okay, let's work this out logically without a lot of emotion. If you vote for Obama --------------------- You get this: (See next message)

There can be problems even with reputable outfits like Snaz75. I ordered a pair of Ellies in size 12, and when they came they were size 10. When I told them, they sent a prepaid FedEx label to return them, but they were shipped from Ellie, not Snaz75, and the return label was to Ellie. Ellie is only about 3 miles from me, so I went there in person (industrial district - a small showroom and office and a warehouse). They don't sell them there. They did not have the size 12 in the model/color that was ordered and had evidently shipped what they did have. Not good. The size/color was not even on reorder and still isn't, months later, and may never be available again. The girl there was very nice and gave me another color that was in stock in exchange for the wrong ones. That saved Snaz75 the shipping and the hassle and they were thankful, but you can see how troubles can arise, since shoes are sometimes shipped from the distributor, not the store.

First pair were from the Frederick's catalog after seeing them in Vogue - what was later called stripper heels - 6 inch platforms. After that was with the wife in a small neighborhood stripper shop. They knew right away from the sizes, as she also bought some in her size. Then, the Fredericks store in Hollywood, then Maya's when she had a store. They all expected you to try them on, which I did once or twice only. Haven't tried that in a regular store.

Thrifty by all means: Pleaser/Lucious, Ellie, Tony, one pair from Reflection. Can't find the last ones on the Internet, though. There aren't many designer shoes in size 13 USW.

From an automobile review in the LA Times last week on Luxury Sport Utility Vehicles (not a favorable review): "UTILITY is not luxurious. Luxury is nonfunctional. Jimmy Choo stiletto sandals are, strictly speaking, shoes, but their functionality is all but surrendered to sex and gorgeousness. I for one am delighted." It is interesting how high heels mentions show up in the oddest places. Obviously many people are fascinated or more by them.

Bub = country talk for "Dude"

I suppose, unless there is someone else out there.

No, Dawn, you aren't the oldest. Otherwise, I take the fifth on the grounds of self incrimination.

The web sites selling "stripper shoes" have a large variety of styles, colors, materials, etc. for platform stilettos with 2 to 3 or 4 inch platforms and 6 to 8 inch heels (see Pleaser, for example). Is there really enough market in the stripping business for all those shoes? Who else buys them? I know some girls do and some men do, but enough to justify all those styles and varieties? I guess so! I wish the manufacturers would put some of that variety into the mini-platforms (4.5 to 5.5 inch heels). There is little variety in colors, etc. in those lines compared to the tall platforms. It is also odd, maybe, that most of the shorter heels come in sizes up to 10, 11, or 12 except for Pleaser who have some up to 16(!) whereas many of the taller platforms have sizes to 14. I just don't understand the market and target customers for tall platforms vs. mini platforms, as the tall ones aren't real practical for everyday wear. If U.S. sizes were the same for everybody, then we could forget the gender labels and just call them shoes. Fat chance!

Like the wedges!

Find a Nine West store. Heels4Less looks like mostly Pleaser shoes, which are pretty common. They are mostly patent, not soft leather, so not as expensive.

And you have to be in the UK to watch any of these.

I haven't been in Frederick's since they moved and are under new management, but they never had bins of cheap shoes. They used to put the sale shoes on one wall, and the regular ones on another wall. Their shoes were always very reasonably priced in the store. I never cared for their sale shoes, though. They usually put out one shoe of a style, and you had to ask about available sizes.

They have a lot of styles, though many are of similar construction. They are hand made and appear to be of high quality compared to Pleaser, of instance, and offer a much larger selection of sizes and widths than mass marketed shoes. The designs lend themselves to being hand made, not the injection molded plastic which requires high production figures to pay off the tooling investment. See the pictures of their shop. You aren't going to get those things cheap. P.S. I haven't seen any shops, sex shops or otherwise, that sell $10 shoes. Why is sex dirty or cheap, which is the implication? Sex shops may be sort of tawdry and base in their blatant displays, but sex is great and so are sexy shoes.

From the May 20th "Argyle Sweater" cartoon by Scott Hilburn:

Today's Cathy strip:

It's Father's Day in the USA. I thought it was nice that Pierre Silber is having a Father's Day sale on high heels for this occasion.

Tinker Bell

From the In-Style web site - almost the same shoes. Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmanuelle Chriqui (who?)

Roniheels- Where do you find jean shorts? Mine are all worn out and gone and I can't find any more!

Define weird. Different surely, but refreshingly so.

I'm sure the other men in the boutique were very envious and wished they had the nerve to do that. We used to know the owners of an exotic shoe store and shopped there. Saw a man one or two times when we went in, but they scurried out right away since they weren't alone any more. Do they think the are fooling anyone? They aren't.