CrushedVamp

She did teach me a very important lesson though because in the past 47 years I have never once poked a birthday cake to see if it was hot! And I am not scared of rats and know the right way to use garden hoses. 🙂 But all kidding aside, having been in a foster home I know of foster siblings who put up with a whole lot worse than me. I won't go into details, but many would turn your stomach. As a writer, many of my mainstream novels include foster or adopted children. Not for added drama for plot purposes but because its a situation near and dear to my heart.

This is not a great photo as I cropped it out to just a pair of my wife in high heels, but one of her "everyday" high heels. This is typical of her preferred style and taken when we were in the kitchen of our church one day. What I have noticed though is that unlike some peep-toed shoe designs, it seems she likes a peep-toe that is much smaller than some. For instance, hers typically show only 2-1/2 toes whereas some peep-toe designs expose 3-4 toes. I wonder if this causes the toe box to close in squeezing the sides of her feet more??? Keds, by their very design are just super thin and always have been and wearing them my wife always wears arch supports in them. But the trend I am noting now with other sneakers is, a huge push for memory foam for insole construction. I am not sure that is a good trend though. I have had huge problems with my feet and was surprised that having a hard plastic ach support ended up being the answer for me and not super-soft, ineffectual add-in insoles. I use Super-Feet insoles for instance and have used them for 15 years or more. The ones I use cannot be worn with most high heels granted, but I think they have a style that is specifically for high heels if I remember correctly. Either way, I just found out for me stepping on a softer pillow like memory foam does not work better for me.

I second NOT waiting for knee surgery. I limped on mine for a year and a half, never really it being a good time for me, and that did a lot more damage. It also prolonged my recovery, which as I said earlier was six months. I was 42 years old when they said I was too young for a knee replacement. I was told it is how they cut off your femur to pin in the replacement knee, but it would wear out, and I would need another one. They can do that operation twice, but the knee wears out in 20 years. They cannot do it three times because the femur would then be too short. I have had severe plantar fasciitis in the past, but my current job keeps me in a chair more, but I am so afraid it will crop up again. That is because this is my last week at my current job so what I do next is anyone's guess, so being on my feet more concerns me. It was really painful in the past.

I was mostly concerned with coworkers seeing my colorized toes, but your poignant point was not lost on me either. What is the chances of that really happening, and if my wife wants something so simple, why not appease her? Without question it is an excuse of MINE that I fully own. You are right, I should call her bluff.

This is not surprising as my wife says something similar. It is almost ironic but the Keds she wears often, (picture several posts ago in this very thread) and keeps as backup shoes, hurt her feet if she does not wear arch supports in those kinds of shoes. The flatness of them is almost worse than some of her high heels. Most of the time with her high heels, her foot pain comes from the vamp pressing on the sides of her toes in being pitched forward. When standing for long bouts of time, heel pain comes from the ball of her foot.

Not sure why I missed this thread until now, but I did. In any case I am empathetic on this as I have Achilles Tennon issues myself. For me... and I wonder if this may be part of your issue... it has to do with my knees. Yes, no joke! I need a knee replacement on my right knee but I am too young for it yet. So, I had minor surgery done to it in 2017, but after 6 months I was not recovering from the surgery. Then an occupational therapist decided to try something, she did massage therapy on my Archilles Tennon and it helped alleviate the issue and I could go back to work. I guess the tenons stretch from your ankle and then go around each side of the knees. For me anyway, with no ligaments in the knee to hold my foot in alignment, it strains my Archilles Tennon. Then, and now even, if I massage that tenon it helps with my foot/knee pain. For me I need this about once a week, something I can do, but my wife also helps massage too. Learning this has helped me a lot, but it also comes with a truth. With medical stuff people will often think that what is wrong with THEM automatically equates to YOU, and I am in NO WAY saying that. For me anyway, just the way my Archilles Tennon plays out, affects my feet and knee. You actually see it in my foot prints. On sand or snow, my left foot is straight ahead, but with my right, since I have no ligaments in my knee, it cannot hold my foot straight so it pulls to the right. Literally, my right foot walks duck-footed, or my footprint on my right side is splayed out at a 45 degree.

Hey thanks for your kind words of compassion. But, while it is easy to get upset at the situation I just try and remember a few things. The first is that as rough as my childhood was, that is behind me. I am not going to let it get in the way of where I am going, as a person has no control of where they were born, what kind of parents they had, if they were in an urban setting or rural, but the decisions I make now can change almost anything for the better... if they are proper ones. So I try and focus on only things in life I can change. And secondly, compared to most of my foster siblings, I did not have it that bad. I endured physical abuse but not the other kind which most of them did. In fact, now they say 9 out of 10 kids in foster care have been S-Abused. I am VERY fortunate that was not something I had happen to me though.

Do members on here feel as if watching "how to walk in high heels' videos on Youtube helps? The reason I ask is, my wife will people-watch people at weddings and confide in me that this person or that does not know how to walk in high heels. It is not done in a nefarious way, just making a point. I have watched a few videos on youtube and they have stated what my wife has made comments about over the years like taking shorter steps, stepping with toe or heel down first when walking on certain surfaces, etc. So I know they and she seem to be lockstep on their pointers, if you will forgive the bad pun?

It was because of the hockey game night @higherheels that we started doing something controversial, at least for some of the members on this site, and that was to always have a backup pair of comfortable shoes for my wife. Typically, they are a pair of Keds, which changes the whole formal/informal look I realize, but they are more comfortable for her to wear. It is controversial because some on here say, "just put up with the pain. By working through it you get better", and others say, "if it hurts stop". I am not sure which is best. These are Keds just so everyone knows what I am referring too...

Or us hockey fans where once and awhile we go to the on-ice fights and strangely a hockey game breaks out! 🙂

So true, which reminded me of the movie Father Goose where for half the movie the woman wore heeled shoes. At least in that case part of the plot was when she was jabbed by a stick and ended up taking them off for much of the rest of the movie, though to be fair its been years since I watched that movie and my memory is a little foggy on the details. But taking your expanded concept further, I always thought it was in poor costume design in the original show Silk Stalkings when you could always tell what was about to happen. Mitzi Kapture always wore high heels all through the show unless she was in a running/action scene, then the miniskirt and heels came off and in its place pants and sensible shoes worn so she could run or drop-kick the chased after perpetrator. Terrible foreshadowing even in a cheesy 1980's crime drama.

My mother had something called Munchhausen Syndrome By Proxy which means she gets this odd exhilaration from her kids generating her attention. Most times it is from others having sympathy for her kids problems. That meant when nothing occurred, she started something. For me, I was her third child with an older brother and sister. I was the result of a camping trip, 13 months after my sister was born. I heard it all. "You were not worth having child birth for". "I got a son and daughter and did not need you.". "I should have aborted you". Worse yet, I was allergic to milk, so it would make me stop breathing and I would turn blue until the paramedics came. But back in the 1970's only poor people gave their kids milk, and only hippies had goat milk. For some reason people allergic to milk can tolerate goat milk. My mother was not doing those things, AND she got attention for the ambulance showing up to treat me. I nearly died so many times but until I outgrew it around age two, she kept giving me milk. But what sent me into foster care was when I was four years old. My mom baked a birthday cake for my sister and told me it was hot. I was four so I poked it with my finger. My punishment? She turned the burner on the stove and put her hand over mine and pressed my palm on the hot stove. 47 Years later my right palm is still scarred by the burn I got from her doing that. I spent years in foster care but they did nothing to her for it. But axe handles given to the to the ribs breaking them, being beaten with garden hoses when my dad was tired and mad which was several times a week, put in the basement alone and without the lights on where there were rats. My mom does NOT get a mothers day card...

My wife always gets a Fire Engine Red color, seen in some pictures where she is wearing peep-toe heels on this site, but calls it by a name that is not good so I won't repeat it. She has been pretty good about me wearing leggings for warmth and comfort around the house, and has teased me a few times about getting red painted toes, but I would be so embarrassed if I was in a car or industrial accident. When I worked for the railroad in extreme cold, my foreman suggested wearing pantyhose to stay warm, and in warmer weather to defeat ticks, but for the same accident reasons, I could not do it. I did try it, and I think he is right as I did seem to stay warmer, and goodness knows the US Marines wear pantyhose for tick prevention while NFL Players wear pantyhose to stay warm under their uniforms, but again it would be tough to explain so I just opt for legging under my jeans and no color on my toes. But that is just me. I think its great others aren't as timid as I am. Life is indeed short, live it as anyone pleases.

A few years ago ABC News had a very early morning news segment, and for some reason part of the routine was to catch the news anchors walking to their seats to begin the broadcast. It was not difficult for the man, but you could see the angst on the woman news anchor's face as she treaded out. This was verbalized as several times she would say, "I am always so scared I am going to trip". I never saw her do that, but after about a year her protests must have been enough to stop the practice and the program started with them already seated. I am glad for her though as I am sure 75% of the viewing audience was like NASCAR fans and really just hoping she would trip, just as NASCAR fans are hoping race cars crash horrifically!

Ha, that was a new one on me and momentarily confused me. But then it took me until a few weeks ago to understand that "trainers" were just sneakers in UK Speak! 🙂 I am jealous of your wife making curtains though. My wife buys her's and renews them about every three months. Since there are 54 windows in this house it gets expensive! But she doesn't save the old ones, she throws them out. We are in the midst of selling this Victorian and bought a smaller house so to make it look good I asked her where all the matching curtains were for the room colors and whatnot that we had. "Oh, I threw them all out". Grrrrrr.... We like this house. It's right on a river and has a barn and all that, but it is just too big for the two of us now our children have grown up. Kind of scary to move to a much smaller house, but its out on an island, on a point of land so has the views but is much cheaper to heat and cool.

That sounds like quite the quest. It must have been a fun to do all that it took to get such a pair in your closet. Figuring out what brand they were, what style and then who sold them and for how much. If they had the proper size and then watching it track from online store to your home. Kind of like a shoe-mystery played out for your personal enjoyment. Not sure if it is the same thing, but my wife has a pair of pumps that changes color. In some light they are gold, but then in other light it shimmers and changes to silver. They are one of my most favorite pairs of heels she wears, and lucky for me she wears them often. A question though. Going by your username, are the shoes you bought Mary Janes? Just curious?

Good for you on so many fronts, from your pedi and mani, to the color choices, to the support for breast cancer awareness. I had a sister-in-law pass away from breast cancer, a terrible death, and myself have had three back-to back episodes of cancer, so awareness of such a killer is always great to be supported against. I get pedicures myself, although without color. It stemmed from a infected ingrown toenail that so many people scoff at, but it was a lot of pain at the time. My doctor suggested I not only get it fixed with a professional pedicure, but to prevent them, to keep going long afterwards. She said she does it herself, and brings her boyfriend along because she recommends it for everyone. Once I went that first time, laughed and joked with the workers, and laughed it up with the other patrons, any awkwardness of a man having a pedicure was gone, so now I get one every six weeks or so. I recommend both men and woman get them for health reasons and have for years.

I am not sure what constitutes a high tolerance of high heel wear. I say often, "my wife lives in her high heels" and it is true, she wears them often, but her tolerance of them depends on what she is doing. Most times it is to church where she spends only brief amounts of time on her feet before she can rest by sitting down. Or even that at a restaurant or on a dinner date; it is not a significant amount of time standing. One time she wore high heels to a hockey game and that was difficult for her to tolerate. Between the walk from the hotel to the arena, then standing in line to get in, then back to a place to eat; it was just too much. Halfway back from the hockey game, despite it being very cold outside (20 degrees f) she took off her shoes and went barefoot. All total, it was probably a mile of walking in her high heels. Another time I remember where it was too much, was at a funeral for our friend where there was standing room only. But being taller or shorter than your wife is just one of those things where some men are more comfortable with it than others. I cannot say. I am not tall, but not short either so my perception is far different than some men's, so I cannot judge. For her ex-husband; being shorter really bothered him. I don't hold anything against the man because it did, but forbidding her to wear heels then is the driver for her enjoying wearing them now.

I could see that. Generally, whatever we are forced to do under duress we begin to detest. Not always of course, as some things we were forced to do as kids, as we grow older, we begin to have a nostalgic look back upon it, but mostly we detest what we were forced to do, or in this case wear. My wife, she is rather the opposite of Vanna. Her first husband was short and thus forbid her to wear high heels, so when allowed kind of went crazy on the wearing of them.

I am glad you did/do compliment parents for well-behaved children. I remember the first time a restaurant owner approached me and my wife and said something similar. We were taken back because it didn't seem as if our five young daughters (at the time) were doing anything really obedient. But apparently the restaurant had some wild kids in the past. The other day my 19 year old semi-apologized for being bad while growing up, and I told her I did not think our daughters were bad at all. She mentioned a few times we spoke up and stopped some sibling-rivalry but I explained to her that we stopped sibling-squabbling early just so it did not turn into a bigger problem. But growing up... wow! That was over the top. I remember sitting in church and a family-friend asked my dad how us kids were so well behaved and he said, "Oh, I just use a length of garden hose on them". The problem was, that family-friend, teachers and everyone else thought he was joking. My dad had a 4 foot length of old garden hose he liked to wail on us kids with. The real question is: did we turn out good because of it, or despite it? Considering my daughters turned out well so far, and I did not wail on them at all, I think the latter.

I could never quite figure out why kilts never caught on, at least not in terms of being practical. I watch my wife wear skirts and it just seems so easy and practical, lounging around the house and we decided to grab some ice cream; she says, "I'll throw on a skirt", and does. While I am dragging a pair of pants up over my legs, she has slipped on a skirt, stepped into mules and waiting in the car while I am still hitching the button on my jeans. And while I won't get into the exact details, hiking or exercising with "junk" that chafes and sticks against pants seems ridiculous since I have to wear boxer/briefs to prevent it... of just the right type too mind you lest they cause their own issues, when a kilt would prevent all that. I don't know, just seemed a kilt should have become standard wear for men by now in terms of practical items to wear versus pants, but maybe I am missing something.

Somewhere on this website there was a discussion about this very thing: some little things that were easier to do in high heels. The list was not huge I admit, but rolling out dough, painting, and a few other things were brought up by me, but others on here as well. One of my houses is an old Victoriam home with 9 foot ceilings. It is just enough so that even stretched out I cannot get to the crown molding, but yet a folding set of steps is overkill. But wearing high heels... yep that would work out just right. Putting up curtains wearing high heels would help as well.

The other day as I was doomscrolling, somehow an old clip of The Price is Right came along, and in watching it this contestant took forever to do the task she was required to do. It was not that which grabbed my attention, but rather the model who, after standing for so long in her high heels, you could tell was having serious foot pain. She tried to wait until the camera was not on her, but several times she could be seen wincing and trying to ease her foot pain in all matter of ways. Certainly, my heart went out to her, but that amount of standing in heels was not typical of that show. I remember when Deal or No Deal came out really feeling for the models. They had to stand perfectly still, and not walking around at all, for almost the whole show. If you watch closely you can see where the models really struggled with this. The first time I saw that show I thought it was model cruelty. For that reason alone, I could not dare to ever watch the show. Has anyone else watched Game Shows on television and felt sympathy/empathy for the models who endured so much while required to wear high heels?

I have to admit that I grossly overthought this part of the kitchen. Like where I was going to put this lowered countertop area? The exact height it should be? How much kitchen area this should take up? What countertop material to use? Nope… no thought needed. Just keep a pair of easy to slip on high heels nearby. She had a pair of pumps, but a pair of mules would be easier to put on I think. Alternatively, a person considering a dough rolling area in their kitchen, could also make a pull-out step at the bottom of the cabinets. Just pull it out and step on it to gain a few inches taller to make rolling dough easier. Or… just keep a pair of easy to slip on high heels nearby. 😊

I am so sorry I never got back to this post, but as promised here are a few pictures...