The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[p1ng74]

2 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I'm spending a rather long time looking at the first picture (with the dress), trying to decide whether I like it or not. I mean, for myself. You look just fine! I think my objection, and this is a difficult one to overcome because of what's generally available, is that the neck opening is way bigger than I would wear. In this particular case, you would be showing boobies if you weren't wearing a shirt underneath it. Many of the women's tops I like have this same problem--I can't wear them unless I put something underneath like you have, and that's not so great in the summer. In my case, it's because I'm too hairy, and I don't really care to add YET ANOTHER thing to shave. That's why you will always find me in crew neck shirts, even in the summer.

As far as the bag goes, I'm kind of with @Cali on this one at this point--I don't want to carry something else with me if I don't have to. Sounds like something I would accidentally leave laying someplace.

 

Well, I don’t have any boobs to show lol.  I don’t have any hair on my chest, but yes I agree I don’t feel right wearing it out unless I wear a shirt underneath.  

Edited February 3, 2020 by p1ng74

[pebblesf]

23 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I don't have much ruminating this week, but I do have news, and that is that my wife and younger son will return home from Vietnam in just a few days. I kind of went a little nuts while they were gone, buying a lot of stuff on Poshmark that I'd wanted to experiment with, but hadn't really wanted to deal with all the static from my wife about why was I wasting all this money on silly stuff. So I feel somewhat guilty about that, but you know, it's really small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, and I have discovered some interesting things.

No. 1: I have been looking for winter hat ideas for years. It seems there is nothing so utilitarian for keeping one's head and ears warm as a stocking cap, but it's a very casual style that doesn't go well with nicer coats and heels. I managed to find a couple of alternatives that are acceptable. I bought a wool beret that can be pulled over the tops of one's ears, and that's ok for short periods. But more significantly, I found a lined sort of stocking cap with a hard bill/visor in front that pretty much serves the same function as a stocking cap, but with a much more polished appearance. I have gotten several compliments on it, as pictured several posts above. I now have the same cap in bright red and mauve as well as black.

No. 2: I now own a couple of what you might call dresses. They don't seem like dresses in the usual sense, they're basically really long sweaters. My intent was to get a couple of sweaters long enough to reliably and consistently cover my private area so that I could wear leggings as pants out in public without creating an image I don't care to create. 'Nuff said. However, what I wound up getting in a couple of cases is something considerably longer than necessary to satisfy the aforementioned requirements. And you know what? They don't look bad! As long as I pay attention, stand up straight and engage my core, that is. I'm not saying I'm fat, because I'm not, but my abs aren't what they once were, and it's very easy for me to look 4 months pregnant. Maybe I'm just nitpicking myself in the mirror, I don't know.

No. 3: I now need to figure out whether I'm going to become a handbag guy. My latest purchases have no pockets, and although my pocket requirements are very minimal, zero pockets ain't gonna work. It may be that I will decide to dial back everything because of this pocket problem. I am not at all sure that I really want to go where I'm heading, 'specially once the wife gets back. There is always that to consider in the grand scheme of things.

No 4: I'm going to have to figure out where to put all my new shoes. I don't have enough room presently. And my new sweaters. And my new coats. And my new hats. And my old hats. Right now, they're sitting on the basement floor. That is not a great place to keep them, especially once the spring rains come. Looks like I will be building more shelves soon.

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for tuning in.

It's nice to have some time to yourself every once in awhile....Hope all goes well when the wife gets home....

[mlroseplant]

21 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

Well, I don’t have any boobs to show lol.  I don’t have any hair on my chest, but yes I agree I don’t feel right wearing it out unless I wear a shirt underneath.  

Haha, I guess I meant "you" in the collective sense, not "you" specifically. Language is an imperfect vehicle.

I attended my precinct caucus last night. I wore basically what you see up there with the Morton Salt Girl, only with jeans instead of leggings, and lace up heeled oxfords instead of knee-high boots. And oh yeah, a cherry red cap instead of a black one. I am 100% sure there are now pictures of me out there somewhere on the internet, though I doubt that any of them were taken for the purpose of photographing me personally. The whole process took about two hours, and I was standing the whole time. Luckily, I chose well and didn't wear anything too crazy, I barely noticed my feet.

20 hours ago, pebblesf said:

It's nice to have some time to yourself every once in awhile....Hope all goes well when the wife gets home....

It looks like the weather might actually cooperate (knock on wood). They come back on Saturday. And thank goodness they are not flying in from China.

[Shyheels]

High heels would seem to be the least of things that were flustering the caucus in Iowa last night....

[SF]

Morton Salt Girl....  ha ha, that's funny....   sf

[mlroseplant]

11 hours ago, Shyheels said:

High heels would seem to be the least of things that were flustering the caucus in Iowa last night....

Actually the suspect "app" you might have heard about worked just fine for us, but that may have been due to the fact that we are a small precinct, and we finished our proceedings early.

[Bubba136]

Was it you wearing your high heel boots that was responsible for the mass confusion in counting candidates votes ?

[mlroseplant]

On 2/5/2020 at 4:41 PM, Bubba136 said:

Was it you wearing your high heel boots that was responsible for the mass confusion in counting candidates votes ?

I'm sure that was it! There IS power in high heels, after all!

I would like to submit a couple more selfies of some stuff I've bought while my wife has been gone. I got this mint green sweater by Leith. Don't know who "Leith" is, but that's what it says on the tag. Again, the purpose of buying this was to experiment with wearing leggings as pants. I bought this sweater on Poshmark, and I think it was brand new, there were still tags and stickers on it. It is labeled "small," but it's not terribly small, feels more like a medium. Oddly enough, I got another sweater labeled "small" that I basically couldn't even get on, so you just never know--that's the breaks when shopping online.

So two things I didn't realize about this sweater is that number one, it's purposefully longer in the back than it is in the front. Number two, it's quite loose around the bottom. It's OK, but in a perfect world I would have the whole bottom edge be the length of the back half, and have it be considerably tighter. It's almost as if this were made for a petite woman with an enormous ass. Maybe it was. At any rate, my misgivings about the garment did not prevent me from wearing it to choir rehearsal, where one of the members immediately complimented me on the color and wanted to touch it.

With it I wore my longer Jockey leggings and my new Miu Miu shearling mules, which are quite noisy on hard floors, by the way. I also wore my new shortish gray peacoat and my new mauve stylized stocking cap. Kind of a mishmash of colors, but I didn't have a great deal of time to think this all out. It was hard to miss me, anyway. I didn't get out in the general public like a grocery store, so I can't really gauge reaction of people who don't actually know me.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by mlroseplant

[mlroseplant]

I have been busy lately for a couple of reasons, one of which is that we've gone to 10 hour days at work recently, so I haven't had a lot of time to go out of the house, other than to work. The other reason is that we've been having sewer problems, which is affecting my shoes and clothes, as I keep them in the basement. Don't worry, nothing has gotten ruined, it's just that they are harder to access now, as I've piled other things out of harm's way until we get this problem resolved.

As I have been spending more time at work, and my work is relatively physically easy, other than having to walk a lot, I am toying once again with the idea of getting a work boot with a bit of a heel on it. For several years, I've worn completely flat boots. So I've ordered these Timberland boots, and depending on what they actually seem like when I get them, I may wear them to work. Or I might return them. They are not really work boots, but given my situation right at the moment, it won't matter. It was rather difficult finding a pair of heeled boots without a side zip on them, which is a dead giveaway that it's not a work boot. They are supposed to come on Tuesday, so we'll see.

[p1ng74]

Packer boots from Olathe and even Wesco come with nice 2-2.5” heels.  They are definitely made for work.  

[pebblesf]

5 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

Packer boots from Olathe and even Wesco come with nice 2-2.5” heels.  They are definitely made for work.  

LOVE Olathe and Wesco boots....

[mlroseplant]

I went to a mini high school class reunion last night on the spur of the moment. There were only about a half dozen of us there, but there was one fellow I wanted to see in particular, whom I hadn't seen in over 30 years. Once upon a time, we used to be pretty good friends, but you know how life goes. We ate at a restaurant, then went to a bar afterwards. I was wearing my new-to-me American Eagle Outfitters striped sweater, skinny jeans, and my DVF olive green wedge clogs. Nobody commented on my shoes at all, I'm not sure anybody even noticed, given the lighting of the venue(s), but about half of the group already knew about my unusual footwear already. The reason why I'm even writing anything is because I got an unexpected compliment on my sweater by one of the female bartenders. She was in her early 20s by my estimate, and she was very insistent that she was sincere about her compliment, and wanted to know where I got it. I told her I got it on Poshmark, and that a guy my size had to be very creative to buy clothes that fit. I told her it was a women's sweater, and she thought that was cool. She couldn't see my shoes from behind the bar, so that didn't even enter into the equation.

In case you're wondering, I am going to get a haircut tomorrow. It's time. Also, I kind of match the woman next to me, don't I?

Edited February 16, 2020 by mlroseplant
Clarity

[mlroseplant]

Referencing the last paragraph in the above post, I went to my barber this week. Through circumstance, the barbershop where I've been going for more years than I care to remember has been bought out by a woman, and I've continued to go there just because I like the place. The proprietor wears high heels to cut hair in nearly 100% of the time. Nothing too outrageous in height, usually 2 or 3 inches difference, often she'll wear a 4 inch heel with a 1 inch platform, and that's almost always a wedge.

However, I thought these boots she was wearing on this particular day were worth a post. I did not post all of her out of privacy concerns. She got these boots for Christmas from  her husband, and I won't get into the complicated story, but she had a request to wear them and wound up wearing them right to work. Some other customer asked her if she was going to wear them all day, or whether they were just for show, and she said definitely she would wear them all day.

Usually, we sort of struggle to have a conversation, as we really have nothing in common, but that was not a problem on this particular day. I only wish I had worn something nicer than my plain Coach Rana clogs.

[mlroseplant]

16 hours ago, kneehighs said:

Speaking of Vietnam, this video popped up in my recommended videos in YouTube.    Reminded me of you and your wife.

 

 

 

 

Like the disclaimer says, a strong sense of humor is suggested! Believe it or not, my wife and I met on one of these types of dating sites (not this particular one), and I still think it's absolutely amazing that we actually found each other. I don't know about THIS particular website, but others I had experience with in the past were cesspools of humanity as far as I'm concerned. I have no idea how legitimately sincere people actually met each other.

The part about taking her to Vietnamese karaoke was accurate, except for one important detail: Every single sound setup in Vietnam or elsewhere in the world designed for Vietnamese karaoke has the echo turned up to the max. They think this makes a bad singer sound acceptable, and a mediocre singer sound good. I can assure you, IT DOES NOT. What it does do is make a good singer sound bad. And when I say the clip about the karaoke was accurate, I mean it. Yeah, that's what the young man is feeling right now. In 5 or 10 years, he will be listening to the same people sing the same songs on the same bad sound system, and it will turn from exciting fun into something cringeworthy. But then, I'm looking at this from my personal perspective as a musician.

And yeah, they do care what other people think, that's why no heels for me in Vietnam, and she doesn't really like me to wear heels when we visit other Vietnamese people here. I couldn't give two craps about what the labels on my clothes say (although if it has the union label, that's a plus), I drive an 18 year old Buick by choice, and I live in kind of a dumpy, old house (but in a nicer neighborhood than I deserve). That is not true of most Vietnamese. They like to show off their designer labels, etc. Again, a generalization, but largely true. I don't know exactly why this is.

If, heaven forbid, something happened to my wife and I was trying to find another woman from Vietnam, I would NEVER, repeat NEVER use one of these dating sites. EVER. I now have enough of a social network, I wouldn't need to anyway. It makes me shudder a little bit thinking about it. Long live my wife!

[p1ng74]

The video ends with giving the girl white flowers.  In Chinese culture this could be a dangerous insult, as white flowers are reserved for funerals.  Is it the same for Vietnamese?

[mlroseplant]

At least he didn't give her a knife! That is the one gift I know that will get you into some serious trouble in Vietnam. I really don't know about the white flowers, I shall have to ask my wife when I get a chance. I am happy to report that I will be going back to a normal 40 hour week next week, so I might actually get a chance to see my wife for more than just a few minutes here and there. I hope she likes the new shorts I bought better than she liked my new coat and hat.

[p1ng74]

When I got married I learned that it is proper even in western culture to include a coin when you gift a knife, to offset potential negative association with the gift.  

[mlroseplant]

On 2/26/2020 at 5:28 PM, p1ng74 said:

The video ends with giving the girl white flowers.  In Chinese culture this could be a dangerous insult, as white flowers are reserved for funerals.  Is it the same for Vietnamese?

I finally remembered to ask, and my wife looked at me and said, "What the heck?" It's one of those examples of American vernacular that she doesn't get quite right intonation-wise, but it's super cute. Anyway, I guess there is no prohibition on white flowers in Hanoi. She thought it was a strange question. I'm not even going to say that this applies to all of modern Vietnam, because they could well have other customs in the South, and I'd have to ask other people about that.

Just out of curiosity, which Chinese language/dialect is your Mother Tongue, and do you speak more than one Chinese language/dialect?

[p1ng74]

2 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Just out of curiosity, which Chinese language/dialect is your Mother Tongue, and do you speak more than one Chinese language/dialect?

I can still get around in Mandarin, which is the only one I know.  
 

East Asians seem to have adopted certain western ways, and where it conflicts the old association has been thrown out relatively quickly.  Weddings come to mind - I only see the western use of white for purity now (both for the bride’s dress and flowers) whereas in traditional Chinese custom the bride wears red.  For anyone else to wear red would be a faux pas, and also there would be no black/white attire or white flowers, as those colours are associated with death.  Wearing red I think is still dangerous in modern times, as I have seen the bride changing from white to traditional red garments for the reception/dinner.  

[mlroseplant]

20 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

I can still get around in Mandarin, which is the only one I know.  
 

East Asians seem to have adopted certain western ways, and where it conflicts the old association has been thrown out relatively quickly.  Weddings come to mind - I only see the western use of white for purity now (both for the bride’s dress and flowers) whereas in traditional Chinese custom the bride wears red.  For anyone else to wear red would be a faux pas, and also there would be no black/white attire or white flowers, as those colours are associated with death.  Wearing red I think is still dangerous in modern times, as I have seen the bride changing from white to traditional red garments for the reception/dinner.  

Looking back at my own wedding in Vietnam, my wife wore white, à la Western style, our "bridesmaids," which were not really bridesmaids at all, but the closest equivalent to a Western wedding, wore bright red áo dài, the Vietnamese traditional dress.

For our American wedding, which was a small ceremony necessary for the type of visa we chose to apply for, my wife wore a shockingly neon fuschia áo dài. Oddly enough, at the end of our Vietnamese wedding, we were driven away in a fancy car, but at the end of our American wedding, we escaped on a motorbike. That's completely backwards!

[p1ng74]

6 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Looking back at my own wedding in Vietnam, my wife wore white, à la Western style, our "bridesmaids," which were not really bridesmaids at all, but the closest equivalent to a Western wedding, wore bright red áo dài, the Vietnamese traditional dress.

For our American wedding, which was a small ceremony necessary for the type of visa we chose to apply for, my wife wore a shockingly neon fuschia áo dài. Oddly enough, at the end of our Vietnamese wedding, we were driven away in a fancy car, but at the end of our American wedding, we escaped on a motorbike. That's completely backwards!

Just goes to show that we like to show off when it comes to weddings.  In a country full of bikes, a limo is proper for the occasion.  In a country of cars, a Harley is how we’d draw attention!

[mlroseplant]

Our church has three services every Sunday. They are basically the same service with three different styles of music. Oftentimes, for one reason or another, I have to attend more than one of the services. Usually this has something to do with musical performance, but one constant is that I pretty much have to show up to the traditional service at 11:00 every Sunday no matter what else I've had going on the rest of the morning. When it so happens that I need to go to the 8:30 service, do my thing, leave, and come back at 11:00, I often do what I laughingly refer to as a "costume change." Just like any rock star would do.

On this particular Sunday morning, it just so happened to be about 45º (7º C) and sunny by about 7:30, so I decided I was wearing sandals, and I wound up wearing this totally pink-toned outfit (except for my belt and my watch). I started out without the necktie, but decided it looked better with the tie, even for "rock-n-roll" church. As I gave myself one final look-over in the mirror on the way out the door, I thought, "Wow, this is pushing my look a little bit further than I thought, both in terms of color palette and silhouette." But by then it was too late, because I was on the verge of running late. And wouldn't you know, despite my concerns, I got like 4 compliments on my outfit that morning, which is unusual. On a usual Sunday morning, I sometimes get 1 comment, sometimes not.

When I got home, my wife didn't even comment on my clothing, which is also unusual. I had a cup of coffee, practiced my cornet (which I used at the 11:00 service), and changed out the pink pants and shoes for a charcoal gray suit and heeled loafers, and the wife and I went to the 11:00 service, where nobody said anything about my outfit at all. And why would they? This is what I typically look like pretty much every Sunday.

[SF]

Nice.....   I have worn heels to church occasionally, never has been a problem.....  As it should be......   Have fun  sf

[p1ng74]

I like wearing pink too.   I wonder if a lighter colored belt would look better with the totally pink-toned outfit.  

[mlroseplant]

9 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

I like wearing pink too.   I wonder if a lighter colored belt would look better with the totally pink-toned outfit.  

I thought the very same thing, but alas, I don't own such a thing at the moment, so I figured black and pink weren't a bad combination, especially with my wristwatch.

__________________

Later on that day, as the temperature was unseasonably warm, I decided to break out my new shorts, which are Banana Republic (size 4P), and are in a dressier style than that which I am wont to wear. I needed to purchase comestibles for the coming week, so I headed to my usual grocery store with a list. On such a warm day, I figured that there would we a number of people dressed in shorts, but much to my surprise, I was the only one. I ran into an old family friend whom I hadn't seen in quite some time, a lady of about 70, and I chatted with her for about 10 minutes. No one said anything about my attire or seemed to stare any more than normal.

After I finished my shopping, I was in the parking lot, loading my groceries into the trunk of my car, and a 30-something woman and her husband passed by me. The woman, who happened to be wearing high heeled sandals (with skinny jeans), said "I like your shoes!" I replied, "I like your shoes, too. Thank you so much!" They kept on walking, I returned my shopping cart to the appropriate pen and departed. Today, the weather is a bit cold for shorts, but the time is soon coming.

[mlroseplant]

I don't have a lot of ruminating to share this week, but I can share that I think I have found something that has shifted my style ever so slightly. As you know, I had the opportunity recently to buy whatever I want without question from the wife, just so I could try it out to see what works, and what doesn't. One thing that has come out of this is that I bought several pairs of pants that are not jeans, but are casual enough to wear every day. I also bought quite a few shorts that are dressier, if that is a thing. What I mean by that is they are not essentially cut-off jeans, they are actually somewhat tailored, with dressier-type internal back pockets, nicer fabric, that sort of thing. I have been stuck on jeans and t-shirt, especially in the summer for the past several years. They may be very colorful t-shirts, but it's the same thing over and over nevertheless. Another change is that my new pants are a couple of notches skinnier than what I have been wearing up to now. I see this out and about on women in general. If they even wear jeans at all, and many don't, opting for just leggings or baggy track pants, the jeans are not even really all that jean-like. They're very tight, but soft and stretchy. Now I really do have to stay rail thin.

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

Looking nice in all your poses and outfits. My wife and I were away since 29 January and travelled through 14 states. Attended church along the way in Florida and three different churches in northwestern Mexico. We returned to Wisconsin late Saturday. Stopped in the Des Moines Sams Club to check on toilet paper and paper towels and saw none but saw hordes of people. What a zoo! We skipped church on Sunday the 15th out of some concern. Northwest Mexico and Arizona have so few virus cases and nothing has changed on US-Mexico border as to daily operations. We're in the middle of buying a winter place in Yuma, AZ and will be making a return trip. It will be interesting to see what changes lie ahead. I know I paid $2.19 per gallon of gas the day before we left and paid $1.75 per gallon today so that's one noticeable change. Glad your shoes are leaving their "imprint" on the community. HinH

[mlroseplant]

3 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

Looking nice in all your poses and outfits. My wife and I were away since 29 January and travelled through 14 states. Attended church along the way in Florida and three different churches in northwestern Mexico. We returned to Wisconsin late Saturday. Stopped in the Des Moines Sams Club to check on toilet paper and paper towels and saw none but saw hordes of people. What a zoo! We skipped church on Sunday the 15th out of some concern. Northwest Mexico and Arizona have so few virus cases and nothing has changed on US-Mexico border as to daily operations. We're in the middle of buying a winter place in Yuma, AZ and will be making a return trip. It will be interesting to see what changes lie ahead. I know I paid $2.19 per gallon of gas the day before we left and paid $1.75 per gallon today so that's one noticeable change. Glad your shoes are leaving their "imprint" on the community. HinH

Hey there! I was kind of wondering where you've been, and now I know! It does seem like all of this is a burden, but just to put things in perspective, the kids in Hanoi haven't been back to school since Jan. 25 (!). I don't know if I told you, but the wife now works at Walmart, so she gets to witness the craziness firsthand.

______________________

I posted these boots on the "New Boots" thread recently, but I figured I'd do kind of a review of them on this thread, since I haven't written for a while. To briefly recap, I bought these Timberland Sutherlin Bay boots because I got the crazy notion that I wanted to wear something with a bit of a heel again at work. I have worn heeled Doc Martens before at work, and they actually worked out pretty well for real construction. That is, until they stopped making the model that I liked. Plus, I never really liked that pillowy, bouncy sole. It was especially weird to use a hand conduit bender in those boots.

I can pretty much tell you that these new Timberland boots ain't gonna last. They are just too light duty, even for the job I'm at now, and I really don't put them through too much punishment. The worst thing I have to do is walk on gravel, which is often wet, but I don't really have to deal with any appreciable amount of mud, and the data center itself is very clean, of course. And still, I can tell that these boots are just not going to be very durable, which is disappointing, considering the brand's reputation. I do, according to my mobile phone, often walk up to 20,000 steps a day in them. It's a big building!

I have gotten very few comments on them, which just goes to show you that people don't pay that much attention, despite the fact that discussing work boots and their comfort is a very common conversation. It should be obvious to anyone who knows anything that these are NOT work boots, but rather women's fashion boots. The only way it could be any more obvious is if they had a side zipper, which they do not. I was careful about that! As I've mentioned elsewhere, our work is pausing for an indefinite period due to Covid-19 virus, so I won't be able to test these boots further for some time.

[Shyheels]

Your experience with Timberland doesn't surprise me. A couple of years ago I wore out a pair of hiking boots astonishingly quickly and when I complained to the company they replied that the boots weren't designed for so much walking! These were sold as hiking boots and from a company that - supposedly - made boots for hiking and the outdoors. 

[mlroseplant]

I had an interesting experience last night. A good friend came over to visit (safely, of course, we didn't even shake hands like usual--these are strange times) and he brought his 12 year old daughter and one of her friends. After mostly talking about how both of our jobs are shut down as of yesterday, the subject came up that the daughter's friend played in the school concert band. I asked her, "So, what instrument do you play?" She answered "euphonium."

"Well!" I said. "Would you like to see my euphonium?" She immediately followed me to the basement, where my band instrument room is. Yeah, it was obvious she knew how to play, but she was at best average for a 6th grader. After trying a few other brass instruments that I own (with careful use of the extra large bottle of mouthpiece disinfectant that I have on hand), she realized that not only was I wearing heels, she was in a roomful of heels. See attached photo. Not the girls, of course, but an older photo showing the room. Upon discovering the treasure trove, the two girls pretty much wanted to try on everything. And I let them. I gave instructions on how to walk and not look like an idiot. They have a long way to go. Nobody got hurt, thank goodness. And I hope the girl remembers my advice to practice her horn a little bit every day while they're off school.