All of this for a pair of shoes....

We had a discussion on my facebook page yesterday (was it yesterday?) about the condition of my sneakers. They are in pretty bad shape. And considering that I have a 5K that I really really want to do on Saturday, I really needed to get them replaced.

I decided to do that today. So I got the boys to school and came back to the house to make myself look human enough to go out in public.

In order to avoid the fiery pits of hell that is WalHell, I opted to go to the only shoe store in town to see what they had. And of course, they had nothing - well, nothing that I could afford that wasn't pink.

I hate pink. Hate it hate it hate it. And I don't want it on my shoes. That's probably about the only thing that I'm really picky about - brand names don't phase me, I don't have a favorite style...but I do not want PINK on my shoes. Period.

Annoyed, I went to the fiery pits of hell. They had nothing. No, actually, they had a few pairs. I tried them on. I tried to like them. But they just weren't comfortable and if I'm going to wear them to walk miles upon miles and to run races, they have to be comfortable.

One bonus of living in Kansas...SPEED!

So, I went and picked Daniel up from school and we made the trek into Wichita.


Keep in mind that I really dislike shopping. Seriously, I do. Generally, if I have to go to a mall, I park at the entrance closest to what I need, go in, get it, and leave. I don't like to go from store to store to store searching. Anyway, Daniel and I got to the mall and parked outside one of those big sporting goods stores. We checked out their shoes, and they had a couple of pairs that looked promising, but nothing amazing.

So we headed out into the mall itself.

We went to every single store that sold shoes. Every single one. The sales people weren't impressed when I told them that I wanted the cheapest pair of running shoes that they had - but seriously, I didn't want to spend a lot of money - I just need a pair to get me through a month or two, and then I'll splurge and get a good pair. But I'm not prepared to do that just yet. The looks that I got when I said that were incredible - like I was some sort of moron.

Now, I understand that good shoes are a necessity - I really do. But at the same time, I'm not going to spend $100+ for a pair of sneakers right now. I just can't justify that kind of expense. If I win the lottery (ha!), sure - but until that happens, I go for the bargains.

Anyway, as Daniel and I were walking from store to store, he was having a ball looking at stuff and just talking up a storm. We went into one store - it might have been JCPenneys - and it had escalators. He got so stinkin' excited about them that we rode up the escalator just for the heck of it, walked around the second floor of the store, and came right back down again. He was ecstatic.

Finally, we went to Sears. The very last store in the mall. And there, I found them. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular - just a decent pair of running shoes.

Best part? $60 shoes on sale for $30. And no pink.

Sold.

After all of that, we deserved lunch.

After we ate, we took off back toward home, stopped at the grocery store real quick, ran to the house and chucked the groceries into the fridge, and then picked Alex up from school. 

Then it was just chaos. I got supper started so that it was ready when Ex1 brought Sarah and Jared home after her volleyball practice. We quickly ate, and then we loaded up to drop those two off at Ex1's church. Then we took off to pick Emily up from her practice and brought her back and dropped her at the church as well. Came back home, got the younger two bathed and in bed, cleaned up the kitchen, the older three came home from church and got ready for bed, then I packed lunches and started cinnamon rolls for tomorrow.

And of course, I just remembered that I still haven't done my laundry. Darn it.