Put Your Shoes Out!
December 5, 2008
It turns out that people have been celebrating St. Nicholas day, December 6 each year, a long time before Santa Claus came around. On St. Nicholas day people around the world, mostly in Europe, honor this saint from long ago. I know, what does this have to do with shoe racks?
Not exactly much, but it has everything to do with shoes! Stories of the original St. Nick tell of a generous man who gave to the poor – he even gave away his inheritance from his parents to those who were in need. He would put coins, nuts and more in the shoes of the needy and that is where the tradition of children putting their shoes out on St. Nicholas eve came about.
My parents always celebrated with us this holiday and taught us about the “real Santa Claus”. Every year we would put our shoes out and in the morning there would be nuts, a tangerine, rice and flour plus a small present for each of us – it’s a fun, magical tradition and it made us feel special to know about this other, more authentic Santa Claus that existed long ago.
You can read here the history of this special saint and see how he inspired our modern day Santa. Hint: it mostly has to do with everyone’s favorite Christmas poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas – (Remember, “I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick”)
And to everyone, no matter what your religion, I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season!
Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Not so Much
December 5, 2008
Do you have one thing on your to-do list that you keep avoiding? You know, that thing that makes you stress-out just a little whenever you think about it. Does it keep transferring over to tomorrow’s list?
You may think “out of sight, out of mind”. You may mistake that slight feeling of relief you experience when you set your mind to putting it off until tomorrow as a stressful situation averted. Continue Reading
First Cool Shoe Tool Pick is Here! Shoe Stretchers!
December 4, 2008
My #1 Cool Shoe Tool Pick: Shoe Stretchers for Squashed Feet
I started using these shoe stretchers a year or so ago to help my aching toes. I already had duck feet before I had kids and now that I’ve been through two pregnancies, they are, alas, even wider.
Really anybody can use them, I have friends that have more average-width feet (lucky gals) and even they still sometimes can’t fit comfortably into all heels, especially pointy narrow toed ones and peep-toes.
My Shoe Stretcher
Shoe stretchers are easy to use, you just have to have a little time – for example, you can’t stretch your new gray suede pumps an hour before the party, they really need to stretch for at least 24 hours. But the nice thing is that the longer you stretch them the more roomy they get. Also, you have to be realistic – you can’t turn a size 6 into a size 8, ever. (sorry 🙁 ). But, if you’re looking for just a little more room, they are actually a really great product.
All you do is put the shoe stretcher in the shoe and expand it to fill the shoe – each shoe stretcher is different but most of them have some kind of hand crank system. Then you can expand the stretcher a little bit farther than the natural size of the shoe, and after 24 hours you may be able to crank it out a little bit more. Some of them come with “plugs” that you put into holes along the stretcher so that you can customize the stretch to accommodate corns, bunions and hammertoes.
Important Notes for Choosing a Shoe Stretcher:
· Look for a shoe stretcher that works for width and length (not all can make them longer) – this will give you the most stretch.
· They work best on natural materials – leather, suede, some fabrics
(they don’t work well on plastics and vinyl)
· Make sure you know what you are getting for the price – a lot of times they are sold as a single stretcher, not a set of two which means you can only do one shoe at once
Have fun with your happy feet!