I had to buy a new pair of shoes. Oh, the trauma of it all! I’d rather go barefoot. I’ve been wearing Birkenstock’s for about 15 years and when I’m in the house I do go barefoot. But I work in a building with tile-covered cement floors and I do a lot of walking on that cement. By the end of the day my feet are swollen and painful. So, I decided I’d better screw up my courage and go look for a pair of shoes that would cushion the shock of hitting the pavement, so to speak.

I went to one of those shoe warehouse places that has probably a mile of shoes–all of which look like torture chambers for the toes. I just wanted a simple pair of flats–not something with spike heels. I also have rather long feet–which narrows my choices even farther. Well, I finally found a pair that I think I can live with, but I’d still rather go barefoot.

BUT . . . the cool thing about this shopping trip was the farmer’s market in the parking lot of the shopping center! I had forgotten about this one and was really tickled to find it going great guns. I bought big, fat strawberries, olive oil, asparagus and sourdough walnut bread. I was thrilled with my purchases. I love the idea of farmer’s markets and will attempt to make a habit of running up there on Saturday mornings to get produce.

I helped my granddaughter straighten up her room and make her bed. When I saw her last week there wasn’t much in her room because her mommy and daddy had done the “clean your room or it’s all going into garbage bags and going into the garage” bit (I’m sure our son remembers when we used to do that to him). It’s not a very effective disciplinary tool (as we found out and I’m a little surprised our son used it). The kids know that mom and dad are not going to really throw away all those expensive toys and games and stuffed animals and so it becomes a game of who can hold out the longest. The kids usually win this one. They have friends with lots of toys. They really aren’t being deprived of anything with a great deal of meaning because they have so much. I think most toys are designed to hook the parents rather than the kids. So, if we want our kids to have clean rooms we really should think twice before we buy those puzzles with a thousand pieces or the box of 52 markers or the ponies with all the cool accessories. And don’t get me started on Legos!

I got our taxes done–thank goodness for TurboTax! We live rather modestly by US averages and so it took all of about 1/2 hour to actually put the numbers into the computer–took a little longer to find all the W2s (some of them had gone walk-about). And, unless the state or the Feds find some grotesque error, we will be getting a healthy refund this year.

So, once again, life looks pretty good  . . . from my point of view.