A construction project and a shopping ban

EarthNo outfit pictures today, Fabulous Readers. I spent all day in my grubby jeans, a beat-up tee, and steel-toed boots, a schmatteh on my head - not a pretty picture and nothing that needs to be recorded for posterity!

Why?

I've gotten tired of not having a storage solution for all my shoes.

Man, that's a lot of shoes. I've never really laid them out in one place before, or counted them. Turns out I have 17(!) pairs of Fluevogs; boots from United Nude, Frye, Earth, Ecco, and Underground; shoes from Me Too and Tahari; and, of course, the canonic Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star hightops. Sad thing is, that's not all of them: I didn't bother putting my gym sneakers, Merrel mocs, Wellies, or flip-flops in the picture (I don't consider them to be real shoes!), and my Fluevog Summertime Haights are at the cobbler's getting a tune-up.

I've gotten really sick of having them underfoot, getting kicked around and damaged. Even if I assume an average value of $100 (which is a bit low... the Chucks might only have cost me $20 at TJMaxx, but a few of the 'Vogs were closer to $400), that picture represents approximately a $2500 investment, or, as I like to think about it, seven graduate-level credits, over 300 burritos at my favorite local Mexican joint, or an entire new wardrobe or two at Goodwill. I figure they're worth taking good care of.

I've never been able to find a shoe rack that I liked, so I recruited Fabulous Husband to help me build one. One trip to Lowe's, some quick-and-dirty education in the use of various power tools (Fabulous Husband was quite clear on the fact that this was my project and that I  would build it, although he was happy to offer assistance and much-needed advice), and a whole lot of sawdust later, I have the bones of what I hope will be an effective storage solution: a 45" tall, 4' wide, 5-shelf system that should not only hold everything pictured here but a few extras. It's clamped together in the garage now, and if everything goes according to plan, I should have an awesome custom shoe rack, stained to match the other pieces in that room, by the end of the week!

Part of the reason I'm working on this is that I've put myself under a month-long personal shopping ban (I actually started on 15 April, but somehow managed not to write about it until now). I could say it's to decrease my reliance on consumerism or to be more conscious of my spending habits - but no, really, it's because International Fluevog Day is 15 May, and I want to save my pennies for the big extravaganza that an inside source has promised will ensue. I'm allowing myself one holiday from the ban: Spoutwood Faerie Festival in Glen Rock, PA, which Fabulous Husband and I attend every year with our wonderful friends David and Dorita from Reyen Design Studios. It's a once-a-year opportunity, so I'm not going to hold myself to rules too tightly there. Other than that, I'm being strict: no clothes, no shoes, no bath and body products. Food's still OK. Stuff for the house is a subject for deep philosophical debate.

It's interesting, though - after just a few days, I'm amazed at how much time I'm not spending browsing online shopping sites (on the out of sight, out of mind theory), and at how much recreational value I usually derive from going shopping in various forms. I'll keep posting about my thoughts and feelings about this!

Oh, and apologies to everyone who gets posts through an RSS reader: this post published prematurely (I don't even know what I did!), so if there's something wonky in your feed, it's my fault, and I'm very sorry.