Red shoes

Photo by Jaclyn Moy on Unsplash

 

Ada and I wear the same size shoe now (much to her delight).  So the other day she offered me a cushy pair of slippers that she never wears.  I wore them around the house Sunday afternoon and quickly realized they could be my new best friends.

But.  I have a self-imposed rule that I can only have the number of shoes that fit in my shoe spaces in my closet.  And we girls just got a big load of hand-me-down shoes that we’re all really excited about, so my shoe spaces are at capacity.  And I don’t want to flout my rule and turn into the crazy shoe lady.  One has to draw the line somewhere.

So what to do with the cushy slippers?  

Helping with applesauce.  Fat lip courtesy of kissing the driveway at high speed via skateboard.

Science.

I thought about reclassifying them as socks.  But they have a definite sole.  I couldn’t lie to myself that way.

I could reject them on the grounds that I already have enough shoes.  But here’s the thing.  I would wear and enjoy them very regularly this winter.  And my love affair with impractical shoes means that I hardly ever wear 90% of my collection.  They’re more like closet decorations, beautifying the space until I have just the right outfit to wear the statement polka-dot platforms, and then they’re amazing and I love them so much.  Besides, just owning them and lacing up my sneakers while I look at them lovingly makes me happy, and that alone is worth something.

But could I give up one pair of shoes I hardly ever wear to make room for slippers that I will wear all the time? (Are we post-2020 or what?)

Marshmallow molecules.

It’s been several days, and I still haven’t decided which of my beloveds to let go.  I picked up my new-to-me shimmery purple pumps, but put them back.  Rainbow wedge flip-flops?  But they’re so surprisingly comfortable.  No way will I part with any of my boots.  I only have one pair of royal blue shoes of any type, or black and white stripes.  And the beige suede platforms are actually practical, if we’re talking about just color.

And then my eyes fell on the patent red pumps.  

Oh red shoes.  They happen to be identical to the shimmery purple pumps (also hand-me-downs).  And I would wear deep purple more often than bright red.

But there’s another reason I’ve been holding onto the red shoes, and that reason is this:

On March 14, 2020, we were scheduled to host a murder mystery dinner party with three other couples.  I have always wanted to have a murder mystery dinner party.  I bought the kit, I planned the menu, I arranged the date and the childcare.  I assigned the silly roles to each guest.  I made an authentic 50’s playlist.  I bought hula hoops.  I sent the themed invitations.  

And I had the perfect thrifted dress for the 1950’s-themed barbecue party.  It was a polka-dotted A-line….and it was red.  

And I had the perfect matching red pumps to go with it.  

Camo ninja, blackbird, gumball machine.

And the couples that were coming were some of our most fun and beloved friends, and it was all planned out, and I was really excited.

And then March 2020 happened.  So I had to postpone indefinitely.

Why not just reschedule now that we’re no longer quarantining, you ask?  Well, on the original date, we four couples had twenty children between us.  Now there are twenty-one, one of them being very tiny and probably not excited about a murder mystery dinner party.  In other words, our childcare plans, our schedules, our childbearing, all aligned at that one glorious moment, like the rarest planetary conjunction, and who knows if that will happen again in our lifetime.  

But that mystery dinner kit is still sitting on my shelf, un-peeked-at.  I could be the murderer! I still have the playlist, although the hula hoops are long since broken (loooong months of quarantine you know).  

There were a lot of things I didn’t mind about quarantine.  

But I’m still disappointed about my cancelled murder dinner.  

Which brings us back to the red shoes.  And the dress, for that matter, which is still hanging in my closet, unworn, because it’s honestly really uncomfortable, and I accidentally sent it through the wash when I shouldn’t have and it did something weird to the skirt part like a partial uneven shrinking.  

But I’m saving them for the murder dinner.  Because it’s just postponed, right??  It’ll still happen?

If I let the red shoes go, it’s admitting defeat.  It’s admitting that this event I had really hoped would happen, isn’t ever going to happen.  It changes the narrative from “We can’t do this now so we’ll do it at a different time” to “Covid took this away from me and I’ll never get it back.”

What I was looking forward to was laughing at my grown friends hula hooping, and dramatically accusing them of murdering a fictional character.  Some people lost their graduation, for heaven’s sake, or their wedding, or even the lives of their friends and family.  I know I can still live a full and worthwhile life without my murder dinner.

But I’m still having trouble letting go of the red shoes.

Note to self: read the tag

 

Dear Tennessee condo dryer,

I cordially apologize for blaming you for the past three months for shrinking my underwear while we were on vacation.  I confess I have repeatedly and unfairly disparaged you and I humbly beg your forgiveness.  You are not culpable for my erroneous laundry sorting.  The fault is mine for wearing my daughter’s underwear for the past twelve weeks while fidgeting, squirming, and loudly complaining that the vacation dryer shriveled my skivvies.  

In reality, you treated my unmentionables with utmost respect and care, and for that I salute you.  In future I will consider that the cause of my discomfort may lie closer to home.  Please accept my humblest apologies. 

Sincerely,

Mindy  

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

Links from the bunny trail

These first three are from a new blog I stumbled upon and really enjoyed; the last is from an article I found when I was searching for some help in understanding difficult passages I was reading in Judges.  I hope they bless your mind and heart too.

The Corners of Life That Are Laden with Cobwebs 

Boy, she puts her finger on it when she says of the draw of social media, “These mediums are places without toilets.”  And the bottom line of dissatisfied envy:  “Wherever you are, you still have to clean the toilet.”

Believing Doesn’t Make It Real

You may assume about me, as about the author, that because I believe in Jesus, I have never asked hard questions; that I have never done wicked things; that I’ve never wondered if it was all a made-up story; that I’ve never investigated competing claims about the universe; that I’ve never suffered deep grief.  In both cases, you would be wrong.  Yes, the claims of Christians (Miracles? Rising from the dead?!) seem fanciful and laughable.  But I have wondered the same things you have, struggled with doubt and skepticism…and have landed in the same place as the author.  “I do believe this Christ business.”

Choice Cargo: Or, What Planned Parenthood and the Slave Trade Had in Common

Far be it from me to hold or blog any controversial positions, but really, I can’t see how anyone can argue with the logic of this comparison, which is grievously obvious.  We are all willfully blind when we need to be, aren’t we?  Though particular evils will come and go throughout the duration of this fallen world, let us take heart (and warning) that God’s definition of good and evil doesn’t fluctuate with the times, and in the end, His Kingdom will triumph.

Counting With God

This is actually academic enough to start with an abstract, but I particularly found interesting and helpful the sections beginning with “One Tribe Short of Twelve.”  Basically, numbers in the Bible are significant. For example, the repeated references to the number eleven in Judges indicates the ominous absence of a single tribe; Bejon argues, the tribe of Levi—the erstwhile religious leaders in Israel.  It is a man of Levi who hands over a woman to be treated horrifically in the most disturbing passage of Scripture I can think of (Judges 19).  This incident leads to civil war, and Bejon’s analysis is a recognition of the import of biblical numbers.  

Note first of all how many Israelites fall in the first two days’ battles.  The Benjaminites slay 40,000 out of the Israelites’ 400,000 men (Judges 20:17-26), which seems significant.  The Levites’ presence in Israel is supposed to cost Israel a tenth of their produce (Numbers 18:21-24), not a tenth of their men.  Something is very wrong in terms of the Levites’ effect on Israel.

In other words, there is a lot of meaning to be gleaned from lists of figures in the Bible, and Bejon encourages us to do the work to uncover it, rather than just letting our eyes glaze over these challenging sections.

Hogwarts birthday

Somebody turned 11! 

We enjoyed a quiet family evening of sparkling apple cider, Chinese takeout, and cupcakes.

And then the birthday girl opened presents, the largest of which was a new bunny hutch for Buck.

She was very pleased.

The weekend approached with fine weather for a Harry Potter party.

With Buck tucked safely and happily in his new digs and Lizzy out of sight at a friend’s house, it was time to prepare Hogwarts.

The garage was set up as a dungeon for Potions Class (not a huge stretch, really).

Ada did all the design and printing for these posters, as well as the potions recipes, class schedules, and various signs and labels.

Diagon Alley was in the living room (not to be confused with Downton Abbey, as Caleb did).

The Great Hall, of course, was in the dining room.

We set up this very terrifying Common Welsh Green dragon in the driveway for Defense Against the Dark Arts class (no worries, the dragon was Stunned beforehand, so the girls would just need to finish him off).

And Greenhouse 1 was on the back patio for Herbology class.

When the guests arrived, we started by visiting Ollivander’s for wand selection.  Each of the girls was able to light a lamp with the wand that chose them, so they headed straight from there to the great feast.

First up after lunch was Potions in the dungeon.  I was much nicer than Professor Snape and didn’t take away any house points.

The class made four different potions:  Exploding Filibusters, Laughter Potion, Ghoul Toothpaste, and Skele-Gro.  

The glittery powdered unicorn horn was a hit with certain students, who added copious amounts to their Laughter Potion and Skele-Gro.

Next, up Defense Against the Dark Arts.  The girls were brave and valiant facing the Welsh Green.

It didn’t stand a chance, really.  These girls were natural-born dragon slayers.

I so love this about girls.  They piled all the pinata goodies together and then sat cross-legged in a circle, quietly taking turns picking one thing at a time.  

Ada and I steered clear of candy, since they were already getting cupcakes, soda, and a trip to Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop.  Instead we put in bubble gum, lemonade packets, stickers, hair ties, and flavored chapsticks (did I mention I love girls?).

The last class of the day was Herbology, where the students potted Flutterby Bushes, which bloom every hundred years with deadly flowers that attract unsuspecting victims.  Fortunately, these are babies, so they won’t be blooming for a long time.

I found these unbearably cute owl pots on Amazon.  It came as a set of six, so the girls each got to pick one to bring home, and we have two left over currently sitting on my kitchen windowsill being adorable. 

After classes the girls got to visit Honeyduke’s and pick out treats to take home.  Each got a selection of Jelly Slugs, Chocolate Wands, and Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, as well as a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and a Chocolate Frog box, complete with a Chocolate Frog card inside featuring a different famous witch or wizard.  Ada printed, cut out, and assembled the boxes and the Frog cards and made the Chocolate Frogs from a frog mold we bought.

Lastly, we sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl and shared Butterbeer cupcakes (also made by Ada, and amaaazing).

The verdict:  Ada and I were very proud of ourselves… and very tired afterwards.  Lizzy has appreciatively thanked me multiple times over the past few days for doing it.  And I overheard comments from the guests such as, “This is the most fun birthday party I’ve ever been to!” and, “How could we NOT have fun?!”

So I’d say we passed our O.W.L.s with flying colors.  50 points to Griffyndor.