I Dream in Chainmaille

I have been weaving a lot of chainmaille lately.  It had been a few years since I’d played with lovely metal rings and pliers.  I had forgotten how much I love it.

I will share some pictures of my latest projects but first I thought I’d share some of the places I find supplies and inspiration.

Let me preface the rest of this post with 2 important things.

1 – I am not affiliated with these businesses in any way.

2 – I am not being paid.  However, if any of these businesses see my post and would like to send me some rings, I promise to put them to good use – and talk about it later.

Instructions

Chainmail Basket – doesn’t appear to have any tutorials of its own but is essentially a site that curates the tutorials from Maille Artisans. Fantastic charts and links. Really fabulous resource site.

David Chain Jewelry – some free, some paid, interesting variety of tutorials. I was impressed with the free tutorial for making a magnetic clasp.

Dylon Whyte – author of beautiful tutorials and several books for jewelry making. Tutorials can be purchased through his Etsy store.   Some of his patterns are available for free at his Art of Chainmaille website.

Maille Artisans – fantastic site with free tutorials on every weave I could think of a dozens and dozens I can’t. The galleries of finished projects are really inspirational and the forums are a good place to go when you get stuck. The site can be a little overwhelming due to the huge number of tutorials and gallery photos.

Maille of the Dreamseeker –last updated in 2007. Ten tutorials for jewelry, candle holders, dice bags, etc. Plus a site of several chainmaille inlay patterns.

Maillers Worldwide – free tutorials and galleries of finished projects. Not as comprehensive as Maille Artisans and you have to get a free subscription/account to access the tutorials. Active forums are a great place to visit for advice.

Supply Sources

Remember that when buying jump rings from non-chainmaille sources, sizes are usually the outer diameter. For chainmaille, the inner diameter size is the important size. While you can use the wire gauge and outer diameter to find the inner diameter but you need to be aware that this is necessary.

Aluminim Jumprings.com – aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, rubber, silver, silver-filled, etc. – I have not purchased from this company.

Art Beads – not chainmaille but a good place to buy findings and bling, tools, wire, etc.

Bead Sisters – geared toward jewelry. UK based. Large selection of kits, tutorials, tools, and base metal rings. Also have rubber, sterling silver, niobium plus findings, many types of beads, Swarovski crystals, all types of wire and stringing materials, and knitting spools and accessories. Some really nice free tutorials. – I have not purchased from this company.

Blue Buddha Boutique – geared toward jewelry. Large selection of kits, tutorials, tools, and base metal rings. Some really nice free tutorials. I buy from here frequently.

C & T Designs – geared toward jewelry. Kits, tutorials, base metal rings, sterling silver, and argentium silver rings, findings, tools, etc. – I have not purchased from this company.

Chainmail Dude –Seems to be geared toward jewelry and armor. – I have not purchased from this company.

Chainmail Joe– bulk aluminum rings and kits for making wearing chainmaille armor. I have not purchased from this company.

Fire Mountain Gems – not chainmaille but a good place to buy findings and bling, tools, wire, etc.

Metal Designz–Gold filled rings, sterling silver rings, rubber rings, base metal rings. Check out their etched scales; just beautiful. I have not purchased from this company.

Rio Grande – not a chainmaille source but a one stop shop for jump rings, wire, tutorials on making your own jump rings, tools for making your own jump rings, and everything jewelry. Seriously, everything from casting to beading. Geared more toward the professional jeweler but so much fun to browse.

Spiderchain – gold filled, sterling silver, niobium, and base metal rings. I have not purchased from this company.

Sue Ripsch – geared toward jewelry. –gold filled square rings! These are hard to find. Plus other precious metal rings. No base metals. They have kits and tutorials also. I have not purchased from this company.

The Ring Lord – just tons of rings, scales, wire, etc. in many different materials. Tons of tutorials, free and paid. One stop shop for jewelry and other chainmaille projects. Only complaint is that the time between ordering and getting your order is long so plan accordingly.

Weave Got Maille– sterling silver, argentium, gold filled, and stainless rings. Kits, tools, etc. I have not purchased from this company.

Urban Maille – some of the most beautiful rings I’ve ever worked with. Sterling silver, argentium, copper, twisted, square, etc. Nice tutorials, kits, tools. So much information on weaving. This was the first company I purchased from and it spoiled me.

My recent revisiting of chainmaille occurred because a friend asked me to teach her daughter how to make a Byzantine bracelet.  We had fun and my friend asked me to help her pick out some new projects for her daughter.  I visited Blue Buddha Boutique’s site and looked at the project kits.  And that’s where I started again.  Even though I know how to make many weaves, it was easier to get back into it with some pretty kits.

The first chainmaille project I ever tried was a Japanese 12 in 2 bracelet.  Not exactly a beginner weave.  Even with that and with the numerous projects I’ve completed since then, I have never been successful at Dragonscale.  I used some very good online tutorials and could never get it right.  I have to credit two sentences in the tutorial I purchased from Blue Buddha Boutique for my sucessful completion of a dragonscale bracelet.  I’m now working on a mini dragonscale bracelet.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Run For Your Lives

In my never ending quest to be an eternal child, I participated in Run for Your Lives – the zombie infested 5K obstacle course, this past weekend in Pittsburgh. Runners are given a belt with 3 flags. The zombies on the course try to take the flags. Participants finishing the course with at least 1 flag get a survivor’s medal. Those that finish without flags get an infected medal.

I signed up for this thing AGES ago. Seriously, I registered last October. Since the time I registered even the event location had changed. I was a little pissed, ok more than a little, that there wasn’t onsite parking. I hate that shuttle crap. And since there is no pre-race day packet pickup, one has to either bring a friend/bag holder or check one’s ID and money. I REALLY hate that.

My wave time was noon and all the instructions said to get there about 2 hours early. I had a long drive and ended up arriving an extra half an hour earlier than recommended but how glad I was that I did.

Parking was in a field that wasn’t nearly big enough for the amount of cars that were coming. In fact, I got the 2^nd to last spot in the main parking area. After it was full, the parking attendants started directing cars down this lane cut into a corn field – I am not kidding. I couldn’t see how far away they went, I was just grateful that I wasn’t going there. After parking and grabbing the essentials (beach towel, change of clothes, clean shoes, ID, small amount of cash, filled in waiver, car keys, bug spray, and sun screen) I walked over to where the lone school bus/shuttle bus was. As I walked, I realized that the line for this lone shuttle was more than 300 people long!

After locating the end of the line, I settled in for a long wait, over an hour in fact. The only reason that my wait was so short was that someone must have had the wisdom to wake up some bus drivers and rent some more buses. Like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds at the end of a storm, 5 buses showed up at once. In the meantime, I was getting to know the people in line.

The people directly in front of me were a brother and sister. They were super nice and, although their wave time was an hour before mine, we ended up running the course together. In front of them was a local who was very kind in advising me of some local sites. In fact, because of this lovely local, I realized that Pittsburgh is a fantastic zombie destination. He let me know that the original Night of the Living Dead Cemetery is Evans City Cemetery, just outside of Pittsburgh. I went that night, see:

I did drive far enough back to see the chapel but I didn’t explore any further. I wasn’t afraid of zombies. Heck, I finished the Run For Your Lives race with a survivor medal, baby! No, it’s not zombies that I feared. It was the dark and the woods and the who-knows-what’s-crawling-around-out-there.

Just a bit of trivia, groups are trying to raise money to restore the cemetery. If you’re interested, or just want to read more about the cemetery, here’s a quick link.

Also, I learned that the Monroeville mall, also just outside of Pittsburgh, is the mall from the Dawn of the Dead. I had no idea that I could do an entire zombie-themed vacation in Pittsburgh. There was a zombie “museum”/store in the mall, but according to the company’s website, the physical store is no longer at the mall but moving to a new location. You can see the website here.

There is another zombie store that I knew about before I arrived, but it was closed when I tried to visit!!!!! It was because the store had a tent set up at the race site. Had I known, I would have paid more attention to the tent, but I was too busy taking in everything else.

Now, the actual race site is a place called Mines & Meadows in New Beaver, PA. It’s an old coal mine and a current ATV park. I looked it up a bit and it looks like an awesome place to visit, if you own an ATV. You can take tours of the mines in your ATV. Pretty cool. I was thinking that the mines would be an extraordinary place for some zombie mischief. Little did I know that the organizers would be smart enough to incorporate the mines.

Anyway, after way too long waiting for shuttles, we arrived at the race site. I checked in, talked to my new buds then wandered off to socialize some more.

I’m so glad I did!!! I found a lady with a survivor’s medal. So I asked her to tell me about the course. And she gave me loads of tips. But most importantly, she told me about the smokehouse. What is a smokehouse, you may ask? Well, it’s a tent filled with smoke and loads of live wires hanging down all around. I don’t remember reading about getting shocked when I signed up. Being wet and muddy and shocked? WTF?!?!?!

So, in the starting pen, I made another friend: a nice lady that was also running alone. Although we had some varying skill levels, we, for the most part, stuck together.

Right out of the gate, we were funneled down a hill into the mines. The hill wasn’t hugely steep but there was a stream of water running down it and zombies. While trying to avoid the zombies, I saw a man fall pretty hard on the first hill. Then we went into the mine. It was dark and wet and full of zombies. Also, I noticed these wires hanging down. I heard later that these were also electrified.

Coming out of the mine, someone threw about 50 extra flags in the air. Right in the middle of a group of zombies. Most people kept running to avoid the zombies. I grabbed a couple handfuls of flags and stuffed them in my bra. Due to my magical, flag-dispensing bra, everyone in my group got survivor medals.

The course was hard, muddy, uneven, and steep. The obstacles were pretty lame. But I did see one guy fall off of one and hit his head on a log. It was pretty frightening. He got up and kept running, however, I guarantee he felt it later. It took my group about an hour to finish the course. It’s not timed so we just took our time. The smokehouse was notable but no one in my group got shocked. One lady skipped the obstacle. The guy did a full belly crawl. The other lady and I guided each other while listening to people yelling because they were getting shocked.

The worst part was the zombie field. Runners had to run through a field of zombies. It was in here that I encountered the worst part of the race. A zombie grabbed me, to snag my flag, and ripped my race bib off! And then wasn’t letting go. She almost ripped my shirt off! I thought I was going to have to fight. – Before I ran, I heard some runners complaining about aggressive zombies. Supposedly, the zombies were not supposed to run, they were not supposed to touch the runners. Clearly, my zombie assailant didn’t pay attention to the rules.

The rest of the course was rather uneventful. Loads of hills, the blood bath, and the final gauntlet of zombies. The very last obstacle was a fence panel hung horizontally about 2′ off the ground. Apparently, it was also electrified. I managed to get through the course without getting shocked. But another participant told me she had been shocked dozens of times. She was shocked in the mine, in the smokehouse, and, humiliatingly, she got stuck under the fence with a wire on her butt. The entire time she was stuck, she was getting shocked.

At the end of the race, I was really looking forward to the shower tent. It was a tent that had PVC pipes running down both sides. Little holes had been punched into the pipes to make a shower of sorts. By the time I went over to shower, around noon (which was quite early in the day for this event), there was no more water. Sigh. I had to check into my hotel as a stinky, muddy slob.

I love silly. I love races. I don’t trust that there is a knowledgeable person controlling how much of a shock is going through these wires. Just one small slip with these sort of things can be fatal. I will never again participate in this race, even though I had fun, because there is just too much risk in having a course designed to shock wet, muddy people. The participation price was high, there weren’t enough shuttles (initially), there was no water, and some of the zombies were a bit out of control (aside from grappling with the one, I also had my butt grabbed and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an accident). Again, it was fun, but there were just too many negatives, mostly the electrical shocks, to do it again.

I have my medal and my memories. I got to spend time with some really cool people. I got a great workout. And I have mud that I still can’t get out from under my fingernails. I also have 4 flags even though I only started with 3.

Run for Your Lives is fun, but one should really weigh those risks.

 

 

Dangerous Minds

I rarely go to My Yahoo. Once upon a time I used to have tons of widgets/gadgets there but now I have gmail and an RSS reader. I still have a my Yahoo account and e-mail but it’s mostly just junk mail now.

I happened to log on yesterday though. One of my widgets is a feed of articles written for Yahoo. It’s sensationalistic and/or oversimplified rehashing of legitimate news or just goofy “news”.

I saw a headline for one article that was about fitness. I wish I would have saved this article because I can’t find it today. The title and the first several paragraphs were talking about how cardio is bad for you, particularly for older women. One should ditch his/her treadmill or give it to someone one doesn’t like. It was such completely over-the-top crap.

Way down, if one continued reading, it said that interval training was the best way to lose weight without losing muscle. Interval training is cardio. And my treadmill has an excellent interval program.

And when is the last time you saw any avid runner/cyclist/[enter cardio activity of your choice here] who wasn’t lean and healthy? Never. The answer is never.

It is dangerous to continue to put out careless misleading “news” articles like this. Obesity is not a disease, cardio is not bad for you. And even though the author went on to offer other exercise options, most people don’t read to the end of an article.

The reason people are fat is because we eat crappy processed foods and lots of them. The reason people are fat is because we have crappy desk jobs and then go home and sit in front of the tv or the computer and don’t move again until we go back to our crappy jobs.

I had a friend who went on this health kick (and it was just a kick, not a long-term lifestyle change) and started going on and on about the size of fruit, particularly apples. When is the last time you saw someone who was overweight because their apples were too big? Never.

Stop finding excuses or shortcuts. If you’re not up to running, then walk, just go longer. Not everyone is a runner. I hate running, I just keep doing it to make sure I still hate it. Right now I’m in a funk where I dislike being all sweaty and gross. But I love the way I feel after a good, long run.

This is My City

And I love it.

Yesterday, I took my fam to the coolest thing. We got to walk the deck under the Detroit-Superior Bridge. The deck used to house the “subway” portion of the old streetcar line. According to the tiny little “article” in the Plain Dealer two days prior, Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works has been opening this deck once a year, usually on the fourth of July weekend, for about 10 years.

This was my first visit. I never heard of the type of opening like they had yesterday. However, I knew that a few Ingenuity Fests were held on this deck. I wasn’t able to make those Ingenuity Fests and the current year’s site is the lakefront. I heard a lot of noise about possibly opening up the deck to bikers and pedestrians. I don’t see that as a doable task. The security and safety issues are huge. Therefore, I didn’t think I’d ever get to explore this area. So when I saw the tiny little article about this being open, I was so excited. And thankfully, my family’s Saturday morning was baseball and softball game free. That is super rare for a Saturday in July, so I figure this was meant to be.

The “open house” started at 9 am and we showed up at 11. It was packed. Everyone was sporting at least a cell phone camera, and many people had tripods and massive camera bags. The views from the bridge were amazing. And the views of the underbelly of the bridge were equally so.

There was an old streetcar, appropriately named Desire. People weren’t allowed in this but there was an old engine car and a cut-open passenger car that were open for people to crawl around in.

Most of the tracks have long been removed. The wire grid, of which most of the “floor” of the bridge is composed, is covered with sheets of plywood. It was disconcerting for my children to walk out on these plywood sheets as one could clearly see how far below the river is when one got to the joins of the sheets. Heck, it was a bit scary for me also. The rumbling of the traffic overhead and the flimsy nature of plywood sheets can certainly make one feel vulnerable.

We spent about 2 hours walking the span. We went east on the lower deck but walked on the sidewalk on our way back west.

In two hours, we took over 200 pictures. I have some great shots of the sailboats framed under stunning, arching bridges in the mouth of the Cuyahoga. I have amazing pictures of the structure of the bridge itself.

My kids don’t appreciate it now, but once day they will. Hopefully they’ll continue this tradition because I want to go back. I absolutely have to bring a better camera next time.

Party on the Patio

So this past Friday, my local paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, published a patio list. There was a top 10 and 40 “also rans”.

From the top 10, I have to agree with Shooter’s. Back when the Flats were cool, I was here once a week. But the Flats haven’t been cool in 20 years. I haven’t been to any of the others, although I’ve been dying to try Stone Mad. None of the others are even on my radar, even after reading the article.

Of the other 40, Prosperity Social Club, The South Side, Town Hall Café, Treehouse, and Twist are completely great picks. But there are plenty of missed patios.

Here are no-brainers that were omitted:

• Fatheads – Ok, granted, it’s not for mingling, there’s no external bar. But it is a patio of which I’m particularly fond. I spend a good deal of time on it. The food is great and the beers are better.
• Panini’s in Westlake – This is a patio to write home about. This is a patio to which other patios aspire. It’s immense. The outside bar is immense. There are multiple sand volleyball courts. I LOVE this place. The only way it could be better is to serve craft beers and gastropub food, but that’s because those are MY things. It’s a solid bar with decent enough beer selections, Sam Adam’s summer ale, Blue Moon, Great Lakes Dortmunder, etc. And the food is good quality bar food. Panini’s is good at what it does.
• Panini’s in Euclid – This is pretty close to my work so I’ve spent many a Friday evening playing cornhole and tossing back beers with my coworkers here. The patio is not even half the size of the one at Panini’s in Westlake, but that makes it no less enjoyable.
• Market Restaurant and Bar – The patio here is excellent. Good food, good drinks. I’ve only been here once because it’s not in my normal traffic pattern, but I enjoyed it
• Cleats in Westlake – This is another patio that’s not really set up for mingling as there’s no external bar. However, it’s a great spot to sit with good friends and enjoy a nice Cleveland night. The wings are excellent and the big named beers are reasonably priced.
• Stampers – I used to think this place rather sucked. My dad likes it though and always chose this as a place to meet for dinner and drinks. Boy has my opinion changed over the last several years. First, they started adding more craft beers. Nice Belgian beers. Then they improved the menu. What were once average corner bar offerings are now excellent corner bar offerings (the tacos and fries are excellent) and there are some pretty excellent gastropub type items also. The outdoor bar is really nice, and covered in case of a bout of Cleveland weather. Now when I go here, on my own, I can even find beer selections I’ve never even heard of! One of my new favs.
• Burntwood Tavern – Must be honest, I haven’t been here since it was the Pub. I went to stop in a few times, but between the prices, menu choices, and older clientele, I opted to try elsewhere. Regardless, that beautiful patio with the wrought iron cannot be undone.
• Mulligan’s in Avon – Huge patio. They have live music inside. Food and beer are the normal bar selections but it’s all executed well.
• Muldoon’s on 185 – I have been going here, not by my choice, for almost twenty years. I actually hated this place. The food was fried and fried again. But it’s a favorite of many locals. So, time and again, this is THE spot to go to for lunch. I wasn’t a fan, so I begged off for the last 7 or 8 years, until last week. So many improvements. The menu has improved so much; the beer selection has improved so much. The patio is lovely. You completely forget where you are. Now I will completely be attending work lunches at this great spot.
• McNulty’s Bier Market – This patio is packed, the neighborhood Is alive, and the people watching is fantastic. The beer selections are excellent and the food is too.
• Tremont Tavern – I’ve only been on this patio in December, for the Santa Shuffle. It’s amazing even then. And super crowded. I need to stop and sit here in the summer. It just has to be amazing.
• Viva Fernando – It attracts a much older crowd, but it’s an undeniably nice patio. I’ve been here with my dad. There are often live bands here. And dancing. My dad loves to dance. If you want to dance to a live band with a mostly 50+ crowd, this, this is your patio.
• Scotti’s – This has to be the most surprising, delightful patio in all of Cleveland. You go through this long, narrow, dated restaurant to this secluded, trellis-ed, patio. It’s a magical little place. Be warned, Scotti’s is cash only. But the calzones are huge and delicious.
• Bistro 185^th – Ok, so the patio is not much of a patio. And being right on 185, albeit behind a high privacy fence, traffic can be distractingly loud. But the food is soooo good. And the drinks. I ordered a blueberry mojito. The bartender went to the roof for fresh mint and muddled the blueberries by hand.
• Harry Buffalo at Great Northern – I haven’t eaten here. I don’t know why. I adore the outdoor bar. Everytime I pass this, I say “I need to be on that patio”. But so many patios, so little money. Maybe that will be my next outing.
• Brio at Crocker Park – I love to people watch here. Actually, most patios at Crocker Park are fabulous people-watching spots. And the outdoor bar specials during happy hour are yummy; I’ve had them all and can’t remember a bad pick.
• Vieng’s at Crocker Park – This may be the only patio at Crocker Park without the people-watching bonus. The patio is large and off the sidewalk. There’s a beautiful outdoor fireplace. It’s a great romantic dinner spot.
• Brew Garden – This place has been changed hands a lot, which is strange because the location is good, right in front of a Regal Cinema, and the patio is big and pretty. The outdoor bar is pretty big and there are lots of opportunities to socialize with people not in your party. I haven’t visited in the current incarnation because it’s out of my normal travel pattern, but when out that way, this is on the short list of places to stop.

When I went to Montreal about 7 years ago, one of my favorite things was that every place, even the littlest hole, had outdoor eating. And flowers. Just flowers everywhere. At the time, Cleveland just really didn’t have a ton of patios. And the ones that were here tended to be pretty utilitarian. Wow that has changed. It’s fantastic. And so much better than that hacky list in the paper would indicate.

Public Art: Year of the Snake 2013

Every year in the St. Clair – Superior neighborhood, also called Asiatown (both of which are part of the larger Midtown section of Cleveland), twenty some Chinese zodiac sculptures are erected for a few short months. This year, is the Year of the Snake. As one of my immediate family members is a snake, we made sure go on a scavenger hunt to see all the sculptures.

I tried to find some history on this annual occurrence but have come up empty. The oldest sculptures I’ve seen are from the Year of the Dog in 2006. I have never seen any sculptures from the Year of the Pig, 2007 in person but one can still find many sculptures from Year of the Rat 2008 on display. My family did scavenger hunts for the Year of the Ox 2009 and the Year of the Tiger 2010. We completely missed the Year of the Rabbit 2011 and the Year of the Dragon 2012 but I found great pictures. I wish the sculptures were up longer.

If you would like to go on your own scavenger hunt, you get the list of sites here. It’s so worth it. When we went today, I included photographed and Dragons and Rabbits I found. If you only have time to make one or two stops, the best place to go is Technical College. There are a couple tigers, a couple rabbits, a dog, an ox, a snake and there is another snake right around the corner at Horsbough and Scott. It’s fantastic. The best place to see a bunch of snakes all in one stop is Asia Plaza, of course, as there are 5 displayed together.

I hope you enjoy my pictures.

The Feathered Serpeant
601 Lakeside Ave E
Golden Tut
1900 Superior Ave
Unexpected Stitch
East 30th Street, outside of Asia Plaza
Cloisonnake
East 30th Street, outside of Asia Plaza
Python reticulatus
East 30th Street, outside of Asia Plaza
Naga; Sagacity Snake
East 30th Street, outside of Asia Plaza
Rocky B. Boa
East 30th Street, outside of Asia Plaza
Madame White Snake
3615 Superior Ave
Serpentes the Sorcerer
3820 Superior Ave
Technicolor Serpeant
3951 St. Clair Ave
Painterly Post Modern Dragon
3951 St. Clair Ave
Golden Heart Rabbit
3951 St. Clair Ave
Blossom
4058 St. Clair
Dragon Pillar
4058 St. Clair – so sad to see this sculpture so ill used
Zig Zag
4515 St. Clair Ave
Copperhead
St. Clair between E 49th and E 53rd
Aqua Snake
1419 E. 40th St
The Guardian
1614 E. 40th St
Treasured Snake
3601 Chester Ave
Blue Racer
3711 Chester Ave
Foo Guard – The Blessing Guard
4005 Chester Ave
Don’t Tread on Me
1374 E. 51st St
Jack Rabbit
1374 E. 51st St
Quick Vic
1374 E. 51st St
The Great Lake Snake
1201 E. 55th St
Nuwa, the Snake Goddess
1274 E. 55th St
Coiffured Cobra
6016 St. Clair Ave
Transformation
6025 St. Clair Ave
Name Your Poison
6409 St. Clair Ave
Look Before You Leap
6111 Lausche Ave

Whoa… Slow Down

I really needed a new pair of running shoes and have been leaning towards trying minimalist shoes.  I’ve heard a bunch of talk about New Balance Minimus shoes.  It just so happened that while I was on a date I spied a New Balance store and decided to stop in.

The Minimus is so expensive; the model I like is $90!

It’s hard to drop $90 on an experiment.  What if I don’t like minimal shoes?  Then I have $90 shoes to … what? Walk in?  I walk in heels.  I have a closet full of strappy, gorgeous sandals for summer.  Or, if I’m slumming it, I have loads of flip flops.  Cleveland doesn’t have a lot of nice, warm days.  When it does, I want naked feet.   So I don’t want $90 running shoes I can’t run in.

Anyway, I walked into the New Balance store and the manager immediately decided to “fit” me.   So I walked across the paper to check my foot type and the manager immediately decided that the Minimus was not the shoe for me.  He also decided that the the $60 shoes I liked weren’t for me either.

I decided I would allow him to shoe me the shoes he thought would be right for my training (for the Columbus Marathon in October). Minutes later the manager emerged with 3 boxes of shoes and a package of inserts.

The first pair of shoes the manager recommended were $144!  I was having a hard time with $90 shoes and was checking out $60 shoes and the manager decides that I’m going to be shelling out $144 for shoes?  And he had inserts too.  For $144, they better do the running for me and there’s no way on earth I should need accessories.

I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but on top of being insanely expensive, the $144 shoes were some of the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen.  Look:

I would never wear these.  I’m not an elite runner so there is no way I need $144 shoes.  And if I was an elite runner, I would be sponsored and wouldn’t be paying for my own $144 shoes.  The way a shoe looks is still important to me.  I’ve run many a race in Nikes and Asics I bought at Kohl’s when they were on sale and I had a 30% off coupon.  And I have a few pairs of more expensive Asics.  There was little difference between the cheap pairs and the expensive pairs.  The biggest difference is how well the shoes last.

The next pair of shoes the dude had me try on were equally ugly, but less expensive.  At $114, they were surely a bargain.

Luckily at that moment, more customers entered the store.  So I peaked into the last box the manager had brought out for me.  It contained the ugliest sandals I had ever seen.

I hate salespeople that treat me like a chump.  He could have probably sold me the $90 Minimus with little problem.  But no, he had to grab the two most expensive pairs of shoes in the store and try and get me to buy them.  And his dreams included selling me inserts and ugly sandals.  I came in the store wearing gorgeous strappy sandals and he thinks I’m going to buy gross, old lady sandals.

So I came home and ordered a new pair of Nikes off amazon.  They are super cute but are more than I really wanted to spend.

Here are my new shoes:

They are super cute and airy but the padding is rather strange.  It hits right before my heel in almost a straight line.  I did a 2 mile run this evening in them and it was significantly different than my Asics but I think it’ll be fine.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that salespeople shouldn’t be so greedy.  I ended up paying $75 for shoes.  A $75 sale is much better than the no sale the salesman got because he made me uncomfortable when he came out with such ridiculously priced shoes.

And, I may end up with a pair of Minimus, but I think I’ll ask for them as a Christmas gift.

 

 

 

 

Philadelphia Freedom

I was lucky enough recently to get to spend a week in Philly. Unfortunately it was in March. And it was cold; in the 30s and raining almost the entire time.

Regardless, my trip was going to be a walking trip. I had the company car, this monstrous SUV, and I was not about to try to worry about parking that beast. So, during my 7 night stay, I used my car exactly once. Philly is an excellent place for a walking vacation. There is so much “stuff” so close together! I never went out of a 3 mile radius of my hotel and didn’t get to see everything in that radius.

And, even though I’m female and traveled alone, I was comfortable walking around. Mostly. There was only once or twice that I felt unsafe. Once was completely my fault, I acknowledged a panhandler who then got really aggressive. He started following me and recruited a fellow panhandler to start insulting me. I stayed calm and simply began looking around for an open restaurant/store/etc. that I could run in to. I also looked for cops. But the men gave up before I had to take any action. The worst part of Philly is that there are loads of homeless people and panhandlers, everywhere. The Center City’s subway terminal was all sleeping bags. There was no chance you could get me to explore the subway after seeing that.

And all the beautiful squares and park space downtown seem to exist almost exclusively to contain the homeless. In the middle of the day, I saw a young-ish couple laying on a blanket and covered with many more blankets. They were surrounded by bags of their belongings. If it wasn’t so cold – and raining – one could have imagined they were having a picnic.

Anyway, I didn’t do anything crazy, so I felt safe. I didn’t walk around much after dark. And I didn’t go in certain areas. It was easy to see which sections were sketchy. So I walked around them. And I certainly didn’t go out alone after drinking. Especially since drinking was pretty pricey. Happy hour specials were things like “$5 for Blue Moon on tap. $5 for Bud Light on tap”. That was a happy hour special. I could almost buy a six pack of yucky Bud Light for $5. As I said though, that was pretty typical pricing for downtown Philly. And most places didn’t have much other than Bud Light and Blue Moon.

It Finally Happened

My little lovey son is now too big to allow me to kiss him in front of his classmates.

I went to kiss him, as I picked him up from after school care, he stopped me. He made me wait until we got into the hallway. Very quietly he told me “ok, now you can”. Previously, when I got to the childcare center he would jump up into my arms and I’d give him a big kiss. Then he would grab his backpack and his coat and we would hold hands.

Today, we were holding hands and then he caught himself. He told me, again very quietly, that we could hold hands once we were outside. He said that “they” would make fun of him. I asked who “they” were and he just said “they”.

I’m so sad. My baby is growing up. I’m not ready.

Money – That’s What I Want

I am not big on budgeting.  I make, or made, a decent wage so I assumed that as long as I wasn’t extravagant, I should be able to cover expenses. We don’t have fancy cars, we don’t go to fancy restaurants, we don’t travel much.  We have a middle class standard of living.

Unfortunately, over the past 7 years or so, our buying power has decreased so much that even our modest lifestyle is now above our means.  And with the oldest starting college this year, I have started budgeting.  I’m in my first full month so it’s all new.  It’s going to be frustrating, I see that already.  There were so many things I already neglected to include in my budget: car license plate renewals, haircuts, pet food.  I figure that the first couple of months will be just getting to know where our money goes.  I never thought about buying whatever fundraising thing someones brings around, or going out to eat at a middle-of-the-road restaurant once every week or two.  I never minded treating a friend to lunch or spending $7 on a fancy greeting card.  If I wanted the latest book by whoever, I just bought it.  Now I have to consider all of that.

Already, this exercise has made me realize that there are things for which I am really loathe to pay.  I don’t begrudge having to pay for the license plate renewals, haircuts, or pet food.  But I hate having to pay for Subway.  My in-laws used to own one so we could just pop in, when we weren’t working there, and grab a sandwich on occasion – or for every meal if one was as big of a mooch as one of my brother-in-laws.  So, Subway does not figure into any budget.

I also detest paying for bandaids.  My kids use them almost like stickers.  It’s irritating to go buy the jumbo box of bandaids and, when I honestly need one, find it completely empty and the box still in the medicine cabinet.

I hate paying for cable, but our phone and internet are wrapped into that price.  I think I need to evaluate that more closely.  And I hate my huge cell phone bill.  We have 5 phones with unlimited data and shared minutes on a family plan.  The kids might be down graded to dumb phones like mere mortals.  Maybe my husband too because he can get his data through his work phone.  Who really needs 2 smart phones?

We’re not renewing any of our magazine subscriptions.  If I can’t read it for free through my library’s Zinio subscriptions or online, then I’m not going to read it.  And, as my local newspaper is cutting back to only 3 days of home delivery, I’ll cancel that except on Sundays.

I hate paying for car repairs.  I miss when cars were simple enough that most repairs could be done in the driveway.  We still do our own oil changes.  Most other things are too complicated anymore.  Home appliance repairs is another category of things for which I hate paying.  But more than disliking paying for repairs, I hate that even expensive appliances are made to be disposable.  How wasteful.  So, we’re going to continue to do as many repairs as we can on our own.  The internet is such an awesome resource for this.  It allows me to be much more ambitious in the repairs we attempt.  So, we’re going to repair things that we may have simply replaced preciously.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs are expensive.  We have a garden every year, but I want to expand our garden this year.  I’m not into canning, but I will try it this year.  And I did blanche and freeze excess before anyway.  I really got into pickling last summer and that will continue.

I’ve been reading blogs that help me with my resolve to be more attentive to my spending.  Wise Bread’s Frugal Living is a good start.  I’ve also been reading tips from anti-consumerism groups.  I try to read one thing (article, tip, blog post) every day for encouragement.  This is going to be an interesting journey.  I expect to learn a lot about myself.  And I hope my kids learn some lessons also.