Amy Currioman

I have a very difficult shoe size.  A woman’s size 6 double wide.  I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent shopping for shoes in the local stores, only to be sold shoes that don’t really fit.  After wearing those shoes a few times, I give up wearing them and go back to my comfy sneakers. 

I had just about given up on ever finding a nice pair of shoes that fit until I was complaining to a friend about how hard it was to find shoes that fit and she gave me a catalog of comfortable shoes.  I found a pair I liked, but instead of ordering from that catalog I went online to try to comparison shop for that pair of shoes and I found  Zappos.  I had never heard of Zappos before, but I went to their site to check them out! 

I found out that they sell shoes and clothing and pay for the shipping both ways.  And have a 365 day return period!  And their price on the shoes was cheaper than that catalog my friend had given me!  So I ordered that pair of shoes, and ended up returning them because they didn’t fit.  But I ordered a different pair, and those fit like a glove!  The first time in my life that I found a pair of dress shoes that actually fit!  I thought I’d died and went to heaven!  I love that they pay for shipping both ways – it is totally risk free shopping!

I always like to have a Plan B. A back-up plan. An alternative route. Too many times have I planned for something to happen, only to have it blow up in my face, so I like to be prepared to fall back and punt. For example, my hubby tells me almost every night that he is going to cook supper, and then we have a discussion about what he wants to cook for supper. He means well, but then he falls asleep and supper time comes and goes and he’s still asleep. Well, I am perfectly happy to have him cook the supper he has planned, but I don’t want to take the time and trouble to cook that, so I try to have on hand something else that I can cook up fast and easy so that I don’t have to wait until I’m starved and then cook for an hour before I can eat!

And at the moment, as I type this, it is supper time, and hubby is asleep. Time for Plan B – a Lean Cuisine entry that I found in the freezer this morning when I was rummaging around making up the shopping list!

My family roots are in show business.  As far back as my family tree reads, on my father’s side, are musicians.  It was understood that everyone in the family would learn to read music and play the piano as soon as their feet could reach the piano pedals and their fingers touch the keys at the same time.  I can remember the many hours of practicing the piano in the family room.

I loved watching my grandfather play the piano – he made it come to life!  He used to play the piano for the silent movies before I was born; I loved to go to his house and beg him to play a silent movie for me.  I would close my eyes and visualize the movie.  He didn’t need to narrate for me what was happening; I recognized each and every scene.  The villain, the beauty in distress, the oncoming train, the horse chase, the rescue, and the love scene.  These memories will always be dear to my heart.

I was just thinking about some costumes that my sister brought over to my house that she asked me to store for her.  They were created decades ago by our mother and her friends to use in a minstrel show they used to do.  They’ve been stored in her friend’s basement for decades, and then given to my sister who stored them in her basement.  I don’t want to store them in my basement, but they have that nasty nasty musty cellar smell in them.  I’m not quite sure how to get the smell out of them.  I don’t think that I dare to just throw them in the wash – they are very old and I don’t think that they could survive going through the wash.  And I’m afraid to take them to the dry cleaners.  And I don’t want to air them outdoors in the sun – the sun would fade the colors!  Hmmm….. maybe storing them in a box filled with baking soda kitty litter.  Or in a box filled with crumpled newspapers.  I had read that crumpled newspapers will take the musty smell out of old suitcases……

I think I’ll pose that question to my community group, asking them how they would try to get the odors out.

Back in 1972 I worked for a big name furniture chain that I think is now out of business.  One of the biggest benefits of working there was being able to buy furniture at a discount, which was great because I had just moved out on my own and needed everything!  One of the biggest surprises to me about my discount was how much of a mark-up there is on a mattress and box spring set!  I was able to buy a brand new top-of-the-line set that was retail price of $800 for only $150.  And that included the delivery and set-up!  Well, I don’t need to tell you that getting a good night’s sleep is important, but you should be really careful and smart about buying furniture.

Learn as much as you can to get the best value for your money.  So you won’t lose any sleep later on when you find out that you could have gotten a better deal somewhere else!