I won something!

Thanks a mil to Heart's Desire Jewelery for thinking that I'm fabulous! (which of course I agree with). As with shoes, you can never have a bad bling day, and she makes some pretty interesting ones herself.

Apparently its my turn to pass on the torch. Not really a fan of chain anything (unless it comes with handcuffs, but that's for the blogs I don't write...) and would like to hang on to the accolade for a while - yes, I am that pathetic. Will ponder on this for a little longer I think, before sharing the love.

Bounty is a problem

Less is more? Um...ok, possibly. Can you ever have enough shoes? If you're asking that question and expect a serious answer, you really shouldn't be reading this. You're welcome to continue, but you're wasting your time. Trust me.

I currently live about 40 kms from my place of work. That means I spend about an hour (minimum) each way in traffic to get to the place that lets me work there so that I can earn a salary, some of which I spend on buying shoes. That's 2 hours each day, 5 times a week. I don't want to continue to calculation because I can already feel my life force draining away at the mere though. All this time is not spent in vain, I hasten to add in a feeble attempt to make me feel less like jumping in front of the nearest bus. I make phone calls, check my mail and have some pretty darn good ideas in traffic as I let my mind wander free.

Aside from this, the bf and I have been considering moving closer to Johannesburg (we live closer to Pretoria) so that we don't have to deal with that kind of traffic on such a regular basis. We've weighed the pros and cons, looked at houses (ridiculously expensive) and have remained where we are. I am contemplating a move again though - house prices are bound to come down since no-one can afford to buy one anymore so maybe there's a chance for us. The issue, which deep, deep down was the issue the first time around as well, is storage. Not just any storage, but clothes storage. That and shoes. You may have deduced that I might own just a smidgen more of these items that some.

What's a girl to do? My current shoe storage solution - similar to these - doubles as the curtains for my spare room. Which is more of a store room and an overflow for clothing. Yes, they hang in front of the window where the curtains should be. I thought that was a pretty darn good idea - where else was I going to accommodate 60 pairs of shoes? (I had to move them out of the bedroom when the bf moved in - he knew it was true love then). The problem is - the window is full up and I keep buying shoes. Where to go?

Soo, I tried some clearboxes to accommodate the overflow. The work pretty well and are really the only way to store shoes if you're going to go for boxes. Who has time to write labels or take pictures of shoes to store in boxes that you can't see through?

I have tried Google, not much innovation in the shoe storage area, except for these guys, who might have a brilliant concept - provided you have the floorspace to accommodate it.

I am at last turning to you, dear reader, in the desperate hope that you have a brilliant, yet to be patented idea - love to hear it!

Something pretty

In celebration of reaching 1000 page views

Image by homelyvillain

Hell is a metal tube...

...at 3000 ft in the air, trapped by the window seat with no means of escape from the world's most annoying passenger. OK, maybe not the WORLD's most, but certainly on the top 10. Most not wanted. Seriously. Suicide bombers should sit next to this guy - the plane won't even leave the tarmac.

There I was, minding my own business, terribly pleased with myself for booking the very back seat in the corner of the plane - they don't normally fill the back rows so if the plane isn't full, you have a good chance of having the seat next to you empty. Which happened. For a while. Along comes Ms air hostess to inform me that she is moving a passenger to the seat next to me - his tv screen isn't working. Likely story this turned out to be! Where are the words calm, compassionate and understanding written on my forehead?? Wipe then off! NOW!

Said passenger sits down and turns to me to introduce himself by holding his frequent flyer card, on a string around his neck, in front of my eyes so that I have to squint to read it - not that I do, because I don't care! Said passenger is an adult male, on the slightly larger side with a significant number of candles on his birthday cake - I think I would be safe to call him a senior citizen, but certainly not of the doddering kind - after all, he's here, flying all by himself and managing to take care of himself just fine.

I am now sufficiently annoyed at said passenger who has taken the very nice empty seat next to me and promptly turn on my 'F-you' shield. It works every time. Without fail. Well, it used to. Mr Senior Citizen introduces himself as a doctor and asks if I'm a nurse. (??!). Did I forget to remove the hat or the stockings?! Nope, no signs on my person that I own a nurse's outfit. So no, I am not a nurse. Oh ok, so you work for the airline then? Double check my attire - any air hostess paraphenalia? No. No, I definitely don't work for the airline either, but thanks for stereotyping me so thoroughly you annoying old fool. Now I'm going to put on my earphones and try to watch a movie, any movie.

Ten minutes into the movie, Mr Talkative wants to tell me something. He's trying to get my attention by pumping me in the ribs with his elbow and shoving a different sheet of paper under my nose. Can I pretend not to notice? Ouch! Apparently not - he packs a mean sharp elbow. Fucker. Look at this article about some uniteresting man who did something terribly boring - this is the guy I was staying with in London (oh yes, I forgot to mention, its a flight from London to Johannesburg - 11 fun filled hours to look forward to). Yes, that's very nice. Good for you. Headphones. Movie.

Dinner arrives. My special meal gets there first. The person to my left wants to know if I ordered the fish as well. No, actually its the hallaal meal, I'm working my way down the list of special meal options to relieve the boredom of travel and they taste better anyway. But I can't say that can I?! That might appear to be participating in coversation. So I just shake my head, smile and continue eating. (Yes, I am a nurse and I order eveything that you do, oh great and worthy doctor). Still wearing headphones, pretending to watch movie. But this is dinner time, conversation time, so a few more pumps in the ribs later, I am exposed to the story of the guy he sat next to before he joined me - how large a man this was (yeah, you're one to talk, buddy) and how uncaringly he stepped on Dr Excrutios package. Fucking lucky bastard, he had a package to step on to get rid of the guy. WHY DIDN'T I HAVE A PACKAGE?

Headphones. Movie. Lights are turned off, quiet time now Dr. No? Of course no. Indignant rib pumping action - how can you watch a movie in the dark?! Do you know how bad this is for your eyes? OMG! I'm on the plane with my mother!! Thank you very much you incredibly invasive shit. If I still had my plastic spoon left over from dinner, I would be gutting you right now. The only reason I am not doing anything at all is:
a) You really do remind me of my mother a little and lucky for you I love her
b) I feel kinda sorry for you, you can't have a great life if this is how you interact with the world
c) I will probably get arrested

What I actually said: I really don't want to continue talking to you. I think I'm just going to try sleep now. Good night. Turn around (as much as this is possible in cattle class), put on eye mask and pretend to sleep. For 6 hours. Pretend to wake up as breakfast arrives. Good morning, how did you sleep? Now just promise me you will go see an eye doctor as soon as you can. Watching tv in the dark is really bad for your eyes. Now, I haven't been a saint, but who deserves this?

A few weeks later I read that a new UK study reveals watching tv in the dark does not harm your eyesight at all. Fuck my life.