![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/shoes.jpg\")
\nMy family has a shoe problem. Now I like shoes as much as the next girl, but can\u2019t they stay in the closet when not being worn? On an average day, there are no less than nine pairs of shoes in my living room (plus snow boots, just in case). For most of the year, only three people live here. To be clear, everyone in this house has a decent sized closet and some of these closets are also equipped with shoe racks.<\/p>\n
Over the summer, there are five of us (two are currently in college), which means there are likely to be well over a dozen pairs of shoes around at any given time. Over the years, my pleas have been ignored, my threats pushed off. Every so often I collect all these shoes into a pile and sit back to see the reaction. There is none. It\u2019s as if no one sees these shoes but me. Other times, I will put them in pairs on the stairs, to be taken up by their respective owners. They still don\u2019t see them.<\/p>\n
When do the shoes move? Either when I get tired of seeing them and drop them inside the door of their owner\u2019s bedroom, or when it bothers me enough to complain, loudly. Then I get eye rolls and hear, \u201cBut I\u2019m going to wear them,\u201d or \u201cThey are not all shoes, those<\/em> are boots.\u201d Inevitably, when I have caved and put the footwear upstairs, that is the pair that is needed. Then it is my fault that someone is late.My argument that you can only wear one pair at a time is met with sighs. I have tried to institute a rule: No more than two pairs of shoes per person. All others are to be kept in closets. This too gets ignored. Apparently if it matters that much to me, I have to put them there myself.<\/p>\n Why does this matter to me? They tend to be left everywhere. It would be one thing if they were all in an orderly line by the door (which the snow boots tend to be, but that is only because they come off at the door). They are not. They are under the coffee table, next to the couch, behind the chair, under the chair, next to the fireplace, under the dining room table. The flip flops end up under the coach (invariably not as matches.)They end up underfoot when the dog runs past and sends them flying and not infrequently are separated from their mates, causing a scramble to find one shoe when they are needed. The frantic search for a missing shoe is somehow usually my fault.<\/p>\n The shoes make sweeping and vacuuming a challenge. Now I know I need to add to my exercise routine, but bending down to pick up eighteen shoes is not particularly appealing to me. I long for the days when my children were young and would scramble to get everything they valued off the carpet so that the vacuum would not eat it. (It took a while for them to realize exactly how large something had to be to NOT get picked up by this machine.) I have tried to push them out of the way with the vacuum, but realized having to unwind shoelaces stuck on the roller is worse than picking up shoes.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t always like this. I did have a brief spell when we had a puppy in the house, one who ate anything on the floor, including shoes (some much-loved pumps were lost this way). Once the puppy grew up and the danger was past, the motivation was gone. I have been at this for years, and see no change coming. So, I continue, picking up shoes, sometimes putting them in a place that I think someone will notice them and put them away, but more often dropping them in the appropriate bedroom.<\/p>\n Maybe I need a puppy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My family has a shoe problem. Now I like shoes as much as the next girl, but can\u2019t they stay in the closet when not being worn? On an average day, there are no less than nine pairs of shoes in my living room (plus snow boots, just in case). For most of the year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[60],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-shoes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/shoes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7mJoQ-6n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/my-worst-fear-came-true-i-inherited-my-grandmothers-chest\/","url_meta":{"origin":395,"position":0},"title":"My Worst Fear Came True \u2013 I Inherited My Grandmother\u2019s Chest","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My biggest fear growing up was that someday I would have Grandma\u2019s chest. You may be questioning this statement and picturing some hideous wooden box, however, I am not talking about a Hope Chest or anything of the sort, but the chest she carried beneath her chin and above her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "family"","block_context":{"text":"family","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":209,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/taking-place-family-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":395,"position":1},"title":"Cleaning in the Buff? Maybe Grandma Was On To Something","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"September 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Warning: If the idea of midlife nudity scares you, you might want to turn back now. Maybe it\u2019s because I am now 50, but I find myself thinking about my female ancestors quite a bit lately. I come from a long line of strong women, and most of them, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "midlife"","block_context":{"text":"midlife","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/midlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0003","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/IMG_0003-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":228,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/dish-fairy-lies-convinced-family-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":395,"position":2},"title":"There IS a Dish Fairy, and Other Lies I Have Convinced My Family Are True","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"September 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes one can do a job too well. Since I quit my full time job to stay home with my kids, I have seen most household responsibilities as part of my job. 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As we prepare to say farewell to someone who will certainly have more than a brief mention in future history books, I feel compelled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"100_1078-1ed","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/01\/100_1078-1ed-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":221,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/year-feel-horror\/","url_meta":{"origin":395,"position":4},"title":"Each Year I Feel the Horror","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"September 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I awoke this morning and decided to turn on the television, to try to catch up on current events. I have been too busy with other things to pay much attention to what is going on in the world (and have been avoiding the constant coverage of politics). Since it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"September 11\"","block_context":{"text":"September 11","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/tag\/september-11\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"img_7120","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/IMG_7120-300x108.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":244,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/today-wondering-test\/","url_meta":{"origin":395,"position":5},"title":"Today I Am Wondering, Is This a Test?","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"November 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a saying, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t give us more than we can handle.\u201d This is something I have lived by. When things get dark and scary, I remind myself of this. Of course there have been days I have looked to the heavens and said, \u201cYou put way too much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "family"","block_context":{"text":"family","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sunset-1591599_1280","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/sunset-1591599_1280-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/sunset-1591599_1280-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/sunset-1591599_1280-300x202.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}