Showing posts with label shoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoes. Show all posts

August 17 – I Love My Feet Day

Posted on August 17, 2016

I would love to love my feet, but right now one of my feet is in SO MUCH PAIN! (Don't worry, I just have a benign cyst that is putting pressure on my nerves – Ouch!!!)

Because I cannot stand to wear shoes with this cyst, I've been walking around the house we are painting and fixing up with bare feet. And, some more ouchies! In the past few days, I've stepped on a sewing needle and a fishhook!

Well, all of this pain in my feet can make me extra sympathetic for people who cannot afford shoes that fit. Not having proper footwear means you might have to walk on snowy ground or icy-cold concrete and then, later in the year, burning hot concrete and rocks, with bare or only partially covered feet. It means that you get blisters or ingrown toenails or arch problems from shoes that don't fit. It means that you once in a blue moon step on something so sharp that even your tough soles are cut. It means that you have to deal with a lot of pain that could be prevented...with properly fitted shoes.



Today is a great day to donate new or "gently used" shoes to Soles4Souls or another organization that specializes in distributing shoes to those in need. 

Remember, men, women, and children live in poverty – so charities need all sorts of shoes in a variety of sizes. 

If you held a shoe drive in your community, how
many shoes could you donate?
Another part of I Love My Feet Day is learning how to take care of your feet. Check out Dr. Kim's how-to!









Also on this date:



Cupcake Day





































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March 27 – Happy Birthday, Shoelaces!

Posted on March 27, 2014

Buckle up your shoes!

Slip on your slippers!

Button up your boots!

There have been all sorts of ways to keep shoes on our feet, all through history—including ancient and medieval shoelaces—but on this date in 1790 an Englishman named Harvey Kennedy introduced something that caught on big and has been big ever since:
Modern shoelaces.

The kind of shoelaces that go through pairs of holes; the laces can be loosened to allow the foot to enter the shoe, and then tightened to hold the shoe securely on the foot.

Back in the day, traditional shoelaces were made of natural materials: jute, leather, hemp, cotton. Now shoelaces tend to be made of synthetic (human made) fibers. The downside of synthetic fibers is that they are more slippery, so laces can come undone more easily—but the synthetic laces are stronger and last longer.

(Boy, have I had problem with “cool” leather laces – they break so easily!)

Apparently one feature of modern shoelaces, the aglet, was also used by ancients to some extent. Aglets are the hard tips on the ends of shoelaces, which prevent the laces from fraying and which make it a lot easier to thread laces through the lace holes or eyelets.

There is some evidence that aglets were used in Roman Empire times to help thread ribbons and other clothing closures. They were made from metal, glass, stone, brass, or even silver. These days, our shoelace aglets tend to be made of metal or plastic.

I read that Harvey Kennedy's 1790 shoelaces frustrated people because they had no aglets, and so they quickly became difficult to string up. The very next year, Kennedy's updated invention included aglets made of tin or stone.

I also read that Kennedy made a lot of money—millions!—with his shoelaces.

Did you know...?
  • Shoelaces are also called shoestrings or bootlaces.
  • Necessity is the mother of invention, don't you know, and many different people have reinvented ways to make aglets when a shoelace breaks and they can't immediately get another. I know that I have used small pieces of adhesive tape in an effort to make a shoelace I can thread through holes. During the Great Depression, people made aglets out of paper and glue.
  • There are almost two trillion ways to lace a shoe with six pairs of eyelets!

To celebrate the day…

Fancy up your favorite pair of tennis shoes with colorful shoelaces.




















Here's a cool idea: Use multiple shoelaces to lace up your left shoe with a different lacing pattern than the one you use on your right shoe!

Learn more about shoelaces at Ian's Shoelace Site. 






Also on this date:












Skyscraper Day












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Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for:


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February 28 – U.S. Snowshoe Days

Posted on February 28, 2014


Today is the start of the U.S. Snowshoe Championships at Prospect Mountain in Vermont. The best snowshoe racers from the U.S. and around the world will compete with 5 K and 10 K races and relay races. 


Snowshoes are especially designed for walking over the snow. They are meant to be much larger than ordinary shoes—while still being as light as possible—so that a person's weight is distributed over a larger area, and the person doesn't sink into the snow. It's important that a snowshoe not accumulate a lot of snow, so they are designed to have openings (latticework) so that any snow that gets on top of the shoe will fall through. A final feature that helps people walk on the snow is the fact that the toe of the snowshoe curves upward slightly.

Traditional snowshoes were made from wood with rawhide lacings. Modern snowshoes are lighter, made with lightweight metal or plastic and synthetic fabric lacings. Of course they have some sort of binding to hold the snowshoes to boots.

Some people may need snowshoes for their jobs; snow shoes allow people to walk in areas with deep and frequent snowfall. I can imagine forest rangers in some areas needing them, for example. However, most snowshoes are designed for recreational use. People love to walk in gorgeous, untouched, powdery snow—as long as they don't have to slog thigh-high through the drifts!

So, yeah, walking through pristine powder is great – but running? I imagine that is really, really tiring! It must be worth it, though—hundreds of people join in the races!


Also on this date:












National Tooth Fairy Day 


















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October 25 – St. Crispin's Day

Posted on October 25, 2013

It's not just St. Crispin's Day, it's the feast day of his twin brother, St. Crispinian, too.

But saying “St. Crispin's and St. Crispinian's Day” is a mouthful, and the Catholic church booted the day out of official status, anyway, pointing out that there is little evidence that these twins even existed. So people just shorten it to “St. Crispin's Day.” When they bother to mention it at all.

Crispin and Crispinian were said to be cobblers—that is, shoemakers. Because of this, they act as patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and other leather workers.

St. Crispin probably didn't make shoes
that looked like this!!
Shoes, glorious shoes!

Is it crazy that some people spend more than four thousand dollars on a pair of name-brand shoes?

Well...I have never been rich, but I have to say that it seems to me a little bit crazy! If you have that much money, maybe you should spend a couple of hundred dollars on a pair of really nice shoes—and then donate the leftover thousands of dollars to a charity that provides shoes to kids who have none!

But it probably is not crazy that the average adult in America spends $200 to $300 per year on shoes. Our feet are really important, and bad-fitting shoes can cause problems. Also, different activities in different weather conditions require different sorts of footwear. If you buy quality shoes made out of quality materials, they last a long time but are fairly expensive—and, let's face it, if you don't buy quality shoes, then you have to replace your shoes quite often! Which is also quite expensive!
Here are some of my favorite shoe innovations:

  • For toddlers, shoes that squeak! You can keep track of your little kid, and the squeak rewards proper walking (heel to toe). Of course, the squeakers can be removed when quiet is needed! 
  • Velcro shoes – wonderful for little kids and quick off-and-on action!
  • DIY “Sharpie shoes,” plain white canvas shoes personalized with Sharpie markers. 

  • Cottage industry shoes. It's nice that we can still support small and handmade “industries” like Babu Shoes. 







And then there are some things I'm not so crazy about. Like super-duper high spike heels just seem dangerous to me. High heeled “ballet slippers” have to harmful to your feet, as do really narrow-toes shoes. Walking around with little aquaria in your heel...is just...nuts!




Also on this date:
















Constitution Day in Lithuania







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May 3, 2013 - National Two Different Colored Shoes Day

Wear a white sneaker on your right foot and a blue sneaker on your left foot. Or a sandal and loafer. I suggest that you skip the stiletto heel on one foot and flip-flop on the other—the difference in heel height will really hurt in an hour or two!

A few weeks ago we were urged to wear no shoes, in order to raise awareness of the importance of children's health and education—and of course shoes! Today we are urged to show our individuality by a lighthearted touch to our usual clothing style—two different colors (and perhaps styles) of shoes.

















It is also a day to appreciate the uniqueness of our friends and family. Tell your loved ones some very specific things that you have noticed and admired about them. Honor the teeny differences that make your friends special—and tell them!

Finally, it's a day to think about the diversity of humankind. Of course we all have a lot in common, and I love to focus on those commonalities at times, but today is a day to really relish the differences that make life so interesting. We all need love, but the word love is different in every language. We all enjoy food, but what a rich array of different sorts of foods people prepare and eat! We need shelter from hail and rain and snow, shelter from cold temperatures, shelter from the sun's burning rays, even—but our housing styles and clothing fashions are incredibly varied.

Check out some of that diversity:

  • Daria has some instruments from around the world in pictures you can color and sound files you can listen to. Even better, there are instructions about how to make the instruments! 

Plan Ahead...
Check out my Pinterest boards of May holidays, historical events in May, and May birthdays. 


Also on this date:













Anniversary of the first geocaching


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