Men Are from Mars, Women Love Shoes

Women love shoes. And men don't understand why women love shoes.

Years ago, someone e-mailed us this hilarious document called "THE MAN RULES," a list of some things women should know about the way men think (and some things men wish they could say to women without ending up in the doghouse), which I laminated and posted in our ultra-manly "sports room." One of the humorous rules is: "Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!" Another good one is: "If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you angry or sad, we meant the other one." And then two others with more than a grain of truth in them are: "You have enough clothes" and "You have too many shoes." (It's good when we can laugh at ourselves, girls.)

In my younger days I was never much of a shoe person; but as I got older, they suddenly became one of my favorite clothing items to shop for. That's probably because nothing from my feet up looks the way it used to, and outfits viewed in full-length dressing room mirrors under harsh fluorescent lighting can sometimes look rather frightening. But my feet, God bless them, are just about the same as they've always been, so shoes are a safe and satisfying purchase.

I know I already have more shoes than I actually need, but I keep seeing styles I like and finding myself tempted to bring them home with me. So I've come up with a way of turning one pair of shoes (in this case, inexpensive black flats from Payless) into three different pairs. I found these "Fab Feet" clip-on shoe embellishments at Target, and I just love them. They don't cost much--certainly not as much as a new pair of shoes--and, as you can see, they transform a plain pair of shoes from drab to fab in an instant.

My husband insists that men don't really even notice women's shoes; but shoes are fun for us girls. And to quote one of my favorite bloggers, Ree Drummond of Pioneer Woman fame (http://thepioneerwoman.com/), "I enjoy being a girl."