As you may have guessed, there are a lot of things that drive me nuts. I don't think this is because I'm overly nit-picky with other people (I totally am with myself, but I'm comfortable with that); I'm pretty sure that it's because I pay attention and I notice a lot of things.


This can be a good thing; however, quite often, it leads me to believe that everyone else notices as much as I do, which then makes me paranoid. For instance, my issue with my newest walking shoes, which aren't really shoes; they're closed-toe Keen sandals.


My old walking shoes are dead. Well, they don't look dead, but the cushioning on the inside is all gone, which makes my weird long toe on my left foot (it's Morton's Toe, and I've been told by a certain person whose brain is a compendium of all the useless knowledge in the world that it's a sign of intelligence, which means I must be a freaking genius, because my toe is around half an inch longer than my big toe) hurt like crazy whenever I walk. This isn't good, because I don't need anything that discourages activity, and it also forces me to whine constantly during the 45-minute-long trek I take at night with my husband, which discourages him from doing activity. Well, activity other than escaping to the happy place in his mind where I'm not whining at him.


Anyhow, it's definitely not time in our budget for new walking shoes, plus, they're super expensive, so I decided to try out the Keens I use for hiking. The first day out, I discovered a major problem, though: Socks.


See, I usually use these shoes for hiking, and since they can be thrown in the washing machine and I'm not wearing them every single day, I don't wear socks with them. They're sandals, for crying out loud, and the one or two times a year when I go hiking I can just brush out any little rocks or twigs that get in there. Plus, I also use them for working around the house, which isn't really the kind of activity that fills my shoes with crap. For a long walk, however, I have to wear socks. First of all, I'm dong this every day and they will get super disgustingly gross after a few days. Secondly, I will get blisters on the back of my heel where the strap is (which leads back to the whole "discouraging activity" thing).


Therefore, I must wear socks with my sandals. Ugh.


My husband assures me that, in this town, no one's going to notice. I know he's right, but deep down, I feel the stares I get from passers-by. I can feel the judgment. This is probably enhanced by the fact that I know that I'd be silently making fun of someone I saw sporting this look. Not that it's quite on the level with the scientists who go for black knee-highs with their sandals, but you get the general idea.


This is quite the conundrum.


Maybe I just need to buy some skin-colored socks to wear under the shoes. Yeah, that's it. Except that my skin is so pale that the white socks I'm wearing now hardly show up against my skin at all, and any darker would definitely show up even more. Oh, and trying to just enjoy my walk and not think about it? That's not going to happen. I guess there is no solution to my problem. I guess (gasp) that I will just have to (sniff) deal with it. 


Wow, imagine the level of paranoia I could reach if I had any real problems. That would suck. Thank goodness the rest of my life is Mary Poppins-perfect.