Sometimes knowing what you want can be a disadvantage. It’s nice when you can go into a store with just a broad, general idea of what you want and happily pick from what’s available without a lot of searching or angst but that doesn’t happen to me very often. Most of the time I know exactly what I want and it’s something that doesn’t exist.

I need some casual shoes that look okay with casual summer dresses. They must be very lightweight and comfortable flats, almost like house slippers. I want something very plain with no bows or doo-dads on them. Either moccasin style or ballet style would be okay. I prefer the latter but my toes are too long for most ballet style shoes so I’m sort of semi-resigned to always ending up with mocs.

Last year or the year before I bought two pair of Dr. Scholl’s mocs. One, a white pair fit great and are very comfortable. The other pair is the exact same style and same size in taupe (dirt colored) but they are too loose at the heel and a bit tight across the top. The fit isn’t so bad I can’t wear them but the other problem with them is that almost right away the insoles came loose and started bunching up under my toes. I replaced the them with some gel insoles (the kind on those creepy “Are you gellin’?” commercials) but they’re floppy and won’t stay in place. I tried gluing them in but the glue won’t stick to the bottoms of the gel insoles. So, although they’re still in very good condition, they are unwearable.

A few years ago I bought a pair of Minnetonka crepe sole deerskin mocs that I sort of liked but they weren’t perfect either. They were a bit looser than I liked and they didn’t come with insoles. I wore them that way at first but they started feeling like they had sand in them all the time and I realized that the “sand” was particles of the leather that had worn off so I bought some insoles. They didn’t fit the shoes right but I wore them until they wore out and overall they weren’t too bad.

So now I’m tentatively looking for shoes. I figured I have two choices: I could drive all the way to Tulsa and all over the place searching for the right shoes and finally give up in frustration because I can’t find what I want or I could go to Endless.com and sit here at home searching and then finally give up in frustration because I can’t find what I want. I decided on the latter and I’ve already gone through the whole thing including the giving up in frustration part.

Many years ago I bought a book about how to make your own shoes. I decided that it was way too much of a bother, especially making a last, but every time I look for shoes it’s really tempting to give it a try. I think my “I give up” choice will probably be more Minnetonka moccasins. I might try the Thunderbird moccasins even though they have beads on them. But I’m not quite ready to give up yet. I think I’ll sit here and fume for a few more days.