It’s Friday Already? Really? Since it’s Friday I need to do the Friday stuff but I’m hesitating because it really doesn’t feel like Friday at all. I have only two quotes collected so far. I don’t know yet if I’ll just post those two or look around for more.

On Tuesday and Wednesday my husband and I went to one of those retirement planning seminars. He got pushed into it and I got dragged to it. We did learn something though. We learned that if I immediately get a job that pays significantly more than anything I’m actually qualified for and if the husband keeps working and if we cancel cable, Internet and cell phone services and generally stop buying anything that’s not absolutely necessary we might be able to retire around the time we’re 80 years old. Okay, it’s probably not quite that bad, but close. All the financial planning advice I’ve ever seen seems to be intended for the wealthy and near wealthy and I always think, “Hey, what about us ordinary people? What are we supposed to do?”

But anyway, that’s what happened to my week. Two days gone. It wasn’t a total loss; we did learn one or two useful things and got a couple of very good free meals. The problem with seminars though, is that they take information that could easily be conveyed to an intelligent person in two or three hours and stretch it out into two days. The lady conducting the seminar did manage to make it entertaining so I wasn’t as bored as I expected to be. It wasn’t bad, really, it’s just that… wow, two days gone and it’s Friday already!

I have to catch up on things. Yesterday I went to the store and did some laundry. Today I need to do more laundry, some ironing and some general cleaning and I want to do some sewing, some reading and of course some Internet surfing.

I’m obsessing over shoes again. Or maybe I should say “still”. You know, when most women obsess over shoes they obsess over pretty heels but I am constantly obsessing over comfort. Winter house slippers are all made with insulation and fleecy lining, as if you were going to wear them on a ten mile hike in the snow. Either that or they don’t cover the whole foot. Doesn’t anyone know the meaning of moderation? So I’ve decided to just wear shoes. Yes, shoes. In the house. I know… shocking. But what shoes? Lately I’ve been wearing a pair of Crocs-like sandals but with an open toe and – put down your coffee – I’ve been wearing them with socks! They’re very comfy at first but after a little while they start to bother me because they’re too stiff and they hurt the tops of my feet a little bit. So I’m thinking maybe what I need is a pair of Birkenstocks to wear around the house this winter – yes, with socks. Don’t worry, I’m not quite ready to go so far as wearing socks with sandals in public yet.

Yesterday I wore a pair of clogs that I bought from L. L. Bean several years ago and managed to wear them all day. Mostly they’re very comfortable but at the end of the day (I mean that literally) they were hurting the tops of my feet a little bit. That’s often a problem for me – shoes hurt the tops of my feet and if I get a style of shoe that doesn’t cover my instep they either squeeze my toes or they won’t stay on my feet. Even the little blue stretchy slippers I found in my closet recently start to feel too tight on my toes after maybe half an hour.

But I really don’t want to spend more money on shoes. (especially since they probably won’t solve my problems) But speaking of spending money… Even though it’s October I’ve started thinking about Christmas shopping and even doing a tiny bit. It’s not too early if you’re ordering stuff and I really like ordering stuff. It’s way better than sliding across icy parking lots then weaving through dense crowds in the stores only to not find what you really wanted.

But before Christmas there’s Halloween and I forgot to buy the candy. We never, ever, get trick-or-treaters but I always buy a little candy “just in case.”