Oh, short on money, but long on time
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine
And I'm running late and I don't need an
excuse
'Cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes
~ “New Shoes” by Paolo Nutini
I enjoy shoe
shopping as much as the next girl; but when I find a shoe I like, I only need
to buy two. I am also a bargain shopper. Yes, I will go so far as to shop in thrift stores and
garage sales for cute, gently-worn shoes. As long as the insides can be
disinfected, I am happy to pay a lower price. Unfortunately, used shoe buying
is something that I only get to enjoy when I am shopping for my own shoes.
Shoe
shopping for Lucius is an entirely different experience. Firstly, he requires
two pairs; two in front and two in back. Secondly, there is no compromising on “gently
used”. Only brand new will do for the emperor in my life. Lastly, the shoes have to be comfortable,
handle well in poor weather, and have a high speed rating since I tend to have
a lead foot. I have been putting this ordeal off for some time. The recent snow
storms have given me a gentle lesson in physics. Some of you know that I have
been dreading the purchase of new tires for months. I really had hoped to make
it through “one more winter”.
A couple
weeks ago I began the quest for finding the best tires at the best price. I
have now visited more tire stores than department stores in 2013. I even
price-shopped online; hoping to drive the local stores into price matching. It
worked, kind of. That is, I did negotiate deals; but the sticker shock nearly sent
me into defib, so I told all of the sales managers, etc that I needed time to “think
about it”. I went so far as to convince myself that maybe I could just get one
pair, have them installed in front and move the two best of the bad tires to
the back. Lucius is front-wheel drive. It shouldnt matter that the rear tires
are rather worn. They still have some tread depth to them.
Knowing that
I am driving to Tejas this weekend, I began to have doubts about my
money-saving plan. Realizing that I will be driving GirlTwin back here the
following weekend, then home again the weekend after that inflated those doubts
considerably. Yesterday’s adventure in the car wash when my wheels noticeably slipped
on the very wet floor was the kicker. I made the appointment to get 4 brand
new, all season, touring tires installed. Do not misunderstand . . . the price
still causes me to gasp and mildly hyperventilate. I am not looking forward to
the bill; but I am looking forward to knowing that GirlTwin will be riding
1500+ miles during early March in a vehicle that has 4 quality tires designed
to handle the road in all types of weather.
Perhaps I
can take a red Sharpie to them and create the first Louboutin-inspired, high
fashion tires . . . or not.
PERSONAL NOTE: Maybe in the next
lifetime, Mercury won’t have quite this effect.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTE: You were right. I
was wrong.
