The heel of my very favorite pair of boots has been rattling. Every time I move: rattle, rattle. I feel like I'm carring a maraca. I finally got around to investigating, and it turns out I've worn a hole in the heel and broke off some part or another of the heel underneath. I've fished out the broken pieces, but now I'm hit with a dilemma. How am I going to replace these boots?

These were my very first pair of shoes taller than my ankle (not counting high-top tennis shoes from the 80's). I bought them right before Christmas of 2001. It was right after I had started working, and having money was new and exciting. Not that having money still isn't exciting, but it was new. I was Christmas shopping in Waterloo because I was stuck there auditing a concrete company, and I saw these boots and I splurged on myself and paid $65 for a pair of boots. I was so pleased. I've worn them at least three times a week during each of the winters since.

I'm one of those people who have a hard time finding boots that fit because I actually have calves and not pencils above my ankles. I did find a pair of brown ones at Dillard's a couple of years ago that fit wonderfully. To this date, those boots are my shopping coup, because they were marked down from $140 to $26. I still get a little thrill. Anyway, I am not looking forward to trying on dozens of boots that are too small for my calves, and I can't order them from catalogues for obvious reasons. *Sigh* You'd think with all the fat people in America, retailers would start stocking boots for them.

Not that I'm fat, but you know what I mean.