Since discovering the Zappos phenomenon on Twitter, I now see Zappos everywhere. In an uncharacteristic stroke of good fortune, Weary Parent and Zappos have given me the gift of new shoes. Since I haven’t had a new pair of shoes in a little over FIVE years, I am more than a little tempted to buy shoes for myself. After hours and hours of looking at the choices available, I narrowed it down to this pair and this pair. They are so pretty and I would really like to look nice for Tommy’s graduation, but my mom guilt is heavy. The more practical decision would be to get Tommy’s new boots. He needs shoes more than I do and after years of only wearing Birks, I probably wouldn’t be comfortable in real shoes anyway. On the other hand, or foot, Doug needs new sneakers. If Doug had new shoes, he might have the energy to paint a wall or mow the yard. New shoes for my guys would still be a gift to me. I think I’ll step away from the computer for a bit and order something tonight after the children are bathed and tucked in bed.

Update: Okay. My first online shoe shopping experience was very educational. I learned the hard way to use the Zappos search feature which allows you to search by size. If you don’t, you will find yourself choosing shoes that are available in every size except yours. Since Zappos doesn’t have a feature that allows you to compare three or four pairs in one window (feature request), I had about 16 tabs open on my computer. Oh, shut up. I didn’t even know that many different kinds of shoes existed. They carry brands that nobody offers in small town Tennessee. I stared at my choices for longer than I am willing to admit. Long enough that my “I’m almost 15” year old read over my shoulder and saw what I was doing. I finally picked the shoes I want. At that exact moment, the teenager IM’d what she thought I should get with my gift credit. It took her less than 15 minutes to create a shopping list. I ordered the shoes for me AND a cute dress she chose. Now, she has something new to wear to her brother’s graduation. Then, I messed up. I absent-mindedly typed in my credit card number and clicked. Panic! Heart pounding, I searched for a way to fix my mistake, felt hysterics building and called the 800 number. After listening to Gladys Knight’s recorded intro and hearing the options which included Zappos joke of the day, a calm person answered the phone. I blithered gibberish, but he figured out what the problem was and fixed it instantly. Then, because I am a total moron who had to bother customer service after I messed up the online ordering that anyone else could have done effortlessly, they rewarded me with free overnight shipping. It has never paid to be stupid before. I guess George Bush really has changed the world. That was mean. I’m sorry. I blame it on the shopping high.