NEW COLD WEATHER BOOTS

Since we are headed to the Super Bowl in New Jersey in a few weeks, & since the Farmer’s Almanac has predicted a huge blizzard during that time, we decided to use our New Year’s Eve jaunt to Old Sacramento for the annual fireworks celebration last night as a test for our foul-weather gear.

First of all, Old Sac did a fantastic job with the fireworks last night! We have seen them many times & they were cool, but, hey, fireworks are fireworks.  This year the city hired a new company that had four staging areas & they did a bang up job – pun intended! I was quite impressed & who doesn’t love multi-colored fireballs exploding everywhere? It was sensory overload at times.

But back to the cold weather clothes. I had my heavy hooded down jacket & my new “guaranteed warmest” thinsulate gloves that I just purchased. That was paired with my old after-ski boots that are toasty warm for traipsing through the snow. Lou had bought some new snow gloves, too, along with a pair of insulated boots & extra warm socks. He dug out a really cozy fur hat he bought in Russia years ago along with a brightly colored knit neck scarf.

Well, it turns out we were woefully OVER-dressed for the 38-40 degree weather in Sacramento & probably looked a little silly all bundled up. We saw several men dressed in shorts with sandals & a few women in mini-skirts. Come on people, it wasn’t THAT warm. But, hopefully, that means we will stay fairly warm in what could be a freezing snow storm back east.

However, I did learn that my trusty after-ski boots are great for a few hours of minimal walking but aren’t going to cut it long term. I figure I need to be prepared to walk miles & wear these boots all day long since it will likely be a nightmare getting to & from the stadium on Super Sunday.

Armed with some of my Christmas money (which I love by the way since it is such fun to shop without spending “my” money), I headed to the local sporting goods stores today to find some new boots. Of course, I wanted them to be warm, waterproof, somewhat stylish, comfortable & affordable.

It turns out that one store was closing out its winter clothing & boots. It was all up front in the store away from the footwear department with the benches for trying on shoes. Things had been picked through a bit but there were still a few choices in my fairly normal size 8. Now, if I was a size 6 or size 10, I would have had tons of choices.

With no chairs nearby, I ended up sitting on the floor with several boxes around me trying on lots of cold weather boots. Fortunately, the store wasn’t busy & no one bothered me so I spent a long time sitting, standing up, walking around, sitting again, changing boots & doing it again while deciding which pair best met all my criteria.

Finally I had decided on a pair that met all of my requirements except the tag on the display boot said $49.99, no sale price. Damn it! Several others were marked down to $34.99 but they just didn’t feel as good or look as good. I finally decided “what the hell” I’m going to get them anyway. After all, Christmas money is meant to be spent on things that you wouldn’t normally buy. And I love a sale as much as the next person, but I thought these are the ones, don’t quibble over 15 bucks, Kath.

As I cleaned up my make shift shoe department area putting things back in their boxes & on the shelf, I moved the display boot of the one I’d chosen. And guess what? The tag flipped around & it was on sale for $34.99, too!  Woo Hoo!!! SCORE!