March has said farewell and April has arrived. In spite of this being the month of showers (and today is no exception to that rule), I tend to like April. I like the gradual release of winter, the slightly warmer temperatures, the washing away of the dirty snow. It rains so much in April that I feel the earth is saying "I'm serious about this spring stuff! Let's get growing!". And down from the heavens comes the rain; and up from the ground come all the little green sprouts. 

Today is a gentle, warm rain. I long to go outside and rake all of last fall's protective leaf covering off my flower beds. All sorts of things are coming up and growing straight through the dead leaves.But as the weather forecaster is calling for this warm, gentle rain to possibly turn to snow later, I think I'll "leaf" well enough alone.

The training at my new job has so far been evenings and night shifts; very intense, busy shifts where I come home exhausted and too buzzed to sleep for a couple of hours. I find that it takes a couple of days to recouperate. Housework and chores get done, an occasional long walk; but not much else. That's okay; renewing my energy is the most important thing. I have 2 weeks of days ahead of me -- early mornings to mid afternoons. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm trying to strengthen my back and lessen the chronic pain. I walk to work but had to get rid of my backpack and opt for a small cross-body purse and lunch bag. I've been trying to get in a little yoga in each day because I sit so much. And in my recently thrifted yoga magazines, I found a number of articles on these:

Possibly the most ugly shoes in
      the universe, n'est pas?

I have hammer toes as well as bunions on both big toes. I totally blame these afflections for my lack of a passionate, caring partner because other than that, I'm like totally hot!  Both are supposed to aleviate foot pain and possibly correct these conditions. So, I began searching and researching in the hope that I can once again bare my feet in public without children running in terror and the weak collapsing in a faint.

Mine are electric blue too!

I found cheaper, generic yoga toes online at Amazon, and the squishy toe gellies arrived last week. It's difficult to walk with them on (DUH) and not recommended. So I wear them while watching TV and can keep them on for an hour plus before my feet say uncle!

"Why Toe Shoes?"

However, so far I'm unable to find the Smurf feet in any shoe store in Nova Scotia! The online shoes are too expensive for me to spend big bucks to try out; and I've heard some people say they couldn't wear them because they rubbed and irritated. I have, however, found a 2nd hand pair on Kijiji for $50.

But before I buy anything, I'm wondering if anyone in blogland has experience with toe separator shoes? Are they really worth $100-$200? Do they fix ogre feet?  (Or at least make me more socially acceptable.)

No pressure people,
but my future happiness may depend on your answer!