I am not crazy about shoes. Only have 7 pairs, that's it. But roses (15 and counting) and too many perennials/bulbs to count ;)

I have 6 pairs of shoes, if you count the spare uggs and light flats I keep in the motorhome.
Otherwise, 2 pair of Birkenstocks, one active pair of uggs.

But I have almost 400 roses.

Jeri

work boots, baseball boots, red shoes (2 pairs). slippers.

29 roses

oh dear though, books. far, far too many. every wall, every stair, every surface. The reading habit is a maximally more costly and severe affliction and has lasted my whole life. And no, it isn't like I am reading Proust or Tolstoy - there is heaps of (whisper....sci-Fi): the shame, the mortification. I NEED rehab.

Roses... definitely... roses. :)
...somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. (I got tired of keeping track.

Rob:)

I'm guessing approx. 45-50 rose bushes...it's pouring out (so what else is new this year); so not going out to check.
Shoes, boots, slippers....18. Think its time to subtract some shoes and buy more roses.
Jeannie

What are we talking here? Are we including flip flops, rainboots and sneakers?

Do mini roses count?

You guys are too funny, joining me in this insanity!

I forgot to add flip flops, sneakers, slippers, etc. But then again I forgot to add mini roses.....

Addictions will vary as we are a virtual forum, but it's fun to see where our hard earned money goes.

campanula, you're too cute! Addictions to books is a good addiction...you're increasing your vocabulary...yeah, yeah, that's it.

Oops, forgot to mention to you all my wine collection to go with my rose musing.....I think the two go well together.

My gardening technique: Shovel in one hand to dig a large hole for a rose, glass of Chardonnay in the other hand to reward myself afterwards.

Audrey

5 pairs of shoes, 14 cats, 400 roses, 5000+ books, pack-a-day cigarettes.

"My gardening technique: Shovel in one hand to dig a large hole for a rose, glass of Chardonnay in the other hand to reward myself afterwards. Audrey"

Audrey, you are a woman after my own heart.

Jeri

We are very much alike. I have many, many shoes. But since I have started buying roses, I have fewer shoe purchases! Now my roses outnumber my shoes.

I have about the same number of books ON roses as roses. So, I guess, for me, those two go together.

Too lazy to count my shoes, but probably fewer than 20 pairs. Roses 88, soon to be 91 (but very small additional roses, three Mr. Bluebirds). Lots of books, too many to count, quite a few rose books.

Ingrid

I only have one pair of shoes.

Definitely roses and especially if you're only including shoes I can walk in. I don't know why I keep those others. Hate to accept defeat (ha! da-feet!), I guess.

I used to have a thing about buying blue & white china and knick knacks, but when I started roses, I stopped shopping. When I'm hard up for new clothes, I hit K-Mart which is on my way home from work. Their stuff fits, and the price is right - in and out quick. I have a weakness for rose books that I can find cheaply online. For a long time I only looked at the pictures (I really did go past the 3rd grade), but now I'm reading them. More free time, less hurried frustration, more bushes in my own garden to look at, more garden smarts to know what the heck I'm reading!! My first gardening book was by Elizabeth Lawrence. It was a beautiful read until she started going on and on about all the bulbs in her garden - one by one, step by step, names I couldn't pronounce and never heard of. We don't do bulbs in Florida - hardly at all. Talk about feeling stupid and out of the flow of the prose.

If you're talking about where the dollars go...amendments...still. Oh, and companion plants. My DH is such a dear.

Sherry

This is so funny---I have no idea how many roses I have---LOL Maybe someday I will count them--

about shoes-----I have very long narrow feet----very difficult to fit---I think the powers that be think if a foot is as long as mine it has to be wide so they don't make many shoes in my size--

Mostly wear sneaks with thick soles per Dr's orders after surgery.

I like roses better than shoes-----

also have piles of books----can't throw any away they are like old friends-

Florence

I only have 25 roses. Shoes are 2 tennis, 2 slippers, 1 black pump, one pair of sandals, two flip flops, two black flats I wear with slacks. Books: years ago my daughter's work was having a book sale for charity, I donated 400...I am probably up there again. Since I have discovered gardening, the time to read has diminished. I no longer read 2-3 at a time. I only buy shoes or clothes when I have to, I always Need to buy plants...
Jackie

Shoes. And I have a lot of roses...

That's easy...Many more Roses than shoes!

Other addictions:

I caught a little addiction to tablescape items/dishes at the Holiday forum for a couple of years, but I have used all of my cabinet,closet,shelf,countertop,china cabinet,under bed space.
So,I HAD to stop. Haven't bought any in about 2-3 months.

Books & magazines - I've had a book or magazine in my hand ever since I learned to read in 1st grade. I go NOWHERE without at least 1 book or 2-3 magazines.

When my sister died and my niece told me she was going to throw away her magazines I COULD NOT bear the thought. So they came home to live with me. Over 2000. Gardening as well as Home.

I'm trying to downsize now, so I donated all of my Christian books to our church library. I've not renewed any subscriptions to all of my magazines. Stopped ordering from my book club. I'm giving my church youth group all of the misc books that I'm not truly attached to for their yard sale fundraiser as well as the magazines I've finished reading.

I won't let myself go in a book store. Not often, anyway! LOL

Clothes don't interest me. I buy most at the Goodwill. The rest at Walmart.

So now it is just Roses. And that's enough for me.

Betty

I admit I love shoes and have many (not that I have occasion to wear them any more) but I do have many more roses than shoes.

all my shoes are gardening shoes, so none of them count. so shoes, zero. roses, 50.

I have about as many bottles of wine and gardening books as roses - in the 60+ range - and about 20 pairs of shoes, if you count ones that I never, ever wear. I have hundreds, if not thousands, of books, though. It's very hard to give any away. I have Tolstoy and Dickens and Faulkner - and plenty of SF and mysteries.

I probably have more Christmas decorations than anything else, including roses. Every year I swear that I won't buy ANYTHING more but then find something I can't resist.

Another passion is for carnival chalk dolls (kewpies). I have about 50 of 'em, so roses, books and wine still win. I keep checking ebay to see if there is anything I can't resist - someday I will find Betty Boop and Felix the Cat to join Popeye, Shirley Temple, Mae West, Charlie McCarthy, Wimpy, the Lone Ranger, Snuffy Smith, Snow White, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pinocchio and the rest of the gang. (My dad won a chalk doll at the county fair in 1936 and I've been adding to that original one for thirty years.)

No, you are not the only addictive one, Audrey.
Anita

Definitely roses. I have 4 pairs of shoes if not to count slippers and somewhere around 50 roses. Last pair I bought I think 2 years back. I have rather sensitive feet skin, so new shoes usually try to eat it alive. I absolutely hate to buy new shoes and do it mostly out of necessity, when old ones fall apart.

Clothing wise my daughter definitely has way more stuff than I do, I like quality clothing, but I never felt a need to have a lot of it. And when I am at home, I usually just wear cheap sweaters, sporty pants and simple shirts, comfort above all.

Books however outnumber roses by far, I got wide selection of my profession books, which I occasionally need and then there is collection of fantasy fiction, s-fi and fairy tales (well I am anthropologist, so that also counts as profession books). At least I do not buy computer games anymore ever since we got to play WoW 5 years or so back, it still keeps me amused when I need that sort of entertainment fix. :) I do not watch TV almost at all though.

Shoes are just coverings for the feet; plants are beauty and joy. I'm guessing I have about eight pairs of shoes (do rubber farm boots count?), and about five hundred roses, many of them propagated by me or gardening friends. I have a decent but limited budget and I have to make choices. I could potentially be interested in clothes--but I never go anywhere--and I like dishes, and items in general that are useful but can be beautiful, but am adequately supplied with kitchen supplies, linens (I do dream about having a really good bed one day). I don't like having too much stuff around, so try not to shop without need. Books are important, though. I buy and keep plenty of books, particularly as library services here are limited: novels, history and other nonfiction, classics, plant books, and lately books in French. All of us read. Also a year ago I began buying DVDs, as it occurred to me that they're a lot cheaper than going to the movies, and the availability is good (video rental doesn't work well here). So, not a collector except in the garden, and our amount of "stuff" is at generally tolerable levels.
I do have a weakness for a good tool: my husband got me a pair of Fiskars hedge shears for Mother's Day, and I was really happy.
Melissa

Florence, I have the same kind of feet, so I have to wobble along in some shoes or wear thick socks to fill them out. Only in America have I seen shoes with widths A-E and not only sizes 5 etc. Don't you have these sizes any more?

I have 20 pairs of shoes and boots that I wear including 4 pairs of garden clogs. Many more pairs that I don't wear any longer, all those high heeled shoes. 10 secateurs, can't resist a new model, however crappy it looks, it might prove perfect for my small hands after all. 180 roses and 12 more on the way. 5000+ books, 63 of them rose books in Swedish, English, French, German, Norwegian and Danish. I review rose books so I haven't had to buy all of them.

54 roses, including containers and minis

57 shoes, including boots and flip flops, no slippers

And it's shoes by a hair

25 pairs of shoes, excluding my garden muck shoes. 90 roses. Roses win :-).

I don't have 300 shoes.

I got curious and took a walk around the garden counting.

Most of my roses are tiny, but I have 38 planted and 8 waiting to be planted.

But, just about every rose has deer damage. They leave everything alone, but my roses and daylilies. They eat those constantly.

I bought a bottle of deer stopper to try. I will let y'all know if it works.

I am sooo happy I took the walk because I found a rose that came from my deceased sister's home that we thought had died 2 years ago during the drought. About a foot away from the original plant, it has come back from the root and has a bloom!!!

Can't wait until DH gets home to show him!!

Betty

Very neat, Betty! Do you know the name of the rose?

I have about 40 roses (or will when the last order arrives in June). I probably have about 10 pairs of shoes, but I don't wear most of them anymore...hard to wear heels on a farm :)

OMG, Melissa, you said the T word.....tools. cream my jeans, rock my socks, but tools really do it for me. Oh yeah, baby - De Walt jigsaw!!!Stabila level, Felco loppers....too hot.....ELIET CHIPPER...nurse, water. Tool catalogues: mmmm, as good as plant porn.

It is neck and neck roses running equal to shoes, since I rent.
Despite having an intention to simplifiy my life and buy fewer things that I don't need, which includes shoes I don't wear and roses bought or grown from cuttings on impulse 88 of those in the past.
I've acquired
3 pairs of shoes that I bought more than a year ago and have not worn yet, though two are very stylish, black leather with ankle straps, one with leather pleating on the toe area, ( I love ankle straps and kitten heels).
In addition to c. 12 other various footware, flats, heels,
-one strappy pair of be-jeweled thongs, to wear with sundresses.
- Doc Martin black leather boots, for Halloween mostly as I've outgrown mosh pits.
- a demure pair of low cream heels for church on Sundays, and Evensong.
--blue plastic beach thongs
-two pairs of Clarks sandals, in brown and navy.
- two pairs of sneakers, white, and blue.
-Mary Janes

Roses, I went from having c. 200 to care for, to c. 14 last time I counted, the problem is of renting. Still looking for a house to buy, or rather property to plant a rose garden, with a house on it. Note the roses come first.
Oh, to have what Melissa has.... it is hard not to desire such vast beauty for my own, 500 roses in Tuscany, and to share it with loved ones.

Lux.

Priorities and personalities are seeping out of this thread. I like it and them very much.

Sherry

More roses by far. If I was short with tiny feet I might be more interested in cute shoes.

I have a pair of flats from Payless I think, a pair of walking shoes from Target, a pair of cheap black boots for gardening and a pair of winter boots which I share with my daughter. I wear them until they are worn out and falling apart and then replace.

Kristin--I know what you mean----If I were short and had tiny feet I would love to have some cute shoes----LOL

Oh, dear. Shoes AND purses were my major obsession when I was still working 4 years ago. I mean, I just HAD to have shoes to match every outfit, plus the latest Kathy van Zeeland purse. But somehow being retired and not having to dress up every day kinda took the fun out of being such a clothes hound.

So I quit buying fripperies and started buying roses big time...and am up to 300 roses now. I guess I turned one obsession into another.

But I still do have a weakness for a great pair of suede boots...

Audrey,

I'm not sure what the rose is. Single, similar to pictures I've seen of Motzart or American Pillar.

Maybe I can get a good picture of it and post it.

Betty