Waymom, Your post caught my eye. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my ankles and feet also pronate severely and I have no arches. I went to the nearest Foot Solutions store and they have saved me! I bought a pair of fexible but pretty strong dress arch supports from them. They were under $100. The supports flex a little but still offer enough support for comfort walking type shoes. Granted, I will probably never wear "dress" shoes again because there is not enough space for this arch support. But I can wear some comfortable walking type shoes with them. Shoes like some Naturalizers, Softspots, etc. It's a real pain to have to try them all on with the orthotic, but that's life. I also found Finn Comfort shoes. They are made in Germany and sold at Foot Solutions, Nordstrom's and several other American shoe stores. They have a solid cork arch support in their shoes and sandals. I could not ever wear sandals if it weren't for this brand. I love them. They are so supportive and many of the styles are cute. They are worth every penny. In fact, the arch supports inside the shoes are removable and the pedorthist (not sure I spelled that right) at Foot Solutions even adds a little more arch for me. She glues a thin layer of a hard flexible plastic under the arches and then grinds it down smooth. This adds another 1/4 inch arch for me. I may go this week to buy a pair of Durea shoes that I tried on before. The shoes are extra depth but they look great. They have a steel shank and a removable half orthotic arch support. They seem so strong and comfortable. They look really nice with pants. Look for a store that carries orthopedic shoes and go there to see if you can find some help. These people have saved my life. Ginny Ps I don't want to go on too long, but I also wear a pair of Spira tennies. They are "posted". By that I mean, the sole on the inside side (post side) of the heel is made of a more dense material than the outside side. This gives you a lot more support so you don't pronate as much. Look for tennies that have this more solid material on the inside side of the heel area. It's called "posted". Also, the "running" shoe styles are the best because the heels are flared out somewhat and that also gives more support.

Hey Luvs....My painting plans went askew yesterday. I got a call from the school saying DD had gotten stung by a bee and was breaking out and I needed to come get her. I grabbed Benadryl and raced up there. OH MY GOSH!! She got stung on her ankle, but her whole face and shoulders were swollen, red and looked like she had rocks under her skin! I freaked out! I gave her 2 Benadryls to take even though one lady told me to only give her one cause I didn't want her sleeping all day. I said Oh my gosh I'm gonna have to take her to the hospital. They said no, they won't do anything unless she's having trouble breathing. Glad I didn't listen! They were wondering if I was gonna leave her there or take her home! Of course I'm taking her home.....have you seen her??? So I took her straight home and called my pediatrician and they said take her IMMEDIATELY to the childrens hospital. Ahhhhh! I crammed her and 4 yr old in the car and started racing toward the hospital which is clear on the other side of the valley. Called DH to meet me close to it cause I didn't know exactly where it was and we met and sped up there. They took her straight in at the ER and started pumping her full of steroids and antihistimines. They told me that giving her the Benedryl probably saved her life!!! They said it kept it from affecting her lungs and sending her into anaphylactic shock since she does already have asthma. The hives spread all over her entire body! They said they had never seen anything that bad from a bee sting. We were there until around 8pm last night when they finally got the rash to start going away. They almost kept her overnight for observation. So she has to stay on the steroids and histimine meds for another 4 days plus the Benedryl 3 times a day for a couple more days. And she has to keep a Epinephrine shot with her at all times from now on. Soooooo I kept her home today cause her whole foot is still really swollen up and she couldn't put it in a shoe and I went up to the school this morning and explained to them how serious this is and they are really going to work with us to try to keep her safe. 3 other kids got stung yesterday so I asked them to check the PE field to see if there is a nest out there. We think it was a hornet that stung her. She has been stung a few times before this and nothing happened. In fact she got stung 2 weeks ago by a paper wasp and it made a mark like a mosquito bite. So we have to get her to an allergists to try to pinpoint which bees she is allergic to, although she may now be allergic to all of them. So freaking scary! I have to brag on the 4 yr old though cause she was so good having to sit there for all those hours with nothing to keep her occupied but some cartoons that she doesn't really watch and a notepad to draw on. Just always watch people when they get stung even if they've never been allergic before. One of my online friends told me that a 51 yr old man got stung over the weekend, complained to his wife, she told him to buck up and get back to work in the yard.....she found him 1/2 hour later dead! He'd been stung before too and it never bothered him. So that's been my excitement. I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon. DS is really excited to be playing the same instrument that his mom and g-pa played. I also play the piano very badly, but took lessons for about 5 years when I was young. Wish I had one to practice on at home. I'd also like to learn to play the flute so DH said he might get me one for Christmas. That would be a fun gift! You are cracking me up with your non-rythym stories. ha I'm just learning how to do the dehydrator things too by reading on the internet. My family liked cucumbers sliced thin and dried without salt. The ones with only a tiny bit of salt were too salty for them. I didn't put anything on the tomatoes, but I've heard you can smoke them before you dry them and they are excellent. I liked them plain, but I generally like tomatoes any way I can get them. I like it cause I have so much excess in the garden and I have been using it to make bread crumbs from stale bread. ha Using up those last bananas in the bunch before they go bad...sprinkle with a little cinnamon. I'm sure I'll find more uses for it. Did I tell you I tried your parmesan tomatoes the other night? I left them in a little too long and the cheese got a little hard, but I ate them anyway and it was still good. ha I made them again with mozzerella cheese and I liked them that way too. Thanks for the recipe! Glad things are so convenient where you are getting your Rv fixed up. It'll be so nice for ya'll. My parents are working on their new/old camper to try to get it spiffed up for the upcoming hunt at the end of Sep. Well, I'd better get supper fixed. I'm just fixing a big pot of cheese grits and crescent rolls for supper. ha It'll be warm and filling. It's rainy and cold tonight. Talk to you tomorrow. It will be raining all day so I HOPE nothing bad happens so I can get some painting done. I never know. ~Anj

We have ceramic tile throughout most of the first level and light colored turquoise carpet in the remainder of it so comfort and support are important to me as well. I to am a croc wearer. I keep one pair for the inside of the house and two for outside. One I use in the garden and the other I wear in the pool. I was having charlie horses in the pool and found this really helped. I do have to take them off when I'm swimming though but they float around and I grab them when I need them. For winter they do the the lined ones but I find a good pair of wool socks works just fine.

I havent worn crocs in years but they do keep your foot cool-- the textured bed and air vents are the key, I think. I loved them for dog walks, gardening and for quick trips to the grocery store. I also think those keen slip ons would be the same and likely offer more structure. I also love fit flops (not flip flops-- FIT flops) -- they offer great support and even the thong style fits so securely that you don't have to worry about them coming off as you run around. I have a bronze and a silver sequin pair but they come in many styles and colors. I also have a couple of pairs of these nike rosherun shoes-- they are mesh so very comfortable, light and airy even though they have a closed toe. You can't tel from the photo but the mesh around the foot is very thin-- in fact, I have the lime green and it is almost see thru. They are very comfortable -- so much so that I don't like to wear them for serious exercise kind of walks. They definitely wear more like a slipper than a nike sneaker.