Shoes, or Not shoes

I was unusually late to work the other day ("unusually" because I'm always late, just not that late), so I slipped on some shoes without socks and ran out the door. By morning recess, I knew I was in trouble. I took my shoes off while I was in class, but it was raining that day so I had to put them on several times throughout the day for one reason or another. By lunch time, I had impressive blisters on both baby toes. By the time I picked up my kids from school at 3:00... holy cow! I was dying... To fully appreciate how stupid this is, you have to understand that I have LOTS of shoes. Like, an embarrassing number of shoes. So many shoes that my boys complain about the fact that my closet is bigger than their bedrooms. And it's a running joke at work that "I never wear the same pair of shoes twice." It's something that I inherited from my mother, and so she always takes me shopping for my b-day and we of course get... shoes. How many shoes I get, is usually in some way related to how old I am (thus the reason I need a big closet- cuz I've had quite a few b-days in my time). So, in keeping with tradition, last night we go shopping. I'll endure almost anything to get new shoes, so when mom noticed me limping, I assured her I was just fine because there's no way I'm missing out on shoe shopping. However, we finally had to give up since my feet hurt so bad, and I walked out of Macy's in socks because I couldn't get the shoes I'd worn back on without popping the blisters. SO... these are the cool "shoes" I wore to school today (and Friday's are my day's for Yard-duty, so I was SO glad it didn't rain). My first-graders thought they were the greatest shoes ever! However, when my principal walked into my class today to tell me the good news about our school just winning "California Distinguished School Award"... she looks down at my feet and says, "Where are your shoes?" To which I answered, "These are shoes my mom bought me, aren't they cute?" She replied, "But those aren't shoes." To which I responded, "They have soles on the bottom." Hmmm... what do you think?