"Tap His Smiling Toes"

I have a pair of shoes I'm pretty sure I've owned longer than I've known my husband. I suppose this isn't terribly unique, there are a lot of items I brought into our marriage that have preceded him significantly. These shoes have made it through massive Good Will cullings. It's possible that I've even moved to two different apartments with these shoes.

What's strange about the length of time I've hung onto them is that these shoes have always been so uncomfortable that I've never been able to wear them outside of the house (and usually only make it a few hobbling steps in the house before I take them off). They're not particularly flashy shoes, and I'm sure my sister wouldn't approve of them (it's actually possible she would, but that would make them the first pair of shoes I've bought that she'd approve of). They're just plain black loafers with a little bit of a heel.

The problem is I've always thought if I could simply stretch them out where they pinch over the wide part of my foot, I'd get a lot of use out of them. They'd work with the basic black pants I wear to work, they'd mildly dress up a pair of jeans. They'd probably even look okay with a black skirt. They'd be the "little black dress" of my shoe collection if only I could wear them more than two steps.

I put a shoe stretching thingy on my amazon wishlist ages ago, but no one has ever bought it for me. Probably for the same reason I've never bought it for me. It isn't a terribly sexy gift and if I have a little extra to spend on myself I'd much rather get a fun book or a cute house-ware.

Recently I was reading one of the 14 design blogs I mentioned yesterday and the blogger took a break from her design ideas to ask for advice about comfortable shoes one could wear when doing home design projects. She got a slew of advice. The next time she blogged on the topic she mentioned that the shoes she'd purchased were a little too tight and to make them easier to wear she used a frozen bags of water to stretch the shoes (warning that's a link to a video).

I tried it with my shoes and while it wasn't a complete success, I did manage to wear them around the house for about 20 minutes before deciding they were too uncomfortable to leave on. They were really comfortable everywhere except where I have bunions (yes, disgusting I know). I'm thinking I might try the ice technique again, or possibly splurge on the shoe stretcher spray now that I can at least walk around in them a little. Think this is just false hope, or might it work? Any other suggestions?