Show your boots who's boss

Dudes, it's frickin' freezing around here. We should not be spending a good chunk of October on the minus side of the thermometer. If I wanted to wear Winter clothes during the Fall, I wouldn't have left Calgary, duh!

Ah well. Griping aside, one of the absolute bestest parts about Fall is that I get to wear boots again and not look like a crazy person. These past seasons with the short booties? Were the fashion equivalent of an embolism for me. Hated them! Even the mid-calf ones, I dislike. The point of lovely sleek boots is to elongate those gams, not chop 'em off at the shins! Anyway, with the recent trend towards boots that hit just below, or even over, the knee, I am sighing happy gurgling sighs of pleasure and delight and vindication. (Yes, I totally dig the dominatrix-esque over-the-knee look. No I don't have attachment issues.)

I have a sort of problem with boots, in that I buy them by the bucketful. But, alas, buckets are decidedly NOT the way to properly store boots. How then, to deal with these lovely creations, that when not being worn, flop maddeningly over your shoe racks?

Well, in seasons past, my general method was to:
1) Remove boots from feet.
2) Leave on floor, tops of boots in a mishappen heap.
3) Step all over the tops trying to leave the house.
4) Trip.
5) Curse loudly.
6) Fling boots at wall.
7) Hang head in remorse for being a boot (and wall-finish) abuser.

But this year? This year is different, my friends. I read the single most amazing home-organization tip of the year:

Roll up a magazine, and stuff it inside your unworn boot! The boot leg stays nicely in shape, and you can finally fit your boots neatly on your shoe rack! It is frickin' genius!

And now, my lovely darling tall boots are all lined up like the shiny treasures they are. I was so inspired by this bout of tidyness that I even sprayed weatherproofing stuff on all my shoes. Plus, I save so much time when leaving the house now, what with the not tripping and cursing and wiping shoe marks off my calves and the walls. Who knew those old issues of The National Enquirer The New Yorker would come in so handy?