Are bare feet part of the Saint James School uniform?

Noah is now a size 12.5 foot. For such a small kid he has big feet. My father would call them "gunboats" as he called mine (actually, he still calls them that). But I digress.

Noah needs a new pair of shoes. We were able to buy his pants from The Gap (they have a "uniform shop" for really cheap -- $15 a pair. And if last year is any indication of how they will wear throughout the year, 4 pairs will last until June without getting too ratty. As for ties and shirts, his ties still fit and we had to replace his shirts in April of last year because he got to big for them. So we are good in that department.

But, I digress again. Part of the school uniform is a nice proper pair of dress shoes (black or brown, but we think black looks nicer and quite frankly we only have a black belt to match them to). I looked online and in every store, but everything was over $40. Seemed like a lot to me normally, but now with EMTTC (that's "Eighteen months to the Cape" for those of you who like acronyms or watch DTWS - figure it out), I was determined to get a nice pair, cheap.

Macy's, Footlocker, The Childrens Place, Gap, Old Navy, Famous Footwear and Target all left me hanging. I even stepped inside Payless against my better judgement and found nothing. FYI - I didn't drive to all these places and waste gas, I was always already there for something else or it is in the mall across the street from MY office so I can walk. The nice lady in The Children's Place suggested JC Penny. Who? What? They still exist? They sell more than just old ladies undergarments and 1970's comforters?

Well, they do. And they have shoes. Lots of shoes. There was a cacaphony of shoes. A shoe bazaar or extravaganza if you will. In fact, they have shoes for:

88 Cents?

Well, not really. But check this out. They had 15 pairs of boys black dress shoes to choose from. And the quality was actually nice unlike the ones we paid way too much for last year and ripped halfway through the year.

So you buy 1 pair and get 1 pair for 88 cents. Two pairs for $30.88 - no tax. Considering the cheapest pair I could find was at Famous Footwear and was $35, I think I got a deal. And the best part is one pair are loafers, no tying required. (Noah can't tie his shoes yet - we are working on it).

So if you consider that two pairs would have cost $70, we saved 43%.

So I guess patience IS a virtue and hard work and determination DOES go rewarded. But I figured I learned three things today:

1. ignorance isn't always bliss
2. Payless still STINKS
3. JC Penny is cheap boys dress shoe heaven