Rattina's Rants: Why can't I find little girl rain boots?

It's the middle of January & the height of rainy season in Northern California, one of my daughter's rain boots has cracked open in the back for some reason, & I CAN'T FIND NEW RAIN BOOTS ANYWHERE!!!!! At least not anything reasonably appealing to my five-year-old daughter for under $40 in a toddler girl's size 11 (yes, she does have rather tiny feet). I've checked out Lark's in downtown Guerneville (which often does have fabulous & stylish apparel & accessories in all sizes); both the mall-rat AND online stores at Target, Walmart, JC Penney & Payless Shoes; & ... Nada.

I think it is TOTALLY ridiculous that I cannot replace my daughter's damaged rain boots while it's pouring rain outside, because stores perversely refuse to keep them in stock at the height of need. What's the use of Internet retailing, globalization & low job security if I can't even get a crummy pair of size 11T rain boots in Northern California in January? Alas, these folks are already too busy stocking & promoting their spring lines of shoes.

Sigh. I suppose I can find a pair of rain boots at Sole Desire at Coddingtown or one of those chi-chi shoe stores or children's boutiques in Sebastopol, Windsor, or Healdsburg. I'm sure these stores have TONS of rain boots left in my daughter's size, because so few souls in their right mind could -- or would want to -- pay what they ask for a cheaply-made (is there any other kind?) pair of rubber rain boots which will be outgrown in six months or less.

K-Mart isn't even an option as far as I'm concerned. The items in their shoe department don't merely look cheap to me (not-so-terrible, since my daughter's frequent growth & resulting size changes, accompanied by her constant clamoring for loud, gauche, pink & sparkely things have permanently lowered my standards). They also appear to be so bizarrely mis-shaped & ill-proportioned that I seriously wonder whether their entry-level managers are sent to other solar systems to develop products for hostile, intergalactic races who look almost exactly like us & can only be visually distinguished by their long, skinny & prehensile feet.

We finally found a stray pair of generic black, rubber rain boots with rust-colored soles at WalMart in a boys' size 12T for a mere $10 & immediately grabbed it. Sure, they flop & squelch miserably on my daughter's feet & she thinks they're hideously ugly. But I promised her that we can decorate them any way she likes with water-proof paint & she is now excited about doing the entire project by herself.

Alas, I will soon need to follow through on this promise, am likely -- as a mother -- to be held responsible for the results (ill-fitting, floppy, & crazily designed rain boots), & feel filled with dread by the prospect of eventually being contacted by Child Protective Services & the local insane asylum. But what the hey ... since the winters often get so boring around here, this may prove exciting.