Have you ever had a little problem that bothered you, maybe a lot?  Something that every time you saw it, it made you sad, nervous or angry?

You don’t have to live like that.  Take the time to simplify and enjoy your life to the fullest with out letting the little things bother you.

Last year, I bought some snow boots.  They weren’t very cheap so I expected them to be great.  I planned to build snowmen in them, snowshoe, and traipse around Park City for hours and hours during the Sundance Film Festival.

I first wore them snowshoeing in the canyon. It was amazing.  (If you haven’t tried this, you really should.  It’s on the list.  If you don’t have snow shoes, don’t let that stop you.  There are lots of places, like Mill Creek Canyon where you can just take an amazingly beautiful walk in the snowy canyon without snow shoes.) The boots were great!

I wore them on a second snowshoe adventure a few weeks later and one of the boots leaked a little.

I wore them again a month later at Sundance and…they leaked a lot! This was a HUGE problem because we were out in the slushy streets ALL DAY LONG.  So basically by the end of the day, I had one VERY wet foot.

I was very disappointed.  I’d worn them three times and they were basically garbage.  I meant to take them back, but I kept forgetting and then it got warm outside because it was spring, then summer then a year and gone by and I still had leaky, useless boots.

The boots made me sad to see.  Even angry since I knew I waited too long and I probably couldn’t take them back at this point. So I decided I had to complete this task (#288 on the list).  Operation Bad Boots Be Gone My mission: Either take the boots back to the store or throw them away.  I just couldn’t see the sad boots in my closet any more.

I tested Sports Chalet, my favorite sporting good store, on their return policy. I explained to one of their teenaged associates I’d had the boots a long time but only wore them three times because they leaked.   He seemed as genuinely interested in my story as any teenager with a part time job could.  He got me his manager.

I explained my story a second time.  The manager indicated it that since I kept the boots for so long that it was unusual that they could do anything for me, but he told me to pick out another pair of boots and he’d see what he could do.

I found a more water-proofy looking pair.  I showed them to the manager and he told me he’d give me $40 toward the new pair. So I got new boots for only $8 including tax!

I was so glad I had taken care of this problem.  I feel so relieved. My advice to myself any anyone else next time something like this happens?  Take an inventory of the little things that are getting to you on a regular basis and do what it takes to eliminate the problems.

As a side note, I also bought my daughters some new boots this weekend. So with the fantastic storm we had this weekend we ended up with about a foot of snow in the back yard and a new friend.

Isn’t he the friendliest looking snowman you’ve ever seen?

So…Mission accomplished. Snowman in the yard.  Warm and dry feet for the whole family.

We’re planning a lot more fun adventures in the snow this winter.