Embroidered jeans and funky socks

I discovered fairly early on as a childrens' writer that when you're invited to a school to do presentations with the students, 99 times out of 100, the kids will be sitting on the floor. And while I take along lots of props and visuals to try to keep all types of learners focused, you still know they are staring at your knees half the time.

So I decided to give them something to look at. I have started building a collection of funny socks and embroidered jeans. Fortunately, the jeans still manage to maintain a semi-professional look (since I'm not sure clown pants would have the same effect). But apparently there is no limit to the bad taste (or sense of humor - sometimes it's hard to tell them apart) people will exhibit when designing socks.

(Note: These are not my feet. Or my socks. But they illustrate my point.)

I have fuzzy socks with googly eyes, pig socks, striped knee socks, socks with cow ears and socks with toes. Socks with paw prints, lip prints and polka-dot prints. Frog socks, cow socks and flower socks. Sometimes just that peep of color keeps the youngest ones fascinated.

Sure, my socks often don't match my shoes (much to the chagrin of my fashion-guru friends), but I still call it dressing for success. Back are the days when catching a glimpse of my ankle can be a fascinating thing.