Squishy Shoes (Bedtime Story)

A soggy situation inspires an inventive day as we create "sponge-flops" to combat Mr. Honeybee's ongoing battle with squishy shoes and slippery floors. With a few creative adjustments and lots of laughter, we turn a frustrating mess into a brilliant, water-soaking solution that has us jumping into puddles with glee. And who knows? Today’s small frustration might just be tomorrow’s big innovation! - Love, Mrs. Honeybee

Transcript

Bedtime with Mrs.

Honeybee.

Today,

In the Honeybee neighborhood,

We'll be giving Harold a very special gift.

A brand new water bowl.

He's kind of outgrown his old bowl.

And now,

A brand new,

Bigger water bowl.

With his name engraved on the side.

I don't think Harold can read,

But I know he's going to love it.

Where are you going to put it?

Let's hide it over here.

Quick,

He's coming down the stairs.

Come here Harold,

You good boy.

Let's go sit down on the porch.

Yes Harold,

Melody Bee can come too.

Right behind you Harold.

I can't wait until he sees his new water bowl.

Mr.

Honeybee,

Give me the signal when it's all set up.

All you have to do is close your eyes,

Get cozy,

And listen to the sound of my voice.

Mrs.

Honeybee will be your guide.

Let's begin.

You are here,

Walking the last few steps up our driveway to the front door.

It's a relief to get out of the heavy rain under the roof of the porch.

As you shake out and close your umbrella,

You knock on the door.

You take your soaking wet rain boots off,

One by one,

And notice a package hidden behind one of the plants as you set them out to dry.

When you pick it up,

You see that it's addressed to Mr.

Honeybee,

And that's exactly who answers the door.

Hello my little Honeybee.

It is so nice to see you.

I hope you're enjoying your day so far,

Because I am not having the best day today.

Just look at my shoes.

They're soaked.

And I wasn't even out in the rain.

Why hello there my little Honeybee.

Thank you so much for trekking all the way to us through this awful weather.

It just has not stopped.

Melody Bee,

Harold,

Our little Honeybee is here.

Hello little Mr.

Honeybee.

Did you have another run-in with Harold's water bowl?

I sure did.

It's not your fault,

Boy.

It was just an accident.

I'm frustrated at the situation.

Not at you,

Harold.

You're a good boy.

Dear,

Are you going to leave your shoes out here to dry?

I'll have to,

And my socks too.

Let me check the tag.

Maybe we can throw them in the dryer to dry them faster.

I think that should work,

And they'll be nice and warm when they're done.

Now that sounds nice.

Little Honeybee,

What do you have in your hand?

Oh,

That must be your new shoes,

My dear.

And just in time.

Phew,

That's a relief.

I'll put them to use right away.

Come on,

Let's get out of the cold.

We head inside for Mr.

Honeybee to unbox his new shoes and to toss his old ones in the dryer.

While Mr.

Honeybee is in the laundry room,

Melody Bee and I take a quick moment to fill you in on what happened right before you came.

So,

For whatever reason,

Our furry friend Harold all of a sudden likes to move his water bowl around.

He pushes it with his nose and thinks it's just the best game ever.

It's so silly,

But.

.

.

Mr.

Honeybee didn't notice that Harold had nosed his bowl at the base of the stairs when he came down this morning.

He stepped right in the bowl,

Slipped,

Spilled the water everywhere,

And his shoes have been squishy ever since.

He cannot stand it,

So he's been a little grumpy,

But it's understandable.

But it's a moot point now because we have these new shoes that just arrived.

Yes!

I have never been more happy to get a package in my life.

Sitting at the kitchen table,

Mr.

Honeybee excitedly opens his package and marvels at his brand new shoes,

Which slip over his toes with ease.

We are all seated around the table,

Half chatting and half watching to see how much he loves his shoes.

Trouble comes,

Though,

When Mr.

Honeybee tries to get the rest of his foot in a shoe that is clearly too small.

He tries once more,

Hoping that was just a fluke,

But it proved not to be.

With no choice but to accept the situation at hand,

Mr.

Honeybee sighs and leaves us at the table while he goes upstairs to put on his fuzzy wool slippers.

Ah,

Darn.

That's too bad these don't fit.

We'll have to send these back,

But I'm sure the right size will come in no time.

I sure hope so.

We busy ourselves with catching up and chatting about how your day is going,

And we don't notice that our furry little friend Harold is back to playing his new favorite game.

Harold takes a couple licks of water then pushes his bowl all around the kitchen.

Luckily,

You notice it in time and put the bowl back out of the way.

We head to the laundry room to check on the shoes.

Melody Bee also shows us the lavender essential oil she made.

Now,

Each load of laundry,

Especially the bed linens,

Will smell like a fresh spring day.

Here,

Smell.

It was handmade by yours truly.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

The sweet,

Flowery scent of lavender relaxes you as you imagine a flower field in bloom.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and open the dryer door to check on the shoes.

They're still a bit soggy,

So we turn it on high and head back to the kitchen.

Before we get there,

We hear it.

Oh no!

Not again!

We arrive in the kitchen to see Mr.

Honey Bee with one wool slipper stepped into Harold's water bowl that once again ended up at the bottom of the stairs.

Mr.

Honey Bee walks sloshing,

Squishy steps to the dryer with his head hung.

Those are his favorite slippers,

And the others were his favorite shoes.

Now,

He doesn't have anything to wear on his feet on this chilly day.

He walks back from the laundry room with bare feet and pets Harold on the head to remind him that it's the situation he's frustrated at and not him.

Harold promises to not move his water bowl again and tells us how much fun he has playing that game,

That he loses track of everything else.

You know what?

I can do something about this to make sure it never happens again.

I'm bolting that bowl to the floor.

I have everything I need in the garage.

I'll make Harold a little stand to put his water bowl in.

That will keep it steady.

Excited,

Mr.

Honey Bee rushes out to the garage a little too quickly.

His bare feet managed to find a puddle that none of ours did,

Left over from one of Harold's previous games.

Mr.

Honey Bee slips and slides and crashes onto the kitchen floor.

We hurry to help him up and he limps the rest of the way out to the garage where he tinkers with his newest invention in peace.

Poor Mr.

Honey Bee.

I wish there was something else we could do.

Hmm.

I think there just might be.

Oh,

That's your I've got a plan face,

Mrs.

Honey Bee.

What are you thinking?

Remember all those sponges you accidentally bought?

Remember?

How could I forget?

They haunt me.

I didn't check the units when I bought them online.

And instead of ordering three sponges,

I ordered three pallets of sponges.

Ugh.

But yes,

I remember.

And I'm slowly learning all the things I can possibly do with sponges.

Well,

I think I have one more use for them.

We're going to prototype the first ever pair of sponge flops.

Sponge flops?

Yes,

Exactly.

No,

Not exactly.

What do you mean,

Mrs.

Honey Bee?

We can sew together some of those sponges to go around Mr.

Honey Bee's shoes.

So if he ever does accidentally step in Harold's water bowl.

.

.

Ahem.

Looking at you,

Little guy.

No more playing with your water bowl,

Okay?

Well,

Even if it does happen,

The sponge flops will soak it all up and we'll make them double layered.

So the first layer will,

Well,

Sponge it up.

And the second layer is just extra.

That's a great idea.

I'll go get some sponges.

We get right to work measuring out the sponges and forming them into shoe shapes.

When they're big and puffy enough,

We sew them all together and make enough alternate pairs so we can all have them.

You never know when sponge flops could come in handy to avoid the much dreaded squishy shoe.

We finish our prototypes just as Mr.

Honey Bee comes back in from the garage,

Triumphant and proud to show us the water bowl stand he built.

Mr.

Honey Bee picks up Harold's bowl,

Fills it up in the sink,

And places the bowl carefully in the stand,

Then stands back to observe.

It's a little higher than he anticipated,

But that's exactly what the observation phase is for in experimentation.

Every good tinkerer knows that.

Harold saunters over to the water bowl that stands much higher than it used to and cautiously sniffs it.

It's a bit too high for him to drink from it,

So he stands up on his back paws and leans in to rest his front two paws on the side of the metal bowl.

That's just enough weight to tip and then fling the bowl over the side of the stand.

As it goes spinning through the air,

Water splashes everywhere,

And as he tries to avoid it,

Mr.

Honey Bee slips and falls once again.

Both him and the bowl crash to the kitchen floor once again.

Welp,

At least the stand didn't budge.

By now,

The absurdity of the situation has calmed his frustration and he laughs out loud as we help him back up.

This may not have been the outcome that Mr.

Honey Bee was hoping for,

But all of our preparation with the sponges gracefully meets this opportunity to help him when he needs it most.

Mr.

Honey Bee,

While you were working on your prototype in the garage,

We were in here working on one of our own.

Really?

How'd it go?

Well,

We'll need you to say for sure.

Me?

Yep.

I think you've taken your last squishy step,

My dear.

I could only hope.

We carefully navigate around the huge puddle that's formed and pull out a chair for Mr.

Honey Bee.

Just as he sits down,

The dryer dings to let us know his shoes should be ready.

Melody Bee buzzes over to pull them out of the dryer,

Still nice and toasty for Mr.

Honey Bee's tootsies.

We make sure the sponges are secure to his shoes and completely surround them without any trace of shoe visible.

With his shoes tucked in,

Mr.

Honey Bee takes his first step.

They work.

They actually work.

Mr.

Honey Bee happily sponges up all the water that was accidentally spilled and does an extra lap around the kitchen to make sure he didn't miss any.

Not only did he not slip or soak his shoes,

But the kitchen floor looks sparkly and brand new.

We try ours on too and chase each other around the kitchen and up and down the hardwood stairs,

Tidying up and having a blast.

That's when you make your way over to the kitchen sink and catch a peek outside to see that it stopped raining and the sun has come out.

As we head out the front door to the sidewalk that is muddled with puddles,

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel your chest and your spirits lift,

Having made Mr.

Honey Bee's day so much better.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and take the first hop into a puddle.

These puddles do not stand a chance against our sponge flops.

Melody Bee takes the next plunge into the deepest puddle she can find.

It splashes a little,

But mostly the sponges soak up all the rainwater and leave her socks feeling toasty and dry.

Even Harold has sponge flops on and joyfully bounces around without the worry of wet fur.

The sun peeks out from behind the clouds again,

Just long enough to send a warm ray of sunshine down to us,

Which dries out our sponges for more puddle jumping.

You know what this means,

Everyone?

No more squishy shoes?

Ever?

Yes,

But no.

We can make about 3,

000 more pairs of these without running out of sponges?

Also yes,

But also no.

Yes,

Harold,

You can play your water bowl games again,

But no.

Now,

Because of these sponge flops,

We never need to mop again.

That's true.

You know,

One frustrating day could lead to a whole new invention.

Wait,

Is that how all inventions were invented?

What is a frustration today becomes an innovation tomorrow.

Oh,

I love that one,

Dear.

Write that down,

Write that down.

What else frustrates us?

We need an innovation for tomorrow.

If it's true that today's frustration becomes tomorrow's innovation,

What can you do or create today that will help you tomorrow,

My little honey bee?

Your future self will be so grateful.

Always remember,

Mrs.

Honey Bee believes in you.

You are special and you are loved.

I can't wait to see you again.

Reviews

Loved it. I give all your stories five stars. Btw can you make more girly themed stories ? Good night 💤

Great can you do a hunger games one like where Kathi’s teaches you to use a bow and arrow? Pls

Nice meditation

Just starting

Half way👍

Keep going!😆

So close…

YAY you reached earth’s surface