Save the Sparkle Boots!

My youngest is recently potty trained, very picky about her shoes and in between shoe sizes. She is a toddler with moderately pudgy feet, so finding shoes that aren't too tight across the top is a challenge. Also, she prefers they all have pink, purple, glitter and/or any combination of the three. Last shopping day I bought her some black, glittery Ugg wannabes. It had gotten cold outside and she'd decided the week before that her casual shoes were too tight, leaving her with only her dressy "slippers" (because princesses wear slippers, not shoes).

Princesses wear slippers.

So, as you can see from the picture, the black glitter boots were perfect for her highness.

Fuzzy on the inside, sparkly on the outside. Perfection!

Fast forward two days. We'd been running errands and just came home. I honestly forgot how long it'd been since our last potty break. I was rushing around to get dinner started and the kids were standing around the table munching on a snack, when it happened! Ella exclaimed, "I'm peein'!" 

Now, that is the call to arms for all of us, because usually, when she says that, it really means she needs to pee, but we have time to race her to the ladybug potty chair. This time, not so much. She was standing up, wearing her new boots. The boots don't claim to be water proof, but they held an astonishing amount of liquid. We cleaned up the little princess and the floor. Then, I went to the bathtub, where we had haphazardly dumped the boots, to assess the damage. These are toddler size 6. I could barely fit my hands into the shaft of the boots, so scrubbing them clean was a challenge. I grabbed a bottle of baby powder and a box of baking soda. I used both to fill the boots up to the top, and then I sprinkled more of the same all over the outside of the boots. They were basically encased in powder. I set them inside a Walmart bag and placed them up on a shelf where they could air out.
I forgot them for a few days. Refusing to buy another part of boots, I grabbed a cheap pair of pink tennis shoes and that's what Ella wore to Thanksgiving.
After the boots sat for two days, I dumped out as much of the clumped baking soda and baby powder as I could, then put the boots inside a net lingerie bag and into the washing machine. I figured I had nothing to lose. I washed them once with some towels. I washed them a second time all alone. After the second washing, one boot still smelled bad, so I once again coated them in baking soda and let them sit in the bathroom window to air out.
I'm happy to report, after a week of washing and patience, that today, they are as fresh as a daisy! They have dried and smell great! I had to work at getting a few small clumps of baking soda out, but that was worth it to save the magic, sparkly, fuzzy boots.
So there you have it! With baking soda and a little determination, all things are possible.