new skates...sorta

Okay, well I bought some new skates off ebay. (I am in desperate need of skates, but I just can't afford to spend $600 right now, so I'm hoping that with this pair I can upgrade the blade and boot individually). They are Riedell bronze star and the blade is supposed to be Double Star, but I really think that it is either Club 2000 or Excel (yuck!). My sister got a pair of phantom blades off ebay that were supposed to be for her daughter, but the person selling them got mixed up on what size they were, so they fit me. So I think I'm going to put those on. Only thing is, they've been sharpened so much I'm not sure they can be sharpened anymore. Hmmm...she's going to find out this week for me. Even if I can wear them I'm sure they have at most one or two sharpenings left.
So onto my new blade delimma. I have always (until this most recent pair of skates) skated on Phantom blades. I love them, it's what I feel comfortable on. I have found some new for $350 from tidewaterice (although I've ordered from them before and it was a horrible experience, so I'm a little hesitent to order again). So that's a really good deal on the phantoms. My delimma is, I"m not sure I want to spend that right now. I could go ahead and get the MK professional (I want to for sure stay with the same rocker as the phantoms so I can easily upgrade later). But they are almost $200. Part of my is like, if I'm going to spend $200 on something, why don't I just spend the extra $150 and get what I want. I am just so indicisive with this.
Onto the boots. Like I said, they are Riedell bronze star, I think they are a couple years old, but they are in great condition. They seem to fit almost perfectly. Perfect length, perfect width in the toes. 2 problems I can see so far: 1) I think they might be a tad too wide in the heal 2) the arches are way too high for my flat feet. So I'm trying to figure out some way around these two problems. I'm thinking bunga pads might help the heal width issue (as well as help the rubbing at the top of the boot). But the arch issue I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking some sort of insole might help, but I'm not sure. Anyone have this problem? Also, if you do, what brand boot do you wear for low arches?
I figure next time I will spend the money and get new boots, I just wanted to be able to upgrade my boots and blades individually to try to spread out some of the cost.

Okay, I'm not dead, I promise. I just haven't had anything interesting to write about, nor have I had the motivation. The skating has really stalled. I think I am really out of the range of my current skates, but I don't want to spend $500 on new skates. So, I am in the process of trying to get new skates, and it's going slowly but surely. I am probably going to do a competition in Houston over labor day weekend. I am really nervous about the thought of that. It really freaks me out that I am so nervous about a competition. I have danced and performed my whole life, and I LOVE performing. My problem is, I'm not very confident in my skating, so that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that with new skates, I will get a boost in confidence.
I have decided to start taking dance lessons again. I found a studio in Westlake and I'm planning on taking a ballet and Jazz class. Hopefully between this and skating I can whip my butt back into shape because let's face it...I hate running.
Right now, though, I'm not doing anything except working and taking teacher certification classes. I work from 8:30-6 and then I have my class from 6:30-9:30, and then I go home and go to bed only to do the same thing the next day. It is getting really old. Only one more month and I can get back to skating and start dancing again!