ditto bacon.  i've never allowed shoes, but somehow when my husband asks people to remove their shoes it's okay.  'cos he's asian', explain friends.  weird!  

We have a pretty strict no-shoes rule in our house. I can't get over what people step in and subsequently bring into the house. Ish.

My mother-in-law was a 'closet' smoker: she didn't tell my father-in-law until he found a butt in the toilet on their honeymoon...she was afraid he'd annul the marriage.

She never admitted it to her kids: she used to 'steal' smokes from visiting family members, and no one in the family would talk about...

My father-in-law wouldn't admit it to my wife until after my mother-in-law died two years ago...Then they laughed about it at the funeral dinner. :) 

Bahaha! My mom gave me grief about the no-shoes-in-the-house rule too! Until she came into my house one day with mud on her feet and muddied my brand new carpeting in my brand new house. I hadn't even lived here a month yet.

Oddly, the rule in my house that I've gotten the MOST grief about is the "no smoking in the house" rule.  Everyone in my family has acted like I'm really snotty about it. Helllooooo! I have kids and a cat with asthma, no way is anyone smoking in my house! Jeez.