Karma

Now that the weather is getting warmer, it's time to pack away my tights until next year.  I know some people still wear them during the summer, but I am so incredibly heat sensitive, I would pass out if I wore them.

I have pantyhose, but a) they are not comfortable in the summer either, and b) apparently they are a big NO as far as style.  Not really a problem as far as I'm concerned, since I am all about being comfortable when I think the weather isn't.

Every year though, I feel really self-conscious about my legs.  Not because they aren't perfect as far as shape, size, etc., but because I have so many varicose veins.  I used to try self-tanner, but then decided that it was too much work to use it all of the time, when I was not necessarily wearing shorts or dresses all of the time.  (Laziness kicks in quickly for me.)  I have worn shorts or dresses a lot with my pasty-white, bruised, and varicose vein-y legs and lived, but I do feel very self-conscious about it, particularly when I am going to work or out someplace.

So this year, I decided that for the most part, I would do my best to just "own" it, and for the times I was going out or going to work, and wanted to wear a dress, I'd try this:

I'm willing to make the effort now and then, just not every day.  This seemed like a reasonable attempt on my part to somewhat calm my self-consciousness.  So I bought a tube at a local CVS this past Monday.

That evening, I took Dug the Doodle Dog out for his evening walk, and it was so pleasant, with a nice breeze.  We were going along on our way home nicely.  Then all of a sudden, I woke up and I was lying in the middle of the street, with him sitting next to me.  I sat up, and saw that my glasses were broken, and I was covered in blood, and bleeding.  A woman brought a towel over, and was trying to help me, and a young man came up and asked if he could call someone for me (I was with it enough to give him the number for The Tim at work).  Another lady was kind enough to drive me and Dug home for The Tim to meet us there.

So when he got home about two seconds after I did, we headed over the ER at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is really near our house.  They of course took me back to a room immediately.  Since I couldn't remember anything about what happened, they wanted to keep me overnight for observation and do a bunch of tests.  I got ten stitches in my upper right lip, some inside, some outside.  I broke off part of a front tooth.  There were no observation rooms available, so I spent the next 24 hours in my ER room.  I had approximately 1,000 tests of  all kinds, was poked, prodded, questioned, had blood drawn and my temperature taken approximately 100 times, and finally they let me go home.

Coming home and taking a shower - washing off the dried blood and cinders from the street - was one of the best things ever.  I still hurt, I missed a week of work which pains me since I already planned to be out next week, but I am OK.  I look much better than I did a few days ago, but would still likely frighten small children.

And though I will feel self-conscious about some of my injuries for a while, I think I should be fine.  However, I don't think there are enough tubes of the product above in existence to cover my "flaws" now!

And that, my friends, is called Karma.  :-)

On the bright side, I did get to wear every armband available ...

Drive- By Post

Hi all ~ nothing really to report at the moment, but I wanted to share a recipe with you.

We love rhubarb in our house, but on the occasions we have it available, we are not always thrilled with the things we usually make, or don't have the ingredients for a favorite recipe.  Well, I came across this one recently, and tried the Rhubarb Cake.

The result?  FABULOUS!  I used lowfat yogurt, but otherwise followed the recipe as posted, and the resulting cake was ridiculously yummy.  Even The Tim really liked it, and he is not usually a fan of anything containing cornmeal.

The whole thing is really quite straightforward, and doesn't take that long to put together.

Try it, you'll like it!

Feet Don't Fail Me Now!

One thing I like about warmer weather is the chance to wear sandals.  I love sandals, and if I had tons of money would probably buy even more pairs than I have.  One of the biggest problems with sandals, though, is that often they don't have much support for my feet.  So, if I wear them to work, by the time I get home, my poor feet sometimes hurt, but always wish they could get some real comfort.

I used to make sure that I put on my walking shoes for a while, but in really hot weather, that only made the rest of me uncomfortable.  A few weeks ago, I was in the local City Sports when they were having a sale, and I saw these:

They were on sale, which is always appealing to me, and they looked like something a little bit more than the regular flip-flop, so I tried them on.   Wow!  Even though they are plastic, they are pillow soft, and even better, they have cushioned heels and arch support.  They were *so* comfortable trying on, I decided that I would give them a try.  And since then, my feet and I have been so very glad that I did!

Before this, I'd never heard of the brand, Oofos.  (Not that it means anything - I'm not necessarily a shoe-brand afficionado.)  But they make these shoes for both men and women, and there are several different colors to choose from, besides the periwinkle blue that I chose, shown above.  I have been wearing mine a lot, and they are still as comfy as the first time I tried them on.  Even though they are plastic, they are not plastic-y feeling, and the piece between your toes does not rub at all, so you don't get blisters.  If say, you are giving your plants a drink of water and your shoes get wet, it's not a problem and they are not in danger of being ruined.  :-)

You should try a pair of Oofos.  Now that I have tried them, I can say that I would definitely buy them again, even if they were not on sale.

Happy weekend!